via weblogs.baltimoresun.com

 

Per the Sun:

 

Orioles center fielder Adam Jones became the first Oriole to win a Rawlings Gold Glove in 10 years when he was named today as one of three American League outfielders to be awarded the annual prize for outstanding defense.

Jones, 24, is just the second Orioles outfielder to ever win the award, joining eight-time recipient Paul Blair, who won his final one in 1975.

Blair captured his first when he was 23.

Jones is the 13th Oriole to win a Gold Glove and the first since pitcher Mike Mussina did it in 1999. The last Orioles position players to win the award were second baseman Roberto Alomar and first baseman Rafael Palmeiro in 1998.

The Orioles entered 2009 tied with the New York Yankees for the most in the American League with 58 Gold Gloves.

Per the Sun, the Orioles have declined Mora's $8M option for 2010.

The Orioles announced today that they won't exercise third baseman Melvin Mora's $8 million contract option for the 2010 season, an expected move that likely ends the tenure of one of their most productive and popular players over the last decade.

In a series of roster moves today, the Orioles also declined the $850,000 option on catcher Chad Moeller, who hit .258 with two homers and 10 RBIs in 30 games while serving as rookie Matt Wieters' backup; and outrighted outfielder Jeff Fiorentino, pitchers Chris Lambert and Jim Miller and catcher Guillermo Rodriguez after each cleared waivers.

Reliever Sean Henn, who appeared in six games for the Orioles late in the season, was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Per the Sun,

It appears that the Brian Matusz era in Baltimore will start far earlier than anyone expected.

The Orioles are giving heavy consideration to promoting the 22-year-old Double-A pitcher and having him start on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers in Brad Bergesen's spot in the rotation.

"That is definitely a possibility," Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said today. "We've canvassed everybody and it's definitely a possibility."

Matusz, who is scheduled to start for Bowie tonight at New Britain, is 7-0 with a 1.59 ERA in seven Double-A starts. In 45 1/3 innings for Bowie, he has allowed just 30 hits and 10 walks while striking out 45. Opponents are hitting just .188 against him.

The left-hander, who the Orioles drafted fourth overall last year out of the University of San Diego, has allowed no runs in four of his seven starts for Bowie. Before his promotion to Double-A, he went 4-2 with a 2.16 ERA in 11 starts for Single-A Frederick.

Matusz is ranked as the Orioles' third-best prospect by Baseball America. The two guys ahead of him -- catcher Matt Wieters and right-hander Chris Tillman -- have already been promoted this season.

MacPhail said several times this season that Matusz would not make his big-league debut this season, but circumstances have changed drastically due to both injuries and ineffectiveness in the Orioles' rotation. Jeremy Guthrie is the only member of the Opening Day rotation that is still a part of the five-man staff, which is currently manned by three rookies (Tillman, Jason Berken and David Hernandez).

My gut reaction to this is that it's too early.  But look at Matusz' stats - he's actually gotten BETTER since moving to Bowie.  (Remind you of anyone?)  More telling is that the people who have MacPhail's ear are telling him it's not too early to bring him up... hopefully this won't be the wrong move.  I'm a little gun shy, myself. Maybe this is another one of those times where it's best to trust MacPhail to do the right thing.

(FP'd by duck with editing for layout)

via espndeportes-akamai.espn.go.com

 

Per Roch, the Orioles have traded Oscar Salazar to the San Diego Padres.  Who we get in return is something of a mystery at the moment - not only because we don't know his name, but also because Roch says he'll stick on the 25 man roster, which doesn't solve our roster crunch for recalling Hernandez in time for his scheduled start tomorrow night vs. the Y*nkees in New York.

 

via www.baseball-reference.com

 

Per Roch, Melvin Mora has been lowered in tonight's lineup to the 7-hole.  This should have happened much earlier, but it's good to see that Trembley isn't completely blind to the level of suckitude Melvin's been contributing lately.

