In light of the recent news about Barry Zito doing his best Steve Trachsel imitation and thus being banished to middle relief, here's a list of blockbuster ($100 mil-plus) contracts in major league baseball.   It's a bit too early to say with Cabrera and Santana, but with the exception of A-Rod, Manny, Pujols, and (arguably) Jeter, we've got a loooong list of dashed hopes and GMs on the unemployment line. 

Seeing as we're all a bit roided-out by now, and there's likely no impending Bedard or Roberts trade in the next few days or so, I thought it'd be a fun time for a spur in some conversation.

WTMD (a local Baltimore NPR affiliate) is currently running a poll to find the 897 Greatest Albums of all time. They allow people to name their ten best.  You can find all the voting info here.

For what it's worth, here's my list (not in any real order, and there's a ton I'm overlooking from acts like the Stones, REM, Pavement, The Stooges, The Smiths, The Cure, The Who, Oasis, Public Enemy, etc):

1. Radiohead - OK Computer
   
2. Beatles - Abbey Road
   
3. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
   
4. U2 - Achtung Baby
   
5. Led Zeppelin - Two
   
6. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu Tang
   
7. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
   
8. Pixies - Doolittle
   
9. Johnny Cash - American Recordings
   
10. Nirvana - Unplugged in NY

Nats get Lastings Milledge

Mets get Brian Schneider and Ryan Church.

Wow.  I don't profess to have a thimbleful of the knowledge of the inner workings of a Major League GM's head.   But this deal.  This deal does not seem  what you would call "good" for the Mets.  Church is pretty decent (not great, but decent), but I really don't think the Mets needed another catcher or outfielder, especially an outfielder who is seven years older and in no way better than the guy they're giving up.

Keeping it Oriole-centric, though...I suppose that means we'll probably be seeing Razor Ramon in an O's uni for '08, doesn't it?

....but no matter how bad things get today, this NY Times article has totally made my day.

I won't give away any details about the topic for those who don't click on it, but I'll just say that the article includes this picture:

300 characters?  I need no stinking 300 characters....Ok, maybe I do.  Damn it all.

So, god help me, I was bored, and ran a google search of "Syd Thrift".  Among other things, I found this fun little article from the Baltimore city paper circa 2001.

It's a pretty well written article, with a sort of "we may as well make the best with what we have" attitude.   But the BEST part is to point and laugh (at the state of the franchise in 2001? at how things look only slightly rosier today?) at the list of prospective "future Orioles":

Your 2003 Baltimore Orioles

If all goes according to plan, the 2003 O's will bear only a passing resemblance to the current (mike's note - 2001) edition:

Starters: The strength of the 2003 squad will probably be its rotation, which might include anyone from a 35-year-old Scott Erickson, back from arm surgery, to fireballing 21-year-old lefty Richard Stahl. Potential ace righty Beau Hale will be 24, crafty Aussie righty John Stephens will be 22, and surgically rebuilt lefty hotshot Matt Riley will be 23. Incumbent righty workhorse Sidney Ponson will be 26. The list goes on.

Closer: Jorge Julio Preseason acquisition got lit up in brief Birds debut earlier this year, but with additional minor-league seasoning and maturity (he'll be 24 in 2003) the cannon-armed righty projects as the closer of the future, assuming current Oriole Ryan Kohlmeier's troubles continue.

C: Octavio Martinez (mike's note -????) Brooks Robinson Award winner (as the team's top minor leaguer last year) batted .330 in first two minor-league seasons and is currently calling pitches for a dominant Frederick staff. He'll be 23 in 2003.

1B:David Segui  Veteran switch-hitter will be 37 and in third year of four-year contract. Tall, hard- hitting lefty Rick Elder, now with Single-A Delmarva and 23 in 2003, may see action.

2B: Jerry Hairston Jr. Defensive whiz and fan favorite will be 26 years old. "He'll be an All-Star," predicts Syd Thrift, the O's vice president of baseball operations.

SS: Ed Rogers "He's the smoothest shortstop I've seen, ever," Bowie manager Dave Machemer says. If Rogers, who will only be 21 on Opening Day 2003, isn't ready, look for a 25-year-old Brian Roberts to replace Mike Bordick.

3B: Jose Leon Cal Ripken Jr. will--presumably--be retired in 2003. Decent-hitting prospect Leon, 26 that year, is at the front of a line that also includes Napolean Calzado (who'll be 23) and a horde of young middle infielders blocked by Hairston and Rogers.

RF: Chris Richard Versatile hitter is shaping up as the prize of the O's July 2000 swap meet. He'll be 28.

CF:Luis Matos (mike's note- BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!) Standout defender will be 24, and more ready for major-league pitching than he was at age 21 last season (.225 average, 1 home run).

LF: Larry Bigbie Well-regarded prospect will be 25 and should be part of a deep mix of players challenging veterans for time in the outfield. Tim Raines Jr.--who "has all the tools in the world," Machemer raves--will be 23 and could end up in any outfield slot. Top-rated prospect Keith Reed will be 24, as will hard-hitting Raymond Cabrera.

