Saving the Orioles (2012-)

[SkyeWalker]

March 27th, 2012

Dynasty Settings:
MLB Quickstart default with some amendments
20-80 Scales for ALL ratings, including overall and potential
Batter Aging Speed: .250
Batter Dev. Speed: 1
Pitcher Aging Speed: .375
Pitcher Dev Speed: .9
Talent Change Randomness: 67
AI Player Evaluation: 40/30/20/10
AI Trading Frequency: Low
Trading Difficulty: High

Orioles owner passes away, son Peter Angelos, Jr. assumes control of team

In a stunning development just one day before the start of the 2012 MLB season, the Baltimore Orioles not only changed owners but general managers as well. Former owner Peter Angelos passed away at the ripe old age of 82, leaving son Peter Angelos, Jr. in charge of the Orioles. The elder Angelos was widely regarded as one of the worst owners in baseball, constantly undermining both his managers and general managers while giving them a tight budget to work with. After mourning the death of his father, the younger Angelos, a rumored baseball fanatic himself, rushed to distance himself from that image by pledging to invest more funds into the team in the hopes of rebuilding the once-proud franchise to its glory days. He also promised to be more tolerant in his management, although he made it clear that he wants results from his front office. Will a new owner be able to reverse 14 years of futility and losing records? Only time will tell if the younger Angelos can live up to his ambitious words.


Peter Angelos, Jr. shocks MLB, names Cal Ripken, Jr. as General Manager!

The younger Angelos proved that he was not one to sit around. Just hours after being named the new owner of the Orioles, he persuaded franchise legend Cal Ripken, Jr. to come aboard his rebuilding project as the new general manager of the team! Ripken, Jr, a 2-time MVP, played his entire 21-year career in Baltimore and is most famous for setting “the most unbreakable record in sports”. He appeared in an astounding 2,632 consecutive games over 17 seasons. The streak ended in 1998, which not-so-coincidentally is also the start of the 14 consecutive losing seasons for the team. While Ripken’s desire to return to the Orioles in a front office position was repeated rebuffed by the elder Angelos, Angelos, Jr. wasted no time in bringing the legend on board as the very first decision he would make as the new owner. Fan interest in the team went through the roof after the announcement, rising from 65 to 75 as there is finally a reason for optimism in a franchise that has been so disappointing for the better part of one and a half decades. Can Ripken actually lead the team back to the glory days? The verdict is still out and there are certainly many critics who question his lack of front office experience. However having a recognizable face leading the franchise has given the fans hope that this time the turnaround can be for real.


New GM Cal Ripken, Jr. addresses expectations and role on team

Freshly minted Orioles general manager addressed the media at a press conference held after his hiring and explained his new role on the team. Ripken will leave most minor league operations to his minor league staff in order to free up more time to focus on the majors, however he stated that he will keep a close eye on his top prospects and manage their progress personally. At the major league level, Ripken will take charge of not only all roster moves and transactions, but also has the final say on all lineups, depth charts and pitching staff! While it is not common for the general manager to take charge of them, Ripken expressed his view that he would be best able to assess his players if he can see to the fact that they are used according to his wishes. He also clarified that he will seek and strongly consider suggestions from his manager Buck Showalter on all decisions. Showalter would be chiefly responsible for in-game management.

Ripken also asked for fans and the ownership to show patience, conceding that the roster needs major retooling before it is ready to contend for a pennant again. He laid out what he labeled as a “3-year plan”. In his plan, he considered the team’s record in 2012 totally irrelevant and the main goal of the season is to develop the team’s young talent and figuring out which ones are worth keeping. He expects some progress in 2013, but maintains that a pennant is unlikely. 2014 is when he really expects the team to break through and contend. Ripken warned of the risks involved in making short-sighted knee-jerk decisions proclaiming boldly that he isn’t building a pennant winning team but rather a dynasty. We would only be able to tell in a few years whether these words are confidence or foolishness.

[SkyeWalker]

Team Evaluations

After taking over the job earlier today, I swiftly got the troublesome job of dealing with the media out of the way and decided to take a quick look at our roster and front office situation. Safe to say I did not really like what I saw! Although with the Orioles being one of the least successful organizations over the last 15 years, that is only to be expected. I knew this would be a tough job when I took over, and I’m certainly not giving up right before I started. Either way here are my reports on the major league roster and other notable minor league players.


Baltimore Orioles Starters

SP Jason Hammel (31/31): Hammel was acquired from the Rockies last offseason after 3 disappointing seasons in Colorado. A below average pitcher that isn’t worth his $4.75m price tag, Hammel is nonetheless the top starting pitching option we have on our staff and will start the season as our #1 starter, which says infinitely more about our staff than his skills. I’m hoping that a move away from the nightmare that is Coors Field can rejuvenate his career, although I’m not placing much faith in a guy with a career ERA of 4.99.

SP Wei-Yin Chen (34/40): A free agent signed from Taiwan this offseason, Chen does not have a single defining skill, but is an all-rounded pitcher that relies on his ability to generate ground balls (60%). Time will tell if his stuff translates from Asia to the major leagues.

SP Brian Matusz (37/50): Once a promising young talent, Matusz was unarguably the worst pitcher in the major leagues last year, posting a horrendous 10.69 (!) ERA in 12 starts. There are no obvious reasons for his sudden decline and he is still only 25 and yet to hit his prime, so there is still hope that he can recover and become the pitcher we once envisioned him to be.

SP Jake Arrieta (25/28): Despite putting up great stats during his minor league career, Arrieta has found the transition to the majors much harder than expected for a former promising prospect. His ERA of 4.88 in 40 starts over the past 2 seasons speaks for itself. He’s only 26, so there may be some room for improvement, though I wouldn’t expect much out of Arrieta myself.

SP Tommy Hunter (24/24): After pitching well in Texas for a few years, Hunter came over to Camden Yards midway through last season and immediately struggled to the tune of a 5.06 ERA over 11 starts. An elevated .316 BABIP may be partially to blame and I’m hoping for some positive regression in his second season in Baltimore. Hunter starts the season as our #5 starter.

SP Tsuyoshi Wada [DL] (46/46): Another offseason import, this time from Japan. Wada projects to be an average starter in the majors, but is currently out for another 3 weeks with a hyperextended elbow. We really need him to produce in order to replace whichever pitcher gets off to a slow start.

SP Zach Britton [DL] (27/43): The groundballer disappointed in his first major league season last year with a 4.61 ERA in 88 starts and I will probably send him down to AAA for some refining when he comes back from his injury in 5 weeks. Britton still has the potential to be a decent major league pitcher someday.

SP Chris Tillman [AAA] (20/25): Another former hot prospect who reached the majors with us at the tender age of 20 in 2009, Tillman has been nothing but a colossal disappointment in his big league career. Over the last 3 seasons, Tillman has a ghastly 5.58 ERA over 36 starts and showed no hints of progress. At this stage, his age (23) and pedigree is the only thing still keeping him on my radar. He starts the season in AAA, but with the sorry state of our pitching it would not be surprising if he was pressed into service soon.

SP Dylan Bundy [Low-A] (20/73): The future of the pitching staff. Bundy is well-rounded pitcher that combines a plus fastball with a plus-plus curve and complementary cutter and changeup that gives him ace potential. Bundy is the #13 prospect in the ML and that only thing working against him is the bizarre problems faced by recent Orioles pitching prospects in their transition to the major leagues. As long as he steers clear of such demons, he should be the leader of our staff for years to come.

SP Ryan Berry [Low-A] (23/74): Our scout likes him a lot, but the OOTP scout isn’t nearly as high on him and doesn’t grade him as major league material. Berry has good movement on his pitches and can throw 5 pitches effectively. His velocity is mediocre, topping out at 90 Mph, but he survives by missing bats and generating a ton of groundballs (67%).

SP Parker Birdwell [R] (20/22): Our scout doesn’t think Birdwell has a future in the majors and he was terrible in Low-A last year but BNN has Birdwell ranked the 4th best prospect in our organization, so he can’t be as bad as our scout gives him credit for. Still it would surprise me if Birdwell ever makes the major leagues.


Baltimore Orioles Relievers

CL Jim Johnson (52/53): Johnson was highly effective out of our bullpen last season with a 2.67 ERA in 91 innings and will hold on to the closer role he earned late last season. Although he lacks the pedigree and strikeout rates of elite closers, Johnson has proved that he can be effective and I expect him to continue to perform. His dirt-cheap contract of $975,000 helps too.

MR Kevin Gregg (29/29): Age has caught up with Gregg and he lost his closer job to Johnson midseason last year and it was his control that really hurt him (40 BB in 59.2 IP). He is earning $5.8m this year but thankfully has no chance of reaching 60 GF for his vesting option next season. If he can solve his control problems, he still has great stuff for a reliever. Gregg will start the season as our primary setup man.

MR Matt Lindstrom (50/50): Lindstrom was surprisingly effective in the hellhole known as Coors Field last season but his track record pre-2010 is spotty at best. He will have to continue his 2010 form for me to pick up his $4m option for 2012. He serves as our secondary setup man to Johnson.

MR Luis Ayala (40/40): Ayala was tremendous out of the bullpen for the Yankees last year with a 2.09 ERA in 56.0 IP but got little interest in the offseason, allowing us to swoop him up for a salary just under $1m. He will be a real steal if he can replicate his performance from last year.

