Brooks The Great

Mountcastle should be strictly platooned, if not sent to Norfolk to regroup. If the Jays can demote Alek Manoah, the Orioles can demote Mountcastle. Mateo needs to be benched as well, and Ortiz given a shot to play everyday SS. This team could be so much better by utilizing one of its strengths - its minor league system. A lineup with Westburg, Cowser, and Ortiz in it would be so much better. This team keeps leaving wins on the table with poor roster management by Elias and bad game management and lineup optimization by Hyde.

There are contending teams who could use a guy like Urias as a starter at an infield position, or as a utility guy. The Dodgers were in bad shape once Gavin Lux got hurt, and they still might need an infielder at the deadline. Other players on other teams will get hurt, and there will be a need for a player like Urias. Worse players than Urias have been traded at the deadline for good returns. Gerardo Parra is just one of many examples. I think we could get a couple of Single A arms for Urias, or a hitting prospect and pitching prospect at the lower levels. Or maybe a AAA arm that profiles as a reliever who can contribute in the short-term could be part of a package. Urias should be traded. He doesn't fit the long-term plans of the team, he's frequently injured, and guys like Westburg and Ortiz could very likely be more productive than him, or at least provide similar production. Like I said, no-brainer to trade Urias. Santander should be traded as well if the return is right. Pitching would be ideal, but once again, I trust Elias to make a smart trade. But this thread is about Urias, so I won't go too much into other players. With that said, I think there are other teams who would value DL Hall as a secondary piece in a deal. Not every team has a great GM making decisions and evaluating talent, and just because you don't think Hall has trade value, doesn't mean that another team doesn't value him.

I never said that Urias can bring back a starting pitcher on his own. Not sure why you ask that question leading off your post. If you're simply stating that Urias only makes sense to trade if he brings back a starting pitcher, I totally disagree with that. And yes, I do know that Urias doesn't have enough value to bring back a starting pitcher. But I have no idea why you'd lead off a response with that kind of question, though. It's not applicable to what I said. I also disagree that Urias would need to be part of a package. He may be part of a package, but he can be traded on his own as well. I simply said the Orioles need to trade Urias. I have full faith that Elias would get decent value for him. And it doesn't necessarily need to be pitching, although there's a good chance Elias would try to land pitching in return. And there's added value in opening up playing time for Ortiz and Westburg that a Urias trade would make possible as well. To answer your other question, I'd trade Norby, Prieto, Hall, and Stowers. But I'd trade Urias, Mateo, and Santander first. I'd trade Mountcastle too, but he might have the least perceived value to other teams of any of those guys.

It's a no-brainer to deal Urias and keep Westburg and Ortiz. Westburg at 1B, Ortiz at 2B, Holliday at SS and Gunnar at 3B would be an awesome infield on both sides of the ball. Or perhaps Kjerstad/Mayo at 1B, Westburg at 2B, Holliday at short and Gunnar at 3B would work for more offensive upside. Urias is a verstatile and valuable guy, but he's older and due to get more expensive much sooner than any of the prospects coming up. The organization also invested very little to originally acquire him, so dealing him away for whatever value the O's can extract is the best way to set the team up for sustained success with all the prospects currently in the minors.

Don't forget Westburg.

Better than an oblique injury. But I'll take Westburg finally coming up so that we can start getting rid of the weak links on the roster once Gunnar comes back.

Any updates on Gunnar would be appreciated. Hoping it’s not an oblique.

I really do think it's time to DFA Voth and Perez. If Voth in particular struggles in a game like today's, then why is he on the roster? He's been nothing special in short outings, and if he can't provide any length, I don't see what kind of value he adds. Perez has been terrible all season outside of a brief stretch earlier this month. Both Voth and Perez allow way too many baserunners to be assets to this bullpen. Time to part ways with both pitchers that were waiver wire pickups and found money. Get Irvin and Vespi up as soon as their pitching schedules allow.

I'm sure they would. Less at bats moving forward for Mountcastle, Mateo, and McCann - and lineups featuring Cowser and Westburg - will really force opposing pitchers to work hard.

