Base Hits: 2/13/2009

I had to give a tip of the hat to Desert O at Weaver's Tantrum who did a fair job of arguing that Rich Hill's control problems may have been injury related and Rick Ankiel-like mental blocks may have been overstated.

A well argued premise that seems to been given credence by Hill himself during an interview on The Hot Stove show in MASN. Per Roch Kubatko's blog:

Hill said the injury, to a "little joint" in his back, often occurs when attempting to lift something heavy.

"I tried to compensate so I could compete," he said. "It kept building and building, and every start it would get worse and worse.

"I blame myself for continuing on and trying to fight through it."

So a tip of the hat to Desert O. Nobody who writes about the Orioles had made that assertion before him. Well played sir, well played.

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Just in time for Valentine's Day, Garrett Olson is moving on with his new partner while removing reminders of the old one:

But Thursday morning (Garrett Olson) spent time getting rid of the last vestiges of his Baltimore Oriole pitching career.

He took a black magic marker and filled in all the orange on his pitching cleats, orange being the dominant color of the Orioles. Actually, Olson did it with one pair and clubhouse worker Pete Fortune did it with another pair. It was sort of a paint-by-number thing.

Olson eventually will get properly color-coded shoes inclusive of the Mariner blue and teal. But for the moment, ''I didn't want to go out there wearing the orange,'' Olson said.

This is the baseball version of removing the old pictures with your ex-girlfriend in them before bringing over a new prospect for dinner. Good luck looking for happiness Garrett...

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MASN has released their schedule for televised Spring Training games...only 4 Oriole games on the schedule. LAME.

Look, the Orioles are most certainly going to be a losing club in 2009 and the one thing fans have to look forward to are the young prospects. So let us see them play! This schedule could easily be doubled. I guess I'll be reduced to watching other teams during Spring Training...again.

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Write your own punchline. Feel free to leave them in the comments for this post!

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The Orioles have signed another Japanese pitcher, this time former Chiba Lotte Marine farmhand Ryohei Tanaka. According to a translation from NPB Tracker, Tanaka said "I was surprised. When I heard, tears came out." Given the state of recent Oriole teams, one has to wonder whether they were tears of sorrow or joy...

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Pitcher and catchers report on Sunday! Spring is nearly here!

Base Hits: 1/29/2009

Some transaction news:

SS Brandon Fahey has signed a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. It's the end of the Fahey era... Fahey seemed like a good guy and a team player but he couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag and his glove wasn't nearly as good as advertised. In fact, he was surprisingly bad in the field. Good luck to Toronto as they try to find value in another one of our cast-offs.

Oscar Salazar cleared waivers and was invited to Spring Training. I'm not sure why so man fans thought some other team was going to swoop in and claim a soon-to-be 31 year old career minor leaguer but I think the fact Salazar cleared waivers speaks volumes on his ability.

Non-roster invitees to watch: Jake Arrieta, Brad Hennessey, Chris Tillman, Adam Donachie, Matt Wieters, Blake Davis, Chris Gomes, Donnie Murphy and Brandon Snyder. More on this later...

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Cal Ripken, Jr gives Texas SS cum 3B Michael Young advice about making the switch to the hot corner.

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An article on former Oriole first-rounder Adam Loewen and his quest to switch from pitching to hitting this season. To quote Silky Johnston, "I don't even know you, but I hate you. I hate your guts. I hope all the bad things in life happen to you and only to you. "

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It's been pretty standard to be critical about the Baltimore Orioles' lack of focus on being "fan-friendly" under the Peter Angelos regime and admittedly most of it has been valid. But I can't say enough about the Junior Orioles Dugout program. I have signed my son up for this for the last 4 years and their customer service for this program is top notch. They always have the information available shortly after New Year's Day (if not sooner), the price is reasonable (especially compared to similar programs run by other teams) and my son looks forward to getting his package every year. A very well run program.

Even though fan relations have changed for the better under Andy MacPhail, this is a program that was well-run before he got here.

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Seattle may soon have two former Oriole lefties in their rotation. The Cubs sent recently acquired Garrett Olson and IF Ronny Cedeno to Seattle for RP Aaron Heilman.

Heilman was acquire at the winter meetings in a three team trade that sent J.J. Putz to the Mets. Let's break it down...

Seattle traded RP J.J. Putz, RP Sean Green, IF Luis Valbeuna and OF Jeremy Reed for OF Endy Chavez, IF Mike Carp, OF Franklin Gutierrez, OF Ezequiel Carrera, SP Maikel Cleto, IF Ronny Cedeno and SP Garrett Olson. That trade looks a bit better for the Mariners now.

The Cubs ultimately traded OF Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno for...Aaron Heilman and Class A RP Henry Williamson. Wow. All that for Aaron Heilman? OK....

On another note, the trade is great for Garrett Olson. He'll have a better shot at making the starting rotation and Safeco Field is a pitcher's park. If Olson is ever going to develop into an effective major league starter, there are worse places to pitch than Safeco.

