emmett16

Elias walked into a company that had a -6.5mm net profit the year prior to his hire and 100+mm lawsuit that will need to be paid up sometime in the near future. Then the pandemic hit.... Wouldn't call that an ATM. I have ZERO desire to watch a 75 win team. Would rather keep up with my fantasy team and continue to watch slow sustained improvement from the lower levels trickle up to the MLB team. I also believe they will spend when the time comes. That will be my last straw if they don't. I've hung on for a lifetime so far, but I'm not an eternal optimist. If they do not take advantage of the position they put themselves in over the next few years, my time as an Orioles fan will be up. But as stated before, the new regime has been a breath of fresh air. If the wool is being pulled over my eyes, I'll gladly admit I was fooled and move on. That's all for now. Time to go surfing

You continue to say lose on purpose. They are not going out and trying to lose. They are prioritizing building parts of the organization that had not been previously built. When I built my company from the ground up I prioritized very different things than I do now. I had to build out an office, had to build out computer systems, had to build out a website, had to hire dozens of people. I didn't go out and hire a professional PR firm in year one, didn't go out and hire 2-3 high-end architects to supplement my team, didn't have an HR department, didn't buy a fleet of vehicles, didn't bring out a social media team, etc. There is no way I could be doing the things I am doing now in years 1-5. Impossible. It's about resources, investments in future, man hours, buy-in, and quantifying metrics to make better decisions. Sure, I could have done those things, but I'd be bankrupt and would not have had sustained success. Same exact thing on a very smaller scale. It blows my mind that you can't wrap your head around these concepts.

People have brought up a variety of points that are completely valid that you don't agree with so you type as many words are possible and condescend people to try and win an argument. It has been stated by management and pointed out by posters that: 1. Priority #1 was a complete overhaul of the organization. They completely gutted personnel and began hiring dozens of new employees 2. Implementing strategies that start from the ground floor and work it's way up to MLB level. 3. Building out software and baseball tech throughout all of the minor league facilities and ST facilities. 4. Building a Baseball Academy in the Dominican Republic. Hiring personnel to build, implement, and recruit in-roads in international communities. 5. Building out a state-of-the-art analytics system, hiring people who can implement & translate those analytics in laymen's terms to the players. The orioles were an expansion team in 2018 due to years of neglect and being poorly managed. I've followed the orioles for 30 years now. It's a breath of fresh air that someone came in, stated their goals clearly and concisely, and has followed through verbatim. It was said in plain English that the MLB team would not be the priority for a few years and it would be a long methodical process. For the first time in as long as I can remember there are positive articles coming out by non-orioles media about the progress being made, players in our system, and the bright future on the horizon. Everything we hear from players, team reps, and coaches is that everyone is on the same page, with same goals, and with a clear focus on what each individual needs to do to make the collective better. It is a long slow process. MLB team is not winning yet, but for the first time in my lifetime the Orioles aren't a complete embarassment of an organization and have a very bright future. Hopefully you have enough patience to make it through these last couple rebuilding years and can enjoy the fruits of the labor. But, of course, any success they have after the rebuild will absolutely have nothing to do with the rebuild

So....after the rebuild if they become a successful organization, it will not be due to the rebuild? Got it. You're obviously very knowledgeable and I enjoy your posts and very much appreciate the time you put into most of them, but I hope you realize that you contradict yourself seemingly every day with the sheer amount of quick reactionary comments that you write.

1. Adley & Grayson come up early, perform at a high level and leave us savoring for more in 2023. 2. One 'major' surprise from the SP field that doesn't include (Grayson, Hall, Bradish) 3. Moutcastle taking the next step towards an .850 OPSer while playing a better 1b than 2021. 4. Stowers makes his debut and solidifies his positions as starting corner OF in 2023 with a solid showing. 5. Trade some redundancy at ML level to bolster the farm (Mancini & Santander) w/o the ML team missing a beat, perhaps improving via Stowers promotion and Mountcastle breakout. 6. Continued improvement on the farm from the top guys at the higher levels and "prospects to keep an eye out'' at the lower level. 7. An international invasion to Low A & high A from our DSL players. If all 7 happen, I will be a happy happy man & might renew my season tickets after a 3 year absence..... If top 4 happy I will consider the 2023 a success.

Going out on a slight limb, but pretty sure he'd be better than anything else we will throw out there this year. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd say chances are pretty solid he will outperform the Orioles 2-7 Starting Pitchers.

Greinke is a fit for the the O's. He's a SP and we have no SP and we have plenty of money to spend. And we need real players. Doesn't mean we would sign him. Of course I don't believe that.

Quite possibly the best post of 2021. Murray Christmas!

My back of the napkin math was a little off. I tied to bookend best and worse with 60-70% and went a little too high and not low enough (rays). I thought SP would be about 1.75x more important at but see I’m high on that, too. How’d you find SP vs. RP innings totals? I looked at a few good teams & bad teams on bbref and jotted down totals. Couldn’t find how to categorize by starting v relieving.

I’m going to go with Keegan Akin. I think he can go from pretty awful to serviceable.

I can’t imagine hitting now vs. these guys out there. The velocity and the stuff is unreal. Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in professional sports.

On good teams the SP’s are going to cover 800-900 ip or about 60-70% of all innings. Out of ~1400 total innings the bullpen is going to need to cover 500-600. I’d say the SP is just about twice as important as the BP, but there is a lot is W’s to be had in those 500-600 innings of work.

I remember someone posted on here about avg. age of MLB debut by year. I need to try to find the data but I remember being shocked/surprise that the avg. age of MLB debut has been just about the same for many many decades.

I don’t think anyone has mentioned the Mancini situation. He lost 2020 and came back a shell of himself in 2021. That impacted the offense significantly. It also ruined one of Elias’ better potential trade chips. The entire situation was a blow to their offensive production & the overall team assets. How often does your #1 draft pick and most productive offensive player go down with non-baseball related injuries in the same year?

I'll consider the rebuild over when our first J2 signee sticks in the MLB lineup and there are international candidates right behind him ready to take his place.

What does a 2.24 WHIP & 5.1 BB/9 look like vs. MLB hitters? I'm going to pump the brakes on expecting much from Hall. Granted, I haven't seen him pitch (in person) yet and a Randy Johnson comp is exciting, but it seems like a lot will need to go right for him to have success. He's going to be fantastic or absolutely awful.

Great research! Seems about right. Out pitchers walk a ton of people and our batters don’t walk. Can see why this has been a major focus in the minors both on offense and pitching.

It bothers me that the day before the lockout the major news running, on various sports sites, was MLB's use of two balls. The PR and branding of MLB is beyond terrible. It's almost comical at this point.

Maybe MLB used the 'super ball' instead of the 'regular ball' for the terrible teams to drive some HR action to meaningless games.

I was expecting unwatchable baseball for 3-4 years. Expected to see something worth watching in year 5.

I always saw 2023+ as when things would start to change and that the team would spend money. I don’t think they spend much money next year either. Elias was signed just over 3 years ago (nov. 16 2018), and one of those years being the crazy Covid year. Chris Davis contract was supposed to be done (not including deferments, but the bulk) by 2023. He has one decent J2 under his belt and some international players will start to hit low A this year. I give Elias 5 years to turn the organization around and I believe that is more or less the goal for him as well. By year 5 (Nov 16 2023) our first wave of international players will be on the doorstep in AA & AAA, Adley & G Rod will have 1+ years of service time & experience, and the supporting cast (including the 1-1) will be MLB ready as well. At that point, we will finally be close to being on an equal playing field as the rest of MLB. I imagine that is when we will have an exciting team and Elias will be making a few key FA signings. I feel as if they have been honest to us, more or less, about what they are trying to do. If the wool is being pulled out before our eyes and the 5 year plan didn’t work (we were “deceived”), I think I might need to find another team to pull for or (more or less what I do now) just pull for players on my fantasy team, but I’m not gonna get upset about them not spending $$ this off season or next.

On a serious note, I imagine he was brought in as competition to light a fire under Urias, Mateo & Gutierrez. Will be Surprised if he’s on the team come July.

One of my favorite shirts is a silhouette of Odor punching Bautista in the face. Can’t wait to rock it at the yard.

Glasnow gonna get paid….from his law suit.

The lockout goes into effect today at 11:59pm and there is not one news story on any major news outlet about the labor negotiations. The general public: 1. Doesn’t even know about the impending lock out 2. could care less if there is a season next year or not sad state of affairs for the game we love.