TT: Major league ready minor leaguers

[RZNJ]

6 minutes ago, wildcard said:

The Orioles are a development team and they have been successful at developing top talent like Gunnar, Adley, Bradish.   Its a good bet that will continue in 2024 with Holliday, Mayo, Kjerstad,  Cowser, GRod, Ortiz and Westburg.    Wells, Hall and Cano at the back of the pen.   Means return is a big add.

They need to add a 4th starter and a solid right-handed reliever.   This is a World Series contending team.

Ok. So all of this talk about how they are going for a WS championship and have to concentrate their efforts on beating the Texas Rangers involves acquiring a 4th starter, solid reliever, hoping Means lasts the year and is a solid #2-#3 starter, and hoping some of the prospects break through.  Got it.

[Explosivo]

Bradish proved to be a solid ace level pitcher. Grayson should take a big step forward. Kremer was solid. Means, if healthy, can be solid. Acquiring another solid starting pitcher will be key, but as we learned from the Yankees last year, sometimes the high profile, extreme cost option isn’t as effective if they can’t stay healthy. On paper Blake Snell looks to be the clear number one option, but that’s on paper. People need to realize just how good these young birds are and also realize winning 100+ games wasn’t a fluke. We stay healthy, we continue our playoff window, but injuries do happen. One saving grace with the O’s is our immense depth. We aren’t going to give up the farm to get the pitching needed. Gibson proved to be an amazing pickup as was Lyles the year before. For all the talk of Rodon, guys like Gibson were infinitely better and cheaper picks. 

[Sports Guy]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

The Orioles are a development team and they have been successful at developing top talent like Gunnar, Adley, Bradish.   Its a good bet that will continue in 2024 with Holliday, Mayo, Kjerstad,  Cowser, GRod, Ortiz and Westburg.    Wells, Hall and Cano at the back of the pen.   Means return is a big add.

They need to add a 4th starter and a solid right-handed reliever.   This is a World Series contending team.

The Os had Gibson on the 2023..so, you think the only thing that stopped us from beating Texas was a good reliever?

 

[wildcard]

20 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The Os had Gibson on the 2023..so, you think the only thing that stopped us from beating Texas was a good reliever?

 

The team wore down in late September and October.  Pitchers pitched more innings than they had before.   Slumps by Mullins, Mounty, Frazier, O'Hearn.   GRod and Kremer run out of gas in the playoffs.

 The added depth the O's should have in 2024 should help that plus the experience they gained.

By late in the season of 2024 Holliday, Mayo, Kjerstad, Cowser, Westburg and Ortiz  have probably been through their adjustment periods are able to help the team keep player more rested and productive.

Edited November 3, 2023 by wildcard

[Sports Guy]

9 minutes ago, wildcard said:

The team wore down in late September and October.  Pitchers pitched more innings than they had before.   Slumps by Mullins, Mounty, Frazier, O'Hearn.   GRod and Kremer run out of gas in the playoffs.

 The added depth the O's should have in 2024 should help that plus the experience they gained.

By late in the season of 2024 Holliday, Mayo, Kjerstad, Cowser, Westburg and Ortiz  have probably been through their adjustment periods are able to help the team keep player more rested and productive.

So, you think the same team from last year plus a replacement for Bautista has us in the WS?

[AlbNYfan]

The O's won 101 games this year and no playoff games. How many teams have won 100+ games and turn over their rosters to the extent suggested here? I certainly don't believe becoming stagnant is a positive thing, but I think there will be some growing pains watching these guys adjust to the next level. Most will become average ML players, 1 or 2 better than average and a couple will fail to adjust IMO. To be fair, I haven't seen many of these players perform, other than highlights. In the past, it seems to me, many of the players that are rated + this, + that look very average or below when they finally come up.

The current roster certainly has some room for improvement. Do these players deserve a chance? Yes. But, I will not be happy if the roster becomes so loaded with "prospects" adjusting that the mantra becomes "This is a young team that will get better by'25 or '26". There has to be some tough decisions made by Elias and others.

It is exciting times for the O's and it's certainly going to be an interesting off season.

[Sports Guy]

18 minutes ago, AlbNYfan said:

The O's won 101 games this year and no playoff games. How many teams have won 100+ games and turn over their rosters to the extent suggested here? I certainly don't believe becoming stagnant is a positive thing, but I think there will be some growing pains watching these guys adjust to the next level. Most will become average ML players, 1 or 2 better than average and a couple will fail to adjust IMO. To be fair, I haven't seen many of these players perform, other than highlights. In the past, it seems to me, many of the players that are rated + this, + that look very average or below when they finally come up.

