jamalshw

His path to staying in baseball is as a utility player. The more positions he can play, the more likely he is to stay in the league. Good for him. But I don't anticipate him back in Baltimore. We saw them go Kjerstad when Hays even though the team is very lefty heavy. With Mateo getting looks in CF and Cowser able to play there for a bit, there really isn't any role that he's next in line for (or even 2nd or third in line). Even learning 2B doesn't get him in a next in line position given Norby.

Depending on how early in your 30s you are, the 1996 and 1997 seasons were solid. But as a guy in his late 30s, that's all I got beyond the 2012-2016 stretch, but I'm hopeful this will be more reminiscent to the stretch this team had before either of us were born in the late 60s through the early 80s.

The way Kjerstad is hitting, he's probably the next one I want "freed" but I think Mayo will be the next one we see. Assuming Kemp is gone for Holliday, Urias is probably the next most "replaceable" player. He's off to a rough start, but is still a solid player...but he'd be the next to go to make room for a mega prospect and Mayo playing 3B opens that spot for him (one could argue Norby, but those are the only two with a path that doesn't involve an injury or deadline trade. For Kjerstad, he's a replacement for Santander or O'Hearn if they go down. Depending on the Orioles' comfort with Cowser in CF, perhaps he'd also replace Mullins on the roster in case of injury.

I kinda wonder if we hear about an extension for him (at least buying out the arb years) given they did call him up a few days early.

I'm cautiously optimistic...but will wait to get my hopes up until a couple days after his first rehab start. But with Means and now--soon--Bradish rehabbing, there's certainly reason for optimism. It should also trickle down to help out the bullpen.

I think it could be the 13th or the 15th for one player, probably Holliday. There won't be more than that this early unless there's an injury. Kjerstad certainly deserves a promotion, but we haven't seen Cowser get the ABs, add Kjerstad to the mix and it gets worse. Hopefully, we see Cowser playing LF regularly and Hays and O'Hearn turning into essentially a platoon. Hopefully Cowser gets a few looks in CF, too, giving Mullins a break here or there. The next most likely guy to move after Kemp, is probably Urias and that could be an opening for Mayo...but it's hard to find an opening for anyone else on this team until the team is ready to move on from O'Hearn--and I don't see that happening for a while.

I am aware. It's also immediately after a day off (and with an off-day just a few days prior). My point is I don't like Urias, Mateo or Kemp as starters...obviously you need bench guys and bench guys get ABs, but I don't want more than one of them in the lineup. That becomes difficult when you have Holliday and Mayo in AAA. Hopefully we don't have much more of this and we see Holliday and/or Mayo soon.

Do we see Holliday for the Minnesota series? They sent him down because of the lefties (at least partially). They weren't going to call him up to make his debut on the road in Fenway. So it's got to be a home series. The Brewers have Hall and Ashby, but the Twins are all righties in the rotation. That would seem to be the most likely time to see Holliday if we are going to see him anytime soon.

Unfortunately, at this point, they don't seem to want to relegate O'Hearn to the bench. That's the O'Hearn role. And O'Hearn has hit in the very small early season sample size.

Meh. Of course we all would rather Jackson Holliday was on the team instead of Kemp, but as long as he's on the team, I don't hate the fact he's in the lineup as much as I hate the fact both he and Urias are. I want Westburg in there everyday. I cringe at the lineups with two of Urias/Mateo/Kemp.

It's impossible to answer because a lot depends on injury. Injuries aside, the answer is Holliday. It appears he's ahead of Mayo in the eyes of the front office and there is a clearer path for an infielder with Urias going to the bench and Kemp getting bumped off the roster. Right now, the team is struggling to find ABs for Cowser. Adding Stowers or Kjerstad to the mix just complicates things further UNLESS there is an injury to O'Hearn or one of the OFers.

Sure, I get that point, but I am not convinced there is no roster spot here for Povich or McDermott. Sure, it's hard to see the path for Norby given Henderson, Holliday, Mayo, and Westburg on the infield. And it's hard to find the spot for Stowers with Mullins, Santander and Hays right now and Cowser and Kjerstad both ahead of him. I also don't know that I agree with the idea of trading away 4 guys just because there is no spot for 1 when you can get away with dealing less value (even if we don't have the spot). Value is value and if you don't have a spot for it, we can always trade that in a different deal for additional pieces, either lower level minor leaguers or relief pitching. Guys like Norby and Stowers, unfortunately, for them are nothing more than collateral for the team at the moment. Just because I have the money to burn to buy something I want, doesn't mean I should burn it if I can get it (or something comparable) for less. All that said, it'll be interesting to see what moves we make midseason. We certainly have the pieces for it and it is getting to the point now that holding on to them is starting to hurt their value given their ages (particularly in the case of Stowers).

