LTO's

The previous regime won one singular playoff series and ended their run with a terribly bloated payroll and the worst team in franchise history. The best players were acquired by the previous regime and Buck in the interim, and they were good because of the defense of those players and Buck's management of that otherworldly bullpen. Duquette wasn't a good GM which is why even though the Orioles had success under him, he didn't even come close to getting another GM job. I'm pretty sure he's helping sell baseball equipment nowadays while Buck is still managing. People look back on that era fondly because of the previous 14 years but the fact is that it was a greatly squandered opportunity. And the prospects that he gets credit for, like Grod and Hall, get on podcasts and quite literally laugh at how poorly he ran things during that time.

CJ Abrams does not have the potential to be a GG level SS. Of all your highly questionable statements, this might be the worst.

I'd easily take that bet

It doesn't but at this point I think most people would be surprised if he ever became anything more than a below average corner outfielder. Really he only has two tools. Power and speed. His speed is only really first to third though. He doesn't steal bases and it doesn't help him in the OF. I think this is why people are really way overreacting to Mullins' drop in sprint speed. It's a fluctuating stat and only a fraction of what makes someone a good fielder. I would be fine trading Mateo or Hays. I don't think either will be starters on the next great Orioles team. However, the fact is that both of them are very recent 3 WAR players. Trading a 3 WAR player for a guys who is very likely just not good would be very questionable and I'd want more certainty in that package.

Fangraphs had him at a 40/45. It's honestly probably worse than that.

Yeah I'm surprised people are focusing on his offense when he's an absolutely atrocious outfielder. He's got a very good arm and incredible athleticism though so he will be given plenty of chances.

Markakis was an average player in ATL. It should've been relatively easy to replace his production. Their biggest mistake was not giving Cruz the extra year he wanted.

Sleeper There are a lot of guys here with upside, even among the college draftees, but Basallo has the best chance to go from outside the top 100 to squarely on the list, thanks to his position and his present skill with the bat.

Had an offer on the table from Hou that had Colin Moran as a headliner. Was nixed because of medical issues. https://www.camdenchat.com/2017/8/31/16234234/orioles-trade-rumors-zach-britton-astros-colin-moran

We don't truly know any of this. You're guessing. I find it odd that they would keep a GM around with no power and allow him to do the 2018 sell off. But my point is that we do know that DD was permitted to explore trades for Britton in 2017. And the trade he had on the table was terrible but was nixed by PA. So it's not a given that if DD would've sold off earlier, the deals would've been better.

Wrong

PA intrusion wasn't all bad. He nixed the trade at the 2017 deadline that would've been Colin Moran (-0.2 career WAR) for Britton.

I think that was their preference regardless. Like you said it will take some time to see tangible results.

Yeah I just don't see how this gives the Orioles a distinct advantage over teams. Seems extremely negligible at best.

Yep. I'm pretty sure our pitchers and Elias have mentioned this when talking about the Wall. That's a developmental type thing and not a competitive advantage thing. A lower run scoring environment doesn't automatically give the Orioles a clear advantage over their opponents. The Orioles offense was below average last year. The drag on runs effects both teams.

What competitive advantage are the O's receiving relative to their opponent?

It seems like people don't realize that the pitching splits from last year are nowhere near as bad as they think. Home ERA was 3.73 and road ERA was 4.24. That's around the league average H/A splits for pitching. The pitching just very obviously improved as a whole. The Wall could be part of that. Or it could not be.

It's pretty notable that they signed one that choose them over a divisional rival even though the money was the same.

Fair. Although, he did have his salary dumped two seasons later and I think ATL ended up paying ~$12 mil of that.

According to the Camden Depot guy, he heard that this was basically the case. Although "incredibly insulting" is of course overexaggerating. They didn't budge on their valuations this year. If they aren't willing to budge on that soon they could have issues. Eovaldi wasn't the guy to do that for. And like Syndergaard with LA, it's believed he had his sights set on TX.

I'm pretty sure they went 4 years after the Ubaldo contract without giving a FA pitcher over 22 million dollars...total. I'd be shocked if this changed under JA.

That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is if Eovaldi is the only multi-year FA that he would be permitted to sign this offseason and next, that would be the move you would want the team to make? I'm well aware the payroll is next to nothing. It's pathetic. However, the Orioles, even when the payroll was much higher, did not sign a FA SP every offseason. Or even every other offseason. So the point stands and you didn't address it. If Eovaldi was the choice for not just this offseason but the next one as well, are you confident that's the best for the club? The rumors are that they were in on Syndergaard and Taillon. I think if I were to overpay to get one of those three guys, Eovaldi would be last on the list given the age and health. They were never said to be in on Eovaldi and he may have been eyeing Texas from the beginning as older pitchers are able to do. He's from there.

If signing Eovaldi was done at the expense of potentially signing someone better next year or the year after it's very clear it would have an impact on the future. The Orioles under Peter did not routinely give out multi year contracts to FA SP. They definitely aren't going to do it under JA. So the question is, is beating Texas' offer and potentially giving 3 years to a 33 year old with extensive injury history the best move for the future? 2021 was the only year since 2016 that he's thrown more than 115 innings.

And Bradish is 6'4.

How much playing time do you want Westburg to get and how much do you expect he will get?