The Orioles announced that they have optioned outfielders Heston Kjerstad and Kyle Stowers while catcher David Bañuelos, infielders Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo, infielder/outfielder Connor Norby and right-hander Albert Suárez have been reassigned to minor league camp.
Holliday not making the club registers as a surprise, despite his youth. He just turned 20 in December but has seemed to be on a beeline for the majors. Last year, he went through Single-A, High-A, Double-A and Triple-A, succeeding at every stop. He came into this year as the consensus top prospect in the league and was invited to big league camp. He could hardly have done much more to earn a spot, as he slashed .311/.354/.600 here in the spring, but it seems that wasn’t enough for the Orioles to add him to their major league roster.
Instead, he’ll go to Triple-A and await his debut. The move could have repercussions for his path to free agency and arbitration, depending on how long it takes him to get the call. A major league season lasts 187 days but it takes 172 for a player to earn a full year of service time. That means Holliday could still get to the one-year mark if he’s called up in the first couple of weeks of the season, though the O’s may be motivated to not let that happen. If he can’t get to one year in 2024, then he won’t be on track to get to six years and free agency by the end of 2029.
The latest collective bargaining agreement contains measures to incentivize teams to add top prospects to their roster and discourage service time manipulation. A player can still earn a full year of service time, even if not called up early enough, if he finishes in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting. Additionally, teams that carry a prospect on the roster long enough to get a traditional full year of service time can net themselves an extra draft pick if the player wins Rookie of the Year or finishes top three in the voting for Most Valuable Player or Cy Young during their pre-arbitration seasons. To qualify for these measures, a player has to be on at least two of the top 100 prospect lists at MLB.com, ESPN or Baseball America.
As mentioned, Holliday is the consensus number one prospect in the league and all of that is therefore in play. The Orioles already saw this play out in 2022 when Adley Rutschman was injured for the start of the year and was slated to come up shy of one year of service, but finished second in ROY voting and earned that full year anyway.
It seems neither the incentives nor the disincentives swayed the Orioles much and they will keep Holliday in the minors for now. That seemingly leaves Gunnar Henderson as the everyday shortstop while Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías handle second and third base. That could perhaps leave a bench spot open for Kolten Wong, who triggered his opt-out today, giving the O’s 48 hours to decide about him.
It’s also somewhat surprising that Kjerstad and Stowers got sent down, but perhaps less so. The O’s have a full outfield consisting of Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays and Anthony Santander, with Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn sharing first base and the designated hitter spot. Colton Cowser is also around and should be in the mix.
Stowers has hit just .207/.267/.331 in the majors but has much better numbers in the minors and is having a great spring. He has seven homers in Grapefruit League play and a line of .256/.267/.744, but he’ll have to serve as depth for the time being. Kjerstad didn’t show as much this spring, hitting just .265/.294/.286, but he made a nice debut in the bigs late last year. Regardless, he will also have to wait for his next major league opportunity.
The Orioles figure to have one of the most talented Triple-A teams this year, at least to begin the season. As injuries crop up throughout the year, as they do for all clubs, they are the one best positioned to find suitable replacements waiting in the wings.
Nevin lives to see another day
There won’t be space for Nevin or Wong on the 25 man anyways
fangraphs.com/roster-resource/depth-charts/orioles
and McKenna.
I am soooo glad it is another team keeping him on the roster and not the Tigers this year. I must have made that same comment about him 10 times last year. AAAA player.
Nevin will be off the roster by Wednesday.
JFC, I might be wrong. I can’t believe Nevin might make the OD squad. smh
I was right after all. Nevin dfa’ed before OD.
Ahh good old service time manipulation
I get your point but really, is it “manipulation” when you are following the rules?
It isn’t like they don’t have a SS and it isn’t like they haven’t been bringing a few talented prospects up in past couple of years of this rebuild.
If it was 1 prospect being held down in the past 3 years that they clearly needed to have in lineup to improve a bad team but, it’s not that.
