Baltimore Orioles Thread: Orioles Magic

[BazookaJoe5]

Funny thing happened...I go to the baltimoresun.com dedicated to the Orioles, over there a couple weeks ago a Yankees troll made a thread asking if Mark Reynolds would be the O's AS rep...everyone brushed it off at the time...but as of now, numbers wise, he leads the team in every offensive category outside of BA and has to be considered with Jones and Wieters as to who will be the O's lone rep.

Still think Jones is the leader because of his all around game and highlight reel catches.

[Leftwich]

Funny thing happened...I go to the baltimoresun.com dedicated to the Orioles, over there a couple weeks ago a Yankees troll made a thread asking if Mark Reynolds would be the O's AS rep...everyone brushed it off at the time...but as of now, numbers wise, he leads the team in every offensive category outside of BA and has to be considered with Jones and Wieters as to who will be the O's lone rep.

Still think Jones is the leader because of his all around game and highlight reel catches.

Reynolds, Jones and Wieters deserve it as well as Arrietta but i can only see Reynolds getting in. Jones will probably win another gold glove this year and i'll be happy with that but Reynolds is making a name for himself in the AL East.

[Guest]

Funny thing happened...I go to the baltimoresun.com dedicated to the Orioles, over there a couple weeks ago a Yankees troll made a thread asking if Mark Reynolds would be the O's AS rep...everyone brushed it off at the time...but as of now, numbers wise, he leads the team in every offensive category outside of BA and has to be considered with Jones and Wieters as to who will be the O's lone rep.

Still think Jones is the leader because of his all around game and highlight reel catches.

Reynolds, Jones and Wieters deserve it as well as Arrietta but i can only see Reynolds getting in. Jones will probably win another gold glove this year and i'll be happy with that but Reynolds is making a name for himself in the AL East.

Reynolds might lead the Os in home runs and RBI, but I still can not get past his Mendoza line average and the strikeouts. Hes a pretty damn good player, but he's not an All-Star this season.

Jones should make it. He's having a great season all around this year, and Wieters may make it. Arrieta is having a solid season as well, but he's got an average ERA and WHIP- he's had eight wins while Guthrie has turned in an ERA that is .75 points lower and he has just two wins. Britton would make it before Arrieta.

[Guest]

Couple interesting snippets posted on MLBTradeRumors.com today for the O's

MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan looks at some reader suggestions about what the Rangers might do before the trade deadline. Sullivan speculates that the Orioles could be a good trade partner for the Rangers -- Texas wants right-handed relivers (like Jim Johnson or Koji Uehara) and Baltimore could use a first baseman for the future like Chris Davis.

Rosenthal says the Orioles want to discuss an extension with shortstop J.J. Hardy before season's end, and The Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec quotes Andy MacPhail on his aim to start talks before the All-Star break. The 28-year-old Hardy, who is hitting .287/.363/.473 on the season in 147 plate appearances, would be a nice two-year bridge to top prospect Manny Machado. Of course, Hardy's agent at LSW Baseball knows that his client could get more than two years on the open market if his client remains healthy and keeps hitting. If the O's do extend Hardy before July 31st, it will strengthen Sandy Alderson's position if he decides to move Reyes.

[Guest]

Good luck to Connor- he's done a solid job with the pitchers this season, especially Arrieta and Britton. It will be interesting to see who is going to be tapped for next season, but in the meantime, I am sure Adair will fill in fine. Also, welcome back to the major league club to Terry Crowley.

TORONTO (AP)—The Baltimore Orioles say pitching coach Mark Connor has resigned for personal reasons.

Bullpen coach Rick Adair took over for Connor. The Orioles are 30-33 and last in the AL East going into Tuesday night’s game at Toronto.

Longtime Orioles player and coach Terry Crowley will serve as the interim bullpen coach. He had been the organization’s hitting instructor and an evaluator.

The 61-year-old Connor was in his first season as the Orioles’ pitching coach. He spent the previous two years as a special assistant with the Texas Rangers.

Adair came to the Orioles this season after working the last two years as Seattle’s pitching coach.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slu...-connorresigns

[Guest]

Tough loss in extra innings yesterday. Uehara pitched well in the 11th except for giving up a homer to Adam Lind.

At least the Orioles came back from a deficit to get the game into extra innings. JJ Hardy continues to perform well in the lead off spot, and Nick Markakis is having an extremely hot June. Derrek Lee came back from the bereavement list and went 0-4.

[Guest]

Another loss to the Jays 4-1 today- it looks like they have our number this season so far. Jake Arrieta pitched a solid game except for the long ball, and Adam Lind took Clay Rapada deep as well- we really need to get another lefty specialist. Both Rapada and Gonzalez aren't really cutting it right now.

As for the offense, they were at the mercy of Ricky Romero. He struck out 12 in eight innings, and allowed just three hits. They were absolutely terrible today.

[Guest]

Some thoughts from Peter Schmuck in an article today about potential trading possibilities from the Oriole side of things.

Apparently, times flies whether you're having fun or not, because we've almost reached the point in the 2011 season when the Orioles have to start making decisions about 2012.

