luismatos4prez

I'd take off Pop and Gonzalez. It doesn't seem like Mike likes Wells much but he's a possibility.

Valaika is hitting the ball well right now. What's interesting to me is he struck out 22.5% of the time in the minors and 29% of the time with the Rockies. This year, he's only struck out 17% of the time with the Orioles. Even in just 86 PAs, that's a notable trend and might be indicative of an approach change. Or just a hot streak, we'll see.

They brought in AAA prospects Michael Baumann, Dean Kremer, and Bruce Zimmermann, AAAA fringe guys Chandler Shepherd and Eric Hanhold. Prospects DL Hall and Greyson Rodriguez. None of those guys are new to the organization and they were all brought in over Lowther and Wells. Seems like a glaring omission to me.

Roch Kubatko just posted that the 60 man player pool was only at 57 names, and I took a look at who was on it and found some surprises. SP in the player pool: Kyle Bradish, Chandler Shepherd, Michael Baumann, Bruce Zimmermann, Kevin Smith (as of yesterday) SP not in the player pool: Zac Lowther, Alex Wells Both Lowther and Wells are Rule 5 eligible this offseason, so it's a glaring omission. The player pool isn't full and even if it was, the inclusion of Chandler Shepherd over these two guys seems to indicate that Mike isn't high on them. Also notable is that Rylan Bannon didn't make the player pool. Infielders like Dilson Herrera, Ramon Urias, and now Terrin Vavra all made the squad over him. Bannon is also Rule 5 eligible this winter and hit the ball really well in Bowie and Norfolk. But it doesn't seem like Mike thinks much of him.

After this series, I'd bet Dean Kremer comes up to get his feet wet. Velazquez will be DFAd or Alberto will go on the DL depending on his health.

I think he should have been paying for Villar rather than trading him for a non-prospect. The Marlins were trading 1 month of him in the midst of a slump and still got a better player than we did trading 1 year of him. I like the Vavra acquisition a lot (Smith and Nevin, too). But he's a 45 FV prospect, just ahead of Yusniel Diaz according to Fangraphs. Austin Martin is a 55 FV, 48th best prospect in baseball. And there's no reason we couldn't have gotten both. We'll have to see though. Maybe Easton Lucas will turn out to be great and Kjerstad will have a much better career than Martin.

I like the returns Elias got this week for Givens and Castro. I think he pulled the trigger too soon on Villar and Bundy. He should have held onto both for longer if those were the best offers on the table. The team's budget is extremely low, so the situation wasn't pressing like the trades would suggest. I like Elias' style generally, but those 2 trades this winter and passing on Austin Martin have been the wrong moves in my opinion. Hopefully, the guys we acquired will prove me wrong.

Agreed on Hess and Carroll. Lopez seems like a serviceable enough long reliever and Phillips might eventually put it together like Tanner Scott has recently. He has ML stuff, just too many walks. Hunter Harvey and Tanner Scott are the two best arms in that bunch. Definitely not proven or dependable though. There are free agents like Ken Giles, Kirby Yates, etc. next year, but I think we'll have to wait until winter 2021-2 for a big free agent splash. That's about where I'm at as well. I'd rank them Harvey, Scott, Fry, Lakins, Sulser, Tate, Armstrong

What was the name of that first baseman that we traded a bonus slot for that was like 24 years old in rookie ball and got released? It turned out the bonus slot trade was a PTBNL-type move, but posters here mocked DD a lot for that one. Easton Lucas is the new that guy. Not a good return for a 4 WAR player. Elias seems like a competent trader, but he didn't do well with that one.

8 man bullpens are the norm now with 26 man rosters. I see the mix in 2021 being: Locks: Harvey, Fry, Scott Probable: Lakins, Sulser Long Man Competition: Zimmermann, Valdez, Lopez (choose 1 or 2) On the bubble: Phillips, Mattson, Armstrong, Tate AAA depth: Hess, Pop, Carroll, Kline, Alvarado, etc.

I don't think DJ Stewart is good, but I'd rather give him at bats than Velazquez and Smith Jr. Smith doesn't hit, field, or run well. Velazquez is fast, but can't hit at all and throws the ball from short like Uncle Rico. Or like he thinks he's Robinson Cano and can dog it in the field because he's so good.

3B 1966 Brooks Robinson OPS 777 vs 2020 Ruiz 1112 so that's another win for 2020.