Yes, it is. ‘Manipulation’ doesn’t mean breaking the rules.
But there could be consequences for this, regardless. Are these players–or any of the players who’ve already established themselves–going to be open to extensions? Are they more likely to test free agency because of these stunts?
There can be a high price for being cheap.
@Stevil There is no evidence that manipulating service time makes it harder to extend players or vice versa.
Brilliant.
Yes I am.
since scott borass is his agent.there is 0% chance holliday will sign an extension
A. Mateo is having a great ST.
B. He is only 20
C. As a team, orioles have a lot of recent prospects called up, some of which were OD guys not held down for “manipulation” purposes.
D. He only has 77 ABs at AAA.
Point to the intent of the Orioles leadership that is targeting this 1 prospect for manipulation by unfairly holding him down.
You might wait a few weeks when they still haven’t called him up before you answer.
A. Mateo hit .179 after May 1 last year. I can almost do that.
B. I’m almost 50
C. Besides Rutschman, what ROY candidate have they NOT held back to get the extra year?
D. Langford was just drafted last summer and is coming north with the Rangers
Holliday will be up before Memorial Day whether he’s hitting .220 or .440 in AAA. We know Mateo will be below .220.
@Thornton Mellon They didn’t hold Gunnar back.
Mateo got more hits at MLB level than JH in 2023.
And, NO you can’t.
@thorn
No way you can hit 0.179 nor even 0.079.
Let’s see what happens over the next few weeks. We all want to see Jackson debut and play.
gunner henderson.
ditto Henderson. Both destined to end up making big bucks with big market teams. Elias and company are wise. Orioles will get maximum value from each before unloading them via trade(s) while each is at top of their game(s).
Above post is in response to slimray Holliday post
It’s not a stunt or manipulation. Elias explained it well, actually. He needs to see more lefties in AAA. The beginning of the season the O’s will see quite a few lefties. You can believe there is nothing Elias would love more than to have an extra pick that goes with Rookie of the Year.
You would hit .000, guaranteed
Uh, yeah they did. The fans were screaming for Gunnar the entirety of ‘22 and called him up 8/31/22– he avoided losing rookie eligibility they called him up so late.
Yes there is. People aren’t stupid.
Some of Boras’ clients have signed extensions.
Doubt Jax will sign one, considering the wealth his father has.
No, you could not hit .179. Nor .079. Doubtful you would be able to contact a single pitch.
The Orioles have not held back any players, agreed. And Holliday needs more experience defensively at 2B. He’s not a MLB glove currently. He could benefit from more AAA PAs, too.
No, they did not hold back Gunnar.
Nope, hardcore fans who knew who Gunnar was were screaming for him in August, not “the entirety of ’22.”
I think it’s manipulation but he’s still only 20 years old. He would have a hard time proving its manipulation. Dude is gonna be mega rich he’s already loaded because his dad made s ton of money so frankly I don’t think it’s a big deal. But yeah I do think it’s manipulation.
Agree – He got an $8 million signing bonus at 18. He’ll be fine… Guessing his dad is 100% supportive of this approach
His Dad will make more this year from deffered salary payments than Jackson would make this year playing the entire year in the big leagues.
Is it really manipulation when a 20 year old is not very good defensively at 2B currently and needs to work on his fielding? Or when that 20 year old only has 91 PAs at AAA. It’s the best thing for him and the team both short-term and long-term
What’s that draft pick actually worth? I don’t think it’s worth as much as it’s worth to get an extra year of control over a guy who very well might be a superstar.
You are correct. According to the values as BTV, an extra year of Jackson Holliday is worth about 15m whereas the pick is worth about 4m.
@Blackpink in the area But if he’s as good as we think he’ll be you won’t GET that extra year of club control.
Yeah I hear you. I think he gets called up in July and then there is no risk of him winning rookie of the year and they avoid super 2. That’s what’s best for the team and gosh he’s still only gonna be 20 years old at that time.
