Infield alignment

[tntoriole]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

As is the case a lot of the time I'm both joking and not joking.  The only reason the O's could get Cruz on that one year deal was because of his PED suspension cratering his market.

I am sort of too, but if we had a similar situation right now, I would be fine with it.   I was a huge advocate at the time in 2014 offseason of giving Cruz the 4th year .. PED usage or no PED usage lol … him rolling over backwards at home when Hardy slid in was worth it!! Lol 

[btdart20]

I'm making the leap of faith that it's to assume/hope/project on historic norms of career glide paths.

 

Breakdown by age... for those in-house options "in the conversation" to be on the team in 2024.

No 'growth' expectations

30+: 6 (Hicks, McCann, Gibson, Coulombe, Means, Krehbiel) 

29: 5 (O'Hearn, Urias, Cano, Irvin, Webb) 

Rebounds?

28: 3 (Santander, Mullins, Mateo, Bautista*, Wells, Akin, Baker) 

27: 1 (Hays, Kremer, Perez, Baumann)

Any more upside?

26:  1 (Mounty, McKenna, Bradish, )

25:  1 (Adley, Stowers)

Let's Go!

22-24:  2 (Gunnar, Westburg, Grayson, Hall)

RIP pending: 

8 (HK - 24, Ortiz - 25, Cowser - 23, Jackson - 19, Mayo - 21, Norby - 23, Povich - 23, McDermott - 25)  

 

For kicks and giggles - FG already has Jackson listed as the projected SS vs. RHP in 2024.  And Irvin is the #5 with Hall and Wells in the BP.  (Their statisticians were "proven" correct in their post-season odds for the O's, so it must be true!)

2024 Baltimore Orioles Depth Chart | RosterResource | FanGraphs Baseball

 

 

[Big Al]

One of the upsides of the current playoff system for a team like the Orioles, with a ton of unproven ML talent, is that we can afford to take good long looks at prospects at the ML level.  If we don’t win the division, it’s not the end of the world. The wildcard appears to be just as likely a path to the World Series.
    That being said, I think we should start next season with an infield of Gunnar 3b, Ortiz SS, Westburg 2b, Mountcastle/O’Hearn 1b and either Mateo or Urias as a backup, depending on which wasn’t traded in the offseason.   Around the end of May, we should know if Ortiz is ready for the show, and either he sticks, or is dealt with. If Ortiz sticks, make Westburg UTI and deal whichever of Mateo/Urias was the backup and  bring up Holliday for a trial at second .  If Ortiz can’t cut it, move Gunnar to short, Westburg to third and bring up Holliday. 

[Frobby]

On 10/20/2023 at 11:21 AM, maybenxtyr said:

It's going to be a long winter if every conversation comes back to, "what about 101 wins". 

 

It’s going to be a long winter anyway.  They’re all insufferably long.  118ish days until pitchers and catchers report.  

[Aristotelian]

22 hours ago, Frobby said:

It’s going to be a long winter anyway.  They’re all insufferably long.  118ish days until pitchers and catchers report.  

So many digits we can't even do a countdown with uniform numbers.