Moose Milligan

If you could put one Orioles Hall of Famer (National Baseball Hall of Fame, not the Orioles Hall of Fame) on the 2023 team, who would it be? Cal Ripken Jr. SS/3B Brooks Robinson 3B Frank Robinson RF Jim Palmer SP Eddie Murray 1B Earl Weaver M For arguments sake, we're going to assume each of these guys is in their prime.

Not getting my hopes up but it'd be cool if Gunnar won it.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy who's projected to play in the majors in 2023.

I will giggle if he fails another physical. Couldn't happen to a nicer dude.

Give me Hall with the 3.18 please.

I will take the over. It's been a garbage offseason but I believe we're better simply by subtraction (Odor, Chirinos) and we'll have full seasons of Adley and Gunnar, plus G-Rod should be able to be as good, if not better than any SP we had last year.

What? I'll trade you Snyder for Biscotti straight up and you'll quickly realize how good you've had it.

I'm probably in the minority here but I find everything relating to the Angelos family incredibly boring. As long as the team gets sold eventually, I'm good. Whatever bickering is going on between the brothers, the mother, whatever. The MASN dispute is a snorefest as well.

Yeah I thought that was weird.

It's almost as if that Elias will let us know when Westburg is ready by calling him up when he feels that it's appropriate to do so. Isn't it weird how that works?

WC, the title of the article is "Orioles offseason recap: Moves they made and what they're still missing" At no point in the article did he argue that the only way they can improve is to trade for a starter. He's not ignoring the young players. You can write an article about the Orioles offseason moves and ignore Gunnar and Adley and the rest. I know that's not what you want to hear but...again, the article didn't have to do with the youngsters. You're arguing against a point that Connolly never made.

Connolly is fine. The offseason is slow. And it's been boring. And it's bad. Not everyone has the capacity to start threads on a daily basis such as you do, @wildcard I mean, a thread bashing Dan Connolly is kind of like taking whoever makes the apple pies at your local McDonald's to task because the filling isn't warm enough. It's probably not even that, it would be more like writing a review bashing the guy who wrote a review that didn't like the apple pies at your local McDonald's because you disagreed on the appropriateness of the filling temperature. You wrote: Connolly wrote: If I'm a relatively informed Orioles fan, I can assume that it means Adley and Gunnar. And that G-Rod, Hall, Westburg, Ortiz or Stowers will probably play roles on this team moving forward. But this article isn't about the whole roster, this article is about moves that were made and not made so far. Ugh, now I have to read this whole thing to see what it's all about.... I mean, here's the intro to his article, it kind of tells you what it's going to be about: Like, it doesn't have to mention Adley or Gunnar because it's strictly about -like the title says- moves that were made and what they're still missing. I can't reprint everything here because that's against board rules but it highlights noteworthy additions being Gibson, Givens and Politi and subtractions being Lyles from the pitching staff. Catching additions are McCann and Kolozsvary, subtractions are Chirinos and Cam Gallagher, etc. It's a basic rundown/summary of moves that have been made and his thoughts. This article is NOT about Gunnar, Adley, G-Rod, Hall and prospects. It never was about that, to bash him for not mentioning them is disingenuous. I get that you've got anxiety and I get that you want stuff to talk about and like starting threads practically daily but critiquing Connolly's takes here when the article isn't about what you're bashing him for isn't a flex. I subscribe to the Athletic for about a dollar a month like you do, too. He's got a comment section, I'd air your grievances there.

Pass. Say what you want about the 2014 Royals, but they were good. I agree that Hosmer and Moustakas had punchable faces but it was a good team with a decent rotation and a fantastic lock-down bullpen. Couldn't get any offense going against them in the last two games of that series.

Oh, okay, this makes perfect sense. Now I know what the "f" in "fWAR" stands for.

tHe OfFsEaSoN iSn'T oVeR yEt!!!!!!!111111 Come on, guys! So many great free agents remain and Elias is always aggressive on trades in the offseason. It's not over yet!!!! Sarcasm aside, I wanted Bassitt. Abreu would have been good, too.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree.

Weeooohhhh whooowheeez. I bet he is. If he's on Elias's radar, I'd flip out.

Good. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle having to watch O'Hearn play. But if they can bring back Diaz that quickly, they can also bring back O'Hearn. Something to watch out for.

Gotta admit, it's pretty boring around here. They could sign some other fringe AAAA player tomorrow and it would get another 30 pages.

I believe that's how most major sports teams are run these days. With a hyper-active 24 hour news cycle, they want to be able to disseminate as much information as they possibly can and keep their players/front office members from having to answer anything hard or uncomfortable. I don't think people understand that the Orioles (or any team, really) don't want to have a smartass in the press room ask a smartass question that would get under Elias's skin and have Elias flip out (not that he would, he seems like a cool character). What would be a mundane press conference/media meeting would probably be on Sportscenter. It could go viral on Twitter. And they don't want that.

No one in the media will ask him the "hard hitting" questions because everyone in the media wants to retain their press credentials. Having been on that side of the interview room, there's a line to walk. And if you get flippant or snippy or pushy or the slightest bit disrespectful, the team usually doesn't react well to it. I believe members of the media want to ask the questions that you and I and the rest of us would like to have asked but they'd prefer to keep their jobs and keep their publication from getting access revoked or damaging the relationship. It sucks, but that's how it works.

How'd that go? I'm assuming if the witness started talking about the Orioles you wouldn't be able to contain yourself.

It sucks that Vavra is squeezed because of the need for a backup first baseman. O'Hearn brings nothing to the table. Vavra, despite his defensive liabilities, gets on base at a respectable clip which is nice for a lineup that struggles with OBP. As @Aristoteliannotes, he is listed at 6-1. I'm not sure if he can hack it at first base but I'd do whatever possible to ensure he makes the roster over O'Hearn. Or anyone makes it over O'Hearn, really. You guys know how @DrinkinWithFermifeels about Gibson? That's how I feel about O'Hearn.

I don't disagree with this. Quite frankly, I could see some games where Henderson is at first, Urias is at third and Mateo is at SS. Do I know if Gunnar can play first? Sure don't, but I'm confident if he can dive and make a stop on a smash down the third base line, he can do it at first. And pick a throw in the dirt. In short, he's athletic enough to figure it out. How hard can it be?

Allocated in a way guaranteed to piss people off, I am sure. Speaking of, I'll be a bit testy if Frazier gets any playing time at those spots which is a bonafide lock, so be prepared to see pissy Moose here on the OH this summer. I am aware that he can play outfield but I don't believe he should see any time out there if Stowers is an option. Hell, if Cowser is an option and ready to come up, I'll be irate if Frazier is getting playing time in the outfield ahead of him. Even a guy like McKenna who isn't much of a threat with the bat but can fly on the bases if he gets on, I'd rather see McKenna in the outfield instead of Frazier. So now that we're clear about how I feel about Frazier...let's start on O'Hearn.... I'm kidding, I'm not trying to get my blood pressure that high this morning. In the outfield getting at bats across the season I'd like to see Mullins, Hays, Santander, Stowers, McKenna, and Cowser when he's ready. 1B/DH should be a rotation of Mountcastle and I'd like to see if they can get Stowers worked in at 1st base. Those guys can revolve through DH with Adley getting some DH at bats, too. O'Hearn has been left out for a reason.