MR Pedro Strop (74/79): No, Strop is definitely not as good as our scout thinks he is, after all just last season he spent the majority of his time in AAA. He did however perform well after being called up for both the Rangers and us so he might just become a useful part of our bullpen.

MR Troy Patton (22/23): The only southpaw in our pen, Patton will be our LOOGY. Patton’s 3.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP last year with great stats in the minors prior to being called up. A converted starter, Patton has been surprisingly effective as a reliever and I’m hoping that last season was no fluke.

CL Daniel Klein [AAA] (42/63): Klein dominated in High-A and AA last year and both our scout and the OOTP scout are practically drooling over his ability to throw 4 pitches well out of the pen. He may well be major league ready but we will keep him at AAA for now as he is still on a minor league contract.

Zachary Phillips [AAA] (20/20): Phillips has poor ratings but pitched well in short stints at AAA and the major league for us last year, although his poor track record suggests that the brief success may be due to a small sample size. Still, he is notable as he is our second most viable southpaw reliever, even if he isn’t a particularly effective one.


Orioles Catchers

C Matt Wieters (58/66): A potential golden glove catcher who is nearly flawless defensively. Wieters dominated minor league pitching with his switch hitting swing but did not found major league pitchers nearly as easy to crack. However he has shown improvements in 2011 and we are expecting big things out of him this year. If his bat rounds out as well as I think it can, Wieters can become a perennial all-star.

C Ronny Paulino (34/34): Paulino is a capable backup catcher who is good defensively but mediocre with his bat. Still, a very serviceable backup catcher.

C Taylor Teagarden [DL] (71/80): Our scout must not have been wearing his glasses when evaluating Teagarden. A career backup catcher with a .220 average, Teagarden is another serviceable backup on our roster. He is current out for another 2 weeks, but when he returns, I will likely unload one of my backup catchers to improve my depth at other positions as neither projects to see much time behind Wieters.


Orioles Infielders

SS J.J. Hardy (63/63): Hardy really broke onto the scene last season by hitting 30 homers from the shortstop position and was only of the most productive SS in the league, both offensively and defensively. He does not have a history of hitting for power, so there is danger of some regression in that area. However if he can replicate the performance from last season, he will be on the very short list of elite shortstops in the league.

1B Chris Davis (69/80): Another player our scout is illogically high on. Davis had a poor .708 OPS last year for a first baseman and is only a mediocre fielder. He is young though, so there is hope for some improvement.

3B Mark Reynolds (21/21): One of the most polarizing players in baseball, our scout obviously hates him. Reynolds belted 37 homers last year, but with a .221 AVG, struck out 196 times and abominable defense at third base. The 196 strikeouts was actually a 4-year best! Reynolds is truly an all-or-nothing hitter and I wouldn’t be surprised if he hit 40 home runs this season (like he did in 2009) or hit under the Mendoza line (like he did in 2010). His $11m team option for 2013 depends on it. One thing is for certain, with regular playing time, Reynolds is going to threaten 200 strikeouts yet again. He will most likely start the season as our DH to hide his inept glove.

2B Robert Andino (44/44): Most famous for assassinating the Red Sox’s season last year, Andino is a quality fielder who is not as proficient at the plate. Second base actually belongs to incumbent Brian Roberts, but he is currently injured and with his injury history, I would not be surprised if Andino gets the majority of the at-bats at the position again this season.

3B Wilson Betemit (42/42): Betemit could always hit well, it is his glove that has hindered him in the past. This season Betemit will likely start for us at third base instead of DH as the alternative is another defensive butcher Mark Reynolds. I am not happy about the state of our infield defense this year, but we have more pressing issues on our roster to address.

2B Matt Antonelli (37/40): Antonelli can play a decent second base, but has no experience at shortstop and leaves us without a proper backup there. Antonelli is a career minor leaguer who is probably not as good as our scout thinks and is mostly on our roster for depth.

1B Nick Johnson (23/23): Once an OBP menace, Johnson’s career is soon coming to a close and he isn’t the player he once was. He will spend his time spelling Davis and I would be happy as long as he can get on base often enough for us.

2B Brian Roberts [DL] (58/58): Roberts was once one of the better second baseman in the league, but concussion related injuries over the past 2 years have cost him significant time and hindered him even when he was able to take to the field. He is out for another 2 months and even then it is no certainty that he will remain the player he was before his injuries. Owed $10m this season and the next, his hefty salary will be next to impossible to move due to the no-trade clause in his contract.

SS Manny Machado [AA] (21/80): The #10 prospect in the ML, Machado is a sleek fielding shortstop with big power potential in his bat. If all breaks well for him, Machado can well be the second coming of Troy Tulowitzki. He may well see some time in the majors late this season if he handles AA and AAA pitching well. Although incumbent SS J.J. Hardy is a quality player as well, I am keeping Machado at SS for now. There is always a market for quality shortstops.

2B Jonathan Schoop [High-A] (21/63): Schoop projects to be a good all-round middle infielder in the majors but is still a few years away from being major-league ready. He is the #92nd prospect in the ML.

3B Jason Exposito [Low-A] (21/44): He is a well-rounded third baseman who is nothing special, but is listed as the #170th prospect in the ML.

3B Nicky Delmonico [R] (21/80): Our scout loves him and thinks he can become a dominating hitter, but he is likely a little overrated. Still he comes in as the #191st prospect in the ML.


Baltimore Orioles Outfielders

LF Nolan Reimold (69/69): After flashing some potential as a part-time player the last 3 years, Reimold is finally ready to take over the LF position full-time this year and both my scout and I expect nothing but great things from him. He may not be the most capable fielder, but his bat is nothing to scoff at and he will be a middle-of-the-lineup threat.

CF Adam Jones (51/62): Once regarded the future of the franchise, Jones’ production has stagnated for 3 years in a row after putting up good numbers for a 23 year-old in 2009. However he still has some potential left in him and should be entering the prime of his career. He was awarded a $6.15m salary in arbitration last year and I will be looking to lock him up with a long-term extension before we go to arbitration hearings again next offseason.

RF Nick Markakis (46/48): Another once promising youngster who has inexplicably regressed after superb seasons in 2007 and 2008. Maybe it’s the weight of his 2009 contract extension weighing him down and causing him to press more than he should? Whatever the reason, he is guaranteed $42m over the next 3 years without even factoring in the buyout for the 4th year and that is certainly more than I am willing to pay for a middling outfielder. I will be looking to offload his massive salary throughout the season to a contending team in need of outfield help and believes that all he needs to rediscover his past form is a change of scenery.

CF Jai Miller (28/28): Miller showed good pop in AAA last year, belting 32 homers in 410 plate appearances last year, although his 179 strikeouts there leaves much to be desired. Still, Miller plays both center field and right field competently and is a useful 4th outfielder.
LF Endy Chavez (23/23): Chavez plays golden glove caliber defense in left field and can fill in at right or center when needed as well. His isn’t known for his bat, but he did managed a .301 AVG in spot appearances for the Rangers last year. Chavez is a capable 5th outfielder for us, although we may choose to offload him and his $1.5m salary to a contender if we are out of the running before the trading deadline.

RF Jamie Hoffman [AAA] (38/40): Hoffman has played well in AAA the last couple of years but did not get many opportunities in the majors to showcase his well-rounded swing. He also plays a masterful right field and is a really useful contingency plan waiting in the minors, especially as he is on a minor league contract.

LF L.J. Hoes [High-A] (21/49): A converted second baseman, Hoes will be a better fielder in left field. His bat is nothing to boast about, but can develop enough to make him a useful defensive outfielder in the majors some day.


Baltimore Orioles Front Office

Finances: Our new owner Peter Angelos, Jr. is much, much more fiscally generous than his penny-pinching father. While he is still pretty demanding in his management style, he still represents a huge improvement over his father’s quick trigger ways that has alienated many managers over his tenure. Our $115m budget this season ranks 20th, but with the new ownership and increased fan interest from my hiring as general manager, the budget is project to rise to $118m next season, plus Angelos, Jr. has hinted as a cash injection from his own wallet. However even with that increase, we would not have much budget room next offseason unless we void the expensive options of players such as Mark Reynolds and Matt Lindstrom. With even more limited wiggle room under our budget this season, I would most likely not pursue much veteran help for my young rebuilding team unless I can offload some salary first.

Scouting and Player Development: Our scout Gary Rajsich specializes in amateur and international scouting but is merely good at scouting the major and minor leagues. To take advantage of that, I have given him a full $4.8m to spend on international scouting, while just $3.2m of the $8m scouting budget will go to national scouting. Our player development budget of $8m is middle of the pack and I’m hoping that’s enough for our top prospects, Manny Machado and Dylan Bundy to achieve their superstar potentials.

Personnel: Manager Buck Showalter is one of the better ones in the business, and he will be backed up by excellent pitching coach Rick Adair and hitting coach Jim Presley. Our trainer Richard Bancells’ contract expires this season, and I will most likely be looking for a trainer who specializes in arms healing rather than back healing next. Bench coach John Russell contributes little to the staff and I may reassign him and look for a replacement, though it is certainly not a pressing need.

[SkyeWalker]

March 29th, 2012

Orioles send Markakis, Hunter to Angels for Peter Bourjos!