DH: Jay Gibbons Lefty slugger, picked up from Toronto in Rule V draft this year, will be 26 in 2003 and is the most likely candidate to be crushing the ball by then. There's no reason why Calvin Pickering, who'll also be 26, shouldn't be murdering major-league pitching in '03--but since the O's don't seem to like him, he'll probably be doing it for some other team.

There is just so much to reminisce about here.  I don't know where to start.

(int-  Deepest sub-basement of the Camden Yards Warehouse. Dark, but with flickers of light from "Emergency" signs and destroyed equipment)

(Evidence of an epic battle is everywhere, with blood soaking the cavernous walls and all sorts of mad scientist-type equipment in flames.  The body of a various grotesquely deformed affronts to humanity litter the floor, including a little green being with a perpetual sadface, a soft-armed cuban run-regurgitator, a weak-yet-strangely-resiliant human/horse hybrid, and a a two-headed abomination.)

(Showing that she has survived an ordeal most humans could not possibly imagine, Ori L. Fannes, our plucky heroine, holds the defeated body of the gnarled Troll, Ang Los, while her newfound ally Mack Fail stands behind her.)

ORI L. FANNES
Oh My God.  It's over.  Finally.....over.  The long nightmare....we can finally wake up from it!  With the help of Mack Fail and my special weapons, the sword of BLOG and the Walkout-In-Protest-Gun,  I've finally killed the destructive influence of Ang Los!

MACK FAIL
Yes.

(Ang Los gurgles and then begins to speak)

ANG LOS
You may think you've defeated me, Ori, but like the shadows of nightfall, I will return.  I will always return.

(He tries to laugh, but it comes out as a pathetic cough)

ORI
You just try, Ang.  I'll be ready for you!  Soon, Cal-the-Iron will be here, and together we'll make you just a sad sordid memory.  Just a story that parents use to scare their kids.  You're better off just staying away and playing in your land of Asbestos-lined dollars.

(While she is saying this, Ang Los begins to slowly look stronger and stronger)

ORI
One thing you need to understand, Ang, is that, no matter how long you keep my friends and I down - be it one year, two years, even ten - our hope keeps us alive.  We keep the old ways....the ones you scoff at...and they are what make us victorious!  You can't beat hope.  It makes us strongest.....

(BLAM!!!  A shot rings out.  Blood starts to dribble from Ori's mouth, as she realizes she's been shot in the back.  She turns around to see a smiling Mack Fail holding the smoking gun, marked with the word "Dusty")

ANG
Ha.  HAHA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Silly girl. I never lose. As you can see, my influence reaches everyone! You think your mighty Cal will save you? Never.  I'll defeat him the same way I defeated Davey, JonMiller, Moose, and the others!

ORI (dropping to her knees)
Mack.....why?

ANG
Go ahead and show her, Mack....

(Mack reaches to his neck and starts to pull his mask off, revealing that he was wearing a disguise all along)

ORI
Oh NO!  Not you! Anyone but you! You're supposed to be dead!!!!!!

(Camera turns to Mack Fail's face to reveal that he is actually..........the Thrifty Syd!!!!)

ANG
Oh but don't worry, my dear.  You won't die.  I'll see to that.  You'll stay alive just so I can continue having my fun with you...  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

(To Be Continued......likely forever)

Before I get into this, here's something that might cleanse our collective palates a bit.  Here's Socrates, the puppy my wife and I adopted about a month ago:

<<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank">>

Yes, yesterday hurt.  A lot.  It was yet another punch in the gut by a team that we love.

I personally didn't watch any of the game yesterday.  We were on the road from my in-laws' place in Allentown, PA.  I didn't even learn of what happened until about 11 PM.

But, and I know it's the coldest of comforts, just think about who we are here at Camdenchat.  We've stuck with this team through some verrrrry rough times.  Those rough times don't look like they're going to end in the near future, but we still come back for more.  

We check this site every day.  We watch all the games.  We bitch about the idiocy of everyone from Angelos to Fluquette to Perlozzo to Mazzone to Tejada to Chris Ray....all the way down.  It would have been easy just to say "Fuck this Team!", and then just concentrate our pursuits somewhere else.  But we don't.  That's just who we are.  That's how we're wired.  That's why we're fans.

One blown game isn't going to change that.  One blown season, after nine blown seasons, isn't going to change that.

That's why, I think it'd be cathartic if we revisit past disappointments that the Orioles have provided us.  I know, it seems like just rubbing salt in the wound, but it's a great thing to put what happened yesterday, what has been happening this season, what has happened for the last ten years, in perspective.  It shows that like cockroaches, us Camdensteins cannot be killed.  

Here's a poll I've put up with some low points in O's history, including one that occurred years before I, and probably most people here, was born.

So let's revisit, and hopefully laugh at our woeful team.  A little bit of the gallows humor is great for the soul.