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Koji Uehara is reportedly hard at work developing new pitches, including a changeup. (If you can't read Japanese, click here...) In Japan, Uehara got by mainly with his fastball and fork ball, with the occasional cutter and "shuuto" (whatever that is). He is working on a changeup and has reportedly developed a new "spike-curvey" pitch, a curve that he throws while gripping the ball with his middle finger only. Perhaps he should call it The Bird?

Uehara is working out with Houston infielder Kaz Matusui, trying to adjust to the MLB strike zone, adjusting to the MLB ball and working on his stamina. It doesn't appear that Uehara will fail due to lack of preparation...

Olson Out, Orioles Get a Slice of Pie...

The Orioles have acquired OF Felix Pie for SP Garrett Olson and minor league pitcher Henry Williamson.

Pie has been linked to the Orioles in trade rumors since last off-season but the latest round of talks seemed to involve Jay Peavy in a three-way deal. But after the Cubs signed Milton Bradley, Pie got squeezed out of the Cubs outfield picture for the foreseeable future and they shipped him out.

Garrett Olson has been unable to miss bats in the majors and his fly-ball tendencies has led him to post a 6.87 ERA in 33 starts over the last two seasons. I doubt he'll find much more success in Wrigley Field but that may not be his final destination.

Pie has (as of yet) been unable to recreate his success in the minors in the bigs but has only had 287 plate appearances to try to sort it all out. All in all, I'd give the 24-year old Pie a better chance of fulfilling his potential than the 25-year old Olson, especially considering that Pie has been considered one of the best prospects in all of baseball.

According to Andy MacPhail, Pie will be the starter in left field, pushing Luke Scott to DH and Aubrey Huff to full-time at 1B. I mentioned earlier that Nick Markakis and Adam Jones were the best pair of outfielders in the game. Pie adds to that defensive prowess and if there's a better defensive outfield in baseball, I can't think of it.

CHONE is prediciting an OPS of .757 for Pie (which may be a bit optimistic) but if he exceeds .700 with that glove, he's a very useful player starting this season. And before Luke Scott arrived last season, LF was an offensive black hole. And he has real possibilities to improve.

Barring injuries the lineup looks pretty set. Dave Trembley intends to carry 13 pitchers, so Luis Montanez, Oscar Salazar, Scott Moore, Chris Gomez and whoever else gets in to the mix will be battling it out for one roster spot.

1B Huff
2B Roberts
3b Mora
SS Izturis
RF Markakis
CF Jones
LF Pie
OF\IF Freel
DH Scott
Util Gomez\Salazar\Moore
C Zaun
C Moellers\Wieters

Not exactly a world-beating lineup but it has potential.

I like the move overall. It's a risk but one with a lot of upside. And now that Andy MacPhail has his prize (he wouldn't let this one go, would he?), he can move on to other matters this offseason...

Bye-Bye, Danny.

This is just a quick note to acknowledge the departure of Daniel Cabrera. The Orioles non-tendered him over the weekend and appear to have no interest in resigning him at all.

It's the end of the Cabrera era! I had always hoped that the O's would try Cabrera out in the bullpen once they gave up on him being a starter but I guess they thought it was not worth the $3-4 million that he would get in arbitration.

The problem is (and I've said this many times) that I don't know how you can get rid of Cabrera when he was your second best starter last season. I am all in favor of letting Cabrera go once it is apparent that he is no longer one of your 5 best starters. That time is not now. $4 million is a relative bargain to keep him on for one more season.

I'm not arguing that Cabrera is a good pitcher nor am I sure (anymore) that he will ever be a good pitcher. But he is still valuable to this team as currently constructed. This is a BAD MOVE.

There are two circumstances that would make this move OK.

First, there is a plan in place to take that saved money and use it as part of a pool of cash to bring in a couple of free agent pitchers. The candidates that are available are not very attractive but we'll wait and see.

Second, The Warehouse has credible evidence that our young pitchers are further along than they look. Garrett Olson and Radhames Liz didn't look like they were ready to take the next step to me. Brian Matusz may be on the fast track but his performance in Arizona didn't indicate he's ready to grab a starting spot out of Spring Training. Troy Patton and Matt Albers; I like the idea of giving these guys a shot but both are coming off of injuries.

I hope MacPhail is right. But I think we gave up on Daniel one year too early.

Base Hits: 4/30/2008

For the second time in two weeks, the Orioles battled it out for first place with a division rival. Garrett Olson had a fine 2008 debut as the Orioles beat the Rays 7-4. The Baltimore Orioles are now in first place by percentage points. We'll take it.

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ESPN the Magazine has released their Fan Satisfaction Rankings for all 122 major sports franchises. The Baltimore Orioles came in 114th.

They published a quote from yours truly under the Orioles summary but did not give the name or web address of my blog despite me giving it to them at least three seperate times!

Such is life....

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Goodbye Greg Aquino and Brandon Fahey, hello Garrett Olson and Bob McCrory.

