yeah, i don't mean the current bullpen arms, more that a bunch of our mid-tier starters will end up as decent relievers in the next year or two. i have faith that out of "keegan akin tier" we'll get a handful of good relievers. jorge lopez didn't look bad closing. i think guys like rom and even bradish will end up there and could shine. and fangraphs seems to think hall will end up there and turn into josh hader
it's the rotation i'm worried about
― ✖, Tuesday, 12 April 2022 22:31 (two years ago) link
bradish definitely has filthier stuff than the akin tier...boy, those rodriguez highlights from the night, though. mercy.
― j.q higgins, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 00:59 (two years ago) link
left forearm tightness for our only good starter
― ✖, Thursday, 14 April 2022 01:05 (two years ago) link
would love for the rotation to get a little more bradish, but i fear this means the imminent return of matt harvey.
― j.q higgins, Thursday, 14 April 2022 12:58 (two years ago) link
kill me. if this doesn't mean bradish and grayson soon.........
Hyde said Means getting second opinions on elbow. Gonna be awhile - to get results and for him to pitch again. Hyde doesn’t know if Means will pitch again in 2022. Said doesn’t expect him back anytime soon #orioles— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) April 16, 2022
― ✖, Saturday, 16 April 2022 21:14 (two years ago) link
On the whole, "everybody in the AL East beats up on us every year, except the Yankees whose season we keep ruining" is about as good as we can hope for right now, so let's keep it coming
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 17 April 2022 20:52 (two years ago) link
will grudgingly accept this outcome. for now...
― j.q higgins, Monday, 18 April 2022 00:19 (two years ago) link
I support it.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 18 April 2022 14:58 (two years ago) link
3 out of four wins have been shutouts.
― j.q higgins, Thursday, 21 April 2022 13:51 (two years ago) link
I mean this is about as good as a team scoring under 2 runs a game can be
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 21 April 2022 15:14 (two years ago) link
means is getting tommy john : /
― mookieproof, Saturday, 23 April 2022 16:23 (two years ago) link
bad news for everyone in the world except matt harvey
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 23 April 2022 17:08 (two years ago) link
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/introducing-the-new-orioles-bullpen/
i am a bit amazed at this team coming into the season with an original plan (setting up middle middle) and implementing it... thought that kind of thing was just for the rays and dodgers and giants
bautista is so fun to watch
― ✖, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 23:27 (two years ago) link
it was noted on twitter today that every oriole to play so far this season is at least 25 years old
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 26 April 2022 23:32 (two years ago) link
keeping rodriguez down this long is bullshit but aside from him and adley, who will be up within a few weeks, there is no one in the organization under 25 who is ready to be called up right now. and aside from rodriguez who should've pitched at AAA last year, you can't point to any other prospects and say they were held at any level too long.
― ✖, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 00:08 (two years ago) link
and i have no idea what scocca's problem with bruce zimmermann is? am i supposed to be angry at the orioles for tanking for young prospects or angry at them for not giving up on 27 year old former prospects? should i be angry that they stuck with non-prospect cedric mullins while he was experimenting with a new approach and then developed into a player who could star on a playoff team? am i supposed to just be angry at everything the orioles do all the time even when there are positive developments on the 26-man roster that have nothing to do with tanking?
― ✖, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 00:37 (two years ago) link
there is no one in the organization under 25 who is ready to be called up right now
The exact point is that that itself is the problem for an organization that has supposedly been rebuilding since 2018.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 27 April 2022 00:55 (two years ago) link
And nobody has anything against Bruce Zimmerman, Bruce Zimmerman rules, he represents the kind of "find unexpectedly useful guys off the scrap heap" philosophy that the Orioles have always been decently good at (Rodrigo Lopez, Nate McLouth) -- but the idea was meant to be to use those guys in combination with players you could actually expect to be good.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 27 April 2022 00:57 (two years ago) link
i don't really see how that's the case if the prospects are still there? it's just ignoring every bit of context to make a provocative tweet. the covid year didn't help, nor did major injuries/illnesses to hall and kjerstad. i will 100% say that adley should've been up last year (he still would've been injured this year so he still wouldn't be on the team) and rodriguez should've made it to AAA and started this year in the majors. i am currently pretty furious that bradish isn't starting in the majors, though he struggled at AAA last year so i can see why they started him there again. but the rest of the prospects are still there, they're playing at the levels expected of them and being promoted pretty liberally after they come to succeed at said levels.
