How often does service time manipulation occur?

[wildbillhiccup]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

I think for the O's the question that needs to be thought about is which prospects could be in the majors for  5 to 7 years and have trade value?    

Teams benefit from holding back player's service time for two reason reasons.  1) So the player can play for them for an extra year or 2) so the extra year adds to the players trade value.

The O's are in a different situation then most other teams right now.  They are not trying to win.  In fact they are not even trying to improve as a team.   Villar and Bundy show that is true. Comparing the O's to the rest of the league in terms of delaying service is not really relevant IMO.   Most teams are trying to win or at least improve.  Elias is not right now.

Elias has a long term focus right now.   I don't think most fans would not argue with that.

De;aying Mountcastle's service is obvious to most.  So if  Elias will do that, who else would he delay?  Looking at the prospect list the players that are most likely are Rutschman, Rodriduez, DL Hall  because they are the most likely to have long careers.  

The prospects that are to arrive in the near team are also more likely to be delayed because Elias's goal in not to win the near term.  In fact  its to lose to get higher draft choices.    Mountcastle, Diaz, Kremer  Baumann  and Akins are all players that could make the majors in the next  year while Elias is in lose mode.   They all may have careers that could go 5 to 7 years.  Its not a sure thing but it is a possiblity  that is probably above 50%.   Will they be O's that long?   That doesn't matter as much as if the will have trade value in 5 years.   

Lowther and Wells  value without a good fastball is probably not as high.   Zimmerman  is not even in the top 30 for several O's prospect lists.    Elias did not care about Harvey and Hays  service time because they both have had injury prone minor league careers and being injury prone may continue into their major league careers.

It will not always be like this for Elias.  He will want to start winning in a year or two.   Then only the most valuable prospects like Rutschman, Rodriguez and DL Hall will be considered for delay.   

That is my thinking on the subject.  It can be argued whether its right or not but there is some logic that stem from Elias not wanting to win now and him trying to hold on to talent  with value for as long as possible.  Whether those players are Orioles or traded for other valuable players, they still hold value to the O's organization either way.

I think Mountcastle will make the opening day roster. 

[wildcard]

15 minutes ago, wildbillhiccup said:

I think Mountcastle will make the opening day roster. 

Mountcastle played first base and left field for the first time as a professional, and Elias implied that he might not begin the 2020 season with the Orioles.

“He’s also still doing some work on his defense and, long story short, I think he’s going to spend some more time in the minor leagues as a result of those two things,” Elias said. “But also at the major league level we’ve got quite a few players here that we want to provide these at-bats to in September. A guy like [Renato] Nunez or even a Mason Williams and a Santander."

https://www.baltimorebaseball.com/2019/09/07/orioles-surprisingly-call-austin-hays-elias-mountcastle-mullins-akin/

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

Mountcastle played first base and left field for the first time as a professional, and Elias implied that he might not begin the 2020 season with the Orioles.

“He’s also still doing some work on his defense and, long story short, I think he’s going to spend some more time in the minor leagues as a result of those two things,” Elias said. “But also at the major league level we’ve got quite a few players here that we want to provide these at-bats to in September. A guy like [Renato] Nunez or even a Mason Williams and a Santander."

https://www.baltimorebaseball.com/2019/09/07/orioles-surprisingly-call-austin-hays-elias-mountcastle-mullins-akin/