CHIP

I want to answer this with a caution that I am not an agent or an executive with actual contracts and how they work. My understanding comes from reading on line with the recent CBA and how MiLB contracts work... but my understanding may not be 100% correct but I think I am in the right room... Couple clarifications: MLB roster is the 26 man. Not the 40 man. My understanding is players that get added to the 40 Man do not get the automatic minimum salary until they are placed on the 26 man. When a player (Banuelos) in this conversation was added last week to 26 man roster (he was added because he was in town on Taxi Squad... not because he was/is next man up... but this is my opinion). As a result, he was 'selected' from Norfolk and it is a different/new contract than his MiLB contract and likely at minimum salary of $740,000 per season or $4,568 per game (162 games). He actually got the 1 AB so if he never plays in an MLB game again, he is one of a small number that can actually say he played in an MLB game. When the O's DFA'd him, they basically released him from his contract. Since no other team selected him to add to their 40 man roster, he in essence became a free agent again. The O's offered him a spot back on Norfolk which he accepted. This would be a new contract at the $60,300 minimum salary. Instead of being sent to Norfolk, he is assigned back to the Taxi Squad and flies to LA. Hays goes down. Again... he is there so the O's select him and add him to the 26 man roster for Monday's game. He earns his 2nd game pay day and 2nd MLB contract. This time... they Option him back to Norfolk. So he is on the 40 man. But now his minimum salary is $120,600. More than likely when the O's need a pitcher that isn't on the 40 man or another position player, Banuelos will be DFA'd to make room again because the likelyhood he gets selected by another team is low. This happened with Bemboom, Godoy, Kolosvary all last year. They all came back to the Tides after DFA until end of year. A couple other catchers that were selected off of other DFAs and then were bumped of 40 man chose Free Agency before they even showed up to Baltimore or Norfolk. For Banuelos... he goes from making $1200 a week in season to roughly $5,480 a week. This is a serious case of right place right time and also likely a 'financial thank you' for not complaining about being on the taxi squad rather than getting playing time in Norfolk. Any team that signs Banuelos moving forward will have to pay this minimum salary if/when they sign him. I don't know the exact formula but for players that had good time in the majors the season before signing an MilB contract get a guaranteed minimum based on what they earned the previous year. So players have a good chance of making more than $120K while they look for next opportunity to play in MLB. My gut is telling me that Perez was Taxi the first week because McCann had a something tweek at the end of ST. in 2023, Bemboom got about a month in the majors while McCann worked back from a ST injury. This was likely the plan if McCann couldn't work thru it (which he did) so Perez went to Norfolk the following week when D.B. took the taxi spot. So at this point, Perez is earning his $120K+ minimum and likely has an Opt out at some point this year. Likely around the July 30 trade deadline. Banuelos is earning his $120K minimum and will be patient. Handley is earning AAA minimum and is under control thru next year. I don't believe that the O's are going to be put in a short term situation that puts Handley on the 26 man that may result in a DFA and exposure.

I touched on this topic in another thread. Players are paid bi-monthly and per game. $740K/162 games is league minimum or $4,568 per game. This would have been his 2nd game. So $9,136 in MLB salary. That is likely as much as 1/4 of the Annual AAA income for players who have not yet signed a MLB contract. AAA is $1200 a week and we are less than a month into the season and Spring training doesn't pay the same. Here is the year changing money... He nearly doubled his salary last week with his 1st 1 day contract. For players on their first MLB contract, their minor league minimum salaries are: (this would have been when he was signed for 1 day and got 1AB) 2024: $60,300; And he doubled (or nearly quadrupled his salary in 1 week) So A player who is signing a second major league contract is guaranteed the following minimum salaries in the minor leagues: 2024: $120,600; This salary with the O's AAA team is contingent on him passing thru waivers again and accepting the assignment back to the AAA roster. I don't know how that $120,600 is paid thru the year but the MILB season is roughly 22 weeks long. This would mean he went from $1200 a week to $5,480. An increase of 457% While we, as fans, question why the O's keep doing this... to D.B. I imagine he didn't expect this to be an option when he signed a MiLB contract for the O's. He is officially an 2X MLB contract and he has officially been on an MLB roster with a MLB at bat. There aren't too many people in this world that can say that... no matter the reason for it. I imagine that D.B. may not be happy to be on the 'taxi squad' and not playing but earning $5,500 a week plus per diem, etc is one way to stay a little more content.

Boston has a player named Bobby Dalbec. 28 yo. 6'4" 225. 2016 draft. 2020 debut. 893 career MLB ABs (.224 career avg) and 1838 MILB ABs (.262 avg). This year, he started on MLB roster was sent down. He went 1-7 in AAA and was called back up. MLB this year, for an older veteran, he is 1-30 with 3 BBs and 18Ks. In his 2 games in AAA he is 1-7 with 4Ks. Dalbec didn't/doesn't get the hype that Holliday does but the struggle bus is real for more players not under the microscope that Holliday. Baseball is not easy...

