oriole

You know what I’m not surprised to see? Mountcastle not getting the job done. I can’t wait til there is a new 1B on this team. Bad luck or not

Montgomery or Giolito take Kremer out of the rotation. That’s enough for me at this point

You’re right…an ace out of the gate was way too much to expect. But considering he’s the only one with the upside to be anything more than a mid rotation guy at best you’ll have to forgive my delusions of grandeur. It’s not like the O’s will be trading for or signing a #1…ever.

The only we get a #1 is if they’re developed here. Rodriguez has been a pretty big disappointment so far but it’s still his first year so he could be the guy we’re looking for.

I’ll preface this with…I don’t feel great about tonight’s chances at winning. But I’d like to note that Fried will likely end the year with an ERA above 0.45 and Kremer will likely end the year with an ERA below 6.67 Maybe tonight is a nudge in each respective direction?

Elias is a different breed and I have a lot of faith in him. The owners make it really frustrating as fans because this was the perfect year to start ramping up the payroll for some proven veteran players who are above average. But I still have an optimistic view of what I’ll call “the Adley years”

I have a hard time believing Elias would make a big move like this. He is as risk averse as they come and has yet to make any bold moves. He is smart and calculated, yes and it’s worked swimmingly thus far. But he is not going to be jumping in the deep end anywhere anytime soon. I see him targeting someone like Montgomery on the Cardinals or Giolito with the White Sox. Someone who he can send a good, but redundant piece for.

You must be new to Orioles fandom. The owners are grade A terrible and we are all doomed to an infinite loop of suffering with some bright spots sprinkled throughout. Sorry to be the one that breaks it to you. Btw, if you’re flabbergasted then that just means you’re paying attention.

If they play .500 ball the rest of the way they’ll be at about 86 wins. This got TB in the playoffs last year. This team wasn’t built to win the division so it’s probably best not get ahead of ourselves. Either way, they’ve done what they needed to do. But I don’t expect them to continue with this success. SP isn’t great, BP seems to be playing over their heads, hitting can be great but there’s also quite a bit of lackluster spots. Plus, Elias has made a habit of avoiding doing anything bold, so it’s sink or swim for the guys we got. Means can provide a boost down the road hopefully. Overall, if 86 wins is where they’re at…I’d have signed up for that with no issues at the start of the season.

Did it have to be that hard? Makes me nervous to face the good teams. Though, they played up to the competition last year so hopefully that continues

That’s a hard one to reflect on considering how that trade looks now. You know you won a trade when you feel kinda bad for the other team (not too bad though) I just checked and saw Cowser was at 34 on MLBs top 100. Higher than I remembered, so not sure he was a good example.

Seems like the obvious answer is to trade from the position player depth to get a top starter. The issue is what type of pitcher is available for guys that aren’t exactly top prospects. To me, a top prospect is like a MLB top-20 or something. For example, if we had Cease, would we be comfortable having traded him for a package headlined by Cowser? I doubt it.

I understand what you’re saying. But the level of payroll they currently have is below what they could maintain. From a business standpoint, that’s great…especially if they’re gonna be winning as they are. But if the Rays and Pirates can afford extensions with their young players, why is John taming expectations on extending O’s players? I’ll also be the first to admit, I can’t stand the man. I didn’t think too much of him until this off season. The way he has handled the media has soured me on him. The fact that no real additions were made is all the evidence I need that no additions will be made. The payroll will increase from arbitration, but any time there’s a chance to add a good free agent we all know what the line is going to be.

I’d take Rom, Watkins, Denoyer, Zimmerman, or Irvin over Teheran. Actually, I’d take Bradish or Kremer over him too. Actually, I’d put Jim Palmer at age 77 over Teheran.

