Camden Chat: FanPosts

JT20 Dynasty League

2009-11-03T22:47:45Z

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!

Charlie Manuel is blamed for not starting Lee

2009-11-02T22:49:37Z

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

What Are We Going To Do at Third?

2009-11-02T11:14:09Z

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.

1. Ty Wigginton- Of the three options, he is by far the most likely option. he platooned with Melmo last year, and put up reasonable stats. (.273 BA, 11 Dongs, .714 OPS) He's shown that he can play quality fundamental ball, doesnt' make moronic plays and is just an overall sound player.

2. Joshua Bell- It's a possibilty but an unlikely one. He had excellent numbers with Bowie (.289 BA, 33 Hits in 33 Games, .570 Slugging) Unless Ty Wiggington has the worse spring training and Bell puts up insane numbers in spring training he's not going to be the opening day player. He'll get the "Wieters treatment," spend a month or two in Norfolk to get really prepared, then come up sometime in late spring.

3. A Free Agent- The Orioles do have lots of money laying around this offseason, and perhaps Andy might want to go third baseman shopping. The market for third basemen this offseason is highly medicore. The only names that stand out would be Adrian Beltre or Chone Figgins. If Andy really likes either one of them he might sign one of them, and then they would be either the Opening Day third baseman, or in a competition for third with Wiggy. Signing either one of them wouldn't seem like move Andy would normally make, but he likes the price and he likes the player, then it can happen.

Poll

Who will be the Opening Day third baseman?

So uhh... who is out there? (FAs)

2009-11-01T19:32:54Z

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.

It's Official: MelMo's Gone

2009-10-29T20:30:20Z

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.

Roster Decisions (Updated)

2009-10-27T16:01:21Z

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 10/29.

At the risk of showing how bored/nerdy I truly am, I've been looking around for information about the 40-man roster that needs to be set before the Winter Meetings in anticipation of the Rule V draft. It wasn't the most fun thing in the world to find this information, and I don't even know that it is 100% correct, but I'm relatively confident in it.

There are currently 45 players on the 40 man roster (thanks to the 60 day DL allowing the O's to bring in more guys at the end of the season). There are also by my count 10 players who should be at least considered for adding to the roster to protect them from the draft. I have seperated these 55 players into three categories, assuming no trades are consummated before the meetings (* means needs protection from Rule V Draft):

Definitely on the Roster (27 players):

Brandon Erbe*

Josh Bell*

Steve Johnson*

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):

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 13 of the 19 "decisions" players (though you might want breathing room for free agency). Who gets brought back in 2010?

OT: Okay, I'll bite, just how DOES a soccer goalie fail to stop a shot made from 95 yds out?

2009-10-24T05:26:40Z

Well, this is how-- and it actually isn't the keeper's fault, really. You try judging a bounce like that.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/post/Video-SMU-freshman-hits-95-yard-soccer-goal?urn=top,197845

While I've got your attention (and need to hit 75 wds), let's hear it for the Angels-- way to hang in there, fellas, now go light up Pettitte -- and let's hear a round of sustained boos for the Dodgers, whose determination to make the Ph*cking Phillies look good was seriously depressing.

Need more money for college? Welp, take some *from* college, courtesy of the NCAA! Last week illustrated once again, alas, that the smart bets are not always the right bets, most painfully when some unsportsmanlike-happy refs struggled, and succesfully, to keep Notre Doof in a game that wasn't close-- *that* was the crew that should've been suspended, not the SEC's -- and Snodfart receivers started dropping passes, including the game winner, with a sudden and wholly inexplicable flair. Incredible.

But hey, all you can do is keep spreading wisdom, like hay on the stable floor-- just waiting to get shat on. That said, buck up and take 'Zona and 7.5 over UCLA in the desert. SC by 20.5 over OSU in the Coliseum? I'd bet the refs can't do it twice in a row. And yeah, with a new brand of stickum (and a healthy fullback), Stanford will put on a nice more-than-7 show in PA against the Scum Devils. There, spring tuition for ya.

