Smitty Is 100% Right...The Orioles Are Better Set Up For The Future Than The Yankees Are
Smitty is a true ride or die guy. The guys had a little discussion on Picks Central and the discussion of the Orioles roster vs the Yankees roster came up. Smitty being the super smart sports fan he is told Marty and Big Ev that he would rather have the Orioles roster this year than the Yankees. It's a bold take for sure, but he's not that far off. If you want to spread it out over the next 6 years I think the Orioles roster will be better than the Yankees if we are looking at it on paper right now.
My favorite part about this clip is Big Ev talking about how the Orioles were doing victory laps for finishing in 4th place. That just isn't true, but I will say that fans LOVED seeing a 31 game improvement while trading away 2 of their best players at the deadline and still having a chance to make the playoffs as they entered October. No one was celebrating that, they were celebrating that the future is here now and the last place finishes and rebuild talk is over. Meanwhile, you have these Yankees fans bragging about making it to the ALCS. The ALCS! This is what Yankee fans are now, fans who boo their best player after a hell of a season and then puff their chest out after making it to the ALCS before getting their dicks kicked and being swept by the Astros yet again.
My dad is from Long Island, Massapequa actually. Right down the street from Stu Reiner's house. He told me years ago that making the ALCS doesn't mean a thing. Rings count. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s when the Yankees were actually winning World Series, they would have LOST THEIR MIND if they got eliminated in the ALCS. Now we have this new age of Yankee fans who have the ALCS as their goal. George Steinbrenner and every Yankee fan over the age of 40 must be rolling over in their graves now. They have moved the goalposts back that far where the ALCS is a good season for the Yankees. They must have forgotten about how their team was on pace to win 140 games for the first 3 months of the season and Yankee fans were asking if the team was the greatest club ever assembled. Then the All Star Break came and they pissed all over themselves. This goes along with Cashman's quotes about "we had a good year!". Pitiful coming from Yankee fans who for years demanded the best, now they are itching for a ALCS appearance so they can talk about the season being a success. It's a shame how the might have fallen. They really have lost their fastball. Their goal isnt a World Series anymore, it's just to make it to the ALCS.
But if you really want to say the Yankees are in better shape than the Orioles over the next 6 years you have to do some digging. We can just look at prospect lists. And it's okay that Marty says prospects don't count and then goes and slurps Jasson Dominguez and Anthony Volpe. Prospects aren't sure things, but you look at the Orioles prospects they have called up since May of last year and who else they have coming up and they are bound to hit on more than they miss on. You can talk about Adley Rutschman who had a MONSTER season last year with a 5.2 BWAR in 113 games last year and how MLB.Com projects him to have a top 5 WAR this season. Look at Gunnar Henderson, a guy numerous scouts and baseball analysts have said is the best prospect in baseball. All he did was homer in his first game last year and put up .788 OPS is 34 games while playing gold glove caliber defense. And I haven't even gotten to talk about DL Hall or Grayson Rodriguez or Jackson Holliday or Jordan Westburg or Joey Ortiz or Colton Cowser or Coby Mayo or Connor Norby or Heston Kjerstad. The Orioles have studs everywhere. Their farm system is loaded, even Keith Law who legit hates the Orioles can't hide how good he thinks they are.
Top 3 farm system for the O's which is low by a lot of people's standards, but then we see the Yankees right in the middle at 14. Their farm system is….fine? They have Volpe, Dominguez Oswald Peraza who is a good player and Austin Wells I guess and…..that is really is. After that is just regular guys. But if Marty says prospects don't matter "Because the Yankees have the same amount of best prospects coming up as the Orioles." That is just not true, not even close to true. Quite actually a laughable statement.
The Orioles have themselves in a position to be VERY GOOD for a long time, the Yankees are obviously a very good team. But Judge and Cole and the rest of those guys aren't getting any younger. The Orioles are, they have the young studs at every spot in their lineup and roster. I haven't even talked about Cedric Mullins or Ryan Mountcastle or Anthony Santander or Ramon Urias. Next offseason they will be in prime position to spend money (like we thought they would this year) and it's go from there. The Yankees will try and trade for old veterans like Donaldson and keep trotting Hicks out there and act like that will work. Spoiler alert, it won't. I like Marty and Ev but they sound scared, they really do. And going with the "Name 6 Orioles from the past 5 years" has big "Oh you like this band? Name 5 of their songs."
These aren't our fathers Yankees, no one is scared of them anymore. They don't go out and get anyone they want anymore, they just paid Judge which they have to but there used to be a time if they wanted a free agent they got him. That ended when Manny Machado and Bryce Harper said "nah, we're good." They have lost their fastball and now their fans are excited for a ALCS. Meanwhile the Orioles and other teams are loading up and getting ready to come for their spot. May not be this year, but soon. I'm willing to say I think the Orioles will win a World Series before the Yankees win their next one. Book it.
PS. Smitty is invited to the Orioles parade with me. Love that guy.