Elias and Hyde address the media today

[Sammy Seagull]

If the team was serious they would start by finding a new manager. Next year will be the same old BS (I said this in October 2023 and have been proven right, again). 

[Can_of_corn]

33 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

I know you don’t believe in “clutch” or whatever it is named. But as smart as you appear to be, you have to know that it is a biological fact that people respond different in high stress/unusual stressful situations. Some people have the ability to stay calm and focused. And some people panic, become anxiety ridden, lose focus, and their muscles tense up/tighten.

I have no way of knowing whether that happened to any/many of our guys. But we can all agree that something drastically change for players team mid way through the season. And something uncharacteristically negative happened to many of our hitters for much of the second half. Some of these guys went from being first half all stars to much worse in such a short period of time.

I'll agree that some folks don't respond well to stress.

I think that not being able to respond well to stressful situations is going to weed out the vast majority of those individuals before they get to the Majors Leagues.

I think it is very hard to be so supremely talented that you can reach the majors despite wilting under pressure.

[EddeeEddee]

5 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Chance.

The Padres went from one of the worst teams with RISP to one of the best, despite losing maybe the best hitter in the game.

Bryce Harper had an OPS+ of 234 in "late and close" in 2023.  In 2024 it was 84.

Nobody wants to hear this explanation but it could be the correct one.  How do the Tigers suddenly become the hottest team in the AL months after trading away Jack Flaherty and Andrew Chafin -- two of their best performing pitchers? 

Baseball is strange.

[Gurgi]

6 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

If the media asks the right questions, it could be interesting.

This isn't NY.  The media are lame and tame.  

[Fiver6565]

45 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

They can go through all the analyzing they want to (paralysis by analysis). But until they decide to add meaningful talent from outside of the org, I don’t have much confidence that much will change in terms of October results. 

Some of our answers will come organically from inside the org (Holliday, Mayo development, return of Bautista, fixing Adley). However, there are other answers that must come from outside of the org (filling holes and adding talent via FA and/or significant trades).

They've literally done this multiple times.  What makes you think they won't do it again?

[Tony-OH]

Not sure if this has been posted:

[Moose Milligan]

You saw it here first.  Payroll will increase "but will be smart".

Read into that what you will.

 

[Tony-OH]

29 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'll agree that some folks don't respond well to stress.

I think that not being able to respond well to stressful situations is going to weed out the vast majority of those individuals before they get to the Majors Leagues.

I think it is very hard to be so supremely talented that you can reach the majors despite wilting under pressure.

In theory this makes sense, but there varying levels of pressure. You have to admit there's a lot more pressure being in a key moment in the major leagues, especially when the rest of your team has not done much offensively, then it ever was in the minors. 

In the minors they are graded on their at bats, not necessarily the results. In the majors, nobody cares about anything but the results. Different pressure.

[Spy Fox]

31 minutes ago, EddeeEddee said:

Nobody wants to hear this explanation but it could be the correct one.  How do the Tigers suddenly become the hottest team in the AL months after trading away Jack Flaherty and Andrew Chafin -- two of their best performing pitchers? 

Baseball is strange.

My take on the clutch thing is, clutchness/unclutchness can both be real things based on the human factors at hand, and it isn’t all just sequencing luck.

But also 1) A guy’s clutchness can change from month to month and season to season just like a guy might have better or worse barrel rates at different times because of subtle changes in approach. 2) Observers are far too quick to say someone IS clutch/unclutch, definitively, instead of having had a clutch/unclutch performance in a certain window. 3) Other parts of baseball talent are way more predictable and steady than clutchness. So you don’t build your team by chasing what you perceive to be clutchness. 

[foxfield]

32 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

I know you don’t believe in “clutch” or whatever it is named. But as smart as you appear to be, you have to know that it is a biological fact that people respond different in high stress/unusual stressful situations. Some people have the ability to stay calm and focused. And some people panic, become anxiety ridden, lose focus, and their muscles tense up/tighten.

I have no way of knowing whether that happened to any/many of our guys. But we can all agree that something drastically change for players team mid way through the season. And something uncharacteristically negative happened to many of our hitters for much of the second half. Some of these guys went from being first half all stars to much worse in such a short period of time.

I dont mean to use your post...but something uncharacteristically negative happened has me thinking about a question I want to ask but feel it will cause a political storm.  So I am not raising this question to start a debate on an issue, but I am genuinely curious.

What happened to the Orioles sometime in June seemed to be that they no longer were a cohesive unit.  Yes there were injuries.  But injuries can also bring tight groups together.  This group that has seemed tight almost seemed to splinter.  Sure winning is fun and when it stops nothing is as fun.  But it seems like something could have happened that internally split this group apart.  Did it?  Whatever IT would be happened sometime in June before the All Star Break.  Until then things were rolling and Gunnar was raising the question of whether he was having the best season by a SS ever.  

So what started the slide?

Did it start after the Yankee Series in NY after a 17-5 win on June 20 with the Orioles leaving town after taking 2 of 3?  The Orioles went to Houston and lost three straight before returning to Baltimore and losing 2 straight to Cleveland before righting the ship and taking game three.

Then Orioles played well at times after but never again played like a team in command.  So I went back and saw that the Texas series began on 6/27 with an 11-2 game started by Burnes (7 innings 88 Pitches) and included HRs by Mullins, Kjerstad, Rutschman and Cowser and in looking at all of that I saw something that I honestly had completely forgotten about.

On June 27, the Orioles hosted the Rangers and began an MLB sponsored Pride Week.  Not really a bid deal, most all MLB teams and professional teams do.  Like it.  Hate it.  They all do it.  But I also saw the post that Austin Hays put out that same day on instagram.  He didn't say anything specific about the Pride events, he shared a religious point of view that spoke about evil.  The links were not direct, but obvious.  