I didn’t waste any time kicking off my rebuilding project as I sent one of the most recognizable faces of the franchise packing on just my third day on the job! Nick Markakis was on the tabs for $12m this season and $15m for the next two after signing a lucrative extension in 2009, but he has not played up to the great expectations that we had of him. After posting a .897 OPS in 2008 as a 24 year-old, he only managed .801, .805 and .756 over the last 3 seasons respectively and has not earned his massive salary. With the state of our financials, I decided that we could not afford to keep him on his roster to find out if he can turn his career around. I initially offered Markakis to the Giants for Melky Cabrera, but they would have none of it! I then turned to the Angels as I knew they had significant budget room even after the offseason acquisitions of Pujols and Wilson. The Angels were weak at the corner outfield spots but a surplus in center field with top prospect Mike Trout bearing down on the incumbent Peter Bourjos. With their unwillingness to move Trout away from his preferred center field position, Bourjos was projected to start the season on the bench and was not an integral part of their plans moving forward. They pushed for me to include Tommy Hunter in the deal to shore up their weakness at the #5 starter spot and I quickly agreed because a trade should never be held up by a journeyman starter with limited effectiveness.

To be honest, I really believe I pulled one over my Angels counterpart in this deal! I was mostly trying to offload salary by trading Markakis and never thought I would be able to get a top-notch talent in return, which is what my scout and I view Bourjos as. Even without considering the $11.5m salary difference this year, I would see Bourjos at least as an equal to Markakis and Bourjos has much more potential left in him. Whoever takes on Markakis is also going to shoulder a significant amount of risk with his contract running for 2 more years after this season but I guess when you have a $200m budget, you can afford the risk. Still I’m ecstatic that I was able to dump salary while upgrading my team in one deal!


Player Profile

Peter Bourjos (63/72): Bourjos broke through in a big way last season, putting on 12 HRs, 22 SB with a .271 AVG last season along with being arguably the best defensive outfielder in the entire major league. Bourjos’ range in the outfield is amazing and he makes many breathtaking plays by covering an unbelievable amount of ground before the ball drops. He is also one of speediest players on the basepaths and his steals total should rise as his instincts get better. His bat is also improving as he showed flashes of power potential last season that most scout didn’t believe he had in him. The best part is that Bourjos is only 24 with much room to grow! If everything breaks well for him, he could be a potential 20-40 every year with golden-glove defense in center field. And even if he doesn’t improve much, he projects to be an average bat, above average baserunner and top caliber defender at his position.

[SkyeWalker]

April 1st, 2012

Play Ball! MLB Season about to get on the way!

My dynasty report will be a monthly (game-time that is) one. I won’t play out any regular season games myself, but I will check the box score daily for any interesting trends or tidbits from the games. At the start of every month, I will present one report summarizing all that has happened in the month, namely hot and cold players, team transactions and news, the progress of my prospects and other notable happenings around the league. For this month though, I’ve only been on this job for half a week and there isn’t much going on around the league yet unless you’re a Mariners or Athletics fan, so instead I will do an evaluation of our opening day lineup, pitching staff and preseason predictions.


Pitching



Our starting rotation was horrific even more the trade of Hunter and after the trade… well it couldn’t have gotten much worse anyway. None of our 5 starters even projects to be an average one in the majors. Looks like our bullpen may become really overworked this year, and it is a merely average bullpen to start with. Run-prevention figures to be one of major issues we will face this year.


Lineup



The lineup is much more promising than our pitching staff with Reimold, Bourjos, Hardy, Jones and Wieters all being above average players at their respective positions. One notable change is with the acquisition of Bourjos, Adam Jones will start the season in RF. Although he is rated only 35 there, this is mostly due to a lack of experience as Jones is a capable center fielder who should only be more comfortable in right with time thanks to his cannon of an arm (75 rated). Defense looks like it might be a problem throughout the season as although we are strong down the middle, the corner infield and corner spots are very suspect defensively, especially Betemit at third base.


Preseason Predictions



Wow that projection is downright ugly! BNN expects us to finish last in the American League by a full 6 games. That’s terrible even though we play in the ultra-competitive AL East. We are expected to have an astonishingly bad 5.10 ERA and allow 80 more runs than the next worst team. Although I am not that concerned about what our record will be like this year and a poor finish would only give us a better draft pick next season, I do not support tanking and I will be looking for ways to improve the team. Our new owner Peter Angelos, Jr. wants the team to play close to .500 ball and while that may be slightly optimistic, we will not finish last in the AL (modest expectations I know).


Orioles News and Transactions

Pending offer for SP Roy Oswalt (61/61) at $5m this year with a $6m team option for 2013. While I said earlier that I was not planning to pursue veteran help, The Markakis trade has freed up significant salary and allowed me to make a run at Oswalt. Besides have you seen the preseason prediction? Just ghastly. Besides I pushed for a team option for 2013 so if he performs well, he will be around for the start of our turnaround next year as well, at a very affordable price too! We are offering Oswalt the chance to be the leader of a staff once again and he favors our offer at the moment.

Pending offer for MR Hong-Chih Kuo (59/59) at $680,000 this year. Kuo was one of the most dominant relievers in the game in 2010 but his production fell off last year after some injury problems. Still, should he rediscover even a glimpse of his 2010 form, this deal would be a true steal! His stuff is still elite but he has significant control problems that he will need to work around to be an effective option out of the bullpen again. The fact that he is a southpaw also helps as incumbent LOOGY Troy Patton is far from an ideal option. A low-risk-high-reward deal. He favors our offer at the moment.

Waiver claim for SS Omar Vizquel (36/36) processing. We need another option for our infield and the evergreen Vizquel’s an ideal candidate for us with his ability to both provide depth in our middle infield as well as seeing time as a defensive replacement at third base. He is also a true clubhouse leader and should be a positive influence on my youngsters. I considered picking up 2B Omar Infante instead who can start at 2B for us right away, but with Brian Roberts coming back in 2 months, I’m not confident I can move Infante’s $2.5m salary after his return. Vizquel is on a minimum contract and his defense is also more of a weakness of ours. Infante is the better player and I would be surprised if he is unclaimed, but we need Vizquel more.

[yougo1000]

How did the NL show up in the preseason rankings?

[SkyeWalker]

Surprising to see BNN like the Padres so much. And just wow at the Astros.

[SkyeWalker]

May 1st, 2012

Surprising Orioles second in AL East, leads Wild Card race!

Hot Players in April

CF Peter Bourjos: 94 AB, .394 AVG, 1.020 OPS, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 18 R, 6 SB, 1.8 WAR; Just wow. Bourjos leads the AL in batting average and WAR after a torrid start to his Orioles career. Meanwhile Markakis currently spots a .781 OPS for the Angels of Anaheim. This deal is looking more and more like a heist every passing day.

3B Wilson Betemit: 71 AB, .282 AVG, .890 OPS, 5 HR, 12 RBI; Though his defense at third is atrocious, Betemit has been contributing with his bat so far and would need to continue to justify playing him at 3B.

LF Nolan Reimold: 83 AB, .277 AVG, .885 OPS, 6 HR, 13 RBI; Reimold has hit for power well as expected.

SP Brian Matusz: 5 GS, 4-1, 34.1 IP, 34.1 IP, 2.88 ERA, 1.28 WHIP; Although his FIP of 3.72 suggests possible regression, I’m glad Matusz has gotten off to a good start this year and he really needs a confidence boost.

SP Chris Tillman: 4 GS, 2-1, 25.2 IP, 2.45 ERA, 1.25 WHIP; His FIP of 4.64 and BABIP of .257 indicates that Tillman has gotten really lucky so far, but he was flat out dominating his first three starts, going more than 7 innings each time out without giving up more than 2 runs. He came back to earth in his 4th start, but has certainly outperformed expectations so far


Cold Players in April

3B Mark Reynolds: 84 AB, .155 AVG, .586 OPS, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 30 SO; Looks like our scout’s worst fears and coming true, Reynolds has really struggled out of the gates. The stats speak for themselves and he better turn it around quick or he will be benched

SP Jake Arrieta [AAA]: 4 GS, 1-2, 21.1 IP, 7.17 ERA, 1.73 WHIP; Arrieta struggled to start the season and will try to regain his form in AAA after making way for Wada in the starting rotation.


Orioles News and Transactions

SP Roy Oswalt went to Philly instead for an offer of $5.42m. My maximum offer was $5.5m with an identical $5.5m option for 2013, but Oswalt wanted to play for a contender and would not sign with us unless we significantly increased our offer beyond what I was comfortable with. Besides Oswalt is a luxury, not a need, in our rebuilding project, so I decided to let him go. He has played well with the Phillies this season though, so I may yet regret not trumping their offer

MR Hong-Chih Kuo signed for 1-year, $680,000.

SS Omar Vizquel claim executed successfully. In addition to boosting our fan interest that suffered after the Markakis trade, Vizquel has filled in well at second base after Andino’s injury. A shrewd move to claim him if I say so myself.

C Taylor Teagarden was sent on a 20-day rehab assignment to the minors after his return from the DL, but when the stint expired and he did not perform sufficiently well to warrant a place on the active roster, I had to either shop him or risk losing him for nothing by waiving him as he had no options left. I chose the former and managed to negotiate a deal with Seattle for LF Michael Saunders. Saunders is a defensively outstanding left fielder with good speed, but his bat leaves much to be desired. With Endy Chavez’s contract expiring this offseason, Saunders will spend this year at AAA Norfolk and should be a good defensive outfielder for us next season.

