Pickles

That looks about right to me.

Well, I don't think that's what his point was. It clearly wasn't. You could argue it would be more attractive for the O's to sign Ohtani because there's a sizeable Asian population in the DMV and he would likely act as a draw to get them invested in the O's. I think you're vastly overestimating the economic impact of that, but you could make that argument. However, the argument clearly being made was that becuase the DMV has a sizeable Asian population that would make it more likely to Ohtan to want to sign here. I pointed out the deep flaw in that thinking. Not to get too off topic, but I lived in Asia for ten years in several different countries. The idea that Asian people are a monolith couldn't be further from the truth. You know who doesn't give a crap about Cambodians? Japanese people. You know who doesn't like Koreans? Chinese people. Etc. I could go on. Again, that there is a sizeable population of Vietnamese in Norther Va. doesn't make the area more attractive to Ohtani.

I've always said you're the smartest poster here.

Yes, he cares about being close to his homeland: Japan. He doesn't care if there's a sizeable Vietnamese population in Northern VA.

This is such an American way of looking at things. Ohtani doesn't care about "Asian" culture. He's Japanese. The fact that there are Thai, Cambodian, and Pakistani, etc. populations in the DMV couldn't mean less to Ohtani in determing where he lives. Lest we forget, he gave up a TON of money already to play on the West Coast because of the commute to Japan.

He will never come here. The O's could never afford him. It's a non-starter.

I was being fairly pedantic. But I always associate those three as they were so clearly our best players for a long time, and they were almost literally the only thing of value our farm system produced in about 25 years.

I can't see them making a "major' trade, or at least trading someone of the significange of Westburg, in a late spring training trade. I can't imagine anyone else would be willing to part with an equally significant piece at this point.

Why not? I could give a series of answers, some maybe more relevant that others. 1. He's never been on a professional opening day roster at any level. 2. He's never had a professional at-bat above AA. 3. He's never played a complete professional season. 4. He's not on the 40 man. 5. Service time considerations. I'm loving what he's doing this spring, and it probably is, as other's have mentioned, the single most positive development of this spring. But there is literally 0% chance he's on the opening day roster. And I would say it is very unlikely he'll even reach the majors this season.

Bedard and Brian Roberts while both drafted in 1999 were in the O's system in the years you mentioned. Your larger point is of course correct, but perhaps not quite that dire.

This was actually an observation I had had as well. I think if McKenna "loses" his job it will be more about the determination that Hays can handle CF fairly regularly.

I obviously have no insider knowledge of anything, but Voth will start in the pen, and Baumann will be in the pen in AAA. Hopefully, Baumann can flourish in that role and be a factor as the season progresses.

Voth will be on the team before Buamann. I'd bet on that.

He was awful in the majors last year. Went to the minors. Made adjustments. And came back a much better pitcher. It's almost like the minors do indeed serve a purpose. Now, I'm not going to get super dug in on whether Grayson should start the season in the bigs or not, because I think you could make an argument both ways. But what he has not done with his performance this spring is end that discussion. If he pitched better this spring nobody would even be talking about it.

Remind me, where did Bradish go to make the adjustments that led to further development?

If he stays healthy and productive he has a 4 WAR season in him before his career is over. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see it this year.

I personally am really rooting for Rom. But I'm not surprised at all that they have more interest in Povich.

I mean it makes sense they would have more interest in Povich. They inherited Rom. Povich is a guy they targeted. Those kinds of things matter.

JJ had 5+ years of being a top notch bullpen guy here in Bal. under Buck's handling. He then went on to pitch 5 more years in the bigs with mixed results. How many years is a bullpen pitcher supposed to last? Britton had 4+ years here as a top notch bullpen guy under Buck's handling. And has had another 4 years in NY with mixed results. How long was he supposed to last? Buck handled bullpens as well as any manager I've seen in the modern era. And that continued last year in NY.

I saw him against the Jays the other day and he was swinging the bat horribly. As RZNJ says below though: If he is hurting, it makes absolutely no sense that he would be playing now.

I saw his first 3 ABs today. While he got a walk in the third trip, his first two were pretty sad, both ending in swinging Ks.

I basically agree with all of this.

I believe it's possible he isn't. I also believe the decision will be made more with what is best for Hall's development, rather than based on marginally upgrading the middle relief core.

As someone else said, this is a take solely for 2023 fantasy value. Hall if he's even in the bigs will be a middle reliever. That has little fantasy value. I think the expectation isn't that Hall can't improve his command over time, but that he's not going to do it immediately enough to be an impact ML arm this year.

Any decision to start Hall in AAA will have nothing to do with service time.