and santander or hays or mancini should be traded asap to make room for stowers, but then the scoccas of the world would just tweet about the bad tanking team recommitting to an endless death spiral by trading away actual major leaguers in their arb years.
everyone knows where this team started when elias actually came in. zero analytics, zero international signings, one of the worst farms in the league, an expensive go-nowhere major league team that was 2 years past any hope of being a couple FA signings away from competing again. prospective GM brady anderson. this was never going to be a rebuild like the jays or braves or tigers or white sox or padres who all started light years ahead of where this team was. there was never any sensible reason to think this team would be able to follow that sort of a timeline.
― ✖, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 01:52 (two years ago) link
>when elias actually came in. zero analytics, zero international signings,
did not realize it was this bad. i remember about 8 years ago they were so good for a team that looked just okay-ish on paper. i just assumed they knew what they were doing behind the scenes
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 27 April 2022 04:19 (two years ago) link
it was a team that combined a group of great players amassed by the previous regime with a GM that was almost supernaturally good at supplementing those players with random guys he found. there were almost never any holes on the roster.
it was also a team that sacrificed its 2016 first round draft pick for yovani gallardo
― ✖, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 04:49 (two years ago) link
re: baby birds
would love to see stowers up sooner rather than later, dl hall will probably debut this year...a lot of people like drew rom and i'm also curious how quickly they'll move prieto and cowser.
― j.q higgins, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 18:33 (two years ago) link
...also think they'll give akin, wells, lowther and kremer (once healthy) a few chances to sink or swim. don't know what the leash is like for gutierrez. owings probably not long for this world.
― j.q higgins, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 18:35 (two years ago) link
psyched bradish is getting the call tonight. hope he gets an extended look.
― j.q higgins, Friday, 29 April 2022 21:27 (two years ago) link
Bradish certainly earned the extended look.
Walk-off unearned run on a terrible bunt!
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 1 May 2022 15:10 (two years ago) link
Enjoying the Orioles playing like an ordinary bad team instead of a historically bad team!
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 10 May 2022 12:51 (two years ago) link
orioles hitters in may (admittedly only eight games all at home and mostly against mediocre teams, but still): .293/.343/.448
that's v. good!
pitching is also above average but they're not getting a lot of strikeouts (relatively speaking)
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 10 May 2022 21:19 (two years ago) link
Kyle Bradish is!
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 11 May 2022 02:08 (two years ago) link
honestly whenever i encounter his name i start imagining (you know, if he were a yankee, or a hitter) what kind of home run call john sterling would give him
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 11 May 2022 02:14 (two years ago) link
yesterday i went to opacy for the first time since the pandemic. nice to see big felix in action and a walkoff earl weaver special in the much ballyhooed left field extension.
― j.q higgins, Friday, 20 May 2022 14:06 (two years ago) link
Dang lucky you being at that game -- how was turnout?
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 20 May 2022 15:42 (two years ago) link
Sounds like no Adley today, booooooooo
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 20 May 2022 16:06 (two years ago) link
turn out was good! 23K paid.
― j.q higgins, Friday, 20 May 2022 16:50 (two years ago) link
happy adley day, friends.
― j.q higgins, Saturday, 21 May 2022 12:13 (two years ago) link
much excited
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 21 May 2022 12:47 (two years ago) link
i like the new era
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 22 May 2022 23:02 (two years ago) link
Nice comeback tonight, down 6 in the 7th at Fenway, end up winning by 4.
― Michael F Gill, Saturday, 28 May 2022 02:59 (one year ago) link
Heck of a night for Tyler Wells!
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 31 May 2022 01:34 (one year ago) link
This game is going well but that moment where it's up to McKenna and Owings to get the runs in is kinda hard to take
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 31 May 2022 01:44 (one year ago) link
Grayson Rodriguez has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 right lat strain, Mike Elias said this morning, which likely won't pin him to a return to action until September.Elias wouldn't rule anything out, but focus is on Opening Day 2023. There's a chance Rodriguez is done for '22.— Zachary Silver (@zachsilver) June 5, 2022
― mookieproof, Sunday, 5 June 2022 17:13 (one year ago) link
Not feeling the morale improve tbh
― ✖, Sunday, 5 June 2022 17:37 (one year ago) link
should probably tank for a bit longer
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Sunday, 5 June 2022 17:49 (one year ago) link
This sucks but I don't see any reason this would have been any less likely to happen if he were in Baltimore.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 5 June 2022 19:20 (one year ago) link
Anyway, I definitely think morale is improving!