CF Adam Jones was tendered a 4-year extension worth $31m that will buy out his final arbitration eligible year and first 3 years of free agency. The deal will take him through his age 31 season and starts at $4m next year before escalating to $8, $9 and $10m the last 3 years. Jones has played below expectations this year despite a career best .290 AVG as he has yet to hit for power and is walking significantly less. Despite his .710 OPS this year, I see him as a cornerstone of the franchise and took advantage of his slump to negotiate a contract below market value for him. His arbitration estimate of $7.7m is roughly equal to his average salary over the deal, and he would definitely command more on the open market after next season.

C Matt Wieters was also tendered a 4-year extension that will buy out his 4 remaining arbitration eligible season. The deal starts at $6m and will increase by $0.5m each year throughout the duration of the deal. I belive Wieters is a future all-star whose stock is on the rise. His arbitration estimate for next season is same as the $6m we offered him and the value should increase as his bat develops further. He has a robust .329 AVG this season, but has not shown the power that we saw developing last year. I expect the power to come shortly and this deal would be a steal in that scenario.

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SP Tsuyoshi Wada returned from the DL and made two decent starts during his rehab assignment at Norfolk. He has been recalled to the active roster to replace the struggling SP Jake Arrieta.

SP Zach Britton returned from DL and is on a rehab assignment to Norfolk as well. He faltered in his first rehab appearance, giving up 4 runs and not getting out of the first inning, so the injury might still be bothering him.

1B Nick Johnson and 2B Matt Antonelli were demoted to make room for new acquisitions Hong-Chih Kuo and Omar Vizquel.

2B Robert Andino is expected to miss 5 weeks with a sprained elbow.


Prospect Watch

SP Dylan Bundy [Low-A]: 5 GS, 2-0, 34.1 IP, 2.62 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 30 K; Bundy has started the season on a tear and I am about to move him to High-A Frederick. He is now the #11 prospect in the ML

SS Manny Machado [AA]: 103 AB, .301 AVG, .946 OPS, 7 HR, 21 RBI; Machado’s stats are good enough to warrant a promotion to AAA, but he started the season red-hot before fading a bit lately and I fear that promoting him now would put him in a slump. If he goes on a roll again, he would be in Norfolk before long. For now, he is the #6 prospect in the ML.

2B Jonathan Schoop [AA]: 65 AB, .400 AVG, 1.035 OPS, 3 HR, 12 RBI; These stats were collected in High-A before he was promoted to AA Bowie. Unfortunately he missed a week right after his promotion with a sore back and has yet to finish a game in AA. I will check on his adjustment to AA next month.

LF L.J. Hoes [AA]: 66 AB, .424 AVG, 1.152 OPS, 3 HR, 12 RBI; His numbers were also collect in High-A and are even more gaudy than Schoop’s. Unfortunately he also suffered an injury right after his promotion and is out for 2 weeks. He may be sent back to High-A to regain his form first upon returning from injury.

CL Daniel Klein [AAA]: 10 G, 1-3, 4 SV, 7.36 ERA; Klein has really disappointed for someone I considered our most major league ready prospect. He is quickly sliding down our organizational prospect rankings and must turn things around soon.


Around the League



AL Batter of the Month: Justin Smoak (SEA): .352 AVG, 7 HR, 23 RBI
NL Batter of the Month: Giancarlo Stanton (MIA): .296 AVG, 7 HR, 24 RBI, 12 BB
AL Pitcher of the Month: C.C. Sabathia (NYA): 5 GS, 5-0, 0.88 ERA
NL Pitcher of the Month: Roy Halladay (PHI): 6 GS, 4-1, 1.84 ERA
AL Rookie of the Month: Brandon Guyer (TBR): .340 AVG, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 3 SB
NL Rookie of the Month: Zack Cozart (CIN): .257 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI

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All star SS Troy Tulowitzki (COL) to miss 7 months with a torn ACL, out for the season
SP Anibal Sanchez (MIA) to miss 9-10 months with a torn elbow ligament


Monthly Review

Record: 14-9, .609, 1 GB – 2nd

Not bad for a team widely regarded as "the worst in the league”. We raced out of the gates with a 5-0 start, but many skeptics dismissed the team after we were drubbed 12-0 in our 6th outing by the Yankees and C.C Sabathia. We dropped to 7-6 at one point, but was never at .500 and a couple of good results recently has gotten us right back in the chase for not only a wild card spot but the pennant as well. We rank slightly above average both offensively (expected) and defensively (totally surprising). I think the offense has room to improve with Adam Jones and Matt Wieters yet to hit for power and Matt Reynolds yet to hit anything, but the pitching staff can’t possibly keep this up for long. Other than closer Jim Johnson, no other pitcher on our staff has a FIP under 3.72 and that screams regression. That will need to improve for us to stay in the playoff hunt.



NOTE: This is the format that I will present my dynasty every month, other than special events (eg. Major FA signings, Draft Day etc). Is there anything else I should add or change with my presentation?

[SkyeWalker]

June 1st, 2012

Regression? Orioles fades toward .500 and 2 GB of WC spot

Hot Players in May

SS J.J. Hardy: 101 AB, .327 AVG, .919 OPS, 5 HR, 18 RBI, 16 R; Hardy was hot this month and even picked up a Player of the Week award for his efforts.

CF Jai Miller: 52 AB, .346 AVG, .955 OPS, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 4 SB; Miller helped us weather the loss of Bourjos for 2 weeks by putting up big numbers in his absence. He was not as effective when moved to right after Bourjos’ return, but will need to perform there with Adam Jones out for more than a month.

MR Kevin Gregg: 12.1 IP, 0.73 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 23 K; One of the few bright spots in our bullpen last month.


Cold Players in May

MR Hong-Chih Kuo: 7.1 IP, 12.27 ERA, 2.59 WHIP; Needless to say, Kuo has lost his setup job and now pitches at the end of our very poor bullpen.

MR Troy Patton: 14.0 IP, 7.07 ERA, 1.93 WHIP

MR Luis Ayala: 12.1 IP, 6.57 ERA, 2.11 WHIP

SP Jason Hammel: 6 GS, 1-5, 36.2 IP, 7.85 ERA, 1.77 WHIP; Just ugly, he will be demoted when Tillman returns this week

SP Tsuyoshi Wada: 5 GS, 2-2, 28.0 IP, 6.43 ERA, 1.36 WHIP; At least his WHIP suggests that he might have some room for improvement

3B Mark Reynolds: 91 AB, .187 AVG, 7 HR, 12 RBI, 28 SO; The power is there, but he just isn’t making enough contact with the ball.

SS Omar Vizquel: 76 AB, .184 AVG, .449 OPS, 3 RBI; Has age finally caught up with Vizquel? Seems like it


Orioles News and Transactions

C Matt Wieters and CF Adam Jones both agreed to their respective extensions that would ensure that they stay at Camden Yards for at least the next 4 years. I see both as long-term building blocks of the franchise and am delighted to lock them up while they are still affordable for the team. Fan interest increased with the release of the news.

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2B Brian Roberts sent on rehab assignment to AAA as he attempts to make his way back from concussion related problems over the past 2 years.

CF Peter Bourjos had his MVP caliber start to the season interrupted when he missed 2 weeks with back spasms during the month.

SP Chris Tillman out for 2 weeks with an oblique strain. He is replaced on the active roster by SP Zach Britton, who is returning from a minor league rehab stint.

2B Robert Andino returns to the active roster after missing a month with a sprained elbow.

CF Adam Jones strains his oblique and will miss 6 weeks. This is a big blow for us as Jones was just starting to rediscover his power and had just signed a 4-year extension with the club. We will give him ample time to recover so as not to compromise our long-term investment in him.

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3B Mark Reynolds smashes 3 home runs in an 8-9 loss to Toronto on 15th May. I hoped this burst of power would signify a return to form for Reynolds, but he continued to struggle in May, hitting .187 for the month.

SP Brian Matusz shut out the Kansas City Royals in a 4-0 win on 17th May, giving up 6 hits with no walks and 7 strkeouts

SS J.J. Hardy was named the AL Player of the Week on 21st May after going 12-28 (.429) with 3 home runs and 8 RBIs in the week.


Prospect Watch

SP Dylan Bundy [High-A]: 7 GS, 2-2, 39.0 IP, 4.38 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 42 K; Bundy’s ERA might have risen with his promotion to High-A, but his peripherals are similar and I would chalk it up to bad luck more than anything else. Bundy is still among the hottest pitching prospects in the game.

SS Manny Machado [AAA]: 54 AB, .315 AVG, .883 OPS, 2 HR, 11 RBI; Machado was promoted to AAA mid-May after continuing to bash AA pitching. So far, he has acquainted himself well in AAA and he would likely see time in the big leagues as a September call up, if not sooner.

2B Jonathan Schoop [AA]: 96 AB, .250 AVG, .738 OPS, 4 HR, 24 RBI; Schoop did not find AA pitching nearly as easy to hit as High-A, but he continues to hit for power and drive in runs. The average will rise, just give him time.

LF L.J. Hoes [AA]: 54 AB, .222 AVG, .657 OPS, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Hoes has hit a wall in AA, but I am keeping him there for now and giving him some time to figure things out

CL Daniel Klein [AAA]: 15 G, 0-3, 6 SV, 4.96 ERA; He wasn’t as bad as he was in April, but still not good. With the sorry state of our major league bullpen, Klein just needs to be decent to earn his call up, unfortunately, he has been less than that in AAA this season.


