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Our top admin would kick your top admin's ass, b****

If the Orioles don’t end up with a legit arm, they’ve made a grave offseason mistake.

Understand that a #30 prospect in the elite Orioles' system is like any other organization's #1. Maybe even better. They're the only fanbase that truly understands the value of players and prospects.

I don’t think anyone expects anyone to “spend like crazy” in terms of total outlay. JR has spent enough money, in aggregate. What we’d hope for in an owner is simply one that doesn't flush the money down the toilet by self-imposing idyiosyncratic limitations, like “not believing in investing in the international market,” or “not making long term offers to pitchers,” or “tying up player rewards in earned incentives,” or “valuing the opinions of those outside the organization,” etc. The best anyone could hope for is an average outcome, but the roll of the dice would unquestionably be valuable.

Of course not, but you already know that. I never was the subject of a negative piece on a platform that well distributed. But you did learn something in Texas. Marginalizing voices you don't like by regulating them to obscure platforms does effectively silence them. Let's take people and events we don't like and remove them from textbooks for example. They are still available in other places so that's ok. Let's take those books out of school libraries because they are still available other places. Since my book isn't in that library, their book shouldn't be either. It's a slippery slope you are advocating for. One I'd rather not be a part of.

It’s not just the cheapness, it’s the philosophy that he knows what’s best for baseball.

Problem with this idea is he’s 37 and apparently the worst defensive catcher in baseball last year.

It sounds like the Yankees are in pretty aggressively from some people I’ve talked to today. No idea on Boston. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up being New York. Brian Cashman has the balls to actually make a deal which could help.

Honestly for me this has been like being forced into watching a HS model UN group the last few weeks.

The amount of energy we've collectively put into discussing "Cease to the Orioles" in our two threads while nothing new has happened is staggering. My main takeaway is that they're on page 141 of their thread while we're on 149. We must not lose the Thread Wars to those jamokes, we must maintain our lead!

The Orioles forum is so pressed and bothered by this thread. Pretty funny.

MLB doesn't alllow the trading of draft picks because they're afraid the players agents will control where the players will land. MLB draftees already have a ton of leverage because they don't have to declare for the draft. HS seniors can go to college and collge juniors can go back to school for their senior year. An agent can say to a team trade my client to the Yankees or he won't sign. Trade my client to the Dodgers or he won't sign. They're afraid Boras would hold his guys out forever. The Mets will give my client a $10M signing bonus. Trade him there or he's not signing. I don't think it would be that extreme but MLB doesn't want to give the players an inch of power.

Also anyone who had COVID. Many documented cardiac issues after recovery. The NCAA made it mantory for endurance athlete to have a full cardiac work up for myocarditis before returning to practice.

Frankly, I'm not sure why BAL would even be interested in Cease. Bro....we got Kyle Bradish, bro.

Baseball Savant is officially tracking “swords” as a stat now, which are those embarrassing, half swings you’ll see hitter make on nasty pitches, and popularized by @PitchingNinja . Dylan Cease was the leader in 2023, and new #STLCards pitcher Sonny Gray finished 7th with 38. Rob Friedman

And, aren't the White Sox still hanging onto an announcement? Like Maldonado? That says to me they're close on something, and will do the moves together to offset the 40-man spots.

True but the Astros pitchers loved working with him. I don’t have a problem with the Sox getting a veteran from one of the best teams in the league for the past decade. Sometimes it’s nice to have an adult in the room, especially if the adult is a winner.

Jeff Passan said he still thinks Cease will be traded this offseason. I’d have to agree. Too much risk in keeping him into the season.

I like this move. I wanted the Sox to go with a defense first platoon at Catcher this year and going forward regardless of the direction of the team, it’s an easy way to jump start team defense and of course help out your pitchers. The Cubs did this recently with Barnhart and Gomes. With the young arms and reclamation projects the Sox are going to trot out, being strong defensively at Catcher is that much more important. I like how Getz and co have rebuilt the defense of the team.

Read the last few pages of this thread lol. Can’t stop talking about us. https://forum.orioleshangout.com/topic/50182-cease-vs-everyone-else/page/141/#comments

At this point, teams in the lottery are pretty much all rebuilding teams. Perhaps a team bereft of prospects might trade their first rounder for a package of guys who might represent "quantity".

What a boring off-season around the MLB this year. I know it wasn't really that deep of a free agent class (not even close actually) but still.

https://www.southsidesox.com/2023/10/23/23925118/what-went-wrong-dylan-cease-chicago-white-sox-ace-to-mere-mortal-ethan-katz#comments This is somewhat old article but still valid discussion about Cease and his velocity loss.

Just depends on the cause and the damage done. It can be more problematic for athletes as they typically train harder than your average person and the possibility of cardiac events such as strokes or blood clots is higher.

Dylan Cease is a swingman at best in Baltimore. Worth their #30 prospect...maybe.

We really need a legit rumor. Haven’t heard much about the Giants lately, but they need a TOR, especially if they don’t land Snell

What in baseball is guaranteed? Or in fandom for that matter. We've had enough of JR. New may not be everything we want, but there's a much greater chance than the zero chance we have now.