Called up in July no risk of winning ROY and he avoids being a super 2. That’s what happens imo.
Just has to be in top 22 percent when time comes – winning ROY isn’t a requirement.
Plus the money fans will bring in watching Holliday play. Holliday looks like he could be one of the best talents MLB has seen in a while
You can only sell so many seats. Once you sellout another star prospect isn’t selling more.
This team should be a contender this year and orioles fans should be coming out while they wait for JH arrival.
Well, the Orioles averaged 24000 attendance in a stadium that seats about 45000 while winning 101 games last year. They still have plenty of tickets to sell.
Savvy
If called up in July, would Jackson be rookie eligible in 2025?
It’s not really an extra year of control when you are wasting half of this year in the minors. Really only getting an extra half year in majors.
That is sad but at the same time I cant see JH being on the field automatically causing 21,000 tickets to be sold.
I mean Adley and Gunnar didn’t do itz
Takes a couple years for attendance to catch up with winning.
It wouldn’t really be an upset. All three are primed to be elite talents.
The real value is year seven when he’s in his prime. Plus, he’s still available for the playoffs this year.
Teams value the draft pick at 5 times the draft money. The extra year is gonna be 30m.
I really think this is much less about service time and more about he’s 20 years old, learning a new position and he had very limited time in AAA. There’s no rush with quality players in place so let him get 50 more games under his belt and bring him in June. Gotta believe Elias has a plan
You do realize stud prospects sometimes don’t play a single game on aaa. This is definitely the O’s trying to get an extra year of service time. Zero chance a team like the dodgers would have sent him down.
It would have been one thing if he struggled in spring but he didn’t. The O’s are cheap and have been for awhile now. Perhaps the new ownership will change that. In a few years this O’s team is going to start costing a ton of money.
Jax is not ready defensively. He has work to do still in AAA at 2B. Also against advanced lefty pitchers.
Where would you start him?
Not conceding a damn thing! But those two y’all have are studs.
What?!! So keep Mateo who had one good month in 2 years. Yea he’s fast but he can’t get on base.
They’re using him as a super util. He apparently got a lot of work in the outfield in the offseason. I don’t love it but I’m trusting this FO until given a reason not to.
It doesn’t matter how many positions Mateo can cover, he can’t hit.
im a yankees fan.i would trade stanton for mateo right now, mateo has vaue and he hit for a much higher avg than stanton did last year.mateo can play multiple positions,stanton cant,mateo can run ,stanton cant, mateo can collect 30 steals in a year.stanton will collect 0 steals this year.the orioles are a better team than the yanks without holliday,and your still complaining?
You put the best guys on the field. The lineup isn’t so good that they can afford to have a black hole in it.
May 1 and onward last year Mateo hit .179 with a .228 OBP. If you think those kind of #’s improve the Yankees then maybe I shouldn’t pick the Yankees to win 90 games this year.
@slimray Lol you would trade Stanton for Wander Franco. At least then you wouldn’t have to pay him.
i agree we would trade for anything just to get him off the team lol.
Slimray…Stanton for Baez? No?
Okay, take Baez and all you owe the Tigers is Aaron Judge’s next broken bat. Still no?
I tried.
He can hit. Don’t kid yourself.
@slimray: Of course you would trade Stanton for Mateo.
You would trade Stanton for anything at this point.
Problem is, no team would trade anything for Stanton and that ridiculous contract.
When you suggest trades, try to think about what works for other teams, not just the Yankees.
Overall, Jax needs to show improvement defensively at 2B and against lefties to be included as one of the best MIs in the org. Westburg is not a “back hole” in the lineup.
Yep, Mateo hit lefties well last year. That’s part of the calculus of why he’s on the team.
