AlbNYfan

Gunnar has to learn to eat the ball on plays he has no chance. He has a great arm but has to learn when not to use it. Who gave Adley the steal sign in the fifth on Santander's 3-2 pitch?? I don't want him injured on the base paths. That play had little chance of succeeding (close to zero IMO) and just adds wear and tear to his body.

1) Despite their overall poor display defensively, the O's were 1 out (error) away from taking the series. 2) Gunnar is pressing. He made 2 poor decisions throwing to first on balls deep in the hole that were pointless. Nice range, nice arm, but eat the ball!! Good eye at plate, but little contact. 3) Adley getting a beating behind plate (and at bat..hit in knee), and trying to take an extra base (dangerous, ugly, slide) better figure out a way to maximize his play or "extension" would be pointless. 3) Position flexibility?? It's nice to have guys that can move around in an emergency basis only. Jack of all trades, Master of none does not work for me. 4) Pitching, who knows?? Thus far, Kremer worries me the most as a starter. To me there doesn't seem to be a thought process going on. Akin better find good location on all his pitches, no one will ever miss his mistakes. 5) Mullins, looks comfortable at plate, like '21. He really plays deep in CF at Fenway. 6) 3 of the last 4 openers against Red Sox?? Season should never start outdoors north of the Mason/Dixon line.

What bothers me about Grayson is that he seems to be cruising and then hits a wall, implodes, much like Lopez and Arrietta. I am judging this by the scorebox. Some young pitchers are so use to living by the K, they have trouble when K's aren't happening. That's why I admire guys like Watkins, Voth and others that are able to adjust and get a much needed out on a soft fly or grounder. I'm not sure Grayson has that ability yet, how to work when you don't have your best stuff or get in trouble.

This was my first experience with watching the new rules in play and it will take me time to adjust. I was forced to watch on MLB extra innings..hence Sox announcers. The didn't care for the Devers call, but he was admiring the long foul ball he hit the previous pitch. They were complaining that the pitcher wasn't even on the rubber yet. I do like the shortened time between innings and for the most part the better pace of the game. I didn't care for lack of replays..like AR's first inning HR, not that the Sox announcers would have said much. I don't need to see replays over and over again, but one good time is plenty. What are they going to do when a player has a milestone game and fans want to give him an ovation?? Umpire's discretion?? Announcers will have to adjust too, they really don't have much time to complain about close pitches before the next pitch happens. I also enjoy not watching batters adjust their batting gloves after every pitch.

I'll give the poor D a break due to the COLD, windy weather, 30's (wind chill 20's???) is tough. It also was a bright sky. Still Santander should have been pulled in the 8th. Birds had a great approach at hitting...Adley did a great Wade Boggs imitation (despite the HR). 5 for 5?? A bit of a gift, IMO. I think he had just one baserunning error. The second was old school ..give up an out for a run. Mountcastle had a nice day at the plate, 2 walks, going off field. His hardest hit ball was the line drive caught by the first baseman playing way off the bag. I don't know if he was lucky, but was his hit an adjustment to where they played him? Mateo, Frazier looked comfortable at the plate. Hayes looked terrible..just like last year. Took too many strikes and looked like a guess hitter. If he keeps that up, he should be the 4th Ofer. Gibson did very well...his line should have looked a lot better. BoSox?? Third baseman is a butcher in the field. I liked the LF'er.

I have the O's second behind the Jays. Followed by Yankees, TB, and Red Sox. A person can dream, can't they?

The hypocrisy is incredible. If you sign a lesser player the owners are cheap. Many here have said there is no such thing as a bad one year deal...one and done. Did the Frazier deal (expense) prevent them from signing another player? I don't think so. Do I want the younger players to be up? Yes. I don't really care about service time to save $$$ which also seems to be a common theme here. Just let it play out....you really have too little data at this time to make a judgement.

McKenna may be the better cheerleader, which should be a tiebreaker. Everyone talk about Nevin last year and why did he warrant playing time...I agree. But, On Sunday's when McKenna gives Mullins, Hays or Santander a break, I expect nothing and for the most part I get what I expect. Does he have speed, yes, defense yes, arm yes..but at the plate he seems clueless. Is he a good baserunner yes. A base stealer, I don't think so. I really don't care one way or the other, but he has been here for 3 years(??) and hasn't regressed or progressed. He is just a safe bet.

If a team is depending on one player to get them to a WS, they will never get there. Angels have had arguably two of the top players in baseball and couldn't get to .500.

Or Mountcastle?

Grayson should have cruised through the Sox line up today, and through 3 he did. Not complaining, he got more work in. By contrast Voth yesterday faced a much more difficult task with the Jays line up. Too many BB and not helped by error by Gunnar. I'm not really trying to compare the two, one is supposed to be a potential ace, the other a #5. Trying to size up which had a better performance considering their supposed roles this year.

