LookinUp

Agreed, but that's just projecting at this point. Worthy of back of the mind just in case stuff, but he just got a 2-year extension followed by new funding. It stands to reason that they're related. If they're not, I'll start to worry when the time comes, not just on utter speculation.

This is the bottom line. wildcard, it's an interesting discussion in the McKenna realm, but Oakland of all teams wouldn't DFA this guy if he was much of an asset at all. I don't care what the articles say, right or wrong. His own team doesn't think he has value.

Well, the bill was passed like yesterday, right? It would seem that a lease agreement would be a logical follow on, but we shouldn't assume that businessmen won't still try to negotiate for the best deal they can get. Might take a few minutes.

Of all the hand-wringing about the O's, good or bad, the biggest problem I see is the lack of pitching depth anywhere in the system. Tony made some comments in the minor forum yesterday that, combined with what most of us see, really has me worried. As it stands, a purely homegrown rebuild will surely fail absent a great run of luck re: health and performance or some significant additions on the pitching front from outside of the org.

Yeah. I was perfectly fine with the piece as written, even the part about being a small market. What I wasn't fine with was the content it didn't include at the end. Nothing at all about winning. It's not what he said. It's what he didn't say.

I think this is an excellent pick to click. I'm obviously hopeful on a lot of guys, but of the guys that are somewhat down the prospect lists, Rhodes seems to have one of the best upside profiles. The other guy was Ortiz, but he's kind of all over various lists, so I'm not sure he qualifies. Haskin is the third for me, but I'm not sure I have a lot of credibility on picking him after he hits 3 dingers in a game.

I posted this a while back, but I also heard Westburg's an A+ locker room guy. One of his coaches last year mentioned that on a podcast that otherwise had nothing to do with him. I don't know how to account for that in a player's profile, but it's obviously positive and makes me elevate him in my own mind.

I didn’t pick up that he has that much speed. Having a tool like that is really valuable.

Oh, definitely. And Rom has a nice profile. Just fringe on the velo.

I really like Rom as a prospect, but there's a big jump from AA to the majors. He doesn't have the red flags like Alex Wells, but without a power profile it's tougher.

Seems to reflect more on Willems than Baumler based on what they're doing with other highly touted pitchers. I have a feeling that they're rebuilding Willem's swing a bit. Just a gut feeling. They loved the EVs but the swing might not be conducive to hitting better pitching.

Maybe. I think there's more re: roster flexibility, future value over present value, giving other guys innings, probably saving a few bucks etc. that went into it too.

Disagree. It's a sign that they're not over-valuing near term replacement level guys and want to give internal guys those innings. I don't doubt Sulser can be replaced, same with Scott. The question is whether there's a significant trickle down effect. There will likely be some, but I'm not sure it's that meaningful. I tend to agree with the full post, but particularly this. I'm fine with the trade, but it's not a great sign that Elias said the "salient" part was the pick. I guess that means they don't think too much of the AA pitcher or the international kid. Hopefully that changes.

Well, if he's not wrong, and the O's have a good year, and Correa has a good year, and the O's look like they're ready to compete, then maybe Correa opts out and ends up here next year.

This guy's not dropping it.

I'm not going back right now to see how we acquired Kevin Brown, Scott Erickson, Jimmy Key and David Wells, and I know the financials are different now than they used to be, but we do have a history of getting big time pitchers into Baltimore.

Says it all.

True, though you still hope for more positional upside from Mayo. Honestly, I'd wager he settles in at 1B at this point, but I'm hoping!

IMO, those guys probably never become comps for Mancini in the first place without the steroids. Add in Covid and cancer and I think it's very hard to use a computer algorithm to determine a comp for Mancini unless you do so through 2019.

Agree. The hope of course is that he becomes such a valuable hitter that he's worth paying even as a 1B/DH, but you have to be a bona fide stud to be that guy. They do exist though.

I'm admittedly being stupid, but Mancini still passes my eye test. That doesn't invalidate anything you've said, but maybe it mitigates what I personally expect relative to his decline. Oh, and two of your comps were very likely steroid users, so I don't really like them on that list.

Age and level are pretty similar. Mountcastle has youth now and hopefully won't lose time to another Covid shutdown or a bad disease, so I'd wager he ends up with more value. I also think he's a little better overall, but that's hard to be certain of at this point. Very similar profiles as players. Not that it's much to quantify, but I'd rather dump Mountcastle into the outfield than I would Mancini.

I'm actually fairly optimistic that Kremer, Lowther, Bradish and Zimmerman will show out better this year as a group. Not saying all will be good, but I do think they're all decent to good ML arms even if relegated to the bullpen. I'm less sure about Akin and very much less sure about A. Wells.

It would be awesome if Diaz suddenly became the player we expected. He has had several decent stretches, but always cut short by injury followed by a slow ramp up to doing good again. Then last year happened. Just playing devil's advocate...the Covid year in theory could have affected him more than others. Think of what it did to kids who suddenly didn't have organized sports leagues for the better part of 3 sports seasons. I know my son got out of shape and actually regressed. Who's to say that didn't happen with Diaz too?

I'm certain that your right re: intent, but has all of this stuff resulted in injury prevention? It certainly sounds good, but the injuries are still high aren't they? Genuinely asking if anyone knows this.