And finally, I'll bet you've never heard of either Kseniya Simonova or sand animation. I hadn't until somebody sent me this. A simply amazing performance (plus, she's kinda hot).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo

The Rotation

2009-10-22T21:57:49Z

One of the undeniable truths about the 2010 Baltimore Orioles is that they need better pitching than the 2009 O's had. The '09 birds were dead last in the majors in ERA, FIP, WHIP, and HR/9. A lot of improvement can come across with just giving the ball to Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman, and Brad Bergesen instead of Adam Eaton, Rich Hill, and Jason Berken (one hopes), and that Jeremy Guthrie will hopefully bounce back from a dismal year. But you do get the feeling that those four guys alone are probably not going to cut the mustard in terms of turning the pitching staff into a competitive level of quality. So, let's have a gander at the options for the fifth rotation spot in 2010:

From the Farm

It might not be one of the best farm systems after the 2009 purging, but there are still several options to at least think about that would be basically free to the Orioles as rotational candidates in 2010:

Jake Arrieta

The last of the so-called "cavalry" is close to major league-ready, having pitched at AAA Norfolk this past summer with an ERA under 4 and a solid, if unspectacular K/BB of 2.36. It was a step back from his dominating performance at AA Bowie where he held a 3.08 FIP which rose to 4.15 at Norfolk. Of course, this was probably to be expected given the competitive divide and reports that Arrieta was working on a change-up for most of his time at AAA. Having Arrieta in Baltimore on Opening Day, however, would make the rotation incredibly young (and potentially fragile), and an argument could still be made that Arrieta's time has not yet arrived.

Troy Patton

Patton is not really an option, as he still seems to be recovering from labrum surgery. He missed the last part of the 2009 season after being downright awful in AAA (6.45 ERA, 6.80 FIP). But he does already have major league experience (well, 12 innings worth in Houston pre-surgery sorta kinda counts, right?).

David Hernandez, et al.

It would surprise me, but not an awful lot, if the Orioles ran Hernandez or Jason Berken or Rich Hill back out there for the beginning of the season. Hernandez in particular was so much better in the minors it's hard to really feel like we saw his best stuff last year. On the other hand, none of these guys really project as much more than average at best as starters and they all struggled a lot (a combined 6.39 ERA and 1.38 K/BB). I really, really don't want to see Jason Berken or Rich Hill pitch anymore.

Free Agents

Despite the guff the free agent class has gotten, there are quality pitchers to be had who likely will come as a relative bargain that the Orioles should take a hard look at. To wit:

Carl Pavano

Widely mocked as "American Idle" in New York and therefore in the national media, Pavano has surprisingly good stuff (4.00 FIP this past year, 4.17 career) and a heavy ground ball rate (career 1.31 GB/FB) which would probably play very well in the homerrific AL East and Camden Yards. His reputation and 5.17 ERA this past year might very well make him quite cheap this winter. On the other hand, if you're looking for a clubhouse leader, this is probably not your man. At all. And he is definitely an injury-risk (but then, in this rotation everybody is an injury-risk).

Randy Wolf

A career NLer with a 4.38 FIP and coming off a very good year in Los Angeles (3.23 ERA with his best K/BB since 2001), Wolf is hardly a buy-low guy at the moment, and one of the older quality free agents (33). I would think bringing him to the AL East would probably be a mistake, given his success coming in the "Senior" Circuit and - more to the point - his homer-prone style. He surrendered 24 home runs this year without facing the Yankees. Pass.

Joel Piñeiro

One-time failed Red Sox legend and newly-minted Dave Duncan-posterboy Joel Piñeiro is coming off his best season ever as the Major League leader in ground ball rate and walk rate. Even with some regression, the new Piñeiro would fit wonderfully in the Orioles' rotation if he doesn't opt to stay with Duncan (in St. Louis?)...but again, he isn't a buy-low candidate and will probably be the main pitching attraction after John Lackey signs. But it isn't like the Orioles don't have a lot of money to spend, and Piniero is only 31 next year.

