TommyPickles

All my friends love Means. I'd say he's one of the more popular Orioles, at least Oriole pitchers.

I'd love to add a lefty starting pitcher, so I think I'd target Luzardo or Garrett.

I still see Henderson, Urias, Ortiz, and Westburg shuffling between 2B, 3B, and SS each day. Gunnar plays every day. Urias hits righties better. Ortiz and Westburg hit lefties better. It's a nice-looking group until Holiday and Mayo arrive. Facing the Angels on Opening Day we'll probably start with a lefty: Ried Detmers So probably: 2B: Westburg SS: Henderson 3B: Ortiz (But I voted before I thought about who we'd be facing)

Man, tough call and good question. I like what I've read about Mayo and I'd love to see him take over at 1B for us longterm. But I voted for the Luzardo deal. Three years of a young, talented lefty like that seems like just what we need. Make that deal and I'd be willing to bet the O's win the AL in one of the next three seasons.

152 IP, 3.91 ERA, beloved by our fans and young pitchers alike. Has at least one start where he takes a no-hitter into the 7th inning.

I always liked Watkins. I hope he see's some time in the majors with the Nats this year.

Last year was the first time I made a futures bet on the O's because 78 wins seemed preposterous and I went with the over. That worked out great. I'm going with the over again this year. Also, its interesting how the casinos see the AL East shaking out: 1. NYY 2. BAL 3. TOR 4. TB 5. BOS At the moment, this is how I see the division finishing as well. But a lot of the baseball publications seem higher on the Rays. I don't see it working out for TB this year.

Ryu and Paxton seem similar. Old lefty’s with decent track records and health concerns. I just think Ryu will be a bit better. In both his career and last year, Ryu has allowed fewer BB/9 and fewer HR/9. He’s projected to have a lower ERA than Paxton in 2024. He’s been worth more WAR in his career and over the last five years. He’s been a similar (and slightly better) pitcher to John Means throughout his career, in terms of how many strikeouts and walks he records. But he is older than Paxton…

1. Bradish 2. Grayson 3. Means 4. Kremer 5. Hall I think we need a second lefty in the rotation, especially considering the current dimensions of OPACY. Preserve Wells' health by making him a full-time bullpen guy. Use Irvin as your longman and spot starter if Hall can't hack it or Means gets injured early.

Yea, I guess I mean less guaranteed money. Stroman has only exceeded 140 innings in two of the past six MLB seasons. He'll be 34 in 2025.

I'm surprised he got less than what was projected. MLBTrade Rumors had him pegged at 2 years, $44 million. While some were even saying 3 years, $60 million. The starting pitcher market has been a bit strange. It seems like the consensus is that there is more demand than supply (which seems true). And that guys are getting more than we expected from teams. But there have been a lot of decent pitchers who have gotten less than they were projected to make. Sonny Gray, Shoto Imanaga, Marcus Stroman, Eduardo Rodriguez, Lucas Giolito, Kenta Maeda have all signed for less than MLBTradeRumors thought they would.

Nah just thirsty for O's news that isn't about the Cease stalemate. But sounds like Seattle is done moving pitching, so nevermind.

Ah bummer. Didn't know that.

Fangraphs projects Seattle to have one of the worst corner outfields in baseball. It seems like their biggest need. They're going to be in the mix for a wild card spot. They've got one outfield prospect in their organization's Top 7 prospects and he's a 20 year old in A ball. Can we get some Woo or Miller hypotheticals? Seems like a team that would value a Kjerstad or Cowser tremendously. Even Hays would be an immediate upgrade.

His ranking of the top 30 starting pitchers in baseball for 2024. #30- Dylan Cease #29- Grayson Rodriquez #24- Kyle Bradish #3- Kevin Gausman #2- Spencer Strider #1- Gerrit Cole

Santander looked good at first base in the SSS. Fielding Bible rated our 1B (with at least 65 innings at the position) as follows: Mountcastle: +2 DRS Santander: +1 DRS Urias: 0 DRS O'Hearn: -2 DRS

Yeah, I feel the same way. Tough call, but I'd like the O's to take a legitimate crack at winning it all in the Mullins/Santander/Means/Hays era. The price for pitchers is high, but I think this deal makes them (more) legitimate World Series contenders in 2024 and 2025.

Not sure if this has been mentioned in the 200 pages of Dylan Cease chat, but this was MLB Network's proposed Cease trade yesterday: Baltimore gets: Cease Chicago gets: Kjerstad, Ortiz, Armbruester

So we're going to have the sixth-worst rotation in baseball next year? Welp. Looks like another year to bet on the OVER for the Orioles and not make any other sports bets all season.

I wouldn't hate it.

Teoscar turned down multi-year deals from the Red Sox and Angels.

Mountcastle and O'Hearn make me nervous. And I think they'll have a long leash.

I think the Yankees and Os are gonna be battling for first place in the AL East all year.

@Tony-OH I'm a big Urias fan, so there's some bias here. But I think he still has a role on the 2024 team. He could be in the opening-day infield and later transition to a strong defensive bench player who can play three infield positions and hit righties above league average. Even with the injuries, Fielding Bible rated him as our fourth-best defender last season. The only infielder with a higher DRS was Gunnar. Urias has been worth 5.4 rWAR over the past two seasons. That's more than Mountcastle (3.4), Mateo (4.2), Hays (4.7), or Santander (5.1). Do I think he's more important than all of those guys? No. But I think he's a high-floor, versatile veteran that could benefit this young team. Plus Hyde likes shifting the lineups a lot and his platoon splits are the opposite of Westburg and Ortiz's.