ChosenOne21

McCannon ...boom

The umpire blinked?

We have more than held our own versus the best teams in baseball. I really don't know what to say to the people who still doubt us except, "wake up."

Dammit, it was a great pitch. Rays are just professional hitters.

Yeah, there was something like that. I saw him pitch in AA last year and his velo was down around this time as well.

Grayson seems to lose velocity and effectiveness around 75 pitches. I wonder if there's a conditioning issue, or something.

Isn't that the definition of the yips? I really hope Gunnar doesn't have the yips.

I mean, he can't really be worse, can he?

But what about Elias's fanatical obsession with platoon advantage? For all his good qualities, he seems determined to protect certain hitters from facing a same-handed pitcher whether or not there's any track record of trouble. You have to wonder if that's part of the reason the lefty swinging Frazier is still on the team over Ortiz. I mean, the average platoon split is like .017 points of wOBA for righties and .027 for lefties. And it's easy to make conclusions based on a small sample size of plate appearances versus a left-handed pitcher, but really I would expect most players and prospects to be fine against pitchers of either hand. O'Hearn likely needs a platoon mate. Henderson, Stowers, and Cowser likely don't. He also seems to hold on to his veteran signings too long. I wonder if he's worried it will be harder for him to sign players in the future if he's always cutting them mid-season, I dunno.

I don't think anyone thought Fabian would be fast to the majors. The big knock against him on (both) draft day(s) was that there were major holes in his swing that led to serious hit tool questions. Now, the Orioles are pretty good at fixing this sort of thing, but overhauling a swing is a slow process. Maybe he'll make it and maybe he won't, but I think we've been spoiled by the number of prospects we have that have just flown through the minors. Fabian might need a whole year at AA. It's not the end of him as a prospect if he does. Let's not forget he climbed to AA in a year after being drafted (granted he was a senior sign).

Tork isn't remotely a bust. The guy has like 1 and 1/3 seasons worth of at bats and he's hitting .259/.343/.541 over the last month. Calling out Lyles W/L record was douchey, but that photo is extremely suspicious.

It's easily Coulombe. Though I think Fujinami has a chance to beat him by the end of the year.

I'm pretty sure he's a rental. I'm all for trying stuff, but do we even have time to really fix him?

The fact Santander was intentionally walked to get to Mountcastle should tell you a lot about what teams think of Mountcastle.

We're certainly capable of it. Odds are against any team making it though.

Wait until Cowser goes 3 for 4 tonight and suddenly his overall line looks respectable.

I'm kind of surprised it wasn't Gibson who was put in the bullpen.

Not that it's ever going to happen, but if the Orioles really want Ohtani, they should just try to make him the richest player in baseball during the offseason.

Yeah, I think you give Perez one more shot. Honestly, a lot of his most recent struggles were weak-hit grounders finding holes. Agree that it shouldn't be a particularly long leash, especially if we trade for bullpen help.

Sure, and of course I could be wrong about him. But I think he has a couple of things going for him that some of those other guys don't, namely that he was one of those hitters disproportionately affected by the shift, and that the Orioles seem to have made an adjustment that has helped him as well. That, and if he is used strictly in a platoon capacity (especially avoiding LH relievers) there's reason to think he can be a productive major leaguer for a few years. I'm not saying he's a true talent .860 OPS first baseman, but it wouldn't surprise me if his true talent was .790-ish.

And a .749 over his last 15. And an .840 over his last 30. And .866 for the season. Honestly, before the last two games, his last 7 games were pretty great. I just don't see strong evidence that regression is starting. He's played for such a short time that all the good weeks and bad weeks that all MLB players have just get magnified. Guy only has like two full season's worth of at-bats for his entire career, yet with a lot of posters (not necessarily you) a .600-.700 OPS is his destiny.

The Grayson I saw was gassed in the 6th inning--throwing 95-96 instead of 98-100. He also left a lot of pitches in the middle of the zone throughout his start. That said, I don't blame him for Hyde leaving him in too long, and overall it was a great start with lots of encouraging signs.

He's done well so far. I wouldn't want him in high-leverage yet (ever?), but he's done well with his opportunity. As a guy who can save the pen in blowouts he has some value while he's cheap.

Just realize in terms of average innings one disaster two inning start and three six inning starts would give him an average of five innings per start. I'd probably rather look at median innings to see what "kind" of pitcher someone is.

Technically, yes, though I'm not sure how much value/interest there is in one year of Santander at QO prices.