Around the League



AL Batter of the Month: Michael Young (TEX): .371 AVG, 7 HR, 21 RBI
NL Batter of the Month: Carlos Gonzalez (COL): .339 AVG, 11 HR, 26 RBI
AL Pitcher of the Month: Jeremy Hellickson (TBR): 6 GS, 5-0, 1.66 ERA
NL Pitcher of the Month: Rafael Betancourt (COL): 16.2 IP, 5-1, 7 SV, 3.24 ERA, 25 SO
AL Rookie of the Month: Brad Peacock (OAK): 6 GS, 4-0, 1.85 ERA
NL Rookie of the Month: Zack Cozart (CIN): .250 AVG, 2 HR, 9 RBI

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SS Jimmy Rollins (PHI) out for the season, to miss at least 10 months with a concussion
3B Ryan Zimmerman (WAS) out 7-8 months with a broken kneecap

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SP Roy Oswalt signs 2-year, $25m extension with Phillies
Former MVP CF Josh Hamilton signs 1-year, $16m extension with Rangers
1B Nick Swisher signs 5-year, $60m extension with Yankees


Monthly Review

Record: 26-25 (12-16), .509, 6 GB – 3nd

I’m not going to admit that the skeptics are right just yet. Whichever way you look at it, we are still over .500 even coming off a bad month, which is far better than just about any “expert” had expected. We are also only 2 GB in the wild card race, so I’m still looking to make some moves that will allow us to sneak into the playoffs. What really concerns me is that my worst fears about our pitching staff have come true as we are now 13th in run against in the AL. In a 3-game series with Tampa Bay, we lost by scorelines of 4-9, 3-12 and 3-11. Just terrible run prevention on our part. The fielders have not helped either as our poor defense at the corners is beginning to catch up to us. I may be grasping at straws here, but most of our pitchers had a higher ERA than FIP, so some of the poor performance can be attributed to bad luck. Whatever the cause though, I got to find a way to improve the staff, and soon.

[SkyeWalker]

Welcome to the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft!

First Round, 4th Overall: SP Sloan Jackson (53/80); Bonus Demand: $3,000,000/Normal



We wanted to go with a pitcher with our first pick and there were a plethora of options available with the 2012 Draft being pitching heavy at the top. Once we assessed all the candidates however, there was no doubt that Jackson’s skill set and potential is off-the-charts! Our scout believes that Jackson has not 2, not 3, but FOUR elite pitches that he can throw at the major league level. Combine that with a 96-98 Mph velocity, pinpoint control and a 56% groundball rate, not many hitters will be able to get a hit off Jackson. However, other teams are not as high on Jackson as we are. BNN did not rank him amongst the top 10 names in their pre-draft report, although he was named one of the top 10 players available in its initial report a month ago when the draft pool was revealed. They may be concerned over Jackson’s lack of stamina for a starting pitcher. While I agree that the concern is legitimate, I’m not overly bothered by it as Jackson did average almost 7 innings a start while facing great competition at college in Arizona State and maintained a 2.27 ERA. Our scout also views Sloan as the most major league ready prospect in the draft, and I would not be at all surprised if he reaches the majors this year as a September call up.

Second Round, 34th Overall: LF Ruben Aguilar (20/75); Bonus Demand: $1,400,000/Ex. Hard
After patching our pitching need in the first round, we wanted to go with the best player available here. Aguilar is a mediocre fielder at the corner outfield spots, but has a very well-rounded bat and does not strike out often. In fact, he posted a 16 BB – 2K ratio ratio in high school while hitting .565 with a 1.578 OPS. He isn’t a big home run hitter now, but does have some power potential. Aguilar should find a spot in our lineup in a few years, whether at RF or DH remains to be seen. Aguilar is intelligent and our scout projects him to be capable of being a .290/.370/.460 hitter.

Third Round, 64th Overall: C Mike Zunino (21/65); Bonus Demand: $1,100,000/Ex. Hard
This may seem like a weird pick right after giving Matt Wieters an extension and labelling him a franchise catcher, but we really believe that Zunino is the best player left on the board. There is always a scarcity of catchers in the ML and it would be an enviable luxury when trading if we manage to get 2 of the best in the game, which is what Zunino has the potential to be. He is well-rounded both offensively and defensive without many holes in his game. All he needs now is time to develop.

Fourth Round, 94th Overall, CL Zachary Osborne (65/78); Bonus Demand: Slot/Normal
Osborne is one of the top relievers in the draft with a devastating fastball-splitter combination. Our scout already gives him an 80 for his stuff rating, not potential! Great movement on his pitches have given him a 73% groundball rate to match his scorching 99 Mph velocity. His issues lie with his poor control. While he isn’t projected to ever be able to limit his walks, he is one of the rare pitches who has the pure stuff necessary to get himself out of jams. He is another of our draftees who is close to being major league ready and could see time at the end of the year.

Fifth Round, 124th Overall, CF Joseph Tyler (21/79); Bonus Demand: Slot/Easy
Tyler is a speedy defensive specialist who also has enough in his bat to be a threat. His biggest offensive strength lies in his strong gap power, which combined with his speed makes him an extra-base-hit machine. A demon on the basepaths, I expect him to be a defensive replacement for us in a few years at the very least, and an all-star if all breaks well for him.

[Galeg]

I like the format. Only thing I could suggest talking more about is who you might be trying to shop or potential trade deals.

[SkyeWalker]

Thanks for the feedback!

I don't have anyone I would like to shop for the moment (I'm at the end of June now, but I haven't done up the report for June yet). The problem lies mostly with injuries. We suffered a few more in June to our starting players, really decimating our depth which was pretty bad to begin with. We are still in contention for a wild card spot, so I can't deal away some veterans on moderate contracts that are performing well (eg. Gregg, Lindstrom).

While I would like to acquire some veteran help to aid our playoff rush, namely both a top caliber starting pitcher and a durable reliever that can soak up many innings in place of our underperforming middle relievers. However with our lack of depth, we don't really have any desirable assets that we can use in a trade. I would not part with any top prospects in a deal as I still consider rebuilding the team my top priority. I got a three-year plan and I plan to stick with it instead of rushing the team before its ready. What I do have is budget room so the only players I can target are overpaid veterans, although I do not want to take on any salary beyond this season because I intend to be active in the free agent market this offseason. So to recap the only players I'm interested in are overpaid veteran pitchers on expiring deals, and there aren't many of those around. While this may seem too restrictive, I'm happy with the state of our progress so far and do not see a need to make any significant additions to our roster at the moment.

[SkyeWalker]

July 1st, 2012

Resilient Orioles stay 2 GB in wild card race!

Hot Players in June

SP Wei-Yin Chen: 6 GS, 3-3, 43.2 IP, 2.47 ERA, 1.24 WHIP; His peripherals are just average, but I certainly can’t argue with the results

CF Peter Bourjos: 108 AB, .278 AVG, .808 OPS, 5 HR, 10 RBI, 9 SB; His average is falling after starting off the season in the 400s, but he is still hitting home runs and started stealing bases at a superb clip in June


Cold Players in June

SP Chris Tillman: 5 GS, 1-4, 30.1 IP, 5.93 ERA, 1.68 WHIP; This is a very worrying development. Tillman surprised us with a great start to the season, but really struggled coming off his DL stint and we had to demote him to AA in an attempt to get him to regain his touch. He pitched well in 2 outings in AA and has been promoted to AAA. If he can prove that his early season form was not a fluke, he should be back with the Orioles before long.

SP Zach Britton: 5 GS, 2-2, 30.0 IP, 5.10 ERA, 1.47 WHIP

LF Jamie Hoffman: 59 AB, .220 AVG, .527 OPS, 9 RBI

CF Jai Miller: 50 AB, .200 AVG, .502 OPS, 2 RBI; After a scintillating May, just about everything went wrong for Miller in June, both Miller and Hoffman are about to be leapfrogged on the depth chart by veteran Endy Chavez after equally disappointing months

LF Nolan Reimold: 46 AB, .174 AVG, .507 OPS, 1 RBI; Reimold struggled to start the month before missing 2 weeks with a knee contusion and has not been much better since his return from DL. We really need his bat back in the middle of the lineup to have a chance of staying in playoff contention.


Orioles News and Transactions

Agreed with free agent MR Michael Wuertz to a 1-year contract at $680,000 on 9th June. An identical contract to the one we handed Kuo, I decided to add Wuertz after our bullpen struggled in May. Wuertz’s last effective season was in 2009, but he has the stuff that can make him an effective reliever and given his contract demands, this was a low-cost, higher-reward deal. Wuertz has only allowed 1 run in 4.2 innings with us, but has 6 walks to 3 strikeouts. I’m hoping the control issues are due to rust more than anything.

Signed our first to fifth round picks at the follow bonuses, bonus demand in brackets:
SP Sloan Jackson: $2,750,000 ($3, 000,000)
LF Ruben Aguilar: $1,400,000 ($1,400,000)
C Mike Zunino: $1,100,000 ($1,100,000)
CL Zachary Osborne: $225,000 ($250,000)
CF Joseph Tyler: $175,000 ($220,000)

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SP Jason Hammel demoted to AAA Norfolk to make way for SP Chris Tillman, who returned from the DL at the start of the month

LF Nolan Reimold suffers knee contusion on a defensive play, will miss about 2 weeks. Reimold was actually struggling before the injury so I saw this as a chance to give him some time off to get his swing back.

