fitzi22

I think the time to make a significant trade is now. We have a plethora of prospects at our disposal and we won’t be able to play them all. We need to go for a TOR guy like Corbin Burnes who has 2 years of arbitration left and Milwaukee apparently has no intention of extending him. It will probably take a package that includes DL Hall, a young infielder like Norby and an established but relatively cheap MLB player like Urias. It may take one other lower level young prospect like Leandro Arias to get the deal done. Burnes is 27, has had 3 consecutive amazing seasons and won the Cy Young last year.

2023 would be the absolute earliest and thus fairly unlikely year we are good again. The Bluejays had a hell of a team this year and didn’t make the playoffs. 2024 or 2025 is probably more realistic

Adley in year 1 or 2 will not allow enough time for the other prospects to be up and in their prime. The hopes and dreams for the franchise on Adley and GRod alone is fools gold. To compete in the East you need a full young team in their prime which would be 2024 or more likely 2025.

I actually don’t think the O’s are looking to be compete in 2022 or 2023. The search for trade partners for Means, Mullins and probably Mancini (although he will be harder to move) coupled with the fact that the other 4 division teams are stacked with young talent right now makes me think Elias is eyeing a window for competition further down than we hope. He can manipulate time for his best prospects, bank 2 more years of high draft picks and give the young international guys until 2025 to develop to not just build a good team but a great one. It sucks because that puts us at 7 years of non competitive baseball but Elias is not here for 81-81 mediocrity. He wants to build a champion and is more than willing to have 7 years of awful baseball for 3 years of true competitiveness.

Yes I understand CoC. But we haven’t really had much to trade. He got Stallings and Pinto for Iglesias. The players aquired in the Bundy deal are interesting and still working their way up. I’m just saying it’s impressive to have gotten anything of value for what we traded away. Heck Duquette traded away 1000 times the talent during the fire sale and we got very little in return. I like that Elias can look deeper into teams talent pool and still pull prospects.

Can he, yes. Will he, no. I don’t think he even wants to yet. Maybe next offseason when we have a better idea of what we have in terms of prospects. Elias has shown a nice ability to get quality prospects in return with the few trades has done. I have always said that the Orioles will officially switch into a competitive gear when Elias starts trading some young talent away. Until then we are non competitive for the most part and need to enjoy the very small victories we get throughout the year. I expect this off-season to be no different than the last few. The waiting game continues. Think of the high draft picks and enjoy the milb box scores for another year.

The trades are coming and that will be the sign of the O’s /Elias actually trying to win. A trade with the Marlins almost seems too obvious to actually take place. They have great pitching and no hitting and we are the opposite. A trade for Meyer and Eder and letting Miami pick any 1 outfielder and any 1 infielder is a trade beneficial to both teams.

I’ll admit I was the lone vote for Stowers. I feel he is better than Heston who hasn’t played yet and Hall who I believe is best suited as a dominant bullpen arm (Aroldis Chapman). Gunnar didn’t really impress this year even though he was much younger than his competition. It was a coin flip for me between Cowser and Stowers and Stowers had more at bats against tougher competition so I felt more comfortable. Stowers was a .280 hitter in college with power and this year across 3 levels had a .278 average with 27 dingers in only 530 plate appearances. The guy is consistent against all levels of competition and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was in bmore in the second half next year. Cowser may end up better but it is hard to make that judgement right now until he gets more appearances against tougher pitching.

I totally agree. I personally don’t see much of an advantage to go out of our way to lose from here on out. If we are planning on trying again at the MLB level in the next two years then I feel it is important to show the current players (some of which will be here during competitive days) that we don’t just mail it in. Changing our losing culture and attitude is important and difficult and should start now. The worst part about the 19 game losing streak was the feeling that we had completely given up, we obviously have along way to go. I think we should take pride in playing well enough to get the second pick instead of seeing hope in playing poorly enough to get the first.

Honest question, do you think the O’s should go out of their way (more than usual) to field non competitive teams for the last 9 games to try and get 1-1. They can sit Means, Mancini, Mountcastle, Santander and Mullins once he gets 30-30 all in the name of “evaluating other players”. And really does it matter that much that we get 1-1 instead of 1-2?

I view a trade of Mullins similar to that of Bedard. There were many who wanted to keep the 28 year old ace as we had finally produced home grown pitching talent, he was still under team control and had shown improving abilities each year. But the O’s needed a shot in the arm talent wise in more than 1 position. That trade propelled the franchise to a multi year magical run as it provided multiple pieces that connected the dots of talent the Orioles already had in place. I love Mullins and without him we probably would have won 35 games this year, but a trade of Mullins has the potential of greatly boosting our talent pool in positions of need…… if we can get what the opening post claims we can get. Personally I think the trade market has changed greatly and we will only be capable of getting half the players listed. But the idea should absolutely be explored because it only takes 1 GM to agree.

I have a strong feeling tomorrow is the day. Off day today at home to clear their minds, Angels are traveling across the country, Dylan Bundy looks like the very HR prone pitcher we traded away, O’s actually played much better against the Braves, still no Rendon or Trout for the Halos, and they looked terrible getting swept by the Indians/Guardians. If it’s gonna happen it’s tomorrow.

All kidding aside, I believe this team will eclipse 43 wins. We have 8 more games against the Royals and Rangers and the last series against Boston may see the Sox resting players. The O’s played better (but not good enough) against the Braves and we’re at least competitive for 3 straight games. The better question is will they eclipse the 47 wins from the ‘18 edition of crappy O’s teams.

Other historic streaks to keep an eye on: 1961 Philadelphia Phillies 23 straight losses ( modern record). We can break this record on 8/29 in game 3 against Rays. 1889 Louisville Colonels 26 straight losses (all time MLB record). We can break this record on 9/1 in game 3 against the Jays. The record watch is on!

This has the feeling of Chris Davis 0-54 streak. It’s become national talk for head scratchers everywhere. It really is amazing they can’t stumble into a win somewhere.