SB Nation User Blog: OEutaw

Mora's Batting 7th

OEutaw — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:21:34 -0000

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

The Future edges closer: Patton & Arrieta to Norfolk.

OEutaw — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:59:23 -0000

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.

Walker's Out. Boy!

OEutaw — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:20:25 -0000

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.

Cal: A-Rod Will Answer to ME.

OEutaw — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:06:37 -0000

Cal: A-Rod Will Answer to ME.

Not surprising, seeing how much Cal does to promote the game that A-Rod seems to have such little respect for.

OT: The Baltimore Sun - This Isn't Good

OEutaw — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:12:43 -0000

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.

Pitching Corps Thins Further: Simon Out for '09

OEutaw — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:54:41 -0000

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?

Nothing says PHN Pride like a Fenway Carousel that plays "Sweet Caroline". Recruit douchebags...

OEutaw — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:32:02 -0000

Nothing says PHN Pride like a Fenway Carousel that plays "Sweet Caroline". Recruit douchebags elsewhere, please. Station that wagon!

This is what a billion dollars gets you nowadays. The view from CF of the brand yankin' new...

OEutaw — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:46:59 -0000

This is what a billion dollars gets you nowadays. The view from CF of the brand yankin' new Spankee Stadium. Who needs to know what's going on in right center or right field?

...you're going to like what you hear about todays batting practice workout. Pitching coach Rick...

OEutaw — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:50:22 -0000

...you're going to like what you hear about todays batting practice workout.

Pitching coach Rick Kranitz was very upbeat about his performance and catcher Guillermo Quiroz went even further.

"That's the best left-handed stuff I've ever seen,'' Quiroz said.

Schmuck on Hill

MLB Network On the Orioles' Offseason & Impending Talent Infusion

OEutaw — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:34:34 -0000

MLB Network On the Orioles' Offseason & Impending Talent Infusion

Matt Wieters, Nick Markakis, Cesar Izturis, and a whole host of errors from the MLB Network crew. It's 2009, not 2008. Mike Flanagan is not the GM.

If you can get past the fact that they don't seem to know what the hell they're talking about, it's a good segment.