For the Orioles:

Brian Roberts - 2B
Nick Markakis - RF
Adam Jones - CF
Ty Wigginton - 1B
Melvin Mora - 3B
Nolan Reimold - LF
Matt Wieters - C
Robert Andino - SS
Rich Hill - LHP

For the Marlins:

Chris Coghlan - LF
Emilio Bonifacio - 3B
Hanley Ramirez - SS
Jorge Cantu - 1B
Dan Uggla - 2B
Ronny Paulino - C
Cody Ross - CF
Brett Carroll - RF
Sean West - LHP

Let's go O's! Let's go O's! Let's go O's! Let's go O's! Let's go O's! Let's go O's! Let's go O's! Let's go O's!

http://masnsports.com/2009/06/snyder-moving-up.html

I'm hearing strong rumblings that first baseman Brandon Snyder is being promoted from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk.

No announcment has been made and nothing is official, but don't be shocked if we receive confirmation tomorrow.

The Orioles are being a LOT more aggressive about their promotions this year.  Arrieta, Matusz, and Patton were all promoted this week too.

Last year, the best prospect in baseball was destroying the Carolina League, and he wasn't promoted to AA until the END of June.  Reimold didn't get promoted at all last year, even though he was repeating AA.  Tillman never got promoted either.

Given how methodical MacPhail has been about promoting prospects, this is a pretty radical departure, and I think it has to mean something.

WIth Snyder, Arrieta, Tillman, Patton, and Hernandez at AAA, are we looking at a veteran fire sale in July and callups galore in August/September in preparation for a run next year?   Or am I getting ahead of myself?

UPDATE (zk): This is official per Baysox39 below and Roch. Welcome, Brandon!

It happened well after midnight last night, so you may not have seen it live. You probably won't see it at all if you casually scan the box score. But something frustrating and all-too-predictable happened in the 9th inning of last night's Orioles game.

Aubrey Huff led off the top of the 9th inning of tie game with a single. With Melvin Mora coming to the plate, there were a number of options available to the Orioles manager.

Small ball orthodoxy dictates that you replace the plodding Aubrey Huff with a pinch runner, and ask Mora to bunt him over to second. Sabermetricians often malign the sacrifice, but according to Michael Lichtman and Tom Tango, this may be the rare situation where a bunt is appropriate:

Late in a close game, in a low run-scoring environment, it is correct to often sacrifice bunt with a runner on first and no outs. In an average run-scoring environment, you should sometimes sacrifice to keep the defense honest.

Dave Trembley decided not to bunt and he also decided not to put Felix Pie out on the basepaths.

That's fine, because it's also defensible to give Melvin a pat on the back and tell him to be patient and look for a pitch he can drive. That's exactly what Dave appeared to be doing, as Melvin quickly worked the count to 3-1.

Then something strange happened - or at least, I imagine it would be strange to anyone who doesn't follow the Orioles closely.  

Continue reading this post »

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9551412/Sources:-Cubs-in-talks-with-O's-over-Freel

The Cubs, seeking more versatility for their bench, are talking to the Orioles about a trade for disgruntled utility man Ryan Freel, according to major-league sources.

Freel, 33, plays all three outfield positions, plus second and third base. The revival of Kosuke Fukudome and emergence of Micah Hoffpauir have left the Cubs more in need of an infielder than an outfielder.

If the Cubs acquire Freel, who has approximately $3.3 million remaining in 2009 salary, they likely would part with outfielder Joey Gathright, who has batted only 14 times this season. The Orioles are believed to be talking to other teams as well.

Roch is also saying the Freel is as good as gone.

I don't think any talent will be coming back - if a team is even willing to eat Freel's salary, that's a win for the O's. He was only included in the Ramon trade to take the edge off the salary increase for the Reds.

 http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2009_04_15_noraaa_chraaa_1

Is this Bergesen's last start for Norfolk? Simon's next turn in the rotation would be 5 days from now, due to the off day tomorrow.

 So far:
3 IP
2 K
0 BB
0 R
1 H
1 HBP 
6 groundball outs

He's thrown 46 pitches, 28 for strikes. 

