Color me, well, underwhelmed. Despite doing the best he could to play his way OUT of the job, Luis Hernandez is expected to be named the starting shortstop for your Baltimore Orioles.

From today's The (Baltimore) Sun:

Hernandez has hold on shortstop

O's play Fahey at third and left field, leaving Hernandez the probable starter at short

By Roch Kubatko

VIERA, Fla. - Orioles manager Dave Trembley is prepared to name Luis Hernandez as his Opening Day shortstop. Now Hernandez has to be prepared for the challenges that await him, the kind that could loosen his grip on the job if he's not careful.

Hernandez committed his sixth error today in the Orioles' 2-1 loss to the Washington Nationals at Space Coast Stadium. He fielded a routine grounder from Ronnie Belliard with two outs in the second inning and sailed his throw over Scott Moore's head at first base. Nationals players sitting on a bench beside the dugout scattered to avoid being hit.

(PHOTO via washingtonpost.com)

Thanks for the details, Roch. Nice touch.

Dear God, Luis Hernandez is going to be our starting shortstop. I just can't wrap my head around the abysmal depths of suckitude that symbolizes concerning the state of the Orioles.

Can we petition to the commissioner's office to be relegated to the International League now?

From today's The (Baltimore) Sun:

Resolution of Gibbons' situation could affect roster decisions

Possible lifting of punishment would affect O's moves

By Jeff Zrebiec

Sun Reporter

March 27, 2008

JUPITER, Fla.

The Orioles might not have two extra weeks to decide the fate of veteran outfielder Jay Gibbons, after all.

The commissioner's office and the players union are negotiating changes to Major League Baseball's drug policy in the wake of the Mitchell Report, and the result could be the rescinding of Gibbons' 15-day suspension for violating the substance-abuse prevention program....

The possibility of his and Kansas City Royals outfielder Jose Guillen's suspension being lifted was first reported by the Associated Press. Orioles manager Dave Trembley and president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail acknowledged that the club is aware of the possibility. Officials from MLB and the players union did not return calls seeking comment.

Maybe this will force PGA to cut Jay - it's obvious he has no business taking a spot on the 40-man roster, let alone going north with the team. The man, quite simply, is no longer a competent ML player. He serves no purpose.

Do the right thing, Peter - cut Jay Gibbons. 

Continue reading this post »

Photo © Chris Carlson / AP

No, really. He does.

OK, so the headline is misleading and somewhat inflammatory. It's a blog. I'm in my underpants in my mother's basement, after all. (Have you ever wondered why all bloggers are either children of divorce or don't have fathers?)

What most level-headed O's fans have been hoping for the last month has been confirmed - Jeremy "St. Guts" Guthrie is indeed the Opening Day starter for your 2008 Baltimore Orioles.

From today's The (Baltimore) Sun:

Go O's!

There's still one more hitter to go after this group, but let's jumble a bunch of them together and get them out of the way. Nobody is terribly excited about anyone in this group, I don't suspect.

With a lot of these guys, you might have to guess on the type of playing time they're going to get. Do your best. Frankly with some of them, the less, the better.

Project the line given for the player.

Contestant #1: Jay Gibbons

He is a horrible piece of crap, my least favorite Oriole, and I think I'll leave it at that. He is a drain on the team's resources, and the fact that they gave him an extension was stupid the moment they did it. Some felt differently. I did not.

Gibby's last three years:

                  AB   AVG   OBP   SLG   2B   HR  RBI    BB/K
2005 Baltimore        488  .277  .317  .516   33   26   79   28/56 
2006 Baltimore        343  .277  .341  .458   23   13   46   32/48
2007 Baltimore        270  .230  .272  .348   14    6   28   15/52

Contestant #2: Jay Payton

The other idiot Jay. The minute they signed him as a free agent, I knew exactly what to expect. Crap play, whining, and all the rest of Jay Payton's notable contributions to major league baseball.

                  AB   AVG   OBP   SLG   2B   HR  RBI    BB/K
2005 Boston           133  .263  .313  .429    7    5   21   10/14
     Oakland          275  .269  .302  .451    9   13   42   14/33
2006 Oakland          557  .296  .325  .418   32   10   59   22/52
2007 Baltimore        434  .256  .292  .376   21    7   58   22/42

Contestant #3: Luis Hernandez

Ugh.