I looked all over and there is no official database of challenges and success rates. The Jacksonville broadcasters mentioned earlier in the week that the MILB umpiring supervisor was in Jacksonville last week. Jen Pawol is the umpire that threw out the Britton and Burdick on the 16th because everyone on the field and watching didn't realize she called Burdick out on a check swing strike 3 while the 1st base umpire did not wait for her signal to call the play a no swing... For the game on 19th where she was back behind the dish I reviewed the game using the 10 second jump feature and was able to catch all 14 Challenges. Challenges went from the 1st inning all the way to the 9th inning. 10 of the challenges were by Norfolk. 8 were successful in getting overturned while 2 were not. Because your challenge doesn't go away when right... the Tide kept challenging. Handley specifically had 6 challenges and only 1 was wrong on a high ball he challenged while catching. He challenged one called ball during a throw down to 2nd that was overturned to a K and then batter struck out on next pitch. I believe he had was called out twice on called 3rd strikes and challenged them both. On one he challenged and was taking his gear off while walking to 1st for the BB. It was overturned and he took his walk. The 2nd was on a 2-2 count so it was overturned and he got to 3-2. By this time, the crowd was livid with every challenge. Handley was HBP that PA. Johnson had a big challenge that also resulted in a walk which was followed by a hit and run double scoring him from first. The Jumbo Shrimp challenged 3 and lost all three and then tried for a 4th challenge that couldn't even happen because they were down to 0 at that point. In my research I read that in MLB the call rate has increased 11% in accuracy since the league started tracking. Near 92.4% accuracy now. The 10 retiring umpires were replaced by new umpires that were more accurate. In Jen Powal's case... I think she is under a microscope but at the same time... she is not good. From a news article during spring training, "Jen Pawol is one step closer to becoming Major League Baseball's first female umpire. Pawol has been named a Triple-A crew chief for the upcoming season and is on MLB's call-up list, reports Newsday. Triple-A umpires are called up throughout the season when MLB umpires are injured or on vacation." I think Hernandez is the only one looking forward to that day.

My notes are specific to the CBA documentation that has been shared online. So 740K/162 games is the daily game pay. DB was not just added to the 40 man as the bump is specific to being added to the 26 man. I don't know if being added to a 40 man makes a difference as I don't read it that way. There seems to have been these pay bumps for MLB service call ups and before the MILB CBA that took them from $17K (Ish) a year to $35K (ish) the bumps were even more significant. @interloper inquired about medical and I have absolutely no idea about health insurance requirements with MLB as I haven't googled or spoken with anyone as I haven't thought about that... until now. Banuelos and Perez were both free agent signings. As was Kolo/Godoy/Bemboom. So the free agents can opt out at the end of the year (i believe unless they extend). This opportunity for Banuelos could have been a move to keep him 'content' in earning a bigger check to sit on the Taxi Squad more than on the Norfolk Roster? With Perez being a 2+ time MLB veteran we know he is pulling at least $120K while in Norfolk but I would also expect he would have an opt out clause somewhere/sometime if it looks like he isn't getting any opportunity with O's. So his team will likely put out feelers before that time comes to see if there are other opportunities better than the one with the O's on Norfolk/Taxi rosters. Handley is still under MiLB control for this year and I think next year, so there is no advantage to them from a business perspective to put him on 40/26 man and then if a DFA is needed he could opt of going back to Norfolk. For Handley he has shown some flash in the bat this year with improved K rate but seems his contact is resulting in outs more than hits. Eventually if they start falling for hits, and his offense improves )and he also controls his throwing as with our pitching he seems to be forcing some of his throws) but it's baseball and it is early. Overall, the Norfolk team seemed to play like a team last year. I think there are so many on the edge, or think they are on the edge, that they are now all playing for themselves... and we also need to understand that AAA is like JV and record doesn't matter to the O's brass unless it benefits their marketing. It is where we keep the guys ready, getting ABs and Innings, but the record doesn't matter on promotions/demotions.

I thought to myself... what is the financial impact to David Banuelos for his 1 AB in MLB besides always being able to say he was a professional MLB baseball player which thru 4/17/24 there were 20,587 of... He was earning $35,800 per year as a AAA player (breakdown of this is elsewhere but in season it is $1200 a week). He earned approximately $4,568 for his 1 game. But by being added to the 26 man, his AAA salary bumps to $60,300 in 2024. Assuming he passes thru waivers and accepts back to Norfolk, and doesn't make it back to MLB this year... he will have earned an additional $28,800 (ish). If he gets added to 26 man for a 2nd time and goes back down to AAA... he minimum AAA salary doubles to $120,600. I don't know how the offseason pay breaks down for AAA with MLB time so it could be more? So David had got a nice little MLB lotto scratch off winner this week with his 1 AB. Not bad for what I have to believe was the third string AAA guy this year.