Tim Hudson

It remains to be seen whether or not he stays with the Braves (he has a player option), and I would be floored if he were actually available this winter, but he might be an option nonetheless, and potentially a very good one. He came off TJ surgery this year and was really good (3.61 ERA in 42.1 innings), so it''s not implausible that his recovery period is over and he's ready to be The Man again. But, like Piniero, if he's out there, it's likely he'll be considered prime real estate and the price could go up (though his recent arm troubles might keep it down. Who knows?).

In my humble opinion, I think the Orioles should go out firing to bring in either Pavano or Piniero on non-extravagant contracts. I don't think the rotation is anywhere close to a sure thing to be even mediocre at this point (though there is tons of potential) and it needs to be augmented from the outside. The Orioles' puddles of money need to be put to good use, and both of these guys have solid profiles to succeed against the powerful lineups in the AL East, despite their reputations.

Fun Facts About Earl Weaver

2009-10-18T06:00:59Z

In the past week or so, it has come to my attention that some of the Camden Chat community are not familiar with why exactly Earl Weaver is probably one of the 5 greatest managers of all time and how far he was ahead of his time. Below is an excellent starting point, Earl Weaver's 10 Laws.

Weaver's First Law: No one's going to give a damn in July if you lost a game in March

Weaver's Second Law: If you don't make any promises to your players you won't have to break them

Weaver's Third Law: The easiest way around the bases is with one swing of the bat

Weaver's Fourth Law: Your most precious possessions on offense are your twenty-seven outs

Weaver's Fifth Law: If you play for one run, that's all you'll get

Weaver's Sixth Law: Don't play for one run unless you know that run will win a ballgame

Weaver's Seventh Law: It's easier to find four good starters than five

Weaver's Eighth Law: The best place for a rookie pitcher is in long relief

Weaver's Ninth Law: The key step for an infielder is the first one - left or right - but before the ball is hit

Weaver's Tenth Law: The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager, because it won't hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game

Phenom in Single-A

2009-10-15T14:00:14Z

Although the Orioles have a ton of young arms, that most of us have heard about, there seems to be one that we are forgetting to mention. Kenny Moreland, RHP in Single A Frederick, had an outstanding season in the Orioles minor leagues. In half a season at Aberdeen, he went 6-1 with a 0.88 ERA, and only 3 walks in 51 IP. In the other half the season at Frederick, he went 4-2 with a 4.27 ERA. He was an undrafted free agent out of Division III Christopher Newport University, where he was the Division III National Pitcher of the Year. Kenny should be a welcome addition to the orioles young staff.

2010 Sleeper Prospect: Richard Zagone

2009-10-14T22:39:56Z

After spending a little bit of time looking through Baseball America's site, I stumbled upon a new name among their prospects of the week (Prospect Hot Sheet). Richard Zagone. A left-handed pitcher out of Missouri, he had a 3.88 FIP cumulative this year with an FIP of 3.38 for his minor league career. So who is he and why hasn't his name been mentioned before?

Well the reason why we haven't heard his name being mentioned is that he pitched to a 4.89 era this year between Delmarva (low A) and Frederick (High A). That's just over a run higher than his FIP. While having a higher era than FIP is not too unexpected thanks to team defenses being worse at the lower levels, it is unusual to have such a large difference. More surprising is that his BABIP (Batted balls in play or basically the percentage of how many balls in play are considered hits) wasn't too high at only .327. So how does a pitcher produce such a disparity between FIP and ERA while allowing a fairly normal BABIP (pitchers typically have around a .300 BABIP)?

Easy, by giving up a .390 BABIP with runners in scoring position (RISP) and a .355 BABIP with runners on. Both of these BABIPS are much larger than they should be and should regress. It also suggests that Zagone probably has some sort of mechanical problems coming out of the stretch as he starts to walk more batters and strike out fewer.

