Around the Oriole Blog-O-Sphere: Turkey Day Edition

Ross Gore of Baltimore Sport Report thinks that new Oriole hitting coach Jim Presley is just what the Baltimore hitters need.

Patrick Smith of Bugs and Cranks would've like to have seen Victor Martinez in the middle of the O's lineup but wonders what position he would have played.

I guess I wasn't the only one who was surprised that the Orioles did not offer arbitration to Koji Uehara and The Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec tries to get to the bottom of that decision. The bottom line is that the Orioles were scared of a pay raise in arbitration for Koji and the belief that he will want to come back to Baltimore anyway.

According to MLBTradeRumors.com, seven American League teams recently watched former Oriole 1st round pick Larry Bigbie work out. The teams reportedly have interest in Bigbie as a corner outfielder or DH. Bigbie played last season for the Edmonton Capitals of the independent Golden Baseball League. Bigbie was named to Baseball America's All-Independent League team as the DH. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't rooting for him.

Andrew_G of Camden Chat breaks down the new members of the Oriole coaching staff.

The Eutaw Street Hooligans don't like the idea of Derek Jeter in Baltimore any more than I do. In fact, they seem to like it even less.

Craig Calcaterra thinks that the Orioles should be thankful for Buck Showalter although he wonders if Buck isn't the sentient version of Annie Savoy's garters.

Roar from 34 looks back at a political controversy involving the Orioles, the governor of Maryland and the commissioner of baseball.

The Loss Column finds some things to be thankful for in Baltimore sports...beyond the Ravens.

Kevin takes a look at the Oriole coaching changes, as he would, through the prism of baseball cards.

Around the Oriole Blog-O-Sphere: 40-man Roster Edition

Roar from 34 takes a quote from Mike Mussina and wonders if the Orioles of the 90's were quitters.

Jeff Zrebiec reports that the Orioles are exploring trades to fill their shortstop opening this offseason. I don't get into a lot of trade speculation as it tends to be futile but J.J. Hardy is certainly interesting...Jason Bartlett not so much.

Stacey at Camden Chat takes a closer look at Bill James' 2011 projections for Oriole hitters.

MASN's Jen Royle wonders where the Orioles will find a big bat this offseason. Like me, she loves Adam Dunn and Luke Scott too.

Britt Ghiroli breaks down the Orioles' 40-man roster and who might be added or left off before Saturday's deadline.

MASN's Steve Melewski reports that Norfolk pitching coach Mike Griffin is returning to the organization for 2011. Griffin, a former Oriole hurler himself, is an underrated cog in the Oriole minor league system and a big part of the success of the young arms coming up to Baltimore. Glad to see him back.

This is a bit weird but there is a lot of smoke around the Orioles and Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa. Seems an odd fit and the O's would lose their 2nd round pick.

Around the Oriole Blog-O-Sphere: New Faces, New Places Edition

Former Oriole play-by-play announcer Jon Miller has been dismissed from his spot on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, along with color analyst Joe Morgan. Miller is still a superb radio announcer but over the past few years I though his performances on TV had become gimmicky and "Bermanesque", for lack of a better term. Miller will continue his work for the San Francisco Giants and ESPN has left the door open for him to continue calling Sunday night games on the radio.

It's never too late to start looking forward to Spring Training. Roar from 34 posts some pictures of the renovations to Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Spring Training home of the Orioles.

Dave Trembley has accepted a position as a minor league instructor with the Atlanta Braves. Glad to see Trembley, a nice guy if not a good manager, land on his feet in a good organization.

Along with all the changes to the seats at Oriole park this offseason, the Orioles will also be changing concessionaires. The club has severed ties with Aramark and entered into an agreement with Delaware North. Delaware North handles concessions at Turner Field in Atlanta and those are pretty good.

Stacy at Camden Chat makes a compelling case that Matt Wieters was snubbed for a Gold Glove this season. Beyond the Boxscore releases their catcher defense rankings and backs up Stacy's claim by ranking Wieters the best defensive catcher in the AL and the fourth best in all of baseball. Measuring catcher defense is am inexact science but I know this: an award for defense that is given 5 times to Derek Jeter and just twice to Cal Ripken, Jr. is an award so cheapened and flawed that I hardly care anymore.

Pressbox Online has a positive article on former Oriole GM Roland Hemond that they wanted me to pass along. But every time I think of Roland Hemond, I remember how he blamed Ben McDonald's contract negotiations for costing the Orioles the 1989 AL East crown. And then I think he's a bloviating douche bag.

Dan at Camden Crazies delves into Brad Bergesen's 2010 season and explains why it was a tale of two pitchers.

Around the Oriole Blog-O-Sphere: Spoiler Alert Edition

Brooks Robinson's career nearly spoiled in Vancouver? Read the true story here!

If you're going to bunt, at least be good at it. Roar from 34 tries to identify the best bunters in Baltimore.

Some guy wrote a Dear John letter to the Baltimore Orioles over at Yahoo Sports.