Sure, it's a little early for that, but when president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail acknowledged on Monday that he will soon initiate negotiations to extend the contract of shortstop J.J. Hardy, it was a signal that the Orioles are starting to fill in some more blanks in the organization's blueprint for the not-to-distant future.

Hardy seems like a no-brainer for a couple of reasons. He is a very good defensive shortstop with some pop in his bat who's just 28, which would make him a very valuable commodity even if he wasn't the ultimate Buck Showalter kind of guy. Who better to bridge the time warp between now and the arrival of projected super prospect Manny Machado?

There are some physical issues to consider, but Hardy still seems to be a solid fit for the next couple of seasons if the club can sign him to a reasonable extension. The rest of the picture is not so clear.

The Orioles signed Vladimir Guerrero to inject some power in the middle of the lineup, but the July 31 deadline for making trades without waivers was always part of the equation. The rationale: If Guerrero delivered and the rest of the team floundered again, he figured to be trade bait to accumulate more of what MacPhail likes to call "inventory."

The same went for Derrek Lee, whose flashy glove continues to be a huge asset to the young Orioles pitching staff, while his bat has yet to make the kind of noise that MacPhail and Showalter hoped would pump up the volume of this quiet offensive team.

There still is more than a month before trade talks get really serious, but neither Guerrero nor Lee has done enough to create real value for the club, so it seems likely that both of them will be here for the remainder of the season. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the front office was probably hoping to have more flexibility going forward.

Guerrero and Lee were classic one-year plug-ins. Hardy and third baseman Mark Reynolds were acquired with the hope that they would be around longer and buy the club time to grow some position players. Turns out, Hardy will probably be the most tradable of the lot for the same reasons that the Orioles should not deal him at the deadline unless he refuses to sign an extension.

There are other Orioles players who will be attractive to contending teams. Pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, despite his deceptively bad won-loss record, would draw a lot of interest if he were made available, and there are people in the Orioles organization who wouldn't mind finding out just what he might bring in return. That possibility, however, became a lot less likely when Brian Matusz looked so lost on Sunday.

The Orioles could also shop reliever Koji Uehara, who has looked very good in a setup role this season, but it's hard to imagine a full-scale fire sale unless the team totally collapses over the next four or five weeks.

That isn't out of the question. The schedule softens a bit after the Orioles get out of Toronto, but the last 17 games before the All-Star break are against AL division leaders (Boston and Texas) or NL teams (Cincinnati, St. Louis and Atlanta) that are right in the thick of their respective division races.

MacPhail has to walk a very fine line here, because the desire to further broaden the organization's talent base may collide with the need to show the fans — and potential free agent targets — that the club continues to move in the right direction. If there is any chance to finish close to or above .500, the Orioles need to do that, even if it means keeping some veteran players around who would otherwise be worth more in conserved payroll and minor league talent.

Certainly, no one views that as a lofty goal, but it has to be more of a consideration than it was when MacPhail unloaded Miguel Tejada last season or Aubrey Huff the year before. The Orioles have hovered just under .500 in spite of a wide variety of setbacks over the first 2 ˝ months of the season, so the front office should not discount the possibility that Showalter will suddenly get them headed north the way he did when he arrived last August.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/o...2968604.column

[killgod]

We may never make the playoffs again, but we'll always be better than Baltimore.

[Leftwich]

Going to the Nats O's game tonight. Hopefully it doesn't get rained out.

[Leftwich]

18 fucking hits and only 4 runs...

[Guest]

18 fucking hits and only 4 runs...

And the Nats got 8 runs and 10 hits.....only for the Orioles. At least Derrek Lee had five hits- its about time for him to start hitting better.

Britton has to thank(?) Reynolds for his throwing error. Only one of four runs were earned.

[Guest]

Looks like yesterday was the last straw for Accardo. He pitched well to start the season, but I think we overworked him early. I hope he can catch on somewhere else.

WASHINGTON (AP)—The Baltimore Orioles have designated right-hander Jeremy Accardo(notes) for assignment and optioned infielder Ryan Adams(notes) to Triple-A Norfolk.

Also on Saturday, the Orioles recalled right-hander Brad Bergesen(notes) from Norfolk and purchased the contract of infielder Blake Davis.

Accardo was the losing pitcher in Friday night’s game against the Washington Nationals. The reliever was 3-3 with a 5.29 ERA in 25 games this season.

Bergesen is expected to pitch out of the bullpen. He played earlier this season with Baltimore, going 1-6 with a 5.36 ERA in 10 appearances, including nine starts.

Davis hit .284 with five home runs and 24 RBIs in 49 games with Norfolk. He has not yet played in the majors.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-oriolesmoves

[Guest]

Great offensive performance against the Pirates last night. Five runs in the first inning, and Jake Arrieta was solid again. I read a good article on the Orioles Insider at the Sun today, and while he is pitching well, he needs to be more aggressive especially with that kind of lead. Jason Berken also pitched well, two hitless innings of relief.

Mark Reynolds had one hit and drew three walks and had an RBI. The top of the order also did well in producing runs, and JJ Hardy had two hits.

I also read that a lot of teams are looking at Jeremy Guthrie, including the Cincinnati Reds. I wouldn't be quick to send Guthrie packing, because he's still under club control and is still our best pitcher.

[NAHSTE]

Who remembers when Nick Markakis was supposed to be good?