Smartest FO in baseball
Relax – 162 game season. Mateo is out of options so you keep him or lose him because he gets grabbed off waivers in 5 minutes
It actually makes sense, kinda. Mateo has an .809 career ops in April. Much of his value comes in April. So you pay him while he’s fresh and bring holiday up after 3-4 weeks thereby gaining an extra year of time at no cost. I hate it but if that’s their decision tree it makes alot of sense.
Mateo can get on base in extra innings 😉
Has a resemblance to Matt Holliday…
Weird..
It’s almost as if he’s his son or something
Thought Suarez was having a good spring and O’s fans were foaming at the mouth of him being another Bautista/Cano
The roster crunch is real. There were a dozen pen options before he arrived. He’ll get a shot. The wear and tear of the season usually resolves these issues naturally. I’m sure we’ll see him before the summer.
The Suarez that has excited Orioles fans is an SP, not an RP.
Jackson Holliday should be in the opening day lineup in a true meritocracy- but this was predictable
Nope
@Jake
Are there really any true meritocracies? Maybe in Thomas Moore’s Utopia?
Bummer on Holliday
Holliday will be back the day after that 7th year is guaranteed. Probably means Wong cracks the opening day roster
As Wong triggers his opt out clause barely 30 minutes later
The Orioles could keep him if they want to. It may be a play by Wong to opt out to force the Orioles to put him on the roster. I don’t think it will work since Westburg will likely play second is my guess.
Westburg will be at 3B. Urias probably starts at 2B.
Why would they start Westburg at 3rd and Urías at 2nd. Westburg put up better defensive numbers at 2nd over 3rd and Urías was a gold glove winner at 3rd.
I agree with you. But if they are bringing Jackson up as a 2B eventually, you’d want him to take Urias spot at 2B instead of Westburg.
Westburg is a better 2B than Urias.
Urias does fine at 3B
My response would be “go ahead, bye!” He hasn’t hit this spring nor did he last year. I think the Orioles were going to try and waiver/stash in minors plan.
Wong’s downward spiral started in STL several years ago and has continued with the exception of relatively league average output in limited use down the stretch for LAD last year. If Wong is added to the roster it’s pretty clear they’re trying to keep Holiday’s service time under control. They’ll literally get nothing from Wong in the field or at the plate, and for those who fall back on his pinch running skills, you need to wake up to reality.
What’s the date for the Orioles to clear that 7th season on Holliday?
A few weeks but if a rookie manages to finish t2 in RoY the team doesnt gain the extra season
About April 20
I’ll be in KC on April 20 already when the Orioles are there. Staying at the Intercontinental. That’s been a main team hotel. Could be a fun time.
Orioles choose saving money over putting the best team on the field.
Theyll likely make out ok
Don’t worry. They’ll be fine.
Still a first place team
How is this saving money? They only “save” maybe a month or two of the league minimum salary. And that’s before you take into account whatever they pay Jorge Mateo (or whoever their incumbent shortstop is) until Holliday comes up.
They save it 6 years down the road when they still have Holliday on an arbitration salary
@Os1995
1. Only if Holliday isn’t a ROY finalist.
2. If they do get the extra year they will be paying Holliday his arb 4 salary in 2030. Whereas if they don’t get it they will be paying him nothing in 2030 because he’ll be a FA after 2029. Sounds like this costs them more money.
Arb4 salary is typically about 80% the worth of his FA salary so there is savings there. If he is ROY finial it’s they don’t save anything but they are taking a chance on creating extra value.
Idiot comment. this decision more than likely costs the O’s money down the line.
Arb 4 is going to be expensive & there’s about no chance Holiday signs an extension.
Not really manipulation though. There’s no reason to rush someone. He K’d in 31% of his PA’s this spring. He could use some more work against upper level lefties.
Call him up when he forces your hand.
Gunnar is incumbent SS. Holliday will be playing 2B.
Gunnar is far superior defensively at SS to Jax. Jax is not a MLB SS.
Orioles been disappointing for years now, what’s new. The kid earned his spot and everyone knows it.
Ok
Were you asleep all of last season when they won their division and 101 games?
