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Your Off-Season O of the Day: Chris Hoiles (Photo by Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

Rick Dempsey checks in
I love Rick Dempsey. I mean, sometimes when he's talking on the post-game I forget, but overall it's just impossible not to love the dude. -Stacey

Three O's executives to attend GM meetings
Andy MacPhail, Wayne Krivsky, and Matt Klentak will attend the GM meetings next week in Chicago. I had totally forgotten that Krivsky works for the O's. -Stacey

Arizona Fall League recap -- Nov. 6
The Desert Dogs fall to the Scorpions but Brandon Waring homered. -Stacey

Brian Bob wants Matt Holliday
Keep dreaming, Brian. -Stacey

2010 World Series favorites
"5. Orioles - We have to put one sleeper on here. Baltimore's rebuilding process could be done; its crop of young starters is ready to go at the major league level. Also look for breakout seasons from center fielder Adam Jones and right fielder Nick Markakis. The Washington Times made a funny! -Stacey

The 2010 MLB Power Poll
The O's rank 25th on the Sporting News 2010 MLB Power Poll, in front of the Padres, Royals, Nationals, Pirates, and Indians. Encouraging. -Stacey

Ranking Who in MLB Got the Biggest Bang For the Buck in 2009
The Biz of Baseball examines how much each team paid per marginal win. Check the article for the math, but basically it's how much they paid beyond the league minimum/player for each win above .300. Embarrassingly, the Orioles spent more per marginal win than the Yankees. -Stacey

Yankees fans seem content to punch the repeat button
A great article that almost perfectly explains the frustration I felt when my Yankee loving friend didn't really seem all that pressed about if she should go to the WS parade or not. -Stacey

F#*k Your Parade, Yankees
Did O'sFan21 get a guest writing gig at Deadspin? -Stacey

Hot Stove News

The Brewers traded SS J.J. Hardy to the Twins for CF Carlos Gomez. A win for the Twins, if you ask me.
The Diamondbacks picked up the $8.5M option on ace Brandon Webb. Webb underwent shoulder surgery but the D-Backs are banking on his healthy return.
The White Sox bought out Jermaine Dye's $12M option, making him a free agent. Dye, who will be 36 next seasson, hit 27 HR in '09 but his other numbers dropped significantly.
The Reds won't be picking up Ramon Hernandez's $8.5M option, but they'd like to bring him back at a lower price.
The Phillies picked up the no-brainer option on Cliff Lee for 2010, and hope to sign him to an extension.
The Mets have declined JJ Putz's $9.1M option. I find it bizarre that anyone would even think Putz would be worth that much in the first place. I wonder did Bill Bavasi give him that contract?
The Phillies have cut ties with Brett Myers.
There will be no Manny Ramirez drama this off-season as he has exercised his $20M option with the Dodgers.

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Friday Bird Droppings

by Camden Chat on Nov 6, 2009 6:15 AM EST in Open Threads Comment 149 comments

Your Off-Season O of the Day: Mike Bordick. (Photo by Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)

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There isn't any real O's news out there on the wire at the moment, but there was a flurry of activity on the first day of the off-season.

Baseball Calendar
A handy calendar of all important off season dates. -Stacey

Joe Posnanski: The Yankees Payroll
It's nothing we haven't heard before, but Joe Posnanski has a wonderful way with words -Stacey

Arizona Fall League recap -- Nov. 5
Lots of O's prospects in yesterday's game, with Brandon Snyder going 2-4 with a double and triple. -Stacey

Erbe will miss Rising Stars game in Arizona
He tripped and jammed his pinky. Real smooth. -Stacey

White Sox acquire Teahen from Royals
Two GMs who love to make dumb trades traded with each other. The White Sox get Mark Teahen, the Royals get Josh Fields and Chris Getz. Let the off season begin! -Stacey

Daniel Cabrera is a free agent!
The D-Backs removed him from their 40 man roster and rather than go to the minors he's elected to try free agency. -Stacey

Giants' Lincecum cited for marijuana possession
Tim Lincecum? Marijuana? Surely you jest. -Stacey

Angels Re-Sign Abreu
Bobby Abreu won't have to spend the winter wondering where he'll end up as he signed a two year deal with the Angels on the first day he could. -Stacey

