Mike Flanagan Replaces Buck Martinez in the MASN Booth

I was happy to see this release from MASN:

MASN, the television home of the Baltimore Orioles, announced that Mike Flanagan will join the Orioles broadcast team as a color analyst for the 2010 season. Flanagan will make his MASN debut in the broadcast booth for the Orioles game against the Oakland Athletics on April 15th.

I was no fan of Buck Martinez at all and nearly anyone would have been an improvement but I always thought Flanagan did a pretty good job in previous stints doing color for TV.

Reportedly, MASN will also have other former players rotate in for color analysis including Eddie Murray and Brady Anderson.

And how are Martinez's new fan's embracing him? I'll include this photo of Martinez from Birdland Banter and their caption.

Cito and some old gray haired woman watch players workout. What? That's not an old woman? That's Buck Martinez? Buck, time for a hair cut man.



(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese)

Base Hits: So Long Buck, More Spring Training, Brad Bergesen and the Accent Aigu

MASN color analyst Buck Martinez has moved on to Toronto to do play-by-play for the Blue Jays in 2010. Good riddance.

Nobody is happier about this development than me. I couldn't stand the guy on the broadcasts, from his analysis to the timbre of his voice, and being an MLB.tv subscriber I would often switch to the other team's feed to avoid him. I remember when the Orioles picked up Ryan Freel last offseason and Martinez described him as "another Brian Roberts". Really. Brian Roberts.

It's odd that Martinez will be doing play-by-play now and this quote is also odd:

``Obviously, it's a different role but because I've been blessed with so many play-by-play partners – Jim Hughson, Tom Cheek and Dan Shulman and the guys at ESPN – I think I can take something from all of them."

Gary Thorne is conspicuously absent.

Who's going to pick up the slack? People are already crying for anybody but Rick Dempsey but I am not bothered by Rick. No, he's not polished and he's certainly not conventional. But if Harry Carey can do play by play, I think there's room for Dempsey as a color analyst. Like Carey, Dempsey injects a little fun into the proceedings. And I've seen him keep score, the guy pays attention and knows what he's talking about. But I'm not going to advocate for Dempsey as the top choice.

The top choice should be Ken Singleton. He's fantastic on the Yankee broadcasts. He's smooth, has a great voice and offers a lot of insight. let's bring Ken home.

Another possibility is Billy Ripken. I've been listening to him on Sirius XM's MLB Home Plate and he's quite entertaining and natural on the mic. He would be something of a happy medium between Dempsey and Singleton.

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Erik Bedard's hometown paper has an article about the specualtion that Bedard could return to the Baltimore Orioles in 2010.

Note how they print his name: Erik Bédard.

If he comes back to the Orioles, I will employ the accent aigu.

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MASN's Steve Melewski reports that Brad Bergesen's leg is at 100%. As you know, I feel the most important component of Bergesen's success in 2010 is that his leg feels normal and he can work on that delivery before Spring Training. Considering he wasn't even running on it less than 4 weeks ago, this is good news.

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I'll engage in the rumor mill a bit. Regarding Milton Bradley, there has been a "mystery team" rumored to be in the mix. I think that mystery team is your Baltimore Orioles.

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I enjoy the Bird Droppings posts over at Camden Chat. I don't see them every morning but they make a nice one stop for Oriole links of the day. Today it is worth looking at for the Santa Dempsey picture alone.

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Baseball Prospectus writer Kevin Goldstein runs down the Rule 5 draft (subscription required) and gives odds on each player sticking. On Steve Johnson:

Traded by the Dodgers to the O's in July, along with top prospect Josh Bell, for George Sherrill, this Baltimore native's time as a potential hometown hero may have been limited to just seven starts for Double-A Bowie. Nothing about Johnson's game stands out, but there aren't many weaknesses either, as he has an effective three-pitch mix. He's not a bad prospect by any means, but he doesn't seem ready yet, either. Odds to Stick: 15-1.

Those are long odds. I'm beginning to think he'll probably be back.

