Third base is typically a power position with those players expected to anchor their respective line ups. Teams are getting this average production out of their third base spot:

2006: .804 OPS

2007: .782 OPS

2008: .779 OPS

Mora on the other hand has given us the fantastic stats of:

2006: .733 OPS (18th out of 22 qualifed 3B)

2007: .759 OPS (14th out of 19)

2008: .691 OPS (21st out of 23)

I'm not an expert on fielding, but I believe it is the consensus here that hes on dreadful on defense. In fact in the latest Fielding Bible rankings, he got the second least votes in his position (only ahead of Chipper Jones).

This year, the only two 3Bs that are (barely) worse than MelMo is Jack Hannahan in Oakland and Bill Hall with the Brewers. Hannahan was simply filling in for Eric Chavez and no longer starts, and Hall was recently displaced by Russell Branyan. Due to that, and his 2/8 steals rate and terrible defense, we have the absolute worst 3B in the league on our hands. And this clown is our #3 hitter!!!!! Can't Trembly look past this respect/seniority bull crap and bat him lower in the line up or something? I would say bench him, but we know that won't happen. Mora, outside of a few big hits, has been killing this team in every plausable way and something needs to be done.

A lot has been made in the Sun and on the broadcasts that Markakis isn't getting anything to hit, which is completely true. We all knew that Tejada's departure would limit the amount of good pitches he sees, but this is worse than I thought. His 1 HR and two 2Bs thus far are the result of pitchers not giving him anything down the  plate.Opposing pitchers would simply rather go after Millar and Huff, and I don't blame them at all.

As of now, Nick as 12 walks in 13 games (for a robust .473 OBP), which leads the AL. Our CC community projection predicted that he would draw 72 walks all season, now we have legitimate reason to believe he'll break 100 and have a .400+ OBP.

As long as Brian Roberts is still around and getting on base, I see no reason that this trend can't continue. We will just have to deal with the fact that he might not clear 20 HRs this season.

Can't say Nick isn't a trooper though:

"I'm seeing a lot more of 3-1, 3-2 off-speed pitches, but that's how it's going to go," he said. "I don't mind. I'll take the walks all day long and give more opportunities for guys like Millar and Huff to drive in runs."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.osnotes13apr13,0,4920076.story

For those of you that haven't heard, Alex Rios signed a $64 million, six-year contract extension with the Jays. It breaks down as:

1. 2009: $5.9 million (arbitration year)
   
2. 2010: $9.7 million (arbitration year)
   
3. 2011: $12 million (free agency years begin)
   
4. 2012: $12 million
5. 2013: $12.5 million
6. 2014: $12.5 million
7. 2015: $13.5 million option
   

He also has a full no-trade clause for 2009-2010, and a partial one after that.

So if Rios entered the market as a free agent, he would have received a 4 year, $49 million contract, a fair price. Most outlets say that Toronto did pretty well in this contract.

I bring this up because its never too early to think about locking up Markakis. Right now, him and Rios are pretty much the same player, so the free agency years should be about the same price if an extension were to occur.

But lets say Markakis steps up his game and becomes a .900 OPS ish type of player, then his free agent salary would probably be $15 million+.

Due to his greek heritage and good looks, I have absolutely no doubt that Angelos will pay whatever it takes to retain him, but some major cash could be saved if they move to lock up Nick within the next year or two. Some might say a long term deal this early is a risk, which it certainly is. But lets face it, in the fickle world of baseball, Markakis is as sure of a thing as it gets in terms of young players.

The club outrighted Eider Torres, Val Majewski and Adam Stern from AAA today. This being a week after they did the same J.R. House, Gustavo Molina and Rob Bell. And Victor Zambrano and Jaret Wright before that.

I love the direction MacPhail is taking. These guys  were all garbage and everyone knew it. They had no potential and chances of them ever helping the MLB roster was non existant. Hopefully they start getting rid of more players to make room for some guys with actual upside, as opposed to hanging on to these quadruple A players for years.

Coming into this season, I hope none of you were crazy enough to predict a return to glory for Huff. My expectations for him was a 20 HR, 80 RBI, .800 OPS type of season. Though a little short on all counts, he basically performed the way I expected him too. Huff was a total disaster for the first half, but as advertised, turned in a very strong 2nd half of the season. For better or for worse, he was basically the same caliber of hitter Tejada was this year. Now to compare him to other players at his positions:

Huff's statline:

.284/.337/.448, .786 OPS

Average 2007 AL 1B:

.267/.347/.443, .790 OPS

Average 2007 AL DH:

.267/.354/.446, .799 OPS

For all intents and purposes, Huff was an average player this year. At his $4 million salary this season, thats not really a bad thing.

If the FO wants to make him a bargain, they should somehow get rid of Mora and let Huff put up those numbers at the softer 3B position.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-osnotes0729,0,3821877.story?track=rss

If the deal is to happen, the O's would likely receive 2 midlevel prospects. The guys at mlbtraderumors.com speculate that one of the players could be Matt Murton. Doesnt make much sense for the Cubs, but I would be ecstatic if a deal like that were to happen. Both teams have made a ton of deals in the past and have a good relationship. Jay Payton sucks and I would be very happy to see him go.

I mean the O's were never in the sweepstakes in the first place, seeing as how they havent been mentioned with Teixeira the past 2 weeks. But according to Rosenthal, the Braves offer is as following:

C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, LHP Matt Harrison and SS Elvis Andrus

The Angels are also in the mix, offering a package of Casey Kotchman and a pitcher (Nick Adenhart, Ervin Santana and Joe Sanunders).

