LookinUp

Really wonder what Roch's username is. As for Nunez, I like Interloper's comment. In the aggregate, I'm not too worked up on this topic. It's what good organizations face every year. It's why we end up with guys like Nunez almost every year. You lose them sometimes. That's part of the system. It is what it is.

Yes, meant that. Will edit.

His baseball story is better than 99.9% of guys have. Got more than a cup of coffee. Good for him. Has a live enough arm that there's a non-zero chance he can perfect or develop a chance and end up more valuable. I wouldn't give up if I were him.

From the article, here are a couple of things I found interesting.. Guys Duquette/Rajisch drafted/acquired - Mountcastle, Hays, Stewart, Mullins, Nunez, Sisco, Akin, Kremer, Means, Scott, Tate, Harvey, Santander, Mancini, Grayson Rodriguez, DL Hall, Baumann, Diaz, Hader, Yastrzemski, McKenna 2013 draft produced 11 major leaguers. That's crazy good, even if many aren't going to be studs. I think player development has always been the issue here. Our draft guys weren't served well by that side of the house. It genuinely seems like that's the difference between Elias and the predecessors.

This org has about 10 guys on the way to the majors. The terms would have to be ridiculously good, right?

Nice catch by Stewart there. Almost hit a railing, I think.

We certainly appear to have COF depth. I'm not convinced now is the time for those trades, but if all goes well, I agree that at some point we'd want to use those bodies to upgrade other positions.

I'd much rather have Lowther than Nunez. I'd be mad if the O's traded Lowther for Nunez unless we were desperate for a RH bat in the middle of a serious playoff run. Even then I'm not sure I'd do it. I think Stewart's a real asset. Gets on base. Has some pop. Is left handed. Decent enough in the outfield. I like him. On talent, I think he's superior to Stewart, and as I said above, I like Stewart.

I hate to say it, but if the team feels like they can save, say $10 million, by keeping Davis as the 40th man in case of another COVID shortened season, I couldn’t blame them. You could certainly argue that’s a better use of resources than maxing out the 40th spot. Hopefully that doesn’t happen for a million more important reasons.

Seems like this is an opinion as much as a fact, but I don’t know. I *feel* like a lot of guys work through injury issues and eventually stabilize as relatively healthy. I also feel like many never get over the injuries.

On talent, I think the Os want Hays, Santander, Diaz in the OF, Mancini and Mountcastle at DH/1b, Mullins as 4th OF and Stewart off the bench. Until Kjerstad arrives. add Rutschman and you’re waiting on Ps to arrive while figuring out ss, 3b and 2b.

Oh hell, I'll bite. I don't have a citation from a publication comparing classes, but remember it was a big improvement. Do you have a citation saying we were still at the bottom?

I think the bolded was true 3 years ago. Two years ago it changed. This year was "who knows?" I wouldn't be shocked if this upcoming international class is top 10 or even top 5. It's a stated goal and relatively cheap to do. I expect it has already changed.

First, be good at drafting and developing talent. Our system has Rodriguez (11th overall), Hall (21st overall) and Mountcastle (36th). Baumann was a 3rd rounder. Akin was 54th overall. Hays was a 3rd rounder. You could argue this org has done a nice job lately. It would be nice to hit on a Jake Arrieta or two as well. Second, acquire good talent in trades. We're hopeful on Kremer and Diaz. Others are farther away, but if we're selling, hopefully we find the right guys in return. Third, acquire international talent. Several of the best players in the game were't even part of the draft. We're finally in that game. Who knows, maybe we already have a difference maker in this org who is just very young and under the radar. This is a stated goal of Elias, so hopefully he can do it. Fourth, if we do contend, really try not to give up Hader, Davies and Rodriguez types unless you get true impact back. Knowing what you have in-house helps. When the time comes, I hope that Elias will be patient for a year or two and not blow his load during our first legit playoff run. It's very possible that promoting our own guys will work out much better than trading for other guys in the long run if we're as good at this drafting and developing guys as we hope.

And it wasn't just our RFers. Jones was not a highlight reel in CF and our LFs have been...who exactly? There was a time (early 90's in particular) when the Os were the highlight reel outfield team. We just haven't had a ton of athleticism out there over the last few years. These plays should be happening more often.

This is scary. He may be our highest upside guy outside of Hall/Rodriguez, and assuming Harvey's upside has already been limited to the bullpen.

Yeah, I’d prefer mire under 25 talent lists than prospect lists. That would tell more about where an org is. It would have guys like Soto and Tatis on it too.

I like the idea of taking flyers on high upside guys. It costs next to nothing and if one really hits, its like striking gold. Even a partial hit, like success in the pen, is totally worth it. My predictions for this individual aren’t bullish, but as an org strategy, I’m 100% on board.

Happy with some of these developments, but not crediting much yet. The Yanks are trash right now. Even so, I feel like regardless of where they settle, they’re clearly better prepared than our org guys usually are. That’s important if it’s an indication of how others will look after they’ve made their way through our system.

I think one question for our system Is whether any of the non top current players become elite. Henderson, Mayo, Baumann, etc. have a chance. I’m not up to speed on all of them, but I feel like we have a few that could in theory blossom from a lower rated guy into a guy like Mountcastle. We’ll take that step when that starts to happen more regularly. The same also goes for guys who become valuable contributors, even if not elite prospects.

I have to admit, that raw power rating caught me off guard too. I saw a guy who was afraid to attack a pitch. He looked totally over matched. I guess that's the difference between a hit tool and raw power.

I'm not sure that being slightly better than the average AA hitter is a feather in his cap. That doesn't get you very far in the majors. You're right though, he does have age and defensive value on his side. Still, that bat needs to be more than a little better than AA league average for him to be worth a ML role as anything other than a pinch runner and late inning defensive replacement. That essentially makes him a September call up type, not a guy you hand a position to.

He's BA's top high school prospect for next year's draft, but came out a hear earlier than expected. A lot of potential and very young. Sounds very unlikely that we would end up with him as high as #2 or as low as our next pick.

To add on, I appreciate the effort, but have to question just how good Badler's information about guys who didn't play much this year can really be. It's a great thing that he does and I think it's awesome for fans, it just comes with limitations because you pretty much have to be in a ML scouting office or REALLY embedded down there to have a comprehensive grasp of what's going on. I don't mean to sound too critical because he's providing great information that nobody else (almost?) really provides. Just noting the limitation.

I don't believe this, but the idea that one of the world's greatest athletes EVER could not be a great professional soccer player is silly to me. It wouldn't happen in a few months. He would have needed to cultivate those skills from childhood, just like he has done with basketball. Even then, he would likely be a problem if he played forward. If nothing else, he'd likely be a beast goalie.