Bradysburns

Well, I haven't watched as many games this year as usual, so I'll take your word for it. It's business. Whatever's best for the Orioles. So if we get a new manager who can take the baton the next mile... fine. But a manager carousel ain't gonna fix this roster.

You could argue he's got no roster. And you'd be right.

I for one am glad we're no longer fetishizing pitching prospects over positional players. My only case in point is the 20-plus years of following this strategy BEFORE Elias arrived. So this whole "draft pitchers" theory is absolute bunk, in my opinion. Draft the best players. Then sort things out later. And when you're ready, yeah, take a shot on your Max Scherzer and go for the ring.

I once interviewed former O's pitcher Jason Johnson at Camden Yard. It was for a magazine about living with diabetes, and how his insulin pump had helped him on the field, etc. Not only was Jason a very good pitcher for us, he was an amazingly cool guy. Couldn't have been more level-headed, down-to-earth and genuine. He walked around the Warehouse like an intern rather than the multimillionaire athlete he was. Terrific dude.

I suspect Harvey will become an epic closer, starting this year. His name will join the likes of Greg Olson, Tippy Martinez, etc. You can just see it coming. (Talk about putting some lofty expectations on the poor kid.)

I can relate to that. If we wind up with Torkelson, I won't mind of course. But I am increasingly leaning toward Austin Martin ... From what I'm reading, he would be a reasonable #2 pick -- even if he'd be a reach at #1. I just love the defensive reputation, the all-around athleticism and playing up-the-middle ... It's also a major position of need in our farm system.

Your statement that Hyde "picked a fight" is factually incorrect, if Davis hit Hyde with a thrown baseball helmet. It would also undermine your entire argument that Hyde's mishandling the team. I don't agree at all. I think Hyde's been brilliant so far given the outrageously horrid roster he's dealing with and all the losses after coming over from elite organizations. He's not used to terrible. And I am glad he has no patience for it.

That's because people treated CD as a little princess ... UNTIL HYDE ...

I could see Hunter moving to the bullpen at some point. He could be really good there.

Your opinion doesn't represent all Baltimore natives, that is for sure. Half my family was born in Baltimore, including my wife. I've lived in Baltimore on and off for 30 years. I don't use Balmer as a derisive term. We use it as a term of love, like a LOT of people from the city. Here's one example of a different, less defensive take. I hear you and I respect your pride in your city, but, uhhh... maybe realizing that there's a middle ground would help.

I wonder why they don't start grooming him for the bullpen. Seems like an obvious move at SOME point. Maybe not quite yet. But heck... when he's on, he's really darned good. I'd rather get high-leverage reliever out of him than injured "starter."

I'm still disgusted by the totally unnecessary trade of Gausman at that time. I don't think we even sold "low"... We just made a desperate deal from a position of weakness. It's just embarrassing to even think about. I wish the AngelBros would have held off on the Gausman trade at least. The other trades, no worries. They look decent so far. But KG? That was plain stupid. I hope he has a killer career, personally. I always loved watching him pitch when he was on. And he seemed like a genuinely neat kid. Ah well. At least we kept Bundy.

The other thing is, he knows the other players are watching how he treats Davis and handles the situation. They still seem to support Davis for now. If the other players start grousing about Davis's futility, I suspect Hyde may move to respond... Regardless, he will handle Davis with class, dignity and respect. His players will respect Hyde for that. And they'll play harder for him. Hyde has no idea what is going to happen with Davis. He's taking it day by day, realizing that dumping Davis too quickly or harshly could backfire. The one issue I have is when Davis starts to block the development of someone like Mountcastle, who could be our first baseman of the future. That's when Hyde's decision-making will get much more difficult.

I think this is the key to understanding Hyde's maneuvers for the foreseeable future. He's making whatever he can of this roster, along with some duct tape, spit and luck. The point here is developing guys with an eye toward winning long term (Hess, for example... could have been injured by trying to throw 100-plus pitches in that scenario.) As for outfielder placement, etc., I haven't the slightest clue. That's why Hyde's the manager and I'm not. I also have another job, which precludes me from managing the Orioles at this time. But as someone else said in another thread: Don't panic. We're not a good team. That said, what I wanted to see was spirit, hustle, grit and cohesion, along with smart at-bats and solid defense. I think we're seeing all that so far and we're already seeing what a good leader Brandon Hyde is. I'm extremely confident in the future of this franchise.

I'm going with, we won. If this same "robotic" thinking helped us beat the Yankees, and then led to Hess getting pulled in a win... sign me up. I think Hess will get over it.

