LookinUp

I agree with you, unless he can find the magic he had years ago. Still talking about a #10-20 prospect in someone's system at best though, but it's a 2-3 month gamble.

He didn't forget to hit. He's either just in a bad slump or he's in a bad slump partially caused by an evolution in his swing. Either way, I fully expect a guy who knows how to hit to work through things.

I'd be getting really nervous if I were Ryan McKenna. I think Vavra will be a 4h OF and some 2b. Add Stowers to the mix and innings are really short in the OF even without Vavra. This is a good problem to have, but trades are going to have to be made here in the next few months. For sure.

I think a lot of us forget that coaches see people take a lot of swings when they're not in games. Gutierrez would likely be playing if his swing (and results) in BP was that impressive. OTOH, for all we know Odor has been impressive in those other settings, or they're working on some particular changes that they hope allow him to establish value. Not all of these decisions are made based on what any of us can see.

Do you mean it was a bad idea to take away Bundy's best pitch even though the most successful teams were featuring the cutter? Really crazy what they were doing back then. The good news was the 85 Cardinals would steal fewer bases against us than just about anyone, so there's that.

In rough order of when I expect them: Adley Bradish (possibly before Adley because of injury/need) G-Rod Vavra/Stowers - Interesting discussion of when because of our currently decent OF. Maybe after the trade deadline? Hall Westburg - last of this group unless he absolutely forces 2 promotions

I’ve been waiting to see a thread for this guy. I’m not predicting amazing things, but I’m not ruling this kid out either. The speed tool matters. Can the hit tool be strong enough?

It’s a sport that’s all about analytics, but maybe some guys just have bad years? Sometimes a season can give you clarity on what to work on. We can all hope Hall is a guy who identified what to fix and worked his tail off to fix that stuff.

Not under my radar. I'm just Missouri until he gets promoted.

I would absolutely not doubt that Sig has Baumler on a program to build up his arm in a closely managed environment so they can focus on making sure the build-up in stuff/innings isn't accompanied by the development of other high stress mechanics. And I'm fine with that.

Adley, GRod, Hall, Mayo, Westburg, Cowser, Gunnar for me. And I really like Mayo and Cowser. I like Gunnar too and his upside could make him ultimately as valuable as anyone else on our list, but I don't trust the hit tool yet and the D isn't elevating him for the most part. And Hall is electric. Man I can't wait until these prospect games are done with and they're just showing what they got in Baltimore.

I sympathize with those incredibly frustrated with MASN, credentials, information for fans, general relationship with non-inside people and the ML payroll, but I'm EXTREMELY optimistic about what they're doing from a position player development perspective. That also gives me faith on what they're doing with pitching, but I just don't see as many horses on that side.

If you ever listen to the Patrick Jones podcast, he was a code for the Orioles last year. He never makes the podcast about the Orioles, but he often talks about a bunch of innovative stuff that they are doing.

I just keep coming around to the idea that he is really underrated. On my personal list, I think he would now be above Henderson and maybe even Cowser just because of position.

Well, if he's ahead of all of the other pitchers re: age/level, that has to be a good sign I'd think.

And I don't mean to be defeatist about Means. Hopefully this really is something that goes away in a week or two, but we've all seen the worst case progression of these things. 1. Feel a twinge in the forearm. 2. Shut down for a little while. 3. Come back, look great, feel the twinge again. 4. Shut down for longer. 5. Come back, feel it again. 6. TJ Surgery 7. Out 1+ years just for surgery. 8. Two years from now some team will have John Means just coming back from the twinge he felt last night.

Whatever the deals, there are likely to be many. I'm all for trading Mullins (in the right deal), Mancini and Santander before prospects, but the trades will need to happen on some level because our depth isn't existent.

Thus the paradox of pitching... If you draft them, your draft picks are more likely to fail because pitchers are more likely to break. If you don't draft them, your depth will be tested when the ones you have start to break. So you better start trading those high-level position prospects soon for more arms because the depth we have in the minors isn't nearly enough.

There's little doubt that the arms are far behind the hitters in terms of this org prospects right now, specifically those acquired by Elias. You can hope that Rodriguez and Hall are both awesome and others help fill in, but I personally think he'll have to spend some real draft capital on a couple of highly regarded arms this year.

It feels to me like Bradish will be the first potentially good starting pitcher recalled.

Somewhat off-topic but also potentially related… I was listening to a podcast today where Thom Loverro said the nationals lost $170 million over the last two years. Covid apparently crushed baseball revenues.

In all seriousness, a great way to engage in more positive discussion is through the OH minors forum. It's certainly not all unicorns and rainbows, but the objective truth in the minors right now is generally way more positive. Heck, they even spend almost to the penny what they're allowed on international signings and the draft, so even that criticism is muted somewhat. It's also a great place to learn for those who get intimidated. If you want to know why guys are good/bad prospects, a lot of that data-driven talk is available in those threads.

I wouldn't hate it if they kept him and dropped Stewart, but the utility of that move should be very short term if Stowers and Vavra are healthy and performing.

Totally agree. Tiniest of sample size.

The Athletics of all teams aren't ignoring quantifiable value out of a single-minded focus for power. Again, it's an interesting discussion in the McKenna context. I'm sure we could upgrade there, but with prospects on the come and a team that's going to struggle to win 65 games, I'm not sure dropping your homegrown guy for a marginal at best upgrade is exactly a good move from a chemistry perspective.