TT: Assessing the pitching battles this spring

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

7 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

[HowAboutThat]

2 hours 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.

All right, thank you, my basic question was whether the waiver process could be skipped and Mike could just go directly to the other team and say,” hey, what are you gonna take for this guy?”

[MurphDogg]

10 minutes ago, Philip said:

All right, thank you, my basic question was whether the waiver process could be skipped and Mike could just go directly to the other team and say,” hey, what are you gonna take for this guy?”

Nope, remember that Rule 5 is also for the player's benefit to prevent teams from keeping good players with lots of minor league service time off their 40-man roster when other teams would be willing to roster them on their 26-man roster. Thus any team that is willing to have such a player on their 26-man roster gets a chance on a Rule 5 drafted player if the selecting team no longer wants to keep him on the 26-man roster. Otherwise the player is still getting hosed by not being on a 26-man roster (and getting the subsequent life changing salary increase) when he deserves to be.

[luismatos4prez]

Sounds like you're down on Rucker's chances.

The bullpen looks ML caliber actually, but I'm not hopeful about the rotation. A couple of those names will get hurt, a couple will Straily their way off the team. It's a thin group still. If none of the young guys (Akin, Bailey, Rucker) step up early then we're looking at the Chandler Shepherds and Tom Eshelmans of the world getting serious innings just like last year.

[Aristotelian]

I would think Bailey would be favored over Milone since Milone is on a minor league contract. If Bailey makes the team, wouldn't we get to keep both? 

[interloper]

7 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I would think Bailey would be favored over Milone since Milone is on a minor league contract. If Bailey makes the team, wouldn't we get to keep both? 

I like Bailey and Milone to make the team in some capacity. I'm not confident that LeBlanc will win a spot. 

[MurphDogg]

4 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I would think Bailey would be favored over Milone since Milone is on a minor league contract. If Bailey makes the team, wouldn't we get to keep both? 

Millone almost certainly has opt outs, and likely multiple opt outs. It is unlikely Millone would have signed a contract that allows the Orioles to keep him in AAA all season if an MLB opportunity might be available elsewhere. Also, it is doubtful the Orioles would WANT Millone starting every 5 days at Norfolk considering Kremer, Akin, Lowther, Wells, Zimmermann, and Baumann will all be in the AAA rotation mix.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

I would think Bailey would be favored over Milone since Milone is on a minor league contract. If Bailey makes the team, wouldn't we get to keep both? 

I do think Bailey will win a spot, but it might be in the pen. We'll know more as spring shakes out. Both Milone and LeBlanc will need to pitch well to make the team but they have the ability to eat innings (as starters or long relievers) and that's something Elias wants. 

Bailey could win a spot in the rotation, but the Orioles may just use him in low leverage situation or long relief at first.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, luismatos4prez said:

Sounds like you're down on Rucker's chances.

The bullpen looks ML caliber actually, but I'm not hopeful about the rotation. A couple of those names will get hurt, a couple will Straily their way off the team. It's a thin group still. If none of the young guys (Akin, Bailey, Rucker) step up early then we're looking at the Chandler Shepherds and Tom Eshelmans of the world getting serious innings just like last year.

I would be surprised if Rucker made the team. First off , that's a big jump for a guy who did not dominate AA. Second, the Orioles will need roster spots potentially for Milone, LeBlanc and Holoday. Rucker and Wynns are the  two of the most likely causalities if those three pitch/play well this spring.

[sportsfan8703]

16 hours ago, interloper said:

I like Bailey and Milone to make the team in some capacity. I'm not confident that LeBlanc will win a spot. 

I think one of Millone/Leblanc makes the team. To add them though, someone will have to be DFA’d or 60 man IL. Hess could be this year’s John Means. I wouldn’t be surprised if we pick a pitcher up that was cut from another teams ST roster. 

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I think one of Millone/Leblanc makes the team. To add them though, someone will have to be DFA’d or 60 man IL. Hess could be this year’s John Means. I wouldn’t be surprised if we pick a pitcher up that was cut from another teams ST roster. 

Rucker and Wynns are probably the two most vulnerable to being DFA'd. I could see both those guys making it if they pitch well but we shall see. They are the kind of guys that spring training means a lot too. They are not going to wow the staff, but if they can eat innings as a starter or long reliever there is some value there especially since few of the prospects look ready yet, although Akin or Zimmerman could change some minds.

[interloper]

I'm not thrilled with Scott's quotes in this morning's SoR. He just says a lot of nothing, thinks it's all confidence and nothing to do with mechanics. If there's one young pitcher who seems stuck in the Buck days, it's Scott. If it was confidence, he wouldn't have been walking all those guys in the minor leagues. 

I dunno if even Elias can help this kid - it seems a little bit like he's not keen on being helped. That's just speculation of course, but certainly the guy can identify something else to work on other than "confidence" and "being more aggressive". 

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2020/02/tanner-scott-aiming-for-more-aggression.html

[Tony-OH]

14 minutes ago, interloper said:

I'm not thrilled with Scott's quotes in this morning's SoR. He just says a lot of nothing, thinks it's all confidence and nothing to do with mechanics. If there's one young pitcher who seems stuck in the Buck days, it's Scott. If it was confidence, he wouldn't have been walking all those guys in the minor leagues. 

I dunno if even Elias can help this kid - it seems a little bit like he's not keen on being helped. That's just speculation of course, but certainly the guy can identify something else to work on other than "confidence" and "being more aggressive". 

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2020/02/tanner-scott-aiming-for-more-aggression.html

Have you ever seen the movie Ricky Bobby?

Well Scott is a thrower, not a thinker. When I spoke to him briefly last spring he was one of the few who seemed less than enthralled with the new technology and information.

Let's also remember that according to a source, he has a blood flow problem in his hands that leaves them cold and causes him to lose feeling in his fingers at times. That certainly could explain his inconsistencies on the mound. 

Lots of talent in that arm though who could almost live off that slider alone if he could consistently get it over.

[interloper]

3 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Have you ever seen the movie Ricky Bobby?

Well Scott is a thrower, not a thinker. When I spoke to him briefly last spring he was one of the few who seemed less than enthralled with the new technology and information.

Let's also remember that according to a source, he has a blood flow problem in his hands that leaves them cold and causes him to lose feeling in his fingers at times. That certainly could explain his inconsistencies on the mound. 

Lots of talent in that arm though who could almost live off that slider alone if he could consistently get it over.

This doesn't surprise me and checks out with the general vibe he's putting out in these quotes. If there's a guy who could benefit from some of this stuff, it seems like it would be Scott. There's no guarantee, of course, and they can't wave the magic command wand, but still. 

Good point about the blood flow issue - I tend to forget about that. 

[HowAboutThat]

@Tony-OH @interloper

I understand why Scott is given such a long leash,  but history is full of talent that never came to fruition. He needs to fix something, and if he doesn’t admit that something needs fixing, he’ll never be productive. 

Regarding a medical issue, that’s moot. If he has a medical problem that cause him to pitch badly, well, he still pitches poorly. If it can be fixed, great, otherwise...