 

Brian Roberts - 2B
Adam Jones - CF
Nick Markakis - RF
Aubrey Huff - 1B
Nolan Reimold - LF
Luke Scott - DH
Melvin Mora - 3B
Matt Wieters - C
Robert Andino - SS

via weblogs.baltimoresun.com

Roch: Norfolk's Rotation Just Became Sick

I'm told that pitchers Troy Patton and Jake Arrieta are, indeed, moving up to Triple-A Norfolk, where they'll join elite prospect Chris Tillman in a beefed-up rotation.

I guess there's still room for someone else once the Orioles activate Koji Uehara, but it just got a lot more crowded down there.

Time keeps on tickin', tickin', tickin'... into the future.  And it seems to be happening a lot sooner than most people expected.  Can't be long before Matusz is moved up to Bowie, he doesn't have anything left to prove at single-A.  Then it's just a matter of - what, months? - before we're seeing these guys at Camden Yards.

To repeat: 2/3 of the Big Three are now at triple-A.  If you want to start holding your breath, you might actually make it.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Feeling that they could no longer count on Jamie Walker to get left-handed hitters out, the Orioles will announce the release of the struggling reliever today despite still owing him approximately $3 million.

To take his place on the roster, the Orioles will select the contract of left-handed reliever Alberto Castillo, who has a 3.09 ERA in 24 appearances with Triple-A Norfolk this season, holding left-handed hitters to a .209 average. Castillo, 33, pitched in 28 games for the Orioles last year, compiling a 3.81 ERA. Left-handed hitters batted .256 against him with two home runs in 39 at-bats.

Baltimore Sun

Knew this was coming.  Jamie gave us a good first year after leaving Detroit, but they clearly got the best years of his career.  There are times when you can't tell if a pitcher's lost it or is having mechanical/injury issues.  Anyone who's watched Walker pitch this year knows he's lost it.  Still... 10 seasons in the bigs?  Not a bad career.

The Baltimore Sun

The city's largest newspaper, around since 1837, the paper of record, the paper of note has cut 30% of it's newsroom staff in the last 48 hours.  I'm going to speak to this generally, but it applies to sports reporting in this town just as much as to local politics & human interest stories.

Newspapers are regarded to be nearing the end of their useful lives in current form.  I get that.  It's an outdated medium.  Plus, it's hard to get people to buy your print edition when they can get a lot of the same information - updated regularly - online for free.  But, honestly, it didn't have to come to this. 

Since Tribune Co. bought The Baltimore Sun in 1999, they have slashed their staff by 60%.  That's 300 jobs in Baltimore City gone.  That's 300 reporters, photographers, editors, fact checkers, print staff, administrators, and Baltimoreans-by-default NOT talking.  They aren't talking about our city, our politicians, our problems, our assets, our celebrities, our sports teams, our opinions.  They aren't talking about anyone else's either.  The Sun of my youth had award winning writers, dogged investigative reporters, and a sports section that would take you an hour to read.  Today's Sun has oversized graphics, the font you'd expect in a Reader's Digest for the elderly, and scant articles written by Sun staff - many are just AP re-prints.  No more Washington bureau, no more international stories written from a Baltimore perspective.  I imagine it's hard enough to get them to cover even the smallest local stories at this point just due to lack of personnel.

The Examiner folded earlier this year, not surprisingly.  While it was an annoyance to those of us who live in the city (unsolicited papers appearing on the doorstep, daily, are not a blessing but rather LITTER!) it was also another point of view.  Another voice, another resource.  Their Orioles coverage was a breath of fresh air by mere default - these were new observations by new writers.  When The Examiner retreated to online status only, we were left with the old standby in The Sun.  But now The Sun, too, has abbreviated it's comment.

I'm not going to cite Mencken because it's too obvious.  Rather, David Simon:

"If I want to find out what's going on in this city, I've got to go to a f*cking bar and talk to a police lieutenant and take notes on a cocktail napkin." 

