TommyPickles

Great game for Trey last night; OPS up to .773! Also, I notice he seems to hit better when he's DH'ing. Maybe Hyde should make him the DH more often, especially this season as he works his body back to 100%. In 2021: OPS when DH'ing: 1.054 OPS when playing 1B: .692 Over his whole career: OPS when DH'ing: .887 OPS when playing 1B: .835

Nice to see all these stats. I've got to say, it's so much more fun watching a team that is pitching (pretty) well. 2017-2019 were just brutal... O's Team ERA and MLB rank: 2017- 4.97 (27th) 2018- 5.18 (30th) 2019- 5.59 (30th) Would love to see us stay in the top 15 or so for team ERA all year.

I already gave my definition in the Means thread, but I might as well throw it in here: "I think of an 'ace' as a #1 starter who might find himself playing in an All Star game (or several) during his career. A guy who is a top 10 pitcher in his league, year after year."

Yea, I've seen people argue about the definition on here. I guess I'm more in the latter group? I think of an "ace" as a #1 starter who might find himself playing in an All Star game (or several) during his career. A guy who is a top 10 pitcher in his league. I know some people are more careful with the title and I respect that. But, to my original point, I actually believe Means has the potential to be a perrenial top 5 pitcher in the AL. I'm more bullish on his career than the those of us who see him settling in as a dependable 2nd or 3rd starter on a winning club. I think he's shown the ability to improve his game (Ex: the development of his change up) and an ability to outperform the prognosticators' expectations of him. -In 2019 he was 8th in the AL in WAR among pitchers (4.8) and he didn't even pitch the whole season. -So far this year he's top 3 in the AL in WAR and ERA among pitchers. He's in the top 6 or so in IP and WHIP.

I think John Means could achieve ace status. He's constantly exceeding the expectations people have for him.

But have they faced a pitcher of Jorge Lopez's caliber? That will be the real test.

The bullpen has been decent this season, but damn, they sure do let in a lot of runners inherited from the starters. As soon as Sulser came in, I was like "guranteed Zimmerman is getting charged with this third run too." I wonder how they compare with other bullpens around MLB in that regard?

Haha I've been using that one with my friends too. Great baseball nickname

By the way, who's starting on Friday against Oakland? I lost track with the off days and Kremer being sent down.

I said it two years ago, I'll say it again, I think John Means will start the next playoff game the Orioles play in.

Personally, I'm surprised Sisco didn't get charged with a PB. He has looked bad this year.

Fun Stat: If Galvis makes the play on that groundball and Paul Fry didn't allow both of Harvey's runners to score in Boston, Matt Harvey would have a 3.68 ERA through three starts with the O's. I've been impressed.

That's what I'm saying! 2.70 ERA as an Oriole. Has only allowed 2 home runs over 119 BF during that time (mostly pitching at OPACY). Can go multiple innings. Dude is better than half our bullpen.

Tigers select contract of Renato Nunez after Miguel Cabrera was placed on the 10 day IL with biceps strain. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31236211/miguel-cabrera-placed-10-day-il-biceps-strain-detroit-tigers-add-renato-nunez Good for Nunez. Happy to see him back in the bigs.

The bullpen really hasn't done Lopez any favors. Everyone he leaves on base for them seems to score... That said, I'm ready to see Akin back in this rotation and I'm ready to see Lakins Sr. back in this bullpen.

Garceau is boring to me. Palmer talks about himself so so much. I like Melanie Newman. I also was really starting to like Ben McDonald last season, though I haven’t heard him this season. I miss Gary Thorne more than I thought I would.

I feel like the Yankees would already be a pretty tough baseball team to beat in a fight. Judge and Stanton alone would be terrifying

Yea I was confused by this too. Seems like he really had the b-team out there yesterday...

When I heard they had updated our playoff odds from 0.0% to 0.2%, it got me thinking. How many games in a row would the O's have to win right now, before I started seriously believing they could make the playoffs? I'm going to say 14. If they rattle off 10 in a row to start the season, believe me, I'll be thrilled. But I think pragmatism would still win out. It's a long season, they're going to be trading guys at the deadline, this rotation will wear out, etc. After about 14 straight wins, though, I'd start to think: Why Not?

Good points. And I'd be pretty excited if Mullins stole 415 bases in his career like Rajai Davis.

Between Hays and Mullins, who is considered to be the better overall defender? Just from watching the games, I get the sense that Mullins covers more ground and Hays has a stronger arm. Mullins playing in CF seems to imply he has the edge, but what do you guys think?

I like Valdez as the closer.

"Baltimore Bruce" looked good! Six solid innings and then turned it over to the number 1 bullpen in MLB....

Ruiz looked great! And that throw from Hays in left was really impressive. I like Hays/Mullins/Santander in the outfield with Mountcastle mostly DHing, or giving Trey some days off at 1B.

Means' changeup is a seriously good pitch.