Hot off his victory against Boston, Expatriate (Baltimore Sports Report) ponders the second-half resurgence of Brad Bergesen.

Funniest. Post. Ever.

Neal S of The Loss Column ponders the strangeness of facing the Red Sox in late September with nothing for Baltimore to spoil.

Forget playing spoiler. Patrick Smith at Bugs & Cranks believes the Orioles have finally come into their own. Almost.

Paul Swaney of Stadium Journey recently reviewed Harbor Park, home of the Norfolk Tides. If you enjoyed that one, he's also reviewed Camden Yards, Harry Grove Stadium (home of the Frederick Keys) and Prince Georges Stadium (home of the Bowie Baysox).

On a subject that is close to my heart, The Oriole Way presents his review of new beer bar Alewife...one that happens to be less than half a mile from Gate H at Camden Yards.

The Eutaw Street Hooligans honor Nick Markakis for being only the third player in MLB history to hit 43 doubles for four straight seasons.

Around the Orioles Blog-O-Sphere: F**k Your Yankee Blue Jeans Edition

Quick Fact: Since August 1st, the Orioles are 21-14. The Yankees are 20-16 over that same stretch.

Baltimore Sports Report takes a look at the series win against the Yanks and tries to figure out how the Orioles are managing their recent success.

To join the People's Front of Baltimore, you've got to really love the Eutaw Street Chronicles.

Baltimore Sports and Life figures the Most Valuable Oriole has to be either Jeremy Guthrie or Luke Scott and wonders if either may be trade bait over the winter.

As Buck Showalter passed 900 career wins as a manager, Weaver's Tantrum breaks down career wins for other Oriole managers.

Camden Chat runs through "Birds Up, O's Down" for the past week. Not surprisingly, most are up!

Wayward O takes a look at Brian Matusz' new tattoos. Also takes a closer look at Nyjer Morgan.

Around the Oriole Blog-O-Sphere: Luck for Buck Edition

Boooooooog!!!!!

Chris at Baltimore Sports and Life takes note of Kevin Millwood's recent performance and wonders if he still has trade value for the Orioles after all.

(As an aside, I thought Millwood was a good pickup in the offseason. Others argued that money could have been spent on Rich Harden or Ben Sheets; my argument was that those guys were too risky and that Millwood had a shot to be league average.


Well, Millwood has not been league average and he may not reach the 1.0 WAR that I had hoped for (although he could with a good finish) but he has provided more value than either Harden or Sheets. Millwood has a 0.7 WAR after last night's start. Sheets has 0.7 WAR also but is out for the rest of the season. Harden is on the DL with a -0.6 for the season. I said I'd eat my hat if either of these guys outperformed Millwood this year and that looks hold true. The O's needed a guy who was going to give them 170-180 innings this year even if they were not as good as another pitcher's 110.)

Camden Crazies takes an in-depth look at Brad Bergesen's turnaround and it's encouraging. Also, he notes that Felix Pie set an odd record this week: Pie put the ball in play in 63 straight plate appearances (no walks, no strikeouts) and passed Brooks Robinson' 1968 streak of 59 for the Oriole record.

The Wayward O provides evidence that DC still loves the Orioles, Nats be damned.

Baltimore Sports Report takes a quick look at Jason Berken's Oriole career thus far as he heads to the DL.

Bugs & Cranks imagines Peter Angelos' reaction to "Buckball".

After the recent flurry of winning, Camden Depot examines the Orioles' chances of getting the #1 overall pick in 2011...and more.

Roar from 34 wonders (among other things) if Buck Showalter can lead the Orioles to a winning August for the first time since...well, a really long time ago.

To The Loss Column, even the losses feel different under Buck Showalter.

Around The Oriole Blog-O-Sphere: Meltdown Edition

Go get 'em, Wiggy!

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Dan at Camden Crazies makes me feel a bit better about Brian Matusz:

The 1.49 WHIP is high but most of that is all the hits he’s allowed (1.11 hits per inning pitched), and that’s based on a .332 Batting Average On Balls In Play that isn’t likely to continue at that level and has less to do with Matusz’s pitching than his defense and poor luck. Additionally, I’m not sure how a 123:54 strike-out to walk ratio is “clearly indicative of a problem”. At 2.27, it’s better than league average (~2.07), and his individual K and BB rates are also better than average.

And while he's at it, Dan give Stan "The Fan" Charles a good fisking and I can always get behind that.


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 Tony Pente's article at Oriole Hangout is up and pretty much sums up the failures of the Angelos regime over the past couple of decades.

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. It all seemed like covered ground and it was kind of advertised as having new revelations. It was all lightly fleshed out items of whisperings I have heard before. But it is well written and makes for a one-stop shop for all things Angelos.

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Eutaw Street Hooligans express Oriole fandom in terms of Bill Withers.

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Camden Depot looks at the "mortgaged future" of 1996 and fisks and refutes some guy writing in Cumberland. Go crawdaddy.

Quick quote I wholeheartedly agree with:

I am certain it is true that this is a mind blowingly silly statement (especially after the writer already said the system was ignored for at least a decade prior to the deals in '96, which is very true).

