Wednesday Bird Droppings

If Wieters is the switch hit jesus, does that make Tater the Right Hand Apostle?

RATT is playing Rams Head Live in May! WOO HOO!!!!!!

http://tickets.ramsheadlive.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=246

Yeah, I’m old.

don’t we have enough OF to fill the minors?

Or maybe “Hey, it doesn’t suck as bad as last year!” (Which is certainly true of the Orioles, I’m thinking!)

MLB.com was pretty much unwatchable in ‘09, and it wasn’t b/c I was 10,000 miles away, either. Basically, the constant stop-freezing made it a radio site for me.

But now…?

Rub some $100 bills on it, you sell-out.

But I think it has less to do with any real difference in how the O’s will perform when he plays, and more to do with the future of the club.

First of all, Tatum is on the 40-man roster, and keeping two spots for backup catchers is silly, so if Moeller makes the team, Tatum would have to be waived. Second, a major goal is going to be to keep Wieters in the lineup as much as possible, which means that he should be the DH more often than last season, so catcher defense means more. But lastly, this is a move with an eye towards 2011 and beyond. Moeller’s mentoring abilities, such as they are, will be less and less useful as time goes on, while Tatum is under control for six seasons and has time to build a real rapport with our staff. Quality backup catchers don’t grow on trees and often get paid millions. Having a chance to solidify a bench spot that should only be more important since our starting catcher is one of our key players is one that I’m glad to see the O’s jump on. And while I hope Moeller goes to Norfolk, I think the trade last week for Lerud from the Royals was a sign that the O’s are prepared if he won’t.

by the Orioles hesitance to pitch their starters against the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays? Like Boston has no idea who Kevin Millwood is or what kind of stuff he’s got. And did you see that their sending Lester out against us today? Those idiots! Now we’ll get a really good read on him and clobber him in the regular season!

Val Majewski joins Matt Riley on the York Revolution.

http://www.yorkrevolution.com/news.cfm?newsID=2011

I think Tillman will be back in May, maybe to replace Guthrie. I have no problem with sending Tillman to AAA to work on control, a cutter and his slide step. To me, David Hernandez should be the middle reliever and Berken the starter because I think next year that will be their proper placement. I think Berken should start and eventually be traded as a starter. Hernandez I think would be an excellent reliever.

Whatever. Moeller was a good guy and a mentor. Good guys who aren’t very good are cut every day. Kevin Millar got cut too. So what? We have a couple of good catchers in the minors: Joseph and Ohlman. Catching isn’t our biggest problem. Moeller may go to Norfolk to help prepare our young pitchers. Good use of the “mentor”. If he can catch on somewhere else to prolong his playing back up for another year,….. fine.

The biggest weakness of this franchise is not catchers or even pitching anymore. This team doesn’t have middle infielders and doesn’t seem to care. Roberts is fine, when healthy, but that’s not guaranteed. Our shortstops are weak hitters and the minors are no help either. Other teams find them in the Dominican, but not the Orioles.

I found a distributor in Philly that stocks Natty Boh

that Nicky is never going to walk again??

have you been collecting all the bonus winnings you’ve been getting from me through centsports? Because I haven’t missed a penny you’ve earned me. Of course, it’s pretty hard to miss NOTHING.

“I think it’s silly that decisions are made on spring-training performance, especially when both guys worked about 15 innings each. But it doesn’t matter in the long run. Tillman is much more talented, and Hernandez is destined for middle relief. The Orioles weren’t going to win this year anyway, and Tillman will be in their rotation before the all-star break.”

Thanks for making me not feel like a complete idiot for once, Jim!

Jaime Escalante died yesterday.

being a current high school catcher and an avid disciple of the position, i thought id offer my two cents. the way I see it is there is no right answer. take into account the freshness of a backup catcher. the starters arm is bound to wear down during the course of the season and trust me, that throw to second is an absolute killer with a sore arm. of course, these are major league training staffs we’re dealing with so maybe it’s not such a big deal. even though the backup is, well, a backup, he may do a couple of things (like, saaaay throw out runners?) better than the starter. and remember, it’s not ALL about the catcher. the pitcher plays a pivotal role in setting the whole thing up.

iPad = epic fail. I mean come on! It’s just a bigger version of the iPhone, and it can’t even run multiple apps. No USB ports. Doesn’t support flash. Seriously, what is this piece of junk? How can it qualify as a computer?