Adam Jones is back!

Hopefully this means Jay Payton sightings will be much less frequent for the last month of the season. In fact, Payton and Kevin Millar, both of whom will be free agents at season's end, should spend a good amount of September on the bench.

With as well as Luis Montanez has played since being recalled, he needs to continue to be in the line-up. With that in mind, the following should be pretty much the every-day lineup throughout September:

Brian Roberts 2B

Adam Jones CF

Nick Markakis RF

Aubrey Huff 1B

Melvin Mora 3B

Luke Scott DH

Lou Montanez LF

Ramon Hernandez C

Who really cares SS

It will be Juan Castro, because he is solid defensively at shortstop, but it really is a bit pathetic the shortstops the Orioles have run out this year. One of Andy MacPhail's top goals this off-season needs to be acquiring a shortstop with some talent.

Continue reading "Jones' return should solidify September line-up"

It's a question asked in all sports: Once your team has no shot at the post-season, is it better long-term for the team to lose games at the end of the season, thus improving their draft status? Now, nobody is saying teams should tank games. However, from a fans perspective, is it better for the long-term success of the franchise to lose games down the stretch and improve your draft position, or to win meaningless (as far as this season goes) games and perhaps help build confidence for next year in the clubhouse?

The immediate reaction by many fans about baseball is that "the draft is such a crapshoot, it doesn't even matter." Well, that's partially true. The MLB draft is largely a crapshoot. It takes players longer to reach the big leagues and has a higher attrition rate than the NBA or NFL. However, it is far from meaningless. While it is always easy to look back 3 or 4 years and see players your team could have selected, as they say, hindsight is 20-20. There have been a few cases, though, where winning games at the end of a season cost the Orioles the exact player they were targeting in the draft.

Continue reading "The Non-Contender's September Conundrum"

Ok, it's not like I needed Baseball America to confirm that for me.... but they did anyways. 

Player of the Year. That's a pretty high honor, considering I would guess most people thought David Price would walk away with the award. Price, the stud left-hander in the Tampa organization, will still probably be the #1 prospect for BA before next season starts, but my bet is Wieters will be a close number 2.

As much as I couldn't wait to see Nick Markakis come up before the '06 season, I'm even more excited about Wieters. Not just because he destroyed pitching at both High-A and AA, but also because he throws out a very high percentage of runners and by all accounts calls a great ballgame behind the plate.

Wieters is the first Oriole to ever win the award, and since this award only goese back to 1981 I guess that's not a huge surprise. Ben McDonald was a very highly rated prospect in the early 90's, and Markakis was rated pretty high recently, but neither put together a season like the one Wieters did this year.

Continue reading "Matt Wieters is the Man!"

Now that all of the minor league seasons have concluded, Baseball America has begun to come out with their top prospect lists. They are currently going through each minor league league, (starting with the Gulf Coast League, which is rookie ball, and working their way up to the Independent League, which is AAA.) and naming their top 20 prospects in each league. 

I'll try to keep you all updated on Orioles that have been named to the Top 20 lists for each league.

Today they started with the Gulf Coast League, and on Oriole made the list. That would be 2008 3rd Round pick L.J. Hoes, coming in at #15 on the list.

Hoes, who was drafted out of St. John's High School in the Baltimore/DC area, put up serious numbers in his 48 games in the GCL this season. He hit over .300 with an on-base percentage of .416. He also walked more often than he struck out, which is a very good sign. The only concern with Hoes' GCL numbers would be his lack of power. Hoes slugged only .390, hitting only 1 homer, 4 doubles, and 3 triples. However, as just an 18-year old right out of high school, scouts think that the power will come with age. Most think he only projects to be a 15-20 homer guy at best, but if he can hit 30 or so doubles and leg out double digit triples, he could be an offensive force. He plays seccond base, and while most scouts see him sticking there, they don't feel he is exceptional with the glove. He may have to move to the outfield eventually, but that wouldn't be until he is much closer to the majors.

