via weblogs.baltimoresun.com

Per the Sun:

Orioles center fielder Adam Jones became the first Oriole to win a Rawlings Gold Glove in 10 years when he was named today as one of three American League outfielders to be awarded the annual prize for outstanding defense.

Jones, 24, is just the second Orioles outfielder to ever win the award, joining eight-time recipient Paul Blair, who won his final one in 1975.

Blair captured his first when he was 23.

Jones is the 13th Oriole to win a Gold Glove and the first since pitcher Mike Mussina did it in 1999. The last Orioles position players to win the award were second baseman Roberto Alomar and first baseman Rafael Palmeiro in 1998.

The Orioles entered 2009 tied with the New York Yankees for the most in the American League with 58 Gold Gloves.

I like to play in whatifsports.com simulated baseball leagues.  I've joined a theme league where you take a franchise and construct a team using any player who played for that franchise over the past 25 years using any individual season of that player regardless of whether that season took place on the francise you've selected.  I've selected the Baltimore Orioles as my franchise which means (for example) I can take Sammy Sosa and use the season he hit 66 home runs even though he was on the Cubs at the time.

Can you guys think help me think of players who might prove useful for this endeavor?  So far I have Roberto Alomar, Fred Lynn, Albert Belle, Tim Raines, Sammy Sosa, Kevin Brown, Jamie Moyer, Curt Schilling, Mike Timlin, Randy Myers, Arthur Rhodes, and Cla Meredith in addition to guys like Mike Mussina and Jim Palmer who played for the Orioles in their prime.  Who are some other former Orioles who had the best years of their careers on another team?

Thought it would be fun to predict Orioles players basic stats for 2010. Here are some of my favorites one:

Brad Bergesen: 3.80 ERA 13-11 200 IP 100K 30BB

Chris Tillman: 3.95 ERA 9-9 170 IP 145K 80BB

Brian Matusz: 3.65 ERA 14-8 185 IP 180K 76BB

Nolan Reimold: .290/.380/.480 29HR, 8 SB

Matt Wieters .310/.390/.500 25HR

Feel free to criticize, and post your own.

Bell, Synder and a whole bunch of other really good prospects from across the land playing in Arizona.

You can watch the telecast online here at MLB.com 

Tonight’s game features 18 first-round draft picks including five from 2009.

Mark Rogers – 5th – 2004 – Milwaukee / Brandon Snyder – 13th – 2005 – Baltimore

Hank Conger – 25th – 2006 – LA Angels / Danny Moskos – 4th – 2007 – Pittsburgh

Phillippe Aumont – 11th – 2007 – Seattle / Mike Moustakas – 2nd – 2007 – Kansas City

Jemile Weeks – 12th – 2008 – Oakland / Yonder Alonso – 7th – 2008 – Cincinnati

Buster Posey – 5th – 2008 – San Francisco / Jason Castro – 10th – 2008 Houston

Josh Fields – 20th – 2008 – Seattle / Ike Davis – 18th – 2008 – NY Mets

Andrew Cashner – 19th – 2008 – Chicago Cubs / Drew Storen – 10th – 2009 – Washington

Mike Leake – 8th – 2009 – Cincinnati / Mike Minor – 7th – 2009 – Atlanta

Dustin Ackley – 2nd – 2009 – Seattle / Tanner Scheppers – 44th – 2009 – Texas

I have started started a free fun dynasty league in which each person takes control of a MLB roster & minor league system, drafts, signing free agents....

If this sounds interesting to you, go check out the league message board & league rules and sign up. There is no prize for the winner for each season, it is all just for fun, so join!

http://jt20.proboards.com/

thought people here would be interested sign up soon!

And yes sorry the Orioles are taken, but still join!