Being one of the lowest pay rolls despite this obviously being a year where contention is on the radar shows me all I need to know. Plus Johns comments about conducting business as if if they are a small market team…it’s very clear the man is in this to pad his pockets til the inevitable (hopefully) sale. Elias is just too good as his job. I’m not saying anyone should have expected some big contracts last off season but it definitely a sobering off season. This team was able to have a middle of the pack type of payroll not all that long ago and now the de facto owner is already saying extensions are too rich for what they can afford? BS, this man doesn’t care about anything but money. Which, of course, is his right as a business owner. But it sucks for the rest of us.

Saying they “should” is a lot different than being upset that they didn’t. Thats just semantics in the end though I guess. And Oriolemagic79 says he was following FB groups, which in my experience are a bit more…unreserved in their reactions to just about anything, Orioles related or not lol

I give Elias the props for the success of the organization right now. Sure, John signed off on bringing Elias on board…congrats to John for that…and he also approved the international stuff which is pretty bare minimum considering how the organization compared with the rest of MLB. The whole “I’ll open up the books” thing shows the man is a straight up liar with no shame about it. I’m just speculating here of course, but Elias is as calculated as they come and he does not mince words. “Lift off” was not a misunderstanding. He likely believed that he could spend when the time came and John likely retracted that sentiment. The man is money hungry in addition to being a liar. He will forever cry poor and I am looking forward to the day he joins his wife in Nashville, away from the Orioles.

I don’t think anyone was upset with that decision. Maybe in the decision to replace him with Gibson, which has been working out well this far. But I don’t think a single tear was shed for Jordan Lyles.

He’s a good enough 1B defender to give him an extended look in my opinion. Seems obvious at this point that Kjerstad is the future 1B and the best we can hope from Mountcastle is to be serviceable until that happens. Seems like too tall an order for Mountcastle. Not to mention that a solid 1B put the infield at ease and an infield at ease puts the pitching at ease. I’m just done watching Mountcastle miss catches and then line out every AB and have to listen about bad luck. Im not gonna be too upset if they don’t give Diaz a long look though. I think the idea of him being an AAAA hitter makes sense. But Chris Davis had a similar trajectory where he smashed the minors but sucked at the majors…until he didn’t. You just never know when a player will be able to make that jump and Diaz obviously has some talent offensively.

Lewin Diaz is a terrific 1B and hitting well at Norfolk. Once regarded as a top prospect. I’d play him over Mountcastle at this point.

If there were a petition to get John to sell, I’d sign it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way and it wouldn’t make a difference anyways. Millionaires gotta pocket millions, don’t ya know?

Some guys will be traded, there’ll be outside players claimed, and there’s always gonna be a free agent or two on the roster. It’s really impossible to know exactly what a roster will look like year to year. There’s some givens, like I believe that Rutschman, Rodriguez, and Henderson will be around. It’s probably a safe bet to assume Holliday will be here too. I don’t think any of them will be extended, John cries poor too much to make that happen. But I don’t think they’ll be traded either unless their walk year is a year where the team isn’t in contention.

I want to see the O’s play an extended stretch vs teams that aren’t horrendous. So far they’ve split with Boston and lost the NYY series. They did win the Rangers series, but other than that the competition has been weak as hell. Theyre doing what they’re supposed to so far, which is good. But what about when they gotta play against the Rays or Blue Jays?

I think the range is like .780-.810 so in the spirit of optimism I chose the .800-.849 option. He is obviously a different hitter but it’s foolish to thing he is actually an elite hitter. He’s had nice stretches before, obviously not this nice, but it’s a given that he will have at least one stretch this year where he does terrible. Overall, I think he between his defense, speed, and newfound hitting skills (whether inflated or not at the current moment) that Mateo has made himself a core player to this team for the time being. With that being said, I’d be all over trading him if you can find someone who believes this is real.

I see someone like Cease as too rich for Elias. You’d definitely have to give up someone like Holliday or Henderson. I just don’t see the Orioles doing that. Elias hasn’t been known to make bold moves. I’d say Giolito is a more realistic target. He wouldn’t cost anyone in the top ten. Someone like Prieto could do it I’m sure.