Well, the playoffs get going today, so I guess I should weigh in with my thoughts. I'll be rooting for the Rays and Brewers to get to the World Series, because I've never seen either of them there, and because it will cause the executives at Fox to collectively form a mass riot. That would be fun.

Of course, I'll also be on full anti-Boston watch. Therefore, go Angels in Round 1. It certainly is weird not having the Yankees to root against in the playoffs, but man, I could sure get used to it.

Anyways, the picks: 

ALDS:

Rays over White Sox in 4        Angels over Red Sox in 5

NLDS:

Brewers over Phillies in 5       Cubs over Dodgers in 4

ALCS:

Angels over Rays in 7

NLCS:

Cubs over Brewers in 6

Continue reading "Playoff Predictions"

Or at least, when I do, I lose. Badly.

I guess I could have done worse on my Division Series predictions, since I did get the Rays winning in 4 right. But the Angels, Brewers, and Cubs? Gah! Who knows, if the Angels could actually execute a squeeze play we may have been back to LA for Game 5. However, they couldn't, and now the Red Sox are back in the ALCS for the 4th time in the last 6th years. Gag me please.

So, who am I rooting for? Obviously the Rays in the ALCS. I'd love to see Tampa make it to the Series. As far as the NLCS, I'm not sure I'm rooting for anyone. However, if the Red Sox end up winning in the AL, than I really, really want the Dodgers to come out of the NL. There wouldn't be much better than Manny single handedly destroying the Red Sox at Fenway in the World Series. That would make me happy. However, since whatever I want to happen usually doesn't, here are my LCS picks:

Continue reading "This is Why I Don't Gamble..."

There is a long list of things to do for Andy MacPhail and company this off-season, and I’ll be tackling some of those things throughout the next few weeks. I’ll also keep you updated on the Arizona Fall League, as well as rumors about possible trades and free agent signings. For me, November, December, and January are always a lot of fun, with trades (and lots of rumors), big free agent signings, and roster re-adjustments.

Therefore, first and foremost is dealing with the 40-man roster. As a quick explanation, the 40-man roster is comprised of all the organizations players who are signed to Major League contracts. It also must contain prospects that have been in the organization for a certain number of years (More on that later). If you appear in a major league game, you must be on the 40-man roster. However, it’s different from the 25-man roster, which is just the players on your current major league roster. So, the 40-man has everyone from Nick Markakis to Oscar Salazar, Jeremy Guthrie to Freddy Deza (Who? Exactly, more on him later). Here is a link to the current O’s 40-man.

Continue reading "Orioles Off-Season Priorities"

I hope you got a chance to read my post earlier today, explaining how the 40-man roster works, and setting up where we are in terms of getting our roster down to where it needs to be. If you get lost or confused at any time, please take a look at it, as I tried to lay out the basics of how the roster management works in the off-season. In this post, I’ll go into more specifics of who needs to be cut, why they need to be cut, and if I don’t ramble on too much, who needs to be added so they aren’t taken in the Rule V Draft.

First off, who has no minor league options left, and therefore must make the major league team out of spring training? These guys must be on the team all year (barring injury), or else they can be picked up on waivers by any team. So, this is an important question to ask. Of the players with no options, if you have some that you feel have no shot of making the opening day roster, then it makes sense to cut them now, and perhaps save roster spots for players who can stay in the minor leagues all season.

Continue reading "Working on that 40-Man Crunch"

The Rule V Draft happens every December, and it is basically a tool to keep teams from hoarding prospects in their minor league systems for too long. Johan Santana is probably the most famous Rule V pickup, as the Twins got him for nothing. Last year the Orioles selected Randor Bierd from the Tigers.

The rules are pretty simple. Team select from a pool of minor leaguers (who is in that pool I'll get into in a bit), and can choose to not select anyone, and pass, or they can select the player of their choice. However, once that player is selected, they MUST remain on the teams Active 25-man roster for the entire season the following year (barring injury). If the team decides they no longer have room for the player on their roster, or decide for whatever reason they don't want that player on their active roster, the player must be returned to their original team. The two teams are permitted to work out a trade for the player, but the team that would be getting the player back is by no means obligated to do so.

Continue reading "Rule V Draft Stuff"