 Word.

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Roar from 34 gives us the latest installment of Solo Shots, a series examining Oriole players who hit exactly one home run during their career, with a closer look at Bob Hale.

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The Loss Column knows that it is all about next year for the Orioles but wonders if 2011 will be a make ir break year for the MacPhail regime.

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Patrick Smith at Bugs & Cranks takes a swipe at ESPN's Mike Greenberg for taking a swipe at the Baltimore Orioles.

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Finally, rumor has it that the Orioles are fielding calls regarding OF Corey Patterson. Obviously, you move Patterson for anything that might resemble a viable future bullpen arm and count your blessings that you were able to sell high.

Around the Oriole Blog-O-Sphere: Future Watch Edition

Baltimore Sports Report has a video interview with Orioles 2B prospect LJ Hoes.

Camden Crazies looks at the merits of Jake Fox and concludes that he would be a significant upgrade from Garrett Atkins. I agree.

Dean Hybl of BaseballReflections.com ponders if Brad Bergesen could be the next Jim Palmer. Not likely but Dean does remind us of the circuitous route many players take to success.

Weaver's Tantrum takes a look at the company the 2010 Orioles are keeping: the 1988 Orioles and the 1962 Mets.

Roar from 34 wonders if the "Baltimore" on the front of the road jerseys has been replaced with another term. (All you jerks who whined and bitched about getting "Baltimore" back on the jerseys can stick it. It hasn't mattered one iota in how the team is perceived. I'm looking at you WNST.)

Oriole Insider reports that the team has contacted Buck Showalter regarding their managerial vacancy.

Eutaw Street Hooligans call for a reality check among O's fans and they are correct...just not sure a guy who blogs about this team can take their advice.

A bit of Spring Training News:

Circuit Judge Bob Bennett ruled Wednesday that construction can continue at Ed Smith Stadium, dealing the first courtroom defeat to two citizens groups trying to stop a taxpayer-financed renovation of the ballpark....



"Outstanding," Orioles attorney Alan Rifkin whispered in court as the judge ruled.

Can we add this to the Oriole win column?

Around the Oriole Blog-O-Sphere: Draft Edition

It's draft day! Oriole fans have little to look forward to except future prospects so this is a big day...again.

Want to chat about the draft today? Head over to Camden Depot today starting at 11:00 to chat with crawdaddy and stotle. That's where I'll be.

Baltimore Sports and Life compiles a rundown of all the draft reports on the potential Oriole draftees.

Who do I think the Orioles should take in the 1st round? Here's my post on the subject.

Weaver's Tantrum compares the trade value of Wil Ohman to that of George Sherrill from last season.

At Baltimore Sports Report, Matt Sadler is happy. Why? Because it looks like Jake Arrieta is coming to Baltimore.

Oriole Poet says his goodbyes to Dave Trembley.

The Oriole Post provides some great pics from this weekend's games.

Around the Oriole Blog-O-Sphere: Trembley Watch Edition

Dave McNeill of Weaver's Tantrum ponders what's to be done with Oriole CF Adam Jones. And he does it while pinch-hitting for Rob Neyer. Way to go, Dave!

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Daniel Moroz takes a detailed look at Nick Markakis' lack of power this season and comes to a some interesting conclusions.

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Chris Stoner of Baltimore Sports and Life thinks something good happened while the Orioles were losing the series to the Indians this past weekend but it didn't happen in Baltimore.

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The Baltimore Chop thinks Rick Dempsey's wardrobe is uglier than the Orioles' record this season and offers some pointers. It comes from a place of love.

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Some good pics of the Matt Wieters' Q&A at the ESPN Zone from The Oriole Post. Special lenses were needed to cut down on the nimbus that shines from Wieters head.

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Eutaw Street Hooligans go full Ernie on us and discuss the things that make them happy and sad about the Orioles' season thus far.

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Baltimore Sports Report's Zach Wilt drops some sobering news (at least to me)...this is as good as Nick Markakis will ever be.

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Down on the farm, Crawdaddy takes a closer look at the Frederick Keys and, specifically, LJ Hoes.

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Two things form Roar from 34...Matt takes a look at the career of former Oriole pitcher Mark Brown and also finds the one stat the Orioles' lead the league in.

MASN's 2nd Annual Oriole Bloggers Day

If the Delmarva Shorebirds games in Greenville and Greensboro were the slices of bread, MASN's Oriole Blogger Day in Baltimore this past Sunday was the pulled pork on my BBQ sandwich.

Metaphors aside, the second edition of this event was, once again, a chance to meet my fellow bloggers face to face, watch the O's play and get a rare crab cake (remember, I live in Atlanta) up in the MASN suite.

We met up with Todd Webster outside of the home plate plaza and he took us up to the MASN suite to hang out for a bit before the game and pretty soon we were taken up to the MASN booth to chat with Gary Thorne and Mike Flanagan. I asked Mike Flanagan specifically if he had seen any issues with fellow lefty Mike Gonzalez's delivery...well, I could recap but God bless Anthony and James over at Oriole Post who recorded the entire Q&A with Mike and Gary. The video can be seen here with my question and much more.

