7Mo

Frank McCourt was the disaster that owned the Dodgers.

I can't imagine a world in which they don't. I know you can, and I'm not trying to be confrontational about it. I just can't see it from your view. I'd concede maybe the brothers want more profit than some owners. But how can these successful guys not be at all competitive and want a contending team?

You're not wrong. Maybe Hays becomes a piece. Maybe Tyler Wells and Zimmerman. Clearly there's more talent in the minor league system and International is beginning to get where it needs to be. But I'm not sure why more funds haven't been devoted to the ML team. Not $50M+ contracts, but guys you can sign on a 1 or 2 year contract that might become a healthy trade chip. I get the "all in" and "no half measures" but seems like to build a talent pipeline, you also need ML assets to trade, and since we don't have much in that area, why not sign some guys?

That was not clarified.

Hyde said Ellis is a candidate.

That makes sense to me.

That's a pretty safe guess. By sitting out the trade deadline, I'd like to think money will be spent this offseason. If not, this is going to be one very, very slow build.

Yes, I wasn't arguing with you. Should have been more clear.

And yesterday, the argument was that was "they" not "he" so what "they" did was no indication of what "he" would do. I wouldn't be surprised to see one more draft heavy on college position players but who knows what to expect. I'm really interested to find out if any reasonable investment is made in FA pitching this winter or if the O's are happy to go one more slog year.

I don't think a leftover corner outfielder brings that kind of return. But a Mullins would. I don't think Elias has some grand plan to draft only outfielders and then trade for pitching. I think he's just trying to draft guys that become assets of whatever kind and he likely views college outfielders as more projectible. And I don't think how he handled the draft before is a 100% indicator of how he will draft going forward.

So you're posting unrealistic stuff daily?

And you think this organization adding David Price and Marcus Stroman next year is likely? You're criticizing him for not being realistic?

C'mon now. No need for that. Wildcard is a good dude.

I think the best thing we have available is opportunity. Tampa can't give games for a pitcher to develop. We have games to give a pitcher to allow time to develop.

I don't disagree with any of that. It's at least possible that in order to keep Holt, he had to be promoted and therefore Brocail leaves. I'm aware of the quote about Brocail leaving over money. It's possible he had to go because his views didn't line up with Holt. But I don't see any way to put a positive spin on Thorne. None at all.

Fair question. It seems to me that there will be a reasonable international budget going forward. In terms of signing a free agent or trading for a guy with a bigger salary, clearly you're convinced they won't spend the money. I think it's an open question. I don't think something that happened in 2018 or 2014 or 1973 is any guide to whether the brothers will fund a large budget in 2023 or 2024.

Do other organization grow all of their starters? The teams in line for the playoffs this year, have they grown all their starting pitchers?

Detmers added 5-6 mph on his fastball last year. He's much improved from draft time.

That's probably best.

And they have a big commitment to Bauer who is not likely to pitch again.

Jacob Teter was 2-3 with a double and 2 runs scored. He's obviously mastered the level. Why aren't they calling him up?

Is Greene as sure a thing as Kumar Rocker was a year ago?

The rebuild is no where close to over.

Let me see if I can help. Every prospect is started at too low a level. None of them are promoted quickly enough. Everyone is artificially held down. If they have success at A+, "I've gotta see it at AA for it to be real". If they succeed at AA, then "I need to see them do it with the MLB ball". If they do well at AAA, then "we've had so many guys come up and not be ready. I've gotta see it at the MLB level." And if all that fails, default to "yeah, but we didn't draft any pitching." And in every post, it helps if you add "gaming his service time." No need for it to be accurate, just throw it in anyway.

Really good post. The only thing I would argue with is "failure" as opposed to "didn't work out this year". Those guys aren't done and over with. Maybe they'll never make it but they're far from a finished product. And I think all of that is emphasized because of how large a role they are asked to fill. With an established roster, Akin or Kremer would be asked to come up and spot start, or hope to pitch as the #5 or fill bulk innings out of the pen. With this roster, they're asked to do so much more than when it doesn't work out, it really hurts.