Ridgway22

I am instantly a Connor Greene fan. What an arm. Bromance, initiated. His Norfolk stats look dreadful, but damn, he's fun to watch, and hell, 98 with movement. I'll take seconds, thanks. Tempered in my enthusiasm, I remember Mike Wright's first two starts, and more eerily, I remember being at a game early in Mark Kroon's (Padres) career thinking the same thing. Man, am I easy to impress and entertain these days.

Oh, that did not age well.

I was having a fine day. Nice weather, tasty adult beverage. Then I saw.... "Daniel Cabrera"

Melewski: First pitcher taken by O’s in last three drafts: In round eight in 2019 after eight position players were selected. In round five of 2020 after five position players. In round five of 2021 after five position players.

Capt. Benjamin Willard: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound. Colonel Kurtz: Are my methods unsound? Capt. Benjamin Willard: I don't see any method at all, sir. (Apocalypse Now, 1979)

KC fan suicide watch. After listening to the Bosox pick blather on (I'll never write or say his name) and seeing his face, I definitely, instantly, do NOT like that guy. May he have an allergic reaction to pine tar. Time to get my Captain Morgan's on.

That is good to hear. And my sincere wish is Cowser goes on to have a long and prosperous career in the Orange and Black.

This is Baltimore, gentlemen. The gods will not save you. I. Do. Not. Like. This. Pick. However, i'm an idiot fan sitting at home. People much brighter than I am are in charge, and spend most moments of most waking hours building an overall plan, not worrying about my reaction to the first choice of a draft. That said. Ugh. Diamondback fans must be ecstatic.

Was that really booing? Sure sounded like it, wow.

Just signed up for Milb.tv so I can watch tonight's game, the #1 pitching prospect pitching to the #1 catching prospect. LOL, looking at this video, it looks like my Dad's Super-8 footage of me pitching in high school......

I'm sorry, but if I was playing baseball trivial pursuit and any form of this question was asked to me...... there would be failure. So much failure. Never would have guessed.

via cbs: According to the report, Wagner’s firing was due partly to his commentary on his personal Twitter account, @rwags614. The report states that Wagner had previously been cautioned by the team about his social media posts.

I was having a great spring morning, nice up of coffee, birds singing outside, and you had to go and bring up Mike Wright. Morning, Ruined. That said, to go into that stadium against that lineup, in that situation... wow, nice job, kid.

When I squint real hard through my orange colored glasses, and catch a vision out of a mirror in the corner of the room, I see a guy who still has his velocity, converted to a sinker ball pitcher, is comeback player of the year material, dominates in a couple starts heading to the trading deadline, and some really good prospect in some other team's system gets a phone call and he looks at his girlfriend, and says "Baltimore?"

Random, almost related fact about the 1980 draft: The O's first rounder 26th overall was Jeff Williams, not a sniff of the majors. Ken Dixon was taken 61 overall then..... I was taken 594th overall, before: Danny Jackson 599 Darren Daulton 629 Chris Sabo 727 overall (.....one of those things is not like the other) https://www.baseball-almanac.com/draft/baseball-draft.php?yr=1980

I was in Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas and did not get to see a single inning of that World Series. At the time, wasn't a big deal... they'll be plenty more, I said.....

The point of the post was the equivalency of the package, this is what we'd be looking at debating in the next couple of years, ie when Houston took on Verlander // Grienke, not to extract, isolate and attack the Davies vs. Means / other component... If the O's were on the cusp, like the Padres are, this is the package we'd be looking to give up. Would we be okay with it? In the context of the trade, who would be more equivalent to Means // Davies? Cobb? Kremer? Zimmerman? And that is only one component, the prospects are the true currency. For the next 3 years, what is the actual delta between Davies and Means? Is that more or less compensated by the package of prospects and / or the included catcher?

Looking at the Padres acquisition of Yu Darvish (3 years and $59 million left on contract) and a decent catcher in Caratini, curious as to the equivalent the O's would have given up. I'm looking forward to the day when we're on the cusp and making these kinds of trades to try and push us over the top..... Padres gave up Zach Davies, who would easily have been out #1 starter last year, posting a 7-4 2.73 ERA with 8.18 K/9 and 2.47 BB/9, so the closest thing we have is John Means? In addition, they gave up prospects 15, 17, 18, 20 (Preciado, Mena, Santana, Caissie) So, for the O's to pull off same thing (yes, yes, yes, Padres system is probably stronger than ours, etc) the package would have looked something like this: Using BA list from early 2020: John Means Keegan Akin Kyle Stowers Carter Baumler Anthony Servideo Using Tony's list from October: John Means Coby Mayo Alex Wells Drew Rom Brenan Hanifee If we're in a position where Means was our #3 starter, and we're in the hunt for a ring, would make for some fascinating discussions here at the Hangout.