After that, it was back to the suite to watch the game and chat with my fellow bloggers about all things baseball. Jim Hunter stopped by to shake hands and speak with us all, as well as MASN's Steve Melewski and Oriole PR Monica Pence, who I specifically thanked for getting me some good information for the Unofficial Baltimore Oriole Spring Training Visitor's Guide.

In a nice surprise, Andy MacPhail came down to the suite for a quick Q&A and hung around for almost 10 minutes. Again, thanks to Oriole Post, you can listen to the audio here.

Last year, I marveled at Rick Dempsey's color coded score keeping system and had to ask him about it this year. Rick was nice enough to explain what his markers meant:

Orange - all hits for either team are coded with Oriole orange
Green - walks. Because once you walk you're "ready to go" on the basepaths
Blue - strikeouts. Because "when you strike out, you're blue"
Purple - hit by a pitch. Because "when you get hit by a pitch, you get a big purple mark on you"
Red - RBI

And again, Todd Webster took us down to the MASN truck so we can see where all the magic happens. I still have no idea how they keep track of all those screens on the fly.

The game? Well, the O's hung around until late and then surrendered some runs in the 8th to lose 5-2 to the Blue Jays. But what I'll remember most is chatting with Anthony from Oriole Post, talking about mid-coast Maine with Todd Webster, discussing the relative worth of Garrett Atkins with Dan from Camden Crazies or picking Matt Sadler's (from Baltimore Sports Report) brain about getting minor league press credentials.

Again, an enjoyable time and a real treat, especially for writers like me who reside in the Oriole diaspora.

Other recaps and/or blogs represented:

Anthony and James from Oriole Post (http://oriolepost.com/)
Stacy and Duck from Camden Chat (http://www.camdenchat.com/)
Chris from Baltimore Sports and Life (http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/)
Pete from The Wayward Oriole (http://www.thewaywardoriole.com/)
Matt and Clark from Baltimore Sports Report (http://baltimoresportsreport.com/)
Dan from Camden Crazies (http://camdencrazies.com/)
Kevin from Oriole Card "O" The Day (http://oriolescards.blogspot.com/)
Michael from Bird's Watcher (http://birdswatcher.com/)




Apologies if I missed anybody...

Around the Oriole Blog-O-Sphere

Daniel Moroz of Camden Crazies writes about the unbalanced schedule and its implication for Beyond the Boxscore.


In light of Matt Wieters recent turn as Sports Illustrated coverboy, Roar from 34 takes a look at the last Oriole catcher to grace the cover of SI: Dempsey's Army's namesake.


The Nick Markakis Blingee will repair our losses and be a blessing to us.


Jay Trucker of The Examiner unveils Pie-mold, a plan to platoon Felix Pie and Nolan Reimold. It a fine idea except for the fact that Dave Trembely is platoon-averse.


Eutaw Street Hooligans provides a quick recap of their fantasy draft, a draft which I had a horse in. Due to a family committment, I had to go on Autodraft Monday night but as they will soon learn, I am King of the Waiver Wire.


Camden Depot gives you five players to watch in Delmarva. Looks like it will be a continuing series as he has jsut posted the five players to watch in Frederick.

Around the Oriole Blog-O-Sphere

I mentioned a concern about top 2009 pick RHP Matt Hobgood's weight and his offseason conditioning. As he often does, Crawdaddy at Camden Depot goes at least one better while breaking down what is an average body fat measurement for a professional athlete. He compares him to other standards as well:

If Hobgood had enlisted, he would have had to have undergone personal counseling to change his habits. He no longer qualifies at those levels anymore. The US Army would consider him fit. The Marine Corps is a bit more stringent and requires for Hobgood's age group to be below 18% and to never exceed 22%.

I won't spoil the ultimate conclusion for you, go to Camden Depot and check it out.

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Still on the theme of "they do it better than me", Camden Crazies tries to decipher why Jeremy Guthrie gave up so many homers is 2009.

As discussed previously, Guthrie’s home run rate went from 1.1 HR/9 in 2008 to 1.6 HR/9 in 2009, mostly due to an increase in flyball rate from 38% to 47% – his HR/FB rate was similar at 10.9% to 10.5% (which are both very reasonable).

Again, I won't spoil the conclusions.

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If you haven't checked out new Oriole beat reporter for MLB.com, Brittany Ghiroli's contributions to the site you should.

Her blog on MLB.com has been updated almost as much as Roch Kubatko's and she has been very active on Twitter, especially tweeting spring training pics. Nice to see an Oriole beat reporter who will be getting the word out on all fronts.

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Eutaw Street Hooligans make some observations about a recent interview that DH Luke Scott did on MLB Home Plate on Sirius/XM radio.

