Moose Milligan

So you wanna see Ryan Ripken in Baltimore because....? If his last name was Lawrence or Sanchez or something other than Ripken would you be in favor?

Or maybe he isn't. People are going to see what they want to see.

Sosa. Murray Part 2. Thome. I'm wondering what team could put together the best "twilight" team. IMO, two ways you could do it...one, you could look at the team selected and see the players and judge based off what they were in their primes. Or you could try to figure out who'd be the best team with the players in their actual twilight years.

Whoops, you're right. It's certainly not human nature to have repeatable habits and tics such as that. I suppose Means constantly throwing the ball in his glove before delivering a pitch is a sign that he's doctoring the ball, too. Exactly.

You're saying had they been traded a year earlier we'd have gotten better returns? I'd agree with that.

Definitely stick? Not seeing it. Also not seeing any substance on his hands. Not seeing it on the ball. What looks like a nervous tic/habit is getting pounced on by these internet video makers who are like crabs in a bucket trying to be the next media mogul like Jomboy. They're just grasping at straws and hoping something sticks.

C'mon.

Just lower the mound. (He talks about this towards the end of the video). What he did with showing you "the best player in baseball" for 250 milliseconds or whatever was cute, too. The video makes some good points. But one thing I've not heard from the "move the mound back" crowd is the effect it would have on breaking pitches. This argument all seems to stem from having to deal with fastball velocity. But that hammer curve that drops in for a strike right now probably bounces on home plate with the mound moved back. That late breaking slider is easier to lay off. Which I guess is part of the point, batters have longer to gauge whether a pitch is a ball or a strike, but I don't see how pitchers are going to be able to adjust their breaking stuff to be able to get it over for a strike. I'm assuming that they won't be able to throw those hammer curves and late breaking sliders as fast in an effort to extend the length of the break and get the pitches over. I wonder if changeups would be more or less neutralized? Baseball got lucky with the 60 feet 6 inches thing, IMO, when in regards to how pitches act. That hammer curve breaking exactly as it gets to the plate is a thing of beauty. That cut fastball sawing off a batter as it darts in at the last second is perfect. Baseball wants this whole balance thing that seems to be impossible to achieve. They want games that don't take forever, but they want increased offense. More offense = more pitches, more baserunners, more pitching changes = longer games. But I guess if those longer games have more action, that's okay. I can see the pros and cons of moving the mound back. But I'd be in favor of just lowering it first.

Wants to chase a ring, I guess. Or be able to walk away from the game on his own terms. Or both. Add Pujols on the Dodgers as one of those awkward late career moves that will be weird to us in a few years. Like Griffey Jr. on the White Sox, Willie Mays on the Mets, Manny Ramirez on the White Sox/Rays, Joe Morgan on the Astros (yes I know he started there)/Giants/Phillies/A's, etc.

I'm not 100% on the baserunning rules, but I think Manny has the right to the basepath. Now that doesn't mean you can't do whatever TF you want in the basepath. The decision making here is pretty questionable, just pull up and allow yourself to be tagged.

Yeah, I was pissed that we didn't get anything better, especially for Machado. You forgot Kremer there, too (which is easily understood).

Gotta hope that this is the truth. I prefer to believe Elias as I like him and I think he's more up front and honest with information than a guy like DD was. Obviously there's stuff he can't say, we all know that. I'm about 83.7% positive that he's telling the truth here. Haven't heard any rumors of shoulder/elbow discomfort, strains, etc.

@Legend_Of_Joey, this is awesome. Thanks for putting this together. Finally...FINALLY...the minors section is a place to really dive into and check out what prospects are doing good. That's absolutely NOT to say that the powers that be who run the board are have done a bad job...far from it, the coverage, info and insight here has always been stellar. It's just that there seem to be so many more exciting players to check in for updates on a daily/nightly basis. The minors section, IMO, is now the most exciting place on the board. If guys like Vavra, Bradish, Brnovich and Ortiz can continue to produce and make noise, our system has to be in the top 3 headed into next year.

Glad to see that he's heating up. I really don't care about the batting average as long as there's good separation between it and his OBP. The fact that his walks are increasing is a very good and encouraging sign.

I sorta see where the OP is coming from and how it relates to the Orioles. But unless you're the Sox/Yankees/Dodgers, you really can't spend your way to the top. You've gotta be able to scout, draft, sign and develop young talent. And even a team like the Dodgers does a fantastic job at doing that and then spending a lot to keep their talent. IIRC, most of the Dodgers top stars are home grown guys...or guys acquired on the cheap and then have turned into stars seemingly overnight like Turner and Muncy. I don't think the Tigers can field a good team without guys like Mize, Manning and Tork producing. I don't think the Orioles can field a good team without guys like AR, RMC, Hall, Rodriguez, Hays, Henderson, etc producing, either. As to when a team should spend? Who knows. It's hard to say, so many things have to go right and so much luck is involved in getting your guys to develop and play well. The Tigers have some awesome prospects, no one can deny that. MLB.com has them ranked #2 overall headed into this season. This board has a collective boner for minor league system rankings, especially when ours is somewhere in the top 10. It's odd to me that someone would look at the Tigers crop of talent and say they're doing something wrong when looking at it from that perspective. That said, I wouldn't have minded if we'd have spent more this past offseason and I'd hope we're able to open the purse strings a little bit this coming offseason. But per usual, I don't see that happening.

wildcard? Is that you?

Shoulder issues seem way harder to come back from than an elbow. I mean, Tommy John surgery is practically an afterthought, it's a given that anyone having TJ will be back. The shoulder is a whole different beast, IMO. That said, I wish Tillman well and I hope he gets to have another day in the sun. One should be so fortunate.

i think he's just stating facts and making an interesting observation. Not all of us are constantly drunk on the orange kool-aid, wc.

Don't forget the changeup, too. It's pretty much elite fastball, I'd argue borderline elite changeup and a fantastic curveball. It's three quality pitches.

Lol Keegan Akin. C'mon you pudgy faced applejohn!

Someone who's a Holt fan, I'm assuming.

Who's your sarcasm aimed at?

Just tuning in. Apparently the return of the Dark Knight hasn't gone that well, it seems.

Now leads the league in ERA at 1.21. Also leads in WHIP at .712

I don't see how this is a surprise. He didn't exactly dominate in 2019. He had a hot stretch in Aberdeen. 2020 doesn't mean anything to me. I know the reports out of the alternate site were glowing and people were raving about him but I don't see how facing the same pitchers over and over again is a telling sign of future success. No one can convince me otherwise. This is essentially the best competition he's ever had to face. I'm not surprised that he's striking out this much...or that he's struggling so far. Hopefully he just needs to get his feet wet a little bit and get a bit more comfortable and we'll be able to laugh about that time we freaked out that AR had a slow start in the minors.