MTMan13

If I’m writing the checks, I test out Gunnar, Holliday, Cowser, and Adley in that order. IMO Gunnar is the obvious choice. Not because others aren’t deserving, but because Gunnar has the potential to get MUCH more expensive than he would be to extend today. Hes a realistic MVP candidate, plays great defense at a premium position, and will hit FA at 27. The Witt contract at 11/288 ($26mm aav) as a starting point is actually a great DEAL relative to the average of the top 5 3B / SS contracts, which all orbit $30-$35mm AAV, and before any natural inflation over the next years of team control. Said differently, we would likely save $5-10mm per year by extending Gunnar now, which seems like a no brainer to me. I don’t think the value of Burnes / Adley (finished products, too close to FA), or Holliday (generationally wealthy family) will change much between now and the decision point. Gunnar’s will only go up . Cowser wasn’t mentioned, and it’s probably not realistic for chemistry reasons until at least Santander has hit FA, but we may be looking at a 35 HR type of bat with solid defense. I’d like to lock that up.

Ben talked about a new grip on one of Graysons breaking pitches maybe two starts ago. Perhaps this is it?

He’s a June birthday, very young for his class. Good to see him and Baumler both doing well in early innings for Aberdeen.

I’m early 30s. There’s pictures in my parents house of my first O’s game sharing a foot long hot dog with my father sitting in the nose bleeds somewhere around the mid 90s timeframe, but unfortunately don’t remember much of anything! The Miguel Tejada / Brian Roberts / Melvin Mora teams were the ones I “grew up with” and first began watching every game. Have been with the team through the thick and thin since. Those Orioles Way teams of the 60s-80s you mention are the ones the elder generations of my family always talk about, and something I want to be able to share with my future children some day!

Amazing to me he’s still only 20. Feels like he’s been around forever. Seeing him make and look like he belongs at AA would be huge for our farm.

What a win! Cowser is quickly becoming my favorite player! I'm in my early 30s, so all I really "have" is 2012 - 2016. This organization has a chance to put something much better than that together over a longer timeframe. It's fun to finally be able to feel close to that again.

This is a series we absolutely need to take 2/3 in. Patience vs Wacha will be key - he doesn't pitch that deep into games, doesn't have an elite strikeout rate, but has never walked that many guys.

Burns is a known spring training tinkerer. He will be fine. Hoping GRod is too or else you’re right. Mike will manage the pen fine.

I bought a partial plan on the postseason ticket promo - the one where you paid a fixed amount and got early access to buy tickets to games of your choosing. Used a lot of the money on super nice tickets for the July Yankees series for my elderly father's birthday. It was my first time making a material commitment to tickets in years! I do not live locally, so I will just sell the ones we cannot make it into town to attend to O's fans on here or facebook.

It's an unfortunate product of our success. The odds are pretty good he could be a ML contributor for a mid-division club, but "4th best outfield prospect" doesn't have a great ring to it. He should value in his projection simply for being on a rookie contract. His platoon splits flipping last year did surprise me...

1000%. Problem is he's more of a throw in to a bigger trade. He deserves to get a chance to make a dent somewhere, but it won't be Baltimore.

Others have already responded to this, but I think the point here is that he's declining on defense, is going to be 30 this season, and is getting expensive. To touch on Eddie's point too, it's not that I am so desperate to play Mayo immediately or think there's any real harm (to him or the team) of letting him sit in AAA for a month or two, more that if I could get a pitching prospect that could help our bullpen in a year or two for Urias, I'd like to get that return before Urias continues to age / escalate in cost and becomes basically worthless. Same argument for Santander or Hays, and (eventually) Mountcastle. You can't do it all at once either, since you do not want to take the "ML Adjustment" risk at too many spots in the order at once, which is why I would prefer to flip someone now / soonish.

The first sentence is not why I have this view, though I can't speak for SG. The desire is not just to "let the kids play together", but more to maximize value for the Urias, Mateo / (+ one of Santander / Hays for me) type guys on the roster that are blocking prospects we have a high confidence in contributing. From the ST results so far, it's very hard for me to believe one of Cowser / Holliday / Mayo couldn't start at a level equal to or higher than the next guy on the depth chart after watching ST so far. If one of them is starting every day, someone with trade value is sitting or pushed to AAA. I want to cash those chips before we devalue them further. It also doesn't have to happen NOW, but soon!

You summed it up. Holding onto 1-2 WAR guys approaching late arb / FA too long is how good teams lower their ceiling. But it's also something the Astros have not done much, so I am hopeful Elias will share your point of view. I wouldn't mind flipping one of our corner outfielders either, but know I am in the minority there. Spring isn't over yet. If we're at OD with the same roster, I will be disappointed.

Also colorblind, Red / Green is worst for me. Thankfully with the dark background of OH + text being in white, it's usually pretty easy to tell when things are highlighted in colors. I can always distinguish from the white text. Thanks for being very considerate, and I'm going to take a look at the glasses!