Friday Bird Droppings - Orioles News and Links
Knocking Their Sox Off - SI Vault (10/17/83)
Real Orioles don't pout. Real Orioles don't gloat. Real Orioles just win. -Stacey
"That's when they started baseball, so everybody was debuting." - Matt Wieters on Baltimore having five rookie pitchers win their big league debuts in 2009, the most in a season since the 1888 Chicago White Stockings had six. Is that a personality I'm seeing, Mr. Wieters? -Stacey
Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | A look at the Arizona Fall League Championship Game - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia
Jonathan Mayo goes Around The Minors, talking about the Arizona Fall League Championship Game. Stephen Strasburg, despite a stiff neck, is expected to start for the Devil Dogs and go about five innings. It's video from MLB, so have headphones ready at work or school. -duck
Shocker! Brandon Erbe is glad to be on the 40-man roster!
"Even though he has a splint on his right pinky finger that ended his time in the Arizona Fall League early, Wednesday was a good day for pitcher Brandon Erbe. The Baltimorean and life-long O's fan from McDonogh High made the Orioles' 40-man roster for the first time." Well, being that this was the first year the O's had to protect him, I guess it would be the first time he'd be happy about being on the 40-man. -duck
Seattle Times -Baltimore possibly targeting Bedard as FA
"Also, Jeff Zrebiac of the Baltimore Sun, who is one of the best beat writers around, lists Erik Bedard as a free agent likely to be targeted by the Orioles. Wouldn't that be the final dagger, for the Orioles to get Adam Jones, an All-Star year from George Sherrill and then a trade package for him, Chris Tillman, et al -- and then potentially reap the benefits of a healthy Bedard. Ouch." Sorry, but this just makes me all happy inside. -duck
10 free agents O's may target
"Baseball's free-agent signing period begins Friday, and the Orioles have money to spend and holes to fill. Here are some free agents that they will consider." And guess who's first - our favorite French-Canadian left-handed pitcher. Yeah, this is the article the Seattle guy links to. -duck
O's will wait on Hendrickson negotiations
"While the Orioles remain interested in re-signing pitcher Mark Hendrickson, a deal will not get done during the team's exclusive negotiating window." Sure, just carry out the suspense even longer! Won't someone think of the children? -duck
O's positioned to be buyers in free agency
"With a down economy, multiple teams crying poor and little money invested in future payrolls, the Orioles are arguably in a better financial position this offseason than they have been in more than a decade." In a year with the worst FA class in a decade, too. Oh, goody. -duck
Santa is coming to Salisbury at Shorebirds' stadium
"The Delmarva Shorebirds would like to announce that Santa will be at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium on Saturday, December 5, 2009 from 10 AM-12 PM as part of the Cookies with Claus event." Great event, but that team needs a new PR writer. -duck
The Open Thread for the alternates is down in the ladies room.
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Two bits of news:
1) I'm very happy to announce that Matt Taylor, the voice behind Roar From 34, will be joining the Camden Chat team as a part-time contributor. If you've read Matt's work you know that he has a real talent for writing about the Orioles and I look forward to him sharing some of that with us.
2) In more minor site news, you may have noticed a new item on the sidebar titled "Meet The Team." With the recent re-design there was about five miles of white space on the sidebars before getting to the bottom where our contributors names were listed. I thought that was ugly, so created the Meet The Team widget instead. The last link goes to the Who's Who at Camden Chat post. If you're new to the site or never wrote up an intro, click the link and tell us about yourself.
Camden Chat Site News
about 24 hours ago
Stacey
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Thursday Bird Droppings - Orioles News and Links
In Baseball, Money Loads the Bases - WSJ.com
One reader offers his reasons for frustration with baseball's economic model. -duck
Report: Jauss to be Mets' bench coach | MLB.com: News
Dave Jauss, a former bench coach for the Orioles and Dodgers, will be hired to fill the same position by the Mets, FoxSports.com, citing Major League sources, reported on Tuesday. -duck
The Schmuck Stops Here: Orioles: Making sense of today's roster moves
That leaves a few recognizable players exposed to the Rule 5 Draft -- including shortstop Blake Davis and recently acquired pitcher Steve Johnson -- and leaves room to question why certain journeyman-type players are still on the 40-man. The Orioles kept pitcher Chris Waters, for instance, even though he didn't seem to be on the radar when the Orioles needed help at several points last season. -duck
Nationals name ex-Orioles manager D. Johnson advisor
Davey Johnson, the Orioles' former All-Star second baseman who was the last manager to lead the club to a winning season, has taken a job with the Washington Nationals. Johnson, 66, will be a senior advisor to general manager Mike Rizzo. -duck
Arizona Fall League recap -- Nov. 18
Pretty good night for the O's in the AFL. -Stacey
Remembering Corey Patterson’s Bright Spot
Corey Patterson used to be looked on fondly, doncha know. -Stacey
Mike Scioscia and Jim Tracy Are Managers of the Year - NYTimes.com
This year’s managers of the year were runaway winners: Jim Tracy of the Colorado Rockies and Mike Scioscia of the Los Angeles Angels. -Stacey
Frankly, my dear, I don't give an Open Thread.