                      AB   AVG   OBP   SLG   2B   HR  RBI    BB/K
2005 Mississippi (AA)     415  .243  .315  .311   12    2   32   41/56
2006 Mississippi (AA)     380  .268  .308  .329   12    1   29   20/46
     Richmond (AAA)        73  .192  .192  .288    4    1    5     0/8
2007 Bowie (AA)           364  .242  .276  .316   15    0   37   18/50
     Norfolk (AAA)         33  .273  .273  .273    0    0    3     0/5
     Baltimore             69  .290  .300  .362    2    1    7    1/10

BONUS! -- Predict the date he's sent back to the minors!

Contestant #4: Scott Moore

I know we all like Moore (or many of us do so far, anyway), but let's keep expectations realistic, huh? This is no blue chipper. However, there's no reason he can't be a decent contributor at the ML level based on his numbers.

                      AB   AVG   OBP   SLG   2B   HR  RBI    BB/K
2005 Daytona (A+)         466  .281  .358  .485   31   20   82   55/134
2006 W Tennessee (AA)     463  .276  .360  .479   28   22   75   55/126
     Iowa (AAA)             4  .250  .250  .500    1    0    0    0/1
     Chicago Cubs          38  .263  .317  .474    2    2    5    2/10
2007 Iowa (AAA)           321  .265  .373  .526   19   19   69   48/100
     Chicago Cubs           5  .000  .000  .000    0    0    0    0/2
     Baltimore             47  .255  .260  .362    2    1   11    1/15

A true test of your projecting acumen!

Photo © Baltimore Sun

A few things to keep in mind:

1. Jones is 22 years old. He ripped up AAA ball last year at age 21.
2. Amazingly, he's the first Major League Baseball player in history named "Adam Jones."
3. He was still playing shortstop in 2005-06.

Jones' last three seasons:

                           AB   AVG   OBP   SLG   2B   HR  RBI    BB/K
2005 Inland Empire (A+)        271  .295  .374  .494   20    8   46   29/64
     San Antonio (AA)          228  .298  .365  .461   10    7   20   22/48
2006 Tacoma (AAA)              380  .287  .345  .484   19   16   62   28/78
     Seattle                    74  .216  .237  .311    4    1    8    2/22
2007 Tacoma (AAA)              420  .314  .382  .586   27   25   84   36/106
     Seattle                    65  .246  .300  .400    2    2    4    4/21

I know it's tough to project a guy with really no ML experience, but give it a go. This promises to be one of the more interesting projections.

The line: AB, AVG/OBP/SLG, 2B, HR, RBI, BB/K

Earl Weaver once very famously said, "Terry Crowley's lucky he's in f***in' baseball, for crissake. He was released by the Cincinnati Reds, he was released by the f***in' g***amn Atlanta Braves. We saw that Terry Crowley could sit on his f***in' ass for eight innings and enjoy watchin' the baseball game just like any other fan, and has the ability to get up there and break one open in the f***in' ninth."

Terry Crowley's awesomely inept performance as hitting coach of the Baltimore Orioles for the last 647 seasons is well-documented. It's so well-documented, so painfully obvious, and so overdue for a righteous firing and chasing out of the coaching game that it makes one pull out one's hair in frustration that he still has a job to begin with.

Simply put, Terry Crowley's lucky he's in f***in' baseball, for crissake.

I'm not trying to harsh on The Crow as a man. He seems like a nice old codger, the sort of fellow you invite down to spring training to put on a uniform and wander around the field, sharing tales of when those were, in fact, the days, goils as goils and men as men, but seriously employing him as the hitting coach despite the fact that his teams fail to hit every season? What kind of morons are in favor of this?

Andy MacPhail let Dave Trembley pick his staff, and Trembley fired Leo Mazzone, yet stuck with Terry Crowley. We've unceremoniously canned Ray Miller for Leo because Leo was pals with Sam Perlozzo, then when Perlozzo managed his way off the bench, Trembley took over, let Leo finish out the year, and then they got rid of Mazzone for Trembley's old pal, Rick Kranitz.

The pitching coach changes like it's going out of style, because this team has operated under the false notion that it's the pitching -- and only the pitching -- that has made them suck for the last decade. They always field teams full of a couple of real hitters, a few past-their-primes name guys, and then they literally walk around ignoring facts and pretending that the team can hit.

Jim Hunter wrote a blog entry on Crowley over at the MASN web site, and it's more of the same.

"Crowley has calming effect on young hitters," it's titled. Well that's great. It's so great that Terry Crowley can be calming to overeager hitters, because surely there's no other hitting coach in the world that could muster a simple, "Son, I think you're pressing a little," and in addition to that, actually coach worth a damn.