It can't be more than a few years before I'll be wishing I had even this shadow of The Sun.  At the very least, I need an answer to the question: to whom am I going to turn for complete Orioles coverage? MASN? School of Roch?

Here's another kick to this whole diatribe: the management told three reporters & a photographer that they were fired yesterday by phone, while they were on assignment covering the Orioles game.  Couldn't have told them before they went down to the ballpark?  The company line is going to be that they're streamlining, repositioning, evolving to succeed in the new market.  But, as moves like this suggest, they're really cutting down to bare bones with no room for sentiment, class, or enough know-how to fire people with tact.

There is a local group organizing that wants to re-take the city paper for the city.  From my keyboard to God's ears: sell, Tribune, sell.

Per Schmuck:

No. 3 starting pitcher Alfredo Simon told reporters today that he will undergo elbow surgery that figures to cost him the remainder of the 2009 season.

SNIP

He came up sore early in his second start and was diagnosed as having "degenerative tissue" in his pitching elbow.

Now, in the grand scheme of things, this isn't a huge loss.  However, in the NOW scheme of things, this isn't exactly good news.  Simon was not going to be part of the future.  His success this Spring seemed to come despite less-than-impressive perhipherals & ran completely contrary to his track record.  But can anyone say they'd rather have Hendrickson or Eaton on the mound than hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with Simon?

The worst news for Simon is the timing.  This could have been his shot to catch on as kind of a budding yeomanlike pitcher: one of those guys who hops from team to team, never really catching on anywhere, but making a good living out of it.  Instead, his audition for that job has been cut short & may be permanently ended.  I can't think of too many other teams with situations like ours that would have afforded him the opportunity to be a relatively bright spot in an otherwise miserable rotation.  By missing out now, his return will coincide with the arrival of better, more talented cornerstones of our youth pitching movement.

Or, hell, he could end up in the bullpen.  It's not like anyone out there has guaranteed job security.

Who do I look like, Kreskin?

Our new away jerseys will be revealed on November 12th at the Gallery in Harborplace at noon.  "Baltimore" will take it's rightful place on the away grays.  Here's a sneak peek:

via i4.photobucket.com

In addition, the BALTIMORE Orioles are ditching the all-black hat they currently wear with the away uni in favor of the home hat with orange bill.  The "O's" hat will remain the Friday alternate... unfortunately.

Interesting to note that the invitation for the unveiling has the full team name as opposed to the Angelos-pushed regional "Orioles" only moniker. Seems they're finally returning to their base.  Good move!

UPDATE: The team will unveil new BP jerseys this year as well.  A Maryland state flag patch will adorn the sleeves of game jerseys.  And the bird has been "updated".

via images.tsn.ca

Per the Orioles:

 

Third baseman Melvin Mora of the Baltimore Orioles has been named the Sharp Presents the American League Player of the Month for August. This marks his second career monthly award honor (previous: May 2004).

In 24 games last month, Mora batted .418 (41-for-98) with eight home runs and a Major League-high 32 RBI. The 36-year-old infielder posted a .765 slugging percentage and a .455 on-base percentage. The Venezuela native collected 17 extra-base hits, including eight doubles. Mora notched 13 multi-hit games in August and assembled an eight-game hitting streak from August 1st-10th.

Roch Kubatko:

I'll go in more depth later, but Adam Loewen is done as a pitcher. He's going to reinvent himself as an outfielder/first baseman, perhaps as early as the fall instructional league.

Another surgery on his elbow would have sidelined him for an estimated 1 1/2 years, and he wasn't willing to go down that path.

"I'm always going to be a pitcher," he said. "I've been doing it since I was 9 years old. It's going to be hard to let it go, but God has a plan for me."

Also, the Orioles acquired shortstop Juan Castro from Triple-A Colorado Springs for Triple-A Norfolk infielder Mike McCoy. Castro was added to the 25-man roster, and the Orioles outrighted Freddie Bynum to Triple-A. Bynum has 72 hours to accept the assignment.