Hicks is terrible, and this is an awful signing. Hopefully it winds up being a faiily inconsequential move to provide emergency depth, and Cowser gets the call fairly soon. I'm relieved that it's Hays in CF tonight - I thought we were going to see McKenna every day in CF for several games.

I've been saying since April that the lineup against LHP is a major issue. McCann is one of the worst hitters in baseball, he shouldn't be getting DH starts - period. It really irks me that Elias and Hyde treat McCann like he's Edgar Martinez against lefties. Honestly, Vavra at DH against lefties would be better than McCann. At least Vavra can see some pitches and make a pitcher work. McCann's OPS+ is 44! That's preposterously abysmal. And he's done that mostly getting deployed as the C when Adley DH's and as the DH against LHP. It needs to stop.

I agree, he's really not. I've seen enough baseball in my life to know that McKenna has misplayed way too many fly balls this season alone to be considered a good defender. And honestly, once Cowser is up, whether McKenna is actually a good defensive OF is just so inconsequential to the team's success at that point. I can't wait for McKenna and his stupid bandana to get sent down to the minors where he belongs.

We can agree to disagree. I believe McKenna and O'Hearn are exactly who will get DFA'd when Cowser and Westburg get called up barring injuries.

So this is assuming everyone is healthy obviously. But you drop McKenna over O'Hearn because McKenna's value to the team is as a defensive replacement - and I'm not even sold on him as a defensive replacement because he's had several unacceptable defensive lapses this season. Once Cowser is up, there's no need to replace anyone defensively in the outfield late in games. McKenna's not worth rostering just as a defensive replacement on the rare days Mullins/Hays/Cowser have a day off, because Santander can slide into the OF on those days. And then whoever had the day off can defensively replace Santander late in games. Also, for all the people who think McKenna might actually be good, he can prove that in the minors playing every day and build up some trade value. That has way more utility to the organization than McKenna sitting on the bench and sporadically playing. O'Hearn has more value (and that's not saying much because I don't think McKenna should even be on the roster) as a pinch hitter and occassionally spelling Mountcastle at 1B against righties. But O'Hearn is super expendable as well. It's just that Cowser is an OF and Westburg can play OF, and if Ortiz starts playing SS every day, then Mateo can also serve as an occasional emergency OF as well. He played some OF in spring training, so I'm certain Mateo can play any of the outfield spots in a pinch for an inning or two. McKenna needs to go.

It's a problem because we have bad hitters at the bottom of the lineup. Just like I was saying that McKenna isn't as good as his small sample size performance reflected because he's not a good hitter, the O's performance against lefties featuring McCann, McKenna, Frazier, Mateo, etc. isn't sustainable. We need better hitters replacing those guys. To be a winning team - and to be a good GM, manager, etc. - you need to be proactive. You need to anticipate problems and address deficiencies before they hurt the team with losses. Reciting the statistics and simply reacting to them isn't enough. Talent evaluation and analysis of the statistics are crucial context to the results. You're basically saying, "The O's have performed fine against lefties, there's no problem, why fix something that isn't broken?" I'm telling you that the talent doesn't back up the results, and that we can expect the team perform worse moving forward using the same hitters against lefties. I'm telling you that complacency with the roster and lineups featuring these same players won't ensure wins and future performance. We won't know for sure until we see how the team performs, but feel free to bump this in a couple months if I'm wrong. Because I'll definitely bump it if I'm right. McKenna, McCann, Frazier, Mateo - these guys aren't good hitters overall. Sure, they're better taking into account their strong-side splits, but that doesn't mean they should continue to get at bats at the expense of more talented prospects. Frazier has been hot, but I'm not sold on him as a good hitter overall. Prior to this season, Frazier has a long track record as league average hitter with above average defense - essentially two seasons as a well above average hitter, two seasons as a well below average hitter, and a little less than 2 and a half seasons as an average hitter. He's average. Just because a right-handed hitter is passable against left-handed pitching (or a lefty hitter against a righty pitcher in Frazier's case) doesn't mean that they should get at bats over a talented prospect who could potentially offer more production not only against left-handed pitching, but overall. We have three prospects who are ready to contribute to the major league team. Let's give them that chance and very likely improve the team while doing so.

I never said Cowser should take his role. Cowser should take over as the regular LF, move Hays to RF, and make Santander the regular DH.

