A look ahead to the 2025 payroll

[Rbiggs2525]

Let Santander and Burnes walk for draft picks. Trade the draft picks for legitimate back end relief help ala Mason Miller. Sign Soto to 10-12 years 500-600 million dollar contract. Trade Mayo or Basallo for legitimate number 2 starter. Sign a veteran starting pitcher. 

[Can_of_corn]

37 minutes ago, Rbiggs2525 said:

Let Santander and Burnes walk for draft picks. Trade the draft picks for legitimate back end relief help ala Mason Miller. Sign Soto to 10-12 years 500-600 million dollar contract. Trade Mayo or Basallo for legitimate number 2 starter. Sign a veteran starting pitcher. 

Can't trade them.

[EddeeEddee]

1 hour ago, LookitsPuck said:

Current ages in parenthesis:

Paul Goldschmidt (37), Pete Alonso (29), Rhys Hoskins (31), Anthony Rizzo (35), Josh Bell (32), Rowdy Tellez (29), Christian Walker (33), Ryan O'Hearn (31), Carlos Santana (38)

Not much quantity.

Not much quantity or quality?  Pete Alonso and Christian Walker are both quite good -- at least on offense.  Walker is a bit older but either would be an upgrade over Mountcastle or O'Hearn.  

[EddeeEddee]

1 hour ago, waroriole said:

Just not a good investment on the list. 

Certainly some upgrades over Mountcastle and O'Hearn.  Unless you think Kjerstad can handle first or Basallo will be ready soon, a shorter term deal and reunion with Christian Walker could be nice.  Pete Alonso would be even better but would be a larger investment I'm guessing.

[waroriole]

1 hour ago, EddeeEddee said:

Certainly some upgrades over Mountcastle and O'Hearn.  Unless you think Kjerstad can handle first or Basallo will be ready soon, a shorter term deal and reunion with Christian Walker could be nice.  Pete Alonso would be even better but would be a larger investment I'm guessing.

I don’t think Alonso would be worth what it would cost. Is Walker really that much better than Mountcastle or what we could expect from Mayo/Kjerstad?

[EddeeEddee]

Walker is definitely an upgrade over Mountcastle.  Walker has cleared an .800 OPS the past three seasons.  Mountcastle has only done it once -- his rookie year.  Plus Mountcastle hasn't even cleared 20 homers since 2022.  Mountcastle is good in a platoon, used against lefties, but otherwise he's fallen off.

Walker is 33, which is a bit of a risk, but which makes me think he could be had on a short term deal.  That said I think the O's will have competition for Walker.  He's one of the most underrated bats in the league.  

If the O's think Kjerstad can play 1B then I think they should maybe go with him and look for a new RF (unless they bring back Santander, which seems more unlikely now).  But I don't know about Kjerstad's glove there.

Mayo's glove at 1B may be even more questionable than Kjerstad's.  Plus Mayo just hasn't shown he's ready with his bat yet.  I'm against assuming guys will figure out how to hit MLB pitching within a presumed timeframe.  Mayo hasn't shown he's there yet.  Let him work his way into the lineup rather than giving him a starting job.  But with him there's also the issue of where his defense plays best, or if it plays anywhere.

[wildcard]

The interesting thing about 1B is Mayo.     Elias keeps pushing Mayo at 3B.   But if Westburg is healthy he is better at 3B.   And they don't seem to play Mayo has much as they could at 1B where he might have a better chance at a regular job.    DH might be his best position.

If Santander leaves, then Kjerstad probably gets an every day spot at RF.   Elias might want to see Kjerstad hit well in RF before he hands over 2B to Holliday.   Too many struggling rookies at the same time is not good for wins.   Mayo is  behind Kjerstad and Holliday IMO in getting a lot of playing time.

However, developing Kjerstad, Holliday and Mayo  are key parts of the O's future no  matter how Elias develops them.

[EddeeEddee]

36 minutes ago, wildcard said:

The interesting thing about 1B is Mayo.     Elias keeps pushing Mayo at 3B.   But if Westburg is healthy he is better at 3B.   And they don't seem to play Mayo has much as they could at 1B where he might have a better chance at a regular job.    DH might be his best position.

If Santander leaves, then Kjerstad probably gets an every day spot at RF.   Elias might want to see Kjerstad hit well in RF before he hands over 2B to Holliday.   Too many struggling rookies at the same time is not good for wins.   Mayo is  behind Kjerstad and Holliday IMO in getting a lot of playing time.

However, developing Kjerstad, Holliday and Mayo  are key parts of the O's future no  matter how Elias develops them.

Interesting that Mayo is playing 1B today against Detroit.

[HowAboutThat]

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Can't trade them.

Arent compensation picks tradable? The picks we traded along with Matusz and the other guy(can’t remember whom it was) were comp picks, weren’t they?

If they are tradable, packaging one or two in a trade for a real reliever would be a great idea.

If they aren’t I hope they consider pitching.