Luke’s comments about the Orioles were much more concerning. Luke made it known once again that he is not happy at all as a primary DH. Luke made similar comments before the start of last season, but this year he seemed much more adamant. Luke also says that last year the Orioles promised him that he would still get half of his at bats as an outfielder. That obviously did not happen and he did not seem very happy about it.

Some interesting observations that I have not seen elsewhere...

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Roar from 34 has been assimilated by the "blanket with sleeves" scourge:

Resistance is futile. Give in to the power of the blanket with sleeves. You can even pick one up at the ballpark, which defies my original cynical logic upon viewing the Snuggie commercial: "Who would wear one of those things at a sporting event?"

So sad, so sad...

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The Wayward O seems to have a strange fascination with new Oriole closer Mike Gonzalez. I'll let that speak for itself.

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Weaver's Tantrum looks at how the Orioles have slowly and quietly assembled more southpaw pitchers for the organization.

These guys slot in at different levels and are useful in different ways. I think the O's made a good effort at fixing the problem. It should be regarded as a successful winter effort at shoring up a weak point.

Have fun at Yellowstone, Dave.

Base Hits: Spring Training, Projections and Submariner Scouts

A quick set of Base Hits while I prepare bigger posts for later this week...



Pete Kerzel at PressBox offers his 5 Questions for Spring Training.

Like me, he needs to add a 6th item. Brad Bergesen.

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Camden Crazies is coordinating 2010 fan projections for the team. Go over there and help him out.

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Mel Antonen of USA Today takes a look at how the Cincinnati Reds left Sarasota, how the Orioles moved in and the repercussions of the shuffling:

The Orioles had reached agreement with the city and Broward County to overhaul Fort Lauderdale Stadium, but the city couldn't persuade the Federal Aviation Administration to drop its demand that the team pay $1.3 million a year for upkeep of the executive airport that is next to the field...

The Orioles meant between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors during March with 20,000 hotel-room nights sold, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, but baseball was a slim slice of tourism in the area, which attracted 10.8 million people in 2008.

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I was skimming through the Orioles directory this weekend. Did you know Todd Frohwirth was a pro scout for the team? I didn't. I used to love watching that guy pitch, him being a submariner and all. Gary Roenicke is a scout too.

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Jay Trucker takes a look at the round physique of relief pitcher Matt Albers.

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The Wayward Oriole bemoans the realities of technology encroaching on his blogging.

Long story short, Wayward O is probably going to be forced to change up publishing platforms -- unless Google comes to its senses. Hopefully this move will pave way for nifty redesign or something but most likely it will pave way for swearing and broken links.

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Camden Depot has an interesting interview with the makers of "Pelotero", a documentary about baseball in the Dominican Republic.

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I'll leave you with Ichiro. If someone can make a video like this for Nick Markakis, it would make me very happy.

Three Years Down

Three years ago today. I blogged my first post to Dempsey's Army, a post about the woeful conditions of the Orioles' Spring Training facility in Ft. Lauderdale. And since then, I have rarely shut up about my favorite team.

This blog began as an excercise in curiousity but turned quickly to therapy for a long suffering Oriole fan.

I'm still a bit shocked that anyone reads it at all but I certainly appreciate it. I had well north of 6,000 unique visitors this year (which is still small potatoes) but is unbelievable to me.

Thanks for reading. We'll see if we can't solve the AL East together.

Onward...let 2010 begin!

Base Hits: Blog-O-Sphere, Prospect Lists and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Some Christmas gifts from the Blog-O-Sphere...

Ben has risen from the ashes of MVN to revive Oriole Central (or is it Camden Central) on the original Wordpress platform and the Oriole blogosphere is richer because of it.

Similiarly, Crawdaddy, one of my old comrades from the Baltimore Orioles Round Table, has also resurfaced with Camden Depot now on the Blogger platform servicing all your Oriole scouting needs. Crawdaddy has also added a neat feature to his website: the 40-man roster with each player's name color-coded to indicate how many minor league options they have remaining. Very useful and leaves me wondering why I didn't think of it myself.

Other MVN refugee news has Oriole Magic writers Anthony and James writing for Anthony's original blog, Oriole Post.

Everybody's back for the holidays... (sniff)

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Relive Nick Markakis' journey through the minor leagues via this article at MiLB.com. Nick is a gift none of us will return.

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Baseball America finally put out their list of the Top 10 Oriole Prospects. One universal in most of these lists has been the rise of soon-to-be Bowie pitcher Zach Britton who come in at #3 on BA's list:

When talking about elite pitching prospects in the Orioles organization, it's time to add Britton's name to the discussion. He was the pitcher of the year in the Carolina League last season, and his 2.70 ERA ranked second in the league...

Britton seems like the typical sinker/slider pitcher, except that his fastball touches 94 mph. His velocity improved last season, and he usually works in the 88-92 range with his sinker, adding a four-seam fastball to go with it.

It also says he has improved his changeup thanks to tips from Brian Matusz. That's a good thing, first because he improved his changeup and secondly because it says a lot about Matusz that he took the time and had the ability to impart that to a younger pitcher. Matusz gave Britton a gift that will keep on giving through the New Year.

