This Week in Chat - 4/3/2011

Where we distill all the weekly baseball chats down to their Oriole-centric essence...


Jonah Keri, FanGraphs

11:38 [Comment From kyle]
guerrero HOF career?

11:39Jonah Keri:
Vlad, of course. Yes, I'd vote him in, even if he retired today.

11:47 [Comment From Jason]
McLouth, Aaron hill and mark Reynolds, tell me why these guys do or do not bounce back this year

11:48 Jonah Keri: Hill
BABIP'd...what was it, .196 last year? Maybe the easiest bounceback pick in the league. Not a big McLouth fan. I could see a bump for Reynolds, sure. He's still fairly young.


Dave Cameron, Fangrpahs

11:41 [Comment From JTrea81]
Am I crazy or should Zach Britton have made the O's rotation?

11:41 Dave Cameron:
The O's are just playing with his service time. He'll be up in a month.

12:21 [Comment From Kolbe]
Do the Fighting Showalters break .500 this year?

12:21 Frankie Piliere:
Nope, division is just too potent.

12:15 [Comment From Matt]
Given that your org rankings seem reasonable (give or take minor quibbles) how would you change baseball to give teams like Jays and Orioles a decent shot?

12:16 Dave Cameron: I will continue to pound this angle forever - put a team in Brooklyn. Diluting the Yankees revenue stream would fix a lot of problems.

12:29 [Comment From Ian]
When do you see Zach Britton getting the call back up? Potential impact arm?

12:30 Frankie Piliere: He'll be down there a month tops I think. Very high impact guy. Potential #1, easily a #2. Very mature already and has the arsenal to go with it.

12:48 [Comment From Kolbe]
Santana, Posey or Weiters.. Who are you taking?

12:48 Frankie Piliere:
 Posey


Keith Law, ESPN

Jeff (Baltimore)
Who do the O's take in the draft? Starling?

Klaw (1:25 PM)
The only substantive thing I've heard on them is a preference for a college player, which would probably put them on Hultzen, Bradley, Jungmann, Gray.

Phil (NJ)
Still holding out hope for Wieters? What's his ceiling now?

Klaw (1:29 PM)
Yes. Unchanged.


Marc Hulett, FanGraphs

12:03 [Comment From D]
Manny Machado's ranking seems high. Is it + defence or his bat that has him that high?

12:03 Marc Hulet:
Machado's ranking might seem high but he has the potential to play good defense at shortstop while also displaying plus hitting skills... As we've seen recently, the pool of quality offensive shortstops in the MLB is dwindling.



John Manuel, Baseball America

Jeff Sullivan (Belchertown, MA):
Manny Machado or Francisco Lindor?

John Manuel:
Machado, though Lindor does seem to have some helium for this year's draft. Machado's bat projects to have more impact potential than Lindor's.

This Week in Chat - 3/26/11

Various Oriole related opinions from various chat sessions around the web:

David Shoenfield, ESPN

Matt (Charlotte)
Between Brian Matsuz, Zach Britton & Jake Arrieta, which one do you see as having the better 2011 season for the Orioles?

David Schoenfield (3:15 PM)
Definitely Matusz. His numbers once Showalter took over last year were very, very good.

David Schoenfield (3:15 PM)
Our scouting/minor league guru Keith Law LOVES Britton, by the way. That could be a really nice 1-2 lefty combo for the O's in a couple years.

Jim Callis, Baseball America

Chris (S.I.N.Y): Who makes the biggest impact in the big leagues this season. Gibson, Drabek, Pineda, Britton, McGee or Banuales?

Jim Callis: I think Gibson. Britton may be the best prepared to succeed right now, but he's on a bad team. Banuelos is intriguing, but the Yankees are going to limit him to 140 or so innings, so he may not get a ton of big league starts.

