Wait Till Next Year

[Uli2001]

What are the prospects for this team in 2025?

Burnes is gone. If Bradish and G-Rod come back and are effective, you still need one more starter.

Is Bautista going to be back healthy and effective? Even if he is, this is still a weak bullpen. They need to fix it.

Will Holiday, Mayo and Basallo take the next step?

I think this team will be in the playoffs again. But the truth is that if nothing changes, the results will be the same.

 

[accinfo]

Just now, Uli2001 said:

What are the prospects for this team in 2025?

Burnes is gone. If Bradish and G-Rod come back and are effective, you still need one more starter.

Is Bautista going to be back healthy and effective? Even if he is, this is still a weak bullpen. They need to fix it.

Will Holiday, Mayo and Basallo take the next step?

I think this team will be in the playoffs again. But the truth is that if nothing changes, the results will be the same.

 

Yes you are right.  They should just forfeit the season.

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

17 minutes ago, Uli2001 said:

What are the prospects for this team in 2025?

Burnes is gone. If Bradish and G-Rod come back and are effective, you still need one more starter.

Is Bautista going to be back healthy and effective? Even if he is, this is still a weak bullpen. They need to fix it.

Will Holiday, Mayo and Basallo take the next step?

I think this team will be in the playoffs again. But the truth is that if nothing changes, the results will be the same.

 

I think it’s way too early to know if the results will be the same. I will say, I want to go full youth movement. No more log jams. Let these guys sink or swim and grow together:

CF Mullins 

3B Westburg

C Adley (healthy )

SS Gunnar

LF Cowser

DH O’hearn

RF Kjerstad

2B Holliday

1B Mayo

 

I actually think our bullpen could be quite good and I think we definitely need to sign a top line starter. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Grt 2BA FL Gator

[MDK02]

5 minutes ago, Grt 2BA FL Gator said:

I think it’s way too early to know if the results will be the same. I will say, I want to go full youth movement. No more log jams. Let these guys sink or swim and grow together:

CF Mullins 

2B Westburg

C Adley (healthy )

SS Gunnar

LF Cowser

DH O’hearn

RF Kjerstad

2B Holliday

1B Mayo

 

I actually think our bullpen could be quite good and I think we definitely need to sign a top line starter. 

Who plays 3B? Westburg?

[Spy Fox]

They will be a strong team and probably make the playoffs again. This week's result doesn't change that. 

But, I think there have been some meaningful obstacles thrown at the team's contention window. Adley's collapse, Holliday/Mayo's failed debuts, pitching health struggles, a general thinning of the prospect herd, and now an accelerated "can't win in the playoffs" narrative bomb.  

For an almost two year stretch from summers '22-'24, basically everything except those few games against Texas was coming up roses. Now they are going to have to work through some muck. 

[Baseball fandom]

Or the year after or the year after that or the year after that. 41 years of wait till next year. It may never come. Not with these chokers

[MDK02]

They will have a ton of pressure on them next year if they make the playoffs. They need to somehow just get a win and that should loosen everyone up but that first win will be tough. Next year is a longgg ways away.

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

4 minutes ago, MDK02 said:

Who plays 3B? Westburg?

Yes, sorry, 3B Westburg. Seemed to hold it down pretty good pre injury. 

[Aristotelian]

6 minutes ago, Uli2001 said:

What are the prospects for this team in 2025?

Burnes is gone. If Bradish and G-Rod come back and are effective, you still need one more starter.

Is Bautista going to be back healthy and effective? Even if he is, this is still a weak bullpen. They need to fix it.

Will Holiday, Mayo and Basallo take the next step?

I think this team will be in the playoffs again. But the truth is that if nothing changes, the results will be the same.

 

You didn't mention Eflin coming back. Eflin Grayson Kremer Povich plus Young, McDermott, Rogers, and Suarez... That's really a decent group with depth. I'd love another SP but I have a feeling Eflin is our Burnes replacement. 

The current bullpen plus Bautista would be pretty strong. If Bautista isn't right, then trade for someone else. 

I think the big need is a matchup proof MOO bat. Preferably RHB who gets on base more and strikes out less than Mountcastle. I wonder how many years Christian Walker is looking for? He's no Soto but I think he'd be a better version of Mountcastle (.804, .830, .803 vs .729, .779, .733). Better than Mountcastle defensively as well (13 vs 2 OAA). At 34, we can probably get him for 2-3 years. 

Let Santander walk and replace him with Kjerstad and Mayo platoon, maybe with Slater or another RHB in that role. 

We should not assume that Mayo and Holliday are going to be productive. Hope for the best but plan for the worst. We need to get used to the idea that prospects have risk and don't always pan out the way Gunnar and Adley did. 