In any case there is good news about Richard Zagone. Probably the most exciting thing is that even with a somewhat elevated BABIP he still had fewer hits than innings pitched. His groundball rate is high at 49.9% which is very good. His strikeout rate and walk rate are both pretty average, but can be improved. If his strikeout rate diminishes at higher levels he will probably be placed in the bullpen and could become a late-inning set-up man in the majors. If he figures his stuff out he should be on track to be a part of the Orioles bullpen, especially if he begins to get more groundballs with runners on. If he can do that he will probably start getting more double plays behind him which should allow him to last longer through games. Worse case scenario he will work out as a LOOGY.

Looking at this video from his college days shows interesting mechanics with a very high leg kick. I have to imagine that he could easily pick up a mph or two with some tweaks in his mechanics and with that speed should come more Ks. His fastball currently hits 90 according to MASN and depending on some tweaks could probably range from 88-90 consistently.

According to PGCrosschecker, in college he was throwing mainly fastballs and sliders with a developing change-up. He really needs a change-up or some other third pitch to go after righties with as sliders tend to get hit by opposite-handed batters.

Markakis: Done in by Aubrey Huff's departure?

2009-10-14T16:49:43Z

Just a quick musing on my part:

How much did the Aubrey Huff trade affect Nick Markakis' stats?

Before you flame me, consider this: Yes, Huff had a down year, but he still had 73 RBIs at the time of his trade. Opposing pitchers started the season knowing that the 2008 edition of Huff had had 32 dingers and was fifth in the league in OPS.

And yeah, Huff was off the pace for much of 2009, but players go through ups and downs all the time, and he had enough good stretches early in the year that pitchers had to respect him somewhat. So there's little doubt that in the typical Orioles' 2009 lineup of 3-Markakis, 4-Huff, they were throwing better stuff Nicky's way.

When Aubrey was traded in August, who were these pitchers to fear? Melvin Mora? How long did it take Trembley to move Nolan Reimold up?

No, I don't think this accounts for all of Nicky's lowered numbers (AJ's declining average and time on the DL hurt Nicky's RBI chances) but I think it's a contributing factor.

Part of getting Nicky back to form next year will involve Andy finding someone with a big bat to protect him in the lineup.

Stats, for those of you who are so inclined.....

Aubrey Huff was traded on August 17th. Nick's stats before and after that date, courtesy B-R.com:

Date	Tm	G	GS	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	ROE	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Apr 6, 2009 to Aug 17, 2009	BAL	118	117	48-70	527	480	70	146	39	1	15	84	39	0	77	3	0	5	9	9	3	2	.304	.357	.483	.840
per 162 games		163	161		724	660	97	201	54	2	21	116	54	0	106	5	0	7	13	13	5	3

Link

Date	Tm	G	GS	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	ROE	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Aug 18, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009	BAL	43	43	16-27	184	164	24	42	6	1	3	17	17	0	21	0	0	3	0	3	3	0	.256	.321	.360	.680
per 162 games		162	162		694	618	91	159	23	4	12	65	65	0	80	0	0	12	0	12	12	0

Link
Note that the only statistically significant offensive category that's higher in the second stretch is BB/162 games. It's 20% higher. Nicky's numbers all went down except this walk rate. It's not like he was getting a bunch of IBBs, but pitchers weren't afraid of losing him to pitch to the next guy either.

Jason Berken Rookie Review

2009-10-14T01:23:04Z

Just posted to my blog, wanted to share here.

Jason Berken started off the season pitching exceptionally well in his first two games. Berken excited Orioles’ fans including myself, he got us thinking we had a solid pitcher coming up to the big leagues. Boy, did Orioles fans come to a conclusion to quickly, and Berken did the opposite of pitch well after those first two games.

