psagawa

The As are not going to compete for at least a couple of years. Mason Miller is having a breakout season in the bullpen. 100mph heat and a wicked slider - an absolute sword machine. We have excess position player talent. Who would you trade and would Oakland accept the deal,?

May 25th against the yankees. Down 5-1 starting the 7th. Scored 8 runs in the inning. I was at the game in NY. The Yankee fans sround me went from raucous to silent to bitching about cashman and the lousy bullpen. Was wearing my Brooksie jersey and got a ton of high fives from other O's fans on the way out amidst the stunned crowd exiting. It was glorious

Gibson, because I think Kremer would be more effective out of the bullpen

Despite the loss of Felix Bautista, there are a lot of points to be bullish about the Orioles chances: 1. Starting Pitching - Once thought to be a serious weakness, it is a clear strength now. As Frobby pointed out, Bradish, Rodriguez, and Kremer have been impressive since the All-Star break, Means is back and looking like his old self, while Gibson has posted strong outings in September. One of these guys (Kremer or Gibson) will become the long man in the bullpen but the top 4 stand up very well to either the Rays (Eflin, Glasnow, Civale, and Littel) or the Jays (Gausman, Bassit, Barrios, and Ryu (most likely) for the ALDS. Looking further ahead, only Seattle and Minnesota's rotations are clearly ahead of ours. 2. Bullpen - The additions of Wells, Flaherty, and Kremer/Gibson will be big, adding reliable arms to the stalwarts Cano, Perez, Coulombe, Webb, and Hall. All of them will be well rested after the bye. There will probably be one more out there - probably Fuji but there are a few more to consider - but I wouldn't expect them to get much work unless the birds are in a blowout. 3. Likely opponents - The Rays and Jays are the most likely ALDS opponents. We beat both of them decisively this year. We will be at home. We will be completely rested. Our starting pitching will be lined up as we like it (theirs will not). Presuming we win there, we would face Texas, Minnesota, Houston/Seattle. We are a clearly a better team than either the Twins or Mariners, despite both teams starting pitching (you have to be able to hit too). Texas and Houston are bigger challenges, but we have played a LOT better than either down the stretch. 4. Health - Other than Felix and maybe Mountcastle, we are unusually healthy relative to all of the teams that we might face in the AL. 5. Home field advantage - Yes, the Orioles record is as good on the road, but the teams we will face are all better in their own ballparks. 6. Consistency - The Orioles have not gone on long downswings and can be expected to bounce back from a loss. It will be hard to beat them multiple games in a row. 7. Balance - The team is good against both righties and lefties with few real weak spots in the line up. Frazier is the worst hitter likely to get meaningful at bats and he is near .700 OPS - most other teams will be giving at bats to MUCH worse hitters than that. N.B. I do not expect Mateo or McCann to get in the line up much - Rays and Jays starters are predominantly righties and we won't be resting anyone. 8. Fielding, baserunning, intangibles should play to Orioles' favor. While the national media will be pessimistic, It seems clear (at least to me) that the Orioles should be a clear favorite to represent the AL in the world series.

Cowser and Westburg are analogous to Don Baylor and Bobby Grich on the 1971 Rochester Red Wings

Nola, Flaherty, Stroman, Giolito are all end of year free agents on teams that might be out of it come late July. Would Ortiz, Povich, and a couple lower level lottery tickets be anough for a few months of Aaron Nola at the head of the rotation?

Boston didn't sign Eovaldi or Bogearts either

I am also going to Wednesday's game. Tickets are surprisingly cheap

I'm going tomorrow night with my two oldest boys and my Yankees fan sister.