Otter
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Posts posted by Otter
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I'm going with Santander; I think the HRs alone will push his OPS higher than anyone else. Although I keep waiting for O'Hearn to come back to earth and level off but he never does...
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On 8/5/2023 at 3:00 PM, Frobby said:
Back to Westburg, I do think he just has the look of a guy who’s going to have a solid, long MLB career. He probably won’t be quite as good, but he reminds me of Ian Kinsler.
Good comp, but I also like Palmer's comp where he compared him to Grich. Would love for him to have a Grich-type career.
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2 hours ago, Going Underground said:
Nothing new.Happens all the time. Military bases and defense contracts happen to go to a certain state. A manufacturing plant is built in a state that happens to have a Senator or Congress person lobbying a bill that happens to help that industry.
Yes you're absolutely right, but just because it happens a lot does it mean it's ok or that we shouldn't be upset by it? JA is using our beloved team to line his pockets and those of his buddies, as well as further his political agenda over the agenda of actually winning baseball games. That should disgust all of us.
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I just loved Devo as a player, but he is absolutely cringe worthy as an announcer. And I don't buy that it's just because he's only done a few games....I hate to say it but he mumbles, talks quickly, and never says anything interesting or of value. Before hiring a former player, they should work a bunch of college or minor league games to get some experience and see if they have the talent for it.
Brach does have a lot of interesting comments, and especially for players he played with. But he talks way too fast and doesn't have a broadcaster's voice or cadence.
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2 minutes ago, Frobby said:
Palmer is the one guy who is pretty much immune from JA’s pettiness. He’s an icon in Baltimore and I’m sure he doesn’t need the money. He’s been fairly critical of past teams without getting any blowback. I doubt JA would dare to touch him, short of something really outrageous.
I wonder what JA would do if Palmer publicly supported Brown...
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2 hours ago, Moshagge3 said:
As stupid as the Yankees' facial hair rule is, notice that they're completely open about it. They don't deny that the rule exists. The Orioles' leadership was hoping to quietly reinstate Kevin Brown on Friday and pretend nothing unusual had happened. John Angelos is reportedly (per Dan Connolly) furious that the reason for Brown's absence was leaked. That suggests that either Angelos or the people around Angelos are fully aware of how insane the suspension sounds to normal people and needed to be a secret.
I doubt JA really comprehends how petty his actions are or how they are being perceived. JA is probably so insulated by his subordinates, that he doesn't read or know about the reactions. He also is probably too arrogant and self-absorbed to be capable of self-introspection or to change a bad decision.
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1 minute ago, Frobby said:
I have a feeling JA is going to be a little shy with the suspensions for a while.
But you're looking at it from the perspective of a logical, empathetic, intelligent human being. JA is none of those...
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I'm surprised this is even a question. Even before the suspension, I was always so impressed with Brown. Such a great broadcasting voice, smooth, articulate, but doesn't take himself too seriously like many other broadcasters. He also seems to have a great rapport with Palmer and McDonald. He's much better than Thorne. Thorne had a great voice and was articulate, but he made too many mistakes and didn't seem to pay attention sometimes. I think Brown will have a long and great broadcasting career...albeit probably somewhere else...
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10 minutes ago, Frobby said:
Honestly, I thought the broadcast was fine. Brown doesn’t do 100% of the games, and when he doesn’t do them, Arnold is a decent back-up. I’m not a huge fan of a three man booth, and though I loved Devo as a player, he’s not very good at this and Palmer kind of had to force feed him with leading questions. Brach is much more engaging. La Conforta (or wherever his name is) was only in the booth a short while and didn’t bother me. I thought it was pretty funny when they started comparing the crowd in the both to when Palmer was in The Naked Gun.
How soon will one of them be suspended for making the Naked Gun joke??
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Lowenstein and Proctor was my favorite O's broadcasting team. Yes, I always enjoy listening to Palmer, but I loved Lowenstein's irreverent humor. He and Proctor worked so well off each other, and could somehow keep your interest in even boring blowouts during long terrible seasons.
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27 minutes ago, LookinUp said:
I'd think by the end of 2024 we'll start to have a decent sense of how it's going. Last year's draft had Holliday, Fabian, Wagner and Beavers. Holliday's an outlier, but we're at least starting to get a sense of what others are capable of, working on, etc. But then you look at guys like Bright, Beck and Carter Young and again we have a sense, but there's more that needs to happen for sure.
But there's little doubt that most of them will fizzle out along the way, and we won't know that for another couple of year's I'd imagine.
So 3 years is my answer for being able to draw conclusions.
I agree with most of what you say, but I'd say 5 years to draw clearer conclusions. 5 years will give the high school draftees time to develop, or not develop. Then again, we rarely draft HS kids so for the O's specifically I agree that 3 years should give us a pretty good idea of our prospects.
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7 hours ago, Tony-OH said:
He probably made the right decision. Without a lot of money behind him, if he struggles at first, he could get buried in the pros, especially with no rookie+ league anymore.
Yeah, I miss the extra affiliates...more prospects to follow and can hang onto kids longer before cutting bait.
I'd be curious to know how much they offered him. If they even offered him 500k; that's enough for a smart 18 year old to live off that for many years...
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I gave it a B. Love the Bradfield pick; he was my pick before the draft and I was pleasantly surprised he was there and we took him. High upside, and also filled our biggest need in the system after pitching. I also liked going after high upside projectable pitchers even though many had poor stats in college. This will be a great test for our player development on the pitching side to see if they can match the outstanding development of hitters in the system. The only reason I didn't give an A is we didn't draft/sign any high upside HS kids, and I think we ended up with too many college CF in the same draft. I'd prefer a little more diversity so there isn't a logjam of kids the same age and position at the same level.