Jonah Keri, FanGraphs

[Comment From Lost in Europe]
When does Britton get a shot with the big club?
1:42
Jonah Keri: I think he's up this season. Could see June/July, to avoid Super 2 status. Love heavy-GB pitchers.

Frankie Pilere, FanGraphs

[Comment From Mozelles]
What team is this years Padres?

12:35
Frankie Piliere: They aren't going to compete seriously for a playoff spot because of the division but the Orioles are going to be at least a very difficult spoiler this year.

[Comment From Luke]
Percentage chance of Rendon or Cole being available to the Orioles at #4????

1:30
Frankie Piliere: 20%. Arbitrary number probably

Dave Cameron, FanGraphs

11:59
[Comment From Jay]
Thoughts on Erik Bedard this year?

12:00
Dave Cameron: He's basically impossible to project, right? He's healthy until he's not, and in general, there aren't any real warning signs with him. He pitches well, then comes off the mound and says his arm hurts. He's throwing really well in Arizona, but who knows what that actually means. His history says he can't be counted on for more than 100 innings, but who really knows, right?

12:04
[Comment From os]
Zach Britton's gonna be a beast - what's your opinion of him this year and long term?

12:04
Dave Cameron: I'm a sucker for high velocity ground ball guys, so Britton is one of the young arms that I'm pretty high on. I think he'll come up mid-summer and be one of the O's better pitchers pretty quickly.

12:07
[Comment From Prince Fielder]
do you see me eating crab cakes in Baltimore for the 2012 season?

12:07
Dave Cameron: Not unless they now have vegetarian crab.

12:20
[Comment From Prince Fielder]
Do you see me eating veggie subs in Baltimore for the 2012 season?

12:20
Dave Cameron: Certainly possible. I'd put Toronto in the mix as well.

Keith Law, ESPN

Mick (Colorado)
Hi KL,O's have targeted HS types in recent drafts, do you think they continue in that direction?

Klaw (3:29 PM)
I have heard they're more inclined to go college this year, although it's early and if the right college guy isn't there I'm sure they'll consider a HS guy. But at worst they'll have Jed Bradley, Hultzen, Gray, and Jungmann all staring them in the face.

Steve (NYC)
You like Travis Snider to bust out this year? 275/350/500 with 30 bombs unreasonable?

Klaw (3:35 PM)
I had Snider, Justin Upton, Wieters, and Bruce all on my breakouts list last year. So, 1) the list sucked and 2) I still like all four guys. (Bruce did break out in the second half, a level I think he'll continue to achieve.)

John (New Brunswick, NJ)
Is Jake Fox legit? Seems like he has the underlying skills, just needs the PT.

Klaw (3:56 PM)
No, PT will be held down by his limited bat.

At The Game: Chattanooga Lookouts - 4/28/2008

The Chattanooga Lookouts are the longtime AA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and play in the relatively new AT&T Field built in 2000.

We got there early since my son likes to get autographs. The usher showed us the door that connects the clubhouse to the field and said that would be the best place for autographs. The players were very accommodating and had practically covered the ball with signatures by the time we were done. Easily, 12 players signed for all the kids that were waiting. Very fan friendly. Orioles management...are you listening?

Two distinctive features of the park:

A

When a Lookouts player hits a home run, the Chattanooga Choo Choo emerges from the centerfield wall accompanied by lots of steam from the smokestack, lights and whistles too. My two-year old daughter enjoyed that very much.

Also, the bullpens are built into the outfield wall so you can't see the pitchers warming up. There is only a small window in each bullpen so the pitchers can watch the game. It was an odd configuration.

The Carolina Mudcats were in town and featured several top prospects for the Florida Marlins including CF Cameron Maybin and LHP Aaron Thompson.

The next day we happened upon this sculpture outside of the Hunter Museum of American Art:

Who says baseball can't be a work of art? The sculpture is by John Dreyfuss, a sculptor from Washington, D.C. It's called Full Count.

Pictures of the game and more below...

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Chattanooga Lookouts