At the end of the article, BJ Surhoff (in camp as a special instructor) says of Crowley, "He has experience with veterans as well as younger hitters. He finds a way to get it done."

I certainly respect Surhoff's opinion, and I guess he sure got some good work done with Crow, but what is this getting it done of which he speaks? When is this team, past two or three guys, going to start "getting it done"? Whatever way he's finding to get it done, it's not working.

The team won't hit this year, and Crowley will be at least partially to blame. I'm not saying Crowley or anyone else can take a handful of dung and make it chocolate, but at what point do results and legitimate, statistical performance take precedence over the fact that he's Terry Crowley, a halfassed old-timer Oriole pinch-hitter that clearly -- CLEARLY -- does NOT get it done as a hitting coach?

AND TEAM SPEED, FOR CRISSAKE...

Look, again, Terry Crowley could be worthy of sainthood for all I know. I'm not saying anything bad about the man behind the job. But the man in the job sucks at the job, and these stupid ass spring training stories have long since worn thin.

Definitely the most charming and gentlemanly of all the Orioles, wouldn't you agree?

I never wanted this moron on the team, and he's only upped his douchebag output since arriving.

Horseshit Huff's last three years:

                      AB   AVG   OBP   SLG   2B   HR   RBI    BB/K
2005 Tampa Bay            575  .261  .321  .428   27   29   104   49/88
2006 Tampa Bay/Houston    454  .267  .344  .469   25   21    66   50/64
2007 Baltimore            550  .280  .337  .442   34   15    72   48/87

He's 31, and will be battling for playing time. Not only does he have Luke Scott taking up the left field PT, but now he has Scott Moore around pushing for ABs as well. Huff isn't as old or slow (or good) as Millar, and he's probably the more likely to be traded of the two, if the Orioles can find a front office as stupid as the Flanagan-led mess that thinks this is still the 2002-04 version of Huff that was actually a really good hitter.

The line: AB, AVG/OBP/SLG, 2B, HR, RBI, BB/K

Feel free to make up your own projections of Aubrey Huff stupidity, too. Actually, how about this? BONUS! Huff's OPS in April and August

(Career mark in April: .700 ... Career mark in August: .925)

I'm bored, and debating which projection to do next (we're going to start turning up the heat and blowing through these in the next week or so), so I decided I'd find something of at least mild interest on the front page (including diaries) of every single SBN baseball blog. Ready? OK!

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

• Bluebird Banter: Examining Scott Rolen, and his potential impact on the 2008 Blue Jays. My personal feeling is that no matter how much or how well Rolen plays, they finish third. Sry, Jys fns.
• DRays Bay: Rocco Baldelli has some sort of muscular disorder, or something. Details are not clear. But that really sucks, for both the Rays and for Baldelli, obviously. All the tests he's taken recently did rule out life-threatening stuff, so that's good news. Best wishes to Rocco, and hopefully he'll find his way back onto a ball field in the near future.
• Over the Monster: Allen Chace wonders what the Sox might have done had they known about Schilling's injury. Then in the comments, Sox fans complain about their offseason. OUR OPENING DAY STARTER IS STEVE TRACHSEL, YOU GREEDY SCHMUCKS. (My own Ed. Note: I don't begrudge them complaining about not improving the team; with the money they have and the position they're in, they should do so every year.)
• Pinstripe Alley: It's 45ish degrees out today, sunny and most of the snow has gone away. It's supposed to stay warm this week. I'll tell you, I felt it walking out to go to breakfast this morning, and watching the video posted here, I can't help but feel it even more. BASEBALL, BY GOD!

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL

• Bless You Boys: Curtis Granderson "wow"ed by Jacque Jones' basic understanding of logic.
• Let's Go Tribe: The case of Travis Hafner, as told by fanatics with a sense of fearing the worst.
• Royals Review: The 100 Greatest Royals of All-Time countdown gets to No. 64: Angel Berroa! See what I mean about the lack of even good players in any team's history?
• South Side Sox: Jerry Owens is the next Kenny Lofton. Or, you know, not.
• Twinkie Town: A look at the race to replace Torii Hunter in center field at that God awful dump of a stadium.

