LookinUp

And I do resent him for it. He got paid almost certainly under false pretenses. That salary has a material defect on the Orioles ability to pay other guys. I think he screwed this franchise over, and I don’t like it.

None of us know anything for a fact. That doesn’t mean it’s unreasonable to assume that the man who deflated like a balloon pricked by a needle had some help blowing up in the first place.

Oh wow. Just wow. He's 1/2 the man he used to be.

By PA and Duquette. I guess I should have said I’m not sure Elias is a pay the manager guy.

I"m not sure the O's will be one of the teams ever willing to pay a manager big $$. Maddon will go to someone who will.

My assumption was that it was always related to his high school workout routine. I love fitness. I don't love extreme impact/resistance fitness. I think he did it to himself.

Maybe, if it's like 2,000. Not at 6th all time. Oh, he has OBP too. And games played. And OPS. Dude was a great player and a winner on great teams. Made iconic plays. Has huge hits. Checks every box.

He has 1,800 hits vs. 3,400. Five humans have more hits in MLB history than Derek Jeter. Come on people. I know he wasn't Belanger as a SS, but he's a no doubter.

He was amazing.

If the wall was 50' farther back, Hays would have made a routine catch. Maybe 3 star. Their metric doesn't seem to adjust for that pesky physical barrier.

This. ^^^^ When I see "stats" like that one from baseball savant, I remember that just because someone makes a statistic, doesn't mean the statistic is as meaningful as it's portrayed. If there are only 5 stars, that was a 5 star catch.

Obviously you want the O's to pick the guy they think has the most talent and can be developed into the best guy, but there's also the leverage factor here. A chance to save here w/o much of a talent trade off would help down in the draft.

No argument here. Just take issue with "great." But whatever. This debate has been had before. Hopefully Hays can settle into a healthy mid .800's guy with OF range. That would be a terrific outcome for a guy who has had so many setbacks the last couple of years.

I don't love the defensive metrics either, but he didn't even pass the OF eye test from my perspective. Good, inaccurate arm. Rarely made rangy catches. You're seeing as much in a week from Hays than we saw from Jones.

Since money isn't involved, I'd actually let Hays decide if I were Elias. It would be a good will gesture. There's nothing he gets from another game or two of ABs at this point. Adam Jones' best OPS ever was .839. For reference, Mancini is at .888 right now. Yeah, I know, but he played CF. Well, his best dWAR was 1.0. Jones is an O's HOFer. I'm not arguing that. He wasn't "great" though, IMO. He was very good, but not a cut above.

It's all over but the crying, Greg. #'s 1 and 2 are pretty much locked. KC/Miami can duke it out for #3.

This thread really takes an MLB owner's type of perspective. It's about what's most efficient for the ML team. I get it, but I for one don't want MLB to fundamentally re-think MiLB. I like that towns like Salisbury, Frederick and Norfolk have teams. I think it keeps fans interested in their regional teams and in players that end up on other teams. I agree that it could be more efficient, but I suspect the current inefficiency also has benefits (e.g., spreading out the game beyond major metropolitan areas) that most don't really talk about. I wonder, for example, what happened in terms of merchandise sales and TV ratings for the Braves when they left Richmond. I have no idea, but imagine (speculate) there was some effect which will grow over time. If MiLB were much smaller, I suppose college baseball as a replacement could be something more than it is today. I kind of doubt it, but It's a theory at least.

I think Villar's profile has improved pretty dramatically since the trade deadline. That doesn't mean I think he'll garner a really good return in a trade, but there was a time where tendering him was assumed to be something we would not do. Now most are assuming we have to and even have a chance to trade him to another team for whom it might make sense to sign him to a 2-3 year deal. That's good.

Diaz is on the come too. They'll give Santander, Hays and Stewart more time to prove (or re-prove) themselves early next year, but I fully expect Diaz to be a fixture by the end of next season.

And developing him the right way.

But it sure would be nice if our future TOR featured: 1. 2020 draftee 2. DL Hall 3. Grayson Rodriguez But a lot of different machinations would be huge improvements, obviously.

I also agree with it. Elias will assess that risk and the degree to which he even cares if McKenna is taken by another team. I think he'd fit squarely into Tony's vulnerable list. Has real value in the field and on the bases (when he's paying attention), but also very real questions about his hit tool. Personally, I say you keep him and give one more year for the hit tool to show up. He's valuable enough otherwise to take that gamble unless we're really able to upgrade from outside the org.

My guess is that would be a fun, but really tough task. I expect Elias to bring in a bunch of guys most of us have never heard of before. Last year it was Ruiz, Smith, Martin, Nunez and others. I know that happens every year, but I'm guessing it'll be more than usual just given where we still are in the rebuild.

As of today, I want us to get Hancock or Martin, though it's hard to pass over truly special bats.

Never say never, but Detroit's remaining schedule looks a lot harder than the O's. We're looking at #2 next year I think.