Moose Milligan

I think it starts on time, but does it really matter? I've said it before, I'll say it again here. Both sides have to be acutely aware of what they stand to lose if games aren't played. Revenue and popularity. MLB is not trending upward in interest, it's well behind the NFL and probably behind the NBA by a decent stretch, too. Battling it out for 4th place with the NHL is not optimal but that's where we're headed. And there's no ace up the sleeve in order to restore interest for whatever damage they're about to inflict upon themselves. The steroids that were starting to creep into the game in the late 80s and early 90s that saved the game after the '94 strike have been banned. They can't come out with another rabbit ball to spike offense, they've already done that. The game has been pretty much pushed to the limits of what the players can do, both naturally and chemically enhanced. There's nowhere else for it to go. Batters selling out for home runs on every swing against pitchers throwing 100 mph gas. Walks, strikeouts and dingers. What a game. Pitch clocks, making sure the batter stays in the box, reliever batter minimums, reducing mound visits...whatever. It's all the very definition of moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic. And while I think Manfred is what the French call les incompétents, I also can't fault the guy for not being able to stop what appears to be the inevitable. So start the season on time or don't. The former just prolongs the death rattle while the latter hastens the death blow.

Ken Rosenthal out? Somewhere, @TonySopranois smiling.

If they wanted to make the game more interesting, they'd increase the amount of players on the field to 11. Actually, you'd have the home team and the away team on the same field at the same time, each with 11 players, so 22 players in total. Then, you'd stretch the diamond until it's a rectangle shape, 160 feet wide, 120 yards long. Instead of a baseball, they'd have an oblong leather ball that one team would try to advance down the field against the other team that's defending. To do this, they could either throw the ball through the air or have someone run the ball against the defense. And the only way you could stop that team from scoring would be to give them 4 attempts to make it past 10 yards...if they don't, they have to give the defense the ball. Teams would score when they've moved the ball into a designated area of 10 yards deep, 160 feet wide at the end of the field, otherwise known as an end-zone. That's 6 points. Then, they get a chance to kick the oblong ball through these metal posts for an additional point, or they can run another play from 2 yards out to get 2 points. It's a work in progress, but that's a rough idea of how it would be better. That would be a vastly more interesting game than what they have now.

Yep, exactly. I can see it happening for a contract that's...I dunno how to describe it, and I'm too lazy to figure out who'd qualify for this...but, like, a mid-range bad contract. A contract where a guy has 2-3 years left, maybe 40-50 million and he's performing decently. Certainly not living up to the contract, but not a Chris Davis-level disaster either. But then again, the prospects you'd be getting back probably aren't top flight prospects, either and not worth taking on the contract. The sweet spot for a deal like this is very, very small.

Maybe it's me, but I think the "can we take on a bad contract and get prospects, too?" bit is an internet message board GM's wet dream. I don't think these things happen in real life that often.

I signed up for his Substack but I'm not sure what he can do without team access.

I think I'd still probably root for them if they went to Nashville, no matter if they backfilled Baltimore with a new franchise or not. It's the franchise and it's an ongoing soap opera for sports fans. I'm more interested in how Ryan Mountcastle's career progresses rather than what home stadium he's doing it in. I'm more interested to see how Cedric Mullins' career progresses. For all the handwringing over the years about Rutschman, G-Rod, and whoever else we've got in the minors that looks like a good prospect, it doesn't matter to me if they're playing in Nashville or Baltimore. I haven't spent hundreds of thousands of hours on this site and watching games to give that up at the drop of a hat. If Camden Yards was inhabited 3 or 4 years later by a group of random players, I probably wouldn't care. I might go to a game because Camden Yards is a nice place to watch a game, but I don't think I could force myself to care about the franchise. I mean, I never gave up on this sorry ass franchise even though the Nats moved in. I never really cared about the Nats, either.

Saw the thread title, figured it was just directed at the OH directly. I was like "jeez, is it not enough that my team sucks? Why would hackers pick on Orioles fans, we're harmless. Go hack Sons of Sam Horn or something." Better knowing it was an entire server farm and that Orioles fans aren't being targeted.

Status quo for you!

What, no shot from CoC about leaving Britton in the bullpen? Best of luck to Buck in NYC. The Mets are perennial underachievers, he'll need it.

Everyone needs to remember that G-Rod and Hall are most likely going to be on innings limits. Especially Hall. No way either one of them are going 180-220 innings this year.

Yes, let it happen. I want to see a meltdown here.

Glad to see the analytics unit is a dozen strong and growing. Hopefully it pays off dividends soon.

I can see why people would want him here, I don't disagree. But I'm betting he'd be more inclined to join a team that can get him a ring rather than babysit kids on a last place team. A WS title is really the only thing he's missing from his career resume. I bet he'd take less to go somewhere else with a chance to win than come to a team like this one.

Yeah but if he only took a moment to understand the really great rebuilding process we're going through and that we have AR and G-Rod, he'd surely change his tune.

This was funny. I did laugh out loud. ?

Director of Strategy? They waited this long to hire one? That explains EVERYTHING! Playoff bound, baby!

Hsomer's just redundant. I mean, if we were going to trade Mancini sure, I guess. But we've got Mountcastle at first, I don't know what they'd have to include to make Hosmer appealing not just from a salary dump perspective but from a roster clog as well. Hosmer/Gore is enticing depending on what we'd have to give up.

Ok, cause I thought it was just me that had that problem. A couple times last summer I tried to watch an Orioles game the next day and had an absolute nightmare trying to skip to a specific inning or two. Same issue, FFW to an inning, having to watch commercials. Then it's not the right inning. RW to an inning, watch more commercials. I like it because if it's a day where the Orioles have already played you can watch any other game that's going on. Or catch a west coast game after the Orioles are done playing. But the blackout rules are terrible. If you don't have a cable package, there's no good reason why you shouldn't be able to pay for MLB.TV and watch an Orioles game no matter where you're physically located.

MASN sucks. I think you are correct. I've got a DirecTV subscription, it gets MASN flawlessly. It's nice. I used to mess around with a VPN and MLB.tv, it was a nightmare. Would work great for a week and then not work for two weeks.

Yeah, I think .330 is about the ceiling for that guy.

It'd be a lot cooler if he did.

Ok, cool.

Can you clarify what you meant as Mateo being an above replacement player?