IPlayGM

He is the minor leaguer that I am most intrigued by this year. Could he take another step and be a legit starter option later this year or definitely next year? If not, could he be a bullpen booster later this season? His stuff sure seems good enough, just needs to sharpen his approach it seems. And throw more strikes. He just strikes me as a guy that the Os would love, because the stuff is great and they can maximize the other things.

I don’t even like thinking about this because I’m afraid I will jinx it. But then we get to the terrible bottom 4 of Kjerstad/Westburg/Cowser/Bradfield!

All I could find on DL Hall was him impressing in a sim game when he struck out Yelich/Hoskins/Arroyo. Nothing from actual games yet but they are talking him up nicely. https://www.mlb.com/news/dl-hall-sharp-against-brewers-sluggers-in-simulated-game

My comment was more of a carryover from how 2023 ended…He was completely written off after his start last year, but came back to pitch pretty well. Now he is in camp throwing harder, I don’t think it’s a stretch to think he might even have a little more in the tank velocity wise. If he locates like he has historically, he could be good.

Is it crazy to think that Irvin will be more effective this year as a starter than Means? And I’m not coming from a place where I am super down on Means, just expecting a good year from Irvin.

That brings up another consideration which is if you choose Mayo/Westburg here you would have to factor in the value of Mountcastle in a trade because I agree with Corn here he would need to go.

Your point on Mountcastle is fair. I like the guys with more OBP and better ABs and tend to think that Westburg will improve his stats since it was his first year in the bigs and that wasn’t even a full year. I hope Mountcastle reaches his potential or maybe just stays healthy because I would probably agree with you.

Here is my wonder: if Mayo proves he can play an adequate 3B, does it really matter? I guess it does if Basallo can’t stick at C, but isn’t the best combo that we have: Mayo 1B Holliday 2B Henderson SS Westburg 3B I guess it gives us more flexibility but this is always how I have seen it playing out. If Holliday improves at short and Gunnar gets bigger/slower you can always jumble the 3 up and put Westburg at 2nd….

Didn’t I see/read somewhere that this injury happened in November? If so, at 19 he should be healed up nicely by now one would think.

Yes in ranking all the injuries shared over this past week, this one is easily the least concerning for me. Give him time to heal, keep working on the catching drills, and all will be forgotten in two months.

These are the kinda moves that good teams, specifically good developmental teams make…Identify guys with certain elite features, try to massage out those features to maximize value, and if it doesn’t work out, you lose a handful of cash. I see nothing to lose and something to gain. Am I missing something? One of these guys could be the next Couloume/Cano, all for peanuts.

I would. From everything I have read and seen about McDermott I think he could start the year in the bullpen for the Os and have success. His BA numbers against are downright filthy. I know the question is about the rotation, but IMO with the arsenal he has, with just a little refinement he could come up and surprise. He may be the prospect I have gotten the most excited about this off-season.

I hope Tate beats out Baumann. I have read so much about Baumanns “stuff”, which I agree has potential. But just like Baker, he doesn’t trust it. And until he does, it doesn’t matter how good his stuff is, when he gets put in a high leverage position, he wilts. Hope he takes that next step.

Completely agree with this…hope this is the role that he settles into…it will also mean if he does that Cowser is playing well.

I see both sides of this argument, and honestly I don’t exactly know where I sit on it. I am really curious how Elias will decide to handle it.

I don’t see any of the guys doing it, it’s just a high mark. But I could definitely see a scenario by ‘25 or ‘26 where we have 5 guys that hit 25 or more.

Part 1: Orioles home games moved to Rogers Centre. Part 2: Mountcastle has 40 by the All Star break.

But even then you have to throw in the wrinkle of does Westburg 3B/Mayo 1B outperform Mayo 3B/ Mountcastle 1B? As someone said earlier, these are very good problems to have, and they should sort themselves out naturally.

Would have loved to have heard his answer to this: “How does this trade impact the odds of Jackson Holliday making the OD roster?”

And I would say those should be the top 3 of the order as well

I think we have a 2024 conversation and then a long term conversation, and I feel they are different. For this year, I think it will be 3B- Westburg SS- Gunnar 2B- Holiday When Mayo gets here, and Jackson develops/matures, it will get real interesting. Here’s hoping they are both who we think they are AND Mountcastle plays well, because trading Mounty then allows us to retool and lose nothing, actually gain MLB value. This is an unbelievably great “problem” to have. Our lineup by mid 2025 could be 1-9 filthy.

Agree….plus if we get that pick back for his free agency it makes it all the better!

Did you watch the podcast that was posted on the minor forum of the Os top 15? While it was obviously speculative regarding all these guys, they definitely raised red flags about his ability to hit velocity. Hopefully he will appease those fears this year.

I agree with this….if you have the $constraints lifted this is the way to go….and this is how you make a splash. Plus it allows you (hopefully) to clear some of these guys off the roster and thus giving them a chance somewhere else.