Three 2022-23 developments that fundamentally changed the outlook for this team

[spleen1015]

5 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

I think my “surprise” is different.

This is the year I expected them to make the playoffs, had you asked me a few years ago. I believed in what Elias was doing and I believed in the existing talent.

Where my surprise comes in is that I didn’t think they did enough in the offseason to augment the existing talent to win this year. 
 

A few years ago, I would have expected a bigger investment in the ML product this year and I thought that, combined with the existing talent, was enough for the team to win. 
 

So my surprise is that, despite the failure to do that, this team overcame it and was this good.

I think Frobby’s post nails it with 2 and 3. Gunnar was trending in this direction, so I’m not surprised there. But Bradish and Bautista definitely changed things and then you put a guy like Kremer on there who has been steady enough and those are the types of development successes that have made the lack of spending enough to where they can win without it.

I agree with this 100%. After last year, I thought they needed to add a few really good pieces to be better than the Astros. We didn't add anything really good. What we had became really freaking good.

[Aristotelian]

Yeah, after hitting .231 in A+ Gunnar had some major question marks going into 2022.

Bradish was a throw in to the Bundy deal, missed the covid year, then jumped almost straight to AAA and had a mediocre year. Now he is a bona fide TOR, arguably one of the top pitchers in the league. I just found a Baseball America article on the Bundy trade that says they hope Bradish can pitch out of the bullpen, "otherwise he's an organizational depth piece." Ouch! 

I kinda had a hunch on Bautista although obviously did not know he would be quite this good. 

 

[Aristotelian]

Woops, here is the Bradish article. 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/orioles-trade-dylan-bundy-to-angels-for-four-pitching-prospects/

[dystopia]

22 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Woops, here is the Bradish article. 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/orioles-trade-dylan-bundy-to-angels-for-four-pitching-prospects/

I remember at the time Brnovich was the only player coming back to us that garnered any attention. 

[dystopia]

7 minutes ago, dystopia said:

I remember at the time Brnovich was the only player coming back to us that garnered any attention. 

Oh whoops looks like it was Mattson. Either way, neither of them became anything.

[Matt Bennett]

5 hours ago, George Zuverink said:

Disagree that we saw it almost immediately  with Bradish. Look at his first half 2022 and compare the number of quality starts in the two seasons.

3rd MLB start. 7 innings. 11 strikeouts. 0 walks. 4 hits. Against a 93 win Cardinals team. I don't care what came after. I saw "it". I believe he was the only the 2nd MLB pitcher in history (Strasburg was first) to do that in his first 3 starts.  

[OriolesMagic83]

I'll add how Adley's addition brought a change to the team more than the addition of his offense and defense.  The O's seemed to have a different attitude after Adley made his debut and especially after he got past his rookie rough patch.  I know a lot of people don't believe in anything but adding up stats, but Adley brought a winning attitude and it definitely made a difference. 

I agree with others that said O'Hearn was a key addition.  I was one of those that said why the hell would the O's pay O'Hearn $1.4 mill to stay a Norfolk.  He definitely greatly exceeded any expectations I had for him.

 

[Billy F-Face3]

Of the three, Bautista was my most unsure thing. Of the three, I thought Gunnar was a sure thing, but I was also confident in Kyle Bradish's development. However, he's exceeded even my expectations.

[George Zuverink]

4 hours ago, Matt Bennett said:

3rd MLB start. 7 innings. 11 strikeouts. 0 walks. 4 hits. Against a 93 win Cardinals team. I don't care what came after. I saw "it". I believe he was the only the 2nd MLB pitcher in history (Strasburg was first) to do that in his first 3 starts.  

You must use the imperial « we » because the collective « we » definitely didn’t see it coming. His starts from April thru June were collectively awful. Congrats on your perspicacity. Most of us chalked up the Cardinals start as one of those things that sometimes happens before there’s a book on the new guy. 

Edited September 30, 2023 by George Zuverink

[InsideCoroner]

9 hours ago, Matt Bennett said:

3rd MLB start. 7 innings. 11 strikeouts. 0 walks. 4 hits. Against a 93 win Cardinals team. I don't care what came after. I saw "it". I believe he was the only the 2nd MLB pitcher in history (Strasburg was first) to do that in his first 3 starts.  

I never get hyped up over one start. Remember Mike Wright’s MLB debut, 7.1 innings against Mike Trout and the Angels, 0 runs, 0 BB, 6 K? But as someone later said of him after he crashed and burned, “million dollar arm, ten cent head.” You just never really know.

[ChosenOne21]

12 hours ago, dystopia said:

I remember at the time Brnovich was the only player coming back to us that garnered any attention. 

Huh, I remember Bradish being the consensus best guy we got, though people thought his ceiling was #4 SP/Reliever.

Mattson was the obvious worst. He was the throw-in.

[btdart20]

15 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

When they signed O'Hearn I assumed that either he would spend the year in Norfolk, or they were nuts. I totally missed that his no-shift splits were really pretty good with the Royals.

It was definitely brought up as a path to improvement.  But louder voices countered it with other trends.

[Tony-OH]

After what I felt was a very underwhelming offseason, I felt this team was an 83 win team give or take a few wins. 

I'm happily surprised at how they have "lifted off" this season irregardless of how they got here. 

My biggest surprises would have to be:

1) Ryan O'Hearn going from a DFA guy from the Royals into a middle of the order hitter on the best team in AL. No one saw this. Yes, I saw the good EVs and read about how the shifts affected him, but he was 29-years old and looked at best to be a potential fill in or role player.

2) Yennier Cano becoming an All-Star and one of the best setup guys in baseball. Who saw this after what he did at the major league level last year? Yes, he had an immaculate inning in AAA last year and yeah, the stuff looked decent, but going from a guy who many of us thought could have been jettisoned off the 40-man this offseason to a rock in the backend of the Orioles bullpen is quite the surprise.

3) The acquisition of Aaron Hicks and his success with the Orioles has been pretty huge. He's a significant upgrade offensively (.279/.386/.431/.818) over McKenna and has filled in nicely as a starter when Mullins went down with injuries. Everyone kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but maybe getting on a good team in a great environment really heled him find himself again?

4) Frobby mentioned Bradish becoming a stud starter, and I have to agree. The full integration of his sinker over the ineffective 4-seamer and his slider becoming plus-plus is a pretty amazing development story for the Orioles and him.

5) When Danny Coulombe was acquired at the end of spring training, many of us thought it may have been just for the Red Sox series because they were loaded with left-handers. 60-games later and a 2.68 ERA, Coulombe has been an absolute staple in the pen this year. And if you watch the mic'd up pieces, he's obviously a great clubhouse guy.

[Tony-OH]

15 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

Bradish was a throw in to the Bundy deal, missed the covid year, then jumped almost straight to AAA and had a mediocre year.

 

 

14 hours ago, dystopia said:

I remember at the time Brnovich was the only player coming back to us that garnered any attention. 

You guys are misremembering. Bradish was always considered the top prospect in that deal for Bundy. He was the only one I liked when I got eyes on but I worried about him only being a reliever because at the time, he had a weird extreme overhand delivery and was basically just a fastball, curveball guy. His development into a bonafide starter with a better delivery with five pitches, including a plus-plus slider has been amazing.

[DrungoHazewood]

3 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

2) Robinson Cano becoming an All-Star and one of the best setup guys in baseball. Who saw this after what he did at the major league level last year? Yes, he had an immaculate inning in AAA last year and yeah, the stuff looked decent, but going from a guy who many of us thought could have been jettisoned off the 40-man this offseason to a rock in the backend of the Orioles bullpen is quite the surprise.

Now that would have been something!!