Chicago White Sox

I don’t see how they’d be better than the Yankees?

I want the Yankees to sign him to a 10/$330M deal so the Orioles panic a bit and so come 2026 the Yankees have $60M/year locked up in two oft-injured pitchers.

James said on our front office is mixed on him and didn’t anticipate us being the one to sign him. That being said, seeing what pitching is going for in this market (both SP & RP), I personally feel like $8M/year is a decent gamble for an arm that hopefully provides a solid reliever floor with setup man and/or starter ceiling.

IMO, Mayo is the centerpiece we should be targeting from the Orioles. I’d love a savage as we definitely need LH bats, but Mayo has legit 70 grade power potential and draws a ton of walks (~15% BB rate as a 22 year in AA & AAA). Offensively his ceiling is much higher than Kjerstad’s and especially Cowser’s. And for a 6’ 5” kid, he’s a much better athlete than you’d expect and is an average runner. The Orioles have mostly used him at 3B in the minors, but I have read many scouting reports that believe he could be a decent RF with an elite arm (70 grade by most sources). Honestly, I don’t think comparing him to Burger is a good comp outside of raw power. Mayo is exciting AF and would be a potential game changer for this offense. As for Ortiz, he’s going to be 26 next year and he needs to be on the Opening Day roster if you get him. And given he’d probably be the best defensive IF on the team, he should probably be at SS over a placeholder like DeJong. But if they believe in Montgomery at SS still (and I think it’s too early to rule it out), then I’d be ok with Ortiz at 2B. But the kid definitely needs bats ASAP.

I’d 100% be for that. And I’d love to find a post hype OF prospect that could be in the RF mix, but honestly ran out of time and couldn’t come up with any obvious names.

Even if we get Joey Ortiz in a Cease trade?

To be fair he was really good in 2022 and you seem to be attributing it to luck by citing BABIP where his wOBA was .370 vs. an xwOBA of .365 which is nearly identical to his 2020 production. And nothing really stands out last year in his offensive profile vs. his previous “good” seasons other than a lower average launch angle and higher pop-up percentage. I think Eloy is a guy who with some swing / approach changes could still end be up being a regular +130 wRC+ hitter, but obviously he has never shown that level of consistency and it’s hard to to believe we’ll be the org to unlock that potential. And that doesn’t account for the massive risk with him due to his natural physical awkwardness. I just think you’re underselling the potential he has flashed.

Updated off-season plan from this point forward: RHP Cease to BAL for 3B/OF Mayo, IF Ortiz, & OF Beavers RHP Yariel Rodriguez - 5/$40M (one year stop-gap if not him) RHP Brandon Woodruff - 2/$25M ($5M in ‘24 | $20M in ‘25) OF Kyle Lewis - 1/$1.5M (controllable through ‘26) OF Rafael Ortega - 1/$1.0M (or similar cheap placeholder) RHP Codi Heuer - 1/$1.5M (controllable through ‘25) Lineup: 1B: Vaughn 2B: DeJong (Ramos | Sosa | Popeye) SS: Ortiz 3B: Moncada# (Montgomery*) LF: Benintendi* CF: Robert RF: Lewis (Mayo) DH: Jimenez CA: Stassi Bench: IF: Lopez# OF: Ortega* UT: Gonzalez BC: Lee Rotation: Soroka Fedde Kopech Rodriguez Shuster* (Nastrini | Eder* | Mena) Bullpen: CL: Santos SU: Crochet* SU: Heuer MR: Patino MR: Garcia MR: Drohan* MR: Leasure LR: Toussaint

Yeah, obviously none of those will actually happen

This dude really needs to sign…he’s holding up the entire off-season. Hopefully that happens by tomorrow so there is a possibility of other action before Christmas.

I agree, but if think you can solve all your holes in one off-season, you’re going to wind up short come 2026. Need to start supplementing next off-season IMO.

Sure, but can’t assume you can solve all your holes in free agency in one off-season. Need to start supplementing a year early IMO.

There should be a decent amount of talent that is ready by 2025. Offensively, the big ones are Montgomery, Ramos, & Quero. On the pitching side, you have Nastrini, Eder, Mena, Bush, & Cannon. Not all these guys will be good and the ones that ultimately will be will likely have some growing pains, but along with whatever you get in a Cease trade there will be an influx come 2025. We should also have “unprecedented financial flexibility” after this season, but next year’s class doesn’t look overly deep on the positional side and I don’t view us as a threat to sign a true mega star ever. But maybe we can convince Jerry to go out and get Pete Alonso along with a mercenary SP. And maybe with the right development and luck, that’s enough to win a s%*# AL Central. But we need to get the Cease trade right and hit on multiple pieces for any chance of that or more likely a competitive 2026 to happen.

The problem is next year’s free agent class for bats is pretty garbage outside of the ones we can’t afford like Soto.

I don’t buy yet that Getz wants to be a small ball club. That being said, I do think he is going to place a much stronger emphasis on athleticism, speed, & defense than Hahn ever did. However, that’s a very low bar to cross given Hahn didn’t really give a s%*# about any of those things when team building. The reality is we need to develop an offense based on OBP & power. We can’t only have four dudes capable of hitting bombs and then 75% of them being solo shots because no one is ever on base. Unfortunately, we have very few pieces that fit that mold right now. Montgomery, Ramos, & Quero should all help some, but we need a lot more than those guys and Robert to develop a competent offense. When it comes to a Cease trade, get the best package of talent and don’t settle on a specific ratio of positional vs. pitching prospects. All else being equal I’d prioritize bats and ideally an OF, but you can’t limit yourself to specific needs or you’ll likely come away with less overall talent.

Basallo is pretty much a consensus top 30 to 40 prospect (maybe even higher at this point). His value is enormous and it’s significantly higher than that of Pepiot’s IMO. And I say that a fan of Pepiot.

Let’s say the Orioles don’t want to give up Cowser or Kjerstad simply because they feel they will need them soon. I think a fair ask would be Mayo, one of their major league ready infielders (Westberg, Ortiz, Norby), and Beavers. Honestly, I’m not making a trade to the Orioles without one of Mayo, Kjerstad, or Coswer plus one of their infielders (preferably not Norby unless our scouts have more faith in the glove than I do). I’m really not sure another team can do much better than that.

I think expecting both of them is a very delusional ask.

Zaidman would be such a bad hire.

Comment on Cease from a MLBTR chat. I think this dude is grossly overestimating what it would take for us to move Dylan, but fun to dream about this package.

I don’t know…McCarthy’s rookie season looks like an aberration. I’d actually prefer gambling on some prospects. Barfield should obviously know that system well.

Who said three players were “impossible to build around”?

Way too early to jump to these conclusions. Getz is clearly going all in on defense this year, but I’m not yet convinced that he plans to build a small ball club long-term. Right now, I think it’s about defense being inexpensive and him wanting to change the culture where we basically gave two shits about defense.

Robert, Montgomery, & Ramos is not enough to build a competent offense.