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST

• Athletics Nation: Five reasons the A's will be better than you thought in 2008! One response: No they won't.
• Halos Heaven: Everyone interested in Reggie Willits (AND WHY?) should give up. How about Juan Rivera?
• Lone Star Ball: Blog diarist calls out sportswriter. Sportswriter is actually quite right. Whoops.
• Lookout Landing: With BUH DARD and King Felix, the Mariners put licensing on "1-2 punch." Other teams resort to new nicknames for their front two starters. Spoiler: "Guthrie/Lowen: 1-2 tickle"

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST

• Amazin Avenue: Olmedo Saenz up! Tony Armas down! Brian Stokes steady.
• Federal Baseball: News. On the Expos. Hooray.
• Fish Stripes: Attn: Everyone who keeps calling for the return of the four-man rotation. The Florida Marlins might be your guys!
• The Good Phight: Adam Eaton still sucks.
• Talking Chop: Javy Lopez up! Tyler Flowers down! Scott Thorman, Braves first baseman of the future, steady. Steadily lame. Sick burn!

NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL

• Bleed Cubbie Blue: A filmmaker will follow the 2008 Cubs, apparently. Quote: "What we're doing is a film exploring the love affair between the great city, Chicago, and its ball team, the Cubs -- what makes Chicago unique, the city, and what makes the people of Chicago unique and why they have supported this team so passionately for so long."

  This will make for the 312th movie doing exactly that. Jesus Christ, already. Win the World Series.

• Brew Crew Ball: Jason Kendall might be batting ninth some this season. That's not news since Kendall sucks, until you think about it for a second -- this is the National League we're talking about. Get the DH already. Grow up. Times change.
• Bucs Dugout: Former Pirates manager and Tigers skipper Jim Leyland better beware: His team might have too many good players!
• The Crawfish Boxes: Debating Miguel Tejada's yearly participation in winter ball. Tejada hasn't been on a good team in years, so I see no issue with it. He won't be on one any time soon, either.
• Red Reporter: "Patterson will be the regular CF before June 1. Disgusting." ... "I'd like to believe they're just 'insurance,' but the first rule of Reds fandom is knowing that every shitty veteran signing will see more playing time in the bigs than he deserves." ... "Fuck. Patterson is worse than Reggie Taylor." ... "Unnecessary. Disappointing." ... "Any bets he's batting lead off on opening day? Let me rephrase that, any bets he won't be batting lead off on opening day?" ... "i yawned when i read this. biggest non-suprise since the time i got super contra for my birthday." ... "What a collection of idiots."

  My kind of people.

• Viva El Birdos: Discussion on what role, if any, Tony La Russa's leadership may play in the sad story of Scott Spiezio, based on previous statements, previous teams, previous players, etc. I actually found this really interesting food for thought.

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST

• AZ Snakepit: Snakepit projections lead me to believe the Arizona Diamondbacks have a really awesome rotation, and that nothing could possibly go wrong. Randy Johnson is great!
• Gaslamp Ball: "I'm sick of Jayson Werth's relatives and friends. Seriously."
• McCovey Chronicles: The odd couple! Again!
• Purple Row: Some of the Rockies really beat the crap out of the NL West's name value starters.
• True Blue LA: Esteban...

On March 11, 2005, Camden Chat was born, all covered in goo and wailing.

Today, the community turns three years old.

First picture ever posted:

John Maine cut in spring training, 2005

Major Oriole events since CC's Opening Day:

• Triple-A affiliate moved from Ottawa to Norfolk
• Pitching coach Ray Miller replaced by Leo Mazzone
• Mazzone replaced by Rick Kranitz
• Opening Day Starter, 2005 & 2006: Rodrigo Lopez
• Opening Day Starter, 2007: Erik Bedard
• The debut (didn't start) and rise of Nick Markakis
• Steroid/PED connections: Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Miguel Tejada, Jay Gibbons, Brian Roberts...I'm forgetting some others
• Lee Mazzilli: FIRED
• Sam Perlozzo: FIRED
• Terry Crowley: ...still here

Lots more, of course. Little things. The Todd. Javy Lopez's shitfit, resulting in his embarrassing stint in Boston. The continuing debacle that is Daniel Cabrera. The emergence and trading of Erik Bedard. The trading of Miguel Tejada.

And 90+ losses a year.

I want to send a sincere thank you to all of the users that have spent the last three years (or any portion of it) being part of the CC community. You've made Orioles baseball a lot easier to watch for pretty much all of us, I think, and I know I can say that about me.

Highlights of the seasons for me now include arguing with Jonnypops about everything under the sun (well, almost), cursing blue streaks with 2632 in the gameday threads, Dr Orpheus' strange fascination with Luis Hernandez, the once or twice a year I watch "Second Opinion" and think, "Whoa," and occasionally getting a small NASCAR or Slayer discussion going with duck while the Orioles lose 8-2. And, again, so much more.

So thank you, everyone. O's baseball wouldn't be the same for me anymore without CC and your participation.