Randor Bierd has returned from his injury rehab assignment. He's on his way to the ballpark right now. To make room, the Orioles placed Greg Aquino on the disabled list with a strained hamstring.

More to come.

via media.washingtontimes.com

He's that freaking good.

.345AVG .448OBP .576SLG in 229ABs at single-A Frederick.

.368AVG .449OBP .588SLG in 68ABs at double-A Bowie.

He's actually improved on what everyone agrees was a flat-out domination of single-A ball even as the level of his competition increased.  So do you leave him at Bowie as long as he stayed in Frederick?  Or do you actually try to challenge him prior to bringing him up to the big show?

I don't doubt he could match/beat Ramon's production this year already.  
The question in my mind, honestly, is how quickly will he rival Joe Mauer for the best C in the game?  The similarities are all there - he's got Mauer's potential, with more power.

Per MLB.com:

Last week, Huff hit .345 (10-29) with three doubles, three home runs and nine RBI. The 31-year-old posted a .759 slugging percentage along with a .333 on-base percentage. During a four-game series versus the Kansas City Royals, the seventh-year Major Leaguer went 7-for-17 with three home runs, four runs scored and seven RBI, including a multi-homer game on July 3rd. Huff collected at least RBI in six of his seven games played last week. Born in Ohio and raised in Texas, Huff is batting .281 with 17 home runs and 54 RBI on the season. This marks Aubrey's second career weekly award (previous: 8/1/05 with Tampa Bay). Other nominees considered were Huff's teammate, outfielder Nick Markakis (.387, .613 SLG, 4 2B, 1 HR, 8 RBI); New York Yankees 12-time All-Star third baseman Alex Rodriguez (.333, .750 SLG, 1 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI); and Toronto Blue Jays five-time All-Star right-hander Roy Halladay (2-0, 1.13 ERA, 13 SO, 16.0 IP, 1 SHO).

That's some mighty fine competition Audrey Aubrey beat out for the title.

But more importantly, Huff has done what O's fans could have only dreamed: he's resurrected his career when we needed him to be valuable trade bait.  As a suddenly potent DH who can competently man 3B & 1B, his value to us will never be higher.  I don't know when it's gonna go down & I don't know who's gonna dance with us after the Bedard swindle, but Huff should be out of town by August 1st.

Thanks for the memories, HuffNStuff.  You kicked ass when we needed it most - right before the trade deadline.

via bp2.blogger.com - Shawn Chacon during happier, less violent times.

Yahoo! News

HOUSTON (AP)—Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon was suspended indefinitely by the team Wednesday for insubordination after reportedly grabbing general manager Ed Wade by the neck and throwing him to the ground.

Yeah, that's not good.  But Chacon's version of events makes it sound even worse.

"I sat down to eat and Ed Wade came to me and very sternly said, ‘You need to come with me to the office,"’ Chacon said. "I said, ‘For what?’ I said, ‘I don’t want to go to the office with you and Cooper.’ And I said, ‘You can tell me whatever you got to tell me right here.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, you want me to tell you right here?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ I’m not yelling. I’m calm."

"He started yelling and cussing," Chacon said of Wade, according to a story on the Chronicle’s Web site. "I’m sitting there and I said to him very calmly, ‘Ed, you need to stop yelling at me. Then I stood up and said, ‘You better stop yelling at me.’ I stood up. He continued and was basically yelling."

Chacon said that after Wade told him he needed to "look in the mirror," it got worse.

"So at that point I lost my cool and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him," he said. "Words were exchanged."

Moral of the story - you can yell or cuss at Shawn Chacon.  But don't tell him to look in the mirror.  Because he's a 'roid rage freak who will immediately go from calm talking to performing Big Show-type wrestling moves on you, no matter that you're his boss.

(The Big Show was unavailable for comment.)