Stop burning money on the fringes instead of adding impact FA in their prime.

Not asking for a Steve Cohen, but someone willing to spend on the little things that add up like foreign scouting, domestic scouting, minor league instructional staff, analytics department, and so on. We don't need a 200 million dollar payroll but we can't continue to be penny smart but pound foolish.

I wonder if Will Leitch spent more than 30 minutes concocting the ratings.

That's some company the Sox are keeping isn't it? Sigh...

But have you considered that Pedro needs help in the locker room?

Might as well have signed Tucker Barnhart to an MiLB deal.

For what they are paying him, they probably could have found a better defense only catcher. Their purported rationale falls apart pretty quickly once you take a closer look.

Yeah that’s honestly laughably bad. Orioles fans are apparently living on a different planet where cheap pitching gets traded for a bunch of middling prospects

Maybe but the Sox signed Javier Mogollon for $75K last year and he’s a lock top 25 prospect in the system right now

Then don't read it.

I don’t think it’s a slippery slope to silence someone credibly accused of sexual assault by a disabled minor, domestic abuse by his ex, and blackballed by the very league that made him famous. in fact I think that’s totally fine. I don’t need to know about Omar Vizquel for the rest of my life actually

Freedom of speech entitles everyone to a profile in USA Today? I want to read yours, when does it come out?

I'm not certain it would create interest. To me the MLB f draft is the equivalent of buying a bunch of scratch off tickets, waiting four years, and seeing if you won anything.

Here’s the discussion over there. https://forum.orioleshangout.com/topic/50182-cease-vs-everyone-else/page/141/#comments

Nobody is bothered, We are looking for some friendly discussion. Your guys are welcome on the OH site as well. I think most would like to see a deal happen. White Sox fans would like to get as much as possible. The asking price by Getz appears to be astronomical. Elias has guys he isn’t going to move and Os fans are antsy for a SP to replace Gibson that is an upgrade. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. But, I appreciate the objective opinions of some of your posters. Hopefully we have something to offer to your discussions as well.

Why would the mariners trade one of their legit SPs if they’re trying to compete?

I assume they are waiting to see what they get back from Cease before they sign any veteran for RF but given they need a 4th outfielder as well in 2024 I would think picking up Aaron Hicks would be a safe play. Yankees are paying his salary so costs the league minimum. He had OPS over 800 when he played late in 2023 for Baltimore. If don't get MLB ready RF in Cease trade then he could be at least be serviceable defensively in RF if don't want to splurge on Duvall type and see if he can carry over his work with the bat from last year. Otherwise he can be still very cost effective 4th OF.

I think it would be cool to see draft pick trades. Competitive balance picks can be traded, just not for cash. For example, in 2022, the Rays traded Austin Meadows for Isaac Parades and the 71st pick and the Braves traded Drew Waters, Andrew Hoffman and CJ Alexander for the 35th pick. Extending that to regular picks would be a good idea imo, teams could put together more compelling trade packages or a contending team could ship out a pick and its slot value for someone ready to contribute. The MLB draft is a crapshoot to be sure but so are the other leagues' drafts, those guys simply play sooner, but I can think of plenty of examples where I'd rather trade for a first round pick than a 19-year-old in Rookie ball. There would have to be regulations so that teams can't trade picks 10 years down the line, or only be allowed to trade in the first 10 rounds or something, but another thought is that I'm sure there are teams that would trade up in the draft to take someone who is going to demand over their slot value and I bet they'd find willing partners who do not want to spend the slot value amount. Frankly, I see no reason why draft pick trading doesn't exist except that protects teams from their own incompetence, mortgaging the future for garbage players. You see this quite often in the NBA, one infamous example being the Nets trading 3 unprotected first round picks to the Celtics for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Those players made Brooklyn worse whereas the Celtics drafted Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, two superstars currently leading the best team in the league. The Bulls also gave up several first rounders for Nikola Vucevic putting the team in (imo) a worse position than the White Sox are in. Still, it adds an extra dimension to player transactions -- maybe the Reds have a more appealing offer for Cease if they can offer the 2nd overall pick.

...because it can also be a more common side effect after recovering from covid itself. Yes, I overlooked that. It can be more dangerous for athletes. Eduardo Rodriguez would agree.

I mean, Bradish IS good. But it's incredibly foolish of them to not get a TOR arm. Both can be true.

They're figuring out if the second bench coach counts as a roster spot.

Baseball-Reference shows Vizquel having made $63 million in his career. Is he crying poor, now?

One price of our freedom of speech is allowing folks that we don't like or believe deserve a voice to have a voice. It's the only way to assure that every person who should have a voice, does. I read the article, I don't believe him. Hopefully he had some savings after the confidential settlement so he's not on public aid. I'm glad he's not in a position to abuse anyone and banished from baseball. Media personalities, journalists, etc interview all sorts of undesirable humans. Perhaps it will encourage others who have been, or are currently being, abused to step forward and report the crime.