Moose Milligan

How do we keep track of their improvements once the season starts? They make a big deal about signing these guys and then they seem to disappear into the abyss of lower level minor leagues/instructionals.

Elias is great, but I suspect after it's all said and done that Koby Perez is going to be the best part of this era when it comes to bringing in talent. That's my Friday hot take, I'm off to have a cigar.

I've seen photos of him down there. Anyway, this is truly a really big day. Orioles are serious about the South American market and have made some good looking signings. I don't feel that this franchise is fighting with one hand tied behind their back anymore.

That's just...sad.

That's a really good analogy. I don't think DD was against trying to sign players from South America. I believe it was Fat Pete that held that up. In my mind, I like to think Elias said "You can't hire me unless you give me access to the international markets, specifically South America."

Let's make sure we've spent every last penny so CoC doesn't have any room to whine.

Wilmer Feliciano

This link says Maikol Hernandez has some Carlos Correa to him, hopefully not the douchebag part and he can stay healthy. And they put us in the top tier class with the Rays, so that's nice to see.

Dunno, I've conditioned myself to be ready for boring offseasons for the Orioles for quite some time now. Adding in the Covid mess and what it did to the season last year and how there's an uncertainty hangover for 2021, it's no wonder the offseason has been pretty lackluster so far. That, and it seems like the past few offseasons have been trending to a point where FAs don't sign until January. The action seemingly starts later and later each year.

Oooooo here we go!

I hope he finds what he's looking for.

I'll take a WS win, please. I don't care about much else.

Absolutely, he was an OBP machine.

A player ahead of his time. He'd be celebrated today.

This is where I am. There's no telling if we'll ever be good at all. If this crop doesn't give us a bump towards being competitive, it won't happen until we start seeing our international talent come up and start making noise, IMO. And that won't be until 2023 or 2024.

RIP Tommy Lasorda. One of the greats.

I don't see how Villar makes sense, even if it's for one year.

Jim Bowden (shut up) has an article on The Athletic today about each franchise's top underrated prospect. Here's ours: Baltimore Orioles Jordan Westburg, SS Age: 21 B: R T: R HT: 6-3 WT: 200 Scouting grades: HIT: 50 PWR: 55 RUN: 55 ARM: 60 FLD: 50 The Orioles selected Westburg with the 30th overall pick in 2020, a Competitive Balance Round A pick. How he dropped that far is puzzling. He’s an above-average defender at shortstop with plus range and a plus arm. He has a short, compact swing with above-average bat speed and projects to a 20-25 home run-type power bat. He’s a pull hitter right now, but once he learns to use the whole field and improves his pitch recognition, he’ll fly through the O’s farm system. He’s the Orioles’ third-best position-player prospect, behind only catcher Adley Rutschman and outfielder Heston Kjerstad.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30671790/fired-los-angeles-angels-clubhouse-attendant-names-pitchers-ball-doctoring-case Let me get this straight... The Angels clubhouse guy has been serving up a rosin/pine tar substance for visiting pitchers for YEARS? And it's considered a courtesy? I would be ****ing IRATE if the Orioles were doing this for visiting opponents. BTW, @Frobby, it lists Bundy as a guy who's been using this stuff. So there ya go.

Haha, the Mets. Where careers go to die. It's a virtual lock that Lindor either puts on a bunch of weight, gets injured all the time or gets busted for PEDs (or any combination of the three).

That, too.

Just bought some '89 unopened Fleer packs. Looking for that FF Ripken.

YES

YES

Some of their contemporaries thought that the old school guys were beacons of character and integrity. So what if Mountain Landis did his best to keep blacks out of baseball? He banned 8 members of the 1919 White Sox. Maybe he did it to attract attention, but that attention doesn't last past 5 minutes. No one's going to remember David Skretta in a week from now. No one can name the voters who didn't vote for Cal Ripken and prevented him from being picked unanimously. My guess is that David Skretta likes being on the moral highground and likes to remind people how virtuous he is.