3B Wilson Betemit strains hamstring running the bases, will miss 2 months and was placed on the 60-day DL

C Matt Wieters diagnosed with a tired arm and will miss 2 weeks.

SP Chris Tillman demoted on 24th June after struggled following his return from an oblique strain, replaced by LF Nolam Reimold who was coming off a DL stint of his own.


Prospect Watch

SP Dylan Bundy [AA]: [High A]: 4 GS, 2-0, 28.1 IP, 2.54 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 28 K; [AA]: 1 GS, 0-0, 2.1 IP, 15.43 ERA, 2.14 WHIP; Bundy earned a promotion to AA after dominating High-A hitters for the majority of June. His first start in AA was a disaster though, but I will chalk that up to jitters as I fully believe Bundy is ready to face AA hitting. Bundy remains our top prospect, ranking #8 in the ML

SP Sloan Jackson [Short-A]: 3 GS, 1-1, 17.2 IP, 1.53 ERA, 1.36 WHIP; While I felt Jackson was ready for High-A hitting at least, our minor league coached had him start in Short-A and I decided to let them make the decision and monitor his progress for now. As I expected, Jackson has gotten off to a torrid start, and his .362 BABIP means he might actually have been UNLUCKY so far. Expect me to step in to give him a promotion soon. Jackson is currently ranked the #9 prospect in the ML, right behind Bundy.

LF Ruben Aguilar [R]: 56 AB, .321 AVG, .909 OPS, 1 HR, 7 RBI; Expect to see him in short-A soon. Aguilar is already looking like a steal as our second rounder is ranked by BNN as the #22 prospect in the ML, not to mention his own draft class.

C Mike Zunino [R]: 43 AB, .372 AVG, 1.285 OPS, 5 HR, 21 RBI; And you thought Aguilar’s numbers were good. Zunino is definitely earning a promotion within the week. Our THIRD-rounder is the #29th prospect in the ML. In one draft class we have managed to pick up three top 30 prospects not in the draft but in the league! A good draft if there ever was one.

SS Manny Machado [AAA]: 109 AB, .312 AVG, .943 OPS, 8 HR, 22 RBI; Machado seems ready for the big leagues, but incumbent SS J.J. Hardy continues to play well and I am reluctant to move Machado to another position where his bat would not be as big an advantage as it is at shortstop. Currently I’m looking into moving J.J. Hardy for some pitching help. Without revealing too much, I can say that an absolute blockbuster deal is currently in the works, though there are kinks to be ironed out

2B Jonathan Schoop [AA]: 102 AB, .294 AVG, .778 OPS, 4 HR, 17 RBI; Schoop hit better in June, but drew fewer works and as a result his OBP actually suffered. He also did not manage to drive in as many runs as he did in May. However there are improvements in his swing and I’m confident he can figure out AA pitching with more practice.

SS Dan Gamble [High-A]: 79 AB, .405 AVG, 1.162 OPS, 3 HR, 26 RBI; Gamble is our 6th round pick in the draft. I didn’t do up a profile for him during the draft but he has proved my selection a wise one at this early juncture as he is dominating High-A pitching! What a surprise to get such results from my sixth rounder. My first draft just looks better and better.

All the other prospects that I were posting statistics of will be dropped in favor of these 7 prospects, maybe 8 including CL Zachary Osborne, who has not pitched enough yet to warrant a statline. Though I will still be looking at their stats myself and will add players back if they rise up the prospect rankings.


Around the League



AL Batter of the Month: Albert Pujols (LAA): .371 AVG, 9 HR, 27 RBI
NL Batter of the Month: Joey Votto (CIN): .364 AVG, 8 HR, 24 RBI
AL Pitcher of the Month: David Price (TBR): 6 GS, 5-0, 3.05 ERA
NL Pitcher of the Month: Josh Johnson (MIA): 6 GS, 5-1, 1.62 ERA
AL Rookie of the Month: Mike Trout (LAA): .314 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI, 22 R
NL Rookie of the Month: Bryce Harper (WAS): .356 AVG, 6 HR, 21 RBI; Is this the start of a HoF career?

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SP Cole Hamels (PHI) comes within a single walk of a perfect game on 06/06/12 by tossing a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ichiro (SEA) announces that he will retire at the end of the season, wrapping up a surefire Hall-of-Fame career
Detroit trades CF Austin Jackson (38/68) to the Cleveland Indians for minor league players SS Cord Phelps (24/36) and 3B Giovanny Urshela (21/22)
Los Angeles Angels trade 1B Kendrys Morales (56/57) to the Texas Rangers for minor league players SP Will Lamb (20/53) and CF Desmond Henry (20/21)

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SP Gio Gonzalez (WAS) to miss 3 months with an elbow strain
RF Shin-Soo Choo (CLE) has his all-star season cut short with a ruptured Achilles tendon, will be out for 7 months
RF Matt Joyce (TBR) will miss 6 months with a broken kneecap

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SP Zack Grienke (MIL) inks 4-year extension at $14.5m per annum
1B Lance Berkman (STL) extends with Cardinals for 2-years at $18m per year.


Monthly Review


Record: 39-38 (13-13), 506, 10.5 GB – 3nd

Our .500 record in June may not seem overly impressive, and our run differential of -35 gives us a Pythagorean record of just 35-42, AND we are just 10th and 12th in the AL in runs scored and allowed respectively, but I’m proud of my team for flat out finding ways to hang in the playoff race, especially with 3 of our key position players, CF Adam Jones, LF Nolan Reimond and C Matt Wieters spending time on the DL during the month. The two teams currently occupying the wild card spots, the Yankees and Tigers, have a bloated budget but have failed to run away with what has not been a very competitive wild card race and that gives us some hope. A 0-6 start to the month left us 26-31, but we have slowly crawled back overly .500 with timely wins. Our pitching did surprisingly well in June, but our injury decimated lineup struggled to produce runs and we were unable to take advantage.

Despite the toothlessness of the lineup, one very bright spot is the play of CF Peter Bourjos. Acquired at the start of the season, Bourjos got off to a scintillating start before missing 2 weeks with an injury. He has picked up big where he left off, and is back to leading all AL position players in WAR with 4.3 despite playing only 61 games so far! That’s incredible. A big part of that comes from his +14.2 Zone Rating, which is more than twice of the next best center fielder. It would be a major upset if Bourjos doesn’t win himself a Golden Glove, and right now he is a serious MVP candidate as well.

Moving forward, I’m in the process of finding ways to upgrade our highly mediocre pitching staff with some veteran help. Although we have been considerably lucky so far, we are within reach of a wild card spot. With Nolan Reimold back and Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, Brian Roberts all slated to return within the next week, I think we can play much better than we have so far and with some help, a serious playoff push is on the cards. Hint: A blockbuster deal is coming

[SkyeWalker]

July 2nd, 2012

Orioles, Giants complete blockbuster, Tim Lincecum headed to Baltimore!

The trade: Baltimore Orioles send SS J.J. Hardy, SP Brian Matusz, SP Jason Hammel and MR Jason Berken to the San Francisco Giants for SP Tim Lincecum and C Hector Sanchez.

How’s that for a landscape changing deal! I guarantee you that Detroit Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski would not be getting any sleep tonight after hearing about this deal, we might have been lucky pretenders before this trade but no team can dismiss us now that we have added a true ace starting pitcher in Tim Lincecum. When I set out to acquire pitching help for our team, I immediately realized that J.J. Hardy was the one expendable asset we had that had significant trade value but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I could pull off a deal for a pitcher of the caliber of Tim Lincecum! I mean its Tim Lincecum! I’m admittedly giddy with excitement at the prospect of him pitching for us at Camdens.

Though I talked to a few other teams to no avail, the Giants were one of the first few teams I approached as their poor middle infield and great starting pitching made them an ideal trade partner for us. Furthermore the Giants were in rebuilding mode with a 27-53 record and 15 games out of the division lead with virtually no hope of getting into the playoffs. I was interested in only Lincecum as Matt Cain was having a poor season by his standards and Madison Bumgarner was on the DL. I added the recently demoted Hammel to the trade alongside Hardy as salary fodder because moving Hardy’s $7m salary alone would not have allowed me to take back Lincecum’s $18m salary but the Giants were unsurprisingly turned off by such a bad deal. I tried adding a few other intriguing players to sweeten up the deal and what do you know! The Giants were willing to trade Lincecum for a package of Hardy, Hammel and Brian Matusz! They must have been really high on Matusz to be willing to accept such a deal which surprised me because even with his improvements this season, my scout sees him as a potential #3 starter even if he lives up to his full potential. They were so eager to make the deal that I decided to spend a couple of days trying to see if I can milk any other players from the Giants. In the end, I managed to snag the Giants backup catcher 22 year-old Hector Sanchez when they only required me to throw in AAA reliever Jason Berken and thus the deal was completed.

