Base Hits: 11/7/2008

You know, I always thought that Keith Law of ESPN had extreme views when it came to completely disregarding postseason awards. I'm beginning to come around. This is a quote from Keith in regards to Chase Utley being passed over for a Gold Glove this season. It can be fairly applied to the decision to deny Nick Markakis his first Gold Glove as well:

If GGs weren't already a complete and utter joke, unworthy of even a moment of our attention, then that's where they are now.

I'm really beginning to agree.

I stated earlier this week that Nick might get bumped by Torii Hunter based on rep alone and I was right. But even I didn't see a choice so lame as Ichiro.

Neither Hunter nor Ichiro are bad fielders but they are far from the best. The best argument you can make for them is that they are average. Neither is even close to Markakis. Not even a little bit. See my other post. They're not even in the conversation.

Of course, how could we put much faith in a system that awards Derek Jeter more career Gold Gloves (3) than Cal Ripken (2)?

Rob Neyer, another ESPN baseball writer, probably summed it up best:

It's hard to escape the conclusion that the managers and the coaches just don't give a damn about the process. It's a strange thing, to care more than the actual voters about the Gold Gloves. But year after year, it sure seems like we do.

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The prospects in Hawaii are all playing really bad baseball. It's far too depressing to post about as I can find no silver lining on any of these clouds. The Baltimore Sun's Dean Jones, Jr. offers all the ugly details.

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Also at the Sun, Jeff Zrebiec reports that Mr. Reluctant wants to try to return to the Orioles as a starter next season.

Fine by me. The official slogan for the 2009 Baltimore Oriole rotation should be "We'll Take Anybody". Anybody with one arm and can walk to the mound should get a shot.

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John Sickels had these observations after watching Matt Wieters in the Arizona Fall League:

1) This won't come as a surprise to you, but Matt Wieters is really, really good. He is a cross between Joe Mauer and Mike Piazza. The only things that could hurt him would be injury (always possible) or a really severe case of Young Catcher Stagnation Syndrome (seems unlikely to me).

Nice to hear it!

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What the hell. I'm reviving the Song of the Week. Here's Marah performing "The Dishwasher's Dream". I'll warn you in advance that the lyrics reference "a Yanks winning streak". Have a great weekend!

Base Hits: 10/2/2008

Well, the one last thing I was rooting for the last week of the season was for Nick Markakis to walk 100 times this season. Sure, it was just a way to keep interested during the last few games of yet another losing season but I was pulling for him nonetheless!

Nick lost his bid to become the third player in Oriole history to join the 100-100 club by one walk. 99 walks for the season. Still, the season was another nice step forward in his career. But more on that later...

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It's this time of year when I put away my Oriole loyalties and start following...the West Oahu Canefires and the Surprise Rafters!

Yes, it's time for the fall and winter leagues and the Orioles continue to play, albeit as different entities.

2007 4th round pick Tim Bascom heads the list of players playing in Hawaii this winter and the Canfires are undefeated on the young season at 4-0.

The real glamour players for the O's minor league system are in Surprise this year. C MAtt Wieters, OF Noland Reimold (for the third straight fall) and top 2008 pick Brian Matusz will all represent the Orioles against the best talent in the minors this fall in Surprise, Arizona. Games start next week.

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Win Shares on the trade monitor are complete for the year. Again, I always like these trades in the long run but had no idea that Adam Jones would outperform Erik Bedard by himself in the first season of the trade! Likewise, I liked the addition of Luke Scott but had no clue that he would nearly make up for the Miguel Tejada's offense by himself. An there are 8 other players we got back in those trades. We may be able to point to those trades in three years as the point where the Orioles turned the corner to becoming a winning organization again.

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At long last, Desert O of Weaver's Tantrum has finished his hike of the Appalachian Trail. More than 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine that took him the better part of the baseball season. Congrats to him!

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I'll be quiet with posting (probably for the next week and a half) while I am in Belgium next week. If you're interested in such things, you can follow along at Bottles of Barley. But you never know, a layover at an airport, a delayed flight might prompt me to do some Oriole blogging during the trip as well.

Umm...There Are Still Some Orioles Playing Ball...

...you know, the future of the organization. So if everyone can lighten up about Kevin Millar and his supposed "slap in the face" to Baltimore Oriole fans everywhere (sarcasm) maybe we can start talking about on the field performances. Great.

Hawaiian Winter League

Remember all the drama over whether Matt Wieters would get signed? Well now he's playing his first professional games and the Oriole blogosphere seems not to notice. (OK, OK, I'll get off my soapbox...) Wieters is playing for the Honolulu Sharks along with a few other young Orioles this winter and has been for almost three weeks now. For those of you not familiar with the Hawaiian League, it's where major league franchises are sending some of their top low-level talent for seasoning. Nobody there has played above A-ball. So how is everyone doing?

Matt Wieters - Matt's not exactly tearing the cover off the ball yet but is hitting a very respectable .298 and OPS'ing 829. No homers yet but he does have 6 doubles and is being very patient at the plate (8BB to 5K's so far) which is always encouraging for a young hitter.

Brandon Snyder - The O's former catcher-of-the-future has distinguished himself so far (an understatement) by hitting .378 (good for third in the league) and slugging .568 so far. Only 1 homer through 12 games but has rapped 2 doubles and a triple for the Sharks. I guess he's really gotten over his injuries?

Others of note: A couple of lefty pitchers are shining in relief as Brett Bordes has posted a 2.70 ERA and Chad Thall has a 2.13 ERA. Thall has 10 K's and 5 BB to boot...Reliever Ryan Ouellette has struck out 11 over 12.1 innings but is sporting a rough 7.30 ERA as well...IF/OF Miguel Abreu is hitting a mere .200 but is among the league leaders in steals with 5 and has yet to be caught.

Arizona Fall League

There is less to look at here since most of the Oriole's upper level prospects are perhaps not really very good but there are a couple bright spots. The AFL features top prospects from various organizations who are usually at the AA or AAA level.

Jake Arrieta - 2007 draftee has been pitching well in relief (although I think the O's envision him as a starter) for the Phoenix Desert Dogs. Over 8 innings Arrieta has a 0.00 ERA, 6 K's and 3 walks. It speaks volumes that Baltimore sent him to Arizona and it will speak volumes more if he continues to find success against the best players in the minors. He could be in Baltimore sooner than anyone realizes.

Nolan Reimold - He's only hitting .206 at the moment but is slugging .500 with 3 HR in just 11 games. Reimold is a long shot to be on the big club for sure but in 2009 he could be the answer in leftfield...if he stays healthy.

Jim Johnson - I can't figure out if I'm just selling this guy short but he continues to have success at almost every level he pitches. (Well, relative success for expectations...) Another Oriole starter being deployed in relief, Johnson is 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA in 5 appearances for Phoenix.

Others of Note: Hayden Penn has been lit up in two starts (that only lasted 3.0 innings total) and is stuck with a 21.00 ERA...Jeff Fiorentino is hitting just .100 and a weak one at that...Bob McCrory has gathered 4 saves in the early going and has posted a 1.93 ERA

It's certainly no consolation but O's fans still have something to root for! The Phoenix Desert Dogs are leading their division with an 8-3 record and Honolulu is 10-8 and leading the East division in Hawaii. It's not much but it's still more constructive that griping about Kevin Millar.