Major league baseball's best, worst farm systems | SI.com
Baseball America and SI have rated the 30 ML teams and the O's come in at the 6-15 range. Not much said about them, but at least they're not the Blue Jays. -Stacey

Trembley talks Winter Meetings - MASNsports.com
"If someone has a question on a player, he wants me to give my opinion and he lets me ask about the things we think are important like player makeup, work habits and how this guy could fit in. You spend a lot of time in that room meeting with clubs." -zk

Opening Day 4-Pack | orioles.com: Tickets
The Orioles are once again selling the Opening Day 4-pack. It's how I've gotten my OD tickets for the past few years. I know OD tickets aren't that hard to come by, but $50 gets you an upper deck seat to OD plus 3 games, and $100 gets you a lower reserve seat to OD plus 3 games. -Stacey

Hot Stove News: Phillies Ink Polanco
They signed him to a 3 year deal with an option for a 4th and will move him from 2B to 3B. -Stacey

More Hot Stove: Angels' owner not quite ready to see Lackey go - MLB News - FOX Sports on MSN
Rosenthal speculates that the Angels are now serious about trying to retain John Lackey—if only to keep the improving Mariners from signing him. -zk

Crede Flying Under The Radar Again?
FanGraphs takes a look at Joe Crede's value. His name has been mentioned as a possible 3B solution for the O's in 2010. What do you guys think? Worth it? -Stacey

For now, Jim Johnson is staying in the pen
Turns out the O's were discussing turning JJ back into a starter for 2010 but have decided against it. I'm glad about that. -Stacey

Nets Chase 1988 Orioles | For the public, by The Public
With their 18th consecutive loss to start the season, the Nets have set the NBA record, and are just 4 losses away from eclipsing the Orioles for all four major sports. Of course, the Nets only play 82 games, so 18 losses to start the year is much worse than 21 in the MLB. -Stacey

Perhaps the laws of physics cease to exist on your stove. Were these magic grits? Did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his Open Thread?

We all clipped the one major news item yesterday, so I have included commentary from everyone.

Commissioner plans to step down after 2012 -- chicagotribune.com
Bud Selig has declined an overture from a group of baseball owners asking him to stay on after his contract ends in 2012, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing unnamed sources. -duck

So does this mean Andy MacPhail has until the end of the 2012 season to complete his work in Baltimore? -Stacey

I'd personally love to see MacPhail in the commissioner's office—assuming the Orioles have become contenders in three years, which I believe will happen—but would mourn the Orioles' loss of a GM. If we lose MacPhail, who would you want to take his place on the O's? -zk

...and in other news,

Halladay OK with deal to Yankees | MLB.com: News
I am shocked, shocked, to hear that Roy Halladay would reportedly waive his no-trade clause for a trade to the MFY. -zk.

Topper: Who the hell is that guy? 
Perryman: That's your Open Thread for the next thirteen weeks.

Per Joel Sherman (NY Post) on Twitter, tonight's ALCS game between the Angels and Yankees has been postponed. 

Game 6 is now scheduled for 8:20pm EDT tomorrow (Sunday). 

Game 7, if necessary, will be at 7:57pm EDT on Monday.

The Angels are probably psyched, because they can now start Lackey on short rest Monday if they so desire. 

This is pretty funny.

Washington Redskins head coach Jim Zorn held a press conference Sunday to reassure fans that, despite an inability to effectively execute their offense, defense, or special teams, the Redskins were still somewhat comparable to a real football team. "It's been a tough season so far, and even though we are 2-4, we still have players, uniforms, Motorola headsets—all the components that technically constitute an NFL team, sort of," Zorn said while grimacing and making a "so-so" gesture with his hand. 

 "Sure, I was stripped of play-calling responsibilities by team management, and I really don't have any clue who will play quarterback for us this Sunday, but I swear to you, in a weird, very convoluted way, we are in the NFL." Placing his hand over the microphone, Zorn then spoke briefly with an unidentified man near the stage, and announced that, for what it's worth, the organization owns the Internet domain name washingtonredskins.com through 2010.

Dead on.

Dodgers and Phillies are currently tied after 8 innings in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Just a quick musing on my part:

How much did the Aubrey Huff trade affect Nick Markakis' stats?

Before you flame me, consider this: Yes, Huff had a down year, but he still had 73 RBIs at the time of his trade. Opposing pitchers started the season knowing that the 2008 edition of Huff had had 32 dingers and was fifth in the league in OPS.

And yeah, Huff was off the pace for much of 2009, but players go through ups and downs all the time, and he had enough good stretches early in the year that pitchers had to respect him somewhat. So there's little doubt that in the typical Orioles' 2009 lineup of 3-Markakis, 4-Huff, they were throwing better stuff Nicky's way. 

When Aubrey was traded in August, who were these pitchers to fear? Melvin Mora? How long did it take Trembley to move Nolan Reimold up?

No, I don't think this accounts for all of Nicky's lowered numbers (AJ's declining average and time on the DL hurt Nicky's RBI chances) but I think it's a contributing factor.

Part of getting Nicky back to form next year will involve Andy finding someone with a big bat to protect him in the lineup.

Stats, for those of you who are so inclined.....

Aubrey Huff was traded on August 17th. Nick's stats before and after that date, courtesy B-R.com:

Date	Tm	G	GS	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	ROE	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Apr 6, 2009 to Aug 17, 2009	BAL	118	117	48-70	527	480	70	146	39	1	15	84	39	0	77	3	0	5	9	9	3	2	.304	.357	.483	.840
per 162 games		163	161		724	660	97	201	54	2	21	116	54	0	106	5	0	7	13	13	5	3

Link

Date	Tm	G	GS	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	ROE	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Aug 18, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009	BAL	43	43	16-27	184	164	24	42	6	1	3	17	17	0	21	0	0	3	0	3	3	0	.256	.321	.360	.680
per 162 games		162	162		694	618	91	159	23	4	12	65	65	0	80	0	0	12	0	12	12	0

Link
Note that the only statistically significant offensive category that's higher in the second stretch is BB/162 games. It's 20% higher. Nicky's numbers all went down except this walk rate. It's not like he was getting a bunch of IBBs, but pitchers weren't afraid of losing him to pitch to the next guy either. 