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The Phillies sign Danys Baez.

Who knew that Mr. Reluctant would become a man of mystery so soon after leaving Baltimore.

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Michael Aubrey says he's happy with the moves the Orioles made this season...but he's not really. They add one more veteran corner infield bat and Aubrey is buried in AAA.

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The Orioles have signed 19-year-old LHP Chris Lamb form Australia. Feel free to read the scouting report but it's more improtant evidence that the Orioles are looking overseas for talent.

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Since everybody is posting their Oriole retrospectives of the '00's, I'll link back to mine from earlier this offseason.

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Merry Christmas people.

Around the Oriole Blogosphere: Utter Collapse Edition

Before I start this edition of AtOB, I wanted to mention that Dempsey's Army has been nominated for a Mobbie for best Oriole blog at The Baltimore Sun. Please vote for us in the Oriole blog category if you feel so inclined.

But if you don't, please go vote for one of the other Oriole blogs I link to or that you may enjoy. It's a long suffering group and they all deserve some good recognition. Voting runs through October 9th. Vote early, vote often!

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Stacey at Camden Chat notes something about Brian Roberts' doubles explosion that I hadn't noticed:

Brian Roberts hit his 56th double of the year which is a record for most doubles by a switch hitter. Lance Berkman held the mark before him. It seems like a weird record to me.

In the midst of a 12 game losing streak and 100 losses looming, I'll take weird.

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Patrick Smith of Bugs and Cranks is ambivalent when it comes to Dave Trembley's future:

I’d love to write that I’d be outraged if they fired Trembley after presenting him with a stinkbomb of a team to manage. I really should be stumping for the guy and I’m not sure why I’m not. Numb, I guess, after 12 losing seasons.

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Dan at Camden Crazies examines Brian Matusz in the midst of a sweeping multi-post look back at the Orioles of 2009. He's a good man. And thorough.

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Matt Wieters Facts:

Matt Wieters Doesn't Take Pitches...He Shows Them Mercy.

Matt Wieters Forced Rick Astley To Give You Up, Let You Down, Run Around And Desert You.

Matt Beat Cancer..... Literally With His Bat. There Is No More Cancer.

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Orioles Card 'O' The Day highlights the birth of the Baltimore club and gives a tip of the cap to Bill Veeck.

On a side note, the other owners hated Veeck so much that when they heard he was trying to move the Browns to Milwaukee, they swiped the deal out from under him and allowed the Braves to move there instead in 1953. Baseball owners are and evolved breed, huh?

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Jay Trucker looks at the losing and the manager:

2 ½ years later, the team has played terrible fundamental baseball. The young guys have a chance to grow in 2010. Right now, it looks like the whole team is trudging to the end of the year. One way to start 2010 on a fresh page is to ax Dave Trembley. He hasn’t had a team with which to compete the last 2 ½ years, but he hasn’t taken the club a step forward by working with what he’s had during that time, either.

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It is a cruel mistress but at its root, baseball is still a beautiful game. Anthony at Oriole Post can still remind me of that as he always manages to catch some good action shots during the games at OPACY.

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Right Off Russell takes a look back at the 1989 "Why Not?" Orioles:

It was a year when everything broke right. Players had career years and late inning rallies were commonplace. The ‘89 O’s were a young bunch that scrapped and clawed for everything and almost pulled of an amazing worst to first turn around. And personally, it was truly magical. I had just jumped into sports fandom, sure I was aware of the Orioles, but 1988 was the first year I followed them with a passion. Nice timing, huh? Experiencing the ‘89 season only solidified the Orioles lifelong hold on me.

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If you don't like Roar from 34's Eutaw Street Chronicles, you hate America.

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100 losses? The Loss Column, ironically, says we shouldn't care.

In other words, these last five games of the season mean nothing. Whatever needs to be seen has been seen. Year three of the rebuilding process is already underway.

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The Wayward O is backing the manger. Here's Wayward O with more:

Wayward O is backing manager.

This losing streak (collapse) is because Baltimore is not real Baseball Team capable of playing full season.

It is not because Mr. Dave Trembley is bad manager.

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Weaver's Tantrum salutes the fine effort of Brian Roberts, even if it has been in vain. Regarding his doubles record for switch-hitters:

A lot of the guys on the single season doubles list are Hall of Famers. Brian is in good company. It seems unlikely that B-Rob can get to 60, tying Todd Helton's post-WWII record, but its not impossible. He can be forgiven for some selfish play at this point in the season. Forget about drawing walks or moving runners along, Brian. Go for the record!

Base Hits: Draft News, Rick Dempsey, His Nephew and the Blog Days of Summer

According to MASN's Steve Melewski, the Orioles have withdrawn their contract offer to 2009 2nd round pick Mychael Givens.

Oriole scouting director Joe Jordan:

"This is all on me," Jordan said. "This is my call. I just don't feel good about this and we are moving on to Plan B. We were working on info from the weeks leading up to the draft and some of that changed draft day.

