Can_of_corn

Lots of guys were not caught by test. Could be enough to make one doubt the effectiveness of the tests. Ever notice when someone does test positive it's for a horse steroid from the '70's?

I think he's curious how you know what the future levels of spending would be. Considering the change in ownership.

I do agree that they will be capable of having a payroll in that range.

I agree that they need to. I'm not sure they will.

How many years are we talking about here? I'll take a decade of solid ball over one title and nine years of suck.

I was pretty young in '83 and just figured the team would keep on winning.

I think we skew old enough here that a lot of us remember '83.

You don't have to define "outfielder" any more than we had to define "major league catcher". Anyone who plays in the outfield is an outfielder, just like Sisco is a major league catcher.

"Highest paid first year GM in history". I don't see an actual figure there. He's also an Executive Vice President so his duties go beyond what a normal GM would be responsible for. You have to figure he's making less than Dan did right?

And we don't know that he was. He wouldn't have know if he was. The O's were not the only team with a position open that year and I don't recall a bidding war over his services. We also don't know if he wanted to get out of Houston before things came crumbling down.

I'd say most folks here think Elias was bargaining from a position of strength when it came to getting the top job here. I'm not sure he was. Even the Orioles job is a coveted position and just because someone is a hot name today doesn't mean they will be in demand next season.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/a-conversation-with-80s-90s-slugger-mickey-tettleton/ Not much Orioles related in the piece but figured folks might like to see it.

I just don't see the point of even speculating about guys that are going to get contracts like that. We might as well talk about the Padres trading us Tatis.

FTFY

Even if they decide that 2022 is a season in which wins matter I don't think they are, or should, go "all in".

He's entering his age 26 season. He isn't that young by baseball standards. He's got ~2,800 at bats as a professional.

I'm curious if other teams are going to bother to alter their defense to combat his bunting.

I don't think 2012 counts as realistic. Sometimes unrealistic things happen.

I'm not sure if the Nationals are contenders or not.

Yep, which is why I find all the outrage pointed at the steroid users and Astros so baffling. Ruth tried a steroid precursor and Hornsby wrote an article about cheating. It's always been a part of the game and the game only does something about it when forced to by the fans.

The title says competitive but the actual first post says "at least the division". I agree that, at this juncture, it's realistic the team could be in WC contention in 2022. After all it might be a 60 game season with 16 teams making the playoffs. ?

I just don't see how a division title is a realistic outcome for 2022.

Obviously WC contention is a lot more likely than a division title.

Realistically I think it's a crap shoot as to if we get there at all. The division is just too rough. The Rays are beating us in on the field talent and in the minors, the Yankees and the Red Sox have close to unlimited spending ability and the Jays think their window is currently open. Some stuff is going to have the break the O's way no matter how good a job Elias does.

The substance does improve spin rate.