Do you want Wacha, and if so, what terms can you live with?

[wildcard]

I don't see Elias spending 12 to 15m on Wacha or Grienke  when he has  Kremer, Bradish, Grayson, Wells and Voth who are all better that them.   They have a 10m commitment to Gibson.  That is six without adding.  

Watkins had a 4.17 ERA as a major league starter last year in 20 starts last year.   He is probably as good as either Wacha or Grienke at this point.  And he begins the season at AAA probably.  That is 7.

Then Means is projected to return for the 2nd half.   That is 8.

If Hall begins in AAA and is successful in finding his control he could be better than any of the above pitchers.   And the O's will make room for him in the rotation at some point.   That may be 9.

Baumann had a 2.79 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP in 9 starts at AAA last year.  That is 10 without adding Wacha or Grienke.  

Maybe if Elias sees an opportunity to add for 1/7 or 8m he may go for the experience.  But Elias may have better that Wacha and Grienke right now anyway. 

Edited January 25, 2023 by wildcard

[sportsfan8703]

I think Grienke is KC or retirement. They didn’t even trade him at the deadline, nor did he want to be traded. If Wacha is an option, we might be offering 2/24… but the terms are 2023 for 12 million, 2024 for 12 million, with a 3 million buyout option after 2023. 
 

We should just take what little PR hit would be there for us, and sign Trevor Bauer. I’m sure whatever contender has a SP get a hangnail will use that as an excuse to sign him. We might as well, just do it now. 
 

As messed up as this sounds, Bauer might actually be a positive PR move for us in terms of ticket sales. 

[ThisIsBirdland]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I think Grienke is KC or retirement. They didn’t even trade him at the deadline, nor did he want to be traded. If Wacha is an option, we might be offering 2/24… but the terms are 2023 for 12 million, 2024 for 12 million, with a 3 million buyout option after 2023. 
 

We should just take what little PR hit would be there for us, and sign Trevor Bauer. I’m sure whatever contender has a SP get a hangnail will use that as an excuse to sign him. We might as well, just do it now. 
 

As messed up as this sounds, Bauer might actually be a positive PR move for us in terms of ticket sales. 

Hard pass for me on that one. Would also turn off as many or more fans as it would bring in I'd imagine.

I do wonder if anyone will sign him, I'm skeptical it'll happen tbh.

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

Hard pass for me on that one. Would also turn off as many or more fans as it would bring in I'd imagine.

I do wonder if anyone will sign him, I'm skeptical it'll happen tbh.

Turning off those 7 fans would be awful!

[AnythingO's]

I'm not trying to be funny, but how much worse could the PR be than the piss poor off season with the Angelos brother's legal shit show??? JA might even go for it to get the focus off him and the books we will never see.

[HakunaSakata]

6 minutes ago, AnythingO's said:

I'm not trying to be funny, but how much worse could the PR be than the piss poor off season with the Angelos brother's legal shit show??? JA might even go for it to get the focus off him and the books we will never see.

I'm not a science whiz, but I'm pretty sure when you pour gasoline on a fire it just creates a bigger fire.

[HakunaSakata]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I think Grienke is KC or retirement. They didn’t even trade him at the deadline, nor did he want to be traded. If Wacha is an option, we might be offering 2/24… but the terms are 2023 for 12 million, 2024 for 12 million, with a 3 million buyout option after 2023. 
 

We should just take what little PR hit would be there for us, and sign Trevor Bauer. I’m sure whatever contender has a SP get a hangnail will use that as an excuse to sign him. We might as well, just do it now. 
 

As messed up as this sounds, Bauer might actually be a positive PR move for us in terms of ticket sales. 

Hard pass. And I don't see any scenario where signing Trevor Bauer would improve ticket sales.

[Winter]

1 hour ago, HakunaSakata said:

Hard pass. And I don't see any scenario where signing Trevor Bauer would improve ticket sales.

winning games improves ticket sales, There is zero question on who wins you more games Bauer or w/e crumbs left over for the Orioles to choose from like every year ever. Orioles could possibly sign the best SP FA in the offseason for nothing but would rather get a Wacha then complain all year when he's getting starts over the youngsters who put up the same numbers as he. Do i think signing a Greinke/Wacha makes us worse? No, better? Not really but if your comparing who makes us better 1 of those 2 or Bauer, it's Bauer. Who also comes at no $ cost. -- But we'll be the Orioles and the Yankees, Rays, Blue Jays or Sox will end up with him once they get their 1st signs of rotation trouble and thrive. 

