Moose Milligan

Yep, you put it way better than I could have. But that's a really good explanation. And even after he left and he had a few good years it was like..."Man, we had that guy, that sucks, but that can't last..." And he just kept...going. For a really long time. Sheesh, Wikipedia says that as of his retirement, he had faced 8.9% of ALL MLB HITTERS EVER. That's ridiculous. He's an extreme outlier, absolutely. And he's not a Hall of Fame worthy guy but I kinda almost think he is. It depends on your definition of who's a Hall of Famer and for me it depends on which side of the bed I wake up on. Sometimes I think "Well, a small Hall would be really nice." And other times I think "It's the Hall of FAME. FAME. Were they famous? Yeah, they might not have racked up a huge amount of WAR but...were they popular? Memorable?" Under the second notion of what the Hall of Fame should be...Moyer is a Hall of Famer. Nolan Ryan is an outlier. Rickey Henderson is an outlier. Jamie Moyer is an outlier. Sure, Jaime Moyer wasn't dominant, didn't throw a bunch of no-hitters, strike out a lot of batters...but he was extremely memorable, we'll probably never see anyone like that again. Like we won't see Nolan Ryan again. Or Rickey Henderson again. Sometimes I think Jamie Moyer deserves recognition for being such an outlier. But maybe being Jamie Moyer is enough. I'm not sure what he's up to these days but he made enough money during his career to set himself and his family up for life. He wrote a book, had a stint as a broadcaster, opportunities that probably wouldn't have been afforded to him if he wasn't Jamie Moyer. One should be so lucky.

Let's be clear here, Jaime Moyer wasn't really JAIME MOYER yet. When they got him in '93, he was a journeyman type. And he had a good season that year but he regressed each year after. No one would have ever believed after the Orioles let him go after '95 that he'd go on to win 208 games with a 4.13 ERA. It's easy to look at that name now and remember what a great career he had and how long he lasted but no would have had a clue then. Kind of similar with Kevin Brown...Kevin Brown was a good pitcher but he really wasn't KEVIN BROWN yet. He really started to dominate in '96. Don't get me wrong, he was pretty damn good for his one season in Baltimore but his season ended early when he tried to field a chopper back up the middle with his pitching hand and he broke a finger. Two guys that...if the Orioles held onto them, would they have reached the heights they did? Hard to know.

The only thing I remember about Kevin Bass is he's the one that hit the line drive to the wall in Seattle where Griffey Jr. jumped into the wall and broke his wrist. I remember Van Slyke being a massive disappointment. Pretty sure I called Fernandez "Fat Ass Fernandez," all the time. He was awful. Pretty sure that Doug Jones had, like, a 3 mph difference between his changeup and his fastball.

I'm not getting excited.

Yeah, the trades have been fairly solid from a realistic perspective. I didn't think Cobb would be as bad as he's been. He's been absolutely terrible for me. Means, too.

Cobb got hurt in my sim, too. After being absolutely terrible. And I shopped him around. No takers. Like, no one wanted to trade for him. So then someone offered me a trade which I wasn't crazy about, I felt like I was giving up too much...but I tried to slip Cobb in there...like an overpaid, underperforming highly injury prone pitcher is someone you can slip in...and the other GM wrote back something like " I will NOT ACCEPT any overpriced veterans in any trade!!!" So much for that.

You exist in a state of permanent grumpiness.

For a laugh, Google Joey Diaz Ranch Dressing. NSFW due to language (which is good cause you're not at work).

I was excited for him, too. I also remember being really excited for Rick Krivda, Jimmy Haynes and Curtis Goodwin. For some reason I also thought that Alex Ochoa was going to be the next Roberto Clemente. I don't know when I started to get so jaded about Orioles prospects. But for awhile there I'd always have my hopes so high.

Yeah, I'd posted that before clicking the link. Me mentioning Craig Worthington was kind of a joke. 3B might be the biggest gap between 1st place and 2nd place in terms of these positional rankings....It's really Brooks way far out in front and then...everyone else.

