My biggest fear for 2024

[ChuckS]

No significant trades are made.

Mateo, Urias, Mountcastle, and O’Hearn all make the big league roster. 

Hyde, who has shown a tendency to ride-out players with tenure regardless of their performance, continues to give the above guys significant playing time for much of the season.

Ortiz, Norby, Cowser, and Kjerstad rot in  Triple A or get buried on the bench in Baltimore.  

Mayo and Holliday arrivals are further delayed. 

How likely is this all to happen?

[Pickles]

What if all this happens and the team still wins 95 games?

[ChuckS]

2 minutes ago, Pickles said:

What if all this happens and the team still wins 95 games?

Well, first off they would have likely won more games. 

But my key takeaway would be that they are wasting the fruits of the the number one farm system in baseball. 

[Pickles]

Just now, ChuckS said:

Well, first off they would have likely won more games. 

But my key takeaway would be that they are wasting the fruits of the the number one farm system in baseball. 

Is it a waste though if you're winning 95 games?  Isn't that the point of having a good farm system?  Winning games?

[ChuckS]

3 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Is it a waste though if you're winning 95 games?  Isn't that the point of having a good farm system?  Winning games?

I think I already answered that question. 

By your reasoning, simply winning 95 games, would be justification for poor roster management. 

[Pickles]

3 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

I think I already answered that question. 

By your reasoning, simply winning 95 games, would be justification for poor roster management. 

How poor could the roster management be if it resulted in 95 wins?

[wildcard]

Very unlikely.   This will be a transition year.   Some changes by opening day but more as the season goes on is my bet.

Edited January 19 by wildcard

[ChuckS]

1 minute ago, Pickles said:

How poor could the roster management be if it resulted in 95 wins?

It could be pretty poor if there was potential for 100-105 wins otherwise.  

Anyway, my OP asked how likely all this was to happen.  I didn't ask what number of wins would make you blindly satisfied with roster construction and management. 

[ChuckS]

2 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Very unlikely.   This will be a transition year.   Some changes by opening day but more as the season goes on is my bet.

How often do major trades happen between OD and the end of July? 

Or are you suggesting Hyde will see the light, and have a quick hook for underperforming vets in favor of giving high upside rookies a chance to play?

[Moose Milligan]

I’ve said it before a few dozen times here but this thread is a good example:

If the Orioles won the World Series in 5 games some people here would be upset that it wasn’t won in 4. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

54 minutes ago, Pickles said:

What if all this happens and the team still wins 95 games?

That's the thing. Elias has built up the entire organization that even without getting a couple more pitchers the Orioles can still win 90+ games and make a playoff run. Ideally they should try to get a veteran starting pitcher to anchor the rotation and another reliever, but not doing so doesn't mean mediocre season.

My biggest fear is in another 12 months the Angelos family still owns the team and none of the younger players have been signed to early contract extensions.

[NCRaven]

12 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I’ve said it before a few dozen times here but this thread is a good example:

If the Orioles won the World Series in 5 games some people here would be upset that it wasn’t won in 4. 

And we’d cuss Angelo’s.  If only we’d paid Montgomery, we’d have swept damnit!

[Pickles]

18 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I’ve said it before a few dozen times here but this thread is a good example:

If the Orioles won the World Series in 5 games some people here would be upset that it wasn’t won in 4. 

It's been said before: The longest thread on the board in 2014 was an explicit call to tear the team down and rebuild.

The longest thread in 2023 was about how stupid the FO was for having signed Adam Frazier.

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, Pickles said:

It's been said before: The longest thread on the board in 2014 was an explicit call to tear the team down and rebuild.

The longest thread in 2023 was about how stupid the FO was for having signed Adam Frazier.

Right on.

[jamalshw]

1 hour ago, Pickles said:

What if all this happens and the team still wins 95 games?

That really depends. If they still win 95 games, that's great for the regular season, but how are they positioned for the playoffs. Obviously, the playoffs are always some level of a crapshoot, but you can stack the deck in your favor. If all that happens, but the Orioles add a top starter and a lockdown bullpen piece at the deadline with some of the prospect surplus, it really doesn't matter. 

If all that happens, they basically stand pat or make minor tweaks at the deadline and go into the playoffs with Mateo and Urias and company getting most of the starts and the prospects lounging in AAA, I do think it's a bit of an issue. 

Honestly, if the Orioles make the postseason and are out in 3 games again, I will be disappointed in the 2024 season whereas, the 2023 season was a huge success.