What, exactly, was disappointing to you about last season?
What was disappointing about swinging a trade for Corbin Burnes without parting with any significant prospects?
Your mother has been disappointed for years now…
Damn I drafted Holliday on my fantasy team. I’ll put him on the bench for when he gets brought up.
I think he did well enough this spring for you to start him.
…whenever he gets called back up.
I drafted Holliday too, and way too early. Could have had Langford…
Thanks, I hate it.
And poor Kyle Stowers, the dude is just never going to get a real shot here despite having nothing else to prove in AAA and absolutely killing it this spring.
Norby wont get a shot here either unfortunately. I predict Norby gets dealt at the deadline for pitching.
If Mayo fails to stick at 3B, Norby *might* be able to carve out a role here, but he does seem to be in a boat adjacent to Stowers as long as Urias and Mateo are here.
This is why I said the Orioles needed to do more this offseason. They had guys to trade yes they moved some for Burnes but they still have more players than they do openings for playing time.
Takes two to tango. And it’s not always the quality of the package offered. Hard to imagine Elias didn’t offer a better package for Cease than what Getz ultimately greed to.
“…ultimately Agreed to”
Floch – agreed.
I was actually a little surprised they kept (and paid) Santander rather than giving Stowers and/or Cowser a shot on the cheap.
Or we could have moved on from O’Hearn.
At least 2 of Cowser, Kjerstad, and Stowers should both be getting MLB ABs right now, IMO.
The only issue with moving on from O’Hearn is that he is cheap and performing well but doesn’t have enough of record to get anything back in a trade.
these are the downsides of the MLB denying the Orioles’ request to field 18 players at the same time.
Manfred needs to go. lol
As a Jays fan this is a great move. Maybe next year when he has a better shot a ROY.
he will most likely be brought up though and exhaust hie rookie status.
Interesting that they didn’t send Cowser down. Looks like he made the opening day roster with a strong performance in spring training.
If this is some sort of game of chicken to try to convince a trade partner that the Os aren’t going to DFA Urias and McKenna, it should stop. It’s going to soon start costing wins. Probably as soon as next week.
It’s the right move, he’s only had 75 AB at AAA.. The only downside is Kolten Wong. This will be 3 years of below-average LH second basemen after Odor and Frazier. Sure, they’re “team players” but it would be nice to see a better FA option than those 3. Or if you go with Wong to not tie up money for a short-term guy, then take a different step up like signing Adley to an extension. Let’s see what other moves Elias makes before opening day.
They are intentionally giving the roster spot and its accompanying playing time to the inferior talent in a year where the World Series is the stated goal.
I’m not really sure how that qualifies as “the right move.”
He’s freaking 20. Yes the Orioles are cheap and yes I believe this decision is financially motivated but he’s still only 20.
Machado was 19
BITA- I don’t care about his age, he’s being sent down so they can keep what’s left of Kolten Wong, whom he is already better than.
Of course, it probably has more to do with stealing the extra year than anything else, but still.
Natty- Machado skipped AAA altogether and didn’t perform anywhere close to as good as Holliday did in AA, and everything turned out pretty all right with him.
Machado was 20 when he debuted. And his defense was so off the charts amazing it was hard to deny him.
My bad, I thought he debuted just before his 20th B-day, was the month after.
But he did have zero AAA AB’s. He came straight from AA.
No King – it has more to do with 2 for 14 with 9 k’s v. left hand pitching. Elias explicitly pointed that out.
So . Super stars play in the majors at 20. He’s a superstar.
Exactly, the Orioles had a black hole at 3B which Machado filled excellently. Jax is not a positive defensively, currently
And Machado was brought up in August, not for OD.
Horrible attempt at a comparison by TM.
And yet Machado had more ABs in the minors. Nothing wrong with giving Holliday a few more swings at AAA.
I completely agree with this point.
If the mindset is “we’re going to make the world series” then you have the best players out there from Day 1, regardless of who has options and who doesn’t, age, whatever. If the guy earned a spot, give it to him.
