2023 Orioles #3 Prospect is Coby Mayo - 3B/1B

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

No way Holliday keeps Mayo in AAA. Mayo is way closer to being ready than Holliday at this stage in their careers. Holliday will be on the Gunnar plan.

You either have an unrealistically poor opinion of Mayo or don't understand where these two players are in their development to think Mayo is not coming until 31 August because Holliday is going to be starting at 2B. 

I will be totally and utterly shocked if Holliday is starting at 2B on opening day or even before June. I think the Orioles want to get him as many reps as possible at shortstop and that will be done in AAA.

I think the O’s haven’t made up their mind and will decide after we see what happens in spring training.  I thought it was interesting that in the MLB Pipeline poll about who would win Rookie of the Year, Holliday came in second.  So obviously, there’s a lot of MLB execs who don’t share your opinion that the O’s will wait until the last month to call up Holliday.   

It seems like lots of people here have strong opinions about what will happen with Holliday, but I think it’s up in the air.

 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

I think the O’s haven’t made up their mind and will decide after we see what happens in spring training.  I thought it was interesting that in the MLB Pipeline poll about who would win Rookie of the Year, Holliday came in second.  So obviously, there’s a lot of MLB execs who don’t share your opinion that the O’s will wait until the last month to call up Holliday.   

It seems like lots of people here have strong opinions about what will happen with Holliday, but I think it’s up in the air.

 

He also made the Top 10 Shortstops Right Now list complied by Mike Petriello.

[Tony-OH]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think the O’s haven’t made up their mind and will decide after we see what happens in spring training.  I thought it was interesting that in the MLB Pipeline poll about who would win Rookie of the Year, Holliday came in second.  So obviously, there’s a lot of MLB execs who don’t share your opinion that the O’s will wait until the last month to call up Holliday.   

It seems like lots of people here have strong opinions about what will happen with Holliday, but I think it’s up in the air.

 

The Orioles would be dumb to start the clock on a kid who has a lot more develop to do physically and defensively when they already have solid choices that are more major league ready on their 40-man roster.

I also think "executives" give about two seconds of thoughts into polls about players on other teams so that holds no weight.

It's fine that people think it's up in the air, and I heard with Elias said, but i also heard what Blood said and that makes a lot more sense. Personally I think Elias said what he said about Holliday was to show teams that Westburg and Ortiz are definitely available. 

Elias is a smart guy who is very media savvy. he has no reason to pump up Holliday to potentially start 2024 with the Orioles unless theirs an ulterior motive. 

Now, he's been quiet on Mayo and we've heard rumblings from Roch that the team may want to give him a look in RF, which makes sense. Now, what happens with Ortiz and Westburg over the next 5-6 weeks is what really could affect this entire situation. 

I could be wrong, as it won't be the first time, but I just don't see Holliday jumping Mayo on the promotion pecking order unless there is a whole at 2B that needs a filling. I think Urias plays 2B over Holliday just because I don't see them starting his clock at 20-years old unless he shows up and looks like the best player on the field. 

I think if the Orioles can get two years between when they'll need to pay Gunnar and Holliday, they'd prefer that. Sure, the needs of the team because of injuries could change all that, but I would be surprised if Holliday is promoted before Mayo.

[Brooks The Great]

I think Tony is 100% correct on Holliday not having a chance to make the OD roster. 

It would be completely out of line with Elias's MO for him to bring Holliday north with the team. Elias has blocked elite prospects such as Jordan Westburg and Joey Ortiz with total scrubs in Adam Frazier and Rougned Odor (along with Jorge Mateo and Ramon Urias getting playing time the past 2 seasons as well).

Now that Frazier is gone and Mateo has had his playing time appropriately scaled back, Westburg and Ortiz are finally going to get a chance to get playing time to show what they can do. If Elias was willing to keep Westburg and Ortiz in the minors or on the major league bench for Odor and Frazier, he'll definitely have no problem keeping Holliday down an extra few months now that he has young, talented middle infielders to plug in at 2B and a surplus of MIs overall (plus Mayo close at 3B or 1B). 

When you consider that Elias would also be delaying starting Holliday's service time clock and giving him more reps at SS and 2B defensively by keeping him in the minors for a few months longer, it becomes an even more clear-cut decision.

It would take 2 or 3 injuries to middle infielders AND Jackson playing well in spring training for him to make the team for Opening Day.

Edited January 15 by Brooks The Great

[RZNJ]

4 hours ago, Brooks The Great said:

I think Tony is 100% correct on Holliday not having a chance to make the OD roster. 

