Orioles' Strategic Moves for a Strong World Series Bid
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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.