If they want to keep their bullpen, though, they should buy, but only if they can get controllable starting pitching. That’s the goal — pitchers who will be around for a couple years. Remember the Rangers traded for Cole Hamels when they looked like they were rebuilding, and while it ended up working that very season, it was more of a move for future years. It looks smart in retrospect, and if the Orioles can ape that sort of move, they should part with whatever prospects they need to.
If they can’t, however, they should sit tight, and spend this offseason doing what they’ve been unwilling to do in recent years. They’ll need to spend on starting pitchers, whether it’s using money or prospect capital. Might as well start now if they have the chance.
This hints that, yes, we’ll move on to a new large slugger in the future. It hurts, but it’s probably true. There will occasionally be an Aaron Judge if you look hard enough.
The other answer is that we’ll all be dead in 2047, and the lichen will rule our new sea planet.
But focus on the part about Howard. He was 6’7 in his playing days, which is the same height that Judge is listed. There has been a Judge before. Not a lesser version. A comparable player. There have been large players in the past. There will be large players in the future.
When you graph the average height of the top-10 home run hitters by decade (with help from Baseball-Reference.com), a pattern emerges:
Those large home run lads are getting larger. Except, hold on, we’re talking about a couple of inches spanning decades. No old-timer is really going to notice if a 6’4 comes to the plate Cheap Team Jerseys because he watched 6’2 players all his life. This is all incremental.
Ah, but there’s more context. When you sort the players of Cheap Soccer Jerseys Free Shipping the ‘20s by height, again, a pattern emerges.