WAR Graphs: The Great Orioles of the 90's

(click on the graph for a version you can actually read...)

I decided to take a look at the great Orioles players of the 90's to see how they stacked up in terms of WAR (which includes defensive value). I only included players who played more than 5 seasons for the Orioles between 1990-1999 so Rafael Palmiero, Roberto Alomar and the like do not make the cut.

No real surprises here except maybe the inclusion of Mike Devereaux who hit fairly well for a centerfielder over the course of 7 seasons.

There's Cal's monster 1991 season looming above all with only Chris Hoiles huge 1993 as any kind of rival.

Brady Anderson exceeds Hoiles with overall WAR due to his consistency and longevity...that and his own monster season in 1996.

Cal reigns supreme, which is no surprise but I was surprised by the margin over Anderson...I thought it might be a little closer as Cal entered the twilight of his career.

Base Hits: 6/2/2009

I was going to save this for the next Oriole Blogosphere post but these interviews with Jake Arrietta and Troy Patton make for good viewing and are a pretty cool "get" for a bunch of bloggers. Well done!

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Brady Anderson writes an op-ed piece defending Orioles owner Peter Angelos. Among his defenses:

The article states that....Mr. Angelos began his "notorious meddling" by firing manager Davey Johnson. That is not what happened. Mr. Johnson resigned; he was not fired. The dispute between Mr. Angelos and Mr. Johnson began when Mr. Johnson fined Roberto Alomar, unilaterally, and without the owner's knowledge or consent, for missing a mandatory team function.

I was really bothered by the Johnson resignation. I loved playing for Davey and believe the Orioles would have continued to compete for championships had he stayed. I also think that if Davey had really wanted to stay he was more than capable of convincing Mr. Angelos to retain him for many years.

OK, but you could conversely make the argument that Mr. Angelos was capable of convincing Johnson to stay as well.

That point aside, Anderson does make a few good points and seems to genuinely admire and respect Peter Angelos.

I certainly have my issues with Angelos as a manager but hardly think he's the win-draining diabolical monster some paint him to be. Nor do I find him a shrewd manager of his resources and a magnanimous owner who is solely responsible for the Orioles' success in the mid-90's. I imagine, as with most things, the truth lies in the middle.

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Spring Training update: Arizona? Arizona? What the hell? I'm fine with Baltimore training anywhere in Florida...but not Arizona.

Meanwhile the Orioles are still in negotiations with Sarasota and Lee counties about moving their Spring Training to Florida's west coast. Some commissioners are worried about how much money the Orioles will want in stadium improvements:

(Lee County Commissioner Frank Mann) is concerned that the Orioles may ask for at least $10 million in upgrades.

"If less, I'll kiss a monkey right out there on the steps," Mann said, gesturing toward the north side of the old county courthouse.

Now that would be an entertaining County Board meeting. Do these guys know how to party or what? If I were John Angelos, I would make primate smooching a prerequisite to move to Lee County.

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In the biggest no-brainer in baseball, Luke Scott was named AL Player of the Week.

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Adam Jones is back in Seattle. The Mariner fans react:

U.S.S. Mariner:

So, as you probably know, the Orioles have this center fielder who is having a pretty good season. Unless he falls apart in June, there’s a pretty decent chance that Adam Jones will make his first All-Star team this summer at the ripe old age of 23. He’s one of the core pieces of the Orioles rebuilding process, and if the M’s wanted to get him back, they probably couldn’t, even if they offered up the entire farm system and the deed to Mt. Rainier. He’s that valuable. And, but for some really terrible decision making, he could have been ours.

Seattle Times Mariners Blog:

Adam Jones came back to Seattle today with an entourage -- two burly guys standing by his locker in the visiting clubhouse at Safeco Field wearing Orioles' jerseys with "Jones" on the back.

OK, it was his brother and cousin, come up from San Diego to visit Adam -- who actually seems quite unaffected by the giant step into stardom he has taken this season.

"I'm just maturing as a baseball player,'' he said with a shrug. "Figuring out my role and not trying to do too much. Playing the game the way I know how to play it."

Which, as every wistful Mariners' fan is well aware, is good enough to make him one of the game's most exciting young players, almost certainly headed, at age 23, to his first All-Star Game.

Jones is the most hilarious deadpan quote dropper ever. When asked about coming "home" to Seattle:

Asked if he feels any special tugs coming back to Seattle, Jones replied, "Nothing. It's just a regular city. We're on the road. Just got to come here and do what our team tries to accomplish on the road."

In fact, he seemed to have more attachment to Tacoma. "I got to know a lot of the fans there, because I was in Tacoma for most of the time,'' he said. "They're great people. They treated me with utmost respect. I'd say last year was good for me, because they (the Orioles) gave me an opportunity, but I'm also glad I had the opportunity to play over there."

Hysterical. The Orioles gave me a shot in Baltimore but Seattle gave me a shot in AAA Tacoma. I really got to know the people in Tacoma. Not so much in Seattle. Awesome.

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Oriole Post got his recap of MASN's Oriole Blogger night up. Ditto for Matt at Roar From 34. Also Baltimore Sports and Life and Baltimore Sports Report.

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The highlight of Wieters Weekend for me was watching him get challenged by Justin Verlander and getting blown away that first at bat and then coming back the next time and drilling Verlander fastball off the center field wall for a triple and his first major league hit. Nice adjustment and it bodes well...

