LookinUp

Agreed. They probably removed extra to allow room for construction. Certainly seems like more than 30 feet in most of that. It might be interesting (probably in a bad way) if they actually didn't move the bullpen though. One of those crazy cutouts that some fields have.

Yeah, I think the evaluations are: 1) are we even in the game? (yes), 2) are we spending close to our allotment (yes), 3) how good (in the aggregate) do the guys end up? We're really in the #3 part of this, which is a major step forward. But now I'm sure the organization is evaluating successes and failures and trying to refine things. I'm guessing that's different for 16 year old international players than it is for 18 year olds with a big perfect game resume or 21 year old college players. We're in a good spot. Now it's just refining getting great at it over time. I suspect that's a priority for Elias, Sig and Perez.

I remember Gausman's splitter was supposedly epic coming out of college. Then it wasn't for us or the Braves. But now it is again.

Just because you don't see the math doesn't mean it doesn't exist. In the 90's you probably wouldn't have thought that getting guys that can walk would allow the A's to be competitive on a small budget. The whole point is to be as competitive as possible for each dollar spent. It's why we draft hitters instead of pitchers. The latter are probably more likely to bust. If there's data showing dimensions can make a certain, more affordable, profile of pitcher significantly more effective, I'd bet Sig knows about it and I'd bet that influenced this decision is a very big way. Why you would assume that this team, led by Elias and Sig, are doing this for seating capacity issues is beyond me.

See, I think with all of the talk of FA in this thread that we're missing what is a likely goal of this...to be more competitive. I'd be really interested to learn why they did this. I doubt it's ONLY because we've become a HR park. Might it have something to do with the typical make-up of our two competitors in NY and BOS? Might it be to counter how the whole game is building teams off of power? Is this a moneyball thing? I'd wager it does have a moneyball aspect to it. Elias and Sig think they can get more out of hitting and pitching talent with these dimensions and gain a leg up on teams that put Giancarlo Stanton in LF, while allowing us to give more innings to Zac Lowther types. We don't have to try to be competitive to sign Gerrit Cole for $500 million because you get away with a little more contact.

Maybe a major league expectation helped sway his decision? Total speculation. Just doesn't profile as a guy who starts in A ball for me.

Am I the only one who thinks it's at least possible that Prieto starts in AA or AAA with a quick ticket to the majors if he's ok? This isn't your standard draft and develop international guy because of his age and profile. What are they going to work on, launch angle? Maybe defense, which would make sense. I honestly feel like he might have a chance to make the delayed opening day roster. Essentially an international young Maikol Franco cheap type of signing.

I have no idea where Kjerstad belongs, but I think it's a good sign that he's been put out there by the O's in various settings over the last few months. It *feels* like they think he's ready to return and are bullish on that return. That said, they might just be putting the recent #1 out there based on where he's drafted, so I don't read too much into it. Still, it doesn't feel like they're looking at him like a broken prospect because of his health issue.

No doubt. It was the best kept secret in baseball. ?

You could argue that a lack of news stories about one side or the other being unwilling to engage likely means there's decent engagement. Of course, you'd be speculating, but I think it's also unfair to speculate that nothing's happening absent news reports saying that.

The three big issues I've heard are: 1. Tanking 2. RSN viability with cable cutting, and 3. Pace of play. Outside of disincentives re: tanking, I'm not sure what's being done. The third issue simply isn't one with a big fix at the ready. Best thing to do there is what they're doing, use the minors to figure out good solutions.

Buck and Dan's biggest failure was not giving aging steroid user Nelson Cruz the big contract instead of giving it to aging steroid user Chris Davis. If only we'd have known what would happen to Davis.

The actual answer to your question is to build a player development system that's as good as the Rays so we can put in 20 interchangeable arms at any point in a game and still be competitive enough to win games with a decent offense. If anyone's thinking that we're going to have a rotation like the 2012/2013 Tigers, I think you're fooling yourself. We may grow a stud or two, may trade for a stud or two, but this is not a team that's going to win with four 200 IP guys and a couple of bullpen aces.

Best pure high school hitter in decades is a massive accolade. If that's true, I'm not dinging him much for being a 2B.

I think the LH swings looks more compact and better overall. Wonder if he's stronger from that side.

You wonder if Malewski gives a head's up about guys he wants to ask about in advance. If not, it's a pretty good pull by Callis to remember Rom was an overslot guy. I knew that, but I'm an Orioles fan and wouldn't know the same about the Rangers' 25th prospect, for example.

I used to run a major healthcare data analytics outfit. It's much more complex than baseball data, but the processes are incredibly similar. The bottom line is anyone can find a computer programmer to pull data and run calculations. Understanding what the data actually means and how it's useful is where the art comes in. Sports analytics departments will be a money sink for any organization that doesn't integrate players, coaches and scouts into the process. I don't care if you have 50 staff. If they're not part of a larger effort, a lot of what they do is just money wasted. A lot of the best ideas need to come from the non tech folks. Eventually they're so integrated that they essentially become tech folks themselves, just not programmers. The fact that Sig seems to appreciate the importance of that part of the process is incredibly important.

I'd need to see how the numbers work to even consider it. The laziest view is we'd be buying a prospect for $60 million. That's a non-starter for the Orioles almost no matter who the prospect(s) is. More nuanced includes some value received from Hosmer (let's say he's worth $30 million over 4 years). So now we're buying a prospect for $30 million. Still a no-go. Then there's the cost of the prospect. I'm guessing it's small, but let's say they're in the majors some. Add $5 million to the cost. You could justify this mathematically with the right mix of players, but I'd strongly doubt ownership allows it and I'd likewise strongly doubt that, if the Padres were so willing to dump prospects that are actually worth making this deal, the O's would be offering the best deal.

I have no idea, but econ degrees tend to come with significant modeling experience. One guess re: strategy is development of pitch mix/sequence strategies for our pitchers and advance scouting of other team's pitchers.

Define game changer.

This might be true, but you can't wish a Cole or Harper into the draft order. We're picking #1. That pick needs to be a success. If that happens to be a MOO bat without much positional upside, so be it.

That's a lot of names and random stats. Hopefully, beyond the bonus babies, they start to become household names (at least in the OH house) next year.

I get that Mountcastle has a low walk rate, but I think he’s proven to be a better pure hitter than either Mancini or Trumbo ever was. Mancini‘s upside is Mountcastle. I also think he’s exactly the type of player you keep precisely because he’s not likely to bring back stud pitching or infield help. If he does, by all means trade him, but I think this guy can be a key bat in the middle of a line up the wins a lot of games.

How about a system of 6 years OR age 28?

Not listed in our top 30, but fwiw...