10 days left in ST. Here are the battles:

[wildcard]

4 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Sorry, but I won’t believe Holliday will be up until I see it.  No Cowser either, unless Mullins starts the year on the IL.  Don’t be surprised if we pick up a reliever ala Coloumbe at the end of ST last year.

5 SP - Burnes, GR, Kremer, Irvin, Wells

8 BP - Kimbrel, Cano, Coloumbe, Perez, Webb, Baumann, Tate, Akin

9 LU 

1. Mullins CF L

2. Adley C S

3. Gunnar SS L

4. Santa RF S

5. Mounty 1B R

6. O’Hearn DH L

7. Hays LF R

8. Westburg 2B R

9. Urias 3B R

4 - Bench 

McCann, Mateo, McKenna, Wong

Moves

- DFA’d Nevin, and Maton

- Wong added to 40 man

- Terehan gets extra money, and a May 1st opt out, to start in AAA

- Holliday to AAA for 10 service clock days at least. 

I don't think Mullins is leading off.  I don't see Wong making the team.

I think Westburg is better at 2B than 3B.  Every time I see Westburg at 3B  I think that Urias and Gunnar are better defensive 3B.

Edited March 16 by wildcard

[Brooks The Great]

1 minute ago, spleen1015 said:

If Wong is on the OD roster, it'll be a worse move than Frazier was last year. Had Westburg played the whole year in the majors, he'd be futher along.

Now we have Holliday and Mayo who deserve a spot long before Wong even gets a sniff. Not to mention Norby. 

Frazier and Odor were worse because Westburg was blocked by both and would have been a significant upgrade to both (Odor only really blocked Westburg for 2 months or so, but it may have made a difference in the Orioles making the playoffs).

Wong won't be playing every day and he won't be blocking anyone, not even Holliday, because Holliday would be getting sent to the minors primarily due to service time considerations.

[oriolediehard]

Albert Suarez was horrible today against Tampa, I hope he gets cut, it was good to see him today so we don't have him implode on the regular season.

[spleen1015]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

I don't think Mullins is leading off.  I don't see Wong making the team.

I like Westburg is better at 2B than 3B.  Every time I see Westburg at 3B  I think that Urias and Gunnar are better defensive 3B.

Westburg at 3B is more about 2B being the best place for Holliday.

[spleen1015]

5 minutes ago, Brooks The Great said:

Frazier and Odor were worse because Westburg was blocked by both and would have been a significant upgrade to both (Odor only really blocked Westburg for 2 months or so, but it may have made a difference in the Orioles making the playoffs).

Wong won't be playing every day and he won't be blocking anyone, not even Holliday, because Holliday would be getting sent to the minors primarily due to service time considerations.

We can both twist it however we need to in order to make it look how we want.

Wong is certainly blocking Holliday. If they truly want to win, Holliday is better than Wong and Urias and that's not even up for question.

If I'm Holliday and they send me down, it's a gurantee that I'll never sign an extension with them. I'm ready. Play me instead of a scrub vet that you didn't even need to sign because me and 2 other guys are ready.

[Aristotelian]

10 minutes ago, Brooks The Great said:

Frazier and Odor were worse because Westburg was blocked by both and would have been a significant upgrade to both (Odor only really blocked Westburg for 2 months or so, but it may have made a difference in the Orioles making the playoffs).

Wong won't be playing every day and he won't be blocking anyone, not even Holliday, because Holliday would be getting sent to the minors primarily due to service time considerations.

What is Wong's role on the team if Westburg is starting vs RHP? As long as Westburg is playing every day, I would rather have a McKenna/Daniel Johnson type bench OF. 

[wildcard]

11 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

Westburg at 3B is more about 2B being the best place for Holliday.

I get that.  But I don't like what I see in Westburg's defense at 3B.  His bat is fine.  I don't have the answers.   Just don't like what I see.

[Too Tall]

36 minutes ago, oriolediehard said:

Albert Suarez was horrible today against Tampa, I hope he gets cut, it was good to see him today so we don't have him implode on the regular season.

Hope you mean "cut" as sent to the minor league camp? The first inning he was dominant. It went downhill after that. He is on a minor league contract. I see him being sent to Norfolk to be converted to a late inning reliever if they don't figure him as a starter. He will not be released because there is no need to do that unless he has an opt out.