Eight teams that will go Holliday shopping
8 big market clubs are capable of going after Matt Holliday. I'm on record as saying I believe he'll be a Yankee, but it'd be a nice story if he stayed with St. Louis. -Stacey

Jockbeat's World Series Wrap
"The Yanks' real MVP was the Baltimore Orioles' Adam Jones, who, in the eighth inning of the All-Star game hit a sac fly which scored the winning run for the American League and gave the Yankees the home field advantage in the World Series. Without that, Game Six might not have been at Yankee Stadium and Matsui probably wouldn't have been in the lineup." I'll wait while you throw up. Back? Ok. You probably don't want to read the rest. -Stacey

Millar takes plunge into free agency
We still love you, Kevbo, but maybe it's time to hang 'em up? -Stacey

Happy 6th Birthday, SB Nation!!! - Blog Huddle
SB Nation started six years ago today and just continues to get more and more awesome. -Stacey

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. -- Rogers Hornsby

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A Preliminary Look at the 2010 AL East Offenses - Part 3

by Stacey on Nov 5, 2009 5:33 PM EST in Commentary Comment 28 comments

More photos » by Rob Carr - AP

Bring it. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

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The final look at Bill James' projections will focus on the Orioles young outfield. In Part 1 I drooled over Matt Wieters, in Part 2 I went into fantasyland, and here in Part 3 I will bask in the talent of the Orioles outfield.

It's hardly news to anyone here that the Orioles outfield is one of the most promising in baseball. All four outfielders will be 26 or younger on Opening Day 2010, all have shown a lot of promise, and one has already established himself as one of the most solid outfielders in the MLB. There will surely be discussions here about what exactly to do with the outfielders given that over the course of 2009 four of them showed they are capable of being starters. Should Nolan DH with Pie in LF? Would the outfield be better with Pie in CF and Jones in LF? Is Pie too good to be a 4th OF? Should he be traded for something the Orioles need more? These are the best kinds of questions to have because they all revolve around the actual talent of the players. It's a far cry from the O's outfields of recent past (Players to man the outfield for the Orioles from 2005-2008: Jeff Fiorentino, Eli Marrero, Eric Byrnes, 40 year old B.J. Surhoff, Jay Payton, Corey Patterson, Jay Gibbons, Tike Redman, 40 year old Jeff Conine, Luis Matos, David Newhan, Sammy Sosa, Larry Bigbie, Brandon Fahey, Luis Terrero, Freddie Bynum, Lou Montanez, Luke Scott, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis).

I'm going to operate under the assumption that the Orioles outfield will be, from left to right: Nolan Reimold, Adam Jones, and Nick Markakis, with Felix Pie being the 4th outfielder who hopefully gets a good chunk of playing time. It's also safe to assume that at least one of the starters will have some injury problems (*cough* Adam Jones) and it would be nice to have someone competent to fill in.

Continue reading this post »

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Thursday Bird Droppings

by Camden Chat on Nov 5, 2009 7:10 AM EST in Open Threads Comment 59 comments

Your Off-Season O of the Day: All Time Orioles Saves Leader Gregg Olson (photo by Karl Merton Ferron)

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MLB.com spreads lies!
The title of this article is "O's hope to re-sign two free agents: Club has exclusive rights to Baez, Hendrickson for 15 Days." I was ready to be all WTF but the article makes no mention of the O's wanting Baez. -Stacey

Arizona Fall League recap -- Nov. 4
Brandons Waring and Snyder had one hit a piece but the Desert Dogs fell to the Peoria Saguaros 3-2. -Stacey

Curse of the Moose?
So THAT'S why the Yankees hadn't won the World Series since 2000. -Stacey

Man Pleads Guilty To Stealing Ripken’s ‘8’
So here is one of the doofuses who stole Cal's 8. Yeah, that picture looks about how I imagined it. -Stacey

Camden Yards Facelift
$10M has been approved for "structural improvements" at OPaCY. I hadn't noticed it falling down, but it is a reminder that our beautiful "new" stadium is going to be 18 years old next year. -Stacey

Let the rush of new free-agent class begin | MLB.com: News
Players can file for free agency starting tomorrow, followed by 15 days of exclusivity by the FA's 2009 team. The free-for-all begins Nov 20th. Big names on the market are Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, Miguel Tejada, Chone Figgins, Adrian Beltre, Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui. -Stacey

Commissioner pleased with drama playoffs have provided -- chicagotribune.com
Oh shove off, Bud. -Stacey

Braves sign reliever Scott Proctor, agent says | ajc.com
The Braves have been busy bees. They just signed reliever Scott Proctor to a one year deal and will be announcing their extension with Tim Hudson soon. -Stacey

Yankees Ensure Pennant By Signing Every Player In Baseball
A classic Onion article. -Stacey

Hey, Yankees, you can take your apology and your trophy and shove 'em straight up your Open Thread!

