Elias hints that more prospect trades could come

[Orioles0615]

 Unless Grayson Rodriguez is literally God awful in spring training he should absolutely get a spot. I am going to be so annoyed when they jump through hopes to give an excuse as to not have him in the starting rotation  

[wildcard]

Hernandez is going to have to show he can stop walking so many if he wants to be called up.

[sportsfan8703]

11 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Hernandez is going to have to show he can stop walking so many if he wants to be called up.

I agree, but we don’t have too many power arms as relief options. Especially LH. He has held lefties to a .632 OPS for his career. Once Means and Seth Johnson can go on the 60 day IL, Darwinzon could easily be added back to the 40 man if needed. Plus Vespi’s injury. Vespi may be a candidate for the 60 day IL, at least at first. 

[Jagwar]

27 minutes ago, HakunaSakata said:

I personally can't see them trading any young high end pitching (for a pitcher) because that would be like robbing Peter to pay Paul. I think if they make a trade it will be from a position of strength. So either middle infield (if Urias or Mateo have any trade value) or one of our young hitters. 

Elias' quote in the opening post - "We also might have moves during camp. In terms of the starting rotation, the thing we feel best about with this group is the numbers, the depth. … We’re going to have nine, 10, 11 starters on our 40-man roster when we go into spring training. I feel that’s a good number to pick from and we’ll keep monitoring opportunities the next few weeks."

He likes the depth going into ST, I'm guessing in numbers AND quality. Why not trade Bradish or Kremer along with some of the infield depth if he can acquire a clear upgrade for the rotation?

[waroriole]

5 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

You mean ROD(addy's)I?

How dare you say that on National Wear Red Day

[HakunaSakata]

4 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

Elias' quote in the opening post - "We also might have moves during camp. In terms of the starting rotation, the thing we feel best about with this group is the numbers, the depth. … We’re going to have nine, 10, 11 starters on our 40-man roster when we go into spring training. I feel that’s a good number to pick from and we’ll keep monitoring opportunities the next few weeks."

He likes the depth going into ST, I'm guessing in numbers AND quality. Why not trade Bradish or Kremer along with some of the infield depth if he can acquire a clear upgrade for the rotation?

I guess I read it differently. Yes we have some depth, but quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality. We're also light on high end young arms in our minor league system. I could see him making a move to improve our starting rotation, but not at the expense of depleting our already thin young pitching prospects. Trading a bat for a pitcher and moving one of those arms to the pen or AAA seems to make much more sense. 

[Jagwar]

2 minutes ago, HakunaSakata said:

I guess I read it differently. Yes we have some depth, but quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality. We're also light on high end young arms in our minor league system. I could see him making a move to improve our starting rotation, but not at the expense of depleting our already thin young pitching prospects. Trading a bat for a pitcher and moving one of those arms to the pen or AAA seems to make much more sense. 

I see what you mean. It is important to build up our pitching prospects. But Bradish and Kremer have had great stretches and not-so-great stretches. Are you suggesting that you wouldn't give up one of those two if it brought back an clear upgrade established starter with 2-3 years of control?

[HakunaSakata]

4 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

I see what you mean. It is important to build up our pitching prospects. But Bradish and Kremer have had great stretches and not-so-great stretches. Are you suggesting that you wouldn't give up one of those two if it brought back an clear upgrade established starter with 2-3 years of control?

If it was a youngish pitcher under team control I'd be open to trading them, but Gray Rod and Hall would be off limits. It will be interesting to see how things play out. I think the big question is what young pitchers under team control for a few years are actually available. I really don't feel like there's an obvious trade partner now that the Marlin's traded Lopez. 

[Yardball85]

14 hours ago, Three Run Homer said:

I wish I could believe him when he says that the organization is focused on winning now.  Maybe that's his focus, but it doesn't seem like ownership's focus.  

I think it is Elias's focus.  Ownership's focus is on winning, sure, but doing so as cheaply as possible, while also appearing to the public that they are do-gooders. Ownership sucks. 

[owknows]

16 minutes ago, Yardball85 said:

I think it is Elias's focus.  Ownership's focus is on winning, sure, but doing so as cheaply as possible, while also appearing to the public that they are do-gooders.

Public appearance notwithstanding... why wouldn't winning as cheaply as possible be the goal of any rational owner?

[RVAOsFan]

2 hours ago, HakunaSakata said:

I personally can't see them trading any young high end pitching (for a pitcher) because that would be like robbing Peter to pay Paul. I think if they make a trade it will be from a position of strength. So either middle infield (if Urias or Mateo have any trade value) or one of our young hitters. 

I am shocked that Urias and Mateo are both still Orioles at this point, especially Urias.  Either they have no value or Elias is over valuing them.  I have a hard time believing Urias is ever more valuable to the Orioles as far as trade value than this offseason.  The guy can swing the bat and had a gold glove season at 3rd base until he lost the 3rd base job to the best prospect in baseball. How is he going to improve his value as a utility guy this year? Makes no sense to hold on to him in my opinion.

[SpOkane]

2 hours ago, waroriole said:

How dare you say that on National Wear Red Day

And may I please add, no chicanery tomorrow on National Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.

[Too Tall]

Let's put things in perspective. After last year, how can Elias not say it's about winning now? What's he going to say - last year was a mistake and we still are rebuilding?

I believe Elias is in win now mode. And, I believe he's been given all he's asked for since 2018 except perhaps money for the major league team. In that regard, we just don't know the range between his ask and ownership's allocate if there is one. We don't know what Elias has left on the table either or what may still be on the table. 

I am no fan of ownership. But I'll give John (in spite of his lack of publicity skills) credit for doing something his father never did. He hired a GM and gave him the ability to rebuild our team doing things his father never allowed and with seemingly little to no interference. I often wonder where we would be if PA hadn't become inactive?

As has been said often before, this year is Elias's biggest test so far. Going to be an interesting year for Oriole Fans.

 

[Moose Milligan]

10 minutes ago, Too Tall said:

 

I am no fan of ownership. But I'll give John (in spite of his lack of publicity skills) credit for doing something his father never did. He hired a GM and gave him the ability to rebuild our team doing things his father never allowed and with seemingly little to no interference. I often wonder where we would be if PA hadn't become inactive?

As has been said often before, this year is Elias's biggest test so far. Going to be an interesting year for Oriole Fans.

 

Peter hired GMs, his mistakes were to hire bad ones that weren't at the vanguard of the industry.  He intereferred, he didn't allow scouting and signing talent out of South America and he basically sucked at everything.  So, yeah, credit to John to get someone in who has an eye towards building a franchise the right way, I agree.

That said, every year is Elias's biggest test so far.  2024 will be his biggest test no matter the outcome of this year.

[SteveA]

8 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Peter hired GMs, his mistakes were to hire bad ones that weren't at the vanguard of the industry.  He intereferred, he didn't allow scouting and signing talent out of South America and he basically sucked at everything.  So, yeah, credit to John to get someone in who has an eye towards building a franchise the right way, I agree.

That said, every year is Elias's biggest test so far.  2024 will be his biggest test no matter the outcome of this year.

Yes, because repeating as World Champions is extremely difficult and rare.