Orioles' Strategic Moves for a Strong World Series Bid

SportsGrid

Watch Orioles' Strategic Moves for a Strong World Series Bid - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00I think that the Orioles will represent the American League in the World Series.

00:07Joe and I often talk about how it comes down to three pitchers.

00:11You need three pitchers in order to get there, and I think the Baltimore Orioles have done

00:16that.

00:17They started to do it before the deadline, and I think they completed it.

00:20I also believe that adding a bat here and there is going to help.

00:23We're going to start to see a lot of these names come up a bit more as the weather turns.

00:29I like the addition of Eli Jimenez because a lot of people don't realize a new environment

00:33can mean a lot of things, but when you go from one type of atmosphere to at least a

00:37similar type weather-wise, think about what Chicago would be like in October, think about

00:41what Baltimore is going to be like in October, and Eli Jimenez will not be shocked like a

00:45goldfish thrown into a different pond.

00:47I'll get off my soapbox.

00:48I think those are the reasons the Orioles were winners.

00:50Joe, I hope I left some meat on the bone for you, I'm sure.

00:53You did.

00:54You did.

00:55I'm actually Italian, so I can't speak without moving my hands.

00:57It's very difficult for me, like physically.

00:58If you tied my hands together, we probably couldn't do the show, it'd be terrible.

01:02But I will say that I do agree with you to a certain extent.

01:05Eli Jimenez was kind of surprising.

01:07It feels like maybe they were going for Robert and the price was too big, so I said, let's

01:10take the cheaper Eli Jimenez.

01:12What's interesting about him too is that he has a player option for next year too, actually

01:16in the year after for $16.5 million, which is not a lot of money.

01:19Remember, they signed him to a very long-term extension years ago when he was just a boy,

01:24and unfortunately, seasons haven't gone very well for him, and now there's kind of value

01:28on that when you're looking retroactively at what they've done.

01:32So interesting move there by the Orioles, unexpected, I think.

01:36Does he help in the offense?

01:37Yeah, I think he gives you another bat in the middle of that order.

01:40If he can stay healthy, if he can get hot, in terms of that hamstring, I think it's something

01:43you're always going to worry about when it comes to him.

01:46It's the pitching moves that kind of worry me just a little bit.

01:48I like the fact that they added depth.

01:50I like that they added Eflin.

01:51I like that they added Rodgers, adding lefties to the rotation always is interesting too.

01:55Rodgers is a curious reclamation project because he's not that old.

02:00A couple years ago, he did flash some signs of being, oh, this guy could be really interesting.

02:07And we've seen this before where some of those pitchers who are, you know, the 6'7", 6'10",

02:11those big starters, heck, we even saw it in Randy Johnson in his youth.

02:14They struggle mechanically at the major league level to maintain those mechanics.

02:20If they can get in his ear and fix things, maybe not this year, but maybe in the offseason,

02:24who knows?

02:25Maybe there's actually some upside there.

02:26Like I said, I think these were good moves.

02:28I don't know if they were great moves.

02:30I think in some ways I would have liked to have seen them go all in, but I understand.

02:35They don't want to give up the prospects.

02:37I get it.

02:38But at the same time, if you don't have the kind of pitching to go through a short series

02:42that's dominant, Grayson Rodriguez is great.

02:46Corbin Burns, obviously an ace.

02:48But other than that, I think it is kind of questionable who is that third guy in that

02:50rotation that you fear.

02:51I don't think you do.

02:53And it's not Zach Geflin, and it's not Trevor Rodgers.

02:55So that's my only qualm with what the Orioles did.

02:58It was good.

02:59Was it good enough?

03:00I guess time will tell.

Category

Transcript

Recommended