Continue reading "The Prospect Fun Continues"

The next couple weeks will wrap up the MLB regular season, so I'm going to take a look at each division around baseball, and give you my thoughts on them. And yes, I'm only doing this because I'm sick of watching the Orioles give up 10 runs a night and try to come up with something positive to say (although Radhames Liz did pitch well on Sunday.....but I digress.) I'll start with the best division in baseball, the AL East. 4 of the5 teams are over .500, and all of those 4 are probably among the 10 or so best teams in the majors. The one exception, well....that would be the O's. Anyways, here is a look at my take on the AL East from this past season.

2008 AL EAST 

Most Encouraging Team: Tampa Bay Rays

 This also falls under the category of "Easiest Selection of the Year." Tampa Bay, a team that has never had a winning record in it's existence, is tied for first place by percentage points as we speak. They have two more with the Red Sox at the Trop in the next two days, so it will be interesting to see if they can fend them off. I tend to think the Red Sox will win the division, but the Rays will still make the playoffs as a wild card. An incredible season for Joe Maddon and company, and their prize in the post-season will be a match-up with Maddon's former organization, the Angels (gulp!)

Continue reading "A Look Around the AL East"

So, yesterday, I mention how the Orioles get a rare well-pitched game from Radhames Liz, and I wrote up my recap on the AL East. Then, Chris Waters goes out and throws a complete game shut-out last night. So, that forces me to mention it, and to do the AL Central wrapup today. By my logic, that means Brian Bass should be lights out tonight. (Or, maybe what I do has nothing to do with how the Orioles play. We'll see.) Anyways, on to the AL Central.

AL Central 2008

Most Encouraging Team: Minnesota Twins

White Sox fans will want me drawn and quartered for this, but really, you can't pick against the Twins. The White Sox had a ton of money invested in this season and a lot of proven guys on their team. They had Dye, Konerko, Thome, Cabrera, Buehrle, Vasquez etc, etc coming into the season, and that was before guys like Carlos Quentin and Alexei Ramirez had big years, and Jon Danks and Gavin Floyd steadied the pitching staff. So, yes, the White Sox have had a great year, but they're only 2.5 games ahead of Minnesota as we speak. This is the same Twins team that people thought were throwing in the towel on 2008 when they traded Johan Santana to the Mets in the offseason. When you take into account Francisco Liriano started the year still recovering from his injury, there was nobody outside of the Twin Cities that thought this team had a shot at the playoffs. Now, thanks to solid work from young starters Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, and Nick Blackburn, plus Liriano's stellar return late in the season, the Twins have kept their noses right in the thick of the AL Central race. They've got what you expected out of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, and have gotten good contributions from Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, Alexei Casilla and Delmon Young, who has really turned it on in the second half. Not to mention, they have the closer who has been the most dominant in the league. When you take into account all the young, cheap assests the Twins have, I think you have to look at them as the most encouraging team in the division.

Continue reading "It's AL Central Time"

This will be my last division wrap-up, just not going to do the National League division by division. I'll mention who I feel should win the NL awards in a post with my AL wrap up.  

Also, if you're wondering where the Orioles-related posts have gone....I just need a break. It's been really, really frustrating watching them lately, and taking the time to write about them just gets me even more frustrated. Don't worry...this off-season I will be all over every move, with plenty of suggestions myself. (Are you ready for Mark Teixeira-mania? Or as a friend called it, Tex-Mania! There will be like, a million Teixeira related rumors this off-season. Just be ready for them.)

Anyways, on to the AL West.

Most Encouraging Team: Los Angeles Angels

I'd say you are the most encoouraging team when you wrap up the division in, like, June. OK, not quite, but didn't it feel that way? This has been the Angels year, simple as that. And how crazy is it that they will have to open the playoffs with either Tampa or the Red Sox? Congrats on running away with your division and dominating the league, boys...enjoy Boston! This year has been about the pitching for the Angels mostly. All you hear about is K-Rod breaking the saves record. Look. I know it's a great accomplishment. Good for K-Rod, and he has been very good this year. But he alone can't get saves. His team has to put him in lots and lots of save situations for him to....you know what, I'll rant about this later. Let's get to everyone else. The rotation missed Kelvim Escobar for the entire season, but they showed they didn't need him. Ervin Santana had a breakout year and Joe Saunders was very solid. John Lackey was injured early on but may have been their best pitcher late in the season. When you throw in around average seasons from Jared Weaver and Jon Garland, you have the best staff in the AL. The offense was very blah earlier in the season, but the addition of Mark Texeira has been huge. Will he be the boost to their offense in October that Tony Reagins (Angels GM) hoped? We'll see soon enough...

