[cknox0723]

The Baltimore club plays base ball in a way that would make the purists smile. Simply put, they are flush with many talented pitchers, among them one of my personal favorites of all-time, Mariano Rivera. None of the others are going to make the Hall of Fame, but Erik Bedard looks like a top-of-the-rotation man and there are some nice names in the bunch. Jason "Orange Bere". Rick "Left Bauer". A reliever who would be a non-descript young'un if not for his wonderful name, Jacobo Sequea. The staff finished ninth in the bigs last year with a 3.60 ERA and everyone's returning, so they've got something here.

But they finished under .500 and will likely do so again because they can't hit. Miguel Tejada is the same player you'd expect, but otherwise they have a bunch of one-dimensional players. Walter Young, a first sacker, does merit a mention only because he's a freakin' behemoth at 295 pounds, and last year's first round pick, backstop Joe Carr, is already slated to break camp with the big boys after just one year in pro ball. Unfortunately, it's after a .241/.321/.348 line at AA Bowie, and out of necessity as the backup to Geronimo Gil. Such is life in middle-market Baltimore, who bled cash last year and showed it after this offseason netted them just a pair of minor-leaguers in Blake Hawksworth and our former man, "Gangly Tim" Tisch. That adds up to a very high probability of another sub-.500 season. $10 million contracts, nevermore.