Aquino has been terrible. Period. He'll not be back.

Fahey did not hit which was expected. But his fielding was not good either which was not really expected. He added almost no value to the team when he was on the field.

Expect Luis Hernandez to follow those guys to Norfolk soon. Like Fahey, Hernandez has not hit but he is also one of the worst defensive shortstops in the AL this year. The errors aren't bad but his range has been poor. I would expect Alex Cintron to be in Baltimore before June.

Matt Albers will get the start tomorrow.

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Ramon Hernandez has struggled at the plate but has been making the most of his infrequent hits. With only 16 hits, he has driven in 14 RBI.

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As a footnote to yesterday's Yankee post, A-Rod will land on the DL with his strained quad. And there was much rejoicing.

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The Blue Jays are 1-8 since they released Frank Thomas. I don't know what that means but he obviously wasn't the only issue with that lineup.

Base Hits: 8/1/2007

The Wayward Oriole points out quite correctly that Dave Trembley bears a striking resemblence to William Shatner.

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Hayden Penn is pitching rehab down in the Gulf Coast League. Don't forget about this guy. As impressive as Garrett Olsen's numbers look at AAA (9-6, 2.95 ERA in 20 games), Penn's numbers were even better last year (7-4, 2.26 in 14 games).

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Ben over at Oriole Central covers the lack of movement at the trading deadline, Dave Trembley and his fixation with Mark Teixera.

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I can't believe I'm doing this but I'm going to quote an Amber Theoharis article and I won't unmercifully mock it. From her column in PresboxOnline.com:

Here's a deep thought out of the mouth of a Yankees scout: Many hitters in the American League say Daniel Cabrera has some of the nastiest stuff when he's on. The problem is he can't always repeat that "stuff" inning after inning and start after start. If that's the case, why isn't he a closer?
Pause here. There isn't supposed to be any retorts in "Deep Thoughts," but there needs to be a voice of reason here. Cabrera is 25 years old. That's it. The man didn't pick up a baseball until he was 16. He's 6-foot-9 after growing two inches in the offseason. Cabrera is still getting used to his own body. Plus, in most of his starts this year, he has gone more than six innings. The Orioles would be crazy to cease grooming him as a starter this early in his career. Maybe in 10 years Cabrera will be a closer, not now.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

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Also from Press Box, Phil Jackman's On The Other Hand column:

It seems a tad hypocritical for WBAL Radio to complain about not being allowed to play tapes of Cal Ripken career milestones leading up to Cooperstown by the current rights holder (CBS Radio) when it pulled a similar stunt last football season.

Outstanding point.

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Haven't posted a WPA graph in awhile. Here's last night's game, courtesy of FanGraphs:

Erik Bedard was the WPA leaders for pitchers, Brian Roberts for batters...

Minor League Report

Norfolk: 18-26



3B Mike Cervenak has been raking it this season slugging .485 and has hit 6 homeruns. On the mound, SP Garrett Olson continues to impress striking out 44 in 54 inning with a WHIP of 1.06. He's only an injury away from getting his shot with the club.



Bowie 22-21



OF Val Majewski is hitting .2.65 and slugging an anemic .368 which saddens me to see. The best hitter on the team, OF Nolan Reimold, has been injured for much of the year. Only IF Oscar Salazar has put together a decent season at the plate hitting over .300 with 5 homeruns thus far.



The starting pitching has been nondescript but James Hoey and Felix Romero are racking up the K's out of the bullpen. Romero has struck out 39 over 25 innings for an eye popping rate of 14 K/9. Hoey's doing even better striking out batters at a 14.1 K/9 rate while only walking 3 batters all year? Would he look good in Baltimore setting up for Chris Ray? Yes, he would.



Frederick: 21-20



The Keys are in first place in the Northern Division of the Carolina League and are led by several players having fine years with the bat. 3B Ryan Finan leads the way with 4 homers and slugging .469 on the year. There is also a trio of regulars batting better than .300 in 2B Jonathan Tucker (.304), SS Blake Davis (.319) and LF Jacob Duncan (.323).



On the mound only P David Hernandez has distinguished himself as a starter with a 3.26 ERA and 50 K's over 47 innings. Brandon Erbe has been disappointing, sporting a 5.35 ERA (and a deceptive 3-1) record. The culprit: he's walking 4.7 per 9 and has giving up 5 homers.

Shorebirds: 20-25

Brandon Tripp has been the Shorebirds best player this year but has also been on the disabled list since May 6th. Without him, Chris Vinyard has led the way belting 9 HR with a .291 average.
The good news is that 1B (C) Brandon Snyder has been the third best offensive force on the team but the bad news is he's doing it hitting .265 with 5 HR.

Weird stat of the day: SP Pedro Beato is sporting a 3.50 ERA over 9 games and is 0-0. That's right, he has no decisions at all. The best pitcher so far has been Brad Bergesen with his 2.45 ERA and sub-1.00 WHIP.