Yes Sir, and right back atcha. May Christmas be merry for all and may 2021 kick 2020's arse way behind vision of the rear view mirror.

I think lunch-pail guy is a good descriptor.... here's a quote from a Sports Illustrated article about Merv Rettenmund from October 4, 1971 (coincidentally, my 9th birthday, and the exact day I found out I'd be seeing the Orioles play the Tokyo Giants in Tokyo a few weeks later!) "At a time when rebellion is fashionable, even at the old ball park, Merv Rettenmund is an organization man. He seldom grumbles, rarely gripes. He admires his teammates, obeys his manager, respects his owner. He is the compleat ballplayer: a hitter, a runner, a thrower. He will give you—oh Lord—nine innings of baseball." https://vault.si.com/vault/1971/10/04/well-hes-that-kind-of-guy

As an off-the-wall reference to defensive prowess, Strat-O-Matic Baseball (for those that aren't familiar) is a card and dice baseball simulation (and now a computer version) that produces realistic results. Its been around since about 1960, and I replayed the Orioles seasons from about 1971-1985, then real life took over. I still blame Strat for an approximate 1.00 reduction in my overall high school and college GPA's. Strat-O-Matic defensive ratings are 1, 2, 3, or 4, with a ratting of 1 being gold glove / very good, and 4 representing poor. So, Brooks and Belanger were consistently 1's at their respective positions, and when Boog and Trumbo played outfield, they were 4's, etc. (note fielding rating of 5 was added later) Outfield arms are measured from +5 to -6, with guys like Clemente and Dwight Evans getting the -5's, and Mickey Rivers and Johnny Damon with +2's and +3's. I went back and checked Merv's defensive ratings for 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, and they were remarkably consistent for each season: Left Field 2 Right Field 2 Center Field 3 His arm was rated -1 for 1969, 70, 71, and -2 for 1972 So, using this single reference source, he was an above average outfielder capable of playing all three outfield positions, with a slightly above average arm.

Just curious, what is the "poor OFer" based on. As just an idiot fan, I have no first hand knowledge, especially for outfielders from the 60's / 70's. However, his hindsight analytical ratings support being above average, and as crazy as it might seem, his strat-o-matic card ratings are overall positive.

Out of curiosity, tried to find each team's hall of fame, but there is zero standardization. But if I'm reading it correctly, the O's Hall of Fame has 77 members, which include non-players like Fred Manfra and Riche Bancells. The Cincinnati Reds have 89 the Philadelphia Phillies have 66, the Red Sox 89, no idea about non-players on the other lists. (non-exhaustive search) Some teams apparently do not even have a team HOF or equivalent. It looks like the "Oriole Advocates" run the O's HOF, which was created in 1977. Doesn't appear to be any real "criteria" for induction. http://www.orioleadvocates.org/orioles-hall-of-fame.html From the page: The regular Hall of Fame Committee consists of a small group of media members and Advocates appointed by the current Advocate president. The committee creates a ballot containing the leading candidates for election to the Hall of Fame. Ballots are mailed to prominent media members, members of the Oriole Hall of Fame, members of the Oriole Front Office, selected Baltimore baseball figures and eligible Advocate members . The nominee receiving the most votes, but at least 60% of the votes cast, shall be elected to membership in the Hall of Fame. Trivia: in the MLB HOF there is a PLAYER inducted who only played two seasons in the MLB, going 21-22 with a 2.78 ERA, Candy Cummings. He was elected in by the Veteran's committee in 1939, apparently he is credited with inventing the curveball.

For the Major League HOF, yes, not even a discussion. But for the O's franchise HOF, his numbers really stand up under modern scrutiny, compared to those already inducted. He had very strong OBP was a good defensive outfielder, and had some speed... he was a running back at Ball State and drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. He played on a team with 3 sure fire ML HOF's in The Robinsons and Jim Palmer, as well as the Blair's Powell's, Buford's, etc., and was overshadowed. He never had a full-time starting role, but was very productive in the role he did play. After a couple very good seasons, the O's shipped Frank Robinson off and gave him the full time right field job. Merv hurt his shoulder in Detroit early in the season, and tore an abdominal muscle in August. He was never the same player after that. But I would argue he was invaluable to the O's during their franchise defining 3-season run of 69-71. After looking at the careers of the players already in the O's HOF, and looking at his stats under the modern analytical lens, I think Merv merits inclusion.