emmett16

That is absolutely a possibility. I honestly hadn't really considered that before, but with all the shenanigans the last 6 months, I don't think I would be surprised. I try to stay as optimistic as possible which I think is an impressive talent being a Os fan lol

Have you been down to DR? 1- Island time is a VERY real thing. 2- Skilled workers are incredibly hard to come by 3- Lot of shadiness going on and the lining of pockets 4- Permits = near impossible to get (without lining of the pockets) 5- Inspections = near impossible to get (without lining of the pockets) 6- Materials needed for a state of the art facility are hard to come by and get delivered Not sticking up for the lack of news and progress, just putting some things in context. By no means is this like building a project in the US (which can take a long time as well). I'd be curious to see how long it took other folks to build their academies and how ambitious those academies are. I'm pretty upset it's not done yet as I've been waiting to go visit!

To be fair, not many teams were taking advantage of this type of training and quite a bit are still not using it. Many teams were against it at first. A friend of mine who pitched in the Rangers organization was explicitly told he was not allowed to take advantage of some of the newer tech and trainings (this was ~2010) when this stuff was first coming out. A lot of players did these things behind their teams backs (at the risk of repercussions) until they came into vogue around 2012-2014.

Probably could have avoided that .593 OPS in his third year with a little seasoning in the minors

I don't think Cole Irvin was on anyone's radar. I'm not good at reading the market and predicating trades like some folks on here. But I do think they have a lot of attractive trade pieces and will use those assets to improve the team over the next 4-5 months.

I still believe there is an impactful trade that will occur before the season begins. I could be wrong, but I'd be shocked if this was the 'end game' for the off-season. It's been a weird market with all the teams seemingly going for it. I imagine as that is the case, after first half of season the flood gates might open up for potential trades once teams get a good idea of where they stand in 2023. I imagine we will be very active at the trade deadline.

Would be nice for the fans, but not ideal for the best interest of the team.

Kremer would be an ideal player to trade for an upgrade. He outperformed his peripherals by quite a bit and could be attractive to another team. I'd flip him for a SP upgrade in a heartbeat.

This has been the timeline since the injury. A lot of posters have been eager to get him back 'into the lineup' as quickly as possible. July is a rosy prediction and August has been the date given as a likely return.

I'd like to see him in the pen this year, where he looked comfortable. Next year I'd try to stretch him out as a starter if he has success and is more pitch efficient. If he kills the role, bump him to the rotation when an inevitable injury occurs. Having him throw a single inning in AAA is a waste during a year they are trying to win.

I would be shocked if they are not. It’s not very difficult to do. I imagine they have a choice between utilizing the teams system and a third party’s system. The players agent might have a say in what is better for their client.

Pretty sure it's the only PA compliment I've ever seen on here, TBH.

Every player has a dashboard they can log in to. Each player has a calendar with a set work out for each day of the week. Their nutrition, rest/recovery, and sleep cycle also get programmed in. Each player has their own unique goals, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly. Each player has a unique set of work-outs specifically programmed for them and where they are in their schedule. They wear tech and video all of their workouts. All of the data is put into their dashboard. They are looking at throws per day, high effort throws per day, chronic workload, acute workload, and torque per throw. They are getting velocity readings from every throw and every angle on the field and they know their deficiencies and strengths. All those are monitored and adjusted depending on where they are in the season. All of that data is used to create their unique workout plan. The same goes for the hitting side. All data from their hitting sessions are recorded. They get their Max EV, The 'top 8' EVs (which is most indicative of success) and avg. EV (not super important but paints a separate picture). They pull a ton of other data on batted ball judging impact and spin. They judge their swing decisions similarly and are given drills to work on improving various aspects of swing decisions. They are judged on smash factor which is their ability to square up the ball effectively and consistently. They are given goals, drills, work out plans etc. to work on each of these three things. Early in FCL, I imagine, all the kids are taught how to use their dashboard and about the tech they will be using. They will be explained the drills, workout plans, goals, and the 'why' to everything they are doing.

A lot of this stuff is done virtually now (I’m a driveline client). If you have access to a few tools (hittrax, blast, and pulse) you upload all your data to their Traq system and meet with your trainer every week, bi-weekly, or monthly. You video all your workouts, wear your pulse, k-vest, and blast while working in a facility with Hit Trax or Rapsodo and it’s just like you are in their Washington or Arizona facility. The Orioles use almost an identical system.

It’s not very expensive. Blast sensor $150 Pulse sensor(black band on Tate's arm) $150 Traq system(dashboard) $150 Rapsodo (or other cameras that read ball flight) $4,000 K-Vest $5,000 Hit Trax (the kids are bored at the schwag batting cages now) $10,000 Floor pressure plates installed $10,000 The Orioles are absolutely utilizing all the same technologies that Driveline does. They just aren’t doing these things in the off-season, that’s up to the player. I’d be shocked if the Os don’t have $100k+ of tech and goodies in all their facilities.

With just a few hundred BIP they can factor the wOBACON of all players in the league with just EV, avg. EV, attack angle and smash factor. They can also project all the players in the league’s wOBACON next year using age & historical data points. They have a very clear idea of how hard and how often Frazier is going to put the ball in play and they like him over their other options. It’s that simple.

My favorite type of loan. Reduction of tax liability while making some additional dollars.

Basallo, Krjerstad, Beavers, & Fabian. After watching all the college bats steadily climb through the system, I'm really excited to see what this years college draftees can do. The little I saw of Max Wagner has me excited also.

Vavra has been banged up over his career. 44 games in 2018, 102 2019, 48 2021, & 90 2022. Believe it's been lower back strains and hamstring issues.

Yes. I think that can breed complacency.

The O's were super exciting last year. Everyone has their hopes up for 2023. It's February 2/2 and a bunch of die-hards are fiending for anything baseball.

Yes. I assume it's a competition and I could very well be wrong. I'd say that would be a good problem to have. If the FA we signed has a fantastic year on a one year deal while one of our top prospects gets another year of development under his belt, I'd say that's a win/win (for us, no Jordan )

It's a development strategy and tactic. Nothing to do with his mental make-up which is by all accounts off the charts. How do we know who they spoke with, offered jobs, and were denied? Sure. Creating inventory and redundancies are critical to all high functioning organizations.

"Jordan, you had a fantastic 2022. Your competition for playing time in MLB is X. Here is what we believe you need to do to have success." For example. Frazier has the job Westburg wants. Thats the second vocabulary word I've learned today. Quite the opposite, they are both reported to be extremely hard workers. Iron sharpens Iron.

I imagine the cutting edge orgs like LA, Cleveland, Tampa, Houston, and (can't believe I'm saying this) Baltimore are more attractive to those players looking for jobs in baseball due to their heavy reliance on technology and new school thought of teaching hitting and pitching.