Roster moves in the next two days

[wildcard]

My guess on who is protected:   Mountcastle, Akin, Kremer, Sedlock, Fenter

Exposed: McKenna, Alvarado, Klimek, Muckenhirn, Cumberland

McKenna inability to hit AA pitching probably means he will not stay on any teams major league  26 man roster all season.  His age and speed may cause him to be claimed.  Having Mullins on the 40 man makes McKenna more likely to not be protected.

DFA'd to make room for the Rule 5 draftees:  Hanhold, Smith.   Armstrong is a close call and probably does not stay of the 40 man over the winter.

JMG.

[sportsfan8703]

Good thread,

I don’t see Fenter getting selected. He had a good bounce back season and all, but only 94 IP I low A ball. (Insert “but 26 man roster”)

Mckenna is 50/50 for me. I’d probably lean to protect him since we’re really thin at CF depth in the organization. Plus, we do have some pitchers on the 40 man, like the ones you mentioned, that could be DFA’d with little news. 

[wildcard]

55 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Good thread,

I don’t see Fenter getting selected. He had a good bounce back season and all, but only 94 IP I low A ball. (Insert “but 26 man roster”)

Mckenna is 50/50 for me. I’d probably lean to protect him since we’re really thin at CF depth in the organization. Plus, we do have some pitchers on the 40 man, like the ones you mentioned, that could be DFA’d with little news. 

The O's really needs to add  near term starters.  And to sign them Elias may have to offer a 40 man roster spots.  I see Armstrong and Fry vulnerable to being left go in order to sign some guys that offer more innings. Wojo types.  

Kyle Moore says Fenter has three plus pitches.  As bad as the O's need starters I can't see  them exposing a guy like that to the draft.  Even if he ends of being a multi inning reliever if he has three plus pitches he is too good to expose IMO.

If the O's had the room I would protect McKenna but when I try to fit him on the 40 man with the need for starters, long relievers and adding Mountcastle I run out of room.

 

[Enjoy Terror]

Why would anyone need to be DFAd in that scenario with five open roster spaces?

[sportsfan8703]

I’m torn on Mckenna. I see your points about Fry and Armstrong. I think we have some relievers that would be “good” if they were on a team that could use them in traditional ways. Like Fry, Scott, Armstrong, Castro, and even Bleier, but we’re not a traditional team. We’re a team struggling to cover innings. 

That’s why I Was surprised we let Ynoa and Brooks both go. I could see one but not both. Those were two guys you could stick in any game and say you just gotta eat innings. 

Having one inning relievers on this team is pretty pointless, outside of Givens. 

Will we be able to do the Norfolk shuttle now, since there really aren’t those guys on the roster now to shuttle up and down?  They’re now prospects that we’d like to leave in their SP regimen. 

[sportsfan8703]

6 minutes ago, Enjoy Terror said:

Why would anyone need to be DFAd in that scenario with five open roster spaces?

Lol. Because we have to room to make our 2 rule 5 selections. 

[ChosenOne21]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Kyle Moore says Fenter has three plus pitches.  As bad as the O's need starters I can't see  them exposing a guy like that to the draft.  Even if he ends of being a multi inning reliever if he has three plus pitches he is too good to expose IMO

I'm pretty sure if Fenter had three plus pitches Tony and Luke would know about it and rank him higher than 20-something in their prospect rankings

[murph]

14 minutes ago, ChosenOne21 said:

I'm pretty sure if Fenter had three plus pitches Tony and Luke would know about it and rank him higher than 20-something in their prospect rankings

Maybe it’s just an overly excited manager talking up his pitcher, but here is the article WC is referencing:      https://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2019/11/delmarva-honored-plus-a-look-at-a-pitcher-eligible-in-the-rule-5.html

 

 

[Frobby]

14 minutes ago, murph said:

Maybe it’s just an overly excited manager talking up his pitcher, but here is the article WC is referencing:      https://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2019/11/delmarva-honored-plus-a-look-at-a-pitcher-eligible-in-the-rule-5.html

I expect MiL managers to talk up their players.    Part of their job is to be encouraging and positive.    What’s he going to say after managing Fenter for a year, “no, I wouldn’t protect him?”

Anyway, I don’t really doubt that Fenter has three decent to good pitches.    For a balanced view, here’s what Luke had to say at the end of the year:

“It’s a FB 91-96, generally drops to the lower end of the range later in games. I’m not sure what the spin rate is, but it’s got some hop and it’s a very high 3/4 arm slot so it gets that backspin. His best pitch is his curveball which has been plus this year and he fill up the zone with. He’s been working on his changeup and the new slider, I haven’t seen those pitches be particularly good, but the slider has improved. It’s more control than command when he’s not walking people. It’s kind of hard to lock down on his command because his age relative to competition. He looks like a reliever to me, but there have been some real improvements and he’s kind of like a poor man’s Baumann.  Near vertical arm slot, bat missing fastball, plus breaking ball, developing a second breaking ball, and working on a changeup. Baumann has 2-3 ticks more velocity, better durability, and I think the slider is a little better than Fenter’s curveball. The other thing is Fenter’s 23 in A ball and his ability to locate is really going to get stress tested at higher levels and may not play the second time through a lineup sitting 93-94.“

https://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/index.php?/topic/29529-gray-fenter/page/6/&tab=comments#comment-2526517

 

[Luke-OH]

Two points 

(Frobby) If Fenter is unprotected, he could interest teams, the stuff improved as the season went on, in fact even after I wrote that, but he’s never faced advanced hitters so he’d be a risky selection that not many teams are in the position to make. 

(Wildcard) McKenna didn’t light AA on fire and I agree he isn’t ready for MLB pitching. But despite his struggles, he was an above league average hitter in 2019. It wasn’t like he was swinging a toothpick there.

 

[Moose Milligan]

There's no one I'm really worried about leaving unprotected in the Rule 5.  

[Can_of_corn]

8 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

There's no one I'm really worried about leaving unprotected in the Rule 5.  

Plenty of guys on the 40 I would be willing to dump to make room as well.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

Plenty of guys on the 40 I would be willing to dump to make room as well.

I'm curious, name em.  

[Can_of_corn]

11 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I'm curious, name em.  

Going off http://m.orioles.mlb.com/roster/

Davis

Fry

Hess

Hanhold

Tate

Wynns

Smith

Mullins

[Luke-OH]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Going off http://m.orioles.mlb.com/roster/

Davis

Fry

Hess

Hanhold

Tate

Wynns

Smith

Mullins

I’d add Wilkerson and subtract Tate if I could make one swap.