Agreed completely. Though, he should start losing some ABs now. We've seen second half collapses each of the last two years and that may be a durability thing. He may be a guy that's better served as a 400ish AB player rather than a 550-600 AB player.

All four of them is a bit steep for me. But Norby and Stowers appear blocked beyond belief for the Orioles. And I would include Povich or McDermott in the deal, not sure I'd do both. But a rotation of Burnes, Grayson and Luzardo is a great top-3 even if Bradish is out for the year.

It was fine. But I do find the contrast from that statement and the video message from Rubenstein to be in stark contrast. One was very look what I did and the other was more about the fans. Neither was wrong. And JA's statement was fine, but I did notice a stark difference...and one that I'm excited to see continue to play out.

The only thing I got is this is a Rio Ruiz situation where Elias drafted him and thinks the Orioles can use him more efficiently than teams have in the past.

Cowser was told he made the team though and Nevin was not. I think he replaces Nevin on the roster, not Cowser.

This is interesting and will be worth watching in the early season. He's probably just a fill-in for the first few weeks, but it would seem they value the versatility over Wong only playing 2B. But, why? You have O'Hearn and Cowser that can play some OF and both hit from the left side on top of their "normal" outfielders. I'd rather see Kemp on the roster than Nevin to be honest, but I still don't quite understand the use case for Kemp that is better than Wong. Unless, they think they can DFA him and he'd willingly go to AAA if he passes through waivers which Wong has stated he won't. But it's not like there are a shortage of 2B and OF in AAA.

I'm of this mind as well, but we're now at the point where his price has come down much like we saw with Bellinger, Chapman and Snell. If it's a shorter commit, I think it would be worthwhile, but I don't see the Orioles doing it, even under a new owner...UNLESS they strongly believe Bradish isn't pitching this year.

That's the thing that makes this so weird. If he comes up in a few weeks and ends up top-2 for ROY they don't get the extra year anyway...nor do they get a pick if he wins it now.

I don't like either of them. I've never understood the ferocity of the fandom some have one side or the other. But I'm glad the overall reaction seems positive and I hope it improves people's experiences at the park. Now, when they give me news that they're adding more beer options (particularly on tap), then I'll get excited.

I think it depends who you are trying to get on the roster. O'Hearn and Urias are certainly the most "replaceable" options. If O'Hearn were moved, it would open up a spot of Stowers or Kjerstad while Mayo could have a spot if Urias is moved. I don't see Nevin on the team either way, but I guess he could take the O'Hearn spot, but I would be quite upset if we traded O'Hearn to give the spot to Nevin. I view O'Hearn as a useful piece, but a skill set that we can replicate on the roster. Urias is much the same. Honestly, I see both on the team to start the year with a position player roster of: Adley, McCann, Mounty, O'Hearn, Westburg, Henderson, Holliday, Urias, Mateo, Cowser, Hays, Mullins and Santander. If someone needs a LHH and was willing to give up a good bullpen piece, I'd be onboard with moving him, but I don't see it. I think the moves we see are probably a trade for cash considerations of our out of options guys

I'd honestly rather Mateo than Urias if we are making the decision based on it being a LHP. Mateo is not a good hitter, but did have a solid OPS vs. LHP last year. Meanwhile, Urias has not been a good hitter against LHP in his career. His OPS was .654 against them last year.

I agree with this take to some extent, but I think the overthinking is a result of all the times we saw McKenna and company last year against LHPs. I do have concerns we are so left-handed heavy with how that impacts us against the best lefties. Fortunately, I don't put Sandoval in that category. I so think Mateo has a shot to start given he's looked pretty good this spring, was much better against LHP last year and was good early in the season last year. I hope we don't see Urias as a starter on opening day. I like the guy well enough, but I hope he's dealt. He's also not great against LHP so if we are going to bench a LHH, I would at least want it to be for someone that hits LHP well.

I would have loved to have Snell at that rate, but I'm not mad the Orioles didn't go there. The only way it's $62M is if Snell gets seriously injured that impacts Year 2 or he bombs. So at the worst, it's $62M for very little return. Otherwise, it's a one year deal for a bit over $30M and if he pitches like he did last year it's well worth it. Snell's 99 BBs last year are concerning to me. His stuff was so hard to hit that it worked, but the BABIP go up so does his performance. He was FIP in 2019 was better than 2023 despite a 4.29 ERA vs. 2.25 ERA. I think the possible swing for someone like Snell is either Cy Young level dominant at the top end, but he could realistically be a slightly above average pitcher even if he's healthy. He's a bit of an enigma, but an enigma with electric stuff.