Holliday called up!

[Aristotelian]

By the way, Texas is gonna look awfully bad here if they lose two years of service time of elite players and come out with nothing to show for it. Holliday/Cowser vs Carter/Langford is going to be a great battle. 

[RZNJ]

5 minutes ago, Rbiggs2525 said:

What if they sent him down and IL? Like he needed rehab AB’s.

If he’s on the IL it counts as service time. Period.   They would have to option him to the minors to manipulate the service time.

[milbest77]

This is exciting and all, but I just really hope it’s Elias’ decision and his alone. Not new ownership wanting to spark attendance this weekend.

[DirtyBird]

11 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Urias and Westburg hit in ST so they made the team.

After 10 games Elias was tired of Urias, Westburg and Kemp not hitting while Holliday hit for over a 1.000 OPS at AAA.

That is all it took to make the move.

History repeats its self.  Elias optioned Irvin on April 14th last year because he was pitching poorly.

Westburg has an xBA or .265

Kemps is .142 and Urias .155. I don't think Westburg's performance has anything to do with the promotion.

[Ohfan67]

3 minutes ago, E-D-D-I-E said:

IMO, this is a terrible move. (Worse then Kemp. Worse then sitting Cowser.)

There is ZERO chance I would bring up a Boras client with his potential, ahead of the service time window. ZERO.

Betting on Holliday to win ROY is a nice sentiment, but it is FAR from a sure thing. We will ALL be crying about this in 6 years. 5 if they trade him for his earning power.

Too many what if’s to worry about this IMO. 2024 World Series run >>> than hypothetical five or six years from now. The Orioles may suck in five years and be on the verge of another round of rebuilding. The Orioles may be super glad to trade Holliday at that point. But we know they don’t suck right now and have a lot of young talent to integrate into the team and important roster decisions to make in the next year or so. Heck Boras might drop dead from a heart attack by then or retire. Way too many variables at play that far out. Just my two cents. 

[RZNJ]

4 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm sure that Dad can hook him up with the stuff that doesn't show up on tests.

Probably.  I always suspected Matt Holliday.  He OPS under .768 in AA, repeated AA and  OPS .708.  Career at a crossroads.  Next year he took off.   Built like a truck.

Edited April 10 by RZNJ

[ChuckS]

The overlooked possibility here, is that Elias came to the realization that he made a mistake sending Holliday down given some of the IF options on the roster (Mateo, Urias, and Kemp notably) and made a sudden decision to promote Holliday. 

That won't be provable either way.  The Elias can do no wrong crowd, will say this was the plan all along and point to the fact that there is no corresponding IL move.  Although it's not a great look to dump a guy (Kemp) after two weeks who you just signed to a guaranteed 1 mil deal. 

Ideally, Westburg is healthy and the regular lineup for the foreseeable future will have him at 3B, Gunnar at SS, and Holliday at 2B. 

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

By the way, Texas is gonna look awfully bad here if they lose two years of service time of elite players and come out with nothing to show for it. Holliday/Cowser vs Carter/Langford is going to be a great battle. 

Look bad to whom?

Guys sitting at their computers in their living rooms?

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Probably.  I always suspected Matt Holliday.  He OPS under .768 in AA, repeated AA and  OPS .708.  Career at a crossroads.  Next year he took off.   Built like a truck.

As long as they don't get caught, I don't care.

Too many guys used and got away with it for me to worry about the integrity of the game.

[RZNJ]

3 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

The overlooked possibility here, is that Elias came to the realization that he made a mistake sending Holliday down given some of the IF options on the roster (Mateo, Urias, and Kemp notably) and made a sudden decision to promote Holliday. 

That won't be provable either way.  The Elias can do no wrong crowd, will say this was the plan all along and point to the fact that there is no corresponding IL move.  Although it's not a great look to dump a guy (Kemp) after two weeks who you just signed to a guaranteed 1 mil deal. 

Ideally, Westburg is healthy and the regular lineup for the foreseeable future will have him at 3B, Gunnar at SS, and Holliday at 2B. 

I think that’s a plausible scenario but not sure why it turns into the “Mike Elias can do no wrong” spiel.    It’s baseball.  Urias could just as easily gotten off to an unsustainable great start.   If your scenario is correct he went with plan A and is quickly adjusting to plan B while his team has a 6-4 record.

[helloharv]

just bought tickets - Anyone know his jersey number?  I am guessing and hoping it #1  

[interloper]

If no injuries, best guess of why the 2nd game of the series instead of the 1st? Just about him facing one more lefty in the minors with yesterday's Norfolk game? 

[Frobby]

19 minutes ago, dystopia said:

I had to look this up because I thought the 2nd place finisher also got their team some sort of pick, but according to this, the top 3 finishers get their team a pick? I didn’t think that was the case. 
 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/33761266/the-end-mlb-service-manipulation-how-kris-bryant-paved-way-next-kris-bryant

“A new system put in place now rewards teams with extra draft picks if they promote their top prospects on Opening Day. A player who receives a full year of service time and finishes in the top three in Rookie of the Year voting or top five in MVP/Cy Young voting will earn his team an extra draft pick coming after the first round.”

The initial reporting on this was inconsistent and I’m pretty sure ESPN is wrong.  For example, Tristan Casas was on the Red Sox for all of 2023 and finished 3rd in ROY, but the Red Sox are not getting an extra pick.  Spencer Strider was on the Braves got all of 2022 and finished 2nd for ROY, but the Braves didn’t get an extra pick for him.  (They also didn’t get a pick for ROY Michael Harris II, who wasn’t called up until late May.)  So, it’s only the ROY who earns the pick if he’s on the roster for 172+ days.   

By the way, the official document that contains the draft rules is called the Major League Rules.  That document used to be available publicly, but since the new CBA it no longer is.   Very annoying to have to rely on inconsistent third party reports.   But here’s a summary from Baseball America that is consistent with my version: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/prospect-promotion-incentive-rookie-of-the-year-duo-nets-orioles-diamondbacks-draft-picks/

[spleen1015]

33 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

They're going to need all the help they can get to keep pace with NY. I'm glad they're not farting around this season. Mateo hasn't looked bad, so he's not going away. Urias isn't likely to be moved right now so that only leaves Kemp or an injury.

D-Ro brought this up on MLB Central this morning. He said the O's have realized that the Yankees are good and there's no time to screw around if we want to win the division.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, spleen1015 said:

D-Ro brought this up on MLB Central this morning. He said the O's have realized that the Yankees are good and there's no time to screw around if we want to win the division.

I think the Orioles FO knew the Yankees were good.

The only folks I saw dismissing the 2024 Yanks were on this board.