LookinUp

Jannis, Valdez, Means, Felix and Harvey to start out. Means might look like Nolan Ryan out there.

I was thinking about this myself and I think there might be another alternative. What if Felix picked the O's because they are now considered one of the top 5 pitching development teams in MLB and they were the most likely to give him MLB innings? I'd say there's a non-zero chance that we are now a favored destination for guys who think they still have something in the tank but need a fix.

On argument against this is that our guys have already had a chance to work with Stewart. May feel like they've made of him what they can make of him, whereas Fisher might be a clean slate with a clearly correctable problem. I actually really like Stewart's OBP too, so I agree that I wouldn't just jettison the guy by any means.

I don't care about this guy, but if he has actual potential, I'm guessing he might be worth a flyer over someone else on the 40-man. If not, we're better off than I thought.

Nowadays, Arbitration Eligible is the new "Old Vets."

If anyone wants to know the case to try this guy out, here it is. Not saying he'll turn into our version of Yaz, but you'll never find our version of Yaz if you don't try guys who have a tool that you think can become plus. This guy hits the ball hard.

Say what you want, but there's a dearth of information available on our guys right now. For all we know our top 10 will include Hernaiz, Adam Hall and two international prospects next year because all of those guys are that good. Or, none may be in the top 20. Michael Baumann could be a top 30 prospect by this time next year, or he could be slated to miss 2022 with TJ surgery. We just don't know because they haven't played much at all. That gives guys like Law an excuse to go out on a limb. As I said in another thread, he's basically Missouri with the O's system. It sounds good, but show me and then I'll react. And it doesn't matter anyway. If we're good, we'll show it. If not, that'll be apparent too.

It's different, but the NFL actually has draft slots too. Not the same draft cap, but slots where you're not going to draft a guy #10 and pay him #1 money. He will lose money if he goes to 10.

MLB won't turn into football, but there's no reason they shouldn't try to be a more exciting product. If my team is rumored to trade up for a 5 tool player, it will generate sports talk, blog talk, twitter talk and some ESPN talk. You won't have the hype of Kiper or McShay, but you still would have more than MLB has now.

Some "different" parts of Law's list... 1. D.L. Hall is #2 - believes the control will be there. Says he has at least #2 stuff. 2. Adam Hall is #6 - His sleeper for the org. 3. Jahmai Jones - #9 4. Westburg - #15. Thinks he'll struggle not to strike out. 5. Nevin - #17 - He's interested to see if O's can unlock his power. 6. McKenna #19 NR - Wells. Profile doesn't often play in the pros, but he has a chance. Mayo, who he says needs much better footwork and has a hole in his swing. Baumler, who apparently needed TJ surgery after we signed him.

I have a subscription. He's basically saying a few things. 1. A lot of the talent we have was already here. 2. We didn't have a lot of assets to return high level prospects in trades. 3. He didn't like the Kjerstad draft (e.g., $ allocation). Doesn't say it, but must not think of Kjerstad that highly compared to other guys there. 4. Nothing from the international stuff is apparent yet. 5. Our player development isn't really apparent yet. He's basically saying he's Missouri. He won't rank us until the players show him. He expects player development to start paying dividends to where we have more good prospects coming from average profiles, so the arrow is pointing up.

The 'upside' of this team is centered around Elias' pitching development. If some combination of Baumann, Lowther, Akin, Kremer, Zimmerman, Wells etc. can be about average, we're a different team. Not 85 wins different, but maybe 75? Last year's pace was 67 wins. I think that's certainly achievable. Did we lose that much by trading the oft-injured SS? I'm not necessarily predicting that, but I think it's kind of the upside absent the arrival of more top prospects and an additional couple of bats.

I hope the O's use a humidor.

I won't sit in the sun on a summer day game. Death valley would feel like a day at the beach compared to that heat. It's crazy. I do like the movie theatre seating idea too. I think the CF bar thing went over very well. Finding a way to put a second one of those in might be a neat idea too. Maybe two more, so there's a RF and a LF version of them too.

I think that's only concerning if you view them selling the team as risking losing the franchise. I just don't believe that can happen. And if you believe that there's no way the O's leave Baltimore, any sign that they're preparing to sell the team is a good thing, not a bad thing. That's my opinion at least.

That's not what they did here. It looks like, they just took the last 4 guys we took and placed them at intervals in the list in the order they were taken. No individualization at all.

BA not buying Elias' hype on Baumler and Mayo. I think they have a blind spot on those guys, tbh. It feels like they just threw Haskin and Servideo in, I guess based on where they were drafted.

I personally ding Pettitte (huge) and Oswalt (association) for PEDs. I have no evidence on Oswalt except for the eye test of his entire team. Hersheiser, Cone and Hamels can pitch for my contending team any day. But Felix does deserve a little bit of the Gayle Sayers treatment. It's similar to Hersheiser's amazing post season. Felix left an amazing impression. He affected the viewer. If the HoF or rankings was just about math, I might feel differently.

Great list. Hard for me to distinguish, but Hersheiser’s post season was especially magical, so I’d probably put him first. Felix was electric. Pettitte was a cheater and got caught. Great friends with Clemens.

By IDK, are you saying "I don't know" or "I do know?"

Wow. I think he's an amazing player. Always have. Love this tweet I saw the other day.

You're like a kid who always has to get the last word.

I disagree. Not as much as it'll move a guy like Mancini, but 1) Santander could be a DH and 2) Santander can play a good outfield and move some stiff player to DH. Those NL teams will be looking for good bats. Santander fits that mold.

I think it's more likely than not that he will be traded. Also, if the DH thing actually happens in the NL, his value goes up. If it doesn't, I think Elias probably bets on performance and waits for the deadline because the right offer just might not be there now.

You'd have to think that if his arm was truly alive again, he'd have showcased that and would have more suitors than the O's. I feel like this is truly a signing based on intangibles and the long odds that 3 good months nets us a prospect in July.