Roch: O's returning both rule 5s

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Mr. Chewbacca Jr. said:

I agree. I can't see them making this move without bringing someone else in.

I don’t know.  Why return a guy before the new guy is actually on board and needs a 40-man spot, if that’s your intention.   

[Scalious]

Saving 1 roster slot when you are near the top the board in rule 5. See what they got then cut your loses if it doesn't work. Totally get it.

Why have we been using 2 roster slots though? Using that roster slot for wavier claims is probably smarter, honestly.

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, Scalious said:

Saving 1 roster slot when you are near the top the board in rule 5. See what they got then cut your loses if it doesn't work. Totally get it.

Why have we been using 2 roster slots though? Using that roster slot for wavier claims is probably smarter, honestly.

What player that we had to part ways with in the off-season to use those two roster spots will you miss?  Ynoa?  Wright?  Most of the guys we need off the 40 cleared waivers and are still with us.

[TheOtherRipken]

8 hours ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

I think part of the issue was that the bullpen was so burned out. When starters kept getting shelled, they went through guys quickly and relied on them for too long.

The starting core might be a bit more improved, Harvey has some fresh blood, Armstrong was a pick up by Elias, and who knows who else in the pen will be from an Elias move.

You aren't wrong about that the bullpen overtaxed was a factor, but I’m not sure how their starting rotation got better.  

To your latter point Armstrong hasn’t looked like much so far and Elias has barely added anyone else this offseason.  I think lack of depth and talent in that depth is a major factor too. If/when Givens gets traded that depth gets even worse.

I don’t know, I appreciate your optimism, but I think efforts to improve the bullpen border on terrible, and watching the bullpen implode last year was painful.

[Mr. Chewbacca Jr.]

9 hours ago, Frobby said:

I don’t know.  Why return a guy before the new guy is actually on board and needs a 40-man spot, if that’s your intention.   

Maybe they wanted to send the Rule 5 guys back as soon as possible, to allow them to have as close to a normal Spring Training as possible with their previous teams?

If you know you're going to ultimately cut them, I agree with you. Why do something before you need to? Maybe it was just an act of goodwill to allow these guys to have the best shot of making the team with their previous clubs.

[DirtyBird]

16 hours ago, wildcard said:

That reduces the starters from 8 to 6.    I think there is another shoe to drop. 

Are you counting Akin and Zimmerman?

[Orioles0615]

15 hours ago, interloper said:

Yeah at the end of the day, this is probably a positive development. The idea is not to have to rely on Rule 5s to bolster the farm system. If you're doing that, you've done something wrong such as completely ignore the international market. 

Martin made sense in that we were extremely thin at that position and it's easier to stash a position player.

I expect Elias to continue to pick  Rule 5s because why not, but it's good that he's not counting on them to bolster the farm system.

Or fill in for glaring holes on the 25 man roster in a year when you are trying to make the playoffs like Duquette used to do

[jarman86]

On 3/6/2020 at 3:50 PM, Tony-OH said:

This basically cements Milone and LeBLanc on the team in some kind of role, but most likely both will be the 4th and 5th starters behind Cobb, Means and Wojo.

Wow three lefties in the rotation.  This is crazy having gone from literally none.

[Tony-OH]

10 minutes ago, jarman86 said:

Wow three lefties in the rotation.  This is crazy having gone from literally none.

And the first two AAA starters that will be under consideration this season most likely are also both left-handed (Zimmerman/Akin). Dean Kremer (Right-hander) will most-likely also be in that conversation though.

[luismatos4prez]

Last year 3 SP options (Rogers, Cobb, Karns) were done for the year early on and several others (Hess, Straily, Ynoa, etc.) were getting shelled. There was no one else to step up so they spent the whole summer scrambling around for guys like Eshelman and Shepherd who all (except for Wojo) got shelled also.

This year will be the same. Guys will get injured and flame out early on and there aren't enough viable options to step up.

Means, Cobb, Wojo, LeBlanc, Milone, Stewart, Velazquez, Akin,  Hess, Zimmermann, Kremer. Assume 3 of those guys are hurt and 3 are pitching terribly in May. Things start to look pretty rough, just like last year.

There are still replacement level vets out there like Cashner, Vargas, and Buchholz if they want to go that route. Trotting out AAA guys like Shepherd or Eshelman is painful for the fans and unnecessary.

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, luismatos4prez said:

Last year 3 SP options (Rogers, Cobb, Karns) were done for the year early on and several others (Hess, Straily, Ynoa, etc.) were getting shelled. There was no one else to step up so they spent the whole summer scrambling around for guys like Eshelman and Shepherd who all (except for Wojo) got shelled also.

This year will be the same. Guys will get injured and flame out early on and there aren't enough viable options to step up.

Means, Cobb, Wojo, LeBlanc, Milone, Stewart, Velazquez, Akin,  Hess, Zimmermann, Kremer. Assume 3 of those guys are hurt and 3 are pitching terribly in May. Things start to look pretty rough, just like last year.

There are still replacement level vets out there like Cashner, Vargas, and Buchholz if they want to go that route. Trotting out AAA guys like Shepherd or Eshelman is painful for the fans and unnecessary.

The difference is the Orioles should have Zimmerman, Akin and Kremer to fall back on instead of the Shepherd/Eshelman's of the world.

[HowAboutThat]

1 hour ago, luismatos4prez said:

Last year 3 SP options (Rogers, Cobb, Karns) were done for the year early on and several others (Hess, Straily, Ynoa, etc.) were getting shelled. There was no one else to step up so they spent the whole summer scrambling around for guys like Eshelman and Shepherd who all (except for Wojo) got shelled also.

This year will be the same. Guys will get injured and flame out early on and there aren't enough viable options to step up.

Means, Cobb, Wojo, LeBlanc, Milone, Stewart, Velazquez, Akin,  Hess, Zimmermann, Kremer. Assume 3 of those guys are hurt and 3 are pitching terribly in May. Things start to look pretty rough, just like last year.

There are still replacement level vets out there like Cashner, Vargas, and Buchholz if they want to go that route. Trotting out AAA guys like Shepherd or Eshelman is painful for the fans and unnecessary.

I don’t understand why the team made no apparent attempt to sign Collin McHugh. It’s possible he didn’t want to come to Baltimore, But the one-year Deal he signed with Boston would have been easily doable in Baltimore,  So I wonder if management had other parameters?

[Mr. Chewbacca Jr.]

58 minutes ago, Philip said:

I don’t understand why the team made no apparent attempt to sign Collin McHugh. It’s possible he didn’t want to come to Baltimore, But the one-year Deal he signed with Boston would have been easily doable in Baltimore,  So I wonder if management had other parameters?

The don't-spend-money parameter.

[jarman86]

3 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

And the first two AAA starters that will be under consideration this season most likely are also both left-handed (Zimmerman/Akin). Dean Kremer (Right-hander) will most-likely also be in that conversation though.

Didn't think about that.  Maybe we'll have a rotation of all lefties.  Don't have confidence in Cobb having a healthy season.  And don't have confidence in Eshelman or Stewart.  

[Tony-OH]

20 hours ago, jarman86 said:

Didn't think about that.  Maybe we'll have a rotation of all lefties.  Don't have confidence in Cobb having a healthy season.  And don't have confidence in Eshelman or Stewart.  

I'm not sure Cobb has confidence he can make it through a season effectively. At the end of the day, he just needs to prove it one way or the other. Hopefully he will pitch great and make himself a commodity at the trading deadline this year.