Pickles

I'd rather have Sonny Gray. Hell, would you rather have Cease vs. Gibson, Ortiz, and Cowser? I'd take the latter group.

That's a hard pass at that suggested price.

Scouting reports are all well and good, but scouts have been wrong before. Even in the consensus. Especially about defense in my experience. I don't know how you define panicking, but he is not a guy I want getting extended time in CF at this point, and that is based on his observable defense from last year, despite what scouting reports said or say.

One would hope this is not a conversation we're having in 2 years. While he should definitely hit better than McKenna, I don't think he has the glove to be carried as a 4th outfielder type if he doesn't. McKenna is a plus OF, and I know I'm being biased by a small sample size, but Cowser just looked so bad in the OF last year it's hard to imagine he'll ever be that. He has the raw tools, speed and arm, but there's more to the OF than that.

He looked bad defensively. Real bad. Far worse than should have been expected. That's not overreacting. That's just an observation. That said, in specific reference to his arm, he made a couple of nice throws and showed good arm strength. He did not show good accuracy or positioning on his throws, but he clearly has a plus arm.

I'd be shocked if he was ever as good as McKenna defensively. If he can't hit, his glove won't carry him like McKenna's does.

It's possible one of the sons used their gaining their "father's approval" as a negotiating tactic.

My first thought. If reports are to be believed, Angelos isn't deciding what he's eating for lunch at this point.

Good point. I was truly surprised to see that he had the highest total since the franchise's arrival. It's really exciting to think how good this team can be as long as those two are on the roster.

The scroll said he had the highest WAR for an Oriole rookie since coming to Baltimore in 1954, which surprised me. He also had the 4th highest WAR for a rookie SS in MLB history, I"m assuming. That's pretty rarified air.

Yes. IIRC, Tony was lower on Cowser last offseason than the general consensus.

Then prepare to be disappointed. The Orioles will not acquire a better pitcher than these three this offseason.

I just noticed that. He's listed at 5'10" which means he's probably a legit 5'8". He's had an impressive career for a 5'8" righty.

I would expect that tbh. I advocated signing E-Rod two years ago. He has been the only FA I've really advocated for since the rebuild began. I'd love to see him in Baltimore at 4/80, but when the numbers inevitably creep higher than that, I fully expect them to walk away.

That seems downright reasonable for Eduardo.

So we're better but if we don't make "big changes" we'll be in the same boat? That doesn't really add up. That seems like one of them facts drawn from a foregone conclusion. How's Rizzo trending? LeMahieu? Stanton? We're way better than them, and they're trending in the opposite direction, and all the money on Earth can't cover that up.

The Ewok Willie Calhoun got significant time at DH and hitting in the middle of the order for the Yankees last season. It's an understatement to say our roster is better than theirs.

You think the Yankess have a better roster than the O's?

Well then what is enough? Luis Roberts? And isn't enough for what? Making the playoffs? This team's 40 man roster as stands should be favorited to make the playoffs. I stand by that statement.

If they could upgrade from Gibson, and add a solid relief option, that's a solid off-season. And I guess by "exact same team," I meant exact same organization. The team is literally going to improve just by graduating prospects. You were screaming that all during the season. Yet now don't really acknowledge that.

There are no guarantees period. Not to pick on anybody, but there have been plenty of calls for "big deals" that would have made the team worse off. They are going to make moves. There are no static off-seasons. But they won't make moves nearly as drastic or bold as you propose, imo. And yet they will be well positioned to make the playoffs, if not win the East outright, next year on April 1st, barring some disastrous luck. I should be more accurate: We have the wind at our back for a few more seasons. In the long run the system is not in our favor, for sure.

How do you think Franco's gonna do next year? The other teams are older, more expensive, with worse farm systems. The natural order favors us.

I grant by the same token, a mid 90s team could easily win 88 games as well. But if we want to just talk baseline talent, I think this team has to be looked at as a 90-95 win team. And they damn well might win 102. Yes, some guys will not perform as well as last year, but others will perform better. As a young team, and a team adding talent in house, it's reasonable to expect that the internal movement of the team will actually be upward. Again, look across the infield. They could literally get better production at every position next year and it wouldn't be outrageous. 1b: Mountcastle is healthy all season. No vertigo. Might finally have that breakout year, which a lot of people thought might happen this year. 2b: Full season of Westburg, and Holliday. SS: Ortiz is starting SS from day one. He's an upgrade defensively over last year, and cumulatively equals the offense. 3b: Henderson plays here all season. Now, sure that's a rosy picture, but even the bleakest of forecasts must take into account that the Orioles go several guys deep at each position who are likely at least average regulars.

Bautista being out is the big one that hurts. But we could literally get better performance out of every single infield position next year and I don't think it would be shocking. If we get a full season of what Rodriguez did down the stretch, that's another huge upgrade. Well see what they do in the outfield next season, but you'd be the first to argue there will be more talent at least in the outfield next year as opposed to this. If you wanna say, "The outperformed their pythag a bit and they were more like a mid 90s win team." Then I'd agree with that. But there doesn't seem to be a very compelling argument to be made about why we would regress much from that mid 90s baseline.

Well, I appreciate you feel that way, but there's really no evidence to suggest they weren't at least a mid 90s win team. And again, the team next year should be more talented than this year's team.