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Dumb move but it’s not like the guy could stay healthy anyways.

Was Means ever on a prospect list? I’m trying to balance hopefulness and reality…but I listed 10 starters and only need 2 or 3 to be any good. I’m not exactly betting on Kremer or Akin but I’m not gonna suggest they’re hopeless or anything either. Plus, I’m sure whoever shows themselves capable will be supplemented by one or two free agents. Elias isn’t going to leave his pen at home every off season. I just don’t think we’re in as a bad position as the OP suggests.

In addition to Hall and Rodriguez there are a ton of pitchers that could be good already in the organization. Obviously they won’t all work out and most will find a home in the bullpen when all is said and done but Bradish, Kremer, Smith, Baumann, Lowther, Akin, Rom and Baulmer are all examples of players that you can’t quite write off yet. Even if only one of those guys is successful at being a mid-rotation piece along with Hall and Rodriguez then you’ve got most of the rotation covered and that’s not even mentioning Means (assuming he sticks around). Add in a savvy FA signing or trade for surplus position players then I would say there’s plenty of opportunity to get a good, cheap, controllable rotation set up for contention in a couple years.

Mayo has looked real good so far so it’s a nice concession for what could potentially be a less productive pick than even Rowell or Hobgood. Honestly I really don’t like that approach for drafting but I can’t be too upset with the results so far. I’m not quite as high on Mayo as Tony but I can’t deny he’s looked good. Makes the Kjerstad pick and diagnosis easy to digest from a baseball perspective.

Wouldn’t it be fun to sign Matt Wieters to the role of Gregg Zaun from Wieters’ debut season? Not saying they should, just saying it’d be cool to see his career come full circle like that. And personally, I hope to never see Severino in an O’s uniform again. I want to see a good defensive catcher even if he can’t hit much. It’s too bad the Tigers grabbed Barnhart even if he was a bit expensive. He’d have been perfect.

I’ve got high hopes and low expectations for him. I didn’t realize that his defense was so uninspiring. I figured since he was drafted so high he’d have a better skill set than strictly left handed power. Considering he couldn’t work out really for the last year and a half and that he may not even play a game in his career, I expect to see him fall further by this time next year. I’m hoping to be wrong though and will be ecstatic to see him have some success.

Not to mention hopefully Kjerstad will have a chance to show what he’s got in real games and could move up this list real fast.

Mancini will be gone either this off season or next. Santander can’t even get his OBP over .300 and is prone to injury so the further he gets into arbitration the more likely it is he is DFA. I don’t think Santander is on this team come 2023. Add to the mix that Hays has injury problems and Mullins needs to show he is actually good and it wasn’t an outlier year…there is plenty of opportunity to go around.

I second this It won’t be nearly as hard as you make it seem. About half of the current 40-man could be released tomorrow with little to no impact on this rebuild.

Dorrian reminds me of another left handed hitter who was totally looked over by the O’s but subsequently went to a National League team and has had success. Not saying same thing would happen with Dorrian or Nevin but I’d like to see them get their chance here instead of some of the players the O’s threw out there last year.

Philip is speaking truth here. Sulser had a good year but with a pitching staff like this one, it’s probably more valuable to keep him. Unless of course someone’s offering something good for him but the point is that probably won’t happen.

Personally, I’d have put Henderson higher but I’ve gathered that Tony doesn’t feel he is one of the top 6…that makes this one difficult because I really don’t see how any of the other options are better than Henderson with the exception of Kjerstad but that guy is definitely not gonna be #6. So, I went with Westburg but I think it could also be Bradish. But what do I know? If Stowers were on the list I’d have chosen him.

If he develops into a guy who can play a good LF, hit lots of line drives in the gaps, get on base and run well then he doesn’t really need to hit a lot of home runs to be a success. Sounds like a future 1/2 hitter to me. Let Mayo drive him in

I went with DL Hall. I think he’d be ahead of Mayo and Cowser if not for his injury issues

Wish I would’ve read this before voting in the #4 poll. Now I know I’m wrong lol

I’m going to go with Henderson just because he’s probably the most well rounded position player out of the bunch. Hall had too many injuries to be this high, Kjerstad still hasn’t played, not sure about Cowser. Mayo sounds like another Mountcastle type where he’ll eventually move to the OF and possibly 1B/DH. The guy can hit though.

Ah, yes…publicly blame someone else. Maybe it was the exercise, maybe not but publicly dodging accountability for injuries always comes across as petty to me. Not to say it was Harvey’s fault or anything that he was injured…but as the edited for TV version of Forrest Gump says…It Happens. Still, come on buddy…don’t point fingers

Unfortunately there was no market for Cobb and at the time, Jones seemed like a great player to get in return. After actually watching him…let’s just say I’d be surprised if he is on the next winning team. But at the end of the day it was still worth the trade IMO. We knew what we’d be getting in Cobb and it wasn’t particularly good so they rolled the dice a little and lost. No reason to feel remorseful though.

I mean…if they offered Cabrera and Meyer for Mullins it’d be kinda hard to say no

Does Santander have any value at all? On almost any other team he’d probably be DFA this off season. Why would anyone trade something for him?

I think they’re going to be good which is why I think it’s insane that next year isn’t the first year we try to put a winning ball club together. Maybe it’s just me but bringing players into a major league team designed to lose is not going to help create a culture of winning. The prospects that will make a difference will be here very soon and I think they should come up to a team where the front office shows they are also putting in the effort to actually win. That doesn’t mean spend on the biggest free agents but my understanding is we are going to be going after similar types to Franco and Galvis this offseason and I think that’s stupid. I think now is the time is invest in being competitive and if they don’t, it seems like they should just kick the can down the road a bit and just cash in on the value a guy like Mullins brings right now.

Maybe I’m using exaggerated language but all signs to me are pointing to wins and losses not mattering until, at best, 2024. Maybe next year is the last year of the intentional losing era but if we’re going to be setting sights to 2024-2025 for when they’re actually trying to win then that’s why I’m saying trading Mullins makes sense.

I’m not totally against trading Mullins if the next 2-3 years are tanking anyways but not to the Yankees.

Nice to know I’m not the only one! Haha Really though…they could have a modest payroll and sign some free agents. I’m aware it’s gonna be another year hardcore tanking before wins and losses start to matter but honestly, if you sign a game changing talent like Correa to a 7 or 8 year deal then even after 2 more years of rebuilding you’d still have 5 or 6 years of Correa at a prime age. Plus it’s a signal to the fans and rest of the organization that there’s an upswing in the whole “lose as many games as possible” approach. Really…how many years with a top 5 draft pick in a row do you need to consider it a worthy rebuild? also, here’s my necessary acknowledgement that it’s not happening and we have at least two more years of extreme tanking left before anyone thinks to actually put a MLB caliber team together

I don’t care if I’m crazy but I’m voting for what I want them to do, not what they should or will do. Get some free agent pitchers and capitalize on this insane SS market and this team isn’t all that bad. I’m the lone 70+ million vote so far lol