May was his first month on the Orioles and those were his first two games where he pitched well. In his MLB debut on May 26th against the Toronto Blue Jays he pitched 5 innings, allowing three runs and picked up the win. His next start on May 31st against the Detroit Tigers was a very good performance. He pitched seven innings allowing just one run, but picked up the loss. Hey! Orioles fans, we got a solid pitcher here!

Solid is not even close to describing Berken’s performance for June, and the rest of the season (besides a few decent starts down the road). His June ERA was a bloated 8.51. Berken struggled with so many issues, he did not pitch deep into games, and could not keep the ball down in the zone. I was able to see him pitch on June 18th against the Mets. That was a decent game for him considering he pitched 6.2 innings, but he did allow four runs.

Berken’s pitching in July was bad, but looked good compared to Berken’s month of June. Trying to find some positive from Berken was hard, but good news was Berken only registered three losses in July compared to four in June! Hey, at least he was showing improvement! He lowered his monthly ERA to (5.88) compared to that ugly 8.51 ERA in July.

Berken unbelievably, was able to pick up three wins in August. He did not pitch that badly in those three wins, but his collective month ERA for August was 6.59. Berken also had possibly his worst start of the season pitching just 1.1 innings against the Red Sox giving up six earned runs. His ERA does look better for the month without that ugly start, going down to 4.98.

I do not think I am going to even write about the last month of Berken’s season. He allowed almost double the amount of hits (41) than innings he pitched (23.2) in September. He even got lucky and picked up a win, even though he gave up five runs. He made one October start, giving up four runs in 5 innings.

Overall, Berken’s season was a disaster. He did make a few average starts, but none of them were nice deep starts. He allowed 2 runs or less in nine games this season. But, he only made 3 quality starts. This shows how he did not pitch deep into games and mostly pitched around 5 innings in his starts (his average starts was 4.98 innings). Next season I expect to see Berken coming out of the bullpen.

Starting Pitching Questions

2009-10-13T19:58:07Z

I believe next year's starting rotation should be made up of Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, Jeremy Guthrie, and Brad Bergesen. That's what I would think most people believe makes up 4/5th's of the rotation. Here's my question: Who do you think takes that last spot?...

Do we take the free agent route?.. If so, who would you target?

Or do we go with some more home grown talent?.. If that's the way we go, who do you have in mind?

If we look the free agents route, my 1st option would be to get a young veteran that can come in and be a #1 or #2 type pitcher and maybe not cost that much, since I don't MacPhail's gonna break the bank for a pitcher. A couple of names that have caught my eye are : Brandon Webb, Jason Jennings, Shawn Hill, and Jon Garland. A couple others that I would keep my eye on, would be : Erik Bedard, Ben Sheets, Rich Harden, and Mark Prior, if these guys have gotten / can get over their injuries, they could be cheap pieces to plug in. My 2nd option would be to get an older veteran, who can be thrown into the middle / back end of the rotation, to serve as mentor and eat up some innings until the next wave of young arms get called up. Guys like Jason Schmidt, Josh Fogg, Tim Hudson, and John Smoltz.

I really like the idea of signing Smoltz, because he could be the closer or a starter, and provide some leardership to the young staff.

If we go the home grown route, I'd like to see Troy Patton win the spot. His arm should be back to form from surgery and he hope he has spent the whole year in AAA ironing out the kinks.

So what's your opinion... Throw your theory out there

Semi-Off Topic Regarding A Team Many Of You Dislike

2009-10-13T01:38:10Z

One of the things about that I find annoying about living in the land of Yankee fans is not just how stupid most of them are, but how stupid most of them are about their own team. I mean, you would not believe how many of these clowns genuinely believe that Alex Rodriguez is somehow a liability because he isn't a "true Yankee" or whatever horseshit those morons think. I usually react to that by saying something along the lines of "OK, how about you trade him to the Orioles for Melvin Mora and another player of your choice?"

