Unconventional Thinking: A Quick Sell Off

[Safelykept]

2 hours ago, Orioles0615 said:

No one imagined losing all these pitchers?

Everyone did once the Bradish and Means injuries were announced. Elias made this mess with lack of pitching depth and now has to dig us out. Everyone knew they needed another starter after Burnes and another relief picther.  

He did bring in Burnes. where does he put all the BP additions, with Danny and Wells not being injured until after the season started?

[Greg Pappas]

12 hours ago, ScGO's said:

Here me out

No one imagined losing all these pitchers and now I see all the suggestions about trading our top prospects for MLB arms and I'm having nightmares that were going to pull a Padres and waste the #1 system by making trigger happy trades

Elias (all of us) may have to accept that we just don't have the pitching to be WS contenders, nor can we justify selling off the system too early to try and rush it after the long rebuild 

We also have the problem of having too many position players including blocked prospects, and it's getting counter productive 

I'd rather sell  for some young pitching than buy MLB arms at the cost of our young guns. Do we trade Burnes for a top 100 pitcher prospect? Mountcastle for Woo? Trade Santander, Hays, Kimbrell, Urias, Mateo, Mullins, and O'hearn for controllable pitching pieces?

Let the young guns finish the season. They still might make playoffs. But overall we are better set for 25 and 26 as we cleared veteran road blocks in exchange for the to ng pitching we lack

In the off-season, sign Burnes and tweak the roster as needed, but overall, our young offense is probably set for years, and now we have pitching depth, Burnes, grod, woo, etc

Not saying they SHOULD do this, but if the slide continues, do they consider it?

 

 

I applaud you for sharing your idea because it was, as you explained, unconventional.  Being a lone voice of (possible) dissent in a crowd is never easy, and subject to few thoughtful replies, with dismissive replies abundant.  You clearly stated that IF the slide continued, you believe your idea has merit, and that you wanted to see what others thought.  You got what you asked for, especially with folks a bit more surly than normal with the recent slump.

With all of that said, even if, over the next 15 games before the trade deadline, we lost 12+, we would still be in the race for the playoffs.  So, I would not 'throw away' the season and begin preparations for 2025>, but instead, I'd fight for it.   I believe giving up on the season by selling off important pieces to our chances for success this season sends the exact wrong message to our young players.  This is a competition.  These young men are competing to win, and management should do what it can to help them achieve success.   And, frankly, in most cases there are bumps on the road to success.  Slumps happen, but unless something catastrophic occurs on the injury front, I'm in it to win it.

[Osornot]

34 minutes ago, Greg Pappas said:

I applaud you for sharing your idea because it was, as you explained, unconventional.  Being a lone voice of (possible) dissent in a crowd is never easy, and subject to few thoughtful replies, with dismissive replies abundant.  You clearly stated that IF the slide continued, you believe your idea has merit, and that you wanted to see what others thought.  You got what you asked for, especially with folks a bit more surly than normal with the recent slump.

With all of that said, even if, over the next 15 games before the trade deadline, we lost 12+, we would still be in the race for the playoffs.  So, I would not 'throw away' the season and begin preparations for 2025>, but instead, I'd fight for it.   I believe giving up on the season by selling off important pieces to our chances for success this season sends the exact wrong message to our young players.  This is a competition.  These young men are competing to win, and management should do what it can to help them achieve success.   And, frankly, in most cases there are bumps on the road to success.  Slumps happen, but unless something catastrophic occurs on the injury front, I'm in it to win it.

Frankly, I enjoyed reading the OP.  It doesn't matter whether I agree or not... or think I know better.  I also agree with Greg's - don't give up on 2024.  

p.s. I must say - when I first saw the thread "How important is this Yankees series, really?" from June I laughed because I want to beat the MFYs in every game, inning, pitch.  Being humiliated is too good for them and they can take their media fans with them    So, in my eyes, this was not knee jerk.

 

[Roll Tide]

5 minutes ago, Osornot said:

Frankly, I enjoyed reading the OP.  It doesn't matter whether I agree or not... or think I know better.  I also agree with Greg's - don't give up on 2024.  

p.s. I must say - when I first saw the thread "How important is this Yankees series, really?" from June I laughed because I want to beat the MFYs in every game, inning, pitch.  Being humiliated is too good for them and they can take their media fans with them    So, in my eyes, this was not knee jerk.

