Where are the pollyannas?

[SteveO]

6 minutes ago, Hallas said:

I wonder what Burnes is going to get. The market for them seems so volatile year to year.  Snell didn't get paid after winning a Cy.

 

I have a feeling he's going to be more affordable than expected. 

Burnes game will play anywhere. He can go deep with far more consistency than Snell. Snell’s issue is that you have to have the bullpen to match up with him because on average you will be lucky to get 6 out of the dude. He is Uber talented but if you don’t have a pen who can hold a lead he is wasted. 

Not sure if Burnes will be more affordable than expected. He has that comfortable, traditional Ace profile and has shown good durability. That is a set of traits a lot teams can talk themselves into splurging on 

[Aristotelian]

I view Burnes similar to Nelson Cruz. I'd love to have him back but I know it will take a massive overpay relative to his future value. It will probably cripple us in the future but the first few years would be fun. 

[gshepherd7]

11 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

Blake Snell is an FA. So is our own Corbin Burnes.

Here are some other FAs - Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, Nathan Eovalidi, (possibly) Gerrit Cole, Rhys Hoskins,Marcell Ozuna, Max Fried, Ryan Pressly, Shane Bieber, Willy Adames, Justin Turner, David Robertson, Christian Walker, Walker Buehler, Tanner Scott, Freddy Peralta, Jurickson Profar and of course Juan Soto. Just to name some of the guys who may be able to help us.

**These names are all according to spotrac.**

Hmm…I’d take Snell and Eovaldi. Injuries would be a concern but they would be excellent in the postseason. Give me a reunion with Walker at 1st base. Trade Mountcastle for a bullpen piece. Obviously need some other moves like backup catcher, etc. but these would be great major additions assuming the checkbook is open. 

[EddeeEddee]

4 minutes ago, Barnaby Graves said:

Hitting, defense, and offensive depth were three of the things I was least worried about going into the season and then by the end of it, they were all I could think about.  I'm a lot more skeptical of the coaching than I usually am when things are going wrong.  The team seemed to completely lose focus, took a ton of poor hitting approaches.  I think a very young team is great but they needed something or someone to make them gel and keep a competitive spirit.

And that's why, I'm calling it now, our biggest offseason signing will be bench coach Michael Jordan.

Wow, pretty persuasive.  For now, without any journalism or anecdotal evidence to support it,  I'm maybe inclined to agree with you.  It's interesting you say you're more skeptical of the coaching in this team's case than in most cases when things go wrong -- in this case the hitting.  I think we'd all like to hope that one or two coaching fixes will make everything alright next season.  

But I also wonder if there was an arrogance or overconfidence to the hitting approach just because the young hitters are so highly thought of.  And I wonder if this is more than just on the coaches -- but an overall culture problem with the Orioles, including the players.  Not saying this is the case because I am not someone in the know -- just a gut feeling.  

[SteveO]

2 minutes ago, gshepherd7 said:

Hmm…I’d take Snell and Eovaldi. Injuries would be a concern but they would be excellent in the postseason. Give me a reunion with Walker at 1st base. Trade Mountcastle for a bullpen piece. Obviously need some other moves like backup catcher, etc. but these would be great major additions assuming the checkbook is open. 

If Burnes can’t be resigned then my next guy is Max Fried. Smell would be interesting but if you sign Snell you better earmark that Eovaldi money to getting the bullpen on lock down because that cat will put crooked numbers but he is only good for 5 or 6 most starts 

[Ohfan67]

2 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I view Burnes similar to Nelson Cruz. I'd love to have him back but I know it will take a massive overpay relative to his future value. It will probably cripple us in the future but the first few years would be fun. 

Except Cruz wasn’t an overpay. He’s the rare older free agent that actually earned his money. By the way, Cruz was the 55th highest paid player when he signed his FA deal after he played for the Orioles. He wasn’t even that expensive. 
 

But that’s just an aside. I understand what you’re saying and your point is valid. I’m just still irked that the Orioles basically punted in that offseason that Cruz walked. I hope they are fiscally brave enough to take the next step and not count on Holliday and Mayo to improve next years team. 

[24fps]

45 minutes ago, Hallas said:

I still think we should make a real push for Soto.  He can be this generation's Frank Robinson.  He's been there, he's only 25 so he has at least 6 years of peak ball left.  Splits don't matter with him because he hits everyone.  We have a hole in at least 1 corner spot.  We can afford him right now despite his price tag because we're not paying anyone.

Completely agree and there's no reason the O's shouldn't be a serious player for Soto.  Him and one top starter and I'm happy.