The Dodgers have also been involved with a package centered around James Loney.

The Orioles have absolutely nothing in their farm system to counter these deals (besides Markakis, but trading him for Tex would be a lateral move at best considering everything). Tex was a long shot in the first place, and looks like the O's have no chance. Lets pray he hits free agency instead of signing an extension with the team he is traded to.

I was riding the METRO train home from work today and was reading my daily edition of the Washington Post. They usually have a section called the "Blog Log" where they take relevant quotes from blogs all over the net. Seeing a quote about Perlozzo wasn't surprising, but I pleased to see that it was from our very own Camden Chat. It doesnt specify who posted it the comment, but its good enough. I scanned it for all of you too see.

With all the talk on this blog and local newspapers about "wholesale" changes, I couldn't help but think of the last time the Orioles tried to blow it up and redo the team. The 2000 Orioles had one of the highest payrolls in the league, with Albert Belle being the highest paid player in baseball and the likes of Ripken, Mussina, Erickson and Brady Anderson getting top salaries. The Orioles were sleep walking through another season and on July 28th, 2000, their record sat at 43-57, in which then Peter Angelos ordered Sid Thrift to trade away the best players with expiring contracts. Due to this last minute decision, Thrift only had a mere 3 days to trade away key components of the team and get prospects that would be the nucleus of future. The unprepared Thrift was forced to follow Petey's strict orders and had no time for lengthy trade talks, scouting nor negotiations with multiple clubs. And the results were disastrous.

July 28, 2000

-Traded Mike Bordick to New York Mets in exchange for Leslie Brea, Pat Gorman, Mike Kinkade and Melvin Mora.

The Bordick trade was pretty much the only success here. Leslie Brea and Pat Gorman were solid pitching prospects that ended up out of the system by 2 years. Mike Kinkade was a decent utility man for us in 2001 before being released. The real prize was Melvin Mora. Even though he is  absolutely dreadful nowadays, 2003-2005 he gave us some of the best offensive production the franchise has ever seen.

July 29, 2000

-Traded Harold Baines and Charles Johnson to Chicago White Sox in exchange for Miguel Felix, Juan Figueroa, Brook Fordyce and Jason Lakman.

As for the Baines/Charles Johnson trade, this blew big time. Johnson was having a monster season and Baines was effective as usual, both were free agents and these guys were our best trade bait. What did we get for them? Miguel Felix was an "electric arm," but he was out of the organization within 2 years. Juan Figueroa was a 25 year old flame thrower who had a 3.40 ERA in AA ball, but once he got to the Orioles, he lost his stuff and was out of baseball totally by 2002. Jason Lakman had a minor league ERA over 5, had no idea why the O's wantedd him. He only spent 2 more years in baseball. Brook Fordyce was putting up solid numbers in part time play for the Sox, and the Orioles were duped into thinking he was a solid franchise catcher. Predictably, he floundered when given a full time gig and spent the next 3 years as a bench player for the O's.

-Traded Mike Timlin and cash to St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Chris Richard and Mark Nussbeck.

Timlin was a veteran reliever (and still is), he was struggling but still had a lot of value. Chris Richard was a 26 year old 1B/OF who was putting up  great stats in the minors but was blocked by McGwire, Ray Lankford, Jim Edmonds, and JD Drew on the Cardinals. Richard was expendable so the Cardinals did away with him. Richard hit at an .898 OPS with 13 homers for the last 2 months of the year. He looked like a real cornerstone for the future. But in his first full year in 2001, he regressed to a .770 OPS, still perfectly respectable. Unfortunately, injuries derailed his career and he was later traded for Jack Cust.

July 31, 2000

-Traded Gabe Molina and B.J. Surhoff to Atlanta Braves in exchange for Trent Hubbard, Fernando Lunar and Luis Rivera.

Man was this painful. BJ Surhoff loved the city, the fans and the organization. The love was mutual, as he was a fan favorite. We all remember the tear soaked press conference when the trade was announced. BJ was one of our best and most consistent players, trading him was painful in every way, so the package for him better had been good. Luis Rivera was the centerpiece of the trade, and the best prospect in the entire fire sale. He was supposed to be the next Mariano Rivera, as he was a relative of him. Only 22 years old, and put up dominating seasons in Rookie ball and A ball. He was striking out guys at about a 11 K/9 clip. Baseball America ranked him as 51st best prospect in the entire league. He even made the Brave's major league roster out of spring training despite never pitching above the A level. He pitched about 5 games with the Braves, but had to be sent all the way down to Rookie ball to "work out some kinks." Later in the year he got called up to AAA but posted an ERA of 8.06. Something was wrong with the kid, but of course the Orioles didn't seem to know/mind. He was clearly damaged goods but the trade went through. Rivera threw a total of 8.2 innings for the Orioles and never threw another pitch.

-Traded Will Clark and cash to St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Jose Leon.

Will Clark was old and on the brink of retirement, so he had little value. The Cardinals traded for him to fill in for an ailing Mark McGwire. Clark went on to hit .345 for the Cardinals and then retired on a high note. Jose Leon was mediocre in ever sense possible. No need to even discuss him.

So there we have it, we gave away our starting SS, 1B, DH, C, LF, and setup man. In all, 28% of the our active roster (25 man) was gone. We received 7 pitching prospects and every single one of them flamed out before reaching the majors. The position players outside of Mora were garbage for various reasons. This sequence of trades was a complete and utter fiasco and pretty much represents the past 9 years of futility nicely. Unfortunately, nothing has changed since then. If a fire sale were to take place this year, it cant be as bad as this one...