Moose Milligan

It was interesting how the desire to see Jones get called up waned on here when his hitting plummeted. Maybe they fixed his defense in the span of a few weeks? I'm very excited!!

Well it's a BS take on style points. It's okay to win 45 games as long as the perception is that you're trying. It's a problem with MLB baseball and tanking for draft picks if you've put together a poor roster and have the perception that you're not trying. Winning 45 games is winning 45 games. The perception on "effort" is stupid if you're going to ignore/dismiss what the long term goal is, which is what Rosenthal seems to do.

Also, he seems to think that the 1988 team was trying because it had Murray, Ripken and a washed up Fred Lynn. By that measure, I guess the 2018 was trying hard because we had Manny Machado and some other names. The 2021 team isn't trying because we don't have any names that people would recognize outside of the diehard fanbase. And yet if the 2021 team matches the 2018 team in wins, one team was trying and the other one wasn't.

Ken is a good writer. By that I mean his use of the English language is good. It's easy enough to read, the language is clear and concise. But as far as the actual column goes, I'm not sure what the point of it was. He rehashes the 1988 team's troubles and does a poor job of comparing/contrasting. And, as noted above by @eddie83, he doesn't offer any solutions to the problem. He also doesn't mention that the 1988 team was 5 years removed from a World Series title and a run from the mid 60s to the mid 80s where the Orioles might have been the most well run organization in the game. IIRC from '65 to '85, no team won more games. So in 1988, fans still had a lot of recent good memories. 2021 doesn't have that. We had a nice little run in the mid 2010s but that doesn't erase everything that's happened since Angelos purchased the team.

Hey Froberto Duran, lemme know if you need a certain OH poster with a Fred McGriff avatar to take one of those tickets off your hands. Crabs on me.

...Chris Davis. Good to see you back on the board. Ken Rosenthal and I are getting drinks and dinner at the Charleston on Thursday night. Stop on by if you're around, we'll save you a seat.

Were they serving chicken on the Titanic? Preferring Nunez to Franco is akin to eating dinner and asking the band to take a request while the ship is sinking. (Yes, I'm fully aware that I made that preference, too. But while we're here, I'll happily state my preferences on which players I'd like to watch be horrible on my horrible team.)

I think "expected timetable" is a creation of too many armchair GMs on sports message boards. It becomes easy to fall into the trap of projecting who should be called up, when they should be called up and how they'll produce. It is an exercise in believing that everything will go according to plan. It doesn't take into account: Injuries Poor performance Great performance by players you didn't expect (looking at you, Mullins) Trades Free agent signings Other teams in the division getting better Other teams in the division getting worse Simply put, there are too many variables for the "expected timetable" argument. Now I think Elias probably does have projections for when he'd expect players to arrive in the majors but also needs to remain flexible because of everything that needs to break right for him and his franchise. We laud ballplayers who don't get overconfident when they're going good and on a hot streak and don't get too low on themselves when they're doing poorly and slumping. A good GM, IMO, is no different. The mentality for baseball isn't relegated for the men on the field, it extends into the front office. I don't believe Elias expected the team to be this bad this year, I don't think any of us did. But I also wouldn't expect Elias to start hopping around and switching up his plan based on how bad this season has been, either. Just based on the roster and talent level, anyone looking at this team at the beginning of the season had to know this was a last place team in the AL East. Everyone can agree on that. Elias wouldn't ever admit to that, but he's been around the game long enough to know. So if we were expected to finish in last place to start the season and are in last place this late into August, what are we wringing our hands about? The degree of severity of being in last place that we find ourselves in? If we were looking at 53 wins, would we be freaking out as much? If we came in at 99 losses, dodging the hideous 100 loss season, yet still in last place, would we be complaining as much? What if we lost 102 games instead? Where's the demarcation point between being comfortable in last place and being outraged by it? Elias isn't going to freak out, he's not going to pound his fists, he's not going to give any of us any controversial soundbites to chew on. He's a professional. Leave the the rest to us. In regards to the Jays, it does my heart good to know that they're having stadium issues. I always loved that Skydome opened in '89 and was considered the future and all of a sudden looked like a dinosaur 3 years later when OPACY opened up and set the trend.

Yeah, but this is a team effort.

Here it is, sports fans. The Orioles are looking at tying and possibly breaking their own record for futility this week. After a much needed off-day tomorrow, the Angels are in town for three. Your pitching matchups: Tuesday: Our old friend Dylan Bundy vs. Spenser Watkins, a battle of the heavyweights. Bundy has a 6.04 ERA, Watkins is sporting a 5.63 ERA. Wednesday: Shohei Ohtani vs. TBD. I'm sure whoever we match up with vs. Ohtani has a chance. Thursday: TBD vs. TBD Better get one Tuesday or Thursday if we don't want to end up tying the record. Rays in town Friday and you can chalk that one up as a loss. Could be #22.

Of course. 18 in a row. 21 directly in sight.

Maybe Franco can run into one. Doubtful.

Here's hoping Smith is tired and we can steal one here.

Gonna be a tough luck loss for Means. Ugh, quite frankly if we lose...just tie it up and lose it in extra innings so Means doesn't have to factor in the decision here.

We're really gonna lose 18 in a row. Unbelievable, and yet totally believable. Tanner Scott in? Forget it.

Mountcastle dinger here, I'm calling it.

I'm sure I can beat Wynns up the line even if I was on crutches. But it doesn't look like he was hustling there. And I hate to play the hustle card, it's so obnoxious and annoying. No one hauls ass up the line 100% of the time. But if you're staring down the gun of 18 losses, you should be doing everything you can. I dunno if Wynns beats that out but maybe the tie would go to the runner.

I hope George Matthew is ok. One of the few reasons to watch lately.

This homer that Manny hit last night was unbelievable. 119 MPH exit velocity. An absolute bullet, line drive. I think the launch angle was 15% or something absurd.

This is unbelievable to me. He was so terrible, I'm amazed he's still at the professional level in the States.

I'd have rather had him this year instead of Franco.

Ugh, Akin. While Lopez has some power stuff, I just don't see it with Akin. I'm aware that not every pitcher can have power stuff but it's not like Akin's stuff is that great. I believe he should be in the bullpen only because he's not cutting it as a starter but I don't think he's really ML material at all. I don't believe his stuff will play up and I don't think he'll ever get the command. I've said it before, I'm not sure if he doesn't have the command or is just trying to nibble...either way, it's bad. But yeah, he's gotta go to the pen.

Correa is a fantastic player but he's always hurt. He's played over 150 games in his career exactly once and hasn't even come close in the other years. But @OrioleDogbrings up some good points. Sutcliffe would be good for what we're trying to do next year, though I'm not sure if a comp like that exists in today's game. Someone please rep him more for the "Syndergaard pillow" line. Brilliance.

If he doesn't get a Morton-like veteran starter or two in the offseason, I really don't care what else he does. I'll consider the offseason a failure.

When I saw "walk off" I thought it automatically meant "homer." Somehow, I more enjoyed the fact that it was a rocket to where the rightfielder couldn't get it.