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 5 June 2022 19:26 (one year ago) link
xp true, but he’d be getting paid and accruing service time
elias is no doubt secretly thrilled
― mookieproof, Sunday, 5 June 2022 20:13 (one year ago) link
Yes, good point, I was thinking about "to what extent does this timing suck for the Orioles" but the extent to which it sucks for GR himself is much greater
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 6 June 2022 02:10 (one year ago) link
Maybe the DL Hall call-up comes earlier now, I dunno
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 6 June 2022 02:11 (one year ago) link
beginning to wonder if gunnar henderson isn't up before the end of the year.
― j.q higgins, Monday, 6 June 2022 16:58 (one year ago) link
Holy moly, I did not expect a promotion this early for him (and Westburg too)
― ✖, Monday, 6 June 2022 19:24 (one year ago) link
interesting to compare him this year to witt last year...witt's almost exactly a year older.
― j.q higgins, Tuesday, 7 June 2022 13:30 (one year ago) link
I get you from a tactical perspective but boy I would be sad to see santander and especially mateo go
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 9 September 2022 01:17 (one year ago) link
that'll do it
― ✖, Sunday, 11 September 2022 00:32 (one year ago) link
just a real crap time for the bats to go frio.
― j.q higgins, Monday, 12 September 2022 19:45 (one year ago) link
almost back to back CGs. so close to a maddux for bradish! granted he was working with the world's biggest strike zone
― ✖, Friday, 23 September 2022 01:41 (one year ago) link
who needs bats, let's just have complete game shutouts and an occasional hit by Rougned Odor
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 23 September 2022 01:46 (one year ago) link
bradish notched a 90 game score last night, fwiw.
― j.q higgins, Friday, 23 September 2022 13:09 (one year ago) link
what in the world
― ✖, Saturday, 24 September 2022 01:54 (one year ago) link
does mike elias have something on astros hitters? are our pitchers doing some sort of reverse trash can magic to throw the right pitch every time?
― ✖, Saturday, 24 September 2022 01:55 (one year ago) link
The Jays are doing their hapless thing, so do not abandon hope.
― clemenza, Saturday, 24 September 2022 02:10 (one year ago) link
imagine if we didn't lose 2 to the tigers lol
― ✖, Saturday, 24 September 2022 02:18 (one year ago) link
xp seems more likely that the Mariners manage to collapse despite their incredibly easy schedule and extend the playoff drought
― JoeStork, Saturday, 24 September 2022 03:32 (one year ago) link
ugh, that game might have been the death blow, but what can you do, you can't count on sweeping the astros
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 25 September 2022 16:11 (one year ago) link
Bradish is absolutely baffling to me.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 28 September 2022 00:35 (one year ago) link
This game.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 28 September 2022 01:04 (one year ago) link
so, after that crazy summer push, feels like a bit of a let down to not nab the third wc spot, but locking in at least .500 season and hanging in the playoff race through september is a huge achievement for a team that hasn't had a winning record in five seasons and has lost well over 100 games in three of those seasons. rutschman and henderson look like the real deal.
― j.q higgins, Sunday, 2 October 2022 14:43 (one year ago) link
ramon urias winning a gold glove and jorge mateo winning a fielding bible award were not things i expected out of 2022.
― j.q higgins, Thursday, 3 November 2022 16:32 (one year ago) link
An Orioles fan should start a new thread without "tanking" in the title...If Baltimore goes on to win the World Series, remember to thank the Blue Jays for letting them know once and for all they're really for real (which I'm sure they knew anyway).
― clemenza, Sunday, 21 May 2023 21:10 (one year ago) link
There’s literally a 2023 Orioles thread.
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Sunday, 21 May 2023 21:13 (one year ago) link
Polite as ever, but thanks, didn't know.
― clemenza, Sunday, 21 May 2023 21:18 (one year ago) link
And just to set your troubled mind at ease, I did search "Baltimore," but not Orioles. I tried, I really tried.
― clemenza, Sunday, 21 May 2023 21:20 (one year ago) link
lol not really
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 21 May 2023 21:26 (one year ago) link