Money matters even for a contending team. If money didn’t matter the Orioles would go sign a bunch of players but they didn’t do that because money matters.
How is Jackson the best guy right now?
He struggles with lefties and we don’t want to stall his development by only playing him against RHP at this point.
Impressive , Deep deep roster.
Jackson Holliday looks like the real deal. Surprising move until you consider the years to free agency.
Yes, I’m going to complain.
So Mateo will now be “versatile” in that he will fail to hit while playing 5 positions? His fielding at any is just a little above average, its not like he’s Mark Belanger. And speed counts for zippo when you can’t get on base much to use it.
Not sure what Stowers still needs to prove in AAA.
And this is a manipulation of Holliday’s service time under the guise of “getting a little minor league seasoning”. He’ll be up before Memorial Day.
I can also see them keeping McKenna…who hasn’t hit this spring and hasn’t hit much over the three years they’ve had him…over Cowser who also has nothing left to prove at AAA.
I will preface this by saying I am aware other teams do this stuff strictly because of finances, service times, and taking advantage of options, but this is the Orioles NOT putting the best players out there for giving themselves the best change to win.
Mute me if you want, but I will continue to complain about Mateo and McKenna taking up spots from better players until that situation no longer is occurring.
I think the fact that Cowser wasnt sent down with the other top prospects means that McKenna is getting DFA’d soon. Looks like Cowser will be the 4th outfielder.
Until I see it I can’t believe it. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see McKenna in the dugout come opening day, taking up space.
I’m not going to mute you. If Holliday is as good as we expect they won’t get the extra year anyway.
TM is so boring, like a broken record, he should be muted. The bigger problem is that he is so often factually wrong that it is annoying AF.
Complain away, but you’re wrong on this one. Cowser stays, McKenna goes. Can’t be any other way – though McKenna is beloved by teammates. Stowers will be up when Ced goes on the DL (again). Mateo is fine, but he’s definitely a utility guy. Personally, I’d love to see him flipped to the Dodgers for an A/AA pitcher with upside.
I hate the Mateo hate.
He’s a weapon in October. Defensive replacement and most importantly—pinch runner. There’s no one better than Mateo when you need a bag swiped to get into scoring position.
O’s should have traded a couple guys for Bieber and clear up that logjam of good players because Holliday should have made that cut.
Glad to see Cowser is making it (I think). He deserves to play over Hays tbh, but maybe he can fill in at all three OF spots to carve out 3-4 days a week. Of course he needs to keep things going, but kids got it.
Keep the depth and then trade at the deadline if needed. There will be plenty of rentals avaialble then.
Cowser may be better than Hays offensively, but Hays handles LF very well.
Cowser looked fundamentally deficient in the OF last year. Hays is currently superior on D.
For the love of god, PLEASE trade Stowers away. They’re gonna let him rot in AAA for a FOURTH season, absolutely nuts. He’s not an elite guy, but he’s a 25+ HR bat as a starter easily.
I hate using the term “unfair” because of how often it gets used these days to describe things that are not actually unfair, but it is legitimately unfair what they are doing to Kyle Stowers.
The next Christian Walker?
Orioles suck as an organization. Please fail and fail hard you idiots
It’s OK. Breatheeeee….. Namaste.
The Opening Day 2024 Norfolk Tides are probably better than several current MLB teams.
I’m looking at you, (soon-to-be-former) Oakland Athletics and Colorado Rockies.
Floch – I live in CO. No one talks about the Rockies. Its a beautiful stadium. Not as pretty as OPACY. They’ve talked more about who bought Russell Wilson’s mansion in Denver at a discount the last few days versus the impending Rockies’ opening day.
That’s too bad. Holliday should be in the starting lineup.
