7Mo

And Jim Crane calls this a speed bump. Doubt that goes over well.

Maybe he's a guy known for putting a little extra effort into helping a young pitching staff (meaning at AAA). I remember watching him at TCU so I hope he does well.

The O's also hired Kevin Carter (@KevinWC7) yesterday who had been writing for Baseball Prospectus and a Rangers website.

I had a post written out blaming you but wasn''t sure you'd know I was joking.

Outstanding. Congrats.

Right on the money: “There’s also some pitch-mix usage things that they’re going to look at, as well,” he said. “I think that the things they’ve given me so far, the intent was to clean up my delivery and they think there’s some added velo potential and maybe some increased usage of my slider. They see some low-hanging fruit is kind of the way they expressed it to me. “Those are just a few of the things. I know it’s going to get a lot deeper once we get into spring training and we can really sit down and talk about it more. But those are just on the forefront some of the things that they mentioned.” The Orioles also suggested that Stewart go back to throwing his four-seam fastball, which became his fourth pitch last season. https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2020/01/stewart-embracing-chance-to-be-role-model-while-trying-to-make-club.html

There doesn't have to be. But it makes sense to try to make a really bad situation just a little bit better if possible.

Good post. This spring will give a good idea about whether Martin can stay at short. He hasn't been playing there.

Through a back door, for a limited time only.

He's failing, daily, in front of a ton of people. I don't think making a boatload of money eases the embarrassment in any way. But it seems pretty obvious that he looks at things differently than I do.

Agree. At the end of the season, he made a statement about Elias reaching out to put him with an instructor but he wasn't gonna do that. Is that a lack of effort? A lack of understanding? Bad advice? Not caring? Who knows, but I can't imagine he's done anything this offseason to change things. I'm amazed he's willing to sit on a bench, with horrific stats, and NOT be willing to change. But at least he's consistent.

I've seen articles suggesting that when they checked on him last year, he carried a reputation for being a problem in the clubhouse. This year, the narrative was that he'd changed and was a positive in the clubhouse.

Good OP. Thanks @interloper It's a mystery to me why Davis has not yet come to terms with the fact that he's done. I agree that Davis gets ST and 2 months into the season to prove he's made changes and improvements. As you said, I question his work ethic, or belief that big changes are needed. Therefore, I don't expect any change in performance. I'd like to believe that the entirety of 2020 isn't necessary for Davis and the O's to reach some compromise as you suggest. He would still get every penny, but hopefully defer more and he gets some front office job involving charitable organizations. It's probably more realistic to believe your post, that it occurs after the 2020 season. Having said that, I don't see how a guy can fail to perform over the period that he has, sit on the bench for the period he has, and NOT be willing to do whatever was necessary to make massive swing changes or agree to ride off into the sunset. I agree with the OP but I'm hopeful that things happen before the end of 2020 although I doubt they do.

I'm pretty confident they'll watch the spring season before making any decisions.

I think Lux winds up at second, not short. "With his plus speed and savvy, Lux can steal bases and has the upside of a 25-25 player. He has the raw tools to play shortstop, including quickness, soft hands and solid arm strength, and he has gotten smoother at the position since turning pro. But he also has had issues with throwing accuracy, leading to 61 errors in 208 games at short in his first three seasons, so many scouts think he'll wind up at second base." https://www.wkyc.com/article/sports/mlb/indians/who-is-gavin-lux-meet-the-dodgers-top-prospect-linked-to-the-indians-in-trade-talks/95-66059a04-6820-4aa2-8446-72141cd4e2ea Royce Lewis with Minnesota likely fits in there.

I don't think anyone is saying "rely solely on the amateur draft". Clearly we need to make great international signings for years and years to do things right. And make good trades, like the Bundy trade. I don't know if any of the 4 will develop but each seem to have a chance to add value. Maybe Colas develops into a superstar. But I'd rather the experts make the evaluation than base it on a few swings and little else. I thought that was the primary point that frobby and Luke were making. I think the O's are beginning to do all of the things they need to be doing but it takes time. We had no where close to a full staff last year and still got a lot done. I have confidence that a lot more will happen within the next 365.

Someone has to offer value in return. Maybe that happens by July for each.

Colas is a big boy And it might be a while before he signs based on this: Since Colas is under 25, he will be subject to the J-2 bonus pool restrictions when he signs. While it is possible that he could be cleared to sign in the first half of 2020, generally speaking, establishing residency in another country (not the United States, since that would mean he’d end up in the draft instead of being a free agent) and being cleared by MLB to be eligible to sign generally takes a good deal of time, meaning that he may not be eligible to sign as part of this current J-2 class. Moreover, most teams have already spent their allotted J-2 bonus pool money, so even if he did clear in time to sign before July 2, 2020, he likely would be best served waiting until the next signing period starts anyway.

Pierce Johnson is an example. High draft pick by the Cubs, couldn't quite reach success in the majors, went to Japan and now signed with the Padres. Despite being selected by the Cubs with the No. 43 overall pick in 2012 and at one point ranking among the game’s top 100 prospects, Johnson pitched only a single MLB inning with the organization in 2017. He was booted from the 40-man roster in December and landed with the Giants on a waiver claim. He’d go on to pitch 43 2/3 innings with San Francisco the following year in 2018, although the results weren’t pretty. Johnson logged a 5.56 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 4.5 BB/9, 1.03 HR/9 and a 37.8 percent ground-ball rate out of the Giants’ bullpen in his lone season with the organization. That limited sample represents the entirety of Johnson’s body of work in the big leagues, but he’ll become the latest in an increasing number of players to find success in either Japan or Korea and parlay that overseas breakout into a big league contract. This offseason, we’ve seen Johnson, Josh Lindblom and Joely Rodriguez cash in on multi-year contracts, just as Merrill Kelly, Miles Mikolas, Eric Thames and (several years prior) Colby Lewis did. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/12/padres-sign-pierce-johnson.html

Or lessen or eliminate use of the sinker, increase usage of the slider and hope they can upgrade the 4 seam.

Sorry, yes, the number on the left is the Sparkman number with 1 being the highest rated. And if McLarty provides more value than Mize, Liberatore, Kowar, Singer, and the others, he's definitely a draft steal. That would be amazing.

Adding to @Spl51 post 77 Griffin McLarty 79 Cristian Javier, #9 of Astros top 30 80 Casey Mize, # 7 0f MLB top 100 103 Matthew Liberatore #41 of MLB top 100 134 Jackson Kowar, # 5 of KC's top 30 140 Brady Singer, #52 of MLB top 100 147 Jackson Rutledge, #3 of Nat's top 30 209 Ryan Rolison, #84 of MLB top 100 212 Daniel Lynch, #69 of MLB top 100 258 Shane Baz, #94 of MLB top 100 That's some highly thought of names to be in front of.

There has also been slow but steady improvement on defense, with substantial reduction in his passed ball and error rates as he’s cleaned up his footwork and reactions over the last two seasons. He’s got a good arm too and caught 37% of runners last year. https://www.minorleagueball.com/2018/1/5/16851136/indians-prospect-eric-haase-sleeper-for-2018 Both seem interesting.

Yep. I overlooked Hanifee.

And 5 Orioles in the top 25.