Base Hits: The AFL Rosters, Nagging Injuries and Happy Birthday to Cal.

The rosters for the Arizona Fall League have been, by and large, released. The Orioles who will be taking the field for the Phoenix Desert Dogs:

1B Brandon Snyder
3B Josh Bell
3B Brandon Waring
OF Matt Angle
RP Eddie Gamboa
SP Brandon Erbe
SP/RP Ryohei Tanaka

I'm very interested to see how Josh Bell and Brandon Waring fare against top notch pitching. Snyder proved himself in the AFL last season and that success carried him to the cusp of the majors this season.

The pitchers are intriguing too. Has Brandon Erbe recovered? Will fast-rising reliever Gamboa show the stuff to get top level hitters out? Does Tanaka have more promise than originally thought?

Interesting teammates for the Oriole players too. Top Nationals prospect Steven Strasburg will be on the squad as well as former Oriole pitcher turned Blue Jays hitting "prospect" Adam Loewen. (Loewen is posting a .245/.348/.371 line a high-A Dunedin...)

*****

From this roundup article from the Boston Globe:

8. Dave Trembley, manager, Orioles - A scout who watched the Orioles-Rays series last week noticed a bit of apathy from the Baltimore bench. “They have good talent, a couple of good young pitchers, but there’s no fire over there whatsoever,’’ said the scout. “You’ve got to show your players you’ve got the fire no matter where you are in the standings, and you don’t see that with the Orioles. That really stands out.’’ Trembley has managed the tough times in Baltimore, but will he be around to manage the upswing?


If what the scout says is true, it could be a bad omen for Trembley. As I said last week, if Trembley gets let go, it'll be because he has lost his players and not because he lost a lot of games.


*****

The Examiner takes a look at where some Orioles that started the 2009 season with the team have ended up.

*****

Monday was the 49th birthday of Hall of fame shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. In a reminder of the arrogance of the New York sporting community, here's the article from the New York Times that suggested that Ripken take a day off before breaking Gehrg's record in 1995.

*****

Orioles-Inflicted Grimace of the Day. In honor of Baltimore's first series win since the All-Star break, I present Mark Buerhle:

This grimace comes courtesy of a Nolan Reimold 2-run shot on Sunday.

*****

I don't like back injuries for young stars like Adam Jones and although the condition is not considered serious, it gives one pause to poner the Oriole lineup without him.

In the same article, Nolan Reimold may have offseason surgery to repair a fraying Achilles tendon. If that turns out to be the path he chooses, let him do it now! It's a good 4-5 months of recovery time and that's if everything goes well. The O's will need Reimold healthy for 2010...2009 is a lost cause.

*****

Love the interviews with minor leaguers over at Right Off Russell and the two latest are Frederick pitcher Zach Britton and Frederick 1B/OF Robbie Widlansky.

Good Ravens coverage over there too, if you're inclined to that sort of thing.