O-The-Memories

Cobb and maybe Means are the two guys where I feel we at least have a decent shot at a win. I think we will be hard pressed to have a winning percentage as good as last year, and that's saying something. I can't imagine there's another starting staff that's as bad as ours.

Glad that it's not COVID related. I'm not sure how much baseball we have left this season.

Sucks, I got back home in time to see a rain delay and likely a Yankees win. Let's hope Means is just recovering and gets back on track soon.

What I was trying to say is Chris Davis isn't keeping us from being competitive, and if we spent the 23 million on stars we still wouldn't be competitive. The amount of hate directed at the guy is amazing to me. He isn't blocking any real talent either. The contract didn't work out on the back end, but that's the risk you take with long term contracts. I'm frustrated with his performance as well, but what can be done at this point but hope that he somehow bounces back to a replacement level player with decent defense? I think that's about his upside, and when looking at our roster, he's not going to be keeping us from competing. Last year we had Means, Cashner, and Wojo end the year under a 5.00 ERA. I don't see us having three starters that can do that this year, and it looks like Means is still recovering. Trot him out there and see if he can somehow bounce back a bit. He doesn't look as lost as I have seen him before.

He is weeks away from returning best case scenario.

This post is going to be a little long, but it's something I wanted to get off my chest in regards to Chris Davis. He was good/great when we were competitive. From 2012-2016 was our competitive window in my opinion. During that time, Chris Davis was worth 17.9 WAR. Let's say that one WAR was worth 7 million dollars (I think it's been calculated at more than that now). So during those five years he was worth about 125 million dollars. We paid him fifty million dollars. Do you think Peter Angelos ever had the thought to say "Gee Chris, we are going to pay you 75 million more dollars, we really underpaid you man"! So the man made the money when he could make it, just like I would have. There's not a chance I would walk away from a single dollar of my contract. No doubt, he has been terrible since 2017. Just doing some rough calculations, he has been worth negative 5.5 WAR not including this season. So he has still provided a net positive of 12 or so WAR over the course of his contract. Not including this season, we have paid Chris Davis about 120 million dollars for these 12 wins. So yeah, the contract didn't work out. He's earned something like 30-35 million more than he has been worth. By the time the contact is over, it will look even worse. But here's the kicker. His contact from 2017-now isn't stopping us from being competitive. If we had to pick a time to have an albatross of a contact, this is the best time. His 23 million dollar salary could be used to get us a couple of good pickups, or one close to elite player. That might win us an extra 7-8 games over the course of the season if I am being generous. Where does that get us? So we win 68 games instead of 60? I agree with the posters that have stated that Chris Davis isn't blocking anyone right now. The best thing we can do is see if he can become a .700-.725 first baseman with good defense. Mountcastle isn't up and let's not pretend that giving someone like Nunez or Stewart more at bats is of some vital importance. I'm not happy with the contract, but he's not the biggest reason we are failing. We didn't net much from trading our stars. Britton, Manny, Bundy, and others I'm forgetting didn't get us one top level prospect (in my opinion). We traded guys like Hader and Davies among others. Our farm system is average even with high draft picks. We play in a division where we are without a shadow of a doubt the least talented team in the A.L. East. I just wanting to put things in a different perspective. I wish Chris would learn to bunt and listen to advice and change his approach at the plate. I still wish him the best, and let's hope that he is taking days off for reasons unrelated to COVID.

Let's hope we get some more definitive answers, because I'm not a fan of speculating that someone has substance abuse issues based solely on weight loss. Could be an injury or an undiagnosed disease, or another number of other things. I hope he gets well soon, and returns to being a solid MLB pitcher. The Orioles won't spend the money on him in my opinion. This year is about saving money and getting another high draft pick. I'm rooting for the guys on our team with upside, so if they improve I'm happy.

Sometimes you win games you should probably lose with a lack of execution. Let's hope that's one of these for the Orioles. Are we now 1-11 with RISP?

Let's get some of these runners in scoring position in.

Nice plate discipline! That shows a lot of maturity.

I'll take 5IP and 2 runs every start for LeBlanc.

Santander having a heck of a start to the season

I'm so happy right now! Guys that have some upside like Hays, Ruiz, and Santander are performing well. If we can get through this season and just get some real hope for success from a couple of guys I would be thrilled. The less holes we have to fill in the future the better.

That's why people don't want Davis to bunt.

I'll root for the guy, but sadly Bundy is another disappointing result from Orioles prospects. His upside isn't much more than a 4.50 ERA.

It's been two games, but I understand the frustration. Trying to bunt, even if unsuccessful, would signal that he is at least trying different. At this point, I don't think there's much he can do to even be a replacement level player.

Just heard that Harvey isn't close to coming back yet, that sucks. Hasn't even started throwing at all, and has soreness behind the elbow. Not a good sign in my opinion. I was really looking forward to seeing him.

Will be interesting to see who pitches the 8th.

Need those runs back! Bleier and Givens are really the closest things we have to reliable BP guys, so the later innings may be a consistent struggle.

Castro is one of the guys we need to give a lot of looks. He at least has the talent to be a success, and he's only 24-25 years old.

Man, our defense is atrocious.

Come on Fry. Stupid play for Verdugo, but we don't have decent arms at all in the OF.

Do you let Cobb pitch six innings in his first start back? His pitch count is low, and our bullpen isn't great. I think I would put him back out there, but it's a tough decision. Either way, it's a super encouraging start.

Can we please get a decent catcher defensively? That's at least three bad plays in two games by Severino. The MLB audio announcers are giving him a beating too.

JBJ still good with the glove. I know he's been on a decline, but he's a fun player to watch.