"It was never my intention to meet that number (that Givens advisor mentioned on draft day). But I think some things will come out in the next few days that will ease our pain over this."

Wow.

If the Orioles don't sign Givens, they will receive an extra 2nd round pick so they have a bit of protection. However, I have been and remain a strong advocate of teams (especially teams like the Orioles) signing their top ten draft picks and getting that talent into the farm system. Every year, you'll have an 8th or 9th round guy who will opt for college instead but as a rule, you need to sign that top talent if you want to compete in the American League. With that in mind, not signing your 2nd round pick is inexcusable.

Even if you get an extra pick in 2010, you've still lost a year of development. The Orioles blew this pick big time if they end up not signing him. You've got to sign the talent you draft. Especially in the first two rounds!

Tempering my irritation is the fact that the Orioles have drafted guys this year who are talented but dropped due to signability issues or health concerns. These are risky picks but the O's need to make those risky picks from time to time to increase the talent in the farm system. If Jordan is able to sign some of those guys , it will ease my concern a bit.

But make no mistake, this is a failure.

Or this is all just a playing hardball and calling Givens' bluff. We shall see on August 17th...

*****

Speaking of draft signings, the Orioles have signed 22nd round draft pick and high school lefthander Cameron Coffey for $990,000.

The Baseball America link gives you all the background you need on Coffey and this is the kind of signing that takes the sting out of the Givens situation.

*****

In the department of "too weird to make up", Adam Sandler's Happy Madison production company has purchased a script based on an incident in the life of former Oriole, current MASN analyst and this blog namesake, Rick Dempsey.

What's it about?

Variety says the script was written with input from Dempsey, the scrappy ballplayer who was named MVP of the 1983 World Series.

"Our pitch was, it's 'Catch Me if You Can' meets 'Bad News Bears' with a touch of 'Bad Santa,'" (script writer Johnathan) Schaech said.

Dempsey's coach, John Jennings, steered the team to a Little League World Championship in 1963, did time for his crimes and died of cancer after his release from prison.

So Rick Dempsey contributed to a screenplay about a team that wins the Little League World Series led by a bank robbing coach? I'm not sure which is crazier, the plot or the source of the screenplay.

If the film ever sees the light of day, it would be my professional (amateurish) responsibility to go see it...

*****

By the way, Rick Dempsey believes and I suppose Dempsey's Army had better fall in line.

*****

Also, Rick Dempsey's nephew is now with the Rays and our team is weaker for it. Hopefully Baltimore gets back a useful player to be named...

Good luck Gregg. It was great to have you back, even for a short time.

*****

Forget the dog days of summer, for myself and the other Orioles faithful who type into the ether, these are the blog days of summer.

The O's are 7-19 since the All-Star break, an anemic 3-9 in August. It looks to get no better. And this is not new. The annual summer swoon is expected by Oriole fans in these dark days. Twelve consecutive losing season will do that to you.

This is only the third season I've been writing this blog but I feel like an old-timer. I have seen Orioles blogs come and I've seen them go.

Long gone are 2632 , Earl Weaver Rules and The Orioles Warehouse. I've seen some promising blogs pop up every year, including a couple this season, that wither away once the calendar turns to July. Hell, even Roar From 34 used to be three guys and is now just a very prolific one.

Sure, there are other blogs that cover Baltimore sports in general. The Ravens pick them up out of the summer heat, giving them hope and renewed vigor. But if you are writing a blog strictly about the Baltimore Orioles, there is no respite. You suck it up, keep writing about the losing or fade away.

So when I look at my brethren in the Oriole blogosphere, I pull for every one of them. This is no picnic and there's no bandwagon. If you're cranking out an Oriole blog, you must really LOVE this team. Or you hate yourself. Or both.

But October is right around the corner. The offseason, the fall leagues, Spring Training in Sarasota. Hope will spring anew.

And we'll keep writing.

Why Christine Brennan Is Undeserving of Your Attention

I have been a fan of Christine Brennan's writing for as long as I can remember. She and Tony Kornheiser are the first two sports writers that I can recall reading on a regular basis. When The Washington Post would turn up at my house, looking for the latest column by Brennan or Kornheiser was my first order of business.

With that preface, I was very disappointed to hear Brennan's take on bloggers and the internet. Last month, Brennan was on an ESPN podcast called "Play Ball! with Amanda & Melissa". She was asked a general question to her thoughts on sports blogs and sports bloggers (the Raul Ibanez blogger controversy was in the news at the time) and here was her response:

"What I try to do with blogs, is I try to read the ones that come from newspapers, come from legitimate trained journalists and I would encourage anyone who listens to us or anyone who cares about this issue to do that. The guy or woman in their pajamas in a basement in Seattle or Tupelo or Bangor, Maine...they who will never be seen, who will never go to a practice or a game, they will never meet the coach, why should we listen to them? Why, why should we pay any attention to what they're saying about a pro or college team or whatever.