He'll be remembered for what he did in Boston. But he had his best season in Baltimore, which paved the way for what he was able to do in Boston. He was a good, hard nosed player who maxed out his abilities.

Yeah, I made my comment before checking the link. Tony Batista is an interesting choice. I liked Leo Gomez. I thought he was a pretty good player. And a hell of a nice guy, always signing autographs. I think I've got 5 of his cards autographed. @Can_of_corn you can't have Cal eligible for 3rd if he's going to be SS. I mean, I suppose you could since it's Brooks and then everyone else. But if you're trying to keep these guys identified with the positions they're most noted for, Cal isn't at 3rd.

Craig Worthington?

I agree that Reggie wasn't here long enough. And I agree that sticking it out for the 2000s Orioles is a badge of courage and stupidity. To be courageous, sometimes I think you gotta be a little stupid. Schoop also feels more like an Orioles cause he came up here. Alomar was always going to be a hired gun. It's not a surprise that he left as quickly as he came. I don't really hold that against him.

I agree.

It's an interesting question, a bit frivolous. I mean, you can look at WAR WAR WAR and get your answer that way. WAR is nice and everything but it's always seemingly used as the trump card for any baseball debate. Like, "...the player I just named has more WAR than anyone you're bringing to the table so....I win." But if you had a Game 7 to play. Or if you had a stretch in August and September and were in the playoff hunt...who would you rather have? I never saw Grich. For me, it's Alomar, though. Yeah, he didn't play here all that long but if we're talking about the BEST, it's him.

I wonder what happened to him. And Billy Rowell, too. Seems that most of the time, the guys that had pretty good careers land on their feet elsewhere. Companies are usually willing to hire someone who is/was recognizable and played at a professional level and people might recognize. No one outside of the die-hardest Orioles fans remembers Matt Reilly and Billy Rowell. They never got famous or regionally well known enough to have an easy-ish life outside of baseball.

Philip, I was hoping since you're so verbose you'd have more insight than that.

I think Randy Johnson, if he were pitching today, would have a 400 strikeout season.

I really liked him. Fun to watch and was a key contributor to the 2012 team. I was there on 9/6/12 when he socked two homers against the Yankees. Great times.

Yikes, the 1989 Draft wasn't that good. I've never looked at who the Orioles COULD have drafted if they didn't take McDonald #1. Tyler Houston, Roger Salkeld, Jeff Jackson, Donald Haris, Paul Coleman, FRANK THOMAS, Kyle Abbott, Charles Johnson round out the top 10. Mo Vaughn and Chuck Knoblauch went later in the first round. I'm assuming had the Orioles been scared off by McDonald's usage and gone in a different direction, they wouldn't have had the foresight to draft Frank Thomas.

What, you didn't disagree with the "he knows the ways of the world" part of the quote?

Man, I don't envy sportswriters at all during this pandemic. Trying to come up with new content has to be getting old. I'd imagine they're going to run out of things to come up with at some point. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29003518/the-most-hyped-prospect-ever-all-30-mlb-teams#BAL For some reason, Jeffrey Hammonds was the first one that came to mind. I was 8 when they drafted McDonald, certainly remember how good he was supposed to be but I have more vivid memories of people saying Jeffrey Hammonds was going to be, like, Rickey Henderson.

@#!% %!@#! %@!$ &%!@ In my sim, Hunter Harvey is already hurt. Thankfully it's not the arm, it's a leg injury. But he's out for 5 weeks. So I scoured my minors, Marcos Diplan is actually performing well. So I bring him up. And what does he do? First appearance, he drills Tim Anderson, touches off a brawl and gets SUSPENDED FOR NINE GAMES. Apparently the league felt that Diplan was at fault because Anderson only got 4 games. At one point I was 5-5 and thinking...hey, this team might not be that bad. Now I'm 10-24 and wondering how my staff will make it through the season. In other words, it's feeling like the real thing.

I agree. I brought up Kohl Stewart who's listed as a starter. But he's my "Oh crap, my starter can't make it out of the 3rd and my bullpen is tired" guy who can mop up a game that's gotten out of hand.