Brooks The Great

Why couldn't we just DFA Lakins and use Sedlock for Game 1 tomorrow? Put Sedlock on the 40-man, then option Sedlock after game 1 if we need to use Reyes. Sedlock is the better SP and more prepared to go deeper in the game tomorrow than Reyes is.

Baumler remind anyone else of Dylan Bundy a bit? At least with the curve?

What do you mean? His official title is executive vice president & general manager.

I'm coming around to the idea of taking either Jones or Jackson Holliday, with Holliday being underslot and also improving as he fills out. Not a fan of taking Brooks Lee #1, who sounds like an Austin Martin type to me. Lee has also had surgery on both his knee and hamstring, which is a red flag. But I need to take a look at some numbers and video of his most recent season.

JTrea?

I like the pickup. Looks to be a pitcher with decent velocity and good movement that Elias and his analytics guys think they can fix control-wise.

I still think our best defensive and offensive MLB alignment is going to be: 2B Westburg SS Henderson 3B Mayo If things pan out. I truly believe we can win a World Series with that infield if all three of those guys reach their potential and we add some starting pitching via trade and free agency.

He can always easily be converted to a reliever at any time, but it's worth giving him more starts to see if there's a possibility he can be a starter, even if it's only in the Tampa Bay mold of 3-5 innings max (which as you alluded to, is more the way the game is trending now).

No, Mayo is not a disappointment. He's still super young and the raw power is special. He'll get better with experience, but as I said during this past offseason, some of Mayo's impressive numbers in 2021 were due to the level of his competition. I have always said that Gunnar's ability to adapt to each new level in 2021 after initially struggling was impressive, and that he was challenged a lot more than Mayo in 2021. Since the end of the 2021 season, I've always thought that Gunnar is the better overall prospect because he's a better defender and he has very good plate discipline. He's a true ballplayer, even if he's not a high average hitter. Mayo has more power. We're lucky to have both in the system and hopefully have them both star as major league regulars for a long, long time.

I prefer Robert Hassell to Abrams, and the Padres seem more inclined to deal Hassell than Abrams anyway.

Would be cool to see him get some ABs with the major league team in September, or earlier.

Vespi should be one of them for sure, especially with Perez going multiple innings today and a few times in the past few games.

Mayo has a new mock draft with us taking Jackson Holliday. I hope he winds up being wrong. I'm extremely worried that Elias is still enamored with his underslot strategy. Kjerstad and Cowser were mistakes in my opinion. We need to take BPA and go with Druw Jones.

How do you know we didn't? Also, why would Fry get us anything of clear value? He's worthless. I'm happy we got a lottery ticket and that a likely better pitcher in Vespi is now on the roster.

I wonder if he's dealing with an injury, or if his stuff just isn't good enough for above the AA level.

Agree with everyone saying Martin should be brought up to replace Owings, who is trash. Can't wait until this team no longer has Owings, Odor, and Benboom on it.

Yes, but also the Home Run Chain Rulebook was just published tonight after the game.

From the Orioles Home Run Chain Rulebook: "The Home Run Chain shall be bestowed upon the originator of the home run only when the home run occurs when the Orioles are ahead in the game, or whence the home run in question ties the game."

Cowser fell out of Baseball America's Top 100 list in their most recent update. There are lots of posters on this board who will say that you can't evaluate draft picks for years, but the fact of the matter is that every MLB team has scouts and analysts who's job it is to evaluate players in real time. Same with publications like BA, BP, Fangraphs, MLB Pipeline, and many others. And I like keeping track of the O's and other teams' top prospects. Cowser is not looking like a good pick right now. That can - and most likely will - change. But I really disliked the pick on draft night, and I like it even less today. Take the most talented player you can with your first round pick when you're rebuilding. Hope CC can turn things around.

This is nuts. Wow.

Went to game tonight, it's rare to see so many potential future major leaguers in one game. I think there's a decent chance - maybe 10-25% or so - that Rhodes winds up a better major league hitter than Colton Cowser. That's both a compliment to Rhodes and a bit of a knock on Cowser. Hope both of them can be quality MLB regulars.

Was at the game tonight. He's clearly way too advanced for A+. Shame about the injury. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

Cases can be made for Kjerstad and Cowser being poor picks, aside from the bad luck injuries to Kjerstad. I think Elias is a great overall draft evaluator, but gets too cute with first round picks. We'd be in an even better position with Hassell, Veen, or Walker instead of Kjerstad, and with Lawlar, Watson, House, or McClain instead of Cowser. I'm really worried about Elias getting cute again with this year's #1 pick and taking someone like Brooks Lee over Druw Jones.

When does Aberdeen typically announce lineups before night games? I was going to go to the game tonight, but not if Adley's not playing.

Those are all disappointing, but the starts that Westburg, Henderson, Haskin, Prieto, Norby, Rhodes, GrayRod, Bradish, Rom and several other players have had is quite promising.