00:00Next up on our best off-seasons list is the Baltimore Orioles,
00:06headlined by the signing of Pete Alonso.
00:09They also traded for right-handed pitcher Shane Boz.
00:13You bring in even more power with Taylor Ward,
00:16but you did have to part with Grayson Rodriguez.
00:19You sure up the bullpen with arms like Ryan Helsley,
00:22who needs to bounce back after a rough showing with the New York Mets,
00:27but still over the last couple of seasons,
00:29he has been one of the best closers in Major League Baseball.
00:32And you also sure up the bullpen by bringing in Andrew Kittredge,
00:36who holds appreciators now is one of my favorites.
00:40Nobody locks down a seventh inning like Andrew Kittredge and bringing back
00:45Zach Eflin.
00:46They have already had a really good off season and I want to focus on the
00:49off season that they've had,
00:51but I'm sure the cherry on top of the Sunday for Orioles fans would be bringing
00:56in Fromber Valdez on top of the moves that they've already made.
01:01But before we even talk about Fromber potentially going to the Orioles,
01:04because it seems that the consensus right now,
01:08let's talk about the moves that they have already made.
01:12They've addressed a lot of the issues that they had to address going into the
01:15off season.
01:16They did.
01:17I'm really curious as someone that's watched Pete Alonzo's whole career,
01:21what Pete looks like on a new team where I almost feel like even though Pete was
01:26with the Mets for all that time and had a little bit of a leadership role,
01:29I think that's going to be not chitted up even more with the Orioles going into
01:33that team as the big off season acquisition,
01:35the guy that can back clean up and just rack up the RBIs.
01:39I think Pete's going to make a huge difference on that team.
01:42And I think with Pete there,
01:45it might take some of the pressure off a Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman.
01:49And maybe we see better performances from those guys after a year where both of
01:53them, certainly Adley,
01:54but even Gunnar had a bit of a down year from what we have come to expect.
01:58I think those guys might end up being still the best players on the team,
02:02but I think Pete Alonzo kind of gets more out of all these younger guys that
02:06don't have to do as much because there's this guy that's been a big star in
02:10major league baseball for a long time.
02:11I think you can kind of defer to.
02:13Yeah, I totally agree.
02:14And I also think bringing in Taylor Ward is pretty underrated at the time.
02:18I wasn't a fan really of the trade and I still am not,
02:21but that doesn't mean that the offense didn't get better with Taylor Ward coming
02:26off 30 plus home runs and the Orioles, right?
02:29We talk about their pitching and how needed a starting pitcher would be.
02:34I even see a comment right here.
02:36Thank you to everybody joining us live on YouTube that the Orioles need a
02:39starting pitcher that offense needed to be addressed too.
02:42So bringing in Pete Alonzo was great,
02:43but if they hadn't have brought in Taylor Ward,
02:46I would also be screaming that they need to do more offensively,
02:50but bringing him in that big right-handed bat as well.
02:53We can't forget this Orioles offense finished 24th in batting average last
02:57year, 24th and on base percentage and 21st in OPS.
03:02We're expecting bounce backs from guys like Gunnar Henderson guys like Adley
03:07Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, not really a bounce back candidate,
03:10but we just know that there is more in the tank than what he showed last
03:14season. But Mike Elias,
03:16the GM of the Orioles have set the Orioles up to have a much better team in
03:212026. And that's kind of what we're looking at here.
03:24So in a vacuum, I didn't love the trade,
03:26but I still do love the addition of Taylor Ward, all things considered.
03:29Yeah. I could say maybe you don't love the trade, but we,
03:32we love their lineup right now. I think, I think that's, it's clear.
03:35They don't have to address this lineup any further.
03:38I think they made the two big additions they needed.
03:40They're in a good spot, but the pitching side of things,
03:43it's interesting because I actually think Helsley is going to be fine.
03:47I think he'll, he'll settle in. And I think, you know, for one,
03:51you have the combination of leaving the only team you'd ever been with,
03:54with the Cardinals,
03:55but you also had going to a big market with the Mets.
03:58There was a lot of pressure on it.
03:59This is a lot different going to a new team from the beginning.
04:02You have all spring training to get acclimated.
04:04I think Helsley will be, if not as a lead, as we've seen him in the past,
04:08he'll be a serviceable closer for sure. To me,
04:11the question is how good is Shane Boz?
04:13And that's where you get to sort of the elephant in the room of this
04:16discussion.
04:17Whereas if they go out right now and they complete this off season by picking
04:22up Frambo, we're not ranking,
04:24but we might all of a sudden shoot the Orioles to the top of this list is
04:27having the best off season of any team.
04:30That's how important I think that acquisition is.
04:32If they end up just settling on, I don't know,
04:35Chris Bassett or Jose Quintana to me with all of the,
04:39they're the only team that's been linked to Frambo.
04:41So now I feel like it's almost setting things up or if they don't get them,
04:44it's going to be a big disappointment.
04:46You slide them into the top of that rotation and it just takes so much
04:51pressure off of everybody else, because you know, if nothing else,
04:54Frambo is going to give you 180 innings.
04:56It's going to give you a chance to win most of the time that it takes them out.
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