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The Orioles have added six players to their 40-man roster: pitchers Brandon Erbe and Luis Lebron, and infielders Josh Bell, Pedro Florimon, Rhyne Hughes and Brandon Snyder. The roster is at its capacity. Teams must submit their rosters to the MLB office by Friday afternoon.
Roch Kubatko - MASNsports.com
That means Steve Johnson is unprotected. Roch has confirmed he is subject to the Rule V Draft in December.
1 day ago
duck
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Discovering an Oriole Great: Boog Powell
I'm not going to lie, I just never knew much about Boog Powell. I've known that he's a giant hulking dude, that he played first base, that he opened up Boog's BBQ, and that he's one of the friendliest ex-players I've ever interacted with. I figured he was good, being that he wouldn't have been on the team if he wasn't. But I never really knew anything about him statistically until I did a little research on some of the best Orioles' seasons. SC did name him the #6 Oriole of All Time, though, so maybe if I paid better attention I'd have known of his awesomeness that much sooner (an aside about the top 40 O's...it might need updated as it's over three years old and Brian Roberts is nowhere to be seen).
Did you know that Boog Powell has the 4th highest single season OPS+ of any Oriole? In 1964, at just 22 years old, Powell had an OPS+ or 176, a year when he played LF. The only players to have an OPS+ higher in a season were Frank Robinson (198 in '66, 187 in '67) and Jim Gentile (187 in '61). In fact, in the top 20 OPS+ seasons of the Orioles, Boog Powell's name appears four times, which is tied for most with Eddie Murray and Frank Robinson. Not bad company.
Boog Powell hit over 300 HR as an Oriole and is currently 83rd on the all time HR list in baseball. 5th most games as an Oriole, 5th highest SLG, 5th most hits. Top 5 in most things, top 10 in everything else.
I wonder why I never heard more about Boog growing up? Makes me feel like I'm not a good enough Orioles fan.
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Blog Spotlight: The Loss Column
The next installment of Camden Chat's blog spotlight focuses on The Loss Column. I've been a fan of TLC for years as the creator, Neal Shaffer, writes regularly about Baltimore Sports, especially the Ravens and Orioles. With it being football season most of the current articles focus on football, but there's plenty to be found about the O's as well. What's refreshing about Neal's writing is that it's rare you'll the the "woe is me" mentality that can be prevalent among a lot of sports writing that's done by fans. On the "About" page, Neal points to an entry about Mark Teixeira that encapsulates the attitude and philosophy of TLC. I highly suggest giving it a read (and the rest of site as well).
See below the jump for my Q&A with Neal.
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Wednesday Bird Droppings
First off, I got the following in an email from MLB Network....
A new season of Baseball’s Seasons begins this week on MLB Network with a focus on the most memorable moments of the 1979 Major League Baseball season. The documentary-style series created by Major League Baseball Productions focuses on the Pittsburgh Pirates’ championship season led by Dave Parker and 1979 National League MVP Willie Stargell; the story of the Baltimore Orioles, led by Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver and 1979 All-Star Ken Singleton; and the California Angels who, with veterans like Rod Carew & 1979 American League MVP Don Baylor, reached the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s history. Also highlighted in the episode is how the New York Yankees were impacted by the death of their star catcher Thurman Munson in the quest for their fourth-straight American League pennant. As the series examines each year in the context of the time’s culture and society, the 1979 episode highlights the country’s gas crisis. The episode will air on Wednesday, November 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET and re-air at 11:00 p.m. ET.
There was a clip from the episode in the email, and it had an awesome shot of Dave Parker making a catch in right-center, with a bunch of 70s cars visible over the outfield wall. This baby airs tonight. I'll be setting my TiVo. (-zk)
It's pretty quiet on the interwebz. We have a coupla light news items....
O's show interest in Smoltz
I hope not. I don't want that guy anywhere near the Orioles. But I'm sure Smoltz would just as soon stay out of the AL East anyway. -Stacey
The Markakis family gives back
Nick and Christina Markakis will spend this weekend distributing turkeys with the Maryland Food Bank. I love that Nick lives here year round -Stacey
Jordan sizes up some O's draft picks
He discusses Justin Dalles, Aaron Wirsch, Devin Harris, Ryan Berry, and Jake Cowan. -Stacey
BaseballAmerica.com: Blog: Baseball America Prospects Blog " Blog Archive " Minor League Free Agents
Major League Baseball granted free agency on Nov. 9 to 536 minor league players, i.e. those not included on 40-man rosters. We have them all here, listed by organization. (For those of you who are REALLY into tracking minor leaguers....) -zk
May I pass along my congratulations for your great interdimensional breakthrough. I am sure, in the miserable annals of the Open Thread, you will be duly enshrined.
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Congrats to Zack Greinke, AL Cy Young Winner
The BBWAA got it right today as they voted Zack Greinke the 2009 AL Cy Young Award Winner. He seemed a lock for many all year but I never quite trust those guys to vote as they should.
I have a major soft spot for Zack Greinke and the Kansas City Royals (as evidenced by my road trips...we're already discussing where the 3rd Annual Impersonate a Royals Fan weekend should take place in 2010), so even if the numbers were close I'd probably favor him. But the numbers weren't close, not the numbers that counted. Royals Review is celebrating, of that I'm sure.
Well done, Zack. I hope you are second in the voting behind Brian Matusz next year.
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