TT: Assessing the pitching battles this spring

[Tony-OH]

https://www.orioleshangout.com/2020/02/16/accessing-the-pitching-battles-this-spring/

[HowAboutThat]

Gold... thank you, tony

[scOtt]

I speculated in another thread that m a y b e..... Hess might find a clue because he went to (P3?) same place in St. Louis that Means went to last year and this offseason. Tony, do you think that might help him break thru? Either as starter/longman or reliever?

[wildcard]

I think Bailey may nail down a rotation spot in ST.   He apparently has the pitches but may not have the endurance.  I look at him as an opener.   He would win the spot in the rotation because the competition from Milone and LeBlanc is weak.    Also he is young enough to  be part of the O's rebuild while Milone and LeBlanc are just place holders.

From Elias' talk yesterday it sounds like the likelihood of Cashner joining the O's is less each day.  He appears just too expensive for where the O's are in the rebuild.

[Frobby]

9 hours ago, scOtt said:

I speculated in another thread that m a y b e..... Hess might find a clue because he went to (P3?) same place in St. Louis that Means went to last year and this offseason. Tony, do you think that might help him break thru? Either as starter/longman or reliever?

Honestly, this is the kind of thing you can’t judge until the guy shows up and pitches a few times.    I like the kid and hope his offseason program helped him.   

[Tony-OH]

10 hours ago, scOtt said:

I speculated in another thread that m a y b e..... Hess might find a clue because he went to (P3?) same place in St. Louis that Means went to last year and this offseason. Tony, do you think that might help him break thru? Either as starter/longman or reliever?

Can't hurt, right? Hess has a major league arm and stuff, but he's never been able to find consistency and he makes too many mistakes in the middle of the plate that get hit hard. Perhaps they will be able to provide him some kind of instruction that helps. It will be interesting to see him pitch this spring to see if there are any noticeable changes.

[HowAboutThat]

I have a question about our rule five guys and the acquisition procedure. Let’s say that Mike knows right now that the guys aren’t going to make the team but he wants to keep them. Could he go directly to the other team and work out some kind of trade now?

[Tony-OH]

5 minutes ago, Philip said:

I have a question about our rule five guys and the acquisition procedure. Let’s say that Mike knows right now that the guys aren’t going to make the team but he wants to keep them. Could he go directly to the other team and work out some kind of trade now?

It will depend on how they look and how their numbers look in trackman. Elias very well could try to work out a deal like he did with Araujo, but it will depend on what the other teams want. Not sure if he tried to work out a deal for Drew Jackson or not, but it seemed fishy when he made the opening day roster then was sent back a week into the season. 

[MurphDogg]

16 minutes ago, Philip said:

I have a question about our rule five guys and the acquisition procedure. Let’s say that Mike knows right now that the guys aren’t going to make the team but he wants to keep them. Could he go directly to the other team and work out some kind of trade now?

They would have to pass through Rule 5 waivers first. Any team would then be free to claim the player subject to the Rule 5 restrictions. Only if he clears Rule 5 waivers is the player offered back to the original team, and a trade could be worked out at that point.

It is unusual for Rule 5 players to be claimed on waivers, but it can happen. It happened once last year with Kyle Dowdy and twice in 2015.

[Big Mac]

29 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Can't hurt, right? Hess has a major league arm and stuff, but he's never been able to find consistency and he makes too many mistakes in the middle of the plate that get hit hard. Perhaps they will be able to provide him some kind of instruction that helps. It will be interesting to see him pitch this spring to see if there are any noticeable changes.

2018 David Hess was a serviceable major league SP, and he actually put together a pretty strong second half of that season with a 3.81 ERA over 54.1 IP and 7.5 K/9.  I thought Hess was one of the bigger disappointments of 2019 and I haven't written him off yet.

[Tony-OH]

2 minutes ago, Big Mac said:

2018 David Hess was a serviceable major league SP, and he actually put together a pretty strong second half of that season with a 3.81 ERA over 54.1 IP and 7.5 K/9.  I thought Hess was one of the bigger disappointments of 2019 and I haven't written him off yet.

I'd like to see them convert him to the pen full-time and let him be a fastball, slider, curveball guy. I'd like to see if it would limit some of his inconsistencies and allow his stuff to play up. It's still too early to give up on him, but this is a big year for him.

[Frobby]

6 minutes ago, Big Mac said:

2018 David Hess was a serviceable major league SP, and he actually put together a pretty strong second half of that season with a 3.81 ERA over 54.1 IP and 7.5 K/9.  I thought Hess was one of the bigger disappointments of 2019 and I haven't written him off yet.

Me neither.    I’m not optimistic, but the guy does have a major league arm.    In his radio interview last week, Hess said that his work with P3 involved trying to pick up a couple of mph on his fastball, improving the “true spin” on his pitches and working on the shape of his pitches.    We’ll see if it made any real difference soon enough.   

[Tony-OH]

7 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

They would have to pass through Rule 5 waivers first. Any team would then be free to claim the player subject to the Rule 5 restrictions. Only if he clears Rule 5 waivers is the player offered back to the original team, and a trade could be worked out at that point.

It is unusual for Rule 5 players to be claimed on waivers, but it can happen. It happened once last year with Kyle Dowdy and twice in 2015.

Yep, thanks for adding the info about the waivers. I forgot that part.

[Tony-OH]

4 hours ago, wildcard said:

I think Bailey may nail down a rotation spot in ST.   He apparently has the pitches but may not have the endurance.  I look at him as an opener.   He would win the spot in the rotation because the competition from Milone and LeBlanc is weak.    Also he is young enough to  be part of the O's rebuild while Milone and LeBlanc are just place holders.

From Elias' talk yesterday it sounds like the likelihood of Cashner joining the O's is less each day.  He appears just too expensive for where the O's are in the rebuild.

Bailey very well may win a spot, but the Orioles may prefer for him to work in long relief at first. He will be an interesting one to watch this spring.

[Moose Milligan]