This post is late by a few days. I had a pretty crazy week.

But I wanted to say as early as last Monday, "Dudes. Chill."

It's indisputable that the 'Skins played like crap against the Lions. But a shitty loss was blown out of proportion by the Lions' winless streak and the media calling for Zorn's head, Campbell's head, anyone's head. Every team in the league takes a complete dump in the field once in a while.

But calling for a complete rebuild 3 games into the season?

C'mon. I expect better than that from HH. That's Daniel Snyder-esque impatience. 

Today's mildly successful win against the pathetic Bucs doesn't exactly inspire confidence, but there were a few sweet plays in it. Portis got on track a bit. The Campbell-to-Moss hookup was poetry. Cooley had a number of clutch plays. To balance out the goodness, there were some inexplicable play calls, some horrible Campbell INTs, a blocked PAT for chrissake. But in the end, the team bore down and did what it needed to to win. 

The fact is, this team went through a horrible period of being snakebit. It was obvious they were playing tight. You could see on the field during the Rams game that everyone, from the head coach on down, was pressing too hard, due to the insanely elevated expectations of "playing in Washington, DC, in Zorn's second season." They were supposed to have worked everything out and been stupendous somehow 'cause, you know, they had all last year to become perfect.

That same tightness, the choking, the tense/nervous/jittery energy pervaded the team through the next 6 quarters or so.

Today against Tampa Bay, they shook some of it off. You could sense the tension seeping away. Once you've hit rock bottom, what is there to be tense about? Some of the guys look like they had a wakeup call in Detroit. The O-line looked particularly improved this game. 

I'm not saying this is a playoff team. I really have no idea, and neither do they. But there is an awful lot of talent on this squad, and now that no one gives a rat's ass about them, maybe, just maybe, they'll start to ease up a bit and remember what got them to the show in the first place. 

Next up are two teams that still haven't won a game this season. We could conceivably be hosting Philadelphia in three weeks with a 4-2 record. It might be a sloppy, not-living-up-to-potential 4-2 record, but honestly, I don't care.

As I said in a previous post, let the team figure out its identity during this early, soft part of the season. They're not an elite team right now. They can't even claim to be a playoff team. But maybe enough of a lesson has been learned from these few weeks of putridness that by November, they'll be a step close to making that claim.

Of course I want a 'Skins victory on Sunday. 

But I'm actually glad we barely got by the Rams. And I'm hoping we do only slightly better against Detroit.

Why? 

Because the alternative would have hamstrung this team. 

If the 'Skins had won by three touchdowns this past week, all would be rosy in DC. Headlines would read, SKINS ARE BACK or OFFENSE SHINES—ZORN OFF THE HOT SEAT. 

Which would be a mistake. 

Two things that are always true in the NFL:

1. Preseason doesn't really allow you to truly prepare for regular season games; and
2. Non-elite teams that make the playoffs historically do so by getting some momentum going mid-season and then peak in December.

We have been blessed with a soft schedule for the next month. Don't get me wrong, on "any given Sunday" as it is said, any team in the NFL can win, even the Lions; the 'Skins can't cakewalk through this month. 

But they can afford to make a few mistakes against the Lions, Bucs, Panthers, and Chiefs. These are four teams that are currently winless, all of them giving up around 30 points per game.

I'm really not worried about our D. They're looking like they'll be top-5 again, and there are no major questions there (although the cornerback situation, as mentioned by KevinE, is cause for concern).  

I, like Redskins fans everyhwere, am worried about the offense. When will all these superior parts be assembled and tweaked to make a Ferrari instead of a Ford Pinto?

That's Zorn's task this next month—to develop the offense into a major threat. And this is important—as long as he gets the Ws, I don't care how crappy the team looks. I only care about one thing: that they progress from week to week. That they improve. That they get the kinks out. Say what you want, but in a team with as much offseason BS as the 'Skins have had this year, a team in only its second year with an innovative coach, a team that has to polish up its 2nd-year receivers and find a way to take make its O-Line productive, there will be many kinks to work out. 

And it is far, far better that they be worked out now—that Zorn be taking a long look in the mirror, that certain plays be starred as "go-to" plays, and that parts of the playbook get shredded because they are ill-suited to this team—it is far better for all that to happen now than for it to happen in November. Because when we start playing the good teams, we need to have our act together. 

This can be a talented team. There is enough on the roster to make it one. But they aren't yet. And I'd rather they discover how to be one and develop an identity slowly over a period of weeks rather than get all fired up because they just beat St. Louis by 30 points. If that had happened, or if they cream the Lions this week, there's a chance that either Zorn, or the players, will get complacent and think it's "fixed". I don't want them to think it's fixed after one game. I want them to stay hungry until they know, they know from the pains of 3 or 4 difficult weeks, that they have truly jelled. 

So media, and Danny Boy: STFU. Don't fire coaches, don't offer seven different ways to "fix it"; just get the fuck out of the kitchen. You're the reason Zorn is calling option passes to Portis: because he feels he needs to show you some razzle-dazzle in Week 2 instead of finding out, against an inferior team, how well Kelly can run a fade route. 

Here's to four weeks of Redskins victories that I hope will result in them hosting Philadelphia at the end of October with a 5-1 record, but more importantly with a real sense of what they can do.