I found an interesting article in Yahoo today that blamed Charlie Manuel for not starting Cliff Lee off of three days rest in Game 4 of the World Series. The Yankees started their Ace C.C. Sabathia off of three days rest, why didn't the Philies counter with their own Ace who held the same advantage? An interesting nugget that might explain their reasoning is this, " They saw history this decade-teams that start pitcher's on three days' rest in the postseason are 12-27-and panicked." Did the Phillies allow their fears to force them into making a bad decision? Then interestingly enough the columnist, Jeff Paassan goes on to show how Sabathia's 2nd (short rest) 3-day start on Sunday, didn't look as pretty as his first go-around against the Dodgers when he shut them down for 8 Innings but he still survived the Chase Utley HR and left the game in the 5th Inning with a Yankee 4-3 lead. His line was 6.2 IP 7H 3R 3ER 3BB 6K. Blanton's was 6.0IP 5H 4R 4ER 0HR 2BB 7K. Now with an extra rest sure Joe Blanton seemed like the right decision and maybe Lee wouldn't have worked out but know with a loss, the Philies will never know that. Even it it wasn't his best start, Sabathaia did his job, it was Jaba Chamberlain who foiled the Yankee's lead. He also recounts how the greats like Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson pushed their work loads against the Yankees in the 2001 WS when the Diamondbacks won it all. Not saying Cliff Lee is one of those guys but could he be if he gets more say in his starts? I don't want to "beat a dead horse" if you will with all this infromation but I thought it was something worth pondering on. The article has a lot more to say then I can so let me know what you think.

Yahoo article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-leegamefour110209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

With the recent releasing of Melvin Mora it's not perfectly clear who'll be our opening day third baseman. There are three options for the Orioles.

Continue reading this post »

I was looking at a list of free agents in our main "need" positions (1B, 3B) and the lists are pretty freaking thin.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/12/2010-mlb-free-a.html

There's a couple decent-but-risky options at 3B in Troy Glaus and Juan Uribe, but do you really trust that Glaus is healthy and that Uribe won't revert to his sub-.700 OPS White Sox form? I don't. 1B is not much better ... Hank Blalock? No thanks. Branyan will probably get re-signed by the M's. Nick Johnson's always injured. Adam LaRoche is the only respectable option IMO and his production isn't even anything to write home about for a 1B.

So what's the game plan? Trade? Sign one of these scrubs? It's not like the O's really have any good options at these positions in the system. MacPhail said he's planning to be active this winter. I guess I should trust that his vision is better than mine.

Per the Sun, the Orioles have declined Mora's $8M option for 2010.

The Orioles announced today that they won't exercise third baseman Melvin Mora's $8 million contract option for the 2010 season, an expected move that likely ends the tenure of one of their most productive and popular players over the last decade.

In a series of roster moves today, the Orioles also declined the $850,000 option on catcher Chad Moeller, who hit .258 with two homers and 10 RBIs in 30 games while serving as rookie Matt Wieters' backup; and outrighted outfielder Jeff Fiorentino, pitchers Chris Lambert and Jim Miller and catcher Guillermo Rodriguez after each cleared waivers.

Reliever Sean Henn, who appeared in six games for the Orioles late in the season, was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays.

UPDATED - I figure I can just keep a rolling tally of what the Orioles have done until the winter meetings for all of our references, so this is the latest roster as of 11/9.

* means needs protection from Rule V Draft

Definitely on the Roster (28 players):

Brian Roberts

Matt Wieters

Cesar Izturis

Ty Wigginton

Luke Scott

Robert Andino

Justin Turner

Adam Jones

Nick Markakis

Felix Pie

Nolan Reimold

Jeremy Guthrie

Brad Bergesen

Brian Matusz

Chris Tillman

Jim Johnson

Jason Berken

David Hernandez

Koji Uehara

Troy Patton

Brandon Erbe*

Josh Bell*

Brandon Snyder*

Steve Johnson*

Wilfrido Perez

Kam Mickolio

Chorye Spoone

Armando Gabino

Definitely off the Roster (11 players):

Danys Baez

Melvin Mora

Alfredo Simon*

Sean Henn

Jeff Fiorentino

Chris Lambert*

Jim Miller*

Guillermo Rodriguez

Chad Moeller

Rich Hill

Bob McCrory*

Decisions (19 players):

Michael Aubrey

Lou Montanez

Rhyne Hughes*

Chris Ray

Matt Albers

Dennis Sarfate

Mark Hendrickson

Brian Bass

Radhames Liz

Cla Meredith

Chris Waters

Alberto Castillo

Josh Perrault*

Luis Lebron*

Jim Hoey*

Pedro Florimon, Jr.*

Chad Thall*

Blake Davis*

Scott Moore*

Also, the arbitration eligible players are Scott, Ray, Guthrie, Hill, Albers, and Meredith.

So the question is, you can take up to 12 of the 19 "decisions" players (though you might want breathing room for free agency). Who gets brought back in 2010?