99 replies to this topic

[Slidemaster]

Jesus, give me a break. Our team ERA is very solid ar 3.07, 7th overall. Our bats haven’t come around yet but we faces a lot of tough lefties through the forst 9 and we are a lefty centric batting team. We are 2 games better than this time last year and anyone who doesn’t think both KC and Pittsburgh are vastly better than last year with a lot of young talent is just fulling themselves. Take a freakin breath.

By "tough lefties" do you just mean they're tough by virtue of being left-handed? Because Bailey Falter has a career WAR of .9 over 4 partial seasons to go along with a 4.80 ERA, and Marco Gonzales hasn't been relevant in 3 years and his numbers reflect it. Feel free to dig into their more advanced metrics - they all say the same thing.

The starters have been great.

The bullpen has been bad.

Not sure why you're trying to look at this with rose colored glasses. They are what they have been so far.

[Hooded Viper]

By "tough lefties" do you just mean they're tough by virtue of being left-handed? Because Bailey Falter has a career WAR of .9 over 4 partial seasons to go along with a 4.80 ERA, and Marco Gonzales hasn't been relevant in 3 years and his numbers reflect it. Feel free to dig into his more advanced metrics - they all say the same thing.

The starters have been great.

The bullpen has been bad.

Not sure why you're trying to look at this with rose colored glasses.

Ah you got me, 2 of the pitchers we played in the 9 games aren’t good, got it. I’m looking at it realistically dude, you look at everything with a negative slant. Hell even your “positive” posts are negative.

I said what I said and stand by it, you want to live your sports life full of angst, which is clearly the way you do, then so be it.

[Slidemaster]

Ah you got me, 2 of the pitchers we played in the 9 games aren’t good, got it. I’m looking at it realistically dude, you look at everything with a negative slant. Hell even your “positive” posts are negative.

I said what I said and stand by it, you want to live your sports life full of angst, which is clearly the way you do, then so be it.

I'm not full of angst, but I am dissatisfied. I expect the team to play better than it has, and this series revealed some flaws we have no easy solutions to.

[Hooded Viper]

What do you mean? Everything is fixable, btw our BP era, I know old school stat but I believe in it, is 2.15 through 9 and that is with Bauman’s 18 era. We know he is not a high leverage pitcher and Cano isn’t a closer, good thing we have one of those, and we need to hit better. Elias has earned enough equity to garner our patience, and he will adjust.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Not sure how anybody can be anything but disappointed in the way the team has played the last week. Stop with all the excuses.

Its early.

KC and Pitt are better than you might think.

Every team has these kinds of stretches.

 

So freaking what? Unacceptable performance after the first two games. I guess based on the excuses we should just "don't worry be happy."

 

Not how it works for me. And for the record not one single poster on here has said anything dire like the seasons over. Of course its not. But April counts.

[jamesdean]

Offensively, I think they're trying to collectively do too much at the plate and almost all of them are pressing.  It was good to see Mountcastle scorch a couple of balls yesterday so maybe he's getting in a groove but the whole line-up is making weak contact on balls they should be crushing.  There were several pitches over the weekend that were fastballs in the heart of the plate and they just popped them up.  This is where the whole "launch angle" of a swing becomes problematic if timing is off.  Hopefully, they'll break out in Boston and get their confidence back.  On a positive note, the starting pitching has been very good. 

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Not sure how anybody can be anything but disappointed in the way the team has played the last week. Stop with all the excuses.
Its early.
KC and Pitt are better than you might think.
Every team has these kinds of stretches.

So freaking what? Unacceptable performance after the first two games. I guess based on the excuses we should just "don't worry be happy."

Not how it works for me. And for the record not one single poster on here has said anything dire like the seasons over. Of course its not. But April counts.

Nobody is making excuses. Its slides attention seeking language thats being discussed. Just dont give him the attention he seeks. Nobody would debate over a word used like disappointed. The word you chose. The way I see it the KC and Pitt evened out. Coulda been 1-5 or 5-1 with some more good fortune over this past weekend. Evened out at 3-3. The play over the last 6 has to improve. No one will argue that.

