crowmst3k!

Delta is pretty contagious, even among vaccinated folks. But, from what I've read it stays pretty mild if the person who caught it was vaccinated. Hopefully Mattingly is ok, and recovers quickly.

2023 is the year I see the Orioles 'in the hunt' for the season. Not necessarily a playoff team, but not a complete joke. Probably around the low-mid 80's in win total.

Agreed, and Elias needs to pitch some acquisitions. At some point, the Orioles need to look at their timeline for competing, and make some signings to complement the talent in the pipeline. These don't have to be huge deals for 'premium talent', but the right players to fill some needs that the pipeline may miss will help shorten the timeline to competing. MacPhail and Duquette made some good acquisitions in the years leading up to 2012. The trade for Reynolds, the trade for Hardy, the trade for Jason Hammel, signing Wei-Yin Chen. If Elias can do some of this effectively, it will help substantially.

I don't know how to answer this question.

All of the eggs are in the player development basket. If the high-level guys in the minors hit their projections, then the Orioles should at least be competitive in 2023. A lot of moves can happen, as well. The 2009 and 2010 Orioles were pretty bad. The 2011 Orioles were still bad, but had several pieces added who would contribute, and in 2012 everything came together. I see this current team as similar to the 2009 Orioles, but with a better farm system.

Oh, this is easily one of the worst Orioles teams I've ever seen, and I watched a lot from 2007-2011. Outside of Mullins, Means, Mancini, there's very little at the major league level to be interested in.

Bummer. Hope it's just rust and he bounces back next go-round.

I want to see promotions. Even if it's just guys moving up from AA to AAA. I'd like to see Patrick Dorian, Terrin Vavra, maybe Adley and Grayson get some coffee in Baltimore in September. Alex Wells, Kyle Bradish, Jahmai Jones to Baltimore before September.

I would love it if MLB was economically structured in a way that allowed fan favorites to play on one team for longer. I'd love if MLB was economically structured in a way that teams would not need to tank for 5 years to get back being competitive. I'd also want MLB to be economically structured so that the players get the money they deserve. There have been too many instances in history of wage theft by MLB owners. It's a complex set of issues with complex causes.

The good thing about this team being this horrible is that vast majority of players who would be on a competitive team are not on the current MLB roster. If the Orioles were this bad a year or 2 after the prospects hit the majors, then I'd be deflated. This current squad is just not talented, and that's ok.

Only 50k fans? Doubtful. Baltimore loves the Orioles. Whenever they're competitive again, they'll draw fans. Every major city has problems. Baltimore is not unique in that regard. I don't think that factors in to whether people like a baseball team.

I went to the ballpark the other week. Masks were not enforced at all. I had mine on when I entered, but when I realized that no staff cared, I took it off. I was glad to be back at the yard without wearing it. I've had to wear one for 50 hours a week, every week since the pandemic began. Being able to go to a ballgame, enjoy the evening, and not have to mask-up was really wonderful. I couldn't be more grateful to the scientists and professionals who worked tirelessly getting these vaccines produced. The results are there in the metrics, and it feels great to be mostly back to normal activities like ballgames after an awful year prior.

Harvey is doing exactly what the Orioles need him to do. For once, it seems like a 'Lightning in a bottle' pickup seems to be working out. Still early, but he's been building over every start, and he looked very sharp vs the MFY. Good peripherals, as well. Would love to see Harvey get flipped for a long-term piece at the deadline.

There's absolutely no reason that purses should be disallowed. This is not a surface-contact virus. It's aerosolized. It doesn't make any sense. That's the definition of safety theater.

I'm all about waiting for a few rotation turns to begin conclusions. That said: Starting pitching is 17 and change pitched for 5 runs thus far. That's respectable. Harvey had some things not go his way, but his stuff has looked better than it has in seasons. Means is great. Bruce's stuff passed the eye test, and only one walk issued was good. I'm not looking for the O's to compete this year, but strong steps in the right direction would be fantastic.

Mullins for sure

@Tony-OH should slam this thread shut. It's drivel, and is getting deep into politics/conspiracy stuff. And reading @now's "analysis" is actually making me dumber.

This demographic is shrinking.

Interested to see what they eventually land on as far as capacity goes. If Baltimore keeps capacity lower than the state guidance (say...25%), my guess is that they would only open the lower bowl for opening day. It's a lot of extra labour and support needed for the entire stadium. It would be really cool if they could get an exemption to go over the capacity limit for vaccinated front-line medical workers in the club level. Even cooler if the club distributed blocks of those tickets to local hospitals. Those folks have earned a day at the ballpark.

The CC Sabathia deal worked well, even with a few hiccup years.

Love it. Nice quality start by Miguel Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

It depends on the situation. If Buck is putting him in a position to succeed with those PA's (Platoon matchups, career stats vs pitcher), and Buck sees that his physical tools are solid (decent bat speed, defense), then I have no problem with this. The O's are trying to squeeze a little more productivity out of this late point in Lew's career, most teams do something along those lines. Look at Darryl Strawberry: from 1992 on, his overall production was right around replacement. Joe Torre, however, saw something and brought him on for the 1998 year. They took a washed up Darryl Strawberry and got 25 HRS and nearly a 900 OPS in 345 PAs. Torre saw that the tools had not deteriorated completely, and put him in a position to succeed. I could very well see Buck do the same thing with Lew Ford.

I definitely think Nick starts on the DL and they start with McLouth, Jones, Reimold, Ford (even if he is a jerk). I also see Ford starting in right and Nolan DH-ing against Price in the first game. I'd rather have a 100% Nick from May onward than a 75ish% Nick from the beginning of April onward, if that's what it takes.

Just give up already, Lew. You don't have any friends. Nobody likes you.