luismatos4prez

Last years rotation in spring training was Bundy, Cobb, Cashner, Hess, and Karns (opener) Means, Straily, J. Rogers, Y. Ramirez, Wright, and Ynoa were long relief and SP depth. This year's rotation in spring training is something like Means, Cobb, Wojo, LeBlanc, Milone Stewart, Akin, Bailey, Rucker, Kremer, Zimmermann, and Hess are long relief and SP depth options. Just a couple months into the 2019 season, 8 of those 11 spring training arms were done for the year or getting consistently shelled. The Orioles had 3 decent SPs and no viable options behind them. Just like last year, the rotation is thin and the depth options are young and unproven. But I think we'd all agree that the depth options have more potential than last year's group. What do you think? Is the SP situation improved or will the warehouse be scrambling around the waiver wire for Tom Eshelmans and Tayler Scotts this summer?

Baseball's lower middle class FAs have definitely lost a lot of leverage. Iglesias is on about the same contract Cesar Izturis signed with the Orioles in 2008 and they're very similar players.

Yes, from Longenhagen and McDaniel at Fangraphs. I remember Longenhagen tweeting about Christopher Cespedes (Orioles minor league rule 5 pick) having one of the highest EVs in the minors last year. I guess those guys have access to it.

Am I? I think he's way better than the other names I mentioned. I have no idea about his defense but here's how ZiPS projects OPS+ for Orioles ML IF candidates: Herrera 88 J. Rondon 83 Valaika 75 Wilkerson 68 Martin 63 (Urena isn't listed on Orioles projections, but he has a career .662 OPS in AAA and .652 in AA so I'm guessing it's around Martin's) Obviously, ZiPS projections only predict so well, but his AAA numbers recently are better than anything the other names there have posted.

Actually, the above scouting report was before last season. He's still a 40 FV, 20th ranked prospect in their system, but the below was posted a couple weeks back:

Good claim, from his stat line. It's Urias vs. Herrera for the utility spot. Urena, Valaika, Wilkerson, and any other infielders in the mix are not ML caliber. Fangraphs' Longenhagen and McDaniel said this about him, as they ranked him a 40 FV, 21st in the Cards organization:

I'm pretty optimistic about a future competitive OF of Santander, Hays, and Diaz with Mullins as 4th OF. Especially with Stewart, Mountcastle, and maybe even Mancini in the mix for 1B/DH. It's the infield and pitching I'm worried about.

Davis takes a major league spot and 200+ PAs away from a guy they could give a look to, so he is hurting the team's future. There are a lot of fringe guys at 1B/DH/OF who deserve a shot over Davis. Not to mention, they could have used his roster spot on a guy like Greg Bird or Domingo Santana to see if they can put it together.

SP and infield depth still concern me. Means, Cobb, and Wojo are fine. But between the Rule 5 guys, the Bowie guys last year, Akin, and LeBlanc there are a lot of big questions marks. A somewhat dependable guy like Cashner, McHugh, Milone, or the like is necessary, in my opinion. The other thing that concerns me right now is infield depth. Alberto, Iglesias, and Ruiz are all fine, but I don't want to see the likes of Richie Martin, Pat Valaika, Stevie Wilkerson, or Richard Urena this year. None of them are ML caliber, even as backups, to me. Dilson Herrera could be a good UTIL guy, but if they don't like him then they ought to sign Tim Beckham or Logan Forsythe to just give us replacement level injury insurance. If they signed Cashner and a utility guy, I think they'd be better than last year.

Pat Valaika = Jack Reinheimer = Cord Phelps = Zach Vincej = AAA depth who should not be in anyone's ML Plans. Stevie Wilkerson = Jace Peterson. His only asset is flexibility (and a devastating heater). He's a poor hitter and would not be claimed if he got DFAd this spring. Signing another IF like Beckham, Y. Sanchez, Duffy, etc. would be nice since Urena has never approached league average hitting in 4 years of AA/AAA. He's young but isn't ready for ML at bats yet.