Matt Wieters is not playing today, since it's a day game after a night game.

Is anyone ready to believe that he's really changed?

http://masnsports.com/2009/03/the-owner-is-here.html

Angelos said he speaks to Andy MacPhail, president of baseball operations, about once every two weeks.

"He calls when he thinks there's something important for us to talk about," Angelos said. "The club's in good hands, as is quite obvious, so too many calls aren't really required."

As the Orioles draw closer to contention, perhaps after this season, they appear more willing to spend on marquee free agents.

 

"Absolutely,'' Angelos said. "We've had that in mind, and I believe the resources will be available to do that."

To me, Angelos is the last wild card in the turnaround of this team.  He sounds like a dream owner in these quotes - hands-off and willing to spend.  

Dare I believe he's really changed?  Has he really bought into the cult of Andy?

Chone Smith has used his player projections (which I think are the best in the business) to come up with projected standings. It's no surprise that he has the Orioles in last place, but two things are interesting to me here.

1. The Blue Jays are projected to win only one more game that the Orioles. I've become more convinced over the offseason that the Jays are set up to be a big surprise on the downside. Their offense is the worst in the division, by far, and they've already lost a couple important arms for much of the season. The O's probably won't cross .500 this year, but sweet, sweet 4th place may be in reach.

2. The Power Rankings at the bottom have the Orioles as the 15th best team in baseball. We all know that there are substantial differences between the AL and NL, and beyond that the AL East is a whole other level of pain, but it's still a little suprising to see the Orioles projected to be a slightly better than average major league team. And that's WITH a complete train-wreck of a rotation, so it's not hard to get excited about the possibilities if the O's win the young pitcher lottery.

To put that a little more perspective on that, the Orioles are ranked two slots ahead of the Dodgers, who are projected to finish first in the NL West.

Check it out here:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/07/alex-rodriguez-steroids/?eref=sircrc

In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated.

Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.

Editor's note by SC:

Ahaha. Ahahahahahahaha. Ahahahahahahahahahahaha.

 I've spent all winter trying to temper my expectations for Wieters, and then Kevin Goldstein goes and writes this article:

 http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8453

What did I learn this winter? I learned that Baltimore catching prospect Matt Wieters is good. Well, wait a second, I already knew that, so how about, "really good"? Nope, the extra modifier just doesn't do it justice.

How about this: after looking at the performance, talking to the scouts, and seeing what our numbers people were able to uncover over the offseason, Matt Wieters is the best prospect in baseball, the best player on the Orioles right now, and quite possibly the best catcher in the game. And he's yet to play an inning in the big leagues.

 So we know he's great, but work done by our team of researchers and statisticians during the offseason suggests that he might just be historic. One essential measurement here at Baseball Prospectus is Clay Davenport's Equivalent Average (abbreviated as EqA),s a single figure that measures total offense and adjusts for a number of factors, including the league's offensive environment, park factors, and team pitching, while providing further balances to allow for accurate comparisons across different eras.

Applying these complex formulas to Wieters' minor league season gives him a .301 EqA for his High-A stint and a .349 mark at Double-A. EqA is scaled like batting average, so those are good numbers to be sure, but further research reveals that those are the highest marks achieved in both leagues in the last 40 years, which is as far back as our data goes. Matt Wieters wasn't just great last year, he put together one of the best single seasons in modern minor league history.

If that isn't an enthusiastic-enough endorsement, then there's PECOTA, our projection system, and the most accurate one in the business. PECOTA is a system that does what it does based on comparisons

— finding similar players with similar physical tools and baseball skill sets. According to PECOTA, with a full slate of at-bats, Wieters should hit .311 with a .395 on-base percentage and a .544 slugging mark this year. That's good for a .319 EqA. How good is that? Historically great, because it would easily be the highest mark of any catcher in 2009, and only 17 catchers have exceeded that mark in the history of baseball.