[Slidemaster]

What do you mean? Everything is fixable, btw our BP era, I know old school stat but I believe in it, is 2.15 through 9 and that is with Bauman’s 18 era. We know he is not a high leverage pitcher and Cano isn’t a closer, good thing we have one of those, and we need to hit better. Elias has earned enough equity to garner our patience, and he will adjust.

They don't have reliable late inning options in the bullpen in house. Unless they acquire someone through trade that will be a source of headache all year long. Most really.good teams have at least slam-the-door reliever on its roster and many have two. We have zero.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

They don't have late inning options in the bullpen in house. Unless they acquire someone through trade that will be a source of headache all year long. Most really good teams have at least slam-the-door reliever on its roster and many have two. We have zero.

Just stop man. You just say shit and you dont know what youre saying. Many good teams figure the BP out along the way. Cano himself started last year at AAA. Debate how good you think he is now but he proved tobe a reliable late inning arm last year. He will be again even if not as good. Bautista wasnt a guy anyone would have expected to be a dominant arm in April of '22. He made the jump from AA. He was a nobody for years in this org. Just shows your lack of knowledge to claim there is no one in house capable of being a good BP arm. McDermott could easily transition to the pen. Charles has tremendous stuff.


The two WS teams last year were 2 examples of teams that figured the BP out along the way. The Rangers ended up with LeClerc and Chapman and Will Smith. Go look at the rest. Chapman was a high 3.00s ERA for them. Smith over 4.00. LeClerc the only one sub 3. He wasnt lights out by any means. Hes essentially Cano. Go look at the DBacks numbers and how they had to piece it all together with duct tape and glue.

[Slidemaster]

Just stop man. You just say shit and you dont know what youre saying. Many teams figure the BP out along the way. Cano himself started last year at AAA. Debate how good you think he is now but he proved tobe a reliable late inning arm last year. He will be again even if not as good. Bautista wasnt a guy anyone would have expected to be a dominant arm in April of '22. He made the jump from AA. He was a nobody for years in this org. Just shows your lack of knowledge to claim there is no one in house capable of being a good BP arm. McDermott could easily transition to the pen. Charles has tremendous stuff.

Frankly, we got lucky with Bautista and we all know it. Nobody goes into the year assuming that the best reliever in the sport is an untested 27 year old with no experience. I love the guy and we miss him severely, but another one isn't sitting at Norfolk or Bowie right now. Cano was fantastic out of nowhere last year, but it has felt like he's been slowly regressing back to the mean since August of 2023. You are among those who have been very critical of him.

I'm sure they will shuffle pieces around and cobble something together that's reasonable, but this is not going to be the same BP as last year and we all knew it going into the season. I'm not sure why I'm getting flack for saying it after the season started and our concerns are being validated.

[Hooded Viper]

Not sure how anybody can be anything but disappointed in the way the team has played the last week. Stop with all the excuses.
Its early.
KC and Pitt are better than you might think.
Every team has these kinds of stretches.

So freaking what? Unacceptable performance after the first two games. I guess based on the excuses we should just "don't worry be happy."

Not how it works for me. And for the record not one single poster on here has said anything dire like the seasons over. Of course its not. But April counts.

Last thing I’m saying on this thread.

What excuses did I give? I provided facts and said we need to hit better! And if you can’t see a distinct difference between Pitt/KC from last year, with a similar path to the O’s 2 years ago then I don’t know what else to say.

We are 2 games better than last year at this time. Of course adjustments need to be made and it is disappointing but this front office will do what is needed and the sky is not falling for gods sake, as some on here act like.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Frankly, we got lucky with Bautista and we all know it. Nobody goes into the year assuming that the best reliever in the sport is an untested 27 year old with no experience. I love the guy and we miss him severely, but another one isn't sitting at Norfolk or Bowie right now. Cano was fantastic out of nowhere last year, but it has felt like he's been slowly regressing back to the mean since August of 2023. You are among those who have been very critical of him.

I'm sure they will shuffle pieces around and cobble something together that's reasonable, but this is not going to be the same BP as last year and we all knew it going into the season. I'm not sure why I'm getting flack for saying it after the season started and our concerns are being validated.

