Just means more minor league arms in the pen. Oh well, throw a bunch and see who stinks and who sticks.

This looks legit. Do we have anything like this?

A look at our new academy in the Dominican Republic. pic.twitter.com/JXvHv6E9j8

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) January 16, 2024

With arm injuries becoming more rampant… we should have been signing guys early in the offseason. You have to assume you'll face injuries every season.

A quick scan makes it sound like us and most teams had academies in Venezuela and the Dominican. However, it seems that with the uncertainty, pretty much all have shut down Venezuela operations.

Astros are in touch with Neris (1.71 ERA for them last year) but so are Yankees, Rangers and others @feinsand mentioned NYY and Texas https://t.co/Aju6YZeZrY

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 16, 2024

Yeah… no way around it. This is not good at all.

"Hector. $10mm a year, 3 years. The catch? You have to defer it for 5 years."

Maybe it has already been decided but they really need to figure out if they are going to live above or below the cap this year. If not going over then they need to look at trades to offload salary because they are within a million or two of the first layer.

If we aren't going to trade one of our hitting stars or starting pitching then the only option I see is Pressley. We have Abreu as a replacement but that shortens the bullpen further. Maybe we can get 1 very good and two good relievers for $15 million?

If we aren't trading a big salary guy then I'm not sure what our options are other than adding minimum salary guys.

If only they knew they'd need bullpen arms sooner… oh wait… we've been saying it since late October

AustinCountyAg said:

---

I predict they sign some veteran guys with big league camp invites and see who's hot and gives them a shot. Then reevaluate around July and make a move if needed

---

I'd be for this. I'd like to see what we can get out of Coleman.

There are several other FAs that are out there. They may be JAGs, but I think you get a couple of them along with the young organizational guys to hold it together until July and re-evaluate.

Farmer posted this in the HOF thread.




Voting Update:

Public Ballots: 154
Anonymous/Unverifiable Ballots: 10

% of Ballots Known: 42.7%
Last Updated: 1/16/24 at 07:59 PST

Adrin Beltr 98.8%
Joe Mauer 82.9%
Todd Helton 82.9%
Billy Wagner 79.3%
Gary Sheffield 75.0%
--75%--
Andruw Jones 72.0%
Carlos Beltrn 66.5%
Chase Utley 44.5%
lex Rodrguez 40.2%


So can anyone alive explain to me why Chase Utley has 44.5% of the vote and Berkman got 5 votes?

Anyone?

tjack16 said:

---

If only they knew they'd need bullpen arms sooner… oh wait… we've been saying it since late October

---

Are you suggesting there aren't arms to sign? I have no doubt Brown has been trying.

Aroldis Chapman
Josh Hader
Robert Stephenson
Ryan Brasier
David Robertson
Hector Neris
Shintaro Fujinami
Jesse Chavez
Ryne Stanek
Keynan Middleton
Jay Jackson
Jose Cisnero
Jorley Rodriguez
Scott Alexander
Jake Diekman
Wandy peralta
John Brebbia
Matt Moore
Aaron Loop
Collin McHugh
Victor Arano
Matt Bush
Justin Wilson
Brett Martin
Anthony Bass
Liam Hendricks
Lou Trivino
Richard Bleier
Adam Ottavino
Matt Barnes
Brad Hand
Derek law
Zach McAllister
Amir Garrett
Alex Reyes
Phil Maton
Chasen Shreve
Drew Pomeranz
Michael Fulmer

Mathguy64 said:

---

Farmer posted this in the HOF thread.




Voting Update:

Public Ballots: 154
Anonymous/Unverifiable Ballots: 10

% of Ballots Known: 42.7%
Last Updated: 1/16/24 at 07:59 PST

Adrin Beltr 98.8%
Joe Mauer 82.9%
Todd Helton 82.9%
Billy Wagner 79.3%
Gary Sheffield 75.0%
--75%--
Andruw Jones 72.0%
Carlos Beltrn 66.5%
Chase Utley 44.5%
lex Rodrguez 40.2%


So can anyone alive explain to me why Chase Utley has 44.5% of the vote and Berkman got 5 votes?

Anyone?

---

Chase is only being slightly disrespected whole Lance got the full-on slap in the face.

Look at the 2B in the HOF and look at Chase. He is deserving.



From 05 to 09 he had a 38.4 WAR with a 138 wRC+ & .922 OPS. If you got back 6 yars (one extra for Covid) the only guy with a WAR that can match it is Mookie with 38.4 WAR (same), 152 wRC+, & .942 OPS.

Not surprised. We don't want long contracts and when one of them gets injured, this is what happens. Especially when you have 2-3 pitchers coming off significant injuries or extended injuries.

Utley also played the last 6 seasons of his career being basically worthless. His OPS+ in the 70-80 range.

He's not a HOF player IMHO.

But I'm just being an old man yelling at clouds over him and Lance. I'll do it next year too I'm sure.

I think you may be mistaken.

His last 6 seasons OPS+ was 98, about league average. He was an All Star in 2014 (age 35 season).

His last 4 years were fairly normal enough of career stuff (age 36-39) with a solid decline.

Baseball Ref has him 12th all time in 2B.

His career isn't too far off our very own Altuve thru age 35.




I don't want to derail any longer, but I think he's right in line with his peers at the position with a nice postseason career as well.

His last 6 years of OPS+ only twice above 90.




ETA.

Ok. I'm also an idiot. His 2015 is between 3 teams. But he's still got 2 of 4 way low.

I'll stop yelling at clouds.

Your triple counting 2015. You can hide partial rows at the top.

Edit: all good, my friend.

the other thing about Utley...

the last impression he left on fans and voters was the brutal takeout slide at 2B several years ago

it was incredibly callous and mean-spirited and vicious --- something we don't see nowadays in the game

especially for a middle infielder to do that to another middle infielder

I know it's been mentioned here a few times but has there actually been serious discussion or comment from the org about an LMJ bullpen experiment? He's got experience obviously and I think would be good to great in high leverage.

Mr.Bond said:

---

RED AG 98 said:

---

I know it's been mentioned here a few times but has there actually been serious discussion or comment from the org about an LMJ bullpen experiment? He's got experience obviously and I think would be good to great in high leverage.

---

Id be happy if he could actually contribute ever again in ANY way

---

Me too! I like this aspect of it for him as well as I would think ~20-30 pitches every few days would be a lot easier on his body which is evidently made of glass.

More on Kendall Graveman’s season-ending surgery and where the Astros go from here - https://t.co/PaT833ui9z

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) January 16, 2024

For HOF voting I am not a big fan of relying on the peak years if they don't span long enough. Many voters do look at that and it should be a factor. I just think the career in its entirety should heavily outweigh that. But Utley does seem to compare well to other 2b so maybe I need to look at him again.

Mr.Bond said:

---

I guess one question is...... why wasnt this surgery done 3 months ago?

---

Quote:

---

Astros said Graveman underwent a program of rest and rehab before returning to a flat ground throwing program in preparation for Spring Training. However, the discomfort in his shoulder returned after he began throwing.

---

Farmer1906 said:

---

This looks legit. Do we have anything like this?

A look at our new academy in the Dominican Republic. pic.twitter.com/JXvHv6E9j8

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) January 16, 2024

---

These are the fun things you can do when you have Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson in Pre-arb, and Anthony Santander, Austin Hays and Cedric Mullins cost you less than Montero.