TT: This is who the Orioles are right now (23-27 in last 50 games)

[LookitsPuck]

This team most likely will miss the playoffs. Elias didn’t make the right moves at the deadline going for quantity and not quality to patch a massive problem that the O’s have.

[Aristotelian]

2 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

This team most likely will miss the playoffs. Elias didn’t make the right moves at the deadline going for quantity and not quality to patch a massive problem that the O’s have.

If by most likely you mean <3%, i.e. statistically insignificant chance

[LookitsPuck]

1 hour ago, now said:

Agree the bullpen is our achilles heel. If only it were that easy to stock it with good, reliable hired guns. Some research could prove me wrong, but my sense is that bullpens are by far the most unpredictable, variable, inconsistent components of a team, year to year and over shorter spans. Is there even much of a correlation between reliever performance and salary, draft number, past performance, organizational approach, or any other metric? Throw in injuries and you're back to square one. A good bullpen is baseball's secret sauce, but the recipe remains mysterious. 

Aside from Kimbrel, it looks like Elias didn’t even try. He spends too much time trying to be the smartest guy in the room with waiver claims. He relied on everybody from last year but being down Felix and adding Kimbrel…that sucks. 

[LookitsPuck]

3 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

If by most likely you mean <3%, i.e. statistically insignificant chance

The vibes are off and the Sox are quickly gaining by getting healthier. They’re the better team, tbh. Twins, Royals are on their heels. 

[webbrick2010]

Perhaps we limp into the playoffs, I don't really care.

the question is what is the path to fixing 2025

We need  minimum two starters, two quality relievers, and a high OBP position player (preferably a RH hitting CF'er)

I'm afraid this team is locked into several years of fringe championship quality without ever being a true WS favorite.

[survivedc]

2 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

Aside from Kimbrel, it looks like Elias didn’t even try. He spends too much time trying to be the smartest guy in the room with waiver claims. He relied on everybody from last year but being down Felix and adding Kimbrel…that sucks. 

It’s true that more should have been added to the bullpen to get the team through the season. But with some injury returns, the playoff bullpen could consist of: Kimbrel, Cano, Domínguez, Coulombe and Webb. It’s not lights out, sure, but that is a very competitive group. 

[LookitsPuck]

2 minutes ago, survivedc said:

It’s true that more should have been added to the bullpen to get the team through the season. But with some injury returns, the playoff bullpen could consist of: Kimbrel, Cano, Domínguez, Coulombe and Webb. It’s not lights out, sure, but that is a very competitive group. 

Kimbrel isn’t competitive with the diminished velocity and control. When he was pitching better earlier in the year his fastball was 2-3 mph faster.

[royalstillman]

Until this organization can figure out how to acquire and develop pitching, I don't see a ring in the near future. And what has Chris Holt been up to? I haven't heard his name mentioned all year.

 

[vab]

I'm just staying in the "Just gotta get it right by October" mode, I don't care about the division. They just have to keep grinding, keep mixing and matching, keep working on roles for these new pieces they're trying to incorporate and get some of these injured key pieces back. 

[survivedc]

7 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

The vibes are off and the Sox are quickly gaining by getting healthier. They’re the better team, tbh. Twins, Royals are on their heels. 

Might be worth noting the Sox are 12-15 since the ASB, the O’s are 14-14. We must have different definitions of “quickly gaining.”

[LookitsPuck]

Just now, survivedc said:

Might be worth noting the Sox are 12-15 since the ASB, the O’s are 14-14. We must have different definitions of “quickly gaining.”

Who has the higher upside? The Sox got back a number of key pieces. 

[andymax]

We just saw a team limp into the playoffs and win it all last year. The vibes in TX last year were real bad before that first wildcard series. Just get there and get hot, hopefully after re-adding Westy, Coulombe, GRod, and hey who knows, Felix???

[survivedc]

4 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

Who has the higher upside? The Sox got back a number of key pieces. 

Higher upside? I’d say the team that has been 20 games over .500 since June, that has a CY Young winner, an MVP candidate and another guy 2nd in the league in home runs. 

[Aristotelian]

23 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

The vibes are off and the Sox are quickly gaining by getting healthier. They’re the better team, tbh. Twins, Royals are on their heels. 

If you actually have any conviction behind this ludicrous statement you could make a ton of money from a prop bet right now. The odds are massively in your favor.

[accinfo]

1 hour ago, HowAboutThat said:

 

Wells never pitched at all this season, Means only pitched 20 innings(excellent innings, but only 20) Bradish only pitched 43. Losing them was bad, but we never really had them anyway, so their loss doesn’t really affect on-field performance.

 

Bradish was fourth in the Cy Young last year and pitched 168 innings with a 2.83 ERA.  Wells pitched 118 innings with a 3.64.  We had them last year and counted on having them this year.  It is a very not smart statement to say their loss does’t affect the on-field performance.   The also counted on Means who was their best pitcher not to have to have a second Tommy John in 3 years.  You just don’t wave a magic wand to replace players like that.