Now, when ranking prospects, simply going by the numbers is a fool's choice. Knowing what a player is doing is one thing, but knowing how that player is doing it is just as vital. Scouts are great people to talk to, often giving you in-depth breakdowns on every aspect of a player's game. Those were a little harder to come by on Wieters following his season; one scout presented with the name simply laughed, stating, "What can I say? The guy is just a stud." Even beyond the simple dominance reflected in the stats, that's what he is on a scouting level as well. We're talking about a massive physical specimen who combines plus power from both sides of the plate, the strike-zone discipline of a sharp-eyed veteran, above-average defensive skills behind the plate, and a cannon for an arm, proven by the 96 mph fastballs he'd throw during his days when he did double duty as Georgia Tech's closer in college.

He can't really be THAT good, can he?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2008/12/teixeira-negoti.html

The Yankees' imminent signing of free-agent left-hander CC Sabathia to a seven-year, $160-million deal would seem to take them out of the running for Mark Teixeira, but that will hardly ease the competition the Angels face in retaining the free-agent first baseman.

According to a source from a team who is involved in negotiations, the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles "are coming in hot" on Teixeira, with the Nationals apparently willing to offer the slugger a 10-year deal for more than $20 million a year and the Orioles willing to go nine years for at least $20 million a year.

The Boston Red Sox are also aggressively pursuing Teixeira. For more details, go to latimes.com.

-- Mike DiGiovanna

It's probably just chatter, but that's a pretty serious offer if true.  I like Tex a lot, but 9 years seems crazy to me.

It's been a pretty boring offseason so far, but the winter meetings always spark a flurry of activity.

The meetings are being held at the Bellagio in Vegas this year, so having always-sober Andy in charge might be an asset for the Orioles if he can pull off a deal with one of his drunker colleagues.  And we know that Andy won't waste a minute of his time on the gambling floor.

Roch is already on the ground in Vegas, so he should be a good source for O's rumors:

So, any predictions for the next few days?  Will any of the following happen?

• Ramon Hernandez trade
  
• Aubrey Huff trade
  
• Brian Roberts extension
  
• Brian Roberts trade
  
• Nick Markakis trade
  
• Daniel Cabrera trade
  
• Tex signing
  
• Burnett signing
  
• Veteran mediocre starter signing
  
• Veteran mediocre shortstop signing
• O's select someone in the Rule 5 draft

http://masnsports.com/index_blog_roch.html

As for catching, the word on the street is that the Tigers and Reds are interested in Ramon Hernandez, and have expressed it to team president Andy MacPhail.

I don't expect either team would offer much in return - it would be a miracle to get either team to pay all of Ramon's salary next year.

The problem with trading Ramon is that there is no way you can credibly keep Wieters down in AAA for a few weeks (to buy that extra year of club control) when Quiroz is the best catching option.

How about Camden Chat favorite Greg Zaun as a stopgap?

The Arizona Fall League starts in about 20 minutes, and there will be plenty of big names to watch again this year. This is also the perfect chance for four 2008 first-rounders to prove they belong on the fast-track to the majors.

I looked through the rosters and came up with my top 20 "prospects" (a few of which have too much ML service time to qualify officially as prospects). As usual, the talent is weighed heavily towards the hitting side since most of the top pitching talents in the minor leagues have thrown plenty of innings.

1. Matt Wieters, C, BAL
2. Philip Hughes, RHP, NYY
3. Clay Buchholz, RHP, BOS
4. Travis Snider, LF, TOR
5. Max Scherzer, RHP, ARI
6. Mat Gamel, 3B, MIL
7. Brian Matusz, LHP, BAL
8. Justin Smoak, 1B, TEX
9. Gordon Beckham, SS, CWS
10. Tommy Hanson, RHP, ATL
11. Brett Wallace, 3B, STL
12. Austin Jackson, CF, NYY
13. Jeremy Jeffress, RHP, MIL
14. Ivan De Jesus, Jr., SS, LAD
15. Logan Morrison, 1B, FLA
16. Casey Weathers, RHP, COL
17. Adrian Cardenas, 2B/SS, OAK
18. J.P. Arencibia, C, TOR
19. Carlos Triunfel, SS, SEA
20. Scott Elbert, LHP, LAD

Honorable Mentions (alphabetically): Jason Donald, Greg Halman, Andrew Lambo, Lou Marson, Beau Mills, Dan Murphy, Aaron Poreda, Josh Reddick, Nolan Reimold, Drew Stubbs.