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David Golebiewski at FanGraphs.com takes a look at Adam Jones' breakout offensive season. It's a fantasy baseball article but ends with this encouraging summation:

Overall, Jones' 2009 season was very promising. He learned to fight off big league fastballs, not getting jammed nearly as much as in his rookie season. Jones also hit the ball with more authority, which may have helped him get in more hitter's counts. If he can hone his strike zone control and take full advantage of his strength, Jones could emerge as a full-fledged star in 2010.

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With Spring Training around the corner, architectural plans were revealed last night for the new Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. The current stadium will be demolished after Spring Training 2010 and the new complex will be available for Spring Training 2011.


You can view the master plan for the Ed Smith Stadium Complex here.

Hernandez is a Red; O's Get Freel and Two Prospects

Andy MacPhail shipped Ramon Hernandez to Cincinnati yesterday for utility man Ryan Freel and two infield prospects.

Matt Wieters has made Hernandez expendable. His defense has declined and his heart didn't seem to be in it for Baltimore last season. Hernandez had really bad luck with the bat last year. His batting line of .257/.308/.406 was in stark contrast to his PrOPS line of .292/.341/.457 and he managed to hit .285/.341/.446 in the 2nd half. He hit the ball hard but didn't catch a lot of breaks. He's still got something left in the tank offensively and he'll be moving to a hitter's park in a weaker league. The Reds may get a good year at the plate from him even if they don't get a good year from him behind it.

Freel is a good glove who can play 2B, 3B and all outfield positions. I don't think he'll be able to hit his way out of a wet paper sack in the AL even if he's healthy and he's expensive at $4 million a year but a good defensive replacement and he's only signed through the end of '09.

I like that MacPhail was able to get some prospects although they are not great ones. Brandon Waring is a 22 year old 3B who hit .270 with 20 homers with the Class A Dayton Dragons. But he struck out 156 times to only 43 walks and at 22 was pretty old for that level of ball. Still, it was an .813 OPS from a thirdbaseman and he could be a late bloomer.

Justin Turner is a light hitting 2B who has shown potential to play other positions. He hit .289 at Chattanooga last year with 8 HR in 78 games and got on base at a .359 clip. Interesting guy who should start at Bowie next season at age 24.

Since we were getting rid of Hernandez anyway, this was a pretty good deal though the real impact is the room made for Matt Wieters, not the players we got in return.

Many O's fans are pretty excited to get Freel but he's not really that great at playing baseball. Great attitude, fine glove, mediocre player.

And now a word about Buck Martinez. I'm in the minority, I think, when it comes to Buck. People seem to hate Rick Dempsey and find him annoying as a color guy. I enjoy Dempsey enormously and find Martinez cringeworthy. People complain about Jim Palmer talking about what things were like when he played but at least he was a Hall of Fame pitcher! Why do I have to listen to Buck talk about his lackluster playing career or his pitiful managerial record?

Anyway, Roch talked to Buck Martinez about the Hernandez-Freel trade and in between the hurky-jerky gesticulations and spasmic shoulder shimmies, Martinez said this about Ryan Freel:

"He plays with a lot of energy. He's kinda like Brian Roberts with a lot more enthusiasm, you know, he does the same types of things."

Really. Brian Roberts with more enthusiasm? First, if I was Brian Roberts, I would be enormously offended. You think I am Ryan Freel with less enthusiasm? Really? Roberts has slugged over .400 for the last four years. He's hit double digit homers in three of the last four seasons. He has played in 138 games or more for the last 5 seasons. He hit 50 doubles last year!

Freel has never slugged .400, has a lower batting average than Roberts for his career (.284 vs. .272) and only beats out Brian's OBP by .002! Guess all that enthusiasm saps your energy. I'll take the more reserved Roberts, thanks. There's more:

"He'll bunt more than Brian Roberts. He won't steal as much but he'll steal key bases. He's a great baserunner."

Forgetting the fact that Roberts has stolen 226 career bases to Freel's 142, Freel has a career success rate of 74% to Brian's 79%. And Freel's numbers have regressed over the last three years (77%, 65%, 60%) while Roberts have gotten better (83%, 87%, 80%). There's little to support the assertion that he's a "great" baserunner. And outside of the fact that Freel can play secondbase too, he's nothing like Brian Roberts.

Freel's a nice utility player but let's not get carried away.