They've been hitting well so far and it's been fun to watch. C Wieters 1B Davis 2B Schoop 3B Machado SS Hardy LF Pearce CF Jones RF Markakis DH Cruz C Severino 1B Davis 2B Alberto 3B Ruiz SS Iglesias LF Smith Jr. CF Hays RF Santander DH Nunez Still seems like a resounding 9-0 or 8-1 for 2014 to me.

There are some ML hitters and a lot of potential. But to give some perspective, only Hanser Alberto would crack the lineup of the 2014 AL East Champion team.

A classic! Blue cheese with wings or.......

I played high school baseball in Baltimore County and my coach volunteered us to go to an event where some Little League kids would do some drills with current and former Orioles. I was a grumpy 17 year old about the whole thing, but Rick Krivda and I were assigned to run the outfield drills for the kids. Rick was really nice to me. He'd retired by this point, but he ran the drill with a great energy and he talked baseball with me and asked about our season and seemed genuinely interested in what I thought about drills and hitting and the high school baseball scene. It impressed me a lot at the time, his energy snapped me out of that "This is lame" mindset, at least for that day. I also played catch with Jake Arrieta for a minute after the event. He was a minor league nobody at the time, not much older than I was.

I'd put my Titanic Deck Chair Preference Order at 1. Herrera 2. Urias 3. Velazquez 4. Valaika But remember that Hanser Alberto, Dwight Smith Jr, and Pedro Severino were all acquired in March 2019. More moves will be made.

Last year 3 SP options (Rogers, Cobb, Karns) were done for the year early on and several others (Hess, Straily, Ynoa, etc.) were getting shelled. There was no one else to step up so they spent the whole summer scrambling around for guys like Eshelman and Shepherd who all (except for Wojo) got shelled also. This year will be the same. Guys will get injured and flame out early on and there aren't enough viable options to step up. Means, Cobb, Wojo, LeBlanc, Milone, Stewart, Velazquez, Akin, Hess, Zimmermann, Kremer. Assume 3 of those guys are hurt and 3 are pitching terribly in May. Things start to look pretty rough, just like last year. There are still replacement level vets out there like Cashner, Vargas, and Buchholz if they want to go that route. Trotting out AAA guys like Shepherd or Eshelman is painful for the fans and unnecessary.

The land of opportunity. I guess he'll compete with Kohl Stewart for the long reliever role. He's 31 but has solid numbers actually. 3.90 career ERA for Boston in 166 IP over the last few years.

Sad to see this. I don't think 40 man roster spots are really an issue. Plenty of room could have been made. I'm guessing they just didn't like Bailey and Rucker all that much after getting a long look. Good news for the other fringy pitchers. Hess, for example, could be the long man now.

Baltimore: Means, Cobb, Wojo, LeBlanc, Milone Norfolk: Akin, Kremer, Wells, Zimmermann, Lowther Barring a string of injuries, Eshelman isn't cracking either of those rotations. Him, Hanhold, Shepherd, Hess, Blach, etc. would have to accept going to AA, pitch out of Norfolk's pen, or find a new organization.

Hess will be DFAd at the end of spring I'm guessing. Maybe they'll have him pitch out of Norfolk's pen. Guys like Hanhold, Shepherd, Eshelman, Blach, etc. won't make Norfolk's team unless guys get injured. AA or released.

In a recent chat, Keith Law implied his ranking would be 1. Martin 2. Torkelson 3. Hancock I think I've been sleeping on Torkelson a bit, because of his position. Also interesting that he doesn't seem to think of Rocker as the generational Strasburg-level prospect that some have been making him out to be. Which is good because I'd rather the Orioles surprised people and won 70+ games this year anyway.

SP: Means, Cobb, Wojo, LeBlanc, Milone RP: Givens, Bleier, Castro, Fry, Scott, Bailey, Armstrong, Harvey Alberto Santander Hays Mancini Nunez Smith Jr. Ruiz Iglesias Sisco Davis Severino M. Williams Urias I cannot imagine Richard Urena makes the team. His career OPS is .662 in AAA and .652 in AA. .707 OPS with the juiced balls last year in AAA. He is probably a worse hitter than Richie Martin.

Sounds like you're down on Rucker's chances. The bullpen looks ML caliber actually, but I'm not hopeful about the rotation. A couple of those names will get hurt, a couple will Straily their way off the team. It's a thin group still. If none of the young guys (Akin, Bailey, Rucker) step up early then we're looking at the Chandler Shepherds and Tom Eshelmans of the world getting serious innings just like last year.