Orioles acquire Ryan O’Hearn

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Yes.
 

These moves are not impacting any budget. There is no big budget. 
 

If the club can make the playoffs can they do damage? In order to get in they are going to have to be pitching at some solid level. 

They are impacting every budget.

Every team has a certain amount of money they can spend.  Spending 1.4M on a guy in AAA is part of that.

That's true of the Orioles and it's true of the Mets.

For a team with a lower end budget I'd rather spend the money on the ML roster and not minor league depth.

That there, by itself excluded the Orioles from the rest of my statement.

Now if you want me to go into what I meant by the rest I will.  I was talking about a team that is projected to be a division winner.  Yes every team that makes the playoffs has a chance to advance.  Of course they do.  Division winners have a greater chance to advance in the playoffs "make noise".  If I have a team that I think has a chance to make the WC I'm spending that money on the ML roster.

So yea, I wasn't talking about the Orioles or what I thought their chances were at all there.

[Tony-OH]

8 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Curious on this last part.  I admittedly know very little about putting a roster together and value your opinion.  If a team with a small budget (assuming it’s status quote and we don’t spend much) has to find room in the margins, why not try and “stack” your AAA team?   I’m not saying spend an insane amount, but why not spend say 2.5MM (about half of 1 WAR - and this is a pure hypothetical talking out loud thing here) and try to turn that in to 1 WAR.  Inevitably there is going to be injury and things happen.  Why not pick out 3-4 guys you think you can get & protect, put them in your program, stash them in AAA and see if you can strike lightening in a bottle, as a secondary insurance plan?  Again, just thinking out loud.  Curious if you think it’s as simple as that $$ could be spent more effectively somewhere else.  

Grabbing a guy off waivers with a minimum split salary deal is a depth move for a team like the Orioles. At $1.4 million, O'Hearn is the 6t highest paid Oriole before arbitration deals kick in. Does that sound like a guy going to AAA to be depth? I think he's going to be DH/1B and will take PAs away from Stowers if Santander is still on the team. I'll take Stowers getting those PAs everyday of the week.

Remember, this is an organization that already choose a washed up Aguilar to take PAs from Stowers during a playoff push. 

[Sports Guy]

I’m 100% convinced that Elias could acquire acquire anyone and people would like the move.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Sports Guy said:

I’m 100% convinced that Elias could acquire acquire anyone and people would like the move.

Not if it was DJ Stewart. 

[RZNJ]

6 minutes ago, Number5 said:

I guess I'm confused as to why "cash considerations" can't mean that Baltimore is taking on some of the money that Kansas City is on the hook for.  If a team signed him for the minimum, KC would owe him $700k.  If a team signed him to a minor league contract, KC would owe him even more.  If Baltimore agreed to pay, say $800k of O'Hearn's $1.4 million KC owes, KC would be receiving some salary relief as "cash considerations."  No?  What am I missing?

The salary is on the Orioles books.  Any salary relief from the 1.4M would be coming from K.C..  See the James McCann deal above.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Remember, this is an organization that already choose a washed up Aguilar to take PAs from Stowers during a playoff push. 

I expect that you'll get the oft-repeated "Aguilar didn't play much" response to this, but I just checked and Aguilar and Phillips got a combined 14 starts at DH/COF for the Orioles, where Stowers could have played instead, which amounts to 55-60 PAs taken away from him. Stowers only got 98 total PAs in 2022, so that would have been a playing time increase of over 50%.

[RZNJ]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I’m 100% convinced that Elias could acquire acquire anyone and people would like the move.

There’s a difference between liking and “no big deal. Let’s wait and see what the actual 26 man roster is on April 1.  I don’t like most of the moves but I’m waiting to see what actually happens when it’s all said and done.

[LTO's]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

I’m 100% convinced that Elias could acquire acquire anyone and people would like the move.

I don't think that's true. What is true is that a few of "minor" acquisitions they made prior to this offseason elicited the same types of responses that aged incredibly poorly. You're projecting given that every move they make you have the opposite reaction and call it the stupidest thing you've ever seen. 

[Number5]

6 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

The salary is on the Orioles books.  Any salary relief from the 1.4M would be coming from K.C..  See the James McCann deal above.

James McCann wasn't DFA, was he?  Differnt situation altogether.  No?

[spiritof66]

I believe Elias went into the off-season having -- or at least thinking he had -- the ability to spend to spend $30 million or so in 2023 payroll on newcomers, but that he was precluded from, or (less likely) entering into contracts for more than a year, or possibly two if needed for a guy who would fill a team need. That limitation may have come from ownership looking ahead to a sale of the team, or Elias's confidence that he would have a better sense of his needs (especially as to starting pitching and the outfield) after the 2023 season, or something else. But I have little question that such a limitation existed. Elias found that most of the guys he wanted all insisted on, and were able to get, longer-term contracts. Elias was like a guy who needed some new clothes and had money to spend on them, saw a store window (or website) with some stuff he liked, and when he went in (or searched the website) it turned out the stuff he liked wasn't available in his size. So he spent most of the money he had on stuff he liked a lot less.

That left Elias the option of trading some young talent (maybe combined with Matteo, Urias, Santander or Mullins) for a starting pitcher or a power-hitting LHed first baseman/outfielder. But so far Elias has not been willing to trade away anyone he considers either a contributor to the 2023 team or a prospect to contribute in the next couple of years. I've speculated that Elias is immobilized by a concern that he'll make what looks like a mistake in judgment a couple years from now when he's been cast aside by a new owner or is looking for a saner situation. Maybe that's the case, maybe not. It's not speculation that Elias has never had the important GM experience of deciding to live without on-hand value in order to obtain value that will fill the team's needs, and he's not exactly leapt into it with the Orioles.

Whatever the reason, Elias's moves so far share these characteristics: (a) spending on payroll for newcomers, (b) making very limited commitments after 2023, and none after 2024, and (c) retaining team-controlled ML talent and continuing to hoard prospects. I'm hopeful that Elias will depart from that, but it's getting difficult to retain that hope.

 

[btdart20]

20 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I’m 100% convinced that Elias could acquire acquire anyone and people would like the move.

I'm 100% convinced that Elias could acquire anyone, and people would have a reason to hate it too.  And isn't that true of many decisions that any lead makes?

[DrinkinWithFermi]

1 minute ago, btdart20 said:

I'm 100% convinced that Elias could acquire anyone, and people would have a reason to hate it too.  And isn't that true of many decisions that any lead makes?

Not really, the Givens and McCann deals received overwhelmingly positive responses.

[JR Oriole]

21 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I’m 100% convinced that Elias could acquire acquire anyone and people would like the move.

There sure have been a lot of "anyones," haven't there?  The best thing about this offseason is that it gets shorter every day.  But anytime I can read about one of our moves and think, "who the hell is that guy," it makes for an amusing start to my day.  And when either the debit or credit side to the transaction is CASH, then I know we are really moving the needle!

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, DrinkinWithFermi said:

Not really, the Givens and McCann deals received overwhelmingly positive responses.

Getting McCann is fine.

Giving McCann at bats at first and DH....not so much.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Can_of_corn

[interloper]

30 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I’m 100% convinced that Elias could acquire acquire anyone and people would like the move.

Does anybody like the move? My take is just that it's a nothing depth move not really worthy of feeling any particular way about. I haven't really seen anyone even saying it's a good depth move. It's just a move. 

I will say that I hope it's just a depth move. Because if not, it's a worrying move. But I only say this because so many other people seem to think it's more than a depth move. 

Edited January 4, 2023 by interloper