Moose Milligan

How do you tell which garbage to get rid of and which garbage to keep giving chances?

I also gotta think this is an excellent troll job, too.

No kidding they don't have a warehouse. There's no other building like it on the east coast. As @Frobbysaid I'm glad they didn't do a knock-off like every other stadium that came directly after Camden Yards.

I'm not so sure. You gotta see that ball clear the infield. Especially if you're the Phillies and need to get every win you can to stay alive.

It would be par for the course for him.

Nevermind. Terrible baserunning by Harper.

Harper with the leadoff double off Abad. That's all she wrote, folks.

Probably. Do you get excited about every ex Oriole that goes on a bit of a hot streak?

@Can_of_cornlmmaaaooooooo Dillon Tate!

Let's see how long that lasts.

Kinda hard to take @NelsonCruuuuuzseriously when he can't tell the difference. Ed Rodgers. Haven't seen that name in at least 10 years.

Nah, he can just blow the game outright.

It still looks good. I wonder if Orioles fans would be dumping on Nats park like they do, simply because it's the Nats and the whole "rivalry." The open concourse at Nats stadium is fantastic. It's great to be able to walk around and get food and still have access to watching the game.

I don't care about the lack of power as long as the OBP skills remain. Far too long this team has had problems with lack of OBP skills/talent.

Schadenfreude.

@NattyHow you feelin, bro? You still think Mullins is a lock to get that last homer?

Part of me thinks that patience and selectivity at the plate has to do with discipline. If you're a good to great hitter as Jones was and Mountcastle appears to be, pitch recognition is part of that...it has to be. But having the discipline to lay off that pitch is a whole different enchilada. IMO, I think Jones used to try really, really hard. I seem to recall at the beginning of some seasons, he'd lay off the low and outside slider (his Kryptonite) but you could tell he was holding back with every fiber of his being. Laying off a low and outside slider for Jones was like trying to keep a pit-bull away from a steak. God forbid he'd actually get a hit off one, he'd think all of a sudden he could hit them and would be flailing away that them for weeks at a time. Mountcastle seems to be a bit more disciplined. If he can draw 60+ walks a year, that'd be pretty fantastic and unexpected.

This is a good writeup and I agree that fastball command is probably the most important thing. Or one of the most important things. If you're a soft tosser like one of these three guys, you have to have it. Pinpoint command is essential. IMO, where these guys miss is that their overall stuff isn't impressive. I'm aware that not everyone can sit at 97 MPH and occasionally hit 100 with wipeout sliders, but IMO that's what it takes to be ultra successful in today's MLB. It's a high strikeout environment and those who strike batters out will have the best success. If they don't have the big time fastball (and none of these guys do), it needs to have a lot of movement and they need to be able to dot it wherever they want. And they have to have a great secondary offering, an offspeed pitch, big curve they can throw for strikes, SOMETHING else that they can do above average to compete. That's why Means can do well, he's got a great changeup and his curve is pretty good. From what I've seen of these guys, none of them have a big time fastball and none of them can locate whatever fastball they have with any consistency. It's always been hard for me to tell if they're nibblers or if they're aiming too much and not trusting their stuff. None of them really have outstanding secondary offerings, either. But for every Means you get, an unheralded guy who appears to be fringy/average, there are dozens of guys who never make that leap. IMO, Wells, Lowther, Akin...are among the dozens of guys who are fungible, fringy/average guys. You won't have to look far and wide for anyone to replace what they've been able to provide so far. That's not to say that they don't deserve chances...they absolutely do. Even though they've all been bad to terrible, they still need to see if they can turn a corner or not. Right now our rotation is consisting of Means and 4 JAGS, hopefully next year it's G-Rod, Means, a FA pickup and 2 JAGS. Rotation spots hopefully won't be available for guys like these in the future...that'll mean G-Rod is legit, Means is still effective and we've actually gone out and signed a FA that can hold a rotation spot. I don't mind giving these guys shots all day right now as this team is terrible...but if we're still looking at guys with fringy/average stuff in late 2022/2023 and beyond, something's terribly wrong.

Yeah, but they should have been better by August. I figured it was a 72-75 win team. IIRC, after the first month they were toast. By August it was a walking corpse.

It is better. 2018 team had better talent.

I do believe I mentioned velocity differences. Eat it, Drungo.

I don't think anyone was poo-pooing anything, really. At least I didn't take it that way. Drungo even said he's not down on Mountcastle. Rather, it was just commentary on the difference in MLB between 1982 and 2021. 28 homers for a 21 year old SS in 1982, I'd imagine, would have been unheard of back then. I think everyone here's happy for RMC, I don't think anyone's poo-pooing anything.

No. Next.

That was awesome! But I wonder what Trey was thinking trying to go to third.