Youre flat out wrong. You said we had no in house options and stated how all great teams have these great arms. Again, the 2 WS teams last year threw it together with duct tape. Dont say things thatare inacurate. Its fine to have some concerns about the pen. Dont overstate things and or say false crap.

[Slidemaster]

Last thing I’m saying on this thread.

What excuses did I give? I provided facts and said we need to hit better! And if you can’t see a distinct difference between Pitt/KC from last year, with a similar path to the O’s 2 years ago then I don’t know what else to say.

We are 2 games better than last year at this time. Of course adjustments need to be made and it is disappointing but this front office will do what is needed and the sky is not falling for gods sake, as some on here act like.

Nobody said the sky is falling.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Nobody said the sky is falling.

More intellectual dishonesty. You may not have posted the words the sky is falling. What do all of your words and the tone of your posts convey. Im done giving you any more attention. Ive tried to be better. You dont want to change. Good luck to the rest of you who chose to engage. My advice is to skip the post when you see hes posted something.

[Slidemaster]

Youre flat out wrong. You said we had no in house options and stated how all great teams have these great arms. Again, the 2 WS teams last year threw it together with duct tape. Dont say things thatare inacurate. Its fine to have some concerns about the pen. Dont overstate things and or say false crap.

I said most great teams do, not all.

And we also both know that the two teams that made the WS last year were somewhat unexpected participants.

I just don't think saying that the bullpen is going to be an issue all year is a particularly negative take. We knew it would be. We all did. Now it's revealing itself and I'm saying "false crap?"

[TwentyThirtyFive]

I said most great teams do, not all.

And we also both know that the two teams that made the WS last year were somewhat unexpected participants.

I just don't think saying that the bullpen is going to be an issue all year is a particularly negative take. We knew it would be. We all did. Now it's revealing itself and I'm saying "false crap?"

The Rangers had the best or 2nd best run diff in the AL. Cant remember if TB was higher. Were the 2nd best team in the AL for most of the year. They werent a surprise team and what does it matter anyway. The two teams that made the WS didnt have good pens over the course of 162

[Slidemaster]

The Rangers had the best or 2nd best run diff in the AL. Cant remember if TB was higher. Were the 2nd best team in the AL for most of the year. They werent a surprise team and what does it matter anyway. The two teams that made the WS didnt have good pens over the course of 162

Texas was the 5 seed out of 6 in the AL. They won 90 games. Anything can happen in the playoffs but nobody looked at them as a WS favorite.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

And youve tried to explain away Felix and Cano. Two relative afterthought guys in the org who in successive years popped on the screen early in the year and ended up as reliable late innimg arms. Youre the one who stated as fact we dont have internal late inning arms as if its a fact. 8 games into a season when the last two years have proven how guys can just pop up. This isnt a rare or unique thing. Do you not understand how volitile RP can be and that guys pop up and indeed are reliable for 50 or 60 innings at a time. Happens all around baseball. Now youll want to get into semantics about how reliable and how great. Using the dominance as Felix as the standard when the only term you used was late inning options when determing what we dont have in house.

[Slidemaster]

And youve tried to explain away Felix and Cano. Two relative afterthought guys in the org who in successive years popped on the screen early in the year and ended up as reliable late innimg arms. Youre the one who stated as fact we dont have internal late inning arms as if its a fact. 8 games into a season when the last two have proven how guys can just pop up. This isnt a rare or unique thing. Do you not understand how volitile RP can be and that guys pop up and indeed are reliable for 50 or 60 innings at a time. Happens all around baseball. Now youll want to get into semantics about how reliable and how great. Using the dominance as Felix as the standard when the only term you used was late inning options when determing what we dont have in house.

Actually the term I used was "slam-the-door." And obviously RP is volatile, but I don't think it's realistic to expect it year in and year out, and we shouldn't do so this year either.

Did you go into the year expecting the BP was going to be good to great? Did you not voice that you expected it to be a problem?

[BobPhelan]

O's still haven't figured out how to deal with NL teams.