Laika

Also, ZiPS hates Clement.

If you sort the probable current starters by ZiPS OPS+ Springer should already be hitting 7th. 1. Vlad 2. Bo 3. Wagner (DH) 4. Schneider/Roden (LF) 5. Kirk 6. Gimenez 7. Springer 8. Varsho 9. Clement

just copy and paste the table amazing stuff

His MaxEV dropoff last year was extreme and kind of sad. His average exit velo has also been trending down over time and he is now decidedly below MLB average there (20th percentile last year). Statcast Batting Statistics Season Age Pitches Batted Balls Barrels Barrel % Barrel/PA Exit Velocity Max EV Launch Angle LA Sweet- Spot % XBA XSLG WOBA XWOBA XWOBACON HardHit% K% BB% 2015 25 1790 284 27 9.5 6.0 89.9 114.2 9.1 35.9 .273 .464 .360 .364 .439 41.5 24.2 11.1 2016 26 2932 467 49 10.5 6.6 89.4 115.9 8.8 32.1 .260 .471 .353 .359 .428 38.5 23.9 11.8 2017 27 2550 441 41 9.3 6.5 89.2 114.6 9.3 31.1 .288 .528 .376 .384 .429 43.2 17.7 10.2 2018 28 2501 425 38 8.9 6.2 88.6 114.7 9.5 30.1 .253 .459 .340 .346 .389 37.4 19.8 10.4 2019 29 2299 370 52 14.1 9.4 89.8 114.3 10.5 31.6 .283 .578 .400 .400 .468 44.8 20.3 12.1 2020 30 821 153 19 12.4 8.6 88.7 115.0 18.3 35.3 .294 .569 .379 .405 .450 42.5 17.1 10.8 2021 31 1328 221 34 15.4 9.9 89.4 116.4 19.0 37.1 .248 .507 .381 .361 .430 41.6 23.1 10.8 2022 32 2175 418 35 8.4 6.0 88.7 113.6 13.9 31.8 .265 .437 .352 .342 .374 42.3 17.2 9.3 2023 33 2528 491 38 7.7 5.6 88.3 115.9 12.0 32.2 .264 .422 .320 .332 .369 39.9 18.3 8.8 2024 34 2304 432 40 9.3 6.5 87.5 110.6 9.4 29.2 .244 .402 .298 .322 .351 37.4 18.7 9.8 Player 21228 3702 373 10.1 6.9 88.9 116.4 11.2 32.1 .265 .474 .352 .358 .406 40.6 20.0 10.4 MLB 7.0 4.8 88.5 122.4 12.3 33.2 .245 .405 .316 .315 .368 36.5 22.2 8.4

Orioles in any playoff series: Game 1 - if Grayson Rodriguez is even healthy he is matched up against the other team's Ace. O's probably the underdog; even though GR is very good, he's not an Ace Ace. Game 2 - Zach Eflin probably goes 60 pitches then it's a bullpen game? O's massive underdogs. Game 3 - Charlie Morton throws 2 innings and then???? O's massive underdogs.

Just bizarre and incompetent. Their team had enough depth already at most places on the depth chart. Yeah they needed depth SP but they needed front end SP more than that. Spending $71M+ on... LF, mid-RP, mid-RP, backup C, SP5, SP6... is wild.

Hopefully he is doing intense bat speed training and he can at least hit for more power

Wow!!!

Uncle Tetsu's

Hurt me

Scott Mitchell is... an actual sports reporter sort of at least

Also he's young enough that we should still project improvement for another year or two

As a Ross Atkins apologetic maybe I can contort myself into enough of a pretzel to present what they may be thinking. This of course assumes they are acting in pure good faith to the organization and its fans, and not acting in the more likely and obvious way of job preservation or whatever. The thesis would be twofold: 1) the pipeline isn't as bad as people think 2) the financial flexibility will let them do a quick re-load in any event RE 1) we will know during 2025 if this is the case because it probably requires several of the guys at or near the MLB level turning into solid long-term regulars. Baseball prospects are just so fickle, a few helium guys or the industry being too low on certain players can move the needle so much. Example, in Feb. 2021 Kiley McDaniel ranked the Astros and Brewers as the 28th and 29th best farm systems and both of those farms ended up producing lots of talent and some star power. RE 2) much discussed but Rogers has money and lots of the MLB payroll expires after this year or next, so the team could re-load quickly in free agency, taking on bad contracts to get young players, or diverting resources to the amateur side or pro scouting side somehow.

Easy over on that Vegas number though!

45-47

Nah that's probably not good enough. 82-84 wins? It's a team that COULD make the playoffs but much more likely they end up selling and project poorly post trade deadline and end up in the 70s again.

Yeah almost certainly. It is funny. Everyone and their grandma wanted the Jays to buy a slugging LF this offseason for 2025 and instead they bought a light hitting shortstop for 2026 on... Gimenez is their best player per ZiPS. The trade could end up being such a massive win if he is close to that 3.9 WAR projection and then he becomes the team's shortstop for half a decade.

Son of a TSN legend Trade seems light. Black was more interesting a year ago but he doesn't project particularly well any more. Bo and Kyle Tucker were pretty comparable assets for most of their careers... not anymore of course but I think Toronto would need to be offered like 70% of what Tucker fetched to consider a trade

This is putting some recency glaze on him though. He was a disaster by every metric in 2022. He has -15.4 UZR and -18 OAA in his career, in what is essentially four full MLB seasons. He is also 27, likely no longer improving on D and probably getting worse going forward. What will all the leg injuries do to his range? Not many teams want a -4 shortstop. Some will tolerate it if he is an exceptional hitter.

Realistically if Teoscar is worth a three year deal, Santader is worth four years. He's two years younger, has been as good over the last three seasons, has better plate discipline stats, comparable BsR and defense, hits the ball as hard... only thing Teoscar really does better is more of a line drive / batting average skill set, which can sort of also be seen as a con since Santander's FB approach might mean more consistent HR output. And I guess Teo has more "athleticism" which might help him age better even if it has never shown up in good D or baserunning.

Hyun Jin Ryu Robbie Ray Marcus Semien George Springer Steven Matz Jose Berrios Kevin Gausman Matt Chapman Yusei Kikuchi Chris Bassitt Daulton Varsho Rossy Boy has a pretty good track record of reeling in fish or making gutsy acquisitions. Give him a chance!

You mean he's kind of like you in every fantasy league?

I have ZERO problems with Rossy boy trolling for deals. Go Ross go.

"they won't overpay my clients, wahhhh" whined the agents

I bet they have made less than 3 formal contract offers this offseason.