Moose Milligan

This is like Babe Ruth lapping the field for career homers when he was playing. 2x the next guy at one point who was, I believe, Lou Gehrig. Need @DrungoHazewoodor @Frobbyto confirm.

You would.

Ooooo, it's getting spicy here!

Heyman can't really be trusted after his Arson Judge mishap last night that he's getting (rightfully) roasted for right now. I'm taking everything he says with a grain of salt.

Is this the part where we start talking about "token offers?"

I think I saw someone say they're in on Senga, too. We're about to see if you can spend your way to a World Series.

Mets are spending a ton, they're not stopping either. Their owner doesn't clearly doesn't care about a luxury tax.

I don't want to turn this into a re-hash of the deadline deals last year but we disagree on this.

Aren't you retired? No need to be cranky, Froberto Clemente. Pour yourself a Mai Tai and put your feet up.

I don't disagree with any of that. I share the same concerns, too. I will say this, though. I am impressed at how disciplined Elias is. He doesn't chase shiny objects and he doesn't give a Frenchman's **** about the fans when it comes to holding onto players for sentimental reasons. We saw that at the deadline last year with Lopez and Mancini. He traded his only all-star and he traded a player who's adored by the community. So I don't think he's going to get far over his skis and tack on an extra year or tack on 10 million to sign someone if he feels that it's a poor idea to do so. What I believe that he understands is that there's no one in this free agency class (outside of Judge) who's so transformative to a franchise in a way that can't be replicated with something he has in the pipeline or something that he can get in FA next year. Or maybe even a trade at the deadline. In other words, there's always going to be someone else out there. There's always going to be another free agent next year if we missed one on this year. There's always another trade that's available in 6 months from now that he wasn't aware of in December. There's always going to be another prospect. Guys like Aaron Judge aren't fungible. I'd argue Adley isn't, either. Gunnar, as great of a prospect as he is, it remains to be seen if he is or isn't. I'd argue that Correa is fungible. But I digress. Let's remember, his goal from Day 1 was to build a constant pipeline of talent to keep being promoted to Baltimore. That's where his focus is and he hasn't strayed from that.

Well if we look at the bullpen last year, a lot of those pickups weren't considered sexy or big name free agents. And they performed really well. I think we're going to leapfrog playoff teams in a couple of ways: first, the balanced schedule, we have more games against creampuff teams like the Pirates, Cubs, Marlins, Reds, A's, Royals, etc. We should be able to pick up more wins against teams like that. The season isn't a grinder against the AL East teams anymore. Second, yeah, we should be better with full seasons from Adley, Gunnar, G-Rod, Hall, etc. Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if we spent money on a guy like Rodon for the rotation. Or Bassit. I would have been alright with Taillon. I'm not really enthusiastic about Gibson. Yeah, it's more fun and exciting when you're reeling in big name free agents but that hasn't been the case for the Orioles for a long time. I don't expect that to change anytime soon. That said, I'd much rather be producing guys like Adley, Gunnar, G-Rod, etc.

Who's accepting a lower bar? Is this team still losing? Are they not finally drafting and developing the right way? This franchise in many respects is way, way different than where it was in 2018 and 2019. It's practically a night and day difference. Then again, this message board has always had a borderline kinky obsession with free agency. I'm pretty confident we can still win and still win big without having to bring in big name free agents. You guys are like kids who are begging their mom to take them to McDonald's and the mom is like "We have food at home."

Correct, people are panicking because names are flying off the board. This year seems like it's more active in early December than in years past, but maybe that's just me. I agree, they need to add but I've always felt that Elias is also willing to sit tight and roll into the 2023 season with a lot of the same pieces he ended 2022 with. There won't be Odor, thankfully, but I would not be surprised if we pick up a mid-tier rotation piece and call it a day for the offseason. Everyone here needs to realize that it's a distinct possibility that we start 2023 with a team that strongly resembles last year team with Elias banking on that Adley and Gunnar are going to produce at a higher level, G-Rod will represent the rotation upgrade and any promotions of guys like Westburg and Ortiz are going to be shots in the arm when we trade someone like Mateo and/or Urias at the deadline.

It would be awesome if he turned out to be Chris Davis 2.0. I'd laugh hysterically.

Let's take it down a notch. It's been pointed out that the budget increase will be likely spent on arbitration cases. I don't believe what I'm reading here. We've got guys like Adley, Gunnar, G-Rod and a lot of other prospects that look like they could contribute, we've finally made inroads into the Dominican and look to have a strong presence there, we just won WAY more games this past season than anyone thought we were going to and people are UPSET BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT SPENDING A LOT OF MONEY IN FREE AGENCY.

Good for him for gambling on himself. Ugh. Was hoping he would go to SF.

Life moves pretty fast, doesn’t it?

Really? Had no idea. Taillon is a bit underwhelming mixed with Gibson, I agree.

K.

Define mid-tier starter for the audience.

I don't think I'm gonna be wrong here, bro. But Elias saying that people misinterpreted "liftoff" is a big sign that we're not gonna be in on the high priced FAs.

I absolutely LOVE the Rule 5.

I'll blow my own horn here and remind you gentlemen that I've been saying for months to not be surprised if Elias doesn't spend a lot of money in free agency. The "significant upgrades" are going to be a full year of Gunnar, Adley, 125 innings of G-Rod and banking on some more production from higher ranked prospects in the system.