Orioles select Benboom, DFA Castro

[OriolesMagic83]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

More transaction news:

 

All those nuggets! 

[Tony-OH]

4 hours ago, NCRaven said:

Elias makes an inconsequential move the day after the season ends.  OH explodes.  I believe that I predicted this in another thread.  It's nice to live in a predictable universe.

It should be predictable that knowledgeable Orioles fans would question unnecessary 40-man roster moves. Whether Bemboom is replaced ( suspect he will) the question remains why any sane Gm would do this unless it's contractually binding.

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

Here’s how I see it: he wasn’t good enough to unseat Chirinos as the backup catcher, and Chirinos was pretty bad.   I don’t think there’s any way Bemboom is plan A for the backup next year.   

Bemboom shouldn't be Plan C for the backup next year. 

[NCRaven]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

It should be predictable that knowledgeable Orioles fans would question unnecessary 40-man roster moves. Whether Bemboom is replaced ( suspect he will) the question remains why any sane Gm would do this unless it's contractually binding.

I don’t get it either.  But, past performance in St Louis, Houston and Baltimore would indicate that Elias is reasonably sane.  Sig too.  I suspect they have their reasons.  And down the road, they’ll probably have a reason to move on.  I doubt they’ll take the time to explain every minor move.

[Tony-OH]

7 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

I don’t get it either.  But, past performance in St Louis, Houston and Baltimore would indicate that Elias is reasonably sane.  Sig too.  I suspect they have their reasons.  And down the road, they’ll probably have a reason to move on.  I doubt they’ll take the time to explain every minor move.

I do not overreact often do I? I have never questioned the sanity of our GMs until they just added a 33-year old catching with a career .160/.231/.265/.496 slash line as their first 40-man add to the offseason. It's utterly and completely insane. Like, people should question everything they ever do again insane. Like Syd Thrift if he were alive, would question the sanity of this move.

There is absolutely no, zero, nada baseball reason to add a 33-year old minor league back up AAA catcher who was hurt most of last year to a the 40-man roster. 

Since I don't really think Elias is psychologically imbalanced, I'm going to assume there is some unknown reason why this happened, because to improve his ballclub is not one of them.

[NCRaven]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Since I don't really think Elias is psychologically imbalanced, I'm going to assume there is some unknown reason why this happened, because to improve his ballclub is not one of them.

This is actually the point that I was getting at. The FO has a reason for making this move now.  And, I suspect they’ll make another point later that makes this irrelevant.  I think we’re fixated on Plan A and maybe even B while he’s considering Plans C and D.  Or, I’m giving him too much credit.  

[Tony-OH]

8 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

This is actually the point that I was getting at. The FO has a reason for making this move now.  And, I suspect they’ll make another point later that makes this irrelevant.  I think we’re fixated on Plan A and maybe even B while he’s considering Plans C and D.  Or, I’m giving him too much credit.  

But why? Why would any plans need to include Bemboom? The guy cleared being DFA'd during the season. He was not going to be a hot commodity with 100 AAAA catchers becoming available and signing minor league deals with spring training invite next year.

[wildcard]

Here is a thought.

Maybe Elias values Bemboom defense and mentoring capabilities.    Maybe he wants Bemboom to mentor Handley at AAA.    Bemboom was about to become a minor league free agent and Elias wanted to show him how much he is valued.  So he puts him on the majors league roster while other catchers are scrambling for roster spots. At some point Elias will DFA him and sign him to a minor league contract.

Both Nottingham and Cumberland are known for their offense not defense.   But  maybe its not offense that Elias is looking for in a mentor for Handley at AAA.

One of the things on Elias' list to do this off season is build a AAA team. And consider that Elias has used 60 players in the majors each season. Maybe early next season Elias sees Bemboom as his third  catcher that will be at AAA while Handley is still in development.  Because of Bemboom's defense not his offense.

Edited October 7, 2022 by wildcard

[Tony-OH]

12 hours ago, wildcard said:

Here is a thought.

