belcome to walltimore (a 2023 orioles thread)

I definitely don't buy them as second-best team in baseball but the Fangraphs projection of .470 the rest of the way and finishing 85-77 does seem pretty negative --- I don't see how you look at the next four months of baseball from this team and say "from here on out they should be appreciably worse than the 2022 roster."

I simply cannot get over how fourteen years old this dude consistently looks

yeah, the way he's hitting he might end up being the most baby-faced major leaguer that i can remember, sooner rather than later.

his lines in the A and A+ levels this year are crazy

A: 65 PAs, .392/.523/.667, 225 wRC+
A+: 93 PAs, .395/.505/.724, 220 wRC+

there's no reason for him to be in A for a minute longer, he should be in AA or AAA this summer i'd guess

i wonder how his defense is progressing at SS

I'm always slow on these guys, but I looked up Holliday, and wow...If the Jays do fall out of this, I will have no problem wholeheartedly rooting for Baltimore in a way I couldn't with the other three teams in the division. Even the Rays, who I admire tremendously as a franchise, have been so rough on Toronto the past...forever, it's hard for me to root for them.

lot of chatter about holliday moving up after memorial day....anecdotally, defense seems solid. compares favorably to their other infield prospects, if not quite as absurd as his offensive stats.

re: current o's

i was at a day game last thursday that drew almost 28,000! management seems to be pulling more levers to try and get folks out this year, too, but as suggested above, winning is the ultimate incentive.

Gerrit Cole was lights out.... until the Orioles came to town

Bautista also lights out... until Judge showed him up.

bautista allowed seven homers last year, three of which were to yankees.

yeah i was thinking, "good job FB, you're up 0-2 on Judge, now all you have to do is throw something offspeed & inside" but nope he left that splitter right over the middle belt-high.

🪨 & ⛰️ pic.twitter.com/OZjkcHg1f1

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) May 26, 2023

Adley is best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9djX6EJyPc

not buying that there the second best team in baseball or not buying them as a playoff caliber team? definitely agree that roster management is the trick, but elias certainly has more cards to play than duquette ever had.

― j.q higgins, Monday, May 22, 2023 9:47 AM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

not buying the first, not sure what "playoff caliber" even means anymore with 12 teams.

maybe it's just muscle memory but i keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, or at least an injury or two to pop up. it's been a weird year. maybe i'd trust it more if the wins were coming from henderson and rodriguez rather than frazier and wells? the rotation is still a mess and the overreliance on relievers, especially bautista and cano, could really backfire in a couple months.

makes sense. especially w/ the news about means, i'd expect them maybe to pull the trigger on a deal for another starter before too long.

perhaps the win is not coming from rodriguez tonight

greyson back to triple a-son

This team has come back to earth a little bit, as was inevitable, but what's really pleasurable is seeing that this collection of players, performing at a level that doesn't seem over their heads, is still a sound team that seems to be competitive with everyone. Like, Cano isn't pitching 20 scoreless innings in a row anymore but... our bullpen is still quite good!

felix has been dominant after a bit of a rough patch and it's nice to see henderson start feeling his oats a bit, too. over that stretch from beginning of may to beginning of june where they played teams w/ .500 or better records, they went 17-12. not bad!

*text notification* The Gunnar Henderson you ordered has arrived

ok, people who are good at memes pic.twitter.com/v70OZPdU2N

— chirping bird (@ChrpngBrd) June 15, 2023

Cedric's back!

Julio Rodriguez robs a homer from the unreasonably hot-hitting Ryan O'Hearn.

Cano continues to look human.

Wow, even Felix Bautista looking human today.

You could have given me about a hundred guesses as to how that game would end and I would have fully whiffed

And let me say this -- if you had told me before the season John Means wouldn't be back by now and Grayson Rodriguez hasn't stuck in the majors yet, I would not have guessed we'd be over .500.

definitely wouldn't think they'd be .500 if you'd told me, "kyle gibson and tyler wells have been our best starters."

The Baltimore Orioles are calling up top infield prospect Jordan Westburg, a source told ESPN. The 24-year-old has hit .295/.372/.567 with 18 home runs and 54 RBIs at AAA this season and is the latest in the Orioles’ parade of prospects to arrive. He’ll be in the lineup tomorrow.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 25, 2023

Is there eventually going to be a Henderson-Westburg-Holliday infield or is one of these guys gonna get moved?

i have no idea what this team plans to do with its glut of major league ready top 100 prospects. every time you think there's a spot for one of them elias decides to give the spot to random trash heap players who suddenly turn their careers around and become indispensable

i feel like this just has to culminate in a blockbuster trade, because these prospects are too good to fetch anything less than a star.

we have nothing to go off of though. my only guess is that lefties/switch hitters are staying put and everyone else is on the table.

Pretty good first day in the bigs for Westburg so far!

coby mayo has 9 home runs and 8 doubles over his last 15 games, might be ready for AAA

Adley, Cano, Hays, and the Mountain are All-Stars! When was the last time we had four? I thought Cano might be overlooked and ASSUMED Hays would be overlooked so I'm pretty happy.

buck o's had at least three every season from 2012-2016...pretty lean years the previous decade, though.

Camera man struck in the head be errant throw from 2b. Both teams being pulled off the field. Very rough

Gunnar Henderson currently 4 for 4, 2 HRs, 5 RBIs in the 4th inning. If these trends continue…

i've officially decided that our slump is over and we're never losing again

Did not know Adley was a switch hitter!

🤔

Braxton Bragg has his name called by the @Orioles! pic.twitter.com/bUPd8VPmWs

— DBU Baseball (@DBU_Baseball) July 10, 2023

i've officially decided that our slump is over and we're never losing again

― ✖, Thursday, July 6, 2023 8:53 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

👍

8-0in the cowser era

just one game behind the rays! pretty incredible

oof, but your bullpen has to blink sometime

Anyway -- Grayson back up, looked pretty good. So what's the rotation when Means comes back? Wells and Bradish have clearly pitched themselves into the job, and I somehow don't see Veteran Leader Kyle Gibson getting demoted, so does Dean Kremer become a long reliever? And that's assuming we don't add an arm at the deadline!

In other news, True Oriole Rougned Odor DFAed by San Diego

Ladies and gentlemen your AL East leading Baltimore Orioles, really feels like Gunnar needs to get a pie in the face tonight

I love this team so damn much

The Orioles want first place for themselves pic.twitter.com/hH0lTpKjRF

— Barstool Baseball (@StoolBaseball) July 20, 2023

kind of a grim day offensively but god damn

Gunnar Henderson 🤯 pic.twitter.com/PnVTsKvnnn

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 22, 2023

Did randy beat that throw but not have his foot down?

3 more outs till the O’s take the lead again. I love Big Bad Bautista so much

This O’s Bullpen is unreal. This team is always so hot in the last few innings it is a joy to watch.
Leaders of the East again <3

Some good stuff on the Orioles and their bullpen here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/joeposnanski/p/friday-rewind-flying-high?r=1jtu0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Thanks for the link. I did not check any stats about their wins post-6th inning so nice to know my eye test was not wrong.
It crazy to think the O’s (assuming they keep this division lead up) have the best chance in the AL to reach the World Series. Obviously they will be better than the AL Central leader, and I think I back them over Rangers/Astros right now. Wild-card’s lesser chances are obvious.
It’s a big call, but I’m willing to throw my hat in. O’s to the World Series!