Other players worth watching (alphabetically): Kyle Blanks, Julio Borbon, Daniel Cortes, Scott Cousins, Ross Detwiler, Josh Donaldson, Sean Doolittle, Wes Hodges, Brandon Jones, Jeff Larish, Angel Salome, Brandon Snyder, Chris Valaika, Donald Veal, Sean West.

Now, who did I miss or rank too low/high? Has my AL East bias gone haywire?

It's mid-September in Baltimore, which means it's time for Andy MacPhail to start thinking about the offseason.  The first order of business is to clean up the 40-man roster in preparation for the Rule 5 draft in early December. 

The Orioles have 46 men on their 40-man roster right now (those extra 6 are on the 60-day DL), and they will need to add 5 prospects to the extended roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.  The 60-day DL disappears for the offseason in October, so the Orioles will need to prune at least 11 players next month - and more if they sign any free agents.

Here's how I see it.

Under Contract (6)
Brian Roberts
Aubrey Huff
Ramon Hernandez
Melvin Mora
Jamie Walker
Danys Baez

The Orioles have just 6 players currently under contract for 2009, and all of them are due to be free agents after 2009.  The top 4 guys on the list are candidates to be traded, and the bottom two are candidates to be cut (a la Gibbons) if they don't earn a spot in spring training.

Arbitration-eligible (6)
Nick Markakis
Jeremy Guthrie
Luke Scott
George Sherrill
Chris Ray
Daniel Cabrera

Markakis, Sherrill, and Ray will be arbitration-eligible for the first time.  Guthrie and Scott should also qualify for the first time under the super-two rule.  Cabrera enters his second year of arbitration and he's the only member of this group who has any chance of being non-tendered.  I expect all 6 will be Orioles next year.

Likely Major Leaguers (8)
Adam Jones
Jim Johnson
Matt Albers
Dennis Sarfate
Garrett Olson
Radhames Liz
Randor Bierd
Guillermo Quiroz

These players are all virtual locks to make the opening day roster (if healthy).  All of them will earn close to the major league minimum.  All 6 of the pitchers could theoretically fit in either the rotation or the bullpen.  Johnson and Sarfate are out of options.

Prospects (6)
Brian Matusz
Chorye Spoone
David Hernandez
Brad Bergesen
Nolan Reimold
Mike Costanzo

Matusz is already on the 40-man because of his major league contract, and the others will need to be added to the 40-man to protect them from the rule 5 draft.  I don't see any of these guys making the major league club out of spring training, but some of them could push for spots later in the season.

AAA Depth (7)
Troy Patton
Lou Montanez
Jim Miller
Kam Mickolio
Scott Moore
Jim Hoey
Hayden Penn

All of these guys have a shot at making the opening day roster.  Patton, Moore, Hoey, and Penn are coming off serious injuries, and the others will have to prove themselves in spring training.  Moore and Penn are out of options, so they will be exposed to waivers if they don't make the opening day roster.

Fringe Depth (7)
Alberto Castillo
Lance Cormier
Brian Bass
Bob McCrory
Brandon Fahey
Brian Burres
Rocky Cherry

These guys will round out the 40-man roster and are on the cusp of being cut.  If the Orioles sign any free agents or  need to free up room to make a rule 5 pick of their own, these guys will be the first to go.  Burres and Fahey are out of options.

Likely to be cut (7)
Oscar Salazar
Chris Waters
Omir Santos
Alfredo Simon
Jeff Fiorentino
Fredy Deza
Adam Loewen

These players can fight for a spot on the Fringe Depth list, but most of them will be cut shortly after the World Series in order to get the roster down to 40.  Loewen is obviously a bit of a special case, but he needs to come off the 40-man because he is out of options.

