TommyPickles

Frazier is getting way too much play time. I've don't really understand why he's starting over Ramon against these righties. OPS against righties: Frazier- .736 Urias- .824 DRS at Second Base (According to Fielding Bible): Frazier- -6 (Worst defensive 2B in MLB with at least 425 innings) Urias- 4 (Top 10 in baseball as a second baseman this year) Urias should be playing more. Frazier should be playing a lot less. I think I'd get rid of Frazier before Mateo, because at least Mateo offers PLUS speed. I don't see Frazier doing anything particularly well, except the clutch hitting stats. How reliable are those?

I think Bradish is the best pitcher on this team.

Baseball Savant/Stat Cast rates Adam Frazier (-7 Fielding Runs) as the worst defensive 2B in baseball and the 13th worst defender overall.

I agree. Even though the future is super bright for the O's, this season may present one of our best opportunities to win the AL, based on a variety of issues/injuries affecting other teams right now and our own relative lack of injuries. I don't think that means we have to get Ohtani, but I think the front office should be aggressive this year.

Would you do Cowser for Ohtani, straight up? Not saying I necessarily would, but curious what people think. Sounds a bit crazy, at a glance, but let's say they won a Pennant for the first time since 1983. Ohtani cracks like 5 homers in the postseason. Would it be worth it?

Bradish.

I laughed out loud when Palmer said: "I'll tell you what, Kiner-Falefa cannot play left field."

1. Julio Urias 2. John Means 3. Tyler Wells 4. Kyle Bradish 5. Grayson Rodriquez Sounds like a pretty awesome rotation to me for 2024... And yes, I know Urias currently has a 4.94 ERA, but that's just because he is coming off two bad starts on either side of a hamstring injury. He led the NL with a 2.16 ERA last season (3rd in Cy Young). He had a 2.96 ERA in 2021. A 3.27 ERA in 2020. And a 2.49 ERA in 2019. He's a legit ace.

I really don't understand why they keep starting Frazier over Urias against RHP. Frazier: .718 OPS against RHP, starting at 2B Hicks: .714 OPS against RHP, starting at DH Urias: .836 OPS against RHP, on the bench

I like Melanie Newman. I like Kevin Brown. However, I don't love these two as a duo. It gets too quippy. It's like they're both trying to one-up the other with references and sarcasm. Like, "Relax, just call the game." They both do way better when paired with someone like Ben McDonald. He brings in that former-player ethos and keeps the conversation grounded in baseball.

Rotation ERA: SF- 3.86 (6th in MLB) O's- 4.81 (21st in MLB) Bullpen ERA: O's- 3.49 (6th in MLB) SF- 4.29 (21st in MLB) (as of yesterday)

There have been a couple wild pitches I was surprised he didn't block. But, overall, he has still been elite.

It's time for Swervin' Cole Irvin.

Yikes.

Urias.

I'd have to guess something with the city connect release. Perhaps announcing some charitable partnership with a group in the city or a youth baseball initiative of some kind. The City Connect jerseys were intended to promote the game to a younger audience, after all.

Hard to keep the guy with the second-best OBP on the team (.375) on the bench.

Splits: OPS Gunnar Henderson : .816 against RHP vs. .442 against LHP Ramon Urias: .786 against RHP vs. .719 against LHP Jorge Mateo: .659 against RHP vs. .790 against LHP Joey Ortiz: .273 against RHP vs. .728 against LHP Adam Frazier: .771 against RHP vs. .746 against LHP Ryan Mountcastle: .572 against RHP vs. 1.082 against LHP Ryan O'Hearn: .915 against RHP vs. .000 against LHP (2 ABs) Anthony Santander: .736 against RHP vs. .960 against LHP If it's a one-game, do-or-die situation right now. I'm going: Against a RHP: 1B- Santander, 2B- Frazier, SS- Gunnar, 3B- Urias Against a LHP: 1B- Mountcastle, 2B- Frazier, SS- Mateo, 3B- Ortiz Though, I expect this to change as the season goes on.

Second best OBP on the team (.375) belongs to Ramon. It'll be great to have him back.

Sandy Alcantara. I know he's off to a bit of a bumpy start, but he's averaged 217 innings a season the past two years. Adding a Cy Young winner with that kind of number would make our excellent bullpen perform even better.

I'd love to keep Urias around. We have him under team control through the 2026 season. As @Sports Guy said, he'd be a versatile utility guy when the next wave settles in. In the meantime, I hope any of our prospects put up 6.5 WAR in their first 787 ABs like Urias has done. He's quietly outperformed Mateo this whole time.

I read that Manoah put on more weight this offseason and has been struggling to adjust to the pitch clock.

I went to two games this week (my first two of the year!). Two takeaways I had: 1. Santander looked surprisingly good at 1B. Even in warm-ups, he was picking everything out of the dirt. 2. Vavra didn't look great in RF. That one fly ball he missed near the scoreboard cost Kremer a run. Also, according to Fielding Bible, of the 32 players who have logged at least 150 innings at first base this season, Mountcastle has been the second worst defensively (31st out of 32).

Ben McDonald is my favorite O's announcer