Aglets

I want to know what Rodrigo Lopez, Daniel Cabrera, and Bruce Chen are up to nowadays. I bet they could be had for real cheap.

I'm not sure about "flipping the switch" but I believe Elias and company will significantly increase payroll next year in an effort to win more games. He has hinted at this in some of his comments which I have never heard him do since he was hired late in 2018. I don't think we will compete for a WC per se but maybe we start to get near 70 to 75 wins. Definitely interested to see how he addresses the pitching issue.

He seems to be hurt rather consistently. That's my best guess. He was playing through turf toe this year I believe. Hopefully by next spring that will be over and done with?

Congrats to Diaz for finally pulling this thing out and winning this head-to-head challenge. Diaz ended the season with a .476 OPS, while Ripken somehow managed to finish lower with .456. I'm not sure I want to see either one of them get many PA in 2022. I'm sure Diaz will get another shot though.

Spooky man. What a finish!

News drop about the AFL in Roch's latest post. https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2021/09/orioles-and-red-sox-lineups-plus-notes-1.html Diaz and Stowers are going to play in it. Kjerstad will participate in "fall activities" whatever that means. Probably means not in the AFL. Full rosters will be announced on Monday.

Pretty happy with the last guy we took when we had the 1:1 pick.

I assume this is the thread you mean? Thought it might be good to link it here as a part of the discussion. Stowers, Mayo, Pinto indeed seem like clear choices. Rom another honorable mention. Mundy.

We had identical records in 2020 so yes, the tiebreaker goes by 2019 record. We win the tiebreaker in other words. I know this question has come up a lot, hopefully it will start to sink in more. Problem is we no longer control our own destiny for 1:1. Beating Boston on Tuesday messed things up. Arizona has us by 1 game at the moment, hopefully they pick it up in the final stretch! I think we can definitely lose all remaining 4 games if we really apply ourselves!

Don't forget that we have the following guys on the 60 man IL too tho. I'll exclude Matt Harvey since he is almost certainly gone. Mateo, Stewart, Lakins, Jorge Lopez, H. Harvey, Akin. So that is 6 spots we need just to potentially bring these guys back. Not saying all of them will return.

Felix Hernandez is still looking for work!

Good question. If I had to bet I would say Delmarva. But I guess we can hope for Aberdeen.

Yes I confirmed that. The Kjerstad connection is impossible though and doesn't need to be pursued any further wrt the vaccine.

Here is Roch sharing that Kjerstad had heart inflammation while the vaccines were still in trials. In case people want evidence. It is not equal speculation.

No. There is no chance. Please stop with this line of inquiry. Yes there is also a link with the vaccines (not as high of a link as with the disease btw) but Kjerstad got myocarditis before the vaccines were available to general public.

The Orioles haven't confirmed it. And we may never get official confirmation one way or the other. It is what it is. But there is a documented increased risk of myocarditis from COVID-19 in athletes. So with Occam's Razor and all it seems fairly plausible. Glad to see he seems to be recovering ok now. Here's to him storming on the scene in 2022. It'll be like we are getting TWO high first rounders next year!

I think it's pretty obvious that Gunnar would not have started the 2021 season at Delmarva if there had been a 2020 minor league season. Would he now be further along in his development as a result? I think so. You can make the opposing argument if you want.

Looking solely at his time in High-A: Home: .192 / .342 / .376 / .718 Away: .271 / .344 / .492 / .835 So that does seem to reinforce your argument a little bit. Probably the biggest concern I have right now is his .665 OPS vs LHP this year. But it's still early in his career.

Just like the O's will do with Adley and Gray Rod and other elite prospects. Even Vlad Jr who was signed as an international free agent at 16 took until age 20 to make his debut. When we sign a kid at 16 who can play like that then I think the comparisons will be valid.

I blame Hyde. Half his fault, and half Hunter Harvey's. Oh. And half Lew Ford's.

Over a full MLB season...... those percentages work out to a 75 win season vs a 63 win season. If he ends up being worth only 12 wins for us each year I will take it.

Yes........yes he is. https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2021/09/orioles-promoting-pitcher-mike-baumann.html

Well............. It's show time! Always nice to see someone graduate....congrats to Mike. Roch says he will be in the bullpen in the beginning at least.

Putting on my magic prediction glasses and assuming everyone is fully healthy in Spring 2022 (including Kjerstad)..... I would predict Cowser starts at Aberdeen on Opening Day and Kjerstad at Delmarva. I know that may seem crazy (Kjerstad will be 23) but I think in his case they will want to give him every chance to ease into it....after not playing competitive baseball in like 2 years at that point. I would imagine if all goes according to plan neither Cowser nor Kjerstad will be at those levels for very long.

Heh. Fair point. One can say that Adley both went to Aberdeen and also skipped Aberdeen and you would be completely truthful. Funny. I think if there was a 2020 season he would have started at high A Frederick, but we will never know obviously. So there has been one exception so far.