Maybe Elias values Bemboom defense and mentoring capabilities.    Maybe he wants Bemboom to mentor Handley at AAA.    Bemboom was about to become a minor league free agent and Elias wanted to show him how much he is valued.  So he puts him on the majors league roster while other catchers are scrambling for roster spots. At some point Elias will DFA him and sign him to a minor league contract.

Both Nottingham and Cumberland are known for their offense not defense.   But  maybe its not offense that Elias is looking for in a mentor for Handley at AAA.

One of the things on Elias' list to do this off season is build a AAA team. And consider that Elias has used 60 players in the majors each season. Maybe early next season Elias sees Bemboom as his third  catcher that will be at AAA while Handley is still in development.  Because of Bemboom's defense not his offense.

So your theory is Elias used a 40-man roster spot to protect a 33-year old Crash Davis type to mentor a potential backup catch at AAA? Honestly, considering the insanity of this move, I can buy it over anything else.

It's still makes zero sense since there is no history of Bemboom being some kind of defensive savant and the organization traded for Cam Gallagher who has a much better defensive record at the major league level with plus pitch framing abilities. 

This has to be some kind of once in baseball history kind of thing. Has any team, after their season was over, ever put a 33-year old catcher on the 40-man roster with a career major league OPS under .500 in the history of the game? 

Heck, Bemboom was a minor league signing last offseason and is a year older, and coming off another injury riddled poor offensive season at both the major and AAA level. 

My running theory is that Elias' contract is really coming up and he wants to either leave or he wants some big money and until he gets that contract extension he's going to start loading up the 40-man with 30-year old-plus bad AAA players.

I'm kidding of course, but this theory makes as much sense as any theory someone can come up with for this move.

[RZNJ]

Can we start a separate thread for "Moves that completely befuddle us"?  

Adding Bemboom to the 40 man makes no sense.  I agree but it's not really bothering me.

The move to bring up Hall for that start against the Rays.

[Tony-OH]

Just now, RZNJ said:

Can we start a separate thread for "Moves that completely befuddle us"?  

Adding Bemboom to the 40 man makes no sense.  I agree but it's not really bothering me.

The move to bring up Hall for that start against the Rays.

If he does any more of these we might just have to in order to keep track. 

As good as Elias has done overall to rebuild this franchise, he really does make some headscratching moves at times.

[86this]

8 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

If he does any more of these we might just have to in order to keep track. 

As good as Elias has done overall to rebuild this franchise, he really does make some headscratching moves at times.

I think it's pretty obvious.  They want to make sure there's a catcher on the 40-man when Adley gets traded to the Angels are part of the package for Ohtani.  In all seriousness, who knows what the FO is thinking.

[Frobby]

I wouldn’t spend one iota of energy thinking about the Bemboom move.  He’ll be off the 40-man before spring — book it.  

[Tony-OH]

58 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I wouldn’t spend one iota of energy thinking about the Bemboom move.  He’ll be off the 40-man before spring — book it.  

But that's not the point. None of us think Bemboom matters, what matters is the FO's thought process that includes adding a 33-year old AAA catcher to their 40-man roster as the first move of the offseason.

[Frobby]

6 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

But that's not the point. None of us think Bemboom matters, what matters is the FO's thought process that includes adding a 33-year old AAA catcher to their 40-man roster as the first move of the offseason.

Shrug.   Right now, about the only move they can make is one that prevents a pending MiL free agent from leaving the organization.   They decided they’d rather have a 32-year old catcher (33 next season) than a 27-year old (28 next year) RH reliever with a 7.43 ERA this year, until they line up sonething better.   It couldn’t matter less.   It’s not like they are allowed to make trades or sign new players right now.  So “first move of the offseason” has zero significance.  This is like playing poker and the first thing you need to decide is whether to discard the two of diamonds or the three of clubs.  The chances that either card will be in your hand at the end of the game are minuscule.