Around Baseball 2025

[Orgfiller]

I don't think (and hope) this deal will actually age all that well for the Orioles, but it's the kind of move they need to make to show they're serious around supplementing their young core. Pitching is still a big hole for them, but this signals they're willing to open up the chequebook to make the team better.

Putting on my hater hat, I think Pete is good for two more seasons before pretty much falling off a cliff in years 3-5, especially at the latter end. He's deeply unathletic with mediocre K/BB rates and is already one of the worst 1B defenders in the league. It's the Schwarber contract to a guy who's a little younger but with a higher floor and lower ceiling. Same as the Schwarber contract, it's too much money for my liking, but good for Pete on betting on himself and securing a big payday.

And their pitching is still a joke lmao.

[Laika]

Santander 2022 to 2024: 2.3, 2.5, 3.2 WAR

Alonso: 2023 to 2025: 2.8, 2.1, 3.6 WAR

$155M over 5 years to a 31 year old "DH" is hilarious. 

The Os are a garbage org

[Spanky__99]

22 minutes ago, mphenhef said:

two?  what was the other one?

Alonso, Ward, Kittredge and they've been rumoured in on all the remaining top rotation arms, buckle up folks the East will be filled of Beasts!!!

[Stangstag]

11 minutes ago, Vancouverite said:

Taylor Ward whom they got from the angels

If Gunner gets back into form they could have the best offense in the league with a heart of the line up of Gunner, Hard, Alonso thats 120 HR potential there.

Holiday, Westburg, Mayo, Rutschman are not bad either and Holiday/Westburg could put it all together any year now and start becoming 30 HR guys too.

AL east just got.tougher

Too bad they have 0 pitching lol

[Stangstag]

7 minutes ago, Laika said:

Santander 2022 to 2024: 2.3, 2.5, 3.2 WAR

Alonso: 2023 to 2025: 2.8, 2.1, 3.6 WAR

$155M over 5 years to a 31 year old "DH" is hilarious. 

The Os are a garbage org

Both the Schwarber and Alonso deals are insane IMO. Makes you really appreciate Santander’s deal if he can just return to form. 

Hoping to see a Bo/Springer type bounce back from Tony.

[mphenhef]

19 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Taylor Ward

Thanks, somehow I had already forgot about that trade.

[Perfect Game]

Wow! I thought he'd end up with the Red Sox. Kinda surprised Baltimore spent some money.

[glory]

24 minutes ago, sliderguy35 said:

just an astonishing collection of white guys from the orioles front office. they should really trade basallo and sign j.t realmuto to officially complete the set

 

JP Ricciardi Jays vs Mike Elias Orioles in a "white off" would be an interesting comparison. I don't think it's possible to get whiter than JPR, but the Orioles are probably close. 

[Laika]

13 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Both the Schwarber and Alonso deals are insane IMO. Makes you really appreciate Santander’s deal if he can just return to form. 

Hoping to see a Bo/Springer type bounce back from Tony.

Agreed but at least with Schwarber you have elite bat speed, elite eye, pull tendencies, and back to back 3.3+ WAR seasons (leading to a 3 win projection) 

Alonso has slightly worse projections because he hasn't been quite as good recently. His bat is a couple of mph slower. Doesn't have that elite eye, chases more, and relies a bit more on batted balls falling in. Goes oppo maybe too much. I'm not as comfortable with his offensive game - lots of components that could fall off a bit. 

[sliderguy35]

3 minutes ago, glory said:

JP Ricciardi Jays vs Mike Elias Orioles in a "white off" would be an interesting comparison. I don't think it's possible to get whiter than JPR, but the Orioles are probably close. 

the ricciardi jays at least had rios / wells holding it down & then would sprinkle in frank thomas / bengie molina / orlando hudson 

these o's look like mike elias hand-picked them from the crowd of a zac brown band concert

[Laika]

Canada WBC roster taking shape. I saw these players confirmed:

Otto Lopez
Bo Naylor
Josh Naylor
Owen Caissie 

The issue will again be the pitching. If they can't get most of Soroka, Brash, Taillon, Pivetta, Quantrill, Tong, Cade Smith, and Sabrowski and Romano to pitch, it will be rough. 

Joulien, O'Neill, Denzel Clarke, Toro, Tyler Black, are other active Canadian position players so the offense and defense might be okay. Obviously Freeman and Vlad are there - no idea what their intentions are. I'm probably missing a few guys. 

[John_Havok]

7 minutes ago, Laika said:

Canada WBC roster taking shape. I saw these players confirmed:

Otto Lopez
Bo Naylor
Josh Naylor
Owen Caissie 

The issue will again be the pitching. If they can't get most of Soroka, Brash, Taillon, Pivetta, Quantrill, Tong, Cade Smith, and Sabrowski and Romano to pitch, it will be rough. 

Joulien, O'Neill, Denzel Clarke, Toro, Tyler Black, are other active Canadian position players so the offense and defense might be okay. Obviously Freeman and Vlad are there - no idea what their intentions are. I'm probably missing a few guys. 

Is vlad playing for Canada though? Doesn't he usually play for the DR?

[Laika]

4 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Is vlad playing for Canada though? Doesn't he usually play for the DR?

