LTO's

lol it absolutely wasn't a problem for him last year but now that he's had a rough 20ish games it suddenly is? Maybe....just maybe sometimes players struggle and it isn't everyone else's fault. But if you are looking for someone else to blame try Ryan Mountcastle who has been one of, if not the, worst 1B in baseball so far this year.

I thought this as well but I think it was a camera thing. That ball was cued off the end of the bat at 66 mph.

Why are you so fixated on the draft? That's not all there is to "tanking." Elias traded basically all of the (very little) useful veteran major league talent still on the roster to try and acquire players that could help further down the line. That's certainly an aspect of tanking. Grabbing players off the waiver wire and giving them starting roles is tanking. Giving a rule 5 pick a full season on your 26 man roster is something tanking teams do. Continuing to give struggling players or guys considered non-prospects reps is something tanking teams do. Much of the value provided from the 2022 and 2023 teams have come from players acquired these ways. And your point about Adley is so incredibly stupid. Sure, DD and Buck weren't "tanking" in 2018 but the end result is literally no different than if they had been. You still get a very top of the first round draft pick which is where the best players are usually taken. You're trying to argue that tanking for a #1 pick is a dumb strategy when the Orioles drafted a perennial MVP candidate.......with the #1 pick lol.

I thought the Nats actually pitched really well in those two games. O's definitely had some listless ABs and hit into some bad luck but I was impressed by Gray and Gore. More so Gore but it's just great to see the O's take advantage of the one mistake a good pitcher gives you. Sometimes, that's all it takes.

If he has an .800 OPS does he lead the team in WAR? At this point, I'd be thrilled if he ended up in the .720-.750 range with an OBP over .300.

Hays is in the first percentile in OAA and has just generally been terrible out there so far. You have to keep his bat in the lineup right now but his defense is a major concern for me especially LF at home. They need a corner outfielder to step up defensively.

You asked who was added to this team and mentioned only Adam Frazier.

If you are going argue that the team would be better if they brought up the "more talented" players in AAA then it seems odd that you would completely neglect the fact that their best pitching prospect, who is miles better of a prospect than any of the AAA infielders, has been added to this team.

I think we all agree that we would have liked to see more done this offseason. I just wonder what this board would be like right now if we had signed Bassit, Eovaldi or Rodon. I think Bassit was the consensus favorite here and he's given up 5 HRs in 15 innings which is......really bad.

I hope the O's or MLB don't step in to stop this. This belief that baseball is exclusively for little kids/families is partly why it's fallen so far behind football and other things. The main problem I see with growing baseball is that the real taste makers and drivers of pop culture want something to be "cool" and fun. And like it or not, this kind of thing is cooler and more relatable to the teens-30s demographic than putting on a blazer or cowboy hat or any of the other lame home run celebrations. I'm not saying the homer hose celebration specifically is going to change this but getting rid of the stuffy, no fun allowed culture around baseball is a necessity if the game wants to grow.

Jud Fabian is possibly the best OF in the entire org but he's far from a sure major leaguer and still a year or two away in the best case scenario. The O's are in a tricky spot with the OF right now. Hays being that horrible means you really can't get away with having both he and Santander out there at the same time. McKenna has not been good either. Outside of the obvious play that shall not be mentioned, he misplayed a few balls in Boston and had another bad misplay off the wall last night. I'm not really a believer in Stowers OF defense so I'm not sure he's the answer either. It's really annoying because I do think the infield defense is sound but for whatever reason, no one seems to be able to cleanly field a fly ball.

Unfortunately, his atrocious OF defense is really dragging down his solid start with the bat. At this point, it's a huge concern considering how poor he was out there last year as well.

All of those players were throw -ins. The real return was getting that draft pick which I believe turned into Fabian. But even still, he did sell high. Scott has the same terrible command he had here and Sulser is just not good. The fact that he got something for them is great.