Evaluating the deal, I have absolutely no doubts that this deal vastly improves my team both this season and in the long-term as well. I knew from the start that giving up a talented and affordable player like J.J. Hardy was inevitable to get anything of value in return, but he was still a tough player to lose. The 29 year-old shortstop is having arguably his best season in his career, putting up a .811 OPS while playing sleek defense at shortstop, all for the measly price of $7m a year for this season and the next two! A cheap borderline all-star player at the toughest position to fill on the baseball field, Hardy’s loss is cushioned by the fact that we have top shortstop prospect Manny Machado waiting in the wings to take over after bashing AAA pitching to the tune of a .940 OPS in his first one and a half months there. The Giants strongly coveted Brian Matusz as well and while he sports a respectable 3.82 ERA this year and has room to improve, his disastrous 2011 has scared me off and I did not particularly mind giving him up, not to mention for a player of Lincecum’s quality. I was glad to get rid of Hammel and his overpaid contract, and although Berken has had a pretty good season in AAA, he gave me a 23.15 ERA in 2.1 innings of relief cameo this year and is no loss either. Meanwhile for a good player, a decent one and two scrubs, the player I’m getting in return is Tim Lincecum! I also picked up a useful prospect in the trade in catcher Hector Sanchez, who will be demoted to AAA for now but would most likely serve as our backup catcher next year. Of course, even without his addition, this deal would have been a no-brainer for me. I mean gosh, I’m getting Tim Lincecum!


Player Profile

SP Tim Lincecum (77/77): A two-time NL Cy Young award winner and three-time NL strikeout leader, Lincecum’s ERA might be up this season to 3.13, but his home run rate, walk rate and WHIP are all down from last year when he posted a 2.74 ERA and the only reason for the inflated ERA seems to be an unlucky increase in BABIP. Make no mistake, Lincecum is still one of the very best in the game and his arrival would do wonders to the embattled starting rotation. His $18m contract is fair value for his elite and consistent production and he would probably earn even more than that on the open market! One of the reason that the Giants probably dealt him is that he becomes a free agent at the end of the next season and the Giants might not want to pay a seven figure contract to a pitcher who would be playing that entire contract while in his thirties. Personally, I don’t think an elite pitcher like Lincecum would regress so quickly, and if he can prove himself capable of adapting to Camdens, I would find myself busy trying to negotiate an extension for him next year.

C Hector Sanchez (22/46): Sanchez was already on the Giants’ major league team at the tender age of 22 before I traded for and demoted him, but was stuck behind franchise catcher Buster Posey. He would serve a similar role for us, backing up Matt Wieters and seeing time at first base occasionally.

[beachbomer]

Very,very good start! Already looking forward to seeing how you new pitcher works out for you.

[Lee]

Nice pick up, Lincecum could be the difference in your playoff run!

[SkyeWalker]

August 1st, 2012

Orioles have mediocre month, make no headway in wild card chase

Hot Players

CF Adam Jones: 47 AB, .362 AVG, 1.264 OPS, 6 HR, 11 RBI; Coming off a 6 week DL stint, Jones seems to have regained his power stroke belting 6 homers in just 13 games after he began the season with only 4 in his first 47 games.

3B Mark Reynolds: 71 AB, .282 AVG, 1.062 OPS, 7 HR, 16 RBI; Reynolds finally came alive in July. In fact his numbers could have been even better if he wasn’t playing injured in the last week of the month with knee tendonitis. It might have too late to salvage his season as a whole, but Reynolds can still be valuable for us down the stretch.

2B Brian Roberts: 51 AB, .373 AVG, .906 OPS, 10 RBI; I’m pleasantly surprised. To be honest, I didn’t believe that Roberts could return to his pre-injury level of play but he has proven me wrong thus far by hitting the heck out of the ball in his 2 weeks back

C Matt Wieters: 88 AB, .330 AVG, .916 OPS, 3 HR, 12 RBI; Another player who has returned very strongly from injury woes

SP Zach Britton: 4 GS, 3-1, 28.0 IP, 3.21 ERA, 1.14 WHIP; Hot May, cold June, hot July, what’s next?


Cold Players

SP Tim Lincecum: 6 GS, 3-2, 39.2 IP, 4.31 ERA, 1.18 WHIP; Lincecum hasn’t been terrible since coming over, although I did expect more out of him. He has just been slightly inconsistent with 2 outings in which he allowed 6 runs in 3.1 innings each, but was dominating in his other 3 starts for us. He should improve as he gets used to his new environments.

CL Jim Johnson: 11 G, 5 SV, 8.0 IP, 7.88 ERA, 1.75 WHIP; We really can’t afford to have Johnson struggling as there is no one else on the roster we can place in the closer role with confidence (Gregg has been disappointing as well)

MR Troy Patton: 10 G, 13.2 IP, 4.61 ERA, 1.46 WHIP

MR Luis Ayala: 14 G, 5 HLD, 13.1 IP, 5.40 ERA, 1.65 WHIP

MR Michael Wuertz: 8 G, 8.1 IP, 5.40 ERA, 2.16 WHIP, 9.7 BB/9; That walk rate is just terrifying

Orioles News and Transactions

Traded 29-year-old SS J.J. Hardy, 28-year-old minor league SP Jason Berken, 25-year-old SP Brian Matusz and 29-year-old minor league SP Jason Hammel to the San Francisco Giants, getting 28-year-old SP Tim Lincecum and 22-year-old C Hector Sanchez in return.

Traded MR Hong-Chih Kuo to the Nationals for minor league CL Henry Rodriguez. Kuo was really struggling and refused to be demoted to AAA so I decided to move him or another reliever who was willing. Rodriguez was out of options but cleared waivers and was sent to AAA Norfolk.

Released SS Omar Vizquel after he cleared waivers but refused demotion to AAA. Vizquel provided us with solid defense and a steady veteran influence, but his age has finally caught up with him and he hasn’t been effective in 2 months so we had no choice but to cut bait.

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SS Manny Machado promoted from AAA Norfolk to filled the vacant roster spot and SS position after the Lincecum trade. He has been serviceable so far despite his tender age.

C Matt Wieters, 2B Brian Roberts and CF Adam Jones all returned from their DL/rehab stints during the month.

SP Jake Arrieta has a strong month cut short when he was put on the 15-day DL with elbow soreness. He was replaced by SP Chris Tillman

SP Chris Tillman also went on the 15-day DL with a sprained ankle after filling in decently. SP Dylan Bundy was promoted from AA for his first taste of major league baseball as there were no decent options waiting in AAA.

MR Matt Lindstrom will miss 4 months due to a torn back muscle. This is a big blow for us with our lack of bullpen depth as Lindstrom has been one of our most effective relievers this year with a 3.11 ERA to date in 42 appearances.


Prospect Watch

SP Sloan Jackson [High-A]: [Short-A]: 2 GS, 1-1, 12.0 IP, 2.23 ERA, 1.00 WHIP; [High-A]: 4 GS, 3-1, 26.0 IP, 5.54 ERA, 1.19 WHIP; Jackson was promoted during my all-star break after dominating in Short-A for a month. He found things tougher in High-A, but a low WHIP means that he was unlucky with his strand rate more than pitching poorly.

SP Dylan Bundy [ML]: [AA]: 4 GS, 3-0, 26.2 IP, 2.03 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 22 K; Bundy didn’t take long to adjust to AA hitters and posted a sparking line in AA before he was called up the majors ahead of schedule due to pressing injury concerns. He makes his first start in 2 days and the baseball world will be watching closely.

C Mike Zunino [Short-A]: [R]: 36 AB, .306 AVG, 1.136 OPS, 4 HR, 10 RBI; [Short-A]: 48 AB, .208 AVG, .751 OPS, 1 HR, 6 RBI; Zunino proved capable of handling rookie league pitchers and was moved to Short-A during the all-star break. He struggled after the promotion, but adjustments take time and I’m not at all concerned.

LF Ruben Aguilar [Short-A]: [R]: 41 AB, .317 AVG .953 OPS, 2 HR, 9 RBI; [Short-A]: 62 AB, .210 AVG, .683 OPS, 2 HR, 6 RBI; Aguilar was promoted at the same time as Zunino, and faced similar issues, but I see it as a small blip in the promising development of a top prospect.

SS Manny Machado [ML]: 77 AB, .260 AVG, .656 OPS, 1 HR, 9 RBI; Machado is in the majors and is here to stay. He handled himself pretty well for someone who is barely 20 year-old, and should only improve from here

2B Jonathan Schoop [AA]: 39 AB, .282 AVG, .761 OPS, 1 HR, 6 RBI; Schoop was on-pace to have a similar month as he did in June, but a sprained knee knocked him out in the middle of the month and he has been recovering since. He will be back in 1-2 weeks

SS Dan Gamble [High-A]: 114 AB, .316 AVG, .841 OPS, 3 HR, 16 RBI; Gamble continues to put up good stats in High-A and will likely see time in AA before the end of the year

CL Zachary Osborne [Low-A]: 12 G, 8 SV, 11.0 IP, 4.91 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 18 K; Osborne’s stuff has been outstanding striking out batters with ease, though he did not have the same luck with balls put into play so his ERA is a bit inflated. But he is too talented to not dominate Low-A hitters and should improve soon.


Around the League



AL Batter of the Month: Paul Konerko (CWS): .333 AVG, 7 HR, 25 RBI
NL Batter of the Month: Logan Morrison (MIA): .367 AVG, 13 HR, 27 RBI
AL Pitcher of the Month: Luke Hochevar (KCR): 6 GS, 5-0, 1.64 ERA
NL Pitcher of the Month: Carlos Zambrano (MIA): 6 GS, 3-0, 0.49 ERA
AL Rookie of the Month: Russell Mitchell (MIN): .318 AVG, 5 HR, 23 RBI
NL Rookie of the Month: Drew Locke (HOU): .357, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 20 R

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It's All-Star Game time -- time for the superstars to shine! Every year the Major League takes a break in the schedule to play the annual All-Star Game. It's a battle of the superstars -- the American All-Stars versus the National All-Stars. The All-Star Game will spotlight the best hitters, the best pitchers and the best fielders, all doing battle against one another, all trying to prove their league is best.

