foxfield

Today is literally the first time Westy has sat.

There are guidelines about usage that are easy to follow if leagues choose to do so. I ran our local rec league for a few years. We had pitch limits and tried to encourage coaches to pitch everyone, with the idea that as a league we would develop more pitchers that way. It worked reasonably well. By far the biggest difficulty was father's who believed the rules were good, but didn't apply to their own child. It was a constant battle. And there were mothers who would text that we were hurting little Johnny by stealing his spotlight...at 10 years old.

The wall has helped and it has infuriated Aaron Judge. What more could you possibly ask for in a park change?

This happens sure, but parents are not kicking and screaming about don't make my kid a star when this happens. No they post film and stats on Facebook about their kid and tell em to keep grinding and throwing harder and glory lies ahead. It's easy to bash coaches...dad's and little league, but it's all of it. I thought the Verlander interview offered some good insight. And if MLB wants the games faster and thus the pitch clock, they should look for ways to incentivize pitchers like Jim Palmer. He threw to contact and it worked out pretty well for him and for the O's. Yes the game has changed as Verlander mentioned. The need for swings ands misses now is huge. MLB could alter the ball, or even the distance of the mound. Of course, HR's sell and strikes outs by pitchers get paid. It is an interesting problem and it will require some true give and take by MLB and the MLBPA to make changes. I am not optimistic as these two often seem driven by now versus the future...but it is what is needed.

An assessment made after 9 games.

I’m in complete disbelief. We are currently 5-4 against teams that are 16-5 in games not against the Orioles. We have people who want the owner to step in and hold the GM accountable for this start. We have people claiming that CoC is an Elias apologist. Next we are going to hear calls for Brady Anderson or “Confederate” Syd Thrift to take the helm and right the ship. This team will hit. If it gets the pitching it has so far this year things will be just fine.

If you didn’t learn from the last owner managing the team….i really don’t know how to help you.

I move we close discussion and proceed to a vote.

I am certain this is done intentionally to mess with your head. I feel like I heard Elias say it once. Something like: “We want to do all of the smart things to build not just a winner for now but a club that can win in the future as well. If we can do that and also really mess with fans like Sports Guy, well that’s just a bonus.”

He means daddy won’t let us.

This is awesome. Congrats even if it was almost as long ago as the Orioles in the WS.

Cavalry, Calvary. We know what you meant. No sense beating a dead horse...and I'll die on that cross.

Any of them are possible. Or it could be a pitcher who comes up first. I picked Stowers because he is already on the 40 man roster. But it could be anyone. They are all ready.

OMG! They killed Kenny!

This is factual but let’s be honest. Whether it was ownership or FO we have sucked for almost 40 years.

It was more fun to rip on the horrible idiocy of the Baltimore Orioles brain trust when it was truly horrible.

I will try. Hey, thanks for being a fan. I forgive you for calling us kids, and trolls. And I apologize for being a complete and utter, checks notes, loser. Just doing the best I can. The above post is, however a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black. But yes you are 100% right, about everything. And I'm sure your wife is proud that you think enough of her to post her pictures for such a collection of trolls and losers. And this thread is a gift, so, thanks for being here. And I predict that this thread may or may not be locked and you can hold me to it.

Im ok if there is a small overpay. Certainly for an ace. But just because we don't have room for people is no reason to just send em all at once. We still might want another pitcher or reliever or bat somewhere down the road.

I can't believe the amount of discussion on one swing. For what it's worth, I think you are all wrong, It wasn't a poor decision, but it was poor execution. It happens. Correct and a good decision doesn't guarantee a good result.

You might want to peruse BBRef and see all of the high quality people who played games for the defending World Champion Texas Rangers in 2023. There are plenty of guys like Urias, Mateo and Kemp or Hays. You are tilting at windmills here. Understand that the players that are now here will have to perform to keep their role. Like Mountcastle or O'hearn. You seem convinced on one hand that Elias is incompetent for how he runs the team and yet believe on the other that he is too smart to be this stupid. I most certainly do not think he has created a position that needs an intervention from someone above him. And no, he isn't and hasn't been perfect. How the heck did you survive 2016-2018 without going nuts? Still no WS flags to fly here since 1983, but getting back to getting one looks a lot like what we have and are doing. Breathe in, breath out, it's gonna be ok.

I think you can certainly make a credible argument that Jackson Holliday is ready. I think most of us agree he is. But he certainly isn't repeating AAA. But even if we both agree and say he is an exception....there are not many people who fit this and it would in fact prove to be an exception and certainly not the rule.

Baba O'riley - The Who

So if a prospect is called up for the last 15 games of AAA and starts the next season in AAA...you consider that repeating a level? That's incorrect by any logical definition.

Of course, I think many here simply assume the checkbook will be wide open. I think the GM will be given more latitude than he was with Angelos, but I also do not assume that ME is going to embrace signing every prospect to a long term deal or jumping on say a 7 year contract for an ACE. We simply don't know yet how they are going to decide to work together. But that doesn't change the fact that there is much more flexibility today than there was before the ownership change.

We have a great situation. But what we are seeing is essentially the pain of asset management. Yes we have new owners with fat checkbooks. We also have a GM who has been running an asset collection run to near perfection (Still need pitching). All of us were at least a little disappointed when Holliday, Norby, Stowers and Kjerstad and even Mayo all went down. And all of us understand that some combination of these guys are likely better than the last 4 spots on the current 26. And if they are not now, they would likely be in time. Service time almost demands this action. Almost. And with Holliday there is risk involved of losing his fulll year anyway. I think unless he is up quick enough to earn the pick if he is top two, he stays down the longest. But this is what the CBA leads us to do. It is simple math. Holliday in 7 years is almost assuredly, if we accept anything near his ceiling, more valuable than Holliday today. If I offered you 30 M or 40 M if you would wait until September, I feel pretty sure most would do it without hesitation. This current situation is painful, but it is fantastic. It's like sneaking into your parents closet at Thanksgiving and finding out that this Christmas all of you dreams are going to come true. You know what you have, but you have to wait...every day is painful. We also have several good players, who really don't want to go, have said they would like to extend and are probably not really in the long term plans. In a perfect world, we could trade with Miami, or Pittsburgh, or Seattle or the Dodgers or someone. We may yet do that. We could also see an extension of one or more of these prospects that takes this service time issue away. I know Boras....but it could happen. In the meantime, we have a very good team, but maybe not the team we will have later in the year. And as we start the '24 season, we have to wait for this transition. The O's have started 4-2 and if you didn't know that, it would seem from reading here that they are 0-6. No one said, being in the mix for a WS with this group would be easy. We still have pitching questions. I think this roster is going to go through changes. Maybe that is because players play themselves into or off of the roster, maybe that is from trades. Maybe it is from a different direction from ownership. No matter, we are in a pretty fantastic position and we are going to have to have a bit of patience. But it aint easy when you know what is in that closet...