[Rbiggs2525]

I agree with some of the opening post. I cannot blame Hyde for this team not hitting. I believe it is completely analytical based. Analytics are against singles, walks, hit and run or bunts. 
 

I know we can pick our guy to be upset with but I will go with Tony Taters. Adley hit a single to RF and with the right effort and baserunning he should have been on third base. Don’t have to talk about the terrible AB with the bases loaded. There was another play with the Massey single in the second that rubbed me the wrong way. The ball was hit 73 MPH and landed 250 feet. The RF wall is 325 feet away so how far is he playing back against Michael Massey? Tony did not strike me of a guy giving it everything he had to get to a fly ball. He basically assumed Mullins would get it and jogged in. 

[Cheetos]

Count me in as a Pollyanna!  Truth be told, it’s undeniable we all should be Pollyanna’s and arguing against it could be detrimental to your health.

“Researchers in the UK looked at psychological characteristics of over 8,000 people, and found that those who scored high on optimism and a sense of well-being enjoyed a 30% lower risk of developing heart disease.“

Stay positive, y’all and Go O’s!  Next year will be better, guaranteed!

[Barnaby Graves]

3 minutes ago, EddeeEddee said:

Wow, pretty persuasive.  For now, without any journalism or anecdotal evidence to support it,  I'm maybe inclined to agree with you.  It's interesting you say you're more skeptical of the coaching in this team's case than in most cases when things go wrong -- in this case the hitting.  I think we'd all like to hope that one or two coaching fixes will make everything alright next season.  

But I also wonder if there was an arrogance or overconfidence to the hitting approach just because the young hitters are so highly thought of.  And I wonder if this is more than just on the coaches -- but an overall culture problem with the Orioles, including the players.  Not saying this is the case because I am not someone in the know -- just a gut feeling.  

It seems like the first place to go when a very young team with obvious latent talent just busts like this.  Coaches are supposed to get what they can out of their talent pool, and I think we got much less than we should have.  That extends to the FO which IMO was less than impressive this year.

[Hallas]

3 minutes ago, 24fps said:

Completely agree and there's no reason the O's shouldn't be a serious player for Soto.  Him and one top starter and I'm happy.

Imagine, last offseason we could have gotten both a top hitter and a starter with a single signing!

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Any lineup with Santander, Cowser and Adley batting 3-4-5 isn't going to be that successful. I'm hoping Adley bounces back next season and Cowser improves his sophomore season. But you can't have these low average, high strikeout hitter in the middle of your lineup and expect it to score a lot of runs.

And signing Santander to a long term contract will be a mistake. Instead of signing Santander go get a real MOO bat that I was suggesting to acquire after last season. If Rubenstein wants to get serious about winning he needs to show it by opening his checkbook.

[accinfo]

  My Pollyanna hand is right here.  No one should be fired.  A group of young players had a disappointing end of the season.  Sorry but to call 23 year old Gunnar Henderson a choke artist at this stage in his career is not a fair statement.  If so there are plenty of Hall of Famers who had disappointing early career disappointments.  This team has won 192 games in the last two years much because of Gunnar Henderson.   Winning those 192 games is nothing to write off because of these post season failures.  That is what Yankee fans do.  You have to win those regular season games to reach these games that have become big disappointments.  That is better than most of the last 17 seasons.  John Angelos owned this team up until opening day.  Let's see what this management team can do with a bigger pocket book and this base of young talent who is still young and still talented.  I will also add I think John Harbaugh shouldn’t be fired either.   This has been a disappointing end to the season but you know life is good.  There are people out there with way worse problems than the people here at the Hangout.  

[Rbiggs2525]

1 minute ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Any lineup with Santander, Cowser and Adley batting 3-4-5 isn't going to be that successful. I'm hoping Adley bounces back next season and Cowser improves his sophomore season. But you can't have these low average, high strikeout hitter in the middle of your lineup and expect it to score a lot of runs.

And signing Santander to a long term contract will be a mistake. Instead of signing Santander go get a real MOO bat that I was suggesting to acquire after last season. If Rubenstein wants to get serious about winning he needs to show it by opening his checkbook.

You have to go 3-4-5-6 and add Mountcastle. What a joke that guy is. 

[Bemorewins]

4 minutes ago, Hallas said:

Imagine, last offseason we could have gotten both a top hitter and a starter with a single signing!

For 700 million. Really??

I'm all for advocating that the O's need to spend in aa much more significant way. But I have lived in this community for 30+ years of my life and when you compare even the best areas here to what So Cal has to offer in terms of wealth and opulence, there is simply no comparison. There is no world where we are outbidding the Dodgers for a player like Ohtani, especially when the player wanted to be in southern California.