Free Agents (4)
Juan Castro
Alex Cintron
Jay Payton
Kevin Millar

These players are currently on the 40-man, and they will be eligible to file for free agency.  I don't expect any of them will be invited back on a major league deal.

Matt Wieters (1)
Matt Wieters

Wieters may make the team out of spring training, but the Orioles won't have to add him to the 40-man until the last minute, so he's not going to affect their roster planning over the offseason.

It's an off night for the O's (thank the lord), but the Baysox were busy playing game 2 of the Eastern League playoffs.

Nolam Reimold almost hit for the HR cycle with a solo HR, two-run HR, and a grand slam.  He also has an RBI single.  That's 8 RBI, if your keeping count.

He also hit a HR in the first game of the playoffs last night.

Think he's playing his way into a callup after the playoffs are over?  He now has 29 HRs on the season.

Also of note: Bergesen went 8 innings, allowing 2 ER, 6K, on 4 H and 1BB.

Box Score

OK, this was much harder than I thought it would be, and I'm certainly open to criticism. I tried to balance stats, scouting reports, and closeness to majors.

I see very little separation in the middle portion of the list, so don't complain if a guy if a few slots too high or low. I probably should've just grouped them into tiers and left them unranked, but rankings are way more fun.

I also found it difficult to compare hitters and pitchers, but I like the simplicity of one list.

The other extremely difficult aspect was ranking the 2008 draftees. Only Beckham, Matusz, and Cooper made the cut, but perhaps more should have.

1. Matt Wieters, C, BAL
2. David Price, LHP, TBR
3. Travis Snider, OF, TOR
4. Tim Beckham, SS, TBR
5. Chris Tillman, RHP, BAL
6. Lars Anderson, 1B, BOS
7. Brian Matusz, LHP, BAL
8. Wade Davis, RHP, TBR
9. Austin Jackson, OF, NYY
10. Brett Cecil, LHP, TOR
11. Michael Bowden, RHP, BOS
12. Reid Brignac, SS, TBR
13. Jesus Montero, C?, NYY
14. Jeremy Hellickson, RHP, TBR
15. Jake Arrieta, RHP, BAL
16. Josh Reddick, OF, BOS
17. David Hernandez, RHP, BAL
18. Jacob McGee, LHP, TBR
19. David Cooper, 1B, TOR
20. Zach McAllister, RHP, NYY

Honorable Mentions (Alphabetically)

JP Arencibia, C, TOR
Daniel Bard, RHP, BOS
Nick Barnese, RHP, TBR
Dellin Betances, RHP, NYY
Brandon Erbe, RHP, BAL
Desmond Jennings, CF, TBR
Ryan Kalish, OF, BOS
Mark Melancon, RHP, NYY
Jeff Niemann, RHP, TBR
Nolan Reimold, OF, BAL
Brandon Snyder, 1B, BAL
Chorye Spoone, RHP, BAL
Mitch Talbot, RHP, TBR

The following players were not considered because they have 'graduated': Lowrie, Buchholz, Ellsbury, Masterson, Joba, Kennedy, Gardner, Purcey, Longoria, Olson, and Liz.

Full disclosure: as an Orioles fan, I know their system better than the others, so I may be overlooking some diamonds in the rough on other teams. I tried my best to be fair.

Since the Major League team is virtually unwatchable at this point, let's take a look at everyone's favorite prospect, Matt Wieters.

I'm sure most O's fans have at least a passing familiarity with what he's done in the minors this year, but I like to look at his numbers, so here they are:

A+/AA (Age 22): .350/.452/.597 (1.049 OPS) 26 HR, 88 RBI, 81/72 BB/K

Those are just insane numbers. To put those in perspective, below are some top ranked hitting prospects by Baseball America over the last few years along with their stats in the prior season.