Around the Orioles Blogsophere - 5/5/09

...but first a quick stop off at Rob Neyer's blog on ESPN.com who make a solid point about patience and the case of Felix Pie:

How many more chances do you give him? I don't know, exactly. What I do know is that in Brady Anderson's first three seasons, his line was .216/.305/.301 in nearly a thousand plate appearances. He was awful in his fourth season, too. And he was significantly older than Pie, without the Triple-A credentials...But the Orioles didn't give up on Brady Anderson when he was 27, and they shouldn't give up on Felix Pie when he's 24. Especially not in a vain pursuit of fourth place.

Correct. Unless there's something going on behind the scenes, you stick with Pie until at least mid-season.

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Along those same lines, Frost King looks back at the month of April and makes some discoveries about Felix Pie and Lou Montanez:

Pie's defense hasn't been as advertised yet (it's only been about average in LF) but his bat hasn't been as bad as it's looked. A .194 BABIP despite a 23% line-drive rate will definitely not continue, and his increased walk rate (from 7.8% to 10.5%) and decreased strike-out rate (from 34.9% to 27.5%) are both good signs. He needs to be given plenty of at bats to work through this....

Maybe Luis shouldn't have talked so much about being over-looked for a spot on the team. Pie has shown the better underlying stats, and has the higher ceiling...

Go to the blog to see more supporting numbers but, again, he's right. Common wisdom is to dump Pie or give him a reduced role. He's performed a bit better than the basic numbers show.

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While not necessarily referring to Felix Pie, Ben at Oriole Central is urging fans with short memories to be patient:

I understand (and want) the O's to win now like everyone else. What I don't understand is the irrationality and impatience like Rick Maese advocates to call up every prospect now to Baltimore and throw them to wolves.This is the exact flawed logic that has screwed up pretty much every viable Oriole prospect for the past decade, Nick Markakis not withstanding. Garrett Olson, Adam Loewen, Hayden Penn, Daniel Cabrera, Radhames Liz, and every other pitching prospect including Erik Bedard (took him awhile didn't it) are examples how this get them up NOW to give us something is a horrible route to take. I don't like seeing Adam Eaton in the rotation either, but I'd rather bite the bullet on what's going to be another lost season and let Chris Tillman work on his control in the minors where he belongs.

He is correct! (I feel like John McLaughlin...)

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Jay Trucker recaps last night's win and looks forward to tonight's matchup:

The Orioles conclude their series against Tampa with an inexplicable 4:08 pm game. They are putting steel-ribbed Koji Uehara on the mound to face the Rays' Matt Garza.

Which gave me an endorsement idea for Koji...he could play the Jimmy Rollins role.




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Roar from 34 gets creative with an Oriole advice column...

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Wayward O also makes a good point about a managing gaffe is last night's win...

and yet Wayward O must this rainy tuesday morning chide manager for not inserting pinch runner for ZAUN when ZAUN hit double in eighth inning...let's say b-rob singles to right instead of going big fly. if pie is pinch running from 2nd there is a 84.57% chance he scores. as the game stood, there was a 13.87% chance of ZAUN scoring in same scenario.

Wayward O is not statistician but single to right scenario is far more likely there than home run.

In retrospect, it was a very odd (non)move...

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Patrick Smith of Bugs and Cranks looks at George Sherrill's closing duties and makes a fantastic Glengarry Glen Ross reference in the process.

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Speaking of Sherrill, Weaver's Tantrum runs down the options in case he is permanently unseated as the Oriole closer.

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Finally, the Toy Department blog at BaltimoreSun.com has a fine article catching up with former Oriole catcher Gus Triandos. Their "Catching Up..." series is riveting stuff to the diehard Oriole fan.

Big Homer Index Revisited

FanGraphs.com is slowly putting together a whole bunch of WPA data for decades past. When it is done, it would be interesting to compare my made-up stats with who actually did hit the most big homers in Oriole history.

What's the Big Homer Index (BHI)? Look here. And remember, it's grounded in reality but all in fun.

Chris Hoiles - 151 Career Home Runs

Chris Hoiles was a natural for this "study" because he always had the reputation of hitting the homer when nobody was on base or when it didn't much matter, at least the first half of his career.

BHI shows that Hoiles did hit a lot of solo shots (89 out of 151 career homers were solo). He also hit a bunch of homeruns when the game was already decided (21 homers with the Orioles up by 4 runs, 29 when they were up by at least three) but that's not the whole story. A full 25% of Chris' career homers put the team ahead and another 11% tied the game. Add three walk-off home runs during his career and Hoiles fares very well on the index.

BHI - 240


Brady Anderson - 210 Career Home Runs

Brady has a natural disadvantage in BHI because he was a leadoff hitter. Anderson hit a ton of solo shots (148) but only led off the game with a homer 23 times so I'm not sure things are skewed against him quite as bad as you might think.

In addition to the high number of solo shots, he hit 23% of his home runs with the team either up or down by four or more runs.

What saves Brady's BHI is the 72 homers (34%) he hit to give the team the league and the lone game ending homer he hit against the Twins on April 13th, 1996.

Overall, not too shabby for a leadoff hitter.

BHI - 138


Brooks Robinson - 268 Career Home Runs

Brooks Robinson is the standard bearer for BHI prowess, at least up to this point. Brooks hit 8 walk-off homers, double the number of Cal Ripken despite trailing Cal by nearly 200 career home runs. Only 40 of his home runs came with the Orioles up or down by 4 or more runs and 46% of his homers either tied the game up or gave the team the lead. This doesn't even count the postseason!

I can't imagine anybody topping Brook's BHI. He certainly took pitchers deep when it mattered the most.

BHI - 495


BHI Leaders - Oriole Career
Brooks Robinson - 495
Chris Hoiles - 240
Cal Ripken - 197
Brady Anderson - 138
Jay Gibbons - 42

More to come...