Cashner or Vargas would be fine Kevin Millwood style deals. Collin McHugh would be nice if the Houston connection carries any weight. I imagine reclamation type SPs won't want to come to Baltimore. I do wonder if they still have interest in chasing glove first ML contracts like Yolmer Sanchez, Kevin Pillar, or Billy Hamilton. They'd make the year more pleasant since I don't want to see Stevie Wilkerson starting every day if someone gets hurt. Or Mancini in the outfield. Means, Cobb, Cashner, Woj, Akin is a good rotation for me this year. Sisco, Mancini, Alberto, Iglesias, Sanchez, Hays, Hamilton, Santander, Nunez is a good defensive lineup. 3 ML contracts and $10M more is a pipe dream though I'm assuming.

I'm really disappointed with this offseason. I respect that Elias and Co have a "You'll come back when we win" attitude, but the level of apathy towards current fans of the Orioles is disheartening. Throw us a bone here. It seems unnecessarily cruel to make us watch Davis, Martin, Wilkerson, Smith Jr, etc. for another year. Those 4 wouldn't make most AAA teams. At least give us some new faces to watch bumble around the diamond.

Yep, it appears that even with the lowest payroll in baseball (according to Roster Resource), there's not enough money in the budget for lottery tickets like Peraza, Franco, etc. There are still guys out there like Yolmer Sanchez, Alex Wood, etc. that they could sign. But the front office's attitude towards this year seems to be "You'll be back when we win".

I'm not expecting big improvement either, but they're both fine 7th inning guys on a bad team. 4.45 and 4.08 career FIPs. Not good, not bad. None of Tate, Carroll, Kline, etc. are beating down the door yet, so I'm fine with giving innings to those guys.

I think Akin, Armstrong, and Fry all make the team. Cody Carroll needs to re-prove himself after a rough ML debut and then missing a whole year of action. A lot of other guys on your list (Herb, Flaa, Eshelman, Jimenez, etc.) are just organizational guys. They can be released or sent to AA and it won't matter. Right now today: Harvey, Bleier, Castro, Rucker, Fry, Armstrong, Scott, and Sulser could be the Orioles pen. (I agree, Givens is traded). Tate, Kline, Phillips, Carroll, Mattson, Cervenka, Alvarado are the next 7 interesting names. That could be Norfolk's pen.

****HOT TAKE ALERT**** Mancini should retire! MLB should disband! Camden Yards should be torn down! Trade Rutschmann for prospects now before he gets expensive!

So this Cespedes kid has to stay in AAA all year? Mashing in the AZL is cool, but that's a heck of a jump.

You'll be here in April suffering with the rest of us.

2020's version of Alcides Escobar probably. A few years back, Hechavarria got off to a hot start to the year but it was clearly a mirage. In reference to that mirage, some fantasy baseball site posted an article with the headline "Step Away From Adeiny Hechavarria". I always thought that was funny.

Wilkerson is 27 and had a 74 wRC+ last year and Baseball Savant's expected statistics say he was actually very lucky with balls in play. He's so bad. Who cares if he can play a mediocre 2B?

I think option (2) is roughly correct, but exaggerated. I think their main concern is $$, but they'd like Elias to build a winning team too. It would be a nice side benefit to the profitable business they're running.

Peraza, Shaw, Franco, and Hernandez would all be good targets for the infield if no one else offers starting jobs. But maybe they're too expensive for Elias's Tampa-like budget. I'm an offseason junkie, but I can't draw up any excitement after they traded a 4 WAR player for an organizational guy to save money. Trading Bundy, claiming a few Alberto-like lottery tickets, and signing a Dan Straily or two are the only moves I expect.

That number is one. And the level is cash money.

You think most owners are more businessman than baseball fan? It's an interesting question. If you offered the Sons (or another owner) these two choices for the 2020s, which one would they pick: a) Highest profit in the league, huge growth in franchise value, 0 playoff appearances b) Lowest profit in the league, 2 World Series championships

Peraza would be a good addition. I'm ready to be very salty if Villar is just released, still holding out hope that they trade him.