[MDK02]

3 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

You didn't mention Eflin coming back. Eflin Grayson Kremer Povich plus Young, McDermott, Rogers, and Suarez... That's really a decent group with depth. I'd love another SP but I have a feeling Eflin is our Burnes replacement. 

The current bullpen plus Bautista would be pretty strong. If Bautista isn't right, then trade for someone else. 

I think the big need is a matchup proof MOO bat. Preferably RHB who gets on base more and strikes out less than Mountcastle. I wonder how many years Christian Walker is looking for? He's no Soto but I think he'd be a better version of Mountcastle (.804, .830, .803 vs .729, .779, .733). Better than Mountcastle defensively as well (13 vs 2 OAA). At 34, we can probably get him for 2-3 years. 

Let Santander walk and replace him with Kjerstad and Mayo platoon, maybe with Slater or another RHB in that role. 

We should not assume that Mayo and Holliday are going to be productive. Hope for the best but plan for the worst. We need to get used to the idea that prospects have risk and don't always pan out the way Gunnar and Adley did. 

I would hope the ownership is going to spend some money on some pitching of some kind and put money into hitters that have a game plan and not just free swinging.

[Uli2001]

7 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

You didn't mention Eflin coming back. Eflin Grayson Kremer Povich plus Young, McDermott, Rogers, and Suarez... That's really a decent group with depth. I'd love another SP but I have a feeling Eflin is our Burnes replacement. 

The current bullpen plus Bautista would be pretty strong. If Bautista isn't right, then trade for someone else. 

I think the big need is a matchup proof MOO bat. Preferably RHB who gets on base more and strikes out less than Mountcastle. I wonder how many years Christian Walker is looking for? He's no Soto but I think he'd be a better version of Mountcastle (.804, .830, .803 vs .729, .779, .733). Better than Mountcastle defensively as well (13 vs 2 OAA). At 34, we can probably get him for 2-3 years. 

Let Santander walk and replace him with Kjerstad and Mayo platoon, maybe with Slater or another RHB in that role. 

We should not assume that Mayo and Holliday are going to be productive. Hope for the best but plan for the worst. We need to get used to the idea that prospects have risk and don't always pan out the way Gunnar and Adley did. 

That's correct, I completely forgot about Eflin. But the Burnes replacement has got to be a healthy Bradish. Eflin is a #2, and GRod #3. But beyond that, who? Means may never be healthy/effective again.

I really think this team could benefit from a new manager and new hitting coaches. Hyde is the man who takes you to the dance, but he's not a dancer.

[Zola]

I am a newcomer to this site but have posted for many years on Camden Chat. Here are my own observations and recommendations for this club:

 

1. The team likely requires new hitting coaches or at least a completely different approach to offense. Players should work the counts much better, hit for contact, and specifically hit for singles and doubles. Home runs will come to this group, but not if they try too hard to get them. The league figured out their uppercut approach by mid-season, but the team did not adjust. Consistently failing to hit in the clutch is failing. Teach the players a can-do spirit. What is strange is that last year's club did all of these things really well. What happened? New batting coaches? Hubris? Home-run mania?

 

3. Put Gunnar Henderson at third base next season. Don't move infielders around. Let's see how Holliday can play at shortstop. We have very good defenders who too often failed to make the routine plays.

 

4. Spend the money required to re-sign Burns. Keep Efllin, Kremer, Povich, and Saurez. If Bradish and Rodriguez return in good form, we will have a formidable starting rotation and great extras in case of injury and for long middle-relief. The bullpen was greatly improved after the trade deadline and will be lights out if Bautista returns in good form.

 

5. Our manager must show tough love the way Earl Weaver used to do. He would tell the players what he saw whether they liked it or not, and that way he got the best effort out of everyone. Everyone was better off that way. Weaver was right about winning championships: the key is great pitching, great defense, and timely, opportunistic hitting (which he called "three-run homers," but he really meant guys who find ways to score runs and make the most of the opportunities given to them.)

 

7. Figure out what happened to clubhouse morale and fix it.

[Yossarian]

Does anyone else get tired of seeing that graphic showing the young Orioles players that came up in the system and their ages?  Show me that graphic when these guys do something.   Right now,  they are average young guys on a team,  just like every team has.  Let's see them accomplish something before we crown them the team of the future. 

Right now,  they are gaining playoff experience at a snail's pace.  And the only thing they have learned in the playoffs so far is how to lose. 

I'm at the point where I want to see the Latin players fast-tracked through the system from the academy to the majors.   At least those Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Venezuelans have some grit and know how to battle.   They know that if they don't fight and play with urgency,  they don't have a job.  They won't be content to just make the playoffs,  they want to win.