wildbillhiccup

Then name some (MLB pitchers) other than Tanaka who avoided surgery. I can name two, Ohtani and deGrom, who didn't avoid it in 2023.

...and how many were MLB pitchers who regularly and strenuously use their UCL ligaments? Sure if I'm just sitting on my couch drinking beer I might be able to avoid surgery, but to avoid it as a pitcher seems very unrealistic.

That comparison is an absolute slap in Nelson Cruz's face.

A sprained UCL for a regular Joe Schmo compared to a pitcher who uses that ligament strenuously with regularity is a completed different scenario and the odds are definitely not 62%.

I'd say the odds of Bradish avoiding surgery are slightly better than one of us winning the lottery. It sucks, but that's just the reality of the situation and I'm sure Elias is operating under that assumption.

When has Elias ever been straight / completely honest with the press? 99% of his pressers are a bunch of words strung together with no substance. That's all this was. Non-surgical treatment rarely works for a sprained/torn UCL. It's not a question of if he's going to need surgery it's a question of when.

"Fairly competent" isn't worth all the other baggage IMO.

In this case I don't think he's overreacting. A sprained UCL is about a big of red flag as you can off for a pitcher and odds are overwhelming that this will lead to surgery. It usually does. As for Elias quote, I wouldn't read too much into his optimism. It's nothing more than a GM trying to put a somewhat positive spin on the situation.

100%, but I do appreciate the irony that the person the angry mob is rallying behind doesn't even chew tobacco. It's like a scene out of a Borat film.

Interesting thread. In one corner we have the folks who claim to be bothered by this, but who are clearly trying to make it about something much bigger than a tobacco ban. In the other corner you have the folks who just seem to be sympathetic towards the folks who work at the stadium who have to clean up that disgusting sh*t. At the end of the day if you're discreet I highly doubt that anyone is going to stop you from dipping at a game. So it's much ado about nothing.

Other organizations have hired employees from Driveline. That would be another possible direction to go.

I appreciate the general sentiment of this post / suggestion, but wouldn't it be better for the team to just offer to foot the bill for any player who wants to spend some time at Driveline Baseball in the offseason if they want to learn a new pitch and/or tweak some aspect of their game? That seems to be the gold standard right now. If Yale already exists there's no reason to try to start our own university.

Pretty reasonable annual salary, but I'm amazed they gave him a three year deal. They would have been better off resigning Pederson or signing Renfroe.

Who is he preparing the sales pitch for? Because there's no world in which it makes sense for this team to offer / extend Santander to a long term deal.

They're overrated in the sense that almost everyone can hit them now. For context nearly 50 players hit more than 29 HRs in MLB last season and nearly 100 hit more than 20 HRs. It's about supply an demand and it's pretty damn easy replace HRs in this era. That's why players who hit HRs AND who get on base are the modern day standard of what a pure power bat would be in the 90s. And Santander only checks one of those boxes.

If I can quantify this a bit more I think Santander is specifically overrated by the some of th older fan base who still think home runs are a rarity and and one of the most important offensive statisitics. Santander is a solid player, but the problem is the areas in which he contributes are arguably the easiest categories to replace. We could cut him today and sign Jorge Soler to a one year deal and not miss a beat offensively. Mediocre fielding home run hitters who don't steal bases, hit for average, or get on base with any regularity are a dime a dozen and very low on the value chart in the modern area of baseball.

Jake Burger hit 34 home runs in 100 less ABs than Santander last season and I bet that 50% of the posters on this message board have never even heard of him. When are you all going to stop placing so much emphasis on a dying stat like HRs? It's not the 90s anymore! My point is it doesn't matter how many more HRs Santander would have hit in other parks because it's one of the easiest stats to replace. We're almost to the start of Spring Training and there are still multiple FAs available (Martinez, Soler) who can either match or exceed what Santander brings to the table. That should tell you how much GMs dig/value the long ball.

In hindsight I do find it a bit interesting that our general mentality (myself included) is that we can basically stick anyone at 1B. Even stranger considering that a lot of us probably grew up watching one of the best in game (at the time) play in Eddie Murray. Hopefully they give Kjerstad plenty of reps at 1B in the OF during Spring Training and he gets more comfortable at one or both positions. That would certainly make getting his bat in the lineup a heckuva lot easier, even without a trade.

Oh I'm not questioning grouping them together (because it's probably more realistic), but in my perfect world Cowser would get the majority of his ABs in the OF and Kjerstad at DH. A boy can dream...

I want the answer to be Kjerstad alone (not combined with Cowser).

I don't quite understand why you're dismissing the fact that he was bad in the COVID season? it still counts! He was bad in 2020 and mediocre in 2022. So two of the last four seasons he's been mediocre or below average. And he regressed considerably in OBP last season, which was really one of the only things that separated Martinez from all the other generic power hitters. And he's about to turn 37 this summer. That's A LOT of red flags.

Speaking of 3rd Base...John deserves an eternal "gas face".

Are we seriously still suggesting that this team needs a 36 year old DH? Does that really seem like a move the modern regime would make? Stop thinking like an Angelos! And Ken Weinman's about as "plugged in" to what the Orioles need as a broken battery operated toaster.

You absolutely nailed it. As soon as I saw Clase's name leaked as "maybe" being available that's immediately where my mind went. It's almost like MLB GMs need a CarFax equivalent for Cleveland pitchers.

You do? With Henderson, Holliday and Westburg plugged in at 3B, SS, and 2B for the foreseeable future how and where exactly do you see Jose Ramirez fitting in with this team position wise? He's also 31 and his numbers have been on a steady decline for the last two seasons. I also find it interesting that in a year where just about everyone saw a spike in their SBs due to the new rule changes Ramirez did not. It makes me think that not only is his bat slowing down, but his legs as well. Dont get me wrong I love Ramirez's fire and passion, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around why this team would want to trade for an aging third baseman who's skills are obviously declining.