Edited 13 hours ago by HowAboutThat
Typo

[waroriole]

52 minutes ago, EddeeEddee said:

Walker is definitely an upgrade over Mountcastle.  Walker has cleared an .800 OPS the past three seasons.  Mountcastle has only done it once -- his rookie year.  Plus Mountcastle hasn't even cleared 20 homers since 2022.  Mountcastle is good in a platoon, used against lefties, but otherwise he's fallen off.

Walker is 33, which is a bit of a risk, but which makes me think he could be had on a short term deal.  That said I think the O's will have competition for Walker.  He's one of the most underrated bats in the league.  

If the O's think Kjerstad can play 1B then I think they should maybe go with him and look for a new RF (unless they bring back Santander, which seems more unlikely now).  But I don't know about Kjerstad's glove there.

Mayo's glove at 1B may be even more questionable than Kjerstad's.  Plus Mayo just hasn't shown he's ready with his bat yet.  I'm against assuming guys will figure out how to hit MLB pitching within a presumed timeframe.  Mayo hasn't shown he's there yet.  Let him work his way into the lineup rather than giving him a starting job.  But with him there's also the issue of where his defense plays best, or if it plays anywhere.

Do 33 y/o 1B generally improve or maintain their .830ish OPS as they age? Is Walker at 4/90 or 3/70 better than Mountcastle? 

[LookitsPuck]

57 minutes ago, wildcard said:

The interesting thing about 1B is Mayo.     Elias keeps pushing Mayo at 3B.   But if Westburg is healthy he is better at 3B.   And they don't seem to play Mayo has much as they could at 1B where he might have a better chance at a regular job.    DH might be his best position.

If Santander leaves, then Kjerstad probably gets an every day spot at RF.   Elias might want to see Kjerstad hit well in RF before he hands over 2B to Holliday.   Too many struggling rookies at the same time is not good for wins.   Mayo is  behind Kjerstad and Holliday IMO in getting a lot of playing time.

However, developing Kjerstad, Holliday and Mayo  are key parts of the O's future no  matter how Elias develops them.

I reckon Mounty’s issues were very similar to Mancini’s: Waltimore.

Theres no guarantee that it wouldn’t be an issue for Walker as he’s also a righty.

[EddeeEddee]

6 minutes ago, waroriole said:

Do 33 y/o 1B generally improve or maintain their .830ish OPS as they age? Is Walker at 4/90 or 3/70 better than Mountcastle? 

Every player is different.  Walker in his early 30s is better than Mountcastle in his late 20s.  In fact Walker in his early 30s is probably better than himself in his late 20s.  And I doubt Walker gets a 4 year deal -- but then again maybe he does if a big market team badly needs a 1B bat.  

I'm not saying the O's must sign a FA first baseman, but if they think they should then Walker is a good choice imo on a 2 or 3 year deal.  Someone like Alonso will be much more expensive if they want to go that route, and I doubt the O's have a shot at him anyway.  

I like Mountcastle, but until he proves otherwise I think he's looking more and more like a platoon hitter -- which means you need another player to play 1B the majority of the time.  

If Kjerstad is a first baseman for next season, then the O's could go out and sign a RF instead.  But if Kjerstad is in RF or at DH, then the O's are stuck with Mountcastle/O'Hearn there again until Basallo is ready.  That is unless Mayo's glove can play there -- if and when Mayo starts to hit next season.  Mountcastle could be better next season than this year, but he could be worse too.  Who knows?

One idea is for Mountcastle to replace Hays/Slater in LF (or maybe RF) against lefties.  But Mountcastle is not quite the OF glove those guys are.

I like the idea of Kjerstad at 1B, but I have no idea how good he is there honestly.    

 

[OsFanInOhio]

4 hours ago, HowAboutThat said:

Arent compensation picks tradable? The picks we traded along with Matusz and the other guy(can’t remember whom it was) were comp picks, weren’t they?

If they are tradable, packaging one or two in a trade for a real reliever would be a great idea.

If they aren’t I hope they consider pitching.

We traded our comp a pick as part of the package for Burnes. So I think the answer is yes unless qualifying offer comp picks are different than the market size competitive balance picks. 

[HowAboutThat]

21 minutes ago, OsFanInOhio said:

We traded our comp a pick as part of the package for Burnes. So I think the answer is yes unless qualifying offer comp picks are different than the market size competitive balance picks. 

That’s what I thought, I think the only picks that can’t be traded are the regular picks.

I know we’re going to have three early picks, our own, in the low 20s, and the two QO picks, and if Cowser wins rookie of the year, we will have four, but I don’t know where they would be. I think the compensation pics are after the first round? So those other three picks would be between 30 and 50 perhaps?

Regardless, they’ll probably be high enough to get somebody worthwhile.
But we can start yelling about that next May

[O's84]

14 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I'm prepared for Soto to get a WOW offer from us!

Be on the lookout for him at a Ravens game.

The Classics never die.