Lots of stuff in this Dan Connolly/Jeff Zreibec notebook entry for The Baltimore Sun.
First, Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman will only make 2-3 more starts before being shut down for the season. It may be ugly on the field but given their youth and the fact that the future of the rotation hinges on these guys, I think that's a prudent move.
Second, Brad Bergesen will not return this season. I was watching as the line drive rocketed off his leg and he limped, hopped, stumbled and ultimately collapsed in the tunnel heading toward the locker room. I figured that he would not be back at that moment...damn Oriole luck. And although I am generally an optimist, consider this; an unconventional control pitcher like Bergesen needs everything to go right for him to have success and a lot of that comes from a repeatable delivery. Chien-Ming Wang was one of the best pitchers in the AL for a couple seasons, hurt his leg and was never the same. Cross you fingers for Mr. Bergesen.
Chris Waters and Chris Lambert will be recalled from Norfolk to pick up the leftover starts. Buy your blindfolds now.
Speaking of blindfolds, Alberto Castillo, Matt Albers and Dennis Sarfate are being recalled today to provide "relief" for the overworked bullpen. For some reason, I like all these guys enormously. If they had recalled Bob McCrory, they would have been my full set of "favorite marginal big league relievers" that keep bouncing back and forth from Norfolk (or the DL) to Baltimore. All are flawed but I can't shake the feeling that they will all contribute to the success of the Oriole bullpen next season.
Norfolk pitching coach and former Oriole hurler Mike Griffin will finish out the season in Baltimore once IL play wraps up. Interesting...
Good to see Screech coming back to Baltimore. He's put together a fantastic season at Norfolk and I love to see guys rewarded who hang in there and overcome adversity in the minors.
*****
Speaking of overcoming adversity, former Oriole top pick Darnell McDonald has been playing for the Reds this season and hit his first major league homer last week against the Brewers.
McDonald was sent down in May but was called up a week ago and has been tearing it up. It probably won't last and he probably won't stick but it's nice to see a guy ride the buses for 12 years and finally get some limelight.
*****
It's rare that a New York sports reporter would write a thoughtful, informed piece about the Baltimore Orioles without a hint of arrogance or indifference. But Tyler Kepner has done just that.
*****
Mark Teixeira article on being booed at OPACY:
"The 29-year-old, who once listened to Camden Yards fans call him out for wearing a Don Mattingly T-shirt, said that the jeers in this ballpark don't register. "
Still waiting for photographic evidence of Teixeira wearing a Don Mattingly t-shirt. That sight must have been more elusive than the Loch Ness monster...
*****
By the way, I consider Jerry Hairston's botched play on an Adam Jones grounder to spoil Andy Pettitte's perfect game bid a cosmic universal shoutout to the club that drafted him.
And no, I didn't want to see a perfect game. Not by him, not against my team, not in Baltimore. The less Yankee celebrating in Charm City, the better. Hell, I would've been OK if Trembley had somebody lean into one to spoil it.
And can we stop it with the "near perfection" crap already. He didn't even make it into the 8th with a no-hit bid. That old man wasn't throwing a perfect game...he didn't even come that close.
*****
How have The Oriole Advocates escaped my attention for so long? Among many other things, they created the O's Dugout Club, a product which I have actively endorsed. Lots of other cool stuff at the site. I wonder if they would accept members from the Oriole Diaspora?
Showing posts with label Jeff Fiorentino. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeff Fiorentino. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Base Hits: 7/20/2009
I posted this rant over at Camden Crazies in response to some tweets by frostking. I figured I'd repost some of that here...
OK, so this trade in a vacuum is 31-year old Salazar for 26-year old middle reliever. But in this case I don’t care how old Salazar is because he is a) cheap and under control (not even a full season of MLB experience yet) and b) the Orioles have a need for a bat at both corner spots in the infield, certainly this year and even more so in 2010.
The Warehouse will not pick up the option on Mora and will probably not resign Huff unless Aubrey is ready to take a big paycut. That leaves Ty Wigginton to play third base and…who’d on first? Salazar could have filled that need and given Brandon Snyder (who is not exactly tearing up AAA) more time to develop. It’s cheap offense and buys time for one of our few position player prospects. That’s value.
