Moose Milligan

Bases loaded, none out. Where have I seen this before?

Would be great to hang a blown save on Chapman. Promising start here.

I guess so. How many pitches has he thrown across 5 days?

I thought the Jorge Lopez bullpen experiment was decent until just now.

I like this outlook.

He is entering MVP conversation. Yankees are hot, so is he. Ohtani has the inside track, simply because what he's doing is historic but he's doing it for a team that's going nowhere. Can't say the same for Judge. He hits at least 3 homers this weekend, take it to the bank.

I can't tell if he will, either. The Angelos family has spent money before, this is true. But they tend to have made poor decisions with it. He communicates very well, too. I think he's an affable guy. Doesn't mean he can sell, but...I mean, DD had the personality of a doorknob. I think Elias can do it.

Elias is a smart guy. And I don't mean that smart people are always successful, but I don't mind riding with a guy who's Ivy League educated and went to one of the best charter high schools in the country that's dedicated to science and technology. That background doesn't guarantee anything but it does mean he will learn quickly. Obviously I'd prefer a guy who has direct experience in this area but if we're going to go with a hot-shot young GM, Elias has a pedigree that's tough to beat. That is to say I have more faith in the Elias part of the puzzle than the Angelos part of the puzzle.

This is funny, I was actually about to bring up Verlander. If you're a guy like Verlander (in his prime) and you're the ****ing ****, do you really care if you're playing in the AL East or not? If you're a top 5, top 10 pitcher, do you care if you're facing the Sox, Yanks, Jays and Rays often? We're forgetting that these guys are also top flight competitors. We're dismissing the fact that they might actually like the challenge. In regards to your final point...yeah, it's a sales job for sure. Sell them on what you're doing, how they can fit in. I'm not sure if Elias can...but that's only because he doesn't appear to have made the effort to guys that can move the needle forward at all. A Matt Harvey type doesn't count.

My overall point is that...we think we know that they won't come here. Logically, that makes sense. However, we also can't be 100% sure because the Orioles hardly ever try.

Maybe he had a bunch of 3 year deals and wanted a 4th and we stepped up and gave it to him.

If the Orioles can get there, they can just play in an empty stadium. Not like that's unfamiliar.

You keep saying that like it's proof that he didn't have any other offers. So you don't think that Cobb's familiarity and success in the AL East had nothing to do with his decision to come here, too?

I consider them linked. IMO, it's just as hard to get someone here on a multi year deal. As you noted, they're signing up to play in a bandbox and in the AL East. Who'd sign up for that for multiple years? Cobb did it....why he did it, I have no idea. Probably because he was already in the East to begin with and had already done fairly well. Sure a free agent would like the security of a multi-year deal but if they're good enough they should probably be able to get a multi year deal somewhere else that's more appealing. If you're focusing on a one year re-establish type of guy...you're correct, why would they come here? I would assume that many other teams would want to take the chance on a guy who has to re-establish himself. Capturing some former glory for a guy who was, at one time, pretty good is a gamble a lot of teams would take. It's not an exactly under valued market. Either way, the prospect of pitching here isn't good no matter how you cut it. Multi-year deal, one year deal, etc. Doesn't matter. Whether the Orioles seriously pursue either type of FA is the real issue here because, we, the diehard fans who spend all day every day on here speculating about this type of stuff really have no idea if the Orioles can land either type of FA if they're not getting in the ring. We really don't know, do we? The Orioles, from what we can tell, just simply don't try to get either type. So how can we really know that free agents of either type won't come here?

You're probably right, however Cobb didn't come to us hat in hand. We gave him a 4/57 million deal. It's entirely possible and probably likely that we bid against ourselves or had to overpay to that degree in order to get his attention. Same with Ubaldo, 4/50. But in recent years we've seen free agents signing later and later in the offseason, too.

RZNJ, I said that it's impossible if they don't try. I believe we think it's almost impossible to get a good pitcher here (whether they want to re-establish market value or not doesn't make a difference) because the Orioles simply don't try to spend money on quality free agent pitchers to begin with.

It's easy to say that good pitchers won't come here (and I agree with that sentiment) but I think we also lose track of the fact that it's not like this organization has really tried in recent years. Alex Cobb came off a decent year before signing here. Ubaldo (I know, I know) re-established his value in Cleveland in 2013 before signing here, too. Those are the names that come to mind immediately when it comes to multi-year deals at a 10 million a year+ contract value. I'm sure I'm probably forgetting some but I'm too lazy to look it up. IMO, I don't see this organization trying to sign a bunch of these guys each year and coming up short. I don't see the organization trying at all. So, again, IMO, maybe they'd come here if the Orioles actually tried.

Well then I guess we can't lose tonite!

I'm inclined to agree with your take on the offseason. However, I think this offseason might be...MIGHT BE...a bit different. IMO, Elias can't bring up AR and G-Rod next year on a similar roster to this years. You gotta have some guys around these two that can actually play.

Hope so.

Yep. I think he gets another year, too.

I sorta see where you're coming from. Leo Mazzone wasn't a genius, I don't think. I recall an anecdote about Maddux where he was throwing a bullpen, working exclusively from the stretch. Maddux explained to him that he was going to most likely have to throw a more important pitch in a game situation while dealing from the stretch. Hadn't dawned on Leo before. None of our pitching prospects have stepped up this year. Tyler Wells is the only one that's delivered anything, he's been a pleasant surprise. Akin and Kremer were massive disappointments. They actually regressed. I didn't say that you said Holt was a wizard, that was a tongue in cheek comment in regards to someone here earlier this year who thought he was. Like I said, I don't trust this coaching staff to tease better performances out of pitchers, at least not yet. Gallen would be a fantastic arm to get and if we could somehow work a trade that would make sense, they should do it. But IMO the question is...is this the type of environment, the type of coaching staff that can make a guy like that better? Yeah, we should definitely try to acquire guys like that. The philosophy is good, IMO...I just dunno if Holt's the guy.

Sure, I get that. But Chris Holt ain't a wizard.

I don't fully trust this iteration of management to tap into unrealized potential for someone like that. If we were the SF Giants? All day, sure. Elias and his minions have done a good job of bringing us into the 21st century with regards to advanced metrics and a presence in South America. I have my concerns with him, this being one of them. Are the instructors in place to help someone who was once highly thought of to turn it around? Right now, I'm not sure. I like the idea, I just don't know if we have the people in place to make these types of trades a win for us.

I agree, it's a tough case. But I think by the trade deadline next year we'll know what we have. And he's not a free agent until after 2026 so, yeah, we do have some time.