Connolly: 5 ways this team will be worse, 3 ways it will be better

[interloper]

2 hours ago, Enjoy Terror said:

I'm in the minority but I don't agree the loss of Villar will sting. I think Iglesias is a better defender and Villar was hitting above what I think is normal for him. I might be in agreement that Iglesias doesn't replace the production that we'd get from Villar, but "sting" isn't how I'd describe it. It's a step down but that's it.

I agree with you. What are we losing? Some home runs and some stolen bases? Eh. We'll have plenty of home runs, and stolen bases isn't doing anything for this particular team. I'd rather have the defense from Iglesias and mix in more infielders, see what kind of depth we have. 

Team's gonna hit about as good as they would have with Villar, IMO, especially when mixing in Mountcastle. Like others have said. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

5 minutes ago, jerios55 said:

Yeah, the "bullpen can't be as bad as last year" made me cringe a little.  Are we sure it'll be better?

I’d like to think the bullpen will improve, but I wouldn’t bet more than a nickel on it. For the record I think the bullpen will be better, but this is still another year where 100 losses is likely and veterans like Mancini will be trade bait.
 

If someone like Tanner Scott makes the leap to effective bullpen arm that would probably be enough. Hunter Harvey should be effective if he can stay healthy. 

[mdbdotcom]

11 minutes ago, jerios55 said:

Well we were 2-15 against them last year without Cole.  Even if terrible, hopefully we can accidentally find 2 wins against them.

2-17, but who's counting?

[jerios55]

10 minutes ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

I’d like to think the bullpen will improve, but I wouldn’t bet more than a nickel on it. For the record I think the bullpen will be better, but this is still another year where 100 losses is likely and veterans like Mancini will be trade bait.
 

If someone like Tanner Scott makes the leap to effective bullpen arm that would probably be enough. Hunter Harvey should be effective if he can stay healthy. 

I agree it could be better.

I think through development, waiver pickups, Rule V, DFA that were retained... we do have more arms to hopefully cover more innings, and hopefully more effectively.  I just see several if/hope type statements, so we're in the wait and see mode.  Maybe it's better, but agree that it's not a bet I'd wager much on.

[jerios55]

10 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

2-17, but who's counting?

Oh right, I wrote that and did 17 minus 2 in my head instead of the 17-2 record against. 

But the accidentally getting 2 comment still holds.  Haha.

[HowAboutThat]

1 hour ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

 

If someone like Tanner Scott makes the leap to effective bullpen arm that would probably be enough.

I would love to be wrong, but I think that ship has sailed on Scott. He strikes out a lot of guys, and he walks a lot of guys, and you never know what you’re going to get from day today. What fun!

Edited January 31, 2020 by Philip

[NCRaven]

With LeBlanc and Shepherd, we have Joey and Chandler.  Hire Ross Grimsley to be pitching coach and one way that the Orioles will improve is by having a Friends-lier pitching staff.

[luismatos4prez]

SP and infield depth still concern me. Means, Cobb, and Wojo are fine. But between the Rule 5 guys, the Bowie guys last year, Akin, and LeBlanc there are a lot of big questions marks. A somewhat dependable guy like Cashner, McHugh, Milone, or the like is necessary, in my opinion. 

The other thing that concerns me right now is infield depth. Alberto, Iglesias, and Ruiz are all fine, but I don't want to see the likes of Richie Martin, Pat Valaika, Stevie Wilkerson, or Richard Urena this year. None of them are ML caliber, even as backups, to me. Dilson Herrera could be a good UTIL guy, but if they don't like him then they ought to sign Tim Beckham or Logan Forsythe to just give us replacement level injury insurance.

If they signed Cashner and a utility guy, I think they'd be better than last year.

[HowAboutThat]

Hey, what news about Cole Sulser?

He seems to have a lot of potential, and the Rays dumped him because they had a surplus. Nobody else traded for him during the waiver period, which indicates a paucity of interest from the other 28 teams, so we got him. Is there any news about him?

Edited January 31, 2020 by Philip
Auto-correct doesn’t know the word “paucity” grr

[interloper]

11 minutes ago, Philip said:

Hey, what news about Cole Sulser?

He seems to have a lot of potential, and the Rays dumped him because they had a surplus. Nobody else traded for him during the waiver period, which indicates a positive of interest from the other 28 teams, so we got him. Is there any news about him?

Could be a sleeper pickup. He'll be in camp for sure battling for a bullpen spot. 

[SteveA]

5 hours ago, bobmc said:

The "record" is duly noted and poll to follow for sure!

I heard that the early Vegas win total bets are starting to come out and our over/under is set at 55.5.

[HowAboutThat]

3 minutes ago, SteveA said:

I heard that the early Vegas win total bets are starting to come out and our over/under is set at 55.5.

I will happily take the over on that.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Philip said:

I will happily take the over on that.

Sounds about right to me.    Gun to my head, I’d also take the over, but honestly I wouldn’t bet one way or the other on that proposition.

[LTO's]

Did the division really get that much better? Especially if the Sox trade Betts. I understand adding Cole is huge but I would be absolutely shocked if we went 2-17 against the Yankees again. I mean, it might be 4-15 but 2-17 is pretty improbable to happen back to back years.

[Can_of_corn]

3 hours ago, LTO's said:

Did the division really get that much better? Especially if the Sox trade Betts. I understand adding Cole is huge but I would be absolutely shocked if we went 2-17 against the Yankees again. I mean, it might be 4-15 but 2-17 is pretty improbable to happen back to back years.

I think the Jays will be improved.