It would be completely out of line with Elias's MO for him to bring Holliday north with the team. Elias has blocked elite prospects such as Jordan Westburg and Joey Ortiz with total scrubs in Adam Frazier and Rougned Odor (along with Jorge Mateo and Ramon Urias getting playing time the past 2 seasons as well).

Now that Frazier is gone and Mateo has had his playing time appropriately scaled back, Westburg and Ortiz are finally going to get a chance to get playing time to show what they can do. If Elias was willing to keep Westburg and Ortiz in the minors or on the major league bench for Odor and Frazier, he'll definitely have no problem keeping Holliday down an extra few months now that he has young, talented middle infielders to plug in at 2B and a surplus of MIs overall (plus Mayo close at 3B or 1B). 

When you consider that Elias would also be delaying starting Holliday's service time clock and giving him more reps at SS and 2B defensively by keeping him in the minors for a few months longer, it becomes an even more clear-cut decision.

It would take 2 or 3 injuries to middle infielders AND Jackson playing well in spring training for him to make the team for Opening Day.

Elias didn’t try to delay GRod’s service clock.  Just saying.

[Sports Guy]

5 hours ago, Brooks The Great said:

I think Tony is 100% correct on Holliday not having a chance to make the OD roster. 

It would be completely out of line with Elias's MO for him to bring Holliday north with the team. Elias has blocked elite prospects such as Jordan Westburg and Joey Ortiz with total scrubs in Adam Frazier and Rougned Odor (along with Jorge Mateo and Ramon Urias getting playing time the past 2 seasons as well).

Now that Frazier is gone and Mateo has had his playing time appropriately scaled back, Westburg and Ortiz are finally going to get a chance to get playing time to show what they can do. If Elias was willing to keep Westburg and Ortiz in the minors or on the major league bench for Odor and Frazier, he'll definitely have no problem keeping Holliday down an extra few months now that he has young, talented middle infielders to plug in at 2B and a surplus of MIs overall (plus Mayo close at 3B or 1B). 

When you consider that Elias would also be delaying starting Holliday's service time clock and giving him more reps at SS and 2B defensively by keeping him in the minors for a few months longer, it becomes an even more clear-cut decision.

It would take 2 or 3 injuries to middle infielders AND Jackson playing well in spring training for him to make the team for Opening Day.

If I would have told you this time last year that Holliday was going to go through all the levels of the minors and end up with a good amount of at bats in AAA, you would have said that wasn’t Elias’ MO.

Sometimes players are just exceptions to rules.

I don’t expect Holliday to be on the OD roster because the extra year is valuable especially since he’s a Boras guy BUT I wouldn’t say there’s no chance.  They likely do need to make a trade for that chance to increase though.

[Brooks The Great]

11 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Elias didn’t try to delay GRod’s service clock.  Just saying.

He obviously got injured in 2022, so he was originally scheduled to debut late in the 2022 season, similarly to Gunnar.

Elias also games the chances for an extra draft pick for AL ROY award, which is another strategic angle at play with Holliday. Both Gunnar and Grayson were planned to be promoted late enough in 2022 so they could still maintain rookie eligibility for 2023. So that's one reason that G-Rod was placed on the OD roster in 2023. Not only was he ready to face MLB hitters, but he gave the team an extra chance for ROY draft pick compensation.

Jackson isn't ready to compete for AL ROY this season. His power just isn't there yet. But if he's promoted late enough in 2024... guess what, he's eligible for the 2025 ROY award, when he'll be more physically developed to tap into more game power. The draft pick consideration is another reason I'm confident Jackson won't be on the OD roster, and why he'll be treated similarly to how Gunnar was.

[Just Regular]

4 hours ago, Brooks The Great said:

Elias also games the chances for an extra draft pick for AL ROY award, which is another strategic angle at play with Holliday. Both Gunnar and Grayson were planned to be promoted late enough in 2022 so they could still maintain rookie eligibility for 2023. So that's one reason that G-Rod was placed on the OD roster in 2023. Not only was he ready to face MLB hitters, but he gave the team an extra chance for ROY draft pick compensation.

Don't forget Grayson lost the SP5 competition last spring in camp.    He got optioned to and pitched a game for Norfolk - his opportunity to throw the 6th game of the 2023 season arose when Bradish got beelined in the 4th game of the season.

https://www.mlb.com/news/grayson-rodriguez-orioles-callup