Sure, of course.
This one seems like an obvious case of a bad rule that needs to be fixed. It's been a subject of manipulation and hard feelings of players and fans alike for many years.
they were talking about it on MLB radio yesterday in regards to Jackson Holliday. It was Bowden and Phillips, both former GM’s, and they both said that because he is represented by Boras, who generally always takes his clients to free agency rather than buy out arbitration years with an extension, that definitely played into the Orioles decision.
How can you fix it? There has to be an objective threshold for what counts as a full year and no matter what it is, it's going to impact decision making.
And the makes a ton of sense for the Orioles. The extra year of control is worth far more to the Orioles than any draft pick compensation for Holliday winning ROY. He also struck out a lot this spring so there are legitimate development reasons to start him in the minors as well.
The answer is above my pay grade, but if they reduce the threshold to 150 or something like that, it would make it less advantageous for the team to delay the player's debut.
If they bring him up and he finishes top 2 in ROY voting, doesn’t he get a full year of service time anyway? Are the O’s planning to keep him on the farm the whole year?
Yes, he does. But I think also think competition in that category from guys like Carter/Langford/Rafaela is pretty fierce, and we don't know exactly how much of Holliday's gaudy numbers are fueled by BABIP
You could tie free agency to age rather than service time. Everyone gets to be a free agent in the year they turn 28 regardless of when they made the majors. Teams would bring up their young players whenever they were most likely to help the team with less consideration of service time. On the other end, 6th year players are already getting basically free agent salaries, so there probably wouldn't be much harm to a superstar like Mike Trout who comes up at 20. Other than a chance of injury, he'd be making big money for those 7th and 8th years of control.
Yes.
That's interesting, but I suspect you'd never get the owners to go for it, particularly the small market teams. Would lose too many cost controlled years.
Honestly, would start him at 9th in both lineups, but could easily see him moving into the 2 slot against LHP and pushing O'Neill down to the 6 slot. I think the 7 slot behind Rafaela against RHP could be sexy, too. The lineup has potential for a lot of depth, there's a lot of serious OBP guys in it against both side of pitching.
I'm pretty bullish right now on the team. I think offense will be slightly improve over last year's team (I'm expecting improvements from Devers, Casas, Yoshida, Story- over combined '23 SS production, Grissom/Valdez over combined '23 2B production, combined C improvement) the dropoffs in RF and some levelling off from Duran. I see a massively improved defense and that affecting the pitching. I'm even more bullish on SP this season than over last year's but depth is the issue. Strangely enough the '23 team really did have a lot of depth there going 3 deep with quality types, and the volatility of the top of the rotation from last year is gone.... .it's mostly volatile this season on the back end. Sale and Old Man Kluber were at the top rather than Pivetta and Bello. One could argue that the ceiling of '23 was higher but the floor was clearly much lower and boy did they hit that and it quickly evaporated the depth at the ML level.
I've been for him getting another chance. You never know, and there's a real fit for that sort of RHH power. He strikes me as one of several players who we might look at differently if the team can stay healthy and guys get consistent playing time within their defined roles, as opposed to taking reps under less ideal circumstances because once again our entire up the middle crew is hurt at the same time.
I think Valdez may take Dalbec's spot when Grissom is ready. Less "defensive versatility" but a legit bat. Dalbec is 0 for 4 with 3 Ks.
Right. My suppression mechanism apparently has its timing dialed in early in the season.
I had seen that 1B start as well. . .
I don't know if Valdez has got the natural defensive chops for that, frankly - adequacy at 2B is a project for him. I say that not to downplay the difficulty of the position, but because it's been such a project for him, that I don't see him having the ability to just transition to 3B, let alone SS.
He's been shaky to start the year, but he hit a nice double last night, the strikeouts aren't out of control, and he had a fantastic spring training, showcasing pop and better bat control than we've seen for him in a while. I think he's going to come around, personally, but I don't blame anyone for being doubtful.
Agreed on Casas being fine to play against lefties, it's more to have someone who can adequately stand there and ideally give him a break against tough LHP. Casas should be there most every day, but he does need breathers. I think Refsnyder is probably the answer here anyway.
There's a case to be made that part of Valdez's defensive troubles were because he's been bounced around to different positions in an effort to a) find him a place and b) to get his bat in the lineup (he's actually played a professional inning at every position on the diamond except pitcher). The improvement we're seeing now could be just that he's able to focus specifically on playing 2B. Even if he's sent down when Grissom returns, continuing to play and improve his defense at 2B, rather than trying to increase his versatility, could increase his trade value should it come to that.
That's an interesting point. He's played 2B almost exclusively with the Sox in the minors, so I don't know if his other positions made that much of an impression on me. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=valdez000enm
Yeah, I think it's the likely plan to keep him at 2B. . .but I have to say I had no idea he had so much experience at 3B either.
Good call. LHH. Maybe a MLB bat. He's doing his first year in AAA at age 24. Since the rap on him is that he needs to both hit and learn defense, AAA seems like a year long stop for him. He's got a bunch of plus defensive catchers as team-mates. But I think one of those guys goes first as a callup before they put Hickey on the 40 man.
Romy has more upside IMO, in that he at one point had plus power before a shoulder injury that we hope has now healed; Sogard has a higher floor, in that he has two unimpeachably healthy shoulders, but Romy had a season between AA and AAA in which he matched Sogard’s career HR total as a professional. The power difference isn’t small.
I think Story looks okay, though I get why people are stressing about it.
I noticed the same thing re: chase percentage, and the K rate is down 5% over spring and the beginning of the year, which is a huge step in the right direction. Story has always struck out a lot, but I agree that's a good sign.
I think this is also 100% why he is in AA to start the season. The Red Sox need Grissom to get all the reps at 2B possible so that he can play in the majors. The AA infield is also very crowded. I'm very certain Yorke will get called up to AAA right after Grissom is called up to the Sox.
It‘s maybe also worth mentioning that Grissom is going to need a rehab assignment at AAA shortly, and that Yorke’s spot in Worcester should open when Vaughn joins the big league squad.
Yeah he looked great at the plate the last few games. Almost all of his hits were up the middle or the other way. He is taking what pitchers are giving him. If they try to adjust and come in, we know he has the power to hit it out pull side. As long as he doesn't get homer happy and keeps doing what he's doing, it could be a big year.