Cut to today.  The Orioles have never regained the superiority they held over everyone prior to June.  Hays...is gone.  I know he was an obvious trade candidate.  I thought the idea of trading him was fine.  But my question is did the events around Pride Night June 27 somehow cause a fracture in a clubhouse?  

And please I am not saying it did.  I am simply a fan who is stuggling to see what broke.  I mean I see what broke.  But why?  The Red Sox collapse in 2011 had pizza and beer and locker room drama that came out after the fact to explain their epic collapse.  The didn't become excellent chokers magically on Sept 3 with a 9 game lead and then totally miss the playoffs when the Great Andino drove in the final nail. Something broke, it spread and it ate everything.

I just think it is more likely something interpersonal happened in the clubhouse than the franchise approach that was working stopped.  Or that all of MLB found a way to turn Henderson from a player on a 12 WAR pace to one who struggled to field, throw, hit and run.  

So my question to the GM and Manager would be.  Did something happen in mid June that affected the psyche of this team and was it related to the June 27 post by Austin Hays on the first night of Pride Week?  Thank you and I'll take your answer off line.

[oriolediehard]

7 hours ago, waroriole said:

Disappointing that they’re both addressing the media. Doubt we see much change in the team’s approach next season. I’m sure we’ll hear excuses about injuries, and typical generic Hyde speak about what the team needs to do that flies in the face of what they actually do. Keep it up and it might be only Rubenstein addressing the media next year. 

If Elias and company don't much this offseason, we will not finish .500 next year and a wasted year in 2025!!

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, foxfield said:

So my question to the GM and Manager would be.  Did something happen in mid June that affected the psyche of this team and was it related to the June 27 post by Austin Hays on the first night of Pride Week?  Thank you and I'll take your answer off line.

I don't think we can have this discussion and stay within board rules.

I also think we would all be speculating about things we probably shouldn't.

[LGOrioles]

15 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

You saw it here first.  Payroll will increase "but will be smart".

Read into that what you will.

 

Seemed to not side step the question as much as he has in the past.

 

 

[Spy Fox]

12 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

In theory this makes sense, but there varying levels of pressure. You have to admit there's a lot more pressure being in a key moment in the major leagues, especially when the rest of your team has not done much offensively, then it ever was in the minors. 

In the minors they are graded on their at bats, not necessarily the results. In the majors, nobody cares about anything but the results. Different pressure.

In the past I’ve agreed with the “people who can’t handle the pressure don’t make it to MLB” idea. But I think I agree with you here. 

In the majors, you’re not exactly an A list celebrity, but people are taking about you on TV daily. People are taking about you on social media and message boards daily, and you can easily go read a lot of hate if you choose. The fans in the stands know who you are and your story is important to them. The opposing team knows everything possible about you and has meetings to game plan for you. The game is the same, but all of this is stuff that you don’t get until you’re at the highest level and it can surely create sone new mental challenges for at least some guys. 

[Osornot]

6 minutes ago, foxfield said:

I dont mean to use your post...but something uncharacteristically negative happened has me thinking about a question I want to ask but feel it will cause a political storm.  So I am not raising this question to start a debate on an issue, but I am genuinely curious.

What happened to the Orioles sometime in June seemed to be that they no longer were a cohesive unit.  Yes there were injuries.  But injuries can also bring tight groups together.  This group that has seemed tight almost seemed to splinter.  Sure winning is fun and when it stops nothing is as fun.  But it seems like something could have happened that internally split this group apart.  Did it?  Whatever IT would be happened sometime in June before the All Star Break.  Until then things were rolling and Gunnar was raising the question of whether he was having the best season by a SS ever.  

So what started the slide?

Did it start after the Yankee Series in NY after a 17-5 win on June 20 with the Orioles leaving town after taking 2 of 3?  The Orioles went to Houston and lost three straight before returning to Baltimore and losing 2 straight to Cleveland before righting the ship and taking game three.

Then Orioles played well at times after but never again played like a team in command.  So I went back and saw that the Texas series began on 6/27 with an 11-2 game started by Burnes (7 innings 88 Pitches) and included HRs by Mullins, Kjerstad, Rutschman and Cowser and in looking at all of that I saw something that I honestly had completely forgotten about.

On June 27, the Orioles hosted the Rangers and began an MLB sponsored Pride Week.  Not really a bid deal, most all MLB teams and professional teams do.  Like it.  Hate it.  They all do it.  But I also saw the post that Austin Hays put out that same day on instagram.  He didn't say anything specific about the Pride events, he shared a religious point of view that spoke about evil.  The links were not direct, but obvious.  

Cut to today.  The Orioles have never regained the superiority they held over everyone prior to June.  Hays...is gone.  I know he was an obvious trade candidate.  I thought the idea of trading him was fine.  But my question is did the events around Pride Night June 27 somehow cause a fracture in a clubhouse?  

And please I am not saying it did.  I am simply a fan who is stuggling to see what broke.  I mean I see what broke.  But why?  The Red Sox collapse in 2011 had pizza and beer and locker room drama that came out after the fact to explain their epic collapse.  The didn't become excellent chokers magically on Sept 3 with a 9 game lead and then totally miss the playoffs when the Great Andino drove in the final nail. Something broke, it spread and it ate everything.

I just think it is more likely something interpersonal happened in the clubhouse than the franchise approach that was working stopped.  Or that all of MLB found a way to turn Henderson from a player on a 12 WAR pace to one who struggled to field, throw, hit and run.  

So my question to the GM and Manager would be.  Did something happen in mid June that affected the psyche of this team and was it related to the June 27 post by Austin Hays on the first night of Pride Week?  Thank you and I'll take your answer off line.

Snowflakes?  Anyway, if something like this happened Hyde should not be back in 2025.