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Putting the 2009 Season to Bed

by Stacey on Nov 5, 2009 12:39 AM EST in News Comment 28 comments

The New York Yankees are the World Champions for 2009, their 27th World Series win. Yup, they were the best team money could buy all right. Congrats to Jerry Hairston, Jr. at any rate.

With the 2009 season officially over we can now turn our attention to the Hot Stove and what Andy MacPhail will do to improve the Orioles for the 2010 season. I find the off season to be great and frustrating at the same time. The idea of trades and free agents and building a team is exciting, but sometimes it all seems so slow as we wait for Spring Training.

2010 is going to be a very big year for the Orioles development into a contender. The youngsters will have to show improvement and the front office will have to find ways to fill the holes. Next year is the time for getting better. Much better.

So let's get started! There are just 152 days until Opening Day.

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World Series Game 6: Phillies @ Yankees (NYY leads series 3-2), 7:57 PM

by Stacey on Nov 4, 2009 7:15 PM EST in Gamethreads Comment 119 comments

Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz celebrates as umpire Dana DeMuth calls New York Yankees' Mark Teixeira, left, out on strikes to end Game 5 of the Major League Baseball World Series Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, in Philadelphia. The Phillies won 8-6 to send the series back to Yankee Stadiuim with New York leading 3-23. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

More photos » by Mark Duncan - AP

4 days ago: Philadelphia Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz celebrates as umpire Dana DeMuth calls New York Yankees' Mark Teixeira, left, out on strikes to end Game 5 of the Major League Baseball World Series Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, in Philadelphia. The Phillies won 8-6 to send the series back to Yankee Stadiuim with New York leading 3-23. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

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Game 6 is the geezer matchup of Pedro Martinez vs. Andy Pettitte. We'll all the get the joy of hearing the Yankee fans chant, "Who's your daddy" at Pedro, because nothing is funnier than a five year old quote made in the year that Pedro Martinez's team came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Yankees and go to the World Series.

Pedro pitched game 2 of the series in Yankee Stadium, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings but was out-pitched by A.J. Burnett.

Andy Pettitte is starting on three days rest, which may not be the best idea for the Yankees, not that they have a choice. Pettitte has pitched on short rest five times in the postseason, but not since 2003. He hasn't pitched on short rest at all since 2007. At 37 years old, Andy Pettitte is no CC Sabathia.

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Wednesday Bird Droppings

by Camden Chat on Nov 4, 2009 7:11 AM EST in Open Threads Comment 12 comments

Your Off-Season O of the Day: Adam Jones

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Phils' season in Pedro's practiced hands
The Phillies put all of their hope into Pedro Martinez for game 6 while the Yankees go with Andy Pettitte on short rest. -Stacey

Iwamura Traded to Pirates for Reliever
The Pirates pick up 2B Akinori Iwamura from the Rays in exchange for reliever Jesse Chavez. Aki became expendable with the emergence of Ben Zobrist. -Stacey

New Jays' GM not prepared to stand pat
Alex Anthopoulos has a tough road ahead of him as the new GM of the Blue Jays. That team is a hot mess. -Stacey

O's on Deck: Arizona Fall League recap -- Nov. 3
Josh Bell had a hit and a walk, and Eddie Gamboa pitched two innings allowing two hits, throwing just 18 pitches. Josh Perrault took the loss as he gave up three hits, a walk, and a run in the 11th inning. -Stacey

AFL Rising Stars Rosters
The AFL Rising Stars game will be aired this Saturday night at 8:15 PM on MLB Network. Brandon Erbe and Brandon Snyder will represent the O's prospects. -Stacey

Snyder ready for the big stage in 2010
Brandon Snyder continues to talk up his desire to be an O in 2010. Also, he seems like sort of a hoot with his Strasburg impersonation. -Stacey

Ravens sing a different tune at senior center
I know, this isn't a Ravens blog, but before you decide you can't take it anymore, just read the article. Derrick Mason and some back up Ravens visited the Oak Crest Retirement Community and sang karaoke with the residents for two hours. -Stacey

This is smores stuff. First you take the graham. You stick the chocolate on the graham. Then, you roast the mallow. When the mallows flaming, you stick it on the chocolate and cover it with the Open Thread. Then, you scarf.