"Maybe it shouldn’t have happened," Chacon said. "But when you do those things and you’re yelling at somebody and you’re cussing you better know what type of person you’re dealing with..."

MAYBE it shouldn't have happened?!?  Chacon, you're looking at demotion plus suspension plus you now have a seriously tainted rep.  Plus, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but you're not exactly what people call a "good pitcher".

Good luck with that whole finding work thing.

This has nothing to do with anything & I'm not even going to argue for any side.  I just thought this picture from the rally last night was very cool.

So here you go:

Sen. Barack Obama got a rock star's welcome from supporters in College Park and Baltimore yesterday, stirring his supporters into a frenzy on the eve of Maryland's presidential primary.

With trademark themes of hope and change, Obama quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., pledged to end the war in Iraq and applauded young people for their unprecedented turnout in this year's nominating contests.

"I am running because of what Dr. King called the 'fierce urgency of now,'" Obama said to a raucous crowd of about 20,000 at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. "And that hour is upon us." Baltimore Sun

UPDATE #2 (OEutaw): Roch Kubatko offers up the most ambiguous comment of all regarding whether or not Jones was in Baltimore taking a physical on Friday by stating, "Must have been Adam Jones' evil twin." The Orioles are still denying everything. If loose lips sink ships, this trade is clinging to the flotsam & jetsam like Leonardo DiCaprio. Hey MacPhail - don't let go! UPDATE (zk): This story has been debunked by the Seattle Times on Sunday..."(By the way, despite Internet reports, Jones was not in Baltimore for a physical on Friday. As of Saturday, he was still at home.)"

Prospect Insider:

Adam Jones has apparently passed a Friday physical in Baltimore, which leads me to believe that George Sherrill has as well, and this trade is finally going to be announced officially on Monday.

I've been unable to further confirm the players involved in the deal, but that goes both ways as I have yet to hear a player's name that was not mentioned originally.

So much time has passed and anything is possible, so expect the unexpected when the news officially comes out in the next 48-72 hours, but It's likely that Jones and Sherrill will be joined by Chris Tillman, Tony Butler and Kameron Mickolio.

This is the most definitive news on actual progress on this trade in quite a while.  To quote Ella Fitzgerald: how long has this been going on?

At any rate, the 5-for-1 names seem to be consistent over the past week.  Rather pitching heavy, but I suppose we could flip some of this pitching stockpile in the Cubs-Roberts deal & have that one target more positional players...

Seattle Times

Bavasi still expects to get a deal done for a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. He never mentions names, but it's clear he was talking about Erik Bedard. It's also clear that Bavasi feels this team is ready to challenge for a playoff spot and is ready to give up Adam Jones and plenty of other names to get a deal done.

"We're in a position now where we have to do our best to make those moves for a top-of-the-rotation guy so we can slot the rest of the rotation where it should be,'' he said. "We feel we have to make a move -- one more move."

Bavasi says he's already put his best offer on the table and that it's now a waiting game. He says there's been a genuine reluctance by some clubs to part with young prospects, but "we're not one of those clubs. We're prepared to move...but there is a limit.''

What would that be?

"I don't think you can give a club its terms and its price,'' he said. "We can move a premier prospect and numbers (of players), but we're not going to move a number of premier prospects."

So, what's going to happen now?

"As I'm sitting here today, I think we will (get a deal done),'' he said. "I think there's a good chance of that."

Odd stance to take - one premier prospect & a bunch of lesser guys but not two premier prospects for an established top-of-the-rotation lefty starter who led the AL in K's before missing the last few games of the season?  And oh, by the way, he's only arby eligible & you control him for at least the next two years??

I like the confidence that this will happen, and it is good news to hear that they've put their best offer up, but I don't get how you can value to premier prospects more than a lefty ace.  Bird in the hand, and all that...

Hope something happens soon.

John Sterling leaked this info on WFAN this afternoon.

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Interesting list.

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