People act like the only choice was to trade either Salazar or Pie. There was another. Cut Melvin Mora. MacPhail seems to understand the concept of a sunk cost and with only $3 million still owed to Mora, it would have been fairly easy to do. Even with Salazar’s poor defense at third, he would still more valuable than Mora. Shift Wiggy to third and let Salazar get ABs at first, the defense is even less of an issue.
Cla Meredith is bad away from PETCO and against AL competition:
http://dempseysarmy.blogspot.com/2009/07/oscar-salazar-gone-to-san-diego.html
The splits are ugly and he may contribute absolutely nothing to the team.
A team like Baltimore needs to be creative in filling holes. They can’t attract top free agents quite yet. Who’s going to play third base next year? Or first? Retreads, has-beens or “good field, no-hit” types. Seems to me Salazar would have been at least a shot at filling the spot cheaply and maybe even produce on a regular basis. His major league OPS is .880 . His last two years in Norfolk he’s had an OPS well over .900 . Worth a shot, I think.
Now maybe MacPhail has irons in the fire that will garner Baltimore a 1B or 3B for next year. But I gave him the benefit of the doubt with the rotation this year and they really didn’t have a great plan in place for that deficiency. On the face of it, I’m calling this trade shortsighted.
I'd say this is my last word on the subject but I know if Salazar starts tearing up the NL West I'll be back here stamping my feet like a petulant child...
*****
A few loosely related things...
I finally got around to reading the Sports Illustrated Earl Weaver "Where are they now?" article.
I've toyed with the idea of writing an article about how easy it is for an Oriole fan to get on board with basic Sabermetric principals because Earl was employing them years before they had a name. But I'm not that talented a writer and Tom Verducci basically did it here.
Semi-related, former Oriole farmhhand Steve Dalkowski is being inducted into The Shrine of the Eternals. Read all about the amazing career (or lack thereof) at The Baseball Analysts and via links at Roar From 34.
So, regarding the Earl Weaver/Sabermetrics link, there was this about former Oriole manager Paul Richards:
As a manager, Richards was thrown out of games more frequently than anyone else....
He was the first manager known to enforce pitch counts to protect young arms from injury. Previously undiscovered documents reveal that Richards tracked his hitters' on-base percentages before that statistic even had a name and decades before it became a cornerstone of baseball analysis. He computed catchers' earned run averages years before the sabermetric community thought of it.
So the roots of statistical analysis (and evidently hot-headedness) run deep in Oriole managerial history.
Also, this nugget about Dalkowski:
However, to the extent that this card has any value whatsoever, it is solely due to the legend that is Dalkowski, the inspiration for Nick LaLoosh, the character portrayed by Tim Robbins in "Bull Durham."
Ron Shelton, who wrote and directed the 1988 movie classic, will introduce Dalkowski at tomorrow's induction ceremony. Shelton was a minor league second baseman for the Orioles during the '60s, yet, according to George Vecsey in an article in today's The New York Times, he and Dalkowski have surprisingly never met.
I had forgotten all about the Dalkowski's Nuke La Loosh connection and that Ron Shelton had been an Oriole farmhand. Makes me love that movie even more...
*****
Some new developments of note for Oriole Spring Training...Sarasota has cleared a major hurdle in luring the Orioles to Sarasota for Spring Training. The City of Sarasota has approved a measure to turn the stadium complex over to the city for $1 allowing the county to make a $31 million bid for the team. County officials and the Orioles report they are close to an agreement.
*****
So I switched from Sirius to XM so I could listen to baseball on the radio. It's nice.
Anyway, I was listening to MLB Home Plate and Aubrey Huff was scheduled to join the network for an interview during the 11 o'clock hour but he never showed up.
If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would imagine that it is because he is on the verge of being traded and the club doesn't want him talking to the media. If I was...
*****
Screech is tearing up the International League. Jeff Fiorentino in Norfolk:
Not too shabby. That gives him a MLE OPS of .793. Maybe he could be trade bait? Maybe he's finally breaking through? A long shot but worth thinking about. And good for Jeff.
OK, so this trade in a vacuum is 31-year old Salazar for 26-year old middle reliever. But in this case I don’t care how old Salazar is because he is a) cheap and under control (not even a full season of MLB experience yet) and b) the Orioles have a need for a bat at both corner spots in the infield, certainly this year and even more so in 2010.