Jay Bruce (#1 in 2008)

A+/AA/AAA (Age 20): .319/.375/.587 (.962 OPS) 26 HR, 89 RBI, 47/135 BB/K

Evan Longoria (#2 in 2008)

AA/AAA (Age 21): .299/.402/.520 (.922 OPS) 26 HR, 95 RBI, 73/110 BB/K

Alex Gordon (#2 in 2007)

AA (Age 22): .325/.427/.588 (1.015 OPS) 29 HR, 101 RBI, 72/113 BB/K

Brandon Wood (#3 in 2006)

A+ (Age 20): .321/.383/.672 (1.055 OPS) 43 HR, 116 RBI, 48/134 BB/K

Joe Mauer (#1 in 2004/2005)

A+/AA (Age 20): .338/.396/.434 (.830 OPS) 5 HR, 85 RBI, 49/49 BB/K

Wieters hit for a higher average than any of these guys, and he showed as much power as all of them but Wood. His plate discipline is where he really shines, though.

He walked more than any of these other elite hitters, and was the only hitter to have more walks than strikeouts. He had fewer strikeouts than everyone but Mauer, and that's an important indicator of how easily a minor league hitter will transition to the majors, which is why Mauer had an easier time than some of the others.

Wieters also provides as much or more defensive value as any of these other guys. The only knock against Wieters is that he was a little old for his leagues compared to some of these other guys, but there's a pretty strong case for calling Wieters the best hitting prospect in the last 5 years.

Wieters is flying a bit under the radar on the national level right now, but I think that will change in the offseason. He's likely to receive multiple player-of-the-year awards and he's likely to be ranked as the #1 prospect by Baseball America.

So, how should the Orioles handle him next year? He's not getting called up this September, and I recently read a quote from Trembley that indicated he won't be guaranteed the starting spot out of spring training. The writing on the wall is that the Orioles plan to play the service time game with Wieters just like the Rays did with Longoria.

If Wieters breaks camp with the Orioles next spring and never sees the minor leagues again, he'll be eligible for free agency after the 2014 season. However, due to a quirk of the system, if he stays in the minor leagues for just two weeks next year, he won't be eligible for free agency until after the 2015 season.

It's probably the smart move from an organizational perspective, but it is a little on the sneaky side, and the Orioles will have to come up with a reason for Wieters to spend a little time in AAA. I'm guessing something along the lines of "he needs to work on his footwork" or "he needs a little more experience calling games" or some other nonsense. 

The real downside is that the Orioles will need a catcher other than Wieters on opening day 2009. That may mean they will decide to hold on to Ramon Hernandez, or they may just try to pretend that Quiroz is a starting catcher. It should be an interesting storyline to watch.

One last piece of Wieters news: The Orioles are sending him to the Arizona Fall League along with Brandon Snyder and Nolan Reimold.  No word on Brian Matusz, but the Orioles haven't announced which pitchers they are sending.

USA Today is accepting fan votes for their minor league player of the year. The fan vote will be counted as one ballot along with USA Today writers.

I recommend voting at the USA Today site, but who do Minor League Ball readers think deserves the award?

Prior winners:

1988: Right-hander Mike Harkey
1989: Infielder Todd Zeile
1990: First baseman Tino Martinez
1991: Right-hander Mark Wohlers
1992: First baseman Carlos Delgado
1993: Outfielder Cliff Floyd
1994: Outfielder Billy Ashley
1995: Outfielder Andruw Jones
1996: Outfielder Andruw Jones
1997: Outfielder Ben Grieve
1998: Outfielder Gabe Kapler
1999: Left-hander Rick Ankiel
2000: Outfielder Josh Hamilton
2001: Right-hander Josh Beckett
2002: Shortstop Jose Reyes
2003: First baseman Prince Fielder
2004: Left-hander Jeff Francis
2005: Left-hander Francisco Liriano
2006: Right-hander Matt Garza
2007: Outfielder Justin Upton

Jake Arrieta got the win in his first appearance in the Olympics against a pretty bad Chinese team. He allowed 2 hits over 6 shutout innings. He struck out 7 and allowed 2 BBs.

Of note, Arrieta also hit 2 batters as the game turned into an ugly beanball fest. Several US players were hit, and Indians prospect Matt LaPorta leveled the Chinese catcher in a play at the plate. LaPorta was hit in the head with a pitch on his next at bat, and he had to leave the game.

China's only run came on a solo homer late in the game, and the Chinese hitter ran all the way around the bases with one fist in the air, and he stomped on home plate as he crossed.

