Terminator

Hmm...it's kind of a difficult exercise bc we are talking about on paper heading into the year. So using that I kind of see it as the following. Better Depth in 2024 -This year we've got one questionable guy penciled into the rotation (Manoah) and last year we had two (Berrios and Kooch). -Added Yariel Rodriguez. Atkins just bet 32 mil bucks that this guy will be good SP depth and given his record with FA pitchers I'm inclined to believe him. -Francis had a good year and is easily counted on as solid depth this year over last year. His 2022 was almost a complete bust outside of a good winter ball performance which is tough to count on. -Tiedemann was too far away last year. He didn't have a great year by any means, but he did progress closer to the bigs. He's better depth this year than last. -Chad Dallas had a good year. He's probably better depth this year than what Francis was entering '23. -Offseason isn't done yet so there could be further improvements. Same: -Is White seen as better depth entering 2023 or entering 2024? I'd say he's about the same. -Hutchison wasn't seen as anything. We'll sign some turds like him in February. -Are Macko and Van Eyk better AA depth guys than what we had last year? I don't really recall so I'll leave them in this category but it seems like they could be better. 2023 was better: -Thompson was seen as a possible decent #7-8 SP or so but never showed he could do that. I'll give you that one. -Zulueta was seen as a possible midseason guy and now is a reliever. I'll give you that one too. -I was banging on the Ryu midseason drum but few agreed with me. We can count him but he wasn't expected to do much. Seems like the depth heading into this year is far better, right? Now of course, we are going to see some negative regression with the staff IMO. BUT, I do think our depth is a better to help deal with that.

Yeah I've been reading this as well and also see the comparisons to Steele. If he can't get his fastball fixed, could he still be an elite reliever? Either a late inning guy or multi-inning guy? By just throwing his flat fastball harder (97+ mpg) to go with what looks like a very good slider? I think the good thing is that in the WBC (where his stat cast data is coming from) he probably wasn't working with MLB caliber pitching labs. So hopefully we can make some tweaks and see some improvement with the fastball.

I think you are both right to a degree. Last year the starting pitcher depth was so freaking bad. This year it's still not good, but it's miles better. If we get wrecked in ST we will be in some trouble. But let's say Manoah sucks again AND anyone other than Gausman gets hurt in June or later (when Yariel and Tiedemann are both potentially ready) and I think we should be okay. That's really about as good of depth as any team can hope for outside of the top few. A lot of teams, and even some playoff contenders, don't even have competent 4s and 5s. The bad teams sometimes don't even have 1 or 2 capable starters.

Kind of hard to remember it all but last year entering the season: -The rotation was a big concern. We didn't know that Manoah had eaten his way to Buffalo yet but even so there were major concerns about Berrios and especially Kikuchi. -There were also concerns about the starting pitching depth which was razor thin. -The bullpen was also a concern. Fresh off the heels of the Game 2 collapse, the Atkins haters were slamming him almost daily because he "can't build a bullpen." -The offense wasn't a concern. It was only when the offense was in that bizarre RISP drought that the haters switched from the bullpen (which had established itself as possible the best in baseball by that point) to throwing tantrums over the offense. A year later: -We are a pitching and defense team. -Elite bullpen. -Pitching depth is miles better (though still not great). -Now there are concerns about the offense which IMO are overestimated. We likely lose Matt Chapman so my guess is that on paper the team is slightly worse on paper entering this year. Last year's team had the chance to be pretty damn special if Vlad, Kirk, Varsho and Manoah all didn't s*** the bed to the degree they did because the rest of the offseason moves worked out well. But my guess is that we get positive regression (which will outweigh any possible negative regression from some) and end up with a similar or better record than last year's team anyway.

Yeah if we need him to start early in the year then he could do it. His WBC performance showed he could be that 3-5 inning guy. BUT -He will have an innings limit (100-120?) after pitching 55 innings in 2022 and not at all last year really -He's a young asset on a 4 year deal who we will want to protect, easier to do that if he opens in the minors -Him starting will be a bit of an experiment, also might be easier to break him in in Buffalo. Though ST will tell us how ready he is as well. -If he's good I'd rather have his innings later in the year rather than the beginning as I think Manoah, Francis or White can probably hold the fort down early on in the year.

The Orioles just spent all of their FA money on a closer.

It does have a certain level of FA sticker shock where we are paying for an extra year that I'd rather not BUT -Clemens had him as the #33 FA getting 3/30 -Hicks (seems like a decent comp actually) just got 4 years 44 mil -He's entering his age 27 season -Elite slider which should help him at least be a good reliever -He actually has a deep repertoire which could make him a viable backend SP. Going to have to hope that fastball is Justin Steele-esque and that his splitter develops to get lefties out.

4/32 isn't bad. Clemens had him getting 3/30.

Ok if Rosenthal says it's official then we can take it to the bank that Yariel is a Jay.

As of now this is probably how I see the depth chart but things could change in a hurry. #5- Manoah LR- White AAA- Francis AAA and ready by midseason- Yariel and Tiedemann 40/45s who could debut this year- Chad Dallas, Macko, Van Eyk

One would think that Yariel is going to have a big innings restriction this year. He was a reliever in 2022 and didn't pitch in 2023. If this is a 4 year deal the team is investing a lot into him and they need to manage the asset accordingly. Sounds like the plan is for him to start so I would start him off in Buffalo and let him build up from there. Perhaps 3 inning starts until he can eventually throw 5 or 6 innings. Target the 2nd half of the season for his MLB debut.

Currently talking myself into Yariel Rodriguez as a backend starter with a 60-80 pitch limit. https://www.mlb.com/video/yariel-rodriguez-s-six-strikeouts

I've seen everything from backend starter to high leverage reliever with Yariel so he might be the kind of starting depth we need while also being versatile enough to contribute in the pen until called upon.

Lantigua is an org guy like Vinny Capra. Puts up some good OBP numbers in the minors and might be able to contribute while he has some options but overall they are flawed players that probably won’t contribute more than that.

In his career Springer has a 105 wRC+ in 50 ABs as a DH or something. It's not that bad.

I'm down for the Chapman side of the equation. Would probably go with Horwitz as the DH or something like that. Or maybe you just wait until February and a DH bat for 5 mil comes along.

Max- sometimes you've got to have both the courage and testicular fortitude to trade talented players like *checks notes* Yimi Garcia and Cavan Biggio. I know they might seem untouchable but I promise you we could survive without them.

Well a couple of things here. The "DH penalty" might be real but I'm not sure anyone knows for sure. Second, you are talking about Springer like it's certain that he can't DH when the guy only has 80 ABs in the role which is too small of a sample size.

There does seem to be some sort of "DH penalty" with a lot of players. I assume that if Springer DH'd more often he would be better at it.

He's fine as a utility bench player but he doesn't have enough bat to be the primary DH.

Yimi Garcia and Richards trades would free up some money too. Biggio as well.

If we signed Joc, one thing we could do is make a trade for a 2B and then move Schneider into the weak side platoon at DH while also getting him ABs at 3B/2B/LF. There's been talk about Turner being an option as a DH because he can play some 3B. But at this stage in their careers I doubt Schneider is any worse than Turner there. Getting Luis Arraez to play 2B would be fun.

Only problem with that is that Biggio can't hit.

This KingSarcasm stuff doesn't really mean anything other than the fact that nothing is imminent. I'm sure Atkins has already canvassed the trade market and is waiting for prices to drop just like he is for free agent bats. MLB's slow offseason is frustrating for fans but Atkins can't let that dictate the timing of his moves.