Your Offseason Grade Through 12/15

[RZNJ]

4 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I also don’t care that we’re grading through 12/15. Most of the impact players we could have used are off the market. People can keep shouting that it’s only 12/15 until they’re blue in the face, it doesn’t change that they’ve whiffed so bad thus far and there’s not many free agents they can sign to take this from a D or an F to a B or an A. 

Where do you see Urias playing on this team?   Just curious.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

Where do you see Urias playing on this team?   Just curious.

In the infield. 

[RVAOsFan]

Took the opportunity to grade them an E since I don’t think I have ever graded anything an E before. 
The off-season has been disappointing so far but Im going to wait until at least spring training to have a real strong opinion on how the off-season went. 

[RZNJ]

12 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

In the infield. 

Very insightful.   I find it hard to believe the plan is to platoon Urias and Frazier at 2B.  Have Frazier share time with Westburg?   That makes sense.  These moves are a precursor to further moves.   Thanks for not playing.

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Very insightful.   I find it hard to believe the plan is to platoon Urias and Frazier at 2B.  Have Frazier share time with Westburg?   That makes sense.  These moves are a precursor to further moves.   Thanks for not playing.

RZNJeezy, I am gobsmacked!  My heavens, yes!  The Frazier move is chess, not checkers! 
 

Of course it is!  Picking up a 31 year old 2nd baseman who put up 0.9 WAR last year and will be on his 4th team in three years is a move that’s so far over our heads we’ll be blown away at how forward thinking it turned out to be when the corresponding moves are made to make this one look better!

I can’t WAIT to see what Elias has up his sleeve to make the Frazier signing of 1 year for 8 million make sense.  Man, it’s gonna be Orioles Magic!

[24fps]

I gave it a D because spending $8 million (!!!) on Adam Frazier is beyond a head-scratcher.  It's a winter long migraine inducer.  Acquiring Kyle Gibson was a solid, unspectacular, unsexy, professional move that should have stayed under the radar where it belonged.  It deserved a media shelf-life of no longer than 36 hours because the only sensible conclusion was that it was a building block, not a statement. 

But... we now live in a world where the off season is graded.  Not once at the end which would make sense, but at multiple times.  Why?  Because sports media types need to justify their existence in an environment increasingly hostile to genuine expertise - created by an audience increasingly incapable of generating even a minimal attention span.  Stoking outrage, controversy, argument is a lot more reliable in getting attention than pointing out that patience can also be part of a successful team building plan.

I look forward to one day understanding the Adam Fraizer acquisition for the 2023 Baltimore Orioles, but I doubt that my feelings on December 15 are going even remotely approximate the way I feel about it on opening day.

[Ridgway22]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

I would grade it incomplete.  There’s no way to grade an offseason on 12/15 unless you assume that’s all the moves the team will make.  

Rational brain has no ability to dispute or disagree with this.

 

Fan Brain is short circuiting and freaking at low voltage. 

Free agency is the one area to add players that can make a difference. (if you have payroll space, which we "do", air quotes)

With a free agent of some repute for a position, the prospects in line for that position can be traded for upgrades elsewhere.

I'm having the same queasy feeling as when Jimenez was pitching and Britton was sitting.......

 

 

[52520Andrew]

I went with a C but there are certain assumptions being made at this point. One is that we acquire a backup catcher and another starting pitcher. I think this latest signing means someone on the infield is getting traded. Otherwise it is hard to really understand, do they think Westburg can't handle second base defensively maybe? It is honestly a head scratcher.

I don't mind Gibson as the second starter which this grade assumes. Should be solid bounceback candidate with our defense behind him and I think there is risk we need another respectable starter with so many young guys who may not be done taking their lumps. If there isn't regression in starting pitching, then it pushes someone into the pen which isn't a bad problem to have(Look how that worked for the Astros).

The Frazier signing is more confusing however. I am currently assuming someone on the infield is traded but even then it is a bit rich in value to me. I was perfectly fine going into the year with Gunnar, Mateo, Urias, and Mountcastle as the starting IF with Westburg playing the utility role as he breaks in and seeing how things went from there. I can understand Norby and Ortiz needing a half season at AAA since they didn't get there until near the end of the year. So a bridge to them is more understandable but that is why we have Urias and Mateo. Would he provide any value in the outfield so that Santander could be moved to DH? Only way this is acceptable to me is if one of Urias, Westburg, or Mateo end up traded soon.

I did end up going C because I do think the Orioles are a better team than last year even if the upgrades are marginal but I also think this was the year to get a bit more aggressive and we should have been able to get one of the other starters that has already signed as some of these contracts weren't that unreasonable. This offseason strikes me more as a missed opportunity as opposed to the team being worse than last year.

