SB Nation User Blog: birdman

Baseball America Top 10 Orioles Prospect List

birdman — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:08:37 -0000

Top Ten list here. I'm guess BA see a full recovery for Patton. Kam Mickolio over David Hernandez seems like a head scratcher, but I'll let the CC minor league experts debate that one.

1.	Matt Wieters, c
2.	Chris Tillman, rhp
3.	Brian Matusz, lhp
4.	Jake Arrieta, rhp
5.	Nolan Reimold, of
6.	Brandon Erbe, rhp
7.	Billy Rowell, 3b
8.	Troy Patton, lhp
9.	Brandon Snyder, 1b
10.	Kam Mickolio, rhp

If they're to make a significant jump in the big league standings, Baltimore particularly needs its young pitchers to come through. The Orioles ranked 13th in the AL in ERA (5.13) in 2008 and head into 2009 with no proven big league starters behind Jeremy Guthrie, who's better suited for the middle or back of a rotation than the front.

Back of the rotation? Ouch. I'm not saying he's an ace but he's probably better than a lot of 4 or 5 starters.

Sickels on Montanez

birdman — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:50:26 -0000

John Sickels did an analysis on Lou Montanez.

What does the future hold? Montanez turns 27 in December, so he is at his peak now. Although he hit well for the Orioles, I do not like his 4/20 BB/K ratio in 112 at-bats. The strikeouts are not out of bounds, but the walk rate is too low, and major league pitchers will take advantage of his lack of patience eventually. He's never hit that well in Triple-A, and I'd like to see more data from Triple-A and the majors before concluding that he's really truly turned a corner.

In other words, what he did this year was obviously impressive, but I'm not ready to say you should invest a lot of hope or resources in Montanez stock.

Last line of Sickels' analysis says it all. At best, maybe Lou could be a useful bench player, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking that he could a good regular player much less a high caliber, late bloomer like Luis Gonzalez or Melvin Mora.

9/22, O's versus the Rays at BAL

birdman — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:22:00 -0000

Well, who really cares what the O's do at this point. I saw David Price a few times at Vandy so I kind have an attachment to him. He's making his debut as a starter today. Even though Price's season stats from his senior year at Vandy were pretty damn good, I almost always managed to catch him on his off days. His control would falter leading him to pound fastball down the middle. Maybe the same will happen today. Some guy with an arm is pitching for the O's. Discuss.

Cleveland (69-72) at Baltimore (63-78), 9/8/08

birdman — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:23:41 -0000

Carmona versus Olson. I filled in some stuff from the AP game preview to make it to 75 words. Discuss

It may be too late to make a difference, but the Cleveland Indians are getting healthy again. They’re just wondering what might have been had the injuries not piled up in the first place.

Victor Martinez will look to continue his hot hitting and Fausto Carmona will try for his fourth straight victory on Monday when the Indians open a four-game road set against the hapless Baltimore Orioles, losers of eight in a row.

Diamond Dave's contract renewed

birdman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:07:43 -0000

Diamond Dave is coming back for 2009.

The Orioles announced Friday that they will bring Trembley back next season, exercising an option that was in the contract he signed last year. The club also added a team option for 2010.

So last year, the O's took off the interim tag and promptly lost 30-3 and stunk hard for the rest of the season. At least this year, the O's are already stinking hard. The O's tacked on an option for 2010 which suggests that Diamond Dave is still viewed with a bit of apprehension by the front office. It seems to says, "We kind of like you... but we're keeping our eyes open in case something better comes along."

Orioles @Angels of Disneyland of Laaaidback, August 4th to 6th

birdman — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:07:08 -0000

I will be attending the O's versus Angels series on Monday (Teix's debut) and Tuesday. If any SOCAL CCs would like to meet up with me, please post a message ASAP. I want to pick up tickets relatively soon. Here are the matchups according to the Sun:

Monday: Dennis Sarfate (4-2, 4.00) vs. Angels' Joe Saunders (14-5, 3.09)

Tuesday: Starters: Garrett Olson (7-5, 5.90) vs. Angels' Jon Garland (9-6, 4.30)

Wednesday: Nothing posted yet.

Jay Gibbons is the Pizza Hut K-Man

birdman — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:10:03 -0000

Article here.

The crowd cheered for him to fail. It's the same story with any visiting player picked to be the Pizza Hut K-Man at Sovereign Bank Stadium.

If the K-man strikes out, the crowd wins free breadsticks. So the crowd responds with typical free-food wanderlust.

They stand. They scream. They get ugly.

But it seemed particularly ruthless Friday night.

Jay Gibbons, 31, has gone from Baltimore Orioles outfielder, million-dollar talent, to boo material. In York - a place where Gibbons signed autographs five or six times for diehard O's fans - it took three pitches for him to strike out in his first at-bat.

http://ydr.inyork.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=2001401

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Feel a little bit bad for Gibby. The contest is suppose to be fun and I'm sure Gibbons is used to jeering. Plus, he's making a ton of money and he did strikeout. But these contests are mean. Reminds me of Gladiator where people are rooting for humiliation. Or a scene from the Simpsons when Moe opens up a new restaurant and some kid throws crap at while singing happy birthday and Moe responds with "That's great kid, taking my dignity and all."

Rumor from Rosenthal: O's might acquire Lopez

birdman — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:31:07 -0000

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8290500/O's-have-interest-in-deal-for-infielder-Lopez?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49

The Orioles, desperately seeking a shortstop, have engaged in substantive conversations with the Nationals about a trade for infielder Felipe Lopez, according to major league sources.

The Nationals reportedly are close to signing shortstop Cristian Guzman to a two-year contract extension for an unknown dollar amount and are unlikely to retain Lopez as a free agent after this season.

In return for Lopez, the Nationals likely would receive a marginal minor-league prospect.

The Orioles have been looking for help at shortstop ever since trading Miguel Tejada to the Astros last off-season.

Lopez is hitting .247 with 25 runs and 20 RBI.

If a deal is completed, it likely would not be announced until after the completion of the Orioles-Nationals series this weekend in Washington, sources say.

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Pretty much a worthless trade especially since Lopez is a 3 month rental. But if the O's give up next to nothing to get him, I suppose it can't hurt either.

Pink Hat Nation Article

birdman — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:59:09 -0000

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/fashion/articles/2008/06/26/why_is_this_pink_hat_so_hated/?page=full

via www.massbaytrading.com

Next to Yankees caps and Giants jerseys, the pink Red Sox cap has become the most polarizing piece of clothing a Bostonian can wear. Fans of the hats think they're simply a cute way to show their love for the Sox. Haters say pink-hat owners are latecomers who only support the Sox because it's suddenly cool - even fashionable - to do so. Pink-hat wearers haven't suffered sufficiently, they reason. No one suffers in pink.

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Thought this article was amusing. I was hoping to find a picture of Curt Schilling, or even AMA would do :), in a pink but I had no such luck.

Wieters promoted to AA

birdman — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:52:23 -0000

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-wieters626,0,3243552.story

CHICAGO - The Orioles are expected to announce today that catcher Matt Wieters, the organization's first-round draft pick last season and its top prospect, will be promoted to Double-A Bowie.

Wieters hit .342 with 14 homers and 38 RBIs in 68 games at Single-A Frederick to earn the promotion. He had a .445 on-base percentage and .560 slugging percentage, earning a berth in the midseason All-Star game.

Wieters, who turned 22 last week, was the fifth overall selection out of Georgia Teach in the 2007 first-year player draft.
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About time.