The problem with the pitching is the walks happen before the big hits. Armbruester is/was prime example. 2 walks and HR. Down 3-0 on Sunday. When we are missing the zone it is by a lot. So the batters aren't chasing pitches. From a hitting perspective, there has been the full week vs. Charlotte and full week vs. SWB and Mayo is the most consistent. Errol Robinson was next most consistent but he bats 9th. Player Charlotte vs. SWB Mayo 32 PA vs 26 PA and 0.407 vs. 0.333 avg OPS was nearly the same 1.13 vs 1.38 Kjerstad 32 PA vs. 27 PA and 0.444 vs 0.182 avg OPS was not close... 1.753 vs. 0.614 Norby 33 PA vs 24 PA and 0.393 vs. 0.143 avg OPS was not close... 1.276 vs. 0.393 Stowers 28 PA vs 21 PA and 0.308 vs. 0.111 avg OPS was not close... 1.319 vs. 0.460 Burdick 22 PA vs 16 PA and 0.375 vs. 0.000 avg OPS was not close... 1.420 vs. 0.063 McKenna 15 PA vs. 17 PA and 0.333 vs. 0.071 avg OPS was not close.... 1.000 vs. 0.306

Looking at McDermott's 3D Pitch chart on Baseball Savant... there is movement as everyone is saying. But the issue is that he is so far outside/off the zone and up/down that the chases at the lower levels aren't happening at the upper level. There are almost zero swings at pitches outside of the zone. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?date=4/10/2024&gamePk=752713&chartType=pitch&legendType=pitchName&playerType=pitcher&inning=&count=&pitchHand=&batSide=&descFilter=&ptFilter=&resultFilter=&hf=pitch3d&sportId=11#752713

90% of the focus in Norfolk is on the "Fab 5" (If I need to list them don't keep reading). 9% on pitching and 1% on those that get thru waivers and are operational depth. With 2024 being the final year of McCann's existing contract where the O's are paying $4M of the $12M (2023 seemed like $1M of $12M well spent), what is the future. The seeming simple answer is Samuel Basallo. But the beginning of 2024 is not equal to the end of 2023. 7-15 in 2023 (0.467 avg/1.167OPS) and 3-14 in 2024 (.214 AVG/.428OPS) and an arm injury prior to ST and going into the regular season. Hopes are high but should be all be smoking it? So who is left? Internal draft picks being developed or outside signings of those not smart enough to not sign up to be a O's back up. 2019 draft was Rutschman 1-1 and Handley 6-1. Handley appears to be the AAA primary at the start of 2024. Small Sample Size for Handley thru 5 games but injury free, defense looks great, bat path looks well improved. Has a 1B, 2B, 3B and HR in his 4 hits, walking 18% and 2 HBPs. So OBP is good as always and SLG is already improved... but who's isn't on the 2024 Tides (Besides Johnson maybe) 2021 draft brought Willems who is still slogging away in A+ having been passed by Basallo. Willems at times makes me go 'wow' in a good way and other times 'wow' in the not good way. I think college would have done him some good but passing on $1M signing bonus at 18 is hard and he doesn't turn 21 until June. 2022 draft brought O's fans Silas Ardoin and there was excitement until Basallo moved to AA. 2023 the O's didn't take a C until round 16 with Cole Urman. So... where have the others come and gone? Let's focus on AAA Norfolk from the time that Adley first sniffed AAA in 2021 and thru now but going in referse. Buckle up and enjoy the memories. 2024 is boring in comparison to 21/22/23. All these players hoping for that 1 catching spot that may open up... 20 different names in AAA over the current (so far) and previous 3 years (4 total) 2024: Maverick Handley - 5 games Michael Perez - 2 games (1 taxi Squad assignment) MLB "Experience" David Banuelos - 2 games (current taxi squad assignment) 2023: MLB EXPERIENCED: Anthony Bemboom: Backing up in Toledo AAA (DETROIT) to Dingler. 0-10 so far in 2024 Jose Godoy: Backing up in Lehigh Valley AAA (Phily). 1-7 so far in 2024 Mark Kolozsvary: Backing up in Worcester AAA (Boston). 0-3 so far in 2024 Meibrys Viloria - after DFA and choosing to avoid Norfolk, went to Angels AAA and then Cleveland MLB for a couple games. Currently unemployed NO MLB EXPERIENCE Maverick Handley - STILL ACTIVE Michael Mantecon - released in 2023 and not signed Ramon Rodriguez - chose FA at end of 2023 after 3 levels of roster fill in. Now in A+ in Milwaukee system Tim Susnara - chose FA at end of 2023 and not signed 2022: MLB EXPERIENCE Anthony Bemboom - Toledo Mudhens AAA backup in 2024 Cam Gallagher - Career done after 2023 Beau Taylor - Career done after 2023 Jacob Nottingham - Career done after 2023 NO MLB EXPERIENCE Chris Hudgins - Career Done after 2022 Cody Roberts - Dev List in 2024 Ramon Rodriguez - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers A+ in 2024 Brett Cumberland - Career Done in 2023 Adley Rutschman - 2022 MLB call up. 2021: MLB EXPERIENCE Nick Ciuffo - Career done after 2022 Taylor Davis - Careerd done after 2022 Chance Sisco - Career done after 2023 Austin Wynns - After 2021, went to Giants in 2022, Rockies, Dodgers, and Giants in 2023 and hanging on in REDS AAA in Louisville. NO MLB EXPERIENCE Chris Hudgins - Career done after 2022 Michael Mantecon - Career Done after 2023 Cody Roberts - Career in limbo in 2024 as sitting on Dev List behind Godoy in Phillies AAA Brett Cumberland - Career done after 2023 (actually 2022 but was on IL for the year) Adley Rutschman -Got his first taste of AAA, MLB call up in 2022