[ShoelesJoe]

D.

We’re done rebuilding, and it’s time to improve our position compared to the rest of the AL East. In the last month the Yankees got better, Blue Jays got better, Red Sox got better (even with the loss of ZB), and the Rays treaded water (which they can afford to do as they’re already a playoff caliber team). The only organization that needed to get better and didn’t was us. If it was February I’d have dropped an F on them, but in mid December there’s still time to add the necessary talent. If Elias can’t or won’t do that then he needs to find other work. 
 

 

[Roll Tide]

6 hours ago, 24fps said:

I gave it a D because spending $8 million (!!!) on Adam Frazier is beyond a head-scratcher.  It's a winter long migraine inducer.  Acquiring Kyle Gibson was a solid, unspectacular, unsexy, professional move that should have stayed under the radar where it belonged.  It deserved a media shelf-life of no longer than 36 hours because the only sensible conclusion was that it was a building block, not a statement. 

But... we now live in a world where the off season is graded.  Not once at the end which would make sense, but at multiple times.  Why?  Because sports media types need to justify their existence in an environment increasingly hostile to genuine expertise - created by an audience increasingly incapable of generating even a minimal attention span.  Stoking outrage, controversy, argument is a lot more reliable in getting attention than pointing out that patience can also be part of a successful team building plan.

I look forward to one day understanding the Adam Fraizer acquisition for the 2023 Baltimore Orioles, but I doubt that my feelings on December 15 are going even remotely approximate the way I feel about it on opening day.

Your going to be disappointed 

[Bahama O's Fan]

This Frazier move feels like the Brett Phillips trade. Everyone thought it was not a smart move  except the O's management. 

[waroriole]

Incomplete, but the results so far are not encouraging. Gibson is underwhelming unless paired with a legit 1-3 SP. Frazier is a real head scratcher and makes me question whether Elias can build a ML team with the intention to contend. 

[Sports Guy]

8 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Very insightful.   I find it hard to believe the plan is to platoon Urias and Frazier at 2B.  Have Frazier share time with Westburg?   That makes sense.  These moves are a precursor to further moves.   Thanks for not playing.

Ok, let’s go with this.

Let’s say Urias is dealt and Frazier is platooning with Westburg and Hays.

Does that make this signing better?

Well, it’s certainly better if Westburg is playing up here and not blocked and in AAA. I will agree with that. But why is there a need to platoon Westburg? The splits that I can find certainly don’t indicate the need to platoon him and they definitely don’t indicate a need to platoon him against the dominant pitching side, which means he sits a lot.

So, what is the real need here?  I’m just not seeing it, especially for 8M.

[RZNJ]

19 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Ok, let’s go with this.

Let’s say Urias is dealt and Frazier is platooning with Westburg and Hays.

Does that make this signing better?

Well, it’s certainly better if Westburg is playing up here and not blocked and in AAA. I will agree with that. But why is there a need to platoon Westburg? The splits that I can find certainly don’t indicate the need to platoon him and they definitely don’t indicate a need to platoon him against the dominant pitching side, which means he sits a lot.

So, what is the real need here?  I’m just not seeing it, especially for 8M.

I didn’t say a strict platoon with Westburg.   I said what if Westburg’s playing time is dictated by his performance and Frazier is more of a safety net/security blanket.    Perhaps Frazier gets the 100 games at 2B and Westburg is used at all three positions.  I don’t know.  Just trying to think along with Elias.   

Elias is definitely sending mixed signals about not blocking prospects but making moves and discussing moves that block Westtburg and Stowers.

[oriole]

So far it’s been pretty…uninspiring. But there is plenty of time left to actually improve the club. I think a poll halfway through December is more of an excuse to complain than an actual statement. I may as well oblige…Ive been getting a lot of practice lately.
 

Here’s the good so far…no stupid contracts, Frazier and Gibson are slightly better than Odor and Lyles, and most (or all I don’t remember whose even left) of the top tier guys are gone meaning we can all stop hand wringing about how we’ve got the money to sign one so why don’t we just do it. I’m certainly guilty of this

 

The bad? They’ve seemed to alter the direction a bit and I don’t think that spending much money is going to happen…at any point in time. I don’t know what I was thinking but I thought when the time we right, they’d jump in and make some difference making moves. Well, the time is right and we get the pleasure of watching our awesome young talent play along side some of the most mediocre free agents that were available. And even though it’s only Dec 15, I think we’re all aware that whatever the next moves are won’t be much better than what we’ve seen. We’re charting a path to 4th or 5th in the division.