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Long May You Run, Melvin Mora

by SC on Nov 4, 2009 6:33 AM EST in Commentary Comment 13 comments

More photos » by Gail Burton - AP

(AP Photo/Gail Burton)

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Contrary to many of my perhaps-forgotten comments in the last two years, I was a pretty big Melvin Mora fan. My feeling that it was time for him to be replaced didn't change that. The fact that as an Orioles fan I'm relieved that his time is up doesn't change it, either.

Mora's last four seasons in Baltimore were pretty rough overall, clouding what I hope will turn out to be blue sky memories of his time as an Oriole. Because Melvin Mora was an Oriole -- a real one. Sure, we got him from the Mets (and again, Mets, thanks for that trade), but we took a utility man nearing the end of his likely upside and got an All-Star performer out of the deal.

When Melvin came over from New York in the middle of the 2000 season and hit a little bit -- nothing special, but a little bit -- it was nice. But who expected it to continue? In fact, it didn't continue. In 2001, Mora hit .250/.329/.362, and for all the world you would have been completely forgiven for not wanting to see the light-hitting, 30-year old Mora come back for '02.

But he did. And when you looked past his .233 batting average, you could see a few things. He led the team with 70 walks and hit 19 homers. At the end of the day, though, it still didn't look that impressive. .742 OPS, decent, useful, but not worth going out of your way for.

At 32 years of age, he became an All-Star. In an injury-shortened season, he raked .317/.418/.503, and he followed that up with a just plain nasty .340/.419/.562 line in 2004, leading the American League in on-base percentage and emerging as one of the most overlooked great players in the game.

It was, of course, a career year. Mora made another All-Star team during the ill-fated 2005 campaign, the first season of Camden Chat's existence. He played well that year, though not up to the unrealistic standards of '04. And he just sort of kept declining bit by bit. It happens. He was in his mid-30s, had one of the strangest career trajectories you'll ever see (even in an era of strange career trajectories), and well, nothing gold can stay.

When Mora made that big second-half surge in 2008, my critical mind was filled with the idea that it was a fluke, that this shouldn't be any reason to think he was still going to be an effective third baseman in the majors, that nobody should get too excited. And I turned out to be right, but big woopty doo. I don't care about that now. All I care about is that I got to see a few more fine summer afternoons where Melvin Mora torched the Tigers, watching him tearing the cover off of the ball all throughout the dog days of summer.

When I read a few days ago that the Orioles declined their option on Mora, it struck me. Just reading that in print: "Orioles decline option on Melvin Mora." The same Melvin Mora who played here for 10 1/2 years. Of course it was time for the Orioles to let go. The old veteran just isn't a part of this team's future, and he had a tough year to boot. It's not like he's hitting as he ages. His decline is obvious. But still: "Orioles decline option on Melvin Mora." A bit jarring.

Maybe he'll retire. Selfishly, I kind of hope he does. I don't want to see Melvin scrapping in some other team's uniform, though I wouldn't at all be bothered seeing him sign with a contender in a reserve role and maybe even win a World Series. He was a damn fine ballplayer. He is also a good man, and a proud one who never wanted to sit down on the bench, never wanted to give up his spot, never wanted to let you forget his vast playoff experience.

That last bit of snark brings us to something else, which is the "other" side of Melvin Mora. When he felt oppressed, he whined. When he felt that Dave Trembley didn't "respect" him enough, he found someone to complain to about just that. It was all quite off-putting, and there's no getting around it. But how do we remember Jim Palmer, who was a prima donna of the highest order? (Not that Mora is Jim Palmer, but you know what I mean.)

I say let the sleeping dogs lie. Melvin had his days. Who doesn't? I truly believe he wanted to win here, wanted to be part of the "rebirth" of Orioles baseball. And I'll bet that when the Orioles get back to the World Series, one of the players you'll see honored and honored to be there will be Melvin Mora. That ovation he'll receive someday down the line is already well-deserved.

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