belcome to walltimore (a 2023 orioles thread)

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!

I wouldn't be against them, especially if these imminent call-ups are on the way. The biggest thing going against them--they remind me of the '83 Jays, a young team on the cusp of a long run; I'm sure there are many other examples--is that things often go inexplicably wonky until you get some experience at being good.

"I wouldn't bet" that should read.

it's going to get hairy when the young starters start running up against their innings limits and bautista's arm falls off

I forgot that they had a bit of a run last year, so maybe they aren't doomed to buckle a bit down the stretch.

2 games ahead. Huge series for the O’s. Let’s keep the train rolling!

Our pythag luck has got to run out at some point, right?

Shun the non-believer

I take the pythag to reflect the quality of the bullpen. Much harder for teams without the best bullpen in the league to hold onto 1-run leads like the O’s do. O’s questionable Pythag vs. Tampa’s easy first half schedule? I take the O’s winning that battle. I believe in momentum too and the O’s have it in spades compared to the Tampa going into the end of the year.

I am also a hopeless optimist who believes good things will always happen to anything i support (symptom of following the dodgers for the past decade)

Not really being talked about but Ryan Mountcastle is back from a lengthy IL stay from some odd vertigo condition and could provide a huge boost in the cleanup spot. Preseason predictions forecasted him between 2.2-3.0 WAR for 2023.

welp... maybe it will be talked about more? that didn't take long.

We get Gerrit Cole on his best night and ... we win? Orioles magic.

Scooped up from bellow of the zone. Love watching dingers of balls, especially when they are walk-offs and especially especially against the Yanks

guys -- don't pitch to judge

We can send over Matt Chapman to chew out the Orioles' manager.

Mountcastle always goes on these tears and makes you think he's finally turning it around before crashing back to earth for 3 months, I'm ready to get off the ride

Sad the O’s don’t seem to be making any moves this deadline, if ever there was a season to go for it :\