Just because it's "standard" doesn't mean it isn't weak. The lineups against lefties have been a problem all season, the team just hasn't really paid for it yet. That lineup is the biggest reason for bringing up Westburg. He'd immediately be an upgrade offensively (whether it's for McCann when he starts as a DH, Frazier at 2B, or McKenna in RF) and lengthen the lineup against lefties. Also, has McKenna really hit well? .273/.317/.735 is nothing special, especially considering it includes a red hot two or three week stretch of limited and inconsistent at bats. He's just two or three more 0-4 games from having a bad stat line. Lots of posters on this board were fooled by a small sample size, and ignored McKenna's established track record of poor production as a hitter prior to this season.

No, Vavra should stay on the roster since he's the emergency 3rd catcher. And he's someone who can pinch hit for Ortiz (once Joey is back up) later in games if the situation calls for it. Mateo should be a pinch runner, and emergency OF. Which, as I've said multiple times on this board, makes McKenna the next guy who should be sent down. McKenna and O'Hearn should be the next 2 guys on the chopping block. There are multiple scenarios where McKenna gets sent down, all of them in play over the next month. Whether it's Westburg, Cowser, or Ortiz coming up - and they're all ready to contribute - McKenna is the most expendable guy on the roster if any of those 3 are promoted and an injury to a regular starter (as was the case for Urias and Ortiz) isn't the reason for the promotion.

Ortiz can bring outstanding defense and better hitting, though. That's why I expect Ortiz to replace Mateo as the everyday SS eventually.

I'm sure you're aware that 1B is the least demanding infield position, and as such prospects are converted to first basemen more easily than any other infield position. Both Kjerstad and Westburg will be able to play 1B for the major league team after they're promoted to the majors. I also prefer Urias as an eventual regular 1B to Mountcastle if Urias doesn't get traded (I think Urias should be traded as well, but I'd prefer keeping Urias on the roster to keeping Mountcastle). I wouldn't expect Mountcastle to be traded until this offseason. Plenty of time for either Kjerstad or Westburg to take reps at 1B ahead of the 2024 season.

I'm a big fan of the plate discipline he's flashed at times, and that it seems he may possess as a tool. Would be awesome if he developed to the point of becoming a supplementary trade piece.

Both Mateo and Mountcastle need to be traded. We have too many prospects who profile to be better hitters at their positions, with Ortiz bringing an elite glove to SS as well. Mountcastle is going to start getting more expensive to retain, so trading him away also fits the approach to payroll Elias has diligently executed ever since he arrived. If/when Elias starts adding to payroll through extensions, free agent signings, and trades, a flawed player like Mountcastle won't be someone who fits in with his vision and team build moving forward.

I've been saying for a good while that McKenna needs to go once Cowser is up (I actually wanted him DFA'd after the April 1st drop against the Red Sox and I stand by that), and that's still the case. A lot of people on this board seem to think McKenna's hitting performance thus far justifies him staying on the roster, but I don't buy into the small sample size performance (if he puts up just 2 or 3 hitless games in his next few starts, his numbers aren't going to look like anything special), and I don't think that McKenna's value as a 5th outfielder defensive replacement merits him being on the roster once Westburg and Cowser are up. What I think most posters are underrating about Vavra in terms of him sticking on the roster is his ability to serve as the emergency catcher in games where Adley is DH'ing and McCann catching. That allows a player like Gunnar to pinch hit for McCann if Gunnar starts a game on the bench, or allows Vavra himself to pinch hit for McCann. That's going to have a lot of value to this team because McCann isn't a good hitter in general, especially not against righties. Vavra makes pitchers work, he gets on base, he's a good contact hitter, and even though he's not a great defender anywhere, he has a lot of defensive versatility. That has value to this team in late game situations.

He's just a troll. Every post of his I've noticed is some sarcastic one to two sentence post which is usually meant to antagonize, or a stupid take.

The Jays eliminated the Orioles from the playoffs at the very end of the 1989 season, and then the Cito thing several years later added fuel to the fire of Jays hate. The Jays were actually the O's main rival for most of the early 90's. I guess that's more ancient history, but disdain for the Jays goes back pretty far for older fans.