I realize it's still "early" in ST, but at what point should there be some concern about his performance to date. There has to be something wrong and perhaps it should be done at the camp rather than games. I also believe the game is hard enough that you give him a position to play and let him play it. Don't jerk him around at SS and 3B, pick one and let him get his work there. As Yogi said," The game is 90% mental, the other half is physical." Don't mess around with a kid that has so much talent, keep it simple.

12.7 cm

They will never realign with Yanks, Mets, Phillies and Sox in the same division. They want as many of those teams (and others) in the playoffs and ultimately the WS as possible. MLB has nightmares about teams like the O's, Pirates, Reds, KC facing each other in the WS......TV rankings would be terrible. I'm not too crazy about a division with the O's and Senators (opps Nationals) either. It's hard to create true rivalries. Dodgers/Giants are only rivals their Bronx, Manhattan connection. I like geographical alignment to a point, but look at the records of teams in the AL Central for the past few years...unbalanced schedule, close to half their games within the division and still end up close to 100 games below .500, yet someone makes the playoffs. 4-8 team divisions?? Top two teams in each make the playoffs..I don't know.

Being a home plate umpire can be a tedious job. On an "easy" night he has 300 pitches, on a bad night, probably 400 plus. It seems to me that pitchers with good control can expand the strike zone over the course of a game and pitchers that are all over the place rarely get the close pitch. Likewise, batters with "good" eyes are given calls that free swingers aren't. It is going to be interesting. Some mention the difficulty in north and south, but, in addition it's where the ball crosses the plate and not where the catcher catches it. If a batter sits deep in the box a ball with a huge break could be a strike when it crosses the plate and be below the knee by the time it gets to the batter. Players, managers look for consistency in the calls. Robo ump should at least do that. Teams won't need to "scout" umps to know what a strike will look like tonight. I think, as mentioned here, that they may consider a challenge rule would be idiotic. I like some of the human element to the game, but a bad home plate umpire has too much control of the game.

Pitch clock may not have much of an impact. I hope there is an adjustment in sloppy weather. I wouldn't want a pitcher throwing a ball 90 mph with a wet ball or when the mound is slippery at me. I believe other rule changes in combination with the time clock may have an impact. no shift...will 2nd basemen need to have better range, quicker first step. Limited pick off attempts and change in base size will mean more steals? Need for better throwing catchers? I could be wrong, but I think team speed and defense will be more important than in previous years. I like to believe (hope??) that the O's overall team speed and D might pick up a couple more wins next year (along with a front of rotation pitcher-a couple more wins).

If you want certainty buy FTX..oh wait. You can win 120 games and still not get to the WS. The NCAA basketball starts with 66, 68?? now. One winner, the other 67 losers?? I think the O's will be in a decent position next year with smart moves, not moves that just for the sake of moves. Maybe not a WS but a good run at it.

You may be right. Mercenaries will go where the price is highest. If he wants a Scherzer like contract, then it's a waste of time for Elias to even kick the tires IMO. I guess there is a considerable difference between need and ego in top tier athletes in all sports.

I doubt that $$$ will have the biggest impact on where Verlander lands for his "last??" contract. He has an estimated wealth of over 150 million. Unless he has some geographical attachment to the Mid-Atlantic (Old Dominion) I think the O's would be very much on the outside. I think he's probably looking at teams with WS possibilities, not having to uproot family, and other things ahead of $$$...but that's just me.

Please explain how this works...who runs the clock (HP umpire)?? If so, the guy is responsible for calling 300+ pitches, now the clock. Will it be on the scoreboard? How is it called?? I'm sure it's all figured out, but I worry about consistency. I mean the NFL (Lamar Jackson) seems to get a few calls his way when the clock hit zero. Also, what about in sloppy conditions? Cleaning spikes, rubbing down ball. Catcher and pitcher can't agree on a pitch. I, as a batter, don't want some guy, feeling uncomfortable throwing a ball 90+ at me, but has to or a ball. Lastly, you may say pitcher X takes an average (mean?, median? mode?) of 18.1 seconds.... but I'm sure there are times when pitcher X is 20+. Add to that the new throws to first base rule...if some of these pitchers have been around years not having to deal with these rules, how will it affect their game?

Just saw somewhere??? that he will opt out....not sure the reliability of the source. My no on Abreu in any case.

IMO, you are half right..NO!! Two right handed first basemen?.how many HR's in Maybe 10 next year if he plays at Camden, below average D, Old, $16 mill last year ?? If you are going to pay close to 16 mill, the better option in Rizzo, 3 years younger, lefty, power

Nope.

It just reminds me that although the O's will have 24 or so less games with the AL East next year, they will be adding some tough series on their schedule. Many think not playing so much of an Al East schedule will automatically improve their record...I'm not sure.

Pretty absurd notion "building around one player" in baseball. Angels, Ohtani 9+WAR, Trout 5 WAR...14 WAR between the two. Angels finished 16 games under .500 baseball with two of the better players in the game. Does the rest of the team's WAR add up to a -30?? IMO you need 4-5 everyday players to build around plus 3 front line starting pitchers, bull pen with a decent setup man and strong closer. Baseball is not basketball.