There are more pics of Arrieta violating the Orioles facial hair policy here:

This may be his only chance to pitch in the Olympics, although he is lined up to pitch in the gold medal game on Saturday if the USA team makes it that far.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-osdraft815,0,5410825.story

The Orioles and first-round pick Brian Matusz have agreed to terms on a major league deal that would immediately insert him onto the club's 40-man roster and toward the top of the organization's list of pitching prospects, The Sun has learned.

Matusz, a left-hander out of the University of San Diego and the fourth overall pick in June's amateur draft, will receive a $3.2 million bonus.

The Orioles believed all along that they would sign Matusz, who took a physical in Baltimore earlier this week, but the talks dragged on.

 He's #1 on the Baseball America Hot Sheet this week.

The Scoop: If the Orioles end their 10-year spiral of consecutive losing seasons (not counting this year), the Erik Bedard trade haul will go a long way toward reviving the franchise. Adam Jones and George Sherrill have helped this year's O's be better than expected, and relief righty Kam Mickolio (already in Triple-A) has shown considerable promise. But Tillman may prove to be the biggest piece.

He struck out seven in six shutout innings against Trenton in his latest start, has 28 K's (and just three walks) in 18 August innings, and is climbing the leaderboards for the entire minors despite his age and inexperience. His 9.94 strikeouts per nine innings ranks eighth among full-season pitchers; his 3.49 ERA ranks third in the Eastern League, and his 131 K's ranks third. His improved walk numbers might be the most important piece, as with 57 he's tied for third in the EL but showing clear progress.

"He's really improved, especially his curveball," said one Eastern League manager. "He's 93-94 mph with his fastball and he'll pitch at 92, and he's deceptive. Guys started looking curve against him, and he was smart and really attacked with the fastball."

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/prospect-hot-sheet/2008/266701.html

Wieters was ranked #4 on this week's list, and David Hernandez was given an honorable mention because he apparently leads the entire minor leagues in strikeouts.

Note that this isn't a true prospect ranking, it's just a ranking of performances over the last week.

However, Tillman does have a good shot at being ranked in the top 10 on next year's prospect list. He was #11 on the midseason list, and a few guys ahead of him will lose their prospect eligibility. Some 2008 draftees might be slotted ahead of him, including Brian Matusz, who would become the #2 Orioles prospect when he signs according to a Baseball America writer last week.

Could the O's really have three guys ranked in the top 10 on next year's list? Maybe I'm placing too much emphasis on the rankings, but the Orioles have had only three players rank in the top 10 in the last 20 years.

Unfortunately, those three guys (Ben McDonald, Jeffrey Hammonds, and Arthur Rhodes) don't inspire much confidence.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-osnotes610,0,7437857.story

The Orioles announced today that they have designated right-handed pitcher Steve Trachsel for assignment and selected the contract of first baseman Oscar Salazar from Triple-A Norfolk.

It wasn't pretty, but Trax did what I expected of him this season: eat up innings until Olson and Liz were ready. 

This is probably the end of the line for Steve.  He put together a pretty good career, although he won't survive the first cut for the Hall of Fame.

I'm surprised at the lack of support Walker is getting around here. Yes, he's been miserable for the last month, but that's a pretty short amount of time compared to his long career as a very good major league reliever.

Jamie Walker is going through a bad stretch, and he goes through a bad stretch every year, just like every other pitcher.

I think he'll be fine. I cherrypicked a small sample from every year of Jamie's career that Baseball-Reference has data for:

Start

End

IP

H

BB

SO

HR

ERA

4/11/2008

5/13/2008

7.1

14

2

4

3

7.36

9/4/2007

9/24/2007

8.1

6

3

5

3

6.48

9/10/2006

9/29/2006

8.0

13

1

7

4

7.88

8/6/2005

9/9/2005

9.1

13

2

7

3

7.71

6/29/2004

7/28/2004

9.0

14

2

7

2

8.00

5/19/2003

6/6/2003

7.1

11

1

3

1

8.59

6/15/2002

8/3/2002

7.2

10

2

4

4

9.39

If a pitcher is "done" after 7 poor innings, then Jamie Walker has been "done" many times in his career.

