SB Nation User Blog: Harold Baines

Brian Roberts traded to the Cubs

Harold Baines — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:05:26 -0000

"Orioleshangout.com has learned through several sources that the trade of All-Star second baseman Brian Roberts to the Cubs has been finalized.

The early reports indicate that Orioles will get back 22-year old right-hander pitching prospect Sean Gallagher, 25-year old left-handed starting pitcher Sean Marshall, and 24-year old shortstop Ronny Cedeno."

Radhames Liz to the bigs

Harold Baines — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 21:50:43 -0000

He'll make his debut Saturday night against the Twins. In 25 starts at AA this year he's has a 3.22 ERA with 161 K's to 70 BB's in 137 IP. I'm not expecting much...a lot of BB's, a lot of K's, 5 IP or less, but it'll be interesting to see what this kid's got.

Hmm, apparently I need some filler so in case anyone was wondering Garret Olson was sent down to Bluefield for one start because the Orioles coaching staff noticed a flaw in his delivery. He'll be back in Baltimore shortly.

Jeremy Guthrie

Harold Baines — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 05:34:15 -0000

As a former 1st round pick he's always been a guy whose performance never reflected his stuff. Some said he needed a change of scenery. He left Cleveland this year for Baltimore and was given chance in the rotation do to injury and has excelled. He has a 2.76 ERA in 58.2 innings with 10 BB's to 36 K's. He has a good (93-96) fastball with movement that he locates real well. His breaking stuff is solid (curve, slider, change) and when he can throw it for strikes he's been mowing down line-ups like the Red Sox and Angles, but he's been holding his own when it's a little off. Some criticize him for being more of a pitch-to-contact (lots of ground balls) than a strike-out guy despite the good fastball. He's been described as extremely intelligent and has an interesting background, taking years off for missionary work before going to Stanford leading to him not pitching professionally until he was 24.

It's obvious he never felt comfortable in Cleveland with the cloud of 1st round draft pick disappointment hanging over his head and where he said every start felt like an audition. It's interesting that he's actually pitched well in every appearance this year except for 1.1 innings in Cleveland where he gave up 6 ER. If not for that he'd have a 1.88 ERA. Asked what the biggest change pitching coach Leo Mazzone has brought to his performance he said confidence.

What are your thoughts on him? Will he adapt once the league knows about him? What do you see his ceiling as?
I'd be especially interested to see what Cleveland fans think of him.