Yeah. I have to admit: I've changed my tune on rebuilding. It's hard to argue with the combination of analytics, player acquisition and player development. It has been interesting to watch the AngelBros put this together. If they let Mike do his thing, I think we're gonna be competitive again long term.

I thought of that too. Hey, they don't like teams sucking for too long. I feel the same, and I never used to like the idea of "rebuilding." Mainly because I didn't trust anyone in the front office to handle it right. Now I think we have THE front office team to handle it. And I want them to not worry about wins and losses this year, but build something wisely... something lasting. So I wouldn't want to see an artificial "cattle prod" entering the equation. Also, there's something worse for baseball than a team losing 100 games two years in a row. And that is: a team losing 80 games every year... forever. And that's what this rule could trigger, as teams like the O's try TOO SOON to be competitive, rather than building a fundamentally sound, long-term program.

I agree. I like the LOOGY role... Jesse Orosco was one of my favorite relievers to watch. He was SO good at his specialty. It was a joy to watch him spin that slider right into the bread basket of righties, too. That to me removes a degree of specialization that makes the game interesting. I also think it's arbitrary to say: you must face three batters. That puts a premium on generalized relievers. That's fine. But again... it takes away some of the fun, for me. Maybe a rule like: after the first reliever, who can face a single batter... everyone else must face at least 3 batters. That way, the LOOGY could still have a potential role if a left-handed slugger comes up in a high-impact situation. The 20-second pitch limit seems reasonable, given that we have a shot clock in basketball... and play clock in football, etc. At the same time, it's a one-sided rule. What if a hitter's not in his stance? The pitcher just hucks it up there? Seems weird. I'd have to hear more.

This is where I am with Demper. And hey... the dude was a very good catcher for the Orioles! And MIGHT he actually have some great advice to offer? And he's offering this defensive advice to... Austin Wynns? Not exactly like he's messing with Manny Machado's swing mechanics here. This makes so much more sense than Brady, an employee, jumping all kinds of organizational boundaries to contradict a player's position coaches! Demper is just a private citizen. He doesn't report to Elias. And I suspect Elias is the type to take whatever good can come from Demper's desire to help, and maximize it. Man, I'm such a sucker for the new administration. I need to regain some of my former skepticism.

I'm really intrigued by Kline - nice to see him make your top 15! Looking over his stat history... looks like a potential future closer if he can stay healthy. Or at least a nice option for the back of the rotation. I'm looking forward to seeing so many of our youngsters... But Kline's a sleeper from what I can tell.

Oh yeah -- I'd put the chances at somewhere under 15%. However, I also feel like perhaps the greatest area the Orioles can improve is player-development. It seems like our system tends to make players underperform expectations, for the most part. I'm open to the possibility that we've totally mishandled player development, including Chris Davis's struggles... and that if there's ANY chance of getting him back on track, guys like Elias and Sig are the ones to do it. I should correct myself. There IS a point to Davis performing less horribly. It won't act as a cancer on players around him.

The weird thing about Chris is, he didn't start out as an all-or-nothing hitter. His minor league stats don't reflect a one-dimensional power guy, a la Adam Dunn, for example. Until a few years ago, Chris' batting average was respectable for a power hitter. Also, if you look at a guy like Mark Reynolds... very up-and-down but overall, a pretty nice career he's carving out. We properly jettisoned him years ago. But he has raised his batting average in recent years and his Colorado stint has raised his overall numbers yet again. In other words, Chris somehow getting back to .230s BA, with 30 HRs... I think that could still be possible. There would be no point in it, of course... as he'd be doing it for a rebuilding team. But it seems possible, at least worth trying, with enough support. There's not much else to do but release the guy.

Interesting point. It's hard to believe that a man could lose all athletic ability in his late 20s. I can only imagine Chris's issues are more holistic -- maybe even some life issues, etc., combining with the on-field challenges, etc. What I like about Elias is his first instinct: help our current players to maximize their talents. He didn't talk about the roster complications, or the money factor. He talked about helping our guy maximize his abilities, with information, expertise, support, et al. That's very different from the kinds of messages we've heard at times. Still, we'll see if Chris actually opens his mind to this new stuff. I'm sure he's mortified at his results. If he's unwilling to work to change them, then he should be benched until he's ready to get un-selfish. I still root for CD, of course, but at some point... it ain't workin.

Interesting point, but even so: couldn't we have traded O'Day to Atlanta without including KG? That would have been a good trade and a sensible salary dump, regardless of return.