"That's the kind of thing that we need to discern and it's harder and harder for people to figure out what's legit and what isn't, understandably, we've all had this because you click on a website and then you click on a link and you're just clicking on those little blue lines and off you're going to another world and pretty soon you are reading the person who's sitting in their pajamas in their basement, you know, in Omaha, Nebraska. and that person who really has no training and no idea what they are talking about. And when I say that, they certainly can have an opinion but do we want to waste one moment of our time on Earth reading those opinions? I want to read the opinion of people who are there, are trained observers, whether they went to journalism school or whatever, they've invested in this career and they are trained in it and therefore they are worthy of our attention.

"But the problem is, as you've said, you know, I might be able to figure it out, you guys can figure out, OK this person is, you know, a trained working journalist there at the event. The lines blur so much, how do you start to know? and for the average casual reader, someone who's wandering around the internet, just doing what a lot of people do, trying to figure out where they are and what they're doing, those lines are blurred to the point where, you know, when you're holding a newspaper in your hand, you know who's produced it. That is the nice little real estate, the demarcation of the territory that you happen to be looking at. So a newspaper's simple. It was produced by USA Today or The Washington Post or The New York Times, that's who gave us that and it's crystal clear. And the internet, of course is completely blurred, the opposite of crystal clear and it's gonna, I think, create many more issues like this and how does the mainstream media, not that we're always right, not at all, but at least we are trained journalists, by and large, how do we react to these kinds of things?

"Another huge issue about these stories and how they catch fire and do you put out the fire or do you let it keep going? Really something and it certainly, books will be written on this topic so a couple moments don't really give it justice but I just think the best thing is go with the trained journalists who are there, who have to see the coach day in, day out, it's not hit and run kind of reporting or journalism or blogging. It's hit and stay."

A few things here...

First, I was soooo disappointed that Brennan went with the old "blogging from his basement" line. So cliche, so tired and I would expect that if Christine was going for a putdown that she would have something more original and clever than that.

Second, if you live in Seattle, Tupelo, Bangor or Omaha, you should be doubly insulted. The disdain in her voice when those cities rolled off her tongue was glaring. If you live in a small town, you are marginal in Brennan's mind.

Third, your opinion does not matter if you are not working for a newspaper or trained as a journalist. Pro sports writers have the informed opinions and if it doesn't come from them, It means nothing. Now, if Brennan wants to take a shot at a rinky-dink hobby blog like mine, fine. I see the value that blogs like mine hold, at least as a collective, but why put down the good work done by Shysterball, The Hardball Times, FanGraphs, Beyond the Boxscore and such? Those guys are doing fantastic work, covering aspects of baseball that the mainstream media doesn't touch . I once conversed with a "professional journalist" who covered baseball and sent him a player's slash line. He had to ask me what it was. I'm not putting the guy down but if you cover baseball shouldn't you have a rudimentary knowledge of modern baseball stats? But no matter. To Brennan, the work doesn't count unless it comes through official sources.

Fourth, I don't think anyone is going to click on a link at The Baltimore Sun (who has linked to my site) , come to my site and believe that they are still reading something written by a writer in their employ. Look at this place. My layout is amateurish. My writing is certainly not up to snuff. Brennan thinks people who use the internet for their news are bumbling idiots, "wandering" around aimlessly, consuming information without discretion. Brennan seems to think the public is some great unwashed who can't be trusted to read anything that does not come from a newspaper. One they can hold in their hands. That's silly and ridiculously outdated.

But none of this on the surface is a big deal. I toyed with posting about it last month and never did because I find the whole "the big bad journalist is picking on us bloggers" theme kind of tired and I truly don't care that much. But it sets a tone. A tone from Brennan that says, if you don't meet my standards of education, professionalism, geography or living quarters, you don't matter. Period.

This week, Brennan has a tweet about Erin Andrews and the voyeur who spied on her in her hotel room.

There are hundreds of women covering sports in this country who haven’t had this happen to them. I wish it didn’t happen to Erin, but I also would suggest to her if she asked (and she hasn’t) that she rely on her talent and brains and not succumb to the lowest common denominator in sports media by playing to the frat house....

Women sports journalists need to be smart and not play to the frat house. There are tons of nuts out there.

So because Erin Andrews is a very attractive young woman and the kind of reporting she does "succumbs to the lowest common denominator"...what? What does this have to with the subject you're talking about? Nothing...unless you're suggesting she brought this on herself.

Erin Andrews does not meet Christine Brennan's standards of journalism. Thus, she is not worthy of Brennan's empathy.

And with that, there's a sport columnist you never have to read again.

Later, Christine.

(posted from an office where I can see the sun...)

Couple of Links Around the Oriole Blogosphere

A little late on this but Zach at Baltimore Sports Report has started a campaign to get out the vote for the Orioles for the All-Star game with some cool banners to boot. Spread the word and go Vote O!

Right of Russell has the latest installment in their continuing video interviews with Bowie Baysox players. This time, recent Japanese import, RP Ryohei Tanaka.

Welcome new Orioles blog Eutaw Street Hooligans. I am a proponent of injecting a little more rowdiness at OPACY and these guys seem to be on the same page...and then some.