The biggest development of 2023 will be…

[Sports Guy]

18 minutes ago, Frobby said:

We don’t need to look that far back or far away.  Felix Bautista illustrates the point.

I’d say the odds favor Hall improving his command enough to have a solid major league career.   Whether he gets beyond that is more dicey.   

Yep. I meant to mention Felix and forgot as I was typing. That said, he is “just a reliever”.  

[Sports Guy]

5 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Probably not, but it happened last year when the team was "contending."

Yes I realize Elias has verbalized that we have moved past the rebuilding stage, etc... but this team is still owned by the same humans.

Sure but I do think this team is different and the thought process is different. 
 

If we are contending, chances are those guys are playing a part in that.

[btdart20]

16 minutes ago, MarCakes21 said:

Gibson/Frazier/Mateo/Urias play well and get traded for piece parts

If we're in a playoff push, it depends...  I could see one of Frazier/Mateo/Urias being traded if they are bench guys even if we're in a playoff push.  Either for MiLB depth or packaged for ML starters. 

[MarCakes21]

3 minutes ago, btdart20 said:

If we're in a playoff push, it depends...  I could see one of Frazier/Mateo/Urias being traded if they are bench guys even if we're in a playoff push.  Either for MiLB depth or packaged for ML starters. 

SG is right, if they're bench guys they're not worth trading, if they're all-stars we won't trade them.  But its the in between 1-2.5 WAR that we're hoping for to net a return and replace with equal ability up the middle (Westburg/Ortiz/Norby).

[byrdz]

Hall is my choice as well. Only because the rest of the prospects coming up seem like they will have Adley like or better intros to the big leagues. Hall is a pitcher the Orioles of old would give up on and he’d go win a Cy Young for another team. Let’s hope they don’t do that here. I have faith that Holt can get him to where he needs to be. 

Edited February 10, 2023 by byrdz

[btdart20]

1 hour ago, MarCakes21 said:

SG is right, if they're bench guys they're not worth trading, if they're all-stars we won't trade them.  But its the in between 1-2.5 WAR that we're hoping for to net a return and replace with equal ability up the middle (Westburg/Ortiz/Norby).

Agreed.  It's threading a needle for sure.  Mateo's floor is an all glove/no bat guy.  Urias's floor is a jack of all/master of none guy.  There's ML value of some sort in those types but the trade partner fit is the tough part.  

[LookinUp]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Health is #1. They were unusually healthy in 2022. Does that keep up?  If not, so key guys get hurt or just your peripheral players?  Do Adley or Gunnar miss significant time?  

I agree with most of what you wrote, but I went into last season assuming that Means and Rodriguez would be the top two arms anchoring our rotation. They basically both missed the full year. 

[baltimoriole]

Based on where he was picked, Jackson Holliday looking like a future star is the biggest development to me. Small market teams like Baltimore need to hit big on #1 overall picks.

Honorable mentions include:

1) Mountcastle laying off low and away pitches,

2) Hall finding consistency and settling in as a starter,

3) Mullins finding middle ground between 2021 and 2022,

4) Hays staying healthy,

5) Stowers getting & earning meaningful playing time,

6) Kremer & Bradish continued progression to be reliable mid-rotation starters (I have more faith in Kremer than Bradish, but need more than one year from Kremer), 

7) Rodriguez showing enough flashes to give hope he'll be a #1 TOR starter.

[LookinUp]

I kind of find the Hall storyline misleading. Yes, his ERA was 5.93, but did you know he pitched 10 games, and:

First 3 games
5IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 6 K

Last 7 games
8.2 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 13 K

Yes, he was protected in short stints, but the results got much better all while I think his stuff was something like "tired."

I think he's got a real chance of starting the season with a major role. I'm not sure what it will take in addition to his own performance (e.g., injury to someone else), but if Hall's got a live arm again and Holt etc. have had the chance to see what works and what doesn't, I think too many all sleeping on what he can do in 2023.

[emmett16]

3 hours ago, DirtyBird said:

In 5+ years in the organization he hasn't shown consistent command at any level. It is probably an unrealistic expectation that he will do that this year.

5 years ago he was 18.  Almost all 18 yos struggle with control.  5 years before that he could dunk, so I’ll be patient and take my chances.  

[Sports Guy]

14 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

I agree with most of what you wrote, but I went into last season assuming that Means and Rodriguez would be the top two arms anchoring our rotation. They basically both missed the full year. 

Sure..those 2 hurt but outside of that, they were pretty healthy.

[Sports Guy]

9 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

I kind of find the Hall storyline misleading. Yes, his ERA was 5.93, but did you know he pitched 10 games, and:

First 3 games
5IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 6 K

Last 7 games
8.2 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 13 K

Yes, he was protected in short stints, but the results got much better all while I think his stuff was something like "tired."

I think he's got a real chance of starting the season with a major role. I'm not sure what it will take in addition to his own performance (e.g., injury to someone else), but if Hall's got a live arm again and Holt etc. have had the chance to see what works and what doesn't, I think too many all sleeping on what he can do in 2023.

His start in the majors was awful. The stuff was garbage and he had no command.

Now, I tend to believe that was a one off since there has never been a question about his stuff but that start was alarming.

There is a lot to work with there and he should be able to go close to 150 innings this year, so we shouldn’t see any real restrictions on him.

[LookinUp]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Sure..those 2 hurt but outside of that, they were pretty healthy.

I'd argue it actually helped the future development of this franchise because other guys got innings and/or got picked up, but any team losing its top 2 starters is typically catostrophic.

[Sports Guy]

Just now, LookinUp said:

I'd argue it actually helped the future development of this franchise because other guys got innings and/or got picked up, but any team losing its top 2 starters is typically catostrophic.

Well we don’t know that GRod would have been a top 2 starter. Obviously by talent he was but we don’t know performance.

We also don’t know when he was going to be brought up, although I think it’s obvious it was going to happen right around the time he got hurt.

[Frobby]

37 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

I kind of find the Hall storyline misleading. Yes, his ERA was 5.93, but did you know he pitched 10 games, and:

First 3 games
5IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 4 BB, 6 K

Last 7 games
8.2 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 13 K

Yes, he was protected in short stints, but the results got much better all while I think his stuff was something like "tired."

I think he's got a real chance of starting the season with a major role. I'm not sure what it will take in addition to his own performance (e.g., injury to someone else), but if Hall's got a live arm again and Holt etc. have had the chance to see what works and what doesn't, I think too many all sleeping on what he can do in 2023.

It’s all too small a sample for me to have any expectations one way or other other.  We know he has the stuff to get hitters out if he’s throwing strikes and getting ahead in the count.  No question about it.  It’s all about his command.   With average command he can be a front line starter.  But can he reach that level and stay there consistently?   Like I’ve said before, it may take more than one year to find out.