Tuesday Open Thread

i find it hilarious that the dbacks got dcabs. i was almost CERTAIN that the royals were gonna pick him up

Hell, I’d take 14 straight division championships and one world series in that span.

But let’s be serious: the big three is going to be Tillman, Matusz, and Bergesen. How big that big three will actually be remains to be seen. Me? I’m optimistic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs

Hey, I love the CLAW. He has pitched much better than anyone here had expected. I think he’s a fantastic 7th inning option. Please start grooming Mickolio to be our closer.

We now have 3 long men: Hendrickson, Bass, Waters
7th Inning: The CLAW
8th Inning: Johnson (hopefully he stops crapping the bed)
Closer: Mickolio

Honestly, what do we have to lose by having Mickolio close out games? We’re gonna lose a ton anyway. Atleast let him get some experience

He’s been struggling recently so his offense isnt actually as good as his numbers suggest. And since Varitek is still going to catch a lot of games, Martinez has to then either replace Youklis or Lowell in the lineup, two bats hes not much of an improvement on. So it gives Francona a lot more options and provides some valuable insurance in case someone has to miss time, but it doesnt actually significantly improve their offense in any single game.

First baseman Brandon Snyder, 22, batted .378 (14-for-37) with 10 RBIs in his previous 10 games to improve his Norfolk average to .245 in 151 at-bats.

i died a little inside.

God forbid.

when in doubt, cheer for the orioles

he will sign for the most money. it has nothing to do with relationship, or what positions may open up in the future. it’s all about the money right now.

izturis is pretty slick w/ the glove and for a position player w/ a weak bat to win a gold glove, you’[ve got to do soem special shit in the field, i think. sano sort of looks like he could be more int he tejada mold, though he’s got cal size.

Because when he continues to grow scouts think he will grow out of SS. Also we should not consider our current needs when signing a 16 year old. The O’s should go after him, especially since it looks like our 2nd round pick wont sign (he is a SS as well).

the purple line is a waste of money. funny you should mention transit nerd. i’ve always wondered about how metro (assuming it was competently managed) could improve service by expanding to certain areas and rerouting the blue line. unfortunately its poorly managed so that doesnt make a difference.

I don’t have numbers in front of me as far as how many people are estimated to live close enough to take advantage of that Red Line route. Though being someone who majored in government, they can sure hire me to help figure it out. Hook a dude up with some insurance and I’ll do all that leg work for them.

Anyway, it just seems to me that the majority of beltway congestion is the result of people coming from, and going to, places that are never going to be connected by any transit lines. People going from Towson to Linthicum, Owings Mills to Columbia, everyone who’s going to flood this area when BRAC expands the Aberdeen Proving Grounds personnel, commuters who go from Hanover, PA to wherever it is they go… these aren’t problems solved by building some trains that don’t connect these places.

I can’t envision profitable mass transit routes connecting those places, either, because it’s really hard to get that critical mass when you’re going from one suburb to another. That would have to be heavily subsidized. If designed and run properly, it would be worth it. But suburb to suburb train routes are going to have a lot of environmental impact and probably personal impact as well – the dreaded eminent domain rears its ugly head.

On a theoretical level it’s a great idea but I can’t imagine the real-world implementation.

Brian Matusz:
The #4 pick in the 2008 draft and it was him or Justin Smoak. Both looking great so far. He was and still is considered very polished for his age. An analyst at BA said that neither him or Tillman “will blow you away with their stuff”, but they know how to pitch and good things like that. Polish and control can be underrated and blow you away stuff can be overrated in my opinion. If he has four Major league level pitches and two of them are “plus” pitches, his stuff will be fine at the next level. You combine that with control and polish like it sounds like he could have, then he is a future ace. At this point he has dominated A+ and AA ball this year. He is my vote as the pitcher that will be the best. His 9.8 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 are very promising to say the least.

The rest of the article

Why didn’t the O’s ever think of using 6 or 7 pies after that little streak they had going?

Jimmy Rollins has a weird accent, but otherwise that = gold

send him down if he explodes, and gets lit up. Dude has a 0.00 ERA in 4 games so far. Sure, it’s a small sample size, but wait until he actually sucks (which I didn’t think would necessarily happen)

Here’s another one that’s just as good:
Earl confronts umpire

would make me not even want to root for the orioles, because we would be that much more hopeless

Melvin Mora.

You are only saying that because Tillman hasn’t been a Cy Young in his first two outings. Tillman is going to be just fine and has good stuff. He showed flashes of brilliance last night but you have to recognize there is still a learning curve. He has never seen hitters this good before and he will have to make adjustments. Personally I am more excited about Matusz then I was about Tillman. His numbers are just sick… Lets hope for the best but at the same time realize that all hot prospects dont translate into hall of famers. I would hope that 2 of the 3 pan out for us to be solid starters for a couple years and something to build around. Cheers, Jonathan

and it’s also easy to get impatient and sell the future for high-priced veterans. The Orioles are committed to a 2011 timeframe. That’s what we’re looking at here – over a year away, and that might be optimistic. The hard work and failures of today will hopefully turn into the successes of tomorrow.

Here, check this out:
Failure: The Secret to Success

I dont think you are old enough to remember generation k so read on up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_K

For the record I am not old enough to remember generation k either but I’ve heard all about them and its a cautionary tale for getting too excited about pitching prospects. Anyone who wants to be a debbie downer about good pitching prospects brings them up.

However I think this is more of a worst case scenario than the likely scenario so give these pitching prospects time. They probably wont be generation k or Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux but somewhere in between that very large continuum.