 

It just has a 0% chance of actually happening 

[OriolesUpAndDowns]

Interesting thought experiment and outside the box thinking.  I think you try to make the playoffs with the current group without selling off the big pieces.  Hope to be the team that gets hot at the right time in the playoffs.  

[Fiver6565]

Did this ‘slide’ run to more than four games when I wasn’t paying attention?  It’s a slump, a down period. One that will end soon enough, even if not today or tomorrow. Every team goes through it. 
 

I mean, selling our ace while we’re in first place?  WTF. Can’t we just have nice things NOW and not wait until next year AGAIN?  I get it’s a discussion board and some topics are nothing more than conversation starters, but Yeesh. There is a less than zero chance that happens. 
 

Also Seattle would never trade Woo for Mountie. If they would that wouldn’t even be considered ‘selling’ in the traditional sense anyway, and that trade would probably already be done  

 

[Orioles West]

I agree that the injuries and current roster, despite our pace to match last year’s record, can create some doubt about possible post-season success. 

That said, I don’t ever like giving up on a season — there are only so many chances to make a run in October. 

I’m not saying we stay the course no matter what, but a first place team half-way through the season needs to find ways to improve the roster for 2024, not a sell off and and surrender.

[Fiver6565]

There are below 500 teams that are not considering selling because they know all they have to do is get into the playoffs and anything can happen. We’d have to lose another 20 games in a row to even be at that level. If we were five games above 500 then this OP would have some merit as a ‘what if’ type speculation. But we’re still 20 games over. The idea of selling Burnes and punting on 2024 isn’t a thought experiment or outside the box - it’s just absurd.

You get in, you ride your best five ish pitchers (which includes a really good top two starters, one of the best 1-2 combos in the league) if you have to, and you hope the lineup - one of the best in the league mind you - doesn’t all go cold in the playoffs like it has this week. What else can you ask for? You’re going to sell that opportunity?  

[jabba72]

This slump definitely has me concerned. 8-12 over their last 20, with 4 losses most recent. It's starting to resemble something more. If we just had someone that could step up as a #3, I'd feel alot more confident. The lineup doesn't worry me just the back of the rotation and the bullpen. Maybe every other teams going through it too, I dont know.

[Malike]

I think the OP is an interesting one. Obviously, the O's are a much better team with Burnes on it, but for the sake of the experiment, if they did sell him at the deadline, he'd easily get a massive package in return. He's set to make 10-12 more starts in the regular season, they could probably weather that storm and sneak into the playoffs, but that is where he'd really be missed. 

Burnes would make any true contender probably the odds on favorite, imagine him in the Phillies rotation. Not going to happen, but it's a nice thought experiment.

[blid]

I can see selling some pieces to "reload" and to reset a contending team's window.  I guess you'd hope with good drafting and savvy moves you can keep the window open perpetually, and sometimes that will involve shipping a favorite out.  But if you can make the playoffs, anything can happen.  Even if the O's continue to slide hard, they're still going to be in the hunt for the wild card.  The OP seems to be suggesting raising the white flag, basically, which I think would be malpractice in this situation.

[Three Run Homer]

If we keep losing and fall out of wild card position by the end of July, I would at least entertain this idea.  Burnes would be by far the biggest catch in the market.   I would also consider it if GrayRod got hurt.  

[accinfo]

1 minute ago, Three Run Homer said:

If we keep losing and fall out of wild card position by the end of July, I would at least entertain this idea.  Burnes would be by far the biggest catch in the market.   I would also consider it if GrayRod got hurt.  

They would have to lose just about every game the rest of the month for that to be the case.  I don’t think that is going to happen.

[oriolediehard]

Losing Bradish and Means has really hurt us.  We were unbeatable with those guys.  We are going through what the Yankees went through last year, with all their injuries.  Injuries can kill any team in every sport.

[ScGO's]

16 minutes ago, oriolediehard said:

Losing Bradish and Means has really hurt us.  We were unbeatable with those guys.  We are going through what the Yankees went through last year, with all their injuries.  Injuries can kill any team in every sport.

I suppose this was my point with the opening post: Elias has to assess on whether the unforeseen pitching losses have put us a year back in the rebuild plan (essentially back on pace as I feel we were year ahead)

I hope they figure it out this season, but if we go into next season with 2 less of Kjerstad, Mayo, Basallo and Holliday, I'll be bummed