What I find particularly asinine is the focus on his post-season problems since he's been on the Yankees. Nobody on else on that team has been hitting in the postseason since he got there, but somehow those losses are all his fault. I've even heard fans say stupid shit like "you know, A-Rod is making the rest of them not hit." Below is a link to an article from the Village Voice that I read about in Rob Neyer's column comparing A-Rod's postseason career (42 games) to Reggie Jackson's first 42 postseason games. Guess what? Mr. Un-Clutch has played slightly better than Mr. October did during his first 42 postseason games. While we're at it, A-Rod's postseason stats really aren't that bad anyway and Reggie Jackson was a bigger asshole. Hey, you know who also sucked in the postseason? Ted Williams and Willie Mays. Losers!

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/10/jockbeat_31.php

Brad Bergesen Season Review

2009-10-09T18:00:00Z

I just posted this article on my blog and want to share it here.

Brad Bergesen was never considered a top prospect in the Orioles’ system. I always thought of him as a solid inning-eater type. Bergesen burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2009. Bergesen has great control, but a low strike out rate. There were always concerns that he would not strike out enough batters to succeed at the big league level, Bergesen would show he could still be effective.

Bergesen made his debut on April 21st, 2009 against the Chicago White Sox. It was a solid start, he pitched 5.2 innings giving up 3 runs (1 earned). He struck out four batters, and only walked 2. I thought this was a great performance, and I could not wait to see Bergesen pitch again.

In the month of May, Bergesen showed some potential in a few amazing outings. On May 29th at Detroit he pitched 8 innings allowing only two runs, and he did not walk a batter. The Orioles’ desperately needed these type of starts from there pitchers. They needed consistent pitchers who went deep into their starts, and Bergesen continued to do that.

June was Bergesen’s best month of the season. His June ERA was 2.23. He made more brilliant starts, going deep into games and giving the bullpen much needed rest. On June 9th Bergesen had the best outing of his career, he pitched eight shutout innings against the Seattle Mariners. He did not walk one batter in that game, once again showing his excellent control. On June 14th Bergesen pitched the first complete game of his career against the Atlanta Braves, he allowed only two runs.

The month of July was another great month for Bergesen (2.72 ERA). He showed he could pitch well against division rivals such as the Red Sox. On July 1st against the Red Sox he pitched eight innings allowing only one run. All of his starts in the month of July were quality starts. Bergesen’s pitching in July was great, but he would end up being very unlucky. On July 30th against the Kansas City Royals, Billy Butler hit a rocket that hit Bergesen’s knee. The ball bounced to Matt Wieters and he threw to first for the out, to end the inning. Bergesen hopped of the field and into the dugout, falling down once he got into the clubhouse.

Bergesen’s devastating knee injury would cost him the rest of his extremely bright season. Bergesen was thought to be one of the leaders for the AL rookie of the year award before his season ended. Bergesen was by far, the Orioles’ most consistent starting pitcher and it was a big blow to the rotation. I really hope the Bergesen’s knee heals well, and that he can rebound in 2010 and pitch like he did in 2009.

So how do you guys think Bergesen will pitch in 2010?

This gave me a chuckle

2009-10-09T04:53:03Z

I found this on Deadspin.

http://deadspin.com/5377099/the-most-hopeless-franchise-in-football--jamboroo-week-5

It's about Dan Snyder and the Washington Redskins, but there was one paragraph that resonated with me as an Orioles fan.

"There are many bad franchises out there in the sports world, but there is a distinct difference between a franchise being shitty and a franchise being utterly hopeless. Even historically bad teams like Arizona are able to shine on occasion. No, I'm talking about the Raiders, Clippers, and Orioles of the world. I'm talking about franchises that have no hope of turning things around because the man who owns the team refuses to relinquish his cold death grip upon it. Those are the truly hopeless teams out there. The teams that refuse to pull themselves out of their own dysfunction. Teams for whom there is no future, just an endless cycle of building up shaky scaffolding and then tearing it back down again."

Despite my displeasure with Dave Trembley's return, I hold out hope that Andy MacPhail has managed to remove Peter Angelos' cold death grip. So far it seems like MacPhail is in complete control, so maybe the Orioles can get off of that list.