Everyone's favorite interview with Earl Weaver, taken out of context.

Camden Chat:  Luis Hernandez was picked off to end the 10th inning of today's game, and that's just the latest in a long string of baserunning gaffes for the Orioles. How do you feel about Trembley's aggressive strategy on the basepaths?

Earl Weaver:  For Christ's sake. You get fucking god dammed little fleas on the fucking bases, getting picked off trying to steal, getting thrown out, taking runs away from you.

You get them big cock suckers that can hit the fucking ball out of the ball park, and you can't make any god damned mistakes.

Camden Chat:  The Orioles have struggled to score runs lately, and have lost 5 in a row despite some very good starting pitching performances. How much of this blame should fall on hitting coach Terry Crowley?

Earl Weaver:  Well, Terry, Terry Crowley's lucky he's in fucking baseball for Christ sake. So if this cocksucker would mind his own business and let me manage the fucking team we'd be a lot better off.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

 No, not to steroids. 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5708800.html 

Saying he wanted to unburden himself, Miguel Tejada approached general manager Ed Wade and asked to correct misinformation he gave the Oakland A’s when he signed in 1993. The Astros’ new shortstop is actually 33, two years older than he’s listed in the club’s media guide and other baseball records.

I'm glad he didn't feel the need to unburden himself 6 months ago.

I'm trying understand why Brandon Erbe is considered a much lesser prospect than Chris Tillman.  

John rated Tillman a B+ and Erbe a C+, Goldstein gave Tillman 4 stars and Erbe 3 stars, and Baseball America dropped Erbe to #10 in their Orioles rankings (they haven't rated the Mariners yet).

So the percieved gap between the two is not exactly controversial.

-Both players are the same age (well, Tillman is 3.5 months younger).  
-Both are right-handed.
-Both are similar size/build.
-Both have plus fastballs that sit in the mid-90s and can dial it up to 97ish.
-Both have developing changeups and breaking pitches.
-Both shredded the short season leagues and low-A:

Erbe: 145 IP, 11.78 K/9, 3.78 BB/9, 0.19 HR/9, 6.33 H/9
Till:  64 IP, 11.11 K/9, 4.64 BB/9, 0.70 HR/9, 9.14 H/9

-Both struggled this year in high-A:

Erbe: 119 IP, 8.39 K/9, 4.69 BB/9, 1.06 HR/9, 9.60 H/9
Till: 102 IP, 9.25 K/9, 4.23 BB/9, 1.06 HR/9, 9.25 H/9

Tillman's performance at high-A was slightly better, but Erbe's past performance is stronger (and a bigger sample size).  What am I missing?

The Rule 5 draft is today, and it usually only lasts a few minutes.

According to Nationals Farm Authority, the draft order is as follows (number of players on 40-man roster in parentheses):

Rays (38)  
Orioles (37)
Giants (38)
Marlins (39) ... if the Cabrera/Willis trade is official prior to the draft (Marlins can draft regardless of trade status)
Reds (39) ... waived Jorge Cantu
Nationals (38)
Astros (36)
Athletics (39)
Twins (38)
Dodgers (38)
Blue Jays (39)
Cubs (38)
Mariners (39)
Tigers (38) ... if the Cabrera/Willis trade is official prior to the draft (otherwise the Tigers are filled at 40)
Mets (37)
Padres (35)
Phillies (39)
Rockies (38)
Diamondbacks (39)
Red Sox (38)

The lastest buzz from Baseball America is that the Padres will trade up to select Barton at #1.

Will there be any Hamilton-type picks this year?

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20070831&content_id=2180965&vke y=pr_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc&partnered=rss_mlb

"The Chicago Cubs today acquired right-handed pitcher Steve Trachsel from the Baltimore Orioles for right-handed pitcher Rocky Cherry and infielder Scott Moore."

Does anyone have info on Cherry and/or Moore?  From his stats/age, Moore looks like a decent prospect.