Continue reading "It's the AL West's Turn"

Baseball America has continued to do their Top 20 prospects for each league in the Minors. I've told you that I'd keep you updated when the Orioles had a prospect named in a league's Top 20.

Well. Still waiting.

The Appalachian League, the New York-Penn League, and the South Atlantic League lists have all been announced, and there isn't an Oriole to be found. 

Not much of a surprise that Bluefield and Aberdeen had no one on the the lists, as the Orioles really didn't have any top prospects on either of those teams. However, it was a surprise that Delmarva didn't get anyone on their Top 20, specifically left-hander Zach Britton.

Britton, who is probably a Top 10 prospect in the Orioles organization, was a guy that many thought would easily be in the Top 20 of the South Atlantic League. He wasn't, but it's not the end of the world. Remember, these lists are put together by the thoughts of the Managers in each league, not necessarily what BA's scouts think.  

Continue reading "Bluefield + Aberdeen + Delmarva= Zero?"

Here is Baseball America's Top 20 in the Carolina League. Frederick puts 5 players in the Top 20, about as good as the Orioles could have hoped for.

No surprise that Matt Wieters placed #1, but very nice to see Jake Arrieta at #2. Brandon Erbe also was a nice surprise, not that he was on the list, but that he was all the way up at number 8. Also good to see Brandon Snyder and Billy Rowell, two former first round picks, both make the Top 20.

It should be interesting to see who makes the Eastern League list. I'd have to assume Chris Tillman will be there. Nolan Reimold certainly has a shot. Which of the other Baysox pitchers will be there? David Hernandez and Brad Bergeson both certainly have a shot to be there as well. 

Also, with the regular season wrapping up yesterday (I know, I know, I haven't been following the major league team at all. Tough when they've ended the season so poorly.) you might wonder whether I'll keep blogging over the winter. Basically, yes. It seems that recently the off-seasons have been more exciting than the regular seasons at the Warehouse, so I'll be here to follow every rumor that gets mentioned this off-season. Mark Texeira, AJ Burnett, a Markakis extension, trades of Huff/Mora/Hernandez, maybe even Roberts. Lots of stories to follow this winter, and I'll be all over the Hot Stove.

Continue reading "Orioles Prospects Dominate Carolina League Top 20"

Wanted to give a congratulations to Milwaukee and Tampa for getting into the playoffs. As a baseball fan, I like seeing new teams get into the playoffs. I love when the Yankees or the Mets have to sit at home and watch some teams that maybe the average fan doesn't know a whole lot about. It may hurt the TV ratings, but to me, there is nothing better than seeing some new teams get a shot in the playoffs.

With that thought in mind, I was thinking about how it has been 11 years now since the Orioles got to play in October. (Yes, I've been counting.) It seems like ages ago that the Orioles were battling Cleveland for the AL Pennant in one of the best LCS' I can ever remember (although it didn't end how it was supposed to. Damn you Tony Fernandez!!!)

As long as that wait seemed, the Brewers hadn't been to the playoffs since 1982 before clinching the Wild Card yesterday. 

Continue reading "Congrats to the Brewers and Rays"

That he can dominate two leagues in the same season, and be considered the number one prospect in both of them!

The Eastern League Top 20 is out at BA, and once again Wieters takes the top spot. 

Also, for the second straight league, one of the guys Wieters caught lands in the number 2 spot.

That would be youngster Chris Tillman.  I remember last off-season hearing one of the guys that discusses prospects on ESPN (I think Keith Law, but not 100% sure), say that when it's all said and done, the Erik Bedard trade will be a slam dunk for the Orioles. However, that it won't be remembered as the Adam Jones trade. It will be remembered as the Chris Tillman trade. That's pretty high praise, considering what it looks like Jones is going to be able to do.

No other Birds prospects landed in the Top 20, but in the write-up they mentioned that lots of others were considered, and that a really deep Eastern League is the only reason they weren't on there. It mentioned Nolan Reimold, Lou Montantez, Brad Bergeson, David Hernandez, and Jason Berken.

Continue reading "Matt Wieters is so Good....(How good is he?)"