LookinUp

I think Handley is the long term back up to Adley. It’s just a matter of when. I think a lot of teams could stomach him being their starter. The thing is, defense travels, as they say. He’s ready right now to be a defense first backup. He might be ready for more with the bat. If I’m Elias, I’m adding Handley to the 40 man, penciling him in as the opening day backup next season, and then thinking of contingency plans for depth.

It’s a loaded system. Best part isn’t that #15 will be good (we can’t know that), it’s that a whole bunch of guys have a chance to be good.

He would be holding 2B for Westburg and maybe Prieto or Norby. Future bench guy who could be really value. Really a shame the NL got rid of the DH because he’d have been a great double switch pinch hitter type.

You will likely be looking for traits more than top names prospect returns.

Yordan Alvarez and who else?

Timing makes this feel like they chose the Young deal over the McClean deal. Hope I’m wrong and we can get both.

I think they knew it when they picked guys. Some would sign. Some wouldn’t. They didn’t have the budget to sign everyone they picked.

Negotiations are hard. They can be taken very personally. I really hope McLean takes the deal the O’s can give him at this point. It’s probably the smart thing to do both professionally and financially. His leverage was this year, and as a pitcher he carries injury risk. Not to mention the O’s are probably one of the better orgs to develop with. He should sign and start to build himself into a multi-millionaire second contract guy.

Seems to me like they need to tear down Aberdeen and rebuild something better. 1/2 kidding

It’s a matter of time before he has 30 page threads too.

Seems his status is still up in the air to me. Have another 5 weeks of plus hitting and I discount the first half some. Don’t, and the first half seems more real.

Showalter is my top choice of the over slots. Toss up between the other two. I like Walters, but hesitate to over value relievers.

Oh, it’s not realistic. Not at all. As an aside, I think Mateo’s trade value is at a peak right now. The question is whether his hitting has truly taken a sustainable turn for the better.

Sell: Mateo, promote Henderson. Mancini, promote Stowers Santander, promote Cowser Lyles, promote Bradish DFA: Odor, promote Westburg. Promote Hall and Harvey to fill pitching gaps. No chance this happens, but not sure why not other than slow playing the rebuild.

Yep. He’s not huge.

Great hit tool. Speed. Power. Projects to stay at the most valuable position. ++ makeup. What’s not to like?

I 100% argued that he didn't have the control to be very good. I'm still pretty convinced he wouldn't be nearly as good here as he's been with the Brewers. That changed when Elias and company got data and procedures in place. But that's the consideration now. Can we turn guys into Josh Hader? I think so and it weighs on what I think of trades.

For this year, 55 k's in 49 games. But 30 walks too. He has a .123 spread in batting average and OBP. That's interesting to say the least. If the reports in this thread that he's pretty fast and may be a decent CF, he's interesting. But they need him healthy to prove it.

I'm such a Debbie Downer, but I'll never forget Xavier Avery. Lightning fast. Went on a heater and had everyone all happy. But he was never able to sustain it. Poor guy was stuck in the old Orioles player development system. Really happy to see Ortiz hot though. Hopefully Jammer's right, along with Keith Law, and this hitting is for real. If so, good god this org has some talent.

He's old for a prospect, but seems worthy of a top 30 spot to me (assuming health, continued production). He currently has a .901 OPS in Bowie.

Hope he's alright. He could be a week or two away from Baltimore.

Yeah, because of his slow start I think people stopped projecting him in the O's outfield in the near term. However, he's basically next year's Stowers in terms of level. Should be in Baltimore about a year from now, so for now (e.g., before trades), next year's outfield looks like Mullins, Hays, Santander, Stowers, Cowser with McKenna, Vavra, Diaz and Neustrom as more depth. Kjerstad is on a similar or slightly later (opening day 2024?) timeframe. And we just drafted a few additional outfield guys. Just brings to light the challenge Elias has right now. We're in a position to "go for it" this year. If I were him, I'd be buying a starting pitcher and I'd be selling outfielders. The only question is who goes, and I hope Cowser isn't one of those guys.

Looks all good.

Just speculating here, but I have a feeling the O's are working backwards on signing these guys. My guess is they're talking a lot with Walters, Young and Showalter and not finalizing the first 10 rounds in hopes they can figure out a way to make it work. If Young, for example, is kinda close on a number, they might try to squeeze a few more dollars out of the earlier round picks. Could be wrong of course, but the O's have been quiet for a few days here.

I'd expect it to take a couple of years. 2022: see what you've got. Offseason, work on things. 2023: go through the full year. More adjustments in the offseason. 2024: establish what he's really going to be as a player. Hopefully in the upper levels. 2025: Majors, if he's good enough.