How did Baltimore get so stacked? Jackson Holiday, coby mayo ,Connor norby, Adley Ruschman, heston hjerstad, gunnar henderson… What a job by the scouts/coaches/GM
Tanking. Getting top and extra picks.
maybe
but nobody chose those players for them
they made the right decisions and developed them the right way
cant say that about every team out there
Mayo, Norby and Gunnar – none are first round picks. They’re good talent evaluators. Obviously.
Gunnar went 40th. Westburg went 40th too. Mayo was 5th round. Norby was 3rd round.
It was more than “tanking” that loaded the org; it was smart FO work.
Edit: Westburg went 30th
No team gets “extra picks” for tanking.
Every team in baseball passed on Gunnar Henderson when they had the chance to take him before the O’s grabbed him in the 2nd round of the 2019 draft. Mike Elias and his team are really smart lol.
Also, Adley (1:1) and Gunnar (2:1) have the chance to be one of the greatest back-to-back draft pick duos ever. Two picks, two franchise cornerstone type guys. Crazy.
if im not mistaken, ruschtman was #1 prospect ahead of 2022, gunnar #1 ahead of 2023, holliday is #1 going into 2024
has any tm ever had #1 ranked prospects 3 yrs in a row like that?
I don’t know, but it cannot be a long list if it has been done before.
Plus Samuel Basallo has his eye on taking the baton for 2025 when Holliday graduates!
good time to be an O’s fan
gunner was a no.2 pick, im still mad at yanks for not picking him.we could use him at 3rd base right now
And Basallo maybe next year.
Not to mention Stowers, Ortiz, and Hernaiz.
Well.
Tell me AJ Preller does not work for the Orioles without telling me AJ Preller does not work for the Orioles.
For better or worse, the man lets the kids play in the bigs if he does not trade them.
Meanwhile, the world series champs have announced that Langford has made the big club, so at least someone has the “we’re going to put the best players on the field” mindset.
I’m surprised. This means they don’t get an extra draft pick if he wins ROY and worse they also lose the extra year of service time if he wins ROY or has a top mvp finish the next years
Wong better not make it. We do not need another blah vet 2B with subpar offensive skills.
Jackson should be here if we were going with the 26 best players in the Orioles system.
A “don’t do things the Wong way” joke would be just too obvious, wouldn’t it?
Can’t blame them really. They are contending for a world series though, a little different as they should be playing all their best players. However he is only 20 and will be up soon. O’s need to start extending some of these guys soon though, because their prices are going to be through the roof and the extra year won’t really matter if you sign them for 8-10 anyways.
Service time manipulation.
Service time manipulation? Impossible, would never happen.
What do people think of stowers? Any good to trade for
Legit ML power bat
The Oscars so loaded. All three of l demoted players would make the rosters of at least 15 teams.
Holliday should have made the team for being a major hottie.
All y’all crying about a 20 year-old not making this squad owe Connor Norby and Coby Mayo and apology. Heck, I’d say Kyle Stowers is more deserving than Holliday at this point, too. I’m a big fan of Ramon Urias, so I’d like him to stay for a bit, but ya gotta think, at some point in the early going, a needy team will check in on Mateo and/or McKenna, the two complimentary players at the genesis of the logjam.
Let’s stop pretending like he’s a finished product. He could play badly, like a lot of OD rookies who get called up early before they find their sea legs. Or they can get him full-time repetitions to keep his confidence running high.
Baseball is in such a good place with all the elite young talent they have. Every year generational talent is being drafted and developed. Talent everywhere.
Feel bad for Holliday, what a joke of a franchise. Committing major money to guys past their prime only to keep baseballs top prospect in the minors for the sake of getting one extra year out of him. Like he won’t remember it 6 years from now and dip out to test free agency
You my friend, are a dunce. Take a little time to learn from some very well reasoned responses on here as to why.
Orioles are absolutely stacked with prospects. Kjerstad is probably ready also, but there’s no room. Not everything is service manipulation.
Personally it stinks for me. I live 400 miles from Baltimore and this will be my first opening day and I’m excited.