[Brooks The Great]

43 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

What is Wong's role on the team if Westburg is starting vs RHP? As long as Westburg is playing every day, I would rather have a McKenna/Daniel Johnson type bench OF. 

He's the backup 2B. He would play very occasionally against RHP.

If the team feels Mateo can play CF adequately as the 3rd/4th CF on the depth chart behind Mullins, Hays, and Cowser, then McKenna gets DFA'd (as he should).

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Irvin changed three of his pitches this off season.  The question if was it for the better.   And the O's have a new pitching coach.

Albert Suárez just had a bad outing and its go time for him. Last 10 games of ST.  He did not help himself.  I was watching.

He looked great his first 1.2 innings.   The TB announcers said he was sitting 95-97.     Bullpen piece but he might have to start at Norfolk.

[RZNJ]

46 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I get that.  But I don't like what I see in Westburg's defense at 3B.  His bat is fine.  I don't have the answers.   Just don't like what I see.

What do you see?

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, oriolediehard said:

Albert Suarez was horrible today against Tampa, I hope he gets cut, it was good to see him today so we don't have him implode on the regular season.

He was lights out in the 5th and 6th, sitting 95-97 (according to the TB announcers) with command.  What a horrible take on your part.

[Brooks The Great]

1 hour ago, spleen1015 said:

We can both twist it however we need to in order to make it look how we want.

Wong is certainly blocking Holliday. If they truly want to win, Holliday is better than Wong and Urias and that's not even up for question.

If I'm Holliday and they send me down, it's a gurantee that I'll never sign an extension with them. I'm ready. Play me instead of a scrub vet that you didn't even need to sign because me and 2 other guys are ready.

I disagree with pretty much everything you said.

No, Wong is not blocking Holliday because Wong would not be playing every day. He'd just be a backup 2B. A bench 2B isn't ever what Holliday's role would be on this team. Wong would be blocking Holliday if the team awarded the starting 2B job to Wong and sent down Holliday as a result. But that's not what would be happening.

WESTBURG is technically blocking Holliday. Urias is also indirectly blocking Holliday, much more so than Wong is. Wong would not be blocking Holliday whatsoever. That's not subjective, that would be the truth if the scenario of Holliday starting the season in AAA winds up occuring.

Sending Holliday back to the minors is a move to win as well, because doing so nets the team an additional season of control which will more easily help the Orioles build a winning roster in that future season. Elias truly wants to win by keeping Holliday down, he's just willing to sacrifice 2 weeks up to a few months in order to do so. It would be a cost-benefit analysis calculation where Elias feels the organization wins by making that decision, if that's the decision he winds up making.

If Holliday gets sent to AAA, that won't be the reason an extension doesn't get signed. 

Edited March 15 by Brooks The Great

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Brooks The Great said:

He's the backup 2B. He would play very occasionally against RHP.

If the team feels Mateo can play CF adequately as the 3rd/4th CF on the depth chart behind Mullins, Hays, and Cowser, then McKenna gets DFA'd (as he should).

Do a lot of teams have separate backups for SS and 2B? That doesn't seem like an actual job. Mateo can play SS with Westburg or Urias moving around. I just don't see what Wong would bring unless you were expecting to play him somewhere. 

As much as we get on McKenna, he really makes perfect sense as a backup to Mullins, and with Mullins' injury history we probably want to have someone giving him plenty of rest even when healthy, and ready to step in when he isn't. McKenna would pair well with Cowser too.

[Brooks The Great]

10 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Do a lot of teams have separate backups for SS and 2B? That doesn't seem like an actual job. Mateo can play SS with Westburg or Urias moving around. I just don't see what Wong would bring unless you were expecting to play him somewhere. 

As much as we get on McKenna, he really makes perfect sense as a backup to Mullins, and with Mullins' injury history we probably want to have someone giving him plenty of rest even when healthy, and ready to step in when he isn't. McKenna would pair well with Cowser too.

It doesn't really matter what other teams do, because very few teams have 3 potential starting infielders (Gunnar, Westburg, Urias) that are all capable of playing 2B, SS, and 3B like the Orioles do. That versatility is what will make it possible for Wong to make the team as a backup 2B specialist, for lack of a better term. Mateo being able to play CF makes McKenna very close to obsolete, especially if Cowser makes the team, which I expect he will.