Sure, in a small sample he was below average, but he still has a live arm. The stuff I saw at the WBC and his inning yesterday don't scream massive regression incoming. I was not one of those people who thought us trading him was the reason we didn't make the playoffs last year. However, I still do believe he is a quality reliever that is as good if not better than many relievers we have on the 40 man now. If Povich turns out to be a nobody it's likely to be a bad trade for us.

Elias sold high on Tanner Scott and Cole Sulser and they've both been pretty bad since the trade. However, I'm not so sure that will be the case with Lopez. He still looks like an above average reliever to me. A lot will be riding on Povich and how the RHP in our bullpen perform. They are really going to be put to the test with Tate and Givens out.

I'm wondering if the WBC effected Mullins and Santander. You definitely don't get the normal amount of reps out there when you aren't in a conventional ST environment. Especially for Mullins who only started in a couple games and played corner OF when he did play. I do think all the OFs just weren't seeing the ball well off the bat at all. Shadows, sunlight, wind are most likely to blame but these games matter now and can't be excuses. Hyde was really asleep at the wheel though. There is no reason to have Santander in the OF with a 6 run lead in the 8th inning. Hopefully he learned his lesson and thankfully it ended in a W.

At this point I'd definitely want him over Westburg. Westburg would be lucky to have a 3.5 WAR season once in his entire career. He's got a good arm but he's not a particularly good fielder and won't stick on the left side of the infield from what I've seen. He has to really hit and hit for power to be a valuable big leaguer. He could very well do that and I'd like to see him get the chance to but I think people's lofty expectations for Westburg don't really match his prospect status.

The missed third strike on Justin Turner in the 8th inning was one of the worst calls I've seen. He got lucky with the pitch clock strikeout to Devers but Baker gets out of that inning without giving up a run if that's called correctly.

Yup, the Orioles would not be trading from an area of the system that is a strength and if you're acquiring pitchers, you are taking on way more of the risk in that transaction. It's a common thing for people to get annoyed that certain players aren't traded completely ignoring how infrequent they actually are because of the reasons you mentioned.

There will be injuries. As long as they are healthy, Wells and Hall will get a chance. I think the Orioles were smart to pick up Irvin and consider anything that John Means gives you this year a bonus.

Fabian is a 45 FV prospect with extreme hit tool questions. Banking on him taking the job at this point would be rather absurd. I don't understand why they would need to get some potential future value for him now when he's still actively providing value for the big league club. He had the highest WAR on the team in 2021 and was 2nd last year. I don't think his market is such that there is an obvious return that would be better for the 2023/2024 Orioles. And if we're still subtracting ML players for prospects at this point, what are we even doing man? It seemed like you were advocating for trading him now but if I misunderstood I apologize.

It's really not a big deal since there's basically no chance he's getting extended. He's one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball and that isn't very likely to change this year or next. Also, it's not like the Orioles have a surefire stud CF that can easily replace him imminently. There is no sense in trading him right now. I've mentioned this before but I don't understand the obsession with trying to trade guys at their max value when they are actively providing that value to your big league club. Especially coming out the glacial pace rebuild we just had. Just let him play out the contract. If Fabian takes his job in 2024 and the Orioles lose a bit of value in a trade around that time, I'm willing to live with that if Mullins had a season like he did last year or in 2021 this season.

I think we were watching a different a game. Guy had one of the more impressive outings any O's pitcher has had this spring.

A lot of his value is tied to him being a great CF which takes a lot more than speed.

Really tough to choose a pitcher here but I feel like it has to be Meyer. Kjerstad needs to prove it in AA this year. His AFL campaign was great but the pitching there stinks and he still K'd a lot. Also nice to see him have the start he's had in ST but that's largely meaningless. Lacy has already been hurt and is already a RP most likely, Martin has no power whatsoever and isn't a SS imo. Torkleson might just be straight up bad. Marlins have had a fantastic run recently with pitchers so I'll stick with Meyer but I'm very much not confident about that.