The current roster certainly has some room for improvement. Do these players deserve a chance? Yes. But, I will not be happy if the roster becomes so loaded with "prospects" adjusting that the mantra becomes "This is a young team that will get better by'25 or '26". There has to be some tough decisions made by Elias and others.

It is exciting times for the O's and it's certainly going to be an interesting off season.

Let’s not act like these prospects are replacing stud players.

[wildcard]

30 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

So, you think the same team from last year plus a replacement for Bautista has us in the WS?

It's not the same team.   At least 10 players that were on the 2024 team will be off the 40 man roster.

[Frobby]

12 hours ago, connja said:

Surprised nobody talking about Bradfield.  A chance he is our starting CF by end of the year.

Bradfield had a lot to prove this year.  He had an ISO of .038 across the three levels he played in last season.   He’s not going to draw walks at a high rate in the majors unless he shows way more pop than that.   And, infield hits are harder to come by against major league defenses.  

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, wildcard said:

It's not the same team.   At least 10 players that were on the 2024 team will be off the 40 man roster.

It basically is the same team, especially when you consider who was getting the playing time at the end of the year.

You are basically saying to not get anyone from outside the org except another Gibson clone and a replacement for Bautista..that’s it. You aren’t making any other outside the org additions.

[Tony-OH]

15 hours ago, btdart20 said:

Both of these SSS had lackluster showings.  But I'm getting a different vibe from one to the other.  Feels like you trust Ortiz's bat a bit more than Cowser's.  Am I reading that correctly?   

 

 

I'll have more in their prospect profiles coming out soon, but Cowser impacts the ball better and has more power and the ability to take walks, but he's got some orange flags starting to show up when it comes to hitting upper velocity. I hoping it's a swing adjustment that can be made and not bat speed. 

Ortiz hits the ball hard but does not backspin the ball very much so there's not going to be a ton of home run power despite some average pop, but he will collect a lot of doubles. He doesn't draw many walks so his OBP will be average dependent. 

You can pick which one you like better. They are very close to me as prospects.

 

[Tony-OH]

12 hours ago, connja said:

Surprised nobody talking about Bradfield.  A chance he is our starting CF by end of the year.

Maybe because he hasn't had any real success above Low-A ball yet? 

I'd be very surprised if he hits enough next season to be in Baltimore by the end of the year. It would take him really taking huge steps forward with the bat, but also several injuries for that to happen. 

I'd say there's a better chance of him being in Baltimore in 2025 if he really impresses next season.

[Tony-OH]

51 minutes ago, AlbNYfan said:

The O's won 101 games this year and no playoff games. How many teams have won 100+ games and turn over their rosters to the extent suggested here?

Who suggested that there is some giant need to turn over the roster significantly? The OP was just pointing out the players that are ready in 2024 to contribute to a major league team.

At no point was I suggesting all of these guys should be on the Orioles this year.

This post was to show that Elias has a lot of different options this offseason to shape has 2024 roster not to suggest all of these "ready" players will be on the roster on opening day.

[sportsfan8703]

33 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

It basically is the same team, especially when you consider who was getting the playing time at the end of the year.

You are basically saying to not get anyone from outside the org except another Gibson clone and a replacement for Bautista..that’s it. You aren’t making any other outside the org additions.

It’s a scary thought, but it’s the depth like the players mentioned in this post that will up us avoid regression, especially if we have injuries. We’re set up really well for a 162 game regular season. It’s just a matter of will Elias pull the trigger enough come trade deadline time for the players to put us over the top?

We gave a lot of ABs to guys like Stowers, Vavra, Cowser, and even Ortiz last year. Those are guys that aren’t projected as everyday players next year, but still have that experience, and ore young enough to improve. All to varying degrees of improvement. Vavra is probably our 7th OF option and 7th 2B option this year. He started some last year.

We lack depth at CF, C, and SP. But we do have Hicks, Irvin, and Basallo. Basallo more of a 25’ option.

I hope we keep all the players in this post. If positive. It’s how you win over 162. These depth/role players are worth more to us than they would bring back in a trade. We don’t need to flip one for single A lotto tickets. We need them in case of Injuries to a 100 win MLB team. 

[Sports Guy]

Been saying this for a while now but when they want to promote these guys and how many rookies they are ok with it is the biggest story of the offseason and the 2024 season in general.

Elias didn’t build all of this talent to sit on it. He has elite, high prospects that every org wants. You can’t wait on these kids and just suppress their development by keeping them in leagues they are too good for but it’s also risky to bring them up when you are trying to win a WS.