I don't think he has committed. I just mean he COULD. It wouldn't be shocking to him do it once. He's as Canadian as Freddie Freeman. 

[G-Snarls]

24 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Is vlad playing for Canada though? Doesn't he usually play for the DR?

He played for the DR in 2023, yes

[Spanky__99]

16 minutes ago, G-Snarls said:

He played for the DR in 2023, yes

He also said he'd like to play for Canada at one point, no time like the present.

[mphenhef]

32 minutes ago, G-Snarls said:

He played for the DR in 2023, yes

He was going to but had to pull out due to injury before it started. 

[Jonn]

Anthony Santander would look really good in a Mets uniform.

[Spanky__99]

5 minutes ago, Jonn said:

Anthony Santander would look really good in a Mets uniform.

[sliderguy35]

my hottest take that I actually kinda believe is that the orioles don't really need to invest heavily in pitching.

bradish feels like he's going to come out as a true capital-a Ace this season. both of his fastballs are incredibly weird (complimentary) and the breaking balls get elite movement at premium velocity (they also have great approach angles due to his high release point). I feel pretty confident that he's going to get cy young votes this season (i don't sports bet, but getting him at 35-1 feels like excellent value if you're into that sort of thing). 

trevor rogers isn't actually as good as his numbers indicated last year, but he's still a lower-end 2 / higher-end 3 kind of arm. dean kremer is doing his best jose berrios impression, cade povich pitched to solid peripherals and they've got a couple of young guys in AAA that fangraphs seems to like. 

don't get me wrong - it's not a great staff & could use a bit more depth. but if they ended up being the lucas giolito or tyler mahle team & brought in a real lefty reliever (i.e caleb ferguson), that'd probably be enough for them to end up as the 15th-18th best staff. given how this offense is probably going to mash, the pitching only needs to be ok for this team to be pretty good again. 

[Jonn]

5 minutes ago, Spanky__99 said:

Sign Tucker.

Let Springer DH

You got Varsho in CF

And you got Lukes and Davis platooning in LF

Even Barger can play some RF still.

Mostly you get Anthony Santander off our Baseball team. Thats why.

[Terminator]

Have we heard if there are any deferrals in Pete Alonso's deal? 

If it's a true 5/155M it makes Cease's 7/176M deal look like a steal.

[Spanky__99]

2 minutes ago, Jonn said:

Sign Tucker.

Let Springer DH

You got Varsho in CF

And you got Lukes and Davis platooning in LF

Even Barger can play some RF still.

Mostly you get Anthony Santander off our Baseball team. Thats why.

I'd rather sign Bo for less and get a closer. Jays aren't moving Santander man, they just signed him. He was injured all season, I'm pretty sure he's due for some regression, dude.

[Terminator]

Also, I can only assume that this means that the Orioles oscillating left field fence will move in this year since they signed a right handed power bat.

[Spanky__99]

2 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Have we heard if there are any deferrals in Pete Alonso's deal? 

If it's a true 5/155M it makes Cease's 7/176M deal look like a steal.

Just the 31M AAV.

 

[Jonn]

Just now, Spanky__99 said:

I'd rather sign Bo for less and get a closer. Jays aren't moving Santander man, they just signed him. He was injured all season, I'm pretty sure he's due for some regression, dude.

My question to you is what do you think generates more WAR. A full season of Santander in LF or a full season platoon of Lukes and Davis?

[abola2121]

2 minutes ago, Spanky__99 said:

I'd rather sign Bo for less and get a closer. Jays aren't moving Santander man, they just signed him. He was injured all season, I'm pretty sure he's due for some regression, dude.

They would have a ton of positional depth to trade for a closer. 

[Spanky__99]

17 minutes ago, Jonn said:

My question to you is what do you think generates more WAR. A full season of Santander in LF or a full season platoon of Lukes and Davis?

They can all get AB's in this scenario I mentioned? As for your question it's hard to say, if Santander goes back to hitting 30+ bombs with an ISO north of 200 again, it'd be close. Schneider's used sparingly if you haven't noticed. So realistically, I'd be shocked if the Jays traded him, Springer's contract is up after the upcoming season. And there's no guarantee Lukes and DS repeat '25.

[Spanky__99]

12 minutes ago, abola2121 said:

They would have a ton of positional depth to trade for a closer. 

Who, what's the trade? The only closer available in trade is now gone. You do that at the deadline when teams sell.

[Stangstag]

2 hours ago, Laika said:

Canada WBC roster taking shape. I saw these players confirmed:

Otto Lopez
Bo Naylor
Josh Naylor
Owen Caissie 

The issue will again be the pitching. If they can't get most of Soroka, Brash, Taillon, Pivetta, Quantrill, Tong, Cade Smith, and Sabrowski and Romano to pitch, it will be rough. 

Joulien, O'Neill, Denzel Clarke, Toro, Tyler Black, are other active Canadian position players so the offense and defense might be okay. Obviously Freeman and Vlad are there - no idea what their intentions are. I'm probably missing a few guys. 

Vlad will most certainly olay for DR. Freeman might join Canada but he may just wanna chill instead.

[Stangstag]

54 minutes ago, Jonn said:

Anthony Santander would look really good in a Mets uniform.

Just stop it dude, he’s not going anywhere.