Valaika DFA. Mateo replaces him

[Sports Guy]

21 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

So the Giants got lucky and Elias isn't at fault. Got it. Must be why the Giants compete year and year out and the Orioles have become an embarrassment at the major league level now. 

Since 2010 and throwing out last year(when they were on pace to win 78 games through 60 games), the Giants were a sub 80 win team 4 times and weren’t much of a playoff contender in a year they won 84 games (contender on a periphery but not a true one).

They haven’t really been good since 2016 and they are probably the surprise team of 2021.  That roster isn’t that great but credit to them for how they have played.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Jammer7 said:

 

I am no apologist. I do choose to give Elias the benefit of the doubt. I try to look at the entire picture, and the factors that go into each decision. I find Elias to be very intelligent, well-prepared and a good communicator. He has been about as transparent and genuine as he could be since arriving. He said we were going to lose a lot. He said we were going to try to develop and evaluate the guys in our system, while looking for low cost talent to acquire to do the same. He said he wanted to build a long term winner through an elite talent pipeline. He said he would cut payroll and reallocate those resources into technology, development personnel, and various other infrastructure investments. He said he would tear down and restructure every facet of the organization. He has done what he said he would, so far. He needs to prove he can make the next steps to turn this around into a winning team. By the end of 2022, we should have a much clearer idea whether or not he is on target. That, to me, is the big picture. Not the W/L record in 2021. Not how sexy the trades look to fans a minute after they happen.

Let us not forget that losing bring higher picks. That was the plan all along, at least it sure seems to be the case of tanking intentionally. Provide a minimal MLB product, but bad enough to lose a lot and draft high. I do not like it at all. But that is the shortest road to turning it around completely. Elias is committed to his model, and he will make mistakes. Let’s see what he does when he is supposed to win. Then, I will break out the pitch fork. 

Without getting political, you believe what politicians tell you as well, right?

I agree that Elias is intelligence and puts a lot of time into being prepared. I believe he's an effective communicator in that he speaks well and has at least been transparent about his big vision and plan though there are very little specifics besides talking about the money invested into Latin America and the technologies used in the majors and throughout the minor league system.

Saying that, he speaks in "politician speak" and everyone under him does as well. The minor league managers, coaches and administrators are on gag orders particularly when it's about injuries of players and you can't even get something as simple as a Sarasota camp roster even when you go through the PR people. People are interested in the future and the team treats everything they are doing like state secrets and the fact I can't make a text and get an update on why a guy was put on an IL is ridiculous. 

But it's not just that, look at how much Hyde has changed in his post game comments. He once told it like it was and said this guy would like to have that back or needs to be better, etc. Now it's fluff, fluff and more fluff.

Back to Elias. While I do hold out hope that he will work out, I'm disappointed in how poorly the organization does communicate now outside of giving fluff interviews and pushing information to their team run media at MASN. 

If you want someone to talk about the minor league players from the organization, you got to interview Matt Blood for your podcast or show and then he gives absolutely nothing out but complete fluff on players.  It reminded me of when I first interviewed Gary Rajisich after his first draft and the evaluations he gave me were ridiculous. Every pitcher had four pitches, topped out velocities were given, and by the end of the interview I knew he was not worth contacting again because it was a waste of my time.

I take everything I hear now with a grain of salt and will relay on my network of scouts outside the organization to help verify what I've seen while watching video.

Speaking of that video, I don't find it surprising that only Norfolk has a center field camera to watch the batter/pitcher matchup amongst the Orioles four top affiliates and announcers rarely give out velocity numbers. I typically get way more information when the teams go on the road. Whether the Orioles have anything to do with this or not, it's pretty embarrassing looking at the cameras of the Orioles affiliates compared to most other affiliates. First class organizations that cares about their fans, especially when the future is all they have to sell right now, should go to great lengths to make sure their affiliates have a first class broadcast an field.

Last thing and I'll get off my soapbox. Did anyone noticed that Aberdeen went back in time and put a turf field down, with no dirt at all? They did this so they can use the stadium for multi use yet it means the Orioles prospects play on turf that few teams play on. I've seen players begin to slide and come up two feet short because of the ridiculous turf around the bases. When you add in the fact that the Ripken-owned franchise want even spring for a home radio announcer and their MILB broadcast is among the worse in professional baseball and it makes you wonder why they were so eager to give them a franchise over Frederick.

 

 

 

 

[Ripken]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

When you add in the fact that the Ripken-owned franchise want even spring for a home radio announcer and their MILB broadcast is among the worse in professional baseball and it makes you wonder why they were so eager to give them a franchise over Frederick.

Maybe that's rhetorical... but, as you said, it's Ripken owned.  His son is still in the org despite being an awful baseball player.  I mean, on pure namesake/nepotism alone, Yaz should have been given some time in Baltimore, to say nothing of having been a good organizational soldier for so long and the O's needing an OF.  That's why I do blame Elias for dumping him. 

I was a big Keys guy for years so I'm still pissed about that though it was entirely expected.  The Orioles have completely lost the Frederick area to the Nats.  Everything remains to be seen, and I do [still] have [some] hope for the sons and ME to succeed, but the foot-dragging, arrogance, and penny pinching is beyond insulting... and I've wanted a complete rebuild for years.

[Jammer7]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Without getting political, you believe what politicians tell you as well, right?

I agree that Elias is intelligence and puts a lot of time into being prepared. I believe he's an effective communicator in that he speaks well and has at least been transparent about his big vision and plan though there are very little specifics besides talking about the money invested into Latin America and the technologies used in the majors and throughout the minor league system.

Saying that, he speaks in "politician speak" and everyone under him does as well. The minor league managers, coaches and administrators are on gag orders particularly when it's about injuries of players and you can't even get something as simple as a Sarasota camp roster even when you go through the PR people. People are interested in the future and the team treats everything they are doing like state secrets and the fact I can't make a text and get an update on why a guy was put on an IL is ridiculous. 

But it's not just that, look at how much Hyde has changed in his post game comments. He once told it like it was and said this guy would like to have that back or needs to be better, etc. Now it's fluff, fluff and more fluff.

Back to Elias. While I do hold out hope that he will work out, I'm disappointed in how poorly the organization does communicate now outside of giving fluff interviews and pushing information to their team run media at MASN. 

If you want someone to talk about the minor league players from the organization, you got to interview Matt Blood for your podcast or show and then he gives absolutely nothing out but complete fluff on players.  It reminded me of when I first interviewed Gary Rajisich after his first draft and the evaluations he gave me were ridiculous. Every pitcher had four pitches, topped out velocities were given, and by the end of the interview I knew he was not worth contacting again because it was a waste of my time.

I take everything I hear now with a grain of salt and will relay on my network of scouts outside the organization to help verify what I've seen while watching video.

Speaking of that video, I don't find it surprising that only Norfolk has a center field camera to watch the batter/pitcher matchup amongst the Orioles four top affiliates and announcers rarely give out velocity numbers. I typically get way more information when the teams go on the road. Whether the Orioles have anything to do with this or not, it's pretty embarrassing looking at the cameras of the Orioles affiliates compared to most other affiliates. First class organizations that cares about their fans, especially when the future is all they have to sell right now, should go to great lengths to make sure their affiliates have a first class broadcast an field.

Last thing and I'll get off my soapbox. Did anyone noticed that Aberdeen went back in time and put a turf field down, with no dirt at all? They did this so they can use the stadium for multi use yet it means the Orioles prospects play on turf that few teams play on. I've seen players begin to slide and come up two feet short because of the ridiculous turf around the bases. When you add in the fact that the Ripken-owned franchise want even spring for a home radio announcer and their MILB broadcast is among the worse in professional baseball and it makes you wonder why they were so eager to give them a franchise over Frederick.

 

 

 

 

Ha, listening to any politician…funny guy!

I don’t disagree with anything you said. The comments have rarely been candid, but often these guys are all vague. They have to be for a variety of issues that come up. That is management of any business these days. It is also smart to keep many things in house or close to the vest. Why give away what your plans are?

All of these guys/gals have things they can point to as mistakes. The San Diego Padres just claimed Shaun Anderson from us. They are a well-run organization, a contending one, and they thought enough of him to claim him. Preller is a genius and Elias is a poor GM for some here, but they make the same moves.

[ArtVanDelay]

57 minutes ago, Ripken said:

Maybe that's rhetorical... but, as you said, it's Ripken owned.  His son is still in the org despite being an awful baseball player.  I mean, on pure namesake/nepotism alone, Yaz should have been given some time in Baltimore, to say nothing of having been a good organizational soldier for so long and the O's needing an OF.  That's why I do blame Elias for dumping him. 

I was a big Keys guy for years so I'm still pissed about that though it was entirely expected.  The Orioles have completely lost the Frederick area to the Nats.  Everything remains to be seen, and I do [still] have [some] hope for the sons and ME to succeed, but the foot-dragging, arrogance, and penny pinching is beyond insulting... and I've wanted a complete rebuild for years.

I see people say this pretty often, but I can’t remember ever seeing a single person in Frederick wearing Nats gear.  

[Ripken]

8 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

I see people say this pretty often, but I can’t remember ever seeing a single person in Frederick wearing Nats gear.  

I live in Frederick.  There is way more Nats gear than Orioles.  I hate the Nats and I know how much crap I had to hear after they won the Series.

[LA2]

9 hours ago, Frobby said:

This was one of the funniest, cleverest posts ever written on the OH, and could only be written by someone with a pretty good understanding of the theory of relativity.    Kudos to you, that was awesome.   I only quoted one paragraph to save space on the time-space continuum.  

Space well saved! I always enjoy your posts too. Frobby = M(C x C)!

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, Jammer7 said:

Ha, listening to any politician…funny guy!

I don’t disagree with anything you said. The comments have rarely been candid, but often these guys are all vague. They have to be for a variety of issues that come up. That is management of any business these days. It is also smart to keep many things in house or close to the vest. Why give away what your plans are?

All of these guys/gals have things they can point to as mistakes. The San Diego Padres just claimed Shaun Anderson from us. They are a well-run organization, a contending one, and they thought enough of him to claim him. Preller is a genius and Elias is a poor GM for some here, but they make the same moves.

Or they saw a pitcher who can eat some low leverage innings and then DFA when used up. 

As I said, I don't think Elias is dumb at all, but I am waiting to hear a story where "the system" saw something that others didn't and found a useful player for the future.

[Roll Tide]

8 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Yet the Giants traded for him and shortly thereafter he became an impact player. I really never looked that hard at Yaz either though I think one year we put him at the back end of our prospect list. He looked like a 4th outfielder type who stagnated at Norfolk. But the Orioles thought enough of him to bring him to spring training then without giving him many looks, dumped him for no reason since he wasn't on the 40-man despite the fact they had a need in left field.

The facts are that the Orioles evaluated Yaz and said he was nothing and then evaluated Dwight Smith Jr. and said this is a guy we should look at and play even though a Divisional rival had decided they had seen enough. So people can give Elias a pass all they want, but as the man in charge of the organization and making the final calls, he dumped Yaz for nothing when he didn't have to. He could have put him back in AAA but traded him for an organizational filler pitcher. 

No matter how anyone spins it, that's the facts. 

As for Pop, he's similar in that Elias lost him when he didn't have to. If the Orioles evaluation system and people decided Mattson is more valuable than Pop, then they need to be relooked at or adjusted. I've seen both on video and there is no way Mattson should have been protected over Pop. It was an unforced error by Elias.

So yes, the situations are different, but the result are the same. While Yaz might not be any good by the time the Orioles are good in 2-3 years, he could have been traded for players that could be.

 

 

 

Im not a fan…IMO his drafting has been suspect as well. Anyone could’ve drafted Rutschman. You or I couldn’t have screwed that up.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

 

Im not a fan…IMO his drafting has been suspect as well. Anyone could’ve drafted Rutschman. You or I couldn’t have screwed that up.

I think pretty much anyone that wouldn't have drafted Rutschman would have drafted Witt and he's looking pretty solid as well.

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

Mateo wants to say hi to all his haters:)

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

8 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

So the Giants got lucky and Elias isn't at fault. Got it. Must be why the Giants compete year and year out and the Orioles have become an embarrassment at the major league level now. 

Spot on. Best post I have read in a long time.

[Can_of_corn]

8 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

So the Giants got lucky and Elias isn't at fault. Got it. Must be why the Giants compete year and year out and the Orioles have become an embarrassment at the major league level now. 

This is nonsense.

The Giants don't compete year in and year out, they finished under 500 from 2017-2019 and finished 14 games back in an abbreviated season in 2020.

They 100% got lucky with Baby Yaz.  They needed outfield depth in AAA and picked him up on a flyer and hit the lottery.

Goodness knows I'm not an fan of Elias but Yaz is just one of those things that happen in baseball.  Everyone, including the Giants, could have had him for a song for years and no one picked him up. 

Was Syd Thrift a genius for picking up Melvin Mora?

[OriolesMagic83]

I can't believe the O's just gave up on one of their top relievers, Valaika.  What's his pitch arsenal?  He could have been the O's Ohtani.

[7Mo]

13 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

This is nonsense.

The Giants don't compete year in and year out, they finished under 500 from 2017-2019 and finished 14 games back in an abbreviated season in 2020.

They 100% got lucky with Baby Yaz.  They needed outfield depth in AAA and picked him up on a flyer and hit the lottery.

Goodness knows I'm not an fan of Elias but Yaz is just one of those things that happen in baseball.  Everyone, including the Giants, could have had him for a song for years and no one picked him up. 

Was Syd Thrift a genius for picking up Melvin Mora?

Good post. I saw an article where he credited the Giants coaches with changing his approach when he got there and really freed him up but the Giants were quick to say they never expected what he's become.