As for the Redskins, I grew up in Baltimore after the Colts were gone, but before the Ravens arrived. I was taught by the local grownups that the Redskins were not an appropriate football team to root for in place of a local favorite, so I'm kind of happy with the Snyder regime. That said, I still feel vaguely bad that what was once a great franchise has been brought so low.

Planning for the future.

2009-10-08T08:15:36Z

So as I see it, despite how unbelievably painful the end of this season was (with the sort of nut not really enouh 4 game winning streak to end the season helping too little to dull the pain). We can start having off-season fun, Figuring out what we want our lineup and roration to look like next year

Obviously were set at 2nd base, Catch, Short (assuming nothing betters comes along short term), Right and Center.

I would suggest plopping Luke Down on 1st base, with Wiggy there to hit against lefties when the need arises. Pie will start in Left Field. Reimold DH. When a tough RHP goes, Nolan can take a day off and Luke can DH with Wiggy sliding over. hopefully Josh Bell is ready by April, Wiggy can play the position until then, If Brandon Snyder continues to hit, we bring him into the corner rotation half-way through the year and see what happens.

OR we could try to sign one of these bigger bats (Ill amit none of them are too big)...:Blalock, Branyan, Delgado, NiCk Johnson, Beltre, Glaus, Figgins to bolster our corner corps. siging one of these could push Scott into a trade, or into a platoon as DH with reimold, also getting some time in left.

With appropriate increased production from AJ, PIE, WIeters, a return to form form Markakis, and moderate lines from rookies (Bell and Snyder) as well as moderate production from whichever older corner man we bring in on a 1-2 yeard deal should provide us with an above average offense on rebuild year 2 - Back toward 500.

Hopefully by ready to play year - 2011 we can pick up somebody to play short - Reyes (club option), Julio Lugo, JJ Hardy, Jhonny Peralta, Jimmy Rollins, and a big older corner guy to offset whatever we haven't gotten from Bell and Snyder: Lance Berkman, Derrek Lee, Carlos Pena

With this offense, C. Wieters, 1b - Lee/Berkman/Pena, 2b- roberts, ss - JJ Hardy, 3b- Josh Bell, Lf- Pie/ Reimold, CF-Jones, RF- Markakis, DH- Adam Dunn/ Jason Kubel/ Jayson Werth

and whatever make it to the top out of Britton, Arrietta, matusz, Tillman, Bergesen, Erbe bolstered by maybe a Beckett, Halladay, Cliff Lee, Brandon Webb.

Thats the playoffs in just....lots....of...not entirely improbable moves

Minor League Questions

2009-10-06T01:20:03Z

Thought this would be fun to discuss here.

Who is your Orioles' minor league batter of the year from 2009?

Who is your Orioles' minor league pitcher of the year from 2009?

Who is your Orioles' minor league most improved player from 2009?

Which Orioles' minor leaguer was the biggest disappointment in 2009?

What Orioles' 2009 minor leaguer do you think will make the biggest impact in the majors in 2010?

Who is your Orioles' minor league breakout candidate for 2010?

Thank goodness it's over, now get better players

2009-10-05T00:04:15Z

This season of accepting and rationalizing losing is mercifully over. Buried in all the hoopla over whether Trembley should stay was this quote from The Sun

... said MacPhail, who acknowledged the onus also falls on him to acquire better players

The team finished in the bottom half of the AL in OPS/OPS+ (.748/93). They were at the bottom of the AL in team ERA/ERA+. I'm skeptical that two very young pitchers will anchor the pitching staff in 2010, while we hope Bergesen wasn't pitching over his head. The bullpen needs help, both with pitching fewer innings and talent, and the O's still have no power threat. All of this will not be solved during the off season, but the onus is on MacPhail to "acquire better players". I hope he holds up his end of the bargain and this off season is a satisfying and leads to a 2010 season where the O's the fans shed the mentality that losing is OK.