Jackson needs some spring confidence to reap his full potential for the upcoming season - should help both offensively and defensively - let’s unleash a baseball beast!
Lordeus - 2 months ago
It has to be Kjerstad. Nothing will shut the whining of thus fanbase down more than Kjerstad justifying Elias' faith in him, allowing Anthony Santander to leave to sign with a division rival. Santander did what we needed him to do while he was here, but the fact that he hit home runs after our offense lost their troublemakers on the basepaths to injury (and no one else was hitting them) helped them overlook that he was hitting well under the Mendoza line during that time period...
Holliday is a worthy candidate, I guess, but he is too talented to fail, unless he goes all Josh Hamilton. Which I don't see happening. He's a kid with a bright future. He doesn't need stats that don't count to brighten it.
I hope the presence of Samuel Basallo puts some serious pressure on Adley Rutschman to perform. I'm willing to let the offensive struggles of the 2nd half of 2024 go if the off-season allows everybody to reset bad habits. I felt like too many hitters were swinging for the fences after the Mateo and Westburg injuries seemed to drain our ability to produce runs with strategic hitting and base running. The K numbers skyrocketed and the walks were down. Like every hitter had put a 5° uppercut in their swing... Basallo is a monster prospect who I wanted to see share the catcher/1st base role with Adley, but Adley looks like the guy with something to prove right now.
Everybody is so worried about the pitching... Well, despite a dozen arms being lost, the pitching held up well enough to get them into the playoffs and give their team a chance to win in each and every playoff game the last two years. However, you can't win if you don't score, and we didn't score when it mattered most. We need to figure out why.
Is Jorge Mateo the unsung hero of the offense? Is it Westburg? Neither is the best ballplayer in the organization at their positions, and they both can play a bunch of them... Both of these guys were pivotal at producing runs, keeping pitchers on their toes...
I can't wait for spring training to start so I can get that awful aftertaste of 2024 and the Baltimore Ravens playoff loss out of my system...
Aaron Kuperman - 2 months ago
The pitchers who would otherwise start in Norfolk. e.g. Povich, McDermott, Wells, Young, etc.
Similarly, the five starting pitchers who have already been declared as certain to be on team could shock the pundits and become the "ace" that the pundits claim the Orioles need.
Jackson needs some spring confidence to reap his full potential for the upcoming season - should help both offensively and defensively - let’s unleash a baseball beast!
It has to be Kjerstad. Nothing will shut the whining of thus fanbase down more than Kjerstad justifying Elias' faith in him, allowing Anthony Santander to leave to sign with a division rival. Santander did what we needed him to do while he was here, but the fact that he hit home runs after our offense lost their troublemakers on the basepaths to injury (and no one else was hitting them) helped them overlook that he was hitting well under the Mendoza line during that time period...
Holliday is a worthy candidate, I guess, but he is too talented to fail, unless he goes all Josh Hamilton. Which I don't see happening. He's a kid with a bright future. He doesn't need stats that don't count to brighten it.
I hope the presence of Samuel Basallo puts some serious pressure on Adley Rutschman to perform. I'm willing to let the offensive struggles of the 2nd half of 2024 go if the off-season allows everybody to reset bad habits. I felt like too many hitters were swinging for the fences after the Mateo and Westburg injuries seemed to drain our ability to produce runs with strategic hitting and base running. The K numbers skyrocketed and the walks were down. Like every hitter had put a 5° uppercut in their swing... Basallo is a monster prospect who I wanted to see share the catcher/1st base role with Adley, but Adley looks like the guy with something to prove right now.
Everybody is so worried about the pitching... Well, despite a dozen arms being lost, the pitching held up well enough to get them into the playoffs and give their team a chance to win in each and every playoff game the last two years. However, you can't win if you don't score, and we didn't score when it mattered most. We need to figure out why.
Is Jorge Mateo the unsung hero of the offense? Is it Westburg? Neither is the best ballplayer in the organization at their positions, and they both can play a bunch of them... Both of these guys were pivotal at producing runs, keeping pitchers on their toes...
I can't wait for spring training to start so I can get that awful aftertaste of 2024 and the Baltimore Ravens playoff loss out of my system...
The pitchers who would otherwise start in Norfolk. e.g. Povich, McDermott, Wells, Young, etc.
Similarly, the five starting pitchers who have already been declared as certain to be on team could shock the pundits and become the "ace" that the pundits claim the Orioles need.