I think this is also the same knock on Norby. Offense is ready. Defense is not. I think this missed play by Holliday (4/4 game) should have been a routine play. I had to go back and watch in slow-mo because Britton came out to argue interference on the batter. Batter hit catcher in his back on swing follow thru... yet ball was still on line and above the knee. Slowing it down Holliday wasn't even looking at the ball and the runner was still 10 feet from the bag. I believe they charged the catcher with an error on the throw because it went into CF. The runner easily advanced to third and scored on the next ground out. So that play put more pitches on McDermott who has been walking a lot of batters... On a side note, this was McDermott's 2nd game without any real defensive support... Which again leads to frustration and walks. Same thing can be said for Norby who had a chance to play 2nd base on 4/6 during Means starter. First inning Means throws a change up that catcher had to make a quick throw. Throw was to SS side of bag and on a hop (like Holiday) but hits Norby in the palm and he makes the tag easily on the runner but without the ball. With all of the defensive errors so far, and with so much focus on the offense of the "Fab 5", I am curious if the AAA coaches are forgetting about the need for practice or if they simply don't have the time for fundamentals.

Tides posted their break camp 27 man roster earlier today. Not pulling the starters but the list as of today. INF Jackson Holliday INF Coby Mayo INF Diego Castillo INF Errol Robinson INF Daniel Johnson INF/OF Connor Norby OF Heston Kjerstad OF Peyton Burdick OF Kyle Stowers C Maverick Handley C David Bañuelos LHP Cade Povich LHP Bruce Zimmermann LHP Nick Vespi LHP Matt Krook LHP Luis González LHP Tucker Davidson LHP Andrew Suárez RHP Chayce McDermott RHP Justin Armbruester RHP Bryan Baker RHP Jon Heasley RHP Kaleb Ort RHP Wandisson Charles RHP Nolan Hoffman RHP Garrett Stallings RHP Albert Suárez I'm making an assumption that Perez is on the Taxi Squad in Baltimore until McCann's back issue is confirmed to not be an issue. McKenna's future and Nevin's future are still unknown... at least to me.

here is video. just have to get to the third pitch of sequence. Appears to be Left Inside Forearm.

Basallo is a big guy. Eric_Birdland put a video of a drill at home plate out a couple days ago. Guessing on the new guys... but by size I would say the order goes, Handley, Banuelos, Silas, McCann, Rutschman, Perez, and Basallo. At one point Basallo passes Handley who I think is 5'-9"ish 205. Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber were both Catchers before being converted to OF/1B to get their bats in the game. Basallo moves well... that is for sure. Really big hands so not sure how that helps/hurts with transfers on throw downs. Here is the video from Eric: Bottom right twitter post

There was a story on MLB Trade Rumors yesterday about Mancini signing MILB contract with Miami. In the chat someone was talking about trade possibility for Luzardo. "Hope the O’s and Marlins can get together for a blockbuster Luzardo deal and fill the many holes in the left side of their infield. Ortiz/Stowers/Maverick Handley/Ramon Urias would put 3 starters on the team and a future catcher." Is this good or too much/little?

So far, Josh Lester elected FA on 10/3/23 which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone with the development of Mayo at 3B/1B. How many more are to come? Who comes back? Who do we pick up for 'spring training tryouts'? Bemboom is in Baltimore on Taxi Squad otherwise my money is on him declaring FA and looking at options elsewhere. Who else on our squad(s) doesn't see a path to the majors with the O's