[Winter]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Turning off those 7 fans would be awful!

Turning off those people, who aren't even fans who are so bored in life they gotta google search things to be mad at. 

[ScGO's]

3 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

We should just take what little PR hit would be there for us, and sign Trevor Bauer. I’m sure whatever contender has a SP get a hangnail will use that as an excuse to sign him. We might as well, just do it now. 
 

As messed up as this sounds, Bauer might actually be a positive PR move for us in terms of ticket sales. 

I agree. If we sign him, I would figure he walks the line, and probably causes very little issues playing for a small market team, and probably doesn't draw too much attention to himself unless we make the playoffs.  He's the best pitcher available, hands down.  I don't think Elias plays that card though.

[ScGO's]

1 hour ago, AnythingO's said:

I'm not trying to be funny, but how much worse could the PR be than the piss poor off season with the Angelos brother's legal shit show??? JA might even go for it to get the focus off him and the books we will never see.

Any PR is good PR for the O's. I actually believe signing Bauer would sell tickets. Baseball fans will be intrigued enough to see him early on. If he's good, fans will come out. Heck, some folks will buy tickets early on simply to boo him, but that will grow old after a while. But again, I think signing him sells more tickets

[Spy Fox]

1 hour ago, AnythingO's said:

I'm not trying to be funny, but how much worse could the PR be than the piss poor off season with the Angelos brother's legal shit show??? JA might even go for it to get the focus off him and the books we will never see.

I'd guess the average fan is more aware of and may have stronger opinions on the Bauer situation than they do about the Angelos legal situation or even the O's offseason moves.

[sportsfan8703]

4 hours ago, wildcard said:

I don't see Elias spending 12 to 15m on Wacha or Grienke  when he has  Kremer, Bradish, Grayson, Wells and Voth who are all better that them.   They have a 10m commitment to Gibson.  That is six without adding.  

Watkins had a 4.17 ERA as a major league starter last year in 20 starts last year.   He is probably as good as either Wacha or Grienke at this point.  And he begins the season at AAA probably.  That is 7.

Then Means is projected to return for the 2nd half.   That is 8.

If Hall begins in AAA and is successful in finding his control he could be better than any of the above pitchers.   And the O's will make room for him in the rotation at some point.   That may be 9.

Baumann had a 2.79 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP in 9 starts at AAA last year.  That is 10 without adding Wacha or Grienke.  

Maybe if Elias sees an opportunity to add for 1/7 or 8m he may go for the experience.  But Elias may have better that Wacha and Grienke right now anyway. 

That’s a pretty optimistic take. Watkins is the guy that is a big regression candidate. I love what he did last year, but I think that was his “Chris Waters” run.  Baumann and Zimmerman should only long men depth/innings eater depth. Hall is a big talent, but he still needs to put it all together. 
 

I’d prefer Grienke, I just don’t think he leaves KC at this stage of his career. He has his ring and millions. Wacha sounds like he wants too much and our recent last off season SP deals have not worked out. Cobb, Gallardo, and Ubaldo. We should’ve been all over Kluber for what he signed for. 

[24fps]

3 hours ago, HakunaSakata said:

Hard pass. And I don't see any scenario where signing Trevor Bauer would improve ticket sales.

I don't see any scenario where this dumpster fire of an off season improves ticket sales either.  So I'll settle for changing the narrative - wouldn't it be refreshing to read about the Orioles as the bad boys of the AL East rather than the choir boys.  Or the chumps...

We are at least two weeks into the rationalization stage of the traditional Orioles off season where we spend endless hours refining our excuses for why the lack of activity is really a strategic choice.  Trust the plan right?

Our minor league strength will either develop or it won't.  It's pretty much on rails right now so why not sign Bauer and raise a jolly middle finger to everybody who wants to talk about the Angelos family as greedy so-and-sos as the Orioles' identity.  Sure it's true, but I'm sick of being right on the internet.  I'd rather be right in the W-L column and defend my position from there.

 

[wildcard]

6 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

That’s a pretty optimistic take. Watkins is the guy that is a big regression candidate. I love what he did last year, but I think that was his “Chris Waters” run.  Baumann and Zimmerman should only long men depth/innings eater depth. Hall is a big talent, but he still needs to put it all together. 

You apparently don't have the confidence I have in Holt to get the best out of his pitchers.  I don't think Zimmerman has the stuff.   He would be my next guy voted off the island.