The Warehouse will not pick up the option on Mora and will probably not resign Huff unless Aubrey is ready to take a big paycut. That leaves Ty Wigginton to play third base and…who’d on first? Salazar could have filled that need and given Brandon Snyder (who is not exactly tearing up AAA) more time to develop. It’s cheap offense and buys time for one of our few position player prospects. That’s value.
People act like the only choice was to trade either Salazar or Pie. There was another. Cut Melvin Mora. MacPhail seems to understand the concept of a sunk cost and with only $3 million still owed to Mora, it would have been fairly easy to do. Even with Salazar’s poor defense at third, he would still more valuable than Mora. Shift Wiggy to third and let Salazar get ABs at first, the defense is even less of an issue.
Cla Meredith is bad away from PETCO and against AL competition:
http://dempseysarmy.blogspot.com/2009/07/oscar-salazar-gone-to-san-diego.html
The splits are ugly and he may contribute absolutely nothing to the team.
A team like Baltimore needs to be creative in filling holes. They can’t attract top free agents quite yet. Who’s going to play third base next year? Or first? Retreads, has-beens or “good field, no-hit” types. Seems to me Salazar would have been at least a shot at filling the spot cheaply and maybe even produce on a regular basis. His major league OPS is .880 . His last two years in Norfolk he’s had an OPS well over .900 . Worth a shot, I think.
Now maybe MacPhail has irons in the fire that will garner Baltimore a 1B or 3B for next year. But I gave him the benefit of the doubt with the rotation this year and they really didn’t have a great plan in place for that deficiency. On the face of it, I’m calling this trade shortsighted.
I'd say this is my last word on the subject but I know if Salazar starts tearing up the NL West I'll be back here stamping my feet like a petulant child...
*****
A few loosely related things...
I finally got around to reading the Sports Illustrated Earl Weaver "Where are they now?" article.
I've toyed with the idea of writing an article about how easy it is for an Oriole fan to get on board with basic Sabermetric principals because Earl was employing them years before they had a name. But I'm not that talented a writer and Tom Verducci basically did it here.
Semi-related, former Oriole farmhhand Steve Dalkowski is being inducted into The Shrine of the Eternals. Read all about the amazing career (or lack thereof) at The Baseball Analysts and via links at Roar From 34.
So, regarding the Earl Weaver/Sabermetrics link, there was this about former Oriole manager Paul Richards:
As a manager, Richards was thrown out of games more frequently than anyone else....
He was the first manager known to enforce pitch counts to protect young arms from injury. Previously undiscovered documents reveal that Richards tracked his hitters' on-base percentages before that statistic even had a name and decades before it became a cornerstone of baseball analysis. He computed catchers' earned run averages years before the sabermetric community thought of it.
So the roots of statistical analysis (and evidently hot-headedness) run deep in Oriole managerial history.
Also, this nugget about Dalkowski:
However, to the extent that this card has any value whatsoever, it is solely due to the legend that is Dalkowski, the inspiration for Nick LaLoosh, the character portrayed by Tim Robbins in "Bull Durham."
Ron Shelton, who wrote and directed the 1988 movie classic, will introduce Dalkowski at tomorrow's induction ceremony. Shelton was a minor league second baseman for the Orioles during the '60s, yet, according to George Vecsey in an article in today's The New York Times, he and Dalkowski have surprisingly never met.
I had forgotten all about the Dalkowski's Nuke La Loosh connection and that Ron Shelton had been an Oriole farmhand. Makes me love that movie even more...
*****
Some new developments of note for Oriole Spring Training...Sarasota has cleared a major hurdle in luring the Orioles to Sarasota for Spring Training. The City of Sarasota has approved a measure to turn the stadium complex over to the city for $1 allowing the county to make a $31 million bid for the team. County officials and the Orioles report they are close to an agreement.
*****
So I switched from Sirius to XM so I could listen to baseball on the radio. It's nice.
Anyway, I was listening to MLB Home Plate and Aubrey Huff was scheduled to join the network for an interview during the 11 o'clock hour but he never showed up.
If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would imagine that it is because he is on the verge of being traded and the club doesn't want him talking to the media. If I was...
*****
Screech is tearing up the International League. Jeff Fiorentino in Norfolk:
AVG OBP SLG 2B 3B HR K BB
Fiorentino .317 .388 .527 18 4 7 44 28
Not too shabby. That gives him a MLE OPS of .793. Maybe he could be trade bait? Maybe he's finally breaking through? A long shot but worth thinking about. And good for Jeff.
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