Our 'Elite talent pipeline' has thinned, considerably

[survivedc]

4 hours ago, LookinUp said:

At what point do we question the job Koby Perez is doing? Or our pitching development plan? 

Why would we be questioning Perez? He stepped into a very difficult situation with limited history and no facilities, built all that up and has already delivered a top 10 prospect. What do you expect?

[DrungoHazewood]

Remember when the sarcastic line was "who cares about winning the prospect rankings, I thought baseball was all about winning games!"

Well, here we are.

[LookitsPuck]

What Id really like to see is the O’s go meaningfully into legit Japanese stars for once.

[MDtransplant757]

4 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

What Id really like to see is the O’s go meaningfully into legit Japanese stars for once.

Or KBO. 

[Orioles0615]

Good the goal is not to have the best minor league system every year 

[Greg Pappas]

3 hours ago, The Goob said:

Adley - 26, Westburg - 25, Gunnar - 23, Holliday - 20, Mayo - 22, Cowser - 24, Kjerstad - 25

Grayson - 24, Povich - 24, Rodgers - 26, McDermott - 26

All under control for several more years.  The pipeline does not matter as much when you have 3 established All Stars 26 and under, 2 top prospects 22 and under in the majors, 1 solid CF who is 24 and a ready made outfielder in the minor at 25.  At this point you need a free agent pitcher hopefully Burnes and use vets with remaining years of control or other free agents if they are not worth their arbitration estimates to fill out the roster.

Agreed.  This thread is really set up to point out that we can no longer count on the farm to fill positions, as they are mostly filled, offensively that is.  Burnes re-signing would be huge.

[DrungoHazewood]

35 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

What Id really like to see is the O’s go meaningfully into legit Japanese stars for once.

[DrungoHazewood]

31 minutes ago, MDtransplant757 said:

Or KBO. 

[survivedc]

18 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Was he just 50 years too late?

[Jagwar]

I wish Elias had drafted pitching in higher rounds. Maybe he can use a bunch of international cash to sign pitchers?

[Orioles0615]

4 hours ago, The Goob said:

Adley - 26, Westburg - 25, Gunnar - 23, Holliday - 20, Mayo - 22, Cowser - 24, Kjerstad - 25

Grayson - 24, Povich - 24, Rodgers - 26, McDermott - 26

All under control for several more years.  The pipeline does not matter as much when you have 3 established All Stars 26 and under, 2 top prospects 22 and under in the majors, 1 solid CF who is 24 and a ready made outfielder in the minor at 25.  At this point you need a free agent pitcher hopefully Burnes and use vets with remaining years of control or other free agents if they are not worth their arbitration estimates to fill out the roster.

I mean true, but I bet the 2021 White Sox and Blue Jays said this

[Allan Bryant]

17 hours ago, Greg Pappas said:

While this topic has little meaning for the 2024 Orioles, the graduations of Holliday, Mayo, and Kjerstad (despite being back at AAA) has this farm system looking fairly average (or average adjacent LOL).  This is a natural consequence of the excellent job Elias has done in drafting and developing talent.  While Basallo is a beast and among the top ten prospects in baseball, he may be our only Top 100 prospect next season, though it's possible that Bradfield could join that group.  Top 100 lists are not the end all be all, though they do give a nice overview of how the industry views these players compared to their peers.  This is not to say that we are bereft of talent, at all, but much of it appears to be years away from contributing.  

We will not be the top farm system to begin 2025, which in and of itself is a major change.  Perhaps we will find ourselves in the middle of the pack or somewhat better (10th?)?  It's hard to say, but with Rutschman, Gunnar, Westburg, Cowser, Holliday, Mayo, and Kjerstad (temporarily at AAA) up with the O's, Elias has cut the wheat from the shaft, so to speak.  We have the offensive building blocks for a great run over the coming years but must shore up the rotation to take advantage of it.   Regardless, with less top talent available to us on the farm, we may need to find other avenues of talent, such as free agency, to shore up the roster moving forward.  

Thoughts?

Note: Forgive me if someone else has brought this point up in a thread somewhere.  I don't recall it.

Hopefully with possible extra draft picks next July, they work on future class to replenish the farm system . Keep doing what they’ve been doing . Except being more aggressive in free market from this point on ?

[sportsfan8703]

Basallo will be the #2 prospect soon enough according to the dude from Fangraphs. Once Holliday and Wood lose status. 

Mullins is set to leave sometime before OD 2026. So we drafted two CF with our last two 1st rd picks. 

The elite talent graduated to the MLB team. We have elite talent ready to step in our immediate future roles. 

You have to be a top 40 prospect just to crack our lineup.

Prospect Rankings at the time of their promotion,

Gunnar #1

Adley #1

Holliday #1

Cowser #12

Mayo #5-12

Kjerstad #25

Westburg #40

Mountcastle #70ish

That’s every player in our position group.  Basallo is #4.  Soon to be #2.  

 

Edited August 7 by sportsfan8703

[Allan Bryant]

14 hours ago, Frobby said:

I think our competitive balance pick comes at the end of the second round next year.  It alternates each year.   Now if Cowser can just win RoY, we'll be in business!

Frobby, totally  

One question I have for upcoming free agency is…….will the Orioles sign FA players with or without QOs ?   Because MLB will deduct pick(s) if we sign QO FA players .  Like see how Elias navigate this issue 

[sportsfan8703]

16 hours ago, Frobby said:

I think our competitive balance pick comes at the end of the second round next year.  It alternates each year.   Now if Cowser can just win RoY, we'll be in business!

Holliday might steal ROY from him.  I think we'd ok with that.