TommyPickles

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.

Yes.

Baseball Reference is better than Fangraphs.

I think Westburg. And I could see a rotating cast of Westburg, Urias, and Ortiz splitting 2B/3B. Urias hits righties better, Ortiz hits lefties better, etc. I’m cool with that.

I feel like his budget is also unknown to us fans. Can he go out and sign a Marcus Stroman to a multi year deal? Or is that not on the table. We've heard rumors that the O's were "in" on these guys who have gotten three year deals, but we still haven't seen a multi year deal in the Elias era. Stroman (3.95 ERA in 2023) and Cease (4.58 ERA in 2023) are projected to have nearly identical ERAs in 2024 (Baseball Reference). I'm curious if he has the flexibility to pivot to a free agent option? Could he save the prospects for a mid-season acquisition? Or is he really in a trade-or-bust scenario if he wants to upgrade the rotation this offseason? (I'd prefer Cease, just an example)

I think 4th is fair. I also think the Yankees are going to be better than the Rays this year.

I'd pull the trigger.

That's fair. Just something to keep an eye on, not a dealbreaker for Westburg or anything. I just looked up the Marlins stadium dimensions. I think you could make a case that he'd have a higher OPS there, though.

I'd be down to trade Westburg. I remember before he made his MLB debut reading some analysis that he was likely to be eventually traded because his bat would play so poorly at Camden Yards. He was a righty who pulled the ball a lot. I just checked his splits for his first 208 ABs in the bigs: Home: .662 OPS Away: .768 OPS

I'd rather get Ryu than Manaea, but that was a good read.

Ehh... I hope you're right, but it's not hard to imagine the O's pitching being worse if they make no additions. We've lost Felix, who was incredible. Hard to imagine the back end of the bullpen candidates replacing those numbers. I love Bradish and Grayson, but each could regress a bit. Baseball Reference projects Bradish to go from a 2.83 ERA in 2023 to a 3.75 ERA in 2024. They project Grayson to have a 4.31 ERA in 2024. Means is my favorite player on the team, but a healthy season is not guaranteed. I think we need to add more pitching.

So is Perez the third string catcher?