LookinUp

Has Bleday's stock fallen that much or do you think Santander's profile is pretty rich?

This is where I long for the days before I was alive when our future starters were moved up into bullpen roles to get their feet wet. Put Baumann and Lowther in there! Promote Rodriguez for middle relief in July. Hall as a lefty specialist. Beast pen for the last couple of months!

Love this thread idea. I'm honestly more interested in your opinions than any drivel I throw out there. Lol.

Yeah, I'm not necessarily arguing with Tony or SG on this one either. I get the perspective. I do think it would change the optics in some ways if Elias allows Baumann to start on the ML team. He'd be saying for the first time that he's more focused on the next 5 years than he is on laying the groundwork for some undefined future. It would be the first time I remember him leading for the next month instead of the next decade. I really don't see much of a benefit unless he's genuinely trying to win this year, in which case other moves should also be made. I just assume he's really going to start trying to win in about July, and then moving forward.

Hopefully it's one of those circumstances where he's so good that he forces his way state-side and into playing time. I can't wait until they're playing games again.

I hope you're right. I don't know enough about it either way.

I understand your perspective, but I don't think I'd handle it that way if I were Elias in the context of this team (not a contender). Zimmermann could get a shot and so could the rule V guys. I would only promote Baumann for that role if the other guys clearly don't belong. I know he'll be 31, but I'd still value that year with a high-upside arm.

Keith Law doesn't like his mechanics. Tree trunk legs might not compensate for weird mechanics. All pitching prospects make me nervous.

You might actually be able to if he has a good first half and a team has a need at the deadline. In no case would we be getting back elite prospects. We'd probably get guys who profile like the Bundy trade, but less of them. Don't get me wrong, I'd like that trade if, as I've said, the next group looks like they'll stick. If not, I think he could be part of a contender here if those guys don't pan out, so I don't just want to dump him.

Can you elaborate on what you mean with the bolded part? Genuinely asking.

Tree trunks for legs.

Yeah. I'm not arguing that he's Mike Trout. I also don't think he's THAT easily replaceable. My guess is that with his profile any trade we'd make wouldn't be even money to bring back equal value. If we have another guy in the wings and he's essentially redundant, sure.

Because I don't buy into "injury prone" as a rule. If there's a degenerative issue, I see it, but some guys age into a lot of injuries and others age out of them. Others just never are the same again. I concede that Santander has to prove he can stay healthy though. That's why I said it was his achilles heel, and not the OBP.

As an aside, based on reports here and local hype, you could argue Baumann is a top 100 talent. Also, in a year we may be lucky enough for Henderson and Westburg to earn a place on a list like this. That's 8 guys plus the #5 overall pick, and it's not inclusive of solid-average profiles like Lowther. Obviously some will fail and others may never make this list, but it's a decent little group we have coming up now for sure.

I don't want to disagree about the O's approach to rebuilding with the posters in this thread. I actually think they have enough starting pitching to keep us in most games, assuming all of Baumann, Lowther, Akin, Kremer, Cobb, Means, Zimmerman, Smith, Bradish and Wells get an opportunity. I'm not saying they all stick, but I think they're good enough to be competitive. Position players are a different story. With that said, in a vaccuum, Eshelman is a fine move. Depth guy. Mop up guy. Usually won't kill you. He's no Mike Wright. Has value at a minimum salary, but isn't in the conversation for competitiveness.

Or the more likely concern, from my perspective, is it's just a SSS. Don't want to over react to a hot streak. Every hitter who ever played has had them. With Kjerstad, he also had some team USA moments if I remember correctly, so hopefully this is a reflection of what he is and not a hot month at the plate.

Most interesting to me* are Welk (underdog/old), Mattson and Cumberland (future backup catcher?). * the international guys are truly most interesting, but I know next to nothing about them. I'm hoping we have some future top 5 org prospects in this list.

I actually think his arb price correlates with his trade value. One reason teams wouldn't trade a ton for him is you don't have confidence he can play 150 games for you. Same reason his arb price is lower. It's a reflection of what he's actually done, not a projection of what he can do. If I were a team looking for a buy low guy, Santander would be on my list. If he plays a lot for you, you can get a lot of excess value. There's no right answer, but if Santander does nothing different except get on the field for 150 games this year, he's probably a 3+ WAR player (assuming the defense is real). If he gets on the field AND somehow dramatically improves his OBP, he's a certain all star. I never expect the latter, but I do expect that he can play a lot of games.

Santander's Achilles heel is his health. His leg up on those players is defense. That, to me, might be where he makes real money in the future. Be healthy. Hit like you can and play plus defense. That's a nice player. But he has to be healthy.

I wonder if we're still only the 4th most improved system...

So the most expensive signing was a catcher and Elias says some guys now rank up with our top prospects. What's the over/under on the trade Rutschman threads? I say they begin in January 2022. Wildcard starts the thread but SG comments about 27 times. ?

Yeah. Elias hired him and Elias is also visiting these places to meet the players. Truth be told, John Angelos is the one who deserves the credit. :ducks:

Not that I disagree re: what is prudent, but there's a non-zero chance that the two best pitchers in the organization right now are Rodriguez and Baumann. There will be hand-wringing when they're held back. It might be best to hide them from the ML camp just so it's not apparent to the world that they're better than 70% of the guys on the ML staff. AR too, for that matter.

No. If he's healthy he wins a rotation spot in AAA and a call-up after we get another year of control. He's exactly the type you hold back for a couple of months to gain extra control.

In the absence of first hand accounts of players, this is essentially the best thing we can see today. If in the aggregate we're in the top tier, it's a game changer if sustained.