Ohfan67

The Orioles have the third best record in all of baseball. I think it’s safe to say that Elias thinks the current roster can win games.

Good stuff man. That’s fantastic.

I’m not advocating for this approach, I just think that’s what Elias will do. I think Elias will continue to use this season to evaluate current prospects and MLB roster players. I think he’s likely to try to move players like Santander and will get appropriate level talent. Again, I’m not advocating this strategy, it’s just what I think he’s likely to do. I can’t see Elias trading away top prospects until he’s had a chance to see what they can do at the MLB level.

The Gunnar disease is spreading. Symptoms include an astonishingly high OBP relative to batting average and slugging percentage and nice hair.

The probability that Elias is going to trade top prospects for a front-line starting pitcher during this season is between slim and none IMO. He's been incredibly conservative with them and I don't think he's going to dramatically break his plan/alter his style based on where the O's are in the standings near the trade deadline. I think a trade for a pitcher will happen during this season, but it will be a relatively ho hum move. An offseason trade for a significant pitcher is more likely IMO.

Sure, some can be DFA'd, but some will opt to go elsewhere and Elias will just have to put some of them back on the 40 later in the season. What do you do if you replace those 4A pitcher spots with real prospects and then you need the roster spots in a few weeks/months for yet more 4A pitchers? Elias has to keep at least a few 40 man roster spots that he can adjust as needed during the season. He can't totally fill the 40 man with players that he can't afford to lose. I think it's more accurate to think of the pitchers you listed as flexible 40 man roster spots rather than specific pitchers. Elias can't fill all or even most of those spots with "real" players.

35 different Oriole players pitched for the major league team last year. I say players and not pitchers because position players pitched a few innings. It’s a long season. They need “break glass in case of emergency” guys at Norfolk.

Ooof. I was joking about how fans reacted while watching the play. Fans. Not outfielders.

I think this is spot on.

Wouldn't Elias just tell Hyde to stop if he thought it was a problem? I think all indicators suggest that Elias and Hyde are very much on the same page.

There's another set of variables to consider: Did you hold your breath while the ball was in the air? Did you loudly exhale and perhaps say or even shout something positive? Thank you for sharing the analyses, but another component of fan reaction/assessment is how much did the catch matter and how worried were you when the ball was hit. I yelled, "oh no!" when the ball was struck and something like, "thank God!" when Kyle made the catch. p.s. there's probably a significant interaction between the two factors...the actual catch difficulty and fan anxiety before and relief after the catch.

Adley has had a bit of a power outage. Slugging under .400 in his last 30 games. I sure hope they don’t run him into the ground.

Sure, it’s definitely normal. Heck it’s not super unusual for solid veterans to struggle for a month at a time. Gunnar is just doing it in a very unique way IMO.

I think it would be interesting to have a real conversation about Gunnar’s performance and what he needs to do to improve, but that seems difficult in this thread. That’s a bit of a bummer. I always try to think of similar situations of other young players and look at how they improved, but Gunnar’s performance to date seems so unique. It’s not easy to find comps of young players with such a high OBP who struggled to hit. Anyway, it would be interesting to see a deep look at what he’s doing right and what he’s doing wrong…without a ton of hyperbole either way. Maybe it’s here in OH or somewhere else on the internet and I have missed it.

I don’t agree. For example, the organization could more easily replace Gunnar than Grayson IMO. If one major prospect busting is going to sink the Orioles, then there’s no hope. Some are going to fail, get hurt, etc. it’s a given.

I think he has the potential to be better for the Orioles than Markakis was. Gunnar is certainly a more hyped prospect. I think the interesting part is that the team is in a very different place and there are so many potential replacements. That said I really don’t think the Orioles will demote Gunnar anytime soon unless he looks very lost. And by anytime soon I’m talking well into late June (even though I said the end of this month in a previous post, they are not doing that). But to be honest he does not look like the polished prospect that I expected to see this season. He looks like an immensely talented player with a great eye, but I have been surprised by the erratic defense and his inability to pull the trigger at the plate. I think Markakis’ defense was strong from the get go and certainly Machado’s defense was spectacular immediately after promotion. SportsGuy is frequently rude and maybe even frequently wrong, but I actually agree with him on Gunnar a lot more than my post probably made it sound.

If the Orioles want to be in the postseason this year, then they may not be able to afford prolonged development in the majors. And that’s assuming there is development in the majors this year. There are no guarantees with any of these guys. If the Orioles don’t see Gunnar making progress at the majors, then he will leave them little choice…at some point.

You can be pumped that he’s in the organization and still be unhappy with his play. He’s not beyond reproach. He’s waiting too long to swing at hittable pitches and his defense is more erratic than it should be. And he’s not showing any real improvement in those areas. The Orioles can afford to be pretty patient with him because they are winning, but I bet more fans would be expressing displeasure with his play to date if the Orioles were struggling. Anyway, I don’t think Gunnar is beyond criticism and he shouldn’t be on an endless leash. There are players at Norfolk banging on the door and the Orioles have a shot at the playoffs. If Gunnar looks the same at the end of this month, then the Orioles should consider a switch.

Some fans vent about the Orioles signing Frazier or the Orioles keeping players in the minors. Over and over and over.

What a series of idiotic posts.

I was at Calvin’s first game at Camden yards. They brought him out in the concourse to record an interview and I was standing about ten feet away from him. Definitely one of the largest humans I’ve seen in person. Well, outside of Walmarts in the Deep South.

You obviously hacked baseball reference’s web page and altered the height on Garvey’s page. It’s been flatly stated that average sized humans can not play first base. Nice try wise guy.

I love the faster pace. Very happy with the rule changes.

Solid home run trot.

OPS up to .813. Good for him and glad he’s helping the team right now.