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15 hours ago, RZNJ said:
For the 100th time, there is nothing that says a guy like Hall can’t start his career as a reliever for 1 or 2 years and switch back to starting. Look at Chris Sale. Look at Corbin Burnes. Look at Mike Flanagan. It’s not something new.
No need for the snark. I just prefer to have young highly rated starters to stay in their routine and build up their innings and their pitching philosophy as a starter. You mention three examples over a 40 year span; that hardly proves your point. Just because it's been done before doesn't mean it's the best thing for every pitcher. Every pitcher, and every pitcher's arm is different. If you yo-yo him back and forth between being a starter and reliever, and AAA and the majors, I think it slows a pitcher's development. And I think that's especially true for a pitcher like Hall who has always struggled with control and command. Just my opinion, and you're welcome to have yours.
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5 hours ago, RVAOsFan said:
This is great news. We don't really draft high upside HS pitchers, so this is about as close as it gets. And we didn't break the bank for him.
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1 minute ago, CaptainRedbeard said:
Hall averaged 96.3 mph with his FB last year at the MLB level. With his secondaries, I think he could survive losing a couple ticks and still be a very effective RP this season. The FB velo is obviously critical but even last year I thought his CH was his best pitch, and he seemed more comfortable locating/throwing the SL for strikes than the FB.
Definitely time to pull the plug on trying him as a SP. If he puts together a full, healthy and effective MLB season as a RP you can consider going back there. But if he’s regained any of his velo in FL he needs to be on the fast track to the ‘pen for the stretch run.
I certainly understand your logic. However, since we have so few, if any high upside starters in the minors, I'd give him one more year of starting before making him a reliever. Long term, he is much much more valuable as a starter than a reliever. And plus, Elias has proved adept at finding good relievers for very cheap.
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36 minutes ago, webbrick2010 said:
What is number for Mateo?
Didn't watch the games fully but I saw him misplay (tough attempts) at least 3 balls
The grounder in the 9th that went under his glove was a particulary weak effort.
He doesn't seem to be a plus fielder anymore and he can't hit, time for Ortiz to take his spot on roster.
Yeah, I have to agree. Just based on the eye test, he doesn't seem to be nearly as good as last year...not getting to balls or misplays that don't go down as errors but looked like plays he made last year.
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14 minutes ago, Jammer7 said:
Absolutely awful, but Earl leaned on him. Otter was the first reliever in my time as an Oriole fan that I remember thinking, “Hey, we have a closer.” I saw a few other teams had them over the years and I wanted a Tekulve, Fingers, Suter, etc…
Agreed. Olson had the 2nd best curveball I've seen IMO behind Blyleven...
And that was back when baseball players had real nicknames...not like when Hyde just adds a y to everyone's name...
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2 hours ago, RZNJ said:
No news is bad news in this situation. If the velocity was back I think we would have heard about it. If not, it’s kind of a mystery.
Ironic, I was just thinking the same thing. Often no news is good news, but the silence tells me the velocity/arm strength isn't close to being back or he'd be pitching in real games with AAA again. Even if he wasn't in the O's immediate plans, at least he'd be showcased for possible trades coming up soon. Very disappointing for who was our best pitching prospect in the system.
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40 minutes ago, ChosenOne21 said:
But what about Elias's fanatical obsession with platoon advantage?
For all his good qualities, he seems determined to protect certain hitters from facing a same-handed pitcher whether or not there's any track record of trouble. You have to wonder if that's part of the reason the lefty swinging Frazier is still on the team over Ortiz. I mean, the average platoon split is like .017 points of wOBA for righties and .027 for lefties. And it's easy to make conclusions based on a small sample size of plate appearances versus a left-handed pitcher, but really I would expect most players and prospects to be fine against pitchers of either hand. O'Hearn likely needs a platoon mate. Henderson, Stowers, and Cowser likely don't.
He also seems to hold on to his veteran signings too long. I wonder if he's worried it will be harder for him to sign players in the future if he's always cutting them mid-season, I dunno.I think it's more that Elias doesn't want to mess too much with the veterans while we're winning. And I'm also sure Hyde is in his ear telling him how much Frazier means to the team outside of the offensive and defensive numbers..
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Looks like by my count we have everyone except the 4 tough signs signed. And it also looks like minor savings for a number of picks so far. At this point, doesn't seem to be enough for the two high school kids, and definitely not Witt. Have to imagine the savings go to Baumeister and then they call it a day.
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3 hours ago, RZNJ said:
Disappointing. I was hoping we’d sign at least one of the HS hitters. It would be disappointing to miss out on all three of Lott, Ritchie, and Witt.
I agree, but it looks like that is probably going to happen. I don't think we'll have much savings to throw at an overslot this year since we didn't really draft any obvious underslots high. Thus we don't have much money to play with.
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3 minutes ago, RZNJ said:
Out of some of the players I’ve heard, Brian Roberts seems like more of a natural for the job. Maybe he just has more experience and training.
I agree. I would assume before they announce in the majors they'd get some practice doing college games or on radio, but it really seems like Devo hasn't done anything before. Ben does his best to try to get him involved in the conversation, but it seems so forced.
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I definitely prefer the earlier date of the draft. I understand why they made it later in the summer, but draftees lose a month of minor league time with this setup. It was also cool to be able to watch the CWS and sometimes see O's draftees playing.
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Jordan Westburg 2023
in Orioles Talk
Posted
This. More athletic and faster than I expected, even from the scouting reports and videos I saw. He also is a hustler and grinder, the type of player fans and coaches love. Without checking his spray chart, it also seems like he's great at using the whole field and thus won't be as affected by the LF wall as other RH hitters.