I know that people are going to hate me saying this... but I'm going to say it.

Brian Roberts being named in the Mitchell report, even if its hearsay or whatever, could be a blessing for Orioles fans.

Why? Because maybe Peter Angelos will finally let the front office trade him. I dont think it will hurt his trade value all that much, because people in baseball wont be willing to crucify players based on second-hand reports. Casual fans however, might not be kind to Roberts, and the good PR he gives the Orioles may fade away.

I have enjoyed watching Roberts immensely, but the Orioles need to trade him. Thats the only way we will contend anytime soon.

Well we're gonna see another young guy.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/roch/blog/2007/08/saturdays_starter.html

I personally think Liz can help this team more as a reliever and that his ML future lies in the bullpen. But hey, the Orioles have proven me wrong many times before and I hope that Liz proves me wrong again and throws a complete game tomorrow night.

He's had a pretty good year for Bowie, but he struggled at AA last year in his first action at that level. I would expect him to have an adjustment period up here as well, though its possible he could  dominate b/c the hitters havent seen him before.

Today was tough. I dont think anyone will argue with that. Even Jim Hunter lost some enthusiasm by the end of game 2. But where do we go from here? What significance did the results have on our team? Obviously today's game didn't affect our playoff chances, and though it hurt our quest to finish third and have a winning record, it was only two games.

The first game obviously was a bit embarassing, but it had to be expected, given Paul Shuey and Rob Bell's continued presence in our bullpen. The second game though, was what did it for me, as it was yet another late rally quashed by the ineptitude of our bullpen aces. It's one thing when your mop up guys let a 10-3 game become a 30-3 game, it's another when your alleged best pitchers blow leads, time and time again.

I'm sad to say my attitude right now is similar to the one I had during that first series with Seattle, when we blew a bunch of leads and started the run of poor play that ended with Perlozzo losing his job.

I think that's where the significance of today lies. Will Trembley be able to keep this team's morale up? At this time of year, something like this can cause the type of tailspin we know all to well around these parts, and I think that the team's performance over the next couple days will be a good indicator of Trembley's ability to manage the Orioles.

Days like today happen in baseball, it's the good teams that overcome them to play solid over the course of a season.

Well the Cubs signed Carlos Zambrano http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7130616 to a 5 year, 91.5 mil dollar deal. I dont really care that Zambrano will no longer be a free agent, but what does this mean for Bedard? Bedard, in my opinion is better than Zambrano, so this means the Orioles will have to offer at least that kind of money to get a deal done. Bedard doesnt seem like the type that would get hypersensitive about dollar figures, but he'll want what he deserves on the open market, which is apparently around a 100 million dollar deal.

Does the willingness to get the Wieters deal done give you confidence that a Bedard deal gets done? I hope that the Orioles either sign Bedard long term this winter or trade him. If he's going to be the centerpiece of a contending Orioles team we need assurance that he'll be around for the next 5-6 years, if he wont sign long term, then we need the prospects we could get for him.

One guy that hasnt gotten much PR lately is AA pitcher Radhames Liz. The guy just struck out 14 in a one hitter the other day and that wasnt even his best game this year.(He threw a no-hitter earlier this season). My question is what do you do with him? Is he ready for a cup of coffee this September? Some might be disappointed to see him move to the bullpen,but with our current situation would he be more valuable as a reliever?

I hope the Orioles call him up next month, but try him as a setup man or closer. It might seem like a waste to move him to the 'pen, but we have a solid core of starters in the majors as well as a bunch of young prospects. I know we still need to find a replacement for Trax sometime in the near future, but I would rather have a rotation that features 4 good starters and a mediocre fifth starter but has a dominant setup man than a team with 5 good starters but blows more leads than any team in the majors.

In summary, groom Liz for the bullpen. It worked out for Rivera, Papelbon, Gagne et. al

Finally we get to see what he's made of

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-olson703,0,4183954.story?coll=bal-sports-baseball

An interesting fact about Olson: He was drafted with the pick we got as compensation for failing to sign Wade Townsend, the team's first round pick in 2004. The Front Office has endured a considerable amount of criticism for failing to sign Townsend, but I don't think anyone in baseball would rather have Townsend than Olson today, as Townsend is having a mediocre season in the South Atlantic league, while Olson has been one of the best pitchers in AAA this year. So say what you want about our farm system, but Olson has to be considered a major coup for the farm, as they handled the Townsend debacle with aplomb.
The Olson-Townsend situation can also serve to comfort us after we fail to sign Matt Wieters, and I have a horrible feeling that we will fail to sign him.

Hey our prospects are off to a decent start. Snyder went 3 for 4, neither Beato nor Erbe allowed a run in their respective starts, and while Hayden Penn's 5 inning 2 er start isn't overly impressive, its certainly a solid outing. I know its only one game, but after Snyder's struggles from a year ago, that batting line is a beautiful sight, we can only hope he is back on track.

Sun story

That was quick. Hey you've got admire the front office jumping on this one, but what does it say about Trachsel's prospects that we could go from not needing him at all to signing him in one day?

UPDATE: It's official. He passed his physical today. (-zk, 2/14)

Veteran right-hander Steve Trachsel...finalized a one-year worth a guaranteed $3.1 million today. The contract includes a $4.75 million club option for 2007. He's not expected to report to Fort Lauderdale until Friday.

There's some stuff in there about the timing, too. His shoulder was "bothering him" in the offseason, so he went to Baltimore for an MRI in "late January", which is, like, 2-3 weeks ago.

I was reading that the only arbitration case the Orioles have ever lost was with Ben McDonald.
As a younger fan, I can only vaguely remember McDonald, but I seem to remember him as a failure. I know he was always in Mussina's shadow, but I was looking at his stats, and he was a winning pitcher for his career with a decent ERA. Could someone shed light on McDonald's story for me? Why did the O's get rid of him? Why did he end up retiring so when he was only 30?

Ken Rosenthal is reporting (http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6287132) that we are in still pursuit of LaRoche, this time in exchange for Chris Ray instead of BRob. Apparently, wed still have to give up Penn.

Honestly, as much as I would hate to give up Ray, I think its worth it. We have some potential closers in the minors (Hoey and Liz) but we really dont have any potential power hitters. This would also make better use of the money spent on the bullpen this winter. Yeah, we have to give up a good player but thats the only way we can get a good player back.