The American roster will feature these outstanding players:
SP Jon Lester (BOS) - 8-7, 2.52 ERA
SP Tim Lincecum (BAL) - 9-2, 3.08 ERA
SP Jeff Niemann (TBA) - 9-5, 2.61 ERA
SP David Price (TBA) - 11-2, 2.84 ERA
SP CC Sabathia (NYA) - 13-5, 2.61 ERA
SP Max Scherzer (DET) - 9-3, 2.61 ERA
SP Justin Verlander (DET) - 9-5, 2.33 ERA
MR Joe Nathan (TEX) - 10-1, 1 SV, 2.25 ERA
CL Mike Adams (TEX) - 1-2, 22 SV, 2.70 ERA
CL Grant Balfour (OAK) - 2-0, 16 SV, 2.86 ERA
CL Joel Peralta (TBA) - 5-3, 19 SV, 2.45 ERA
CL Jose Valverde (DET) - 2-2, 19 SV, 2.23 ERA
C Joe Mauer (MIN) - .286/.386/.431, 7 HR, 38 RBI
C Carlos Santana (CLE) - .251/.362/.530, 20 HR, 44 RBI
1B Eric Hosmer (KC) - .338/.395/.530, 9 HR, 63 RBI
1B Paul Konerko (CHA) - .303/.381/.566, 19 HR, 60 RBI
1B Albert Pujols (LAA) - .296/.416/.560, 22 HR, 58 RBI
1B Michael Young (TEX) - .352/.395/.565, 16 HR, 65 RBI
2B Dustin Ackley (SEA) - .321/.414/.509, 6 HR, 50 RBI
2B Robinson Cano (NYA) - .343/.376/.571, 13 HR, 45 RBI
3B Evan Longoria (TBA) - .257/.423/.490, 17 HR, 41 RBI
SS Asdrubal Cabrera (CLE) - .249/.320/.419, 10 HR, 28 RBI
LF Josh Hamilton (TEX) - .305/.374/.519, 16 HR, 50 RBI
LF Coco Crisp (OAK) - .315/.391/.396, 1 HR, 27 RBI
CF Curtis Granderson (NYA) - .311/.381/.639, 19 HR, 45 RBI
CF Peter Bourjos (BAL) - .322/.377/.518, 10 HR, 39 RBI
CF Andy Dirks (DET) - .308/.349/.467, 11 HR, 37 RBI
RF Jose Bautista (TOR) - .263/.379/.533, 21 HR, 55 RBI

And the National roster will have these elite performers:
SP Roy Halladay (PHI) - 10-6, 3.55 ERA
SP Josh Johnson (MIA) - 11-4, 2.05 ERA
SP Shaun Marcum (MIL) - 10-0, 2.18 ERA
SP Chris Narveson (MIL) - 8-3, 3.13 ERA
SP Stephen Strasburg (WAS) - 10-6, 2.81 ERA
SP Carlos Zambrano (MIA) - 10-4, 2.57 ERA
CL Heath Bell (MIA) - 2-2, 22 SV, 1.38 ERA
CL Rafael Betancourt (COL) - 8-3, 14 SV, 2.70 ERA
CL Frank Francisco (NYN) - 4-5, 22 SV, 2.45 ERA
CL Jason Motte (STL) - 1-0, 27 SV, 1.08 ERA
CL Jonathan Papelbon (PHI) - 6-2, 19 SV, 2.34 ERA
CL J.J. Putz (ARI) - 5-2, 17 SV, 2.36 ERA
C Ramon Hernandez (COL) - .307/.394/.482, 12 HR, 44 RBI
C Josh Thole (NYN) - .319/.394/.481, 6 HR, 28 RBI
1B Lance Berkman (STL) - .320/.460/.556, 15 HR, 44 RBI
2B Neil Walker (PIT) - .285/.346/.427, 8 HR, 36 RBI
3B Chipper Jones (ATL) - .317/.389/.485, 9 HR, 41 RBI
3B Scott Rolen (CIN) - .311/.363/.476, 9 HR, 48 RBI
SS J.J. Hardy (SF) - .292/.329/.484, 13 HR, 56 RBI
SS Starlin Castro (CHN) - .322/.363/.441, 4 HR, 34 RBI
SS Jose Reyes (MIA) - .378/.427/.526, 7 HR, 39 RBI
LF Nyjer Morgan (MIL) - .337/.384/.415, 2 HR, 30 RBI
CF Chris B. Young (ARI) - .275/.345/.524, 15 HR, 46 RBI
CF Michael Bourn (ATL) - .292/.371/.415, 4 HR, 36 RBI
RF Jose Tabata (PIT) - .302/.361/.434, 6 HR, 37 RBI
RF Giancarlo Stanton (MIA) - .268/.344/.517, 21 HR, 72 RBI
RF Justin Upton (ARI) - .307/.384/.567, 15 HR, 54 RBI
RF Andre Ethier (LAN) - .304/.386/.468, 12 HR, 58 RBI

AL wins All-star game 3-2

Padres send C Nick Hundley to Blue Jays for prospect CF Anthony Gose
Atlanta gets CL Tyler Clippard from Washington, send back prospect SP Sean Gilmartin
Los Angeles Angels trade 2B Erick Aybar to the Tigers for a quartet of middling prospects
Detriot owner Mike Ilitch passed away, leaving son Mike Ilitch, Jr. to take over. The younger Ilitch is said to be charitable and understanding.
Cardinals send top prospect SP Carlos E. Martinez, who has struggled in the minors this year, to Houston Astros for SP Lucas Harrell
Oakland Athletics swaps sluggers with the Toronto Blue Jays, trading 1B Brandon Allen and for 3B Edwin Encarnacion and cash
Washington Nationals send SP Edwin Jackson to the Texas Rangers for prospects SP Martin Perez and CF Engel Beltre.
Pirates send CL Joel Hanrahan to Texas Rangers for a couple of middling prospects
Milwaukee Brewers obtains CL Brandon League, sends 3B Taylor Green to Seattle Mariners
St. Louis Cardinals sends RF Allen Craig to Clevelands, gets MR Chris Perez and minor league RF Rymer Liriano
Tampa Bay Rays trade for MR Sergio Santos (5.58 ERA this year), sends prospects SP Enny Romero and LF Ty Morrison to Blue Jays
Tampa Ray Rays trade All-star SP Jeff Niemann to Yankees for C Francisco Cervelli and minor league 1B Reymond Nunez
Rockies get MR Ramon S. Ramirez and minor league 3B Daniel Muno from Mets, send SS Marco Scutaro in return.

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Giants SS J.J. Hardy will miss 3 weeks with an intercostal strain.
SP Ivan Nova (NYA) will miss 6-7 months with a partially torn UCL
All-star SP Matt Scherzer (DET) will miss 6 months with a ruptured triceps tendon
SP Brian Matusz, who we sent to the Giants in the Lincecum deal, will miss 6 months with a fractured coracoid bone in his shoulder. Both Matusz and Hardy, the centerpieces of the deal, have missed time with injuries after joining the Giants.


Monthly Review

Record: 52-52 (13-14), 500, 12 GB – 3nd

Despite acquiring Lincecum and having many of our returning sluggers hitting the ground running, our team went under .500 for the month. There are good signs though, as our run differential was an encouraging +26 for the month and hints at improvement. I can’t really complain about luck, given how much better we performed over the first 3 months than our run differential should suggest and some regression was inevitable. We are back to 4th in the AL in runs scored after a big, big month from the offense, but terrible pitching did us in, especially the bullpen. Furthermore, two of our pitchers who did perform last month, Arrieta and Tillman, are both on the DL but would return soon next month. In the meantime, hotshot prospect Dylan Bundy gets his first shot at major league hitters, and his performance would determine if he stays when our injured pitchers come back. Another much hyped prospect, Manny Machado, has adapted pretty well to major league caliber pitching, and his power will come around soon which some more experience under his belt. Our position in the standings is promising but precarious at the same time. On the bright side, we are only 1.5 GB of the final wild card spot. However, we are also 5th in the very tight wild card race, so we would need to leapfrog at least the 3 teams before us. If our sluggers continue their torrid pace, I’m optimistic that its possible, however we have yet to have our our hitters and pitchers on form at the same time, and time is running out for us to get them on the same page.

[SkyeWalker]

September 1st, 2012

Orioles in 3-team chase for final AL wild card spot, 1 GB of Red Sox!

Hot Players

SP Dylan Bundy: 6 GS, 4-1, 43.2 IP, 2.91 ERA, 1.15 WHIP; What a start to his major league career! Despite never making any starts in AAA, Bundy has taken the league by storm by putting up spectacular numbers in his first month in the big leagues. While his .248 BABIP and 4.38 FIP hint that he has been a bit lucky, Bundy has shown that he is ready for the major leagues. The question is, is the majors ready for him?

MR Michael Wuertz: 9 G, 13.1 IP, 0.68 ERA, 0.68 WHIP; Our free agent signing has finally proved his worth, holding the bullpen together during a month when so many relievers struggled for us.

MR Kevin Gregg: 11 G, 12.0 IP, 2.25 ERA, 1.17 WHIP

C Matt Wieters: 79 AB, .405 AVG, 1.181 OPS, 6 HR, 14 RBI; Wieