Roster moves: Kriske and Eshelman up, Watkins down, Knight DFA'd

[Jagwar]

19 hours ago, Philip said:

Why is Eshelman up? He’s terrible. Watkins is better and he’s fresh too, having thrown two clean innings on Friday. 

I'm pretty sure this entire year has been about finding anything with an arm sewed on to consume innings after last year's shortened season. Eshelman may stink, but at least he can eat some innings in a few appearances. 

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Jagwar said:

I'm pretty sure this entire year has been about finding anything with an arm sewed on to consume innings after last year's shortened season. Eshelman may stink, but at least he can eat some innings in a few appearances. 

When Eshleman and his 7.80 AAA ERA gets called up, your statement has become the absolute truth of the situation. This is the year that if you are an org guy at AAA and can maybe provide some length, you got your best chance of pitching in the big leagues. The Orioles have brought up several pitchers that have no business in the major leagues but like you said, it's all about eating innings and not destroying pitchers who may have some actual major league future ahead of them.

[Philip]

8 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

When Eshleman and his 7.80 AAA ERA gets called up, your statement has become the absolute truth of the situation. This is the year that if you are an org guy at AAA and can maybe provide some length, you got your best chance of pitching in the big leagues. The Orioles have brought up several pitchers that have no business in the major leagues but like you said, it's all about eating innings and not destroying pitchers who may have some actual major league future ahead of them.

You know, the idea of bringing up a terrible pitcher to eat innings is a misnomer, because if you bring in a terrible pitcher and he’s terrible, He is unlikely to see three outs, much less consume meaningful innings, so Bringing up a terrible pitcher to log some time on the mound is illogical. Plus we only have 12 games left, and the jury is still out on some guys, why bring up a guy who has revealed who he is?

[glenn__davis]

I have to say that I have an irrational dislike to Eshelman based on the role he's filled here.  And I know it's not his fault, he's just taking opportunities as they are given to him, but to me he symbolizes all of the suck of this rebuild/approach.  MLB really needs to fix these service time issues so we can at least watch players that have an interesting future in seasons like this.

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, Philip said:

You know, the idea of bringing up a terrible pitcher to eat innings is a misnomer, because if you bring in a terrible pitcher and he’s terrible, He is unlikely to see three outs, much less consume meaningful innings, so Bringing up a terrible pitcher to log some time on the mound is illogical. Plus we only have 12 games left, and the jury is still out on some guys, why bring up a guy who has revealed who he is?

Basically they are just bringing up guys they can jettison at will. with the offseason up in the air because of the CBA, they don't want to add anyone to the 40-man that they may actually want to keep. If for some reason the players strike or are locked out, those not on the 40-man can still play in the minors.

[RZNJ]

On 9/19/2021 at 12:31 PM, Can_of_corn said:

I was beating the drum pretty hard for Mountcastle to come up and get some time in the outfield. 

Probably would be in gold glove consideration if they had done that.   

[spiritof66]

47 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Basically they are just bringing up guys they can jettison at will. with the offseason up in the air because of the CBA, they don't want to add anyone to the 40-man that they may actually want to keep. If for some reason the players strike or are locked out, those not on the 40-man can still play in the minors.

Do you think that's Elias's plan? Are  other teams keeping promising players off the 40-man to ensure they can play a full season in 2022? 

[Can_of_corn]

43 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Probably would be in gold glove consideration if they had done that.   

Certainly wouldn't have done any harm.

But hey, now he has the Oriole rookie HR record.  Whoohoo!  That wouldn't have happened under my plan.

[SteveA]

3 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

Do you think that's Elias's plan? Are  other teams keeping promising players off the 40-man to ensure they can play a full season in 2022? 

Tampa is calling up Shane Baz to start tonight.   So they certainly aren't doing it.

But our strategy with pitching has been crystal clear all year.  We collected a bunch of non-prospect arms at Norfolk between the ages of 26 and Jannis, and we kept bringing them up one after the other, adding them to the 40 man roster, when it was time for another one we would DFA them so we could add the next guy to the 40.  A few times the DFA'd guys got claimed, but the rest of the time they went unclaimed and mostly resigned with Norfolk.   There are literallywell  over a dozen guys who fit this description.   LIke it or not, it is the strategy the Orioles chose this year, and everyone keeps acting surprised when another guy like that is brought up.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Tampa is calling up Shane Baz to start tonight.   So they certainly aren't doing it.

But our strategy with pitching has been crystal clear all year.  We collected a bunch of non-prospect arms at Norfolk between the ages of 26 and Jannis, and we kept bringing them up one after the other, adding them to the 40 man roster, when it was time for another one we would DFA them so we could add the next guy to the 40.  A few times the DFA'd guys got claimed, but the rest of the time they went unclaimed and mostly resigned with Norfolk.   There are literallywell  over a dozen guys who fit this description.   LIke it or not, it is the strategy the Orioles chose this year, and everyone keeps acting surprised when another guy like that is brought up.

Well Tampa is a notoriously poorly run team that only wins because they outspend everyone.  Can't expect them to follow the same rules as the Orioles.

[Frobby]

28 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Tampa is calling up Shane Baz to start tonight.   So they certainly aren't doing it.

The Baz call-up makes all the sense in the world from Tampa’s standpoint.   The guy has a 1.96 ERA in 10 AAA starts and is striking out 12.5 batters per 9 innings there.   So, get him two major league starts before the postseason and determine if he is good (and ready) enough to add to the postseason roster.   Either way, Tampa can still park him in AAA for a few weeks next year to avoid having him accrue a full year of service time (putting aside what happens with any labor stoppage or new terms of the CBA).    He’d still be able to be called up in late April/early May and not earn a full year.   This is exactly what the Rays did with David Price in 2008/09.   He debuted on 9/14/08, pitched in the postseason and then didn’t get called up in 2009 until May 25.

[LA2]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

The Baz call-up makes all the sense in the world from Tampa’s standpoint.   The guy has a 1.96 ERA in 10 AAA starts and is striking out 12.5 batters per 9 innings there.   So, get him two major league starts before the postseason and determine if he is good (and ready) enough to add to the postseason roster.   Either way, Tampa can still park him in AAA for a few weeks next year to avoid having him accrue a full year of service time (putting aside what happens with any labor stoppage or new terms of the CBA).    He’d still be able to be called up in late April/early May and not earn a full year.   This is exactly what the Rays did with David Price in 2008/09.   He debuted on 9/14/08, pitched in the postseason and then didn’t get called up in 2009 until May 25.

Ditto Arozarena last year, with fantastic post-season results.

[Frobby]

23 minutes ago, LA2 said:

Ditto Arozarena last year, with fantastic post-season results.

Different situation with Arozerena’s service time, however.   He had 129 days accrued going into this season (recall that last year each day counted as 162/60 = 2.7 days).   So, there was no point in sending Arozarena back to the minors this year.

[LA2]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Different situation with Arozerena’s service time, however.   He had 129 days accrued going into this season (recall that last year each day counted as 162/60 = 2.7 days).   So, there was no point in sending Arozarena back to the minors this year.

Yes, I should have been clearer that it was the only first half of the maneuver--calling him up in time to make him eligible for the playoffs, but not long enough to cancel his rookie status this year--that I was comparing. Also, as we all remember, Aroz's performance had far more impact: 10 homers in 81 at-bats. Interestingly, this was old hat to him: the Cardinals did the same playoff roster move with him in 2019 (0 for 4, HBP).