2025 Season

[hattersgonnahate]

Overreaction of the day: Hopefully, this is enough data to convince the Orioles organization of the following...

1. Unfortunately, Morton might be done as an MLB-level pitcher, and thus his salary is a sunk cost. If they won't DFA him, he should at least be relegated to the mop-up role.
   
   
2. This team practically has no serviceable rotation right now. Therefore, they need to adjust the managing strategy and roster construction accordingly in the meantime:
   
   
   • They should "apply gerrymandering" by trying to win a majority of the games (say 4 out of 7), but not every single game. Specifically, that means alternating between trying to win close games at all costs (i.e. by burning the bullpen if needed), followed by "scheduled punt games" where 2-3 pitchers would be asked to finish the game regardless of the score in order to rest the remainder of the pitching staff. (To prevent destroying their arms, they would be asked to pitch to contact throughout the game and let BABIP generate outs using as few pitches as possible, even if that means giving up more hits / runs.)
     
     
   • As a corollary to the above, most of the bullpen would be converted to the long reliever role. In other words, everyone would be stretched out so that each pitcher can be deployed for multiple innings on a regular basis (say 2-3 innings every 3 games).
     
     
3. As much as I hate to sound like a broken record: They may need to replace Elias and/or Hyde ASAP (and possibly treat 2025 as a rebuilding year).

 

[UVA_Guy81]

Overreaction of the day: Hopefully, this is enough data to convince the Orioles organization of the following...

1. Unfortunately, Morton might be done as an MLB-level pitcher, and thus his salary is a sunk cost. If they won't DFA him, he should at least be relegated to the mop-up role.
   
   
2. This team practically has no serviceable rotation right now. Therefore, they need to adjust the managing strategy and roster construction accordingly in the meantime:
   
   • They should "apply gerrymandering" by trying to win a majority of the games (say 4 out of 7), but not every single game. Specifically, that means alternating between trying to win close games at all costs (i.e. by burning the bullpen if needed), followed by "scheduled punt games" where 2-3 pitchers would be asked to finish the game regardless of the score in order to rest the remainder of the pitching staff. (To prevent destroying their arms, they would be asked to pitch to contact throughout the game and let BABIP generate outs using as few pitches as possible, even if that means giving up more hits / runs.)
     
     
   • As a corollary to the above, most of the bullpen would be converted to the long reliever role. In other words, everyone would be stretched out so that each pitcher can be deployed for multiple innings on a regular basis (say 2-3 innings every 3 games).
     
3. As much as I hate to sound like a broken record: They may need to replace Elias and/or Hyde ASAP (and possibly treat 2025 as a rebuilding year).

I'd say bring up Gibson and keep Young up (because how much worse can he possibly be?) and put Morton in the bullpen. This might be considered blasphemy but at this point, I'd go out and sign Trevor Bauer. Nothing to lose at this point as far as I'm concerned. Keep Morton in the Suarez long reliever role until some guys get back and then dump him.
Yeah, something's got to happen behind the scenes. Hyde was fine to have during the rebuild years but don't think he's the guy to take this team to the next level. As for Elias, his philosophy of not drafting pitchers high is coming back to bite him with our minor leagues not really having a lot of depth there. This past offseason was the exact opposite of what this team needed.
It also looks like they've lost that passion that was there the past couple years. They seem to give up a lot easier compared to say two years ago when it felt like they were never really out of games. I'd say try to trade Mullins, Mountcastle and O'Hearn for something. Bring up Mayo and let him sink or swim at first. And I'd DFA Mateo because he just seems more like a detraction than adding much value right now.

 

[chillerdab]

Good plan, but Bauer is pitching in Japan now.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

I'd say try to trade Mullins, Mountcastle and O'Hearn for something. Bring up Mayo and let him sink or swim at first. And I'd DFA Mateo because he just seems more like a detraction than adding much value right now.

If the 2025 Orioles are still uncompetitive by July, one might be able to make an argument for a mini-rebuild:

• Maybe consider flipping even Eflin and/or Sugano for prospects as well if they are not going to be re-signed?
  
  
• Assuming that Rodriguez is out for the season, the Orioles might as well finish the second half of the season with a rotation of Kremer, Povich, Young, McDermott, and Rogers (in any order). They could all pitch badly, but as least there would be more upside simply due to the aging curve. (Plus, this would help the organization figure out whether they need to acquire a full rotation via free agency during the 2025-26 offseason, or a slightly smaller number of starters.)
  
  
• If they flip Mullins (and/or O'Neill, if he's expected to opt out of the contract after the 2025 season) as well: Would Dylan Carlson and/or some combination of Jud Fabian / Dylan Beavers be the stop-gap solution since it's probably too early to call up Enrique Bradfield Jr. (since he is still in AA right now and is apparently currently injured)?

(Side note: In other news, MASN is apparently offering a direct-to-consumer option starting today at a price of $19.99 / month, or $89.99 for the remainder of the season. The pricing is definitely fair relative to that of other existing alternatives, but the cynical part of me wonders if the on-field product itself for this year would actually be good enough for this to even make sense?)

 

[UVA_Guy81]

If the 2025 Orioles are still uncompetitive by July, one might be able to make an argument for a mini-rebuild:

• Maybe consider flipping even Eflin and/or Sugano for prospects as well if they are not going to be re-signed?
  
  
• Assuming that Rodriguez is out for the season, the Orioles might as well finish the second half of the season with a rotation of Kremer, Povich, Young, McDermott, and Rogers (in any order). They could all pitch badly, but as least there would be more upside simply due to the aging curve. (Plus, this would help the organization figure out whether they need to acquire a full rotation via free agency during the 2025-26 offseason, or a slightly smaller number of starters.)
  
  
• If they flip Mullins (and/or O'Neill, if he's expected to opt out of the contract after the 2025 season) as well: Would Dylan Carlson and/or some combination of Jud Fabian / Dylan Beavers be the stop-gap solution since it's probably too early to call up Enrique Bradfield Jr. (since he is still in AA right now and is apparently currently injured)?

(Side note: In other news, MASN is apparently offering a direct-to-consumer option starting today at a price of $19.99 / month, or $89.99 for the remainder of the season. The pricing is definitely fair relative to that of other existing alternatives, but the cynical part of me wonders if the on-field product itself for this year would actually be good enough for this to even make sense?)

If we are out of it and don't think that Efflin is going to want to come back, then I absolutely agree that we should get what we can for him. Anybody we trade, we absolutely need to build pitching depth. Because obviously, Elias doesn't believe in drafting pitching in the early rounds usually.
I figure that in the second half of the season, they'll hope that Bradish and Wells come back and I assume will slowly ease them into the rotation and don't want to risk a Means incident in which I feel like they brought him back too early. So I'd add them as people to add to the rotation. And maybe include Suarez at this point if he's able to come back by August. They're definitely going to need to add pitching in free agency and not these bargain basement guys like Morton. Elias needs to realize that it's okay to give up draft picks if we can get a top of the rotation pitcher or position player.
I would assume that'd be the case. Or the other option they'd probably consider is using Cowser (maybe Laureano as well) more in center and keep Kjerstad in the lineup a lot more. Agree about Bradfield as I think he won't be ready until next year.
I think at least it's a step in the right direction for the MASN+ stuff with people in the area that don't have cable or satellite (or Fubo). If the downward spiral continues, I doubt the subscription rate (at least for the month to month) will be all that high. But with there never really being a lot on during the summer months, I can see people plopping down the cash for the full season rate since it's still less than $1 a game. I'm just wondering what's going to happen to MASN for next season when the Nationals are free to explore other options.

 

[hattersgonnahate]

I figure that in the second half of the season, they'll hope that Bradish and Wells come back and I assume will slowly ease them into the rotation and don't want to risk a Means incident in which I feel like they brought him back too early. So I'd add them as people to add to the rotation. And maybe include Suarez at this point if he's able to come back by August.

My thought was that if any of Suárez / Bradish / Wells can return later this year (which is a big if), they should be mostly limited to a long reliever role for the remainder of the 2025 season as a means to minimize the risk of re-injury.

(And I mean this in not in the "mop-up" sense, but rather "relay team" sense-- for example, you could theoretically complete a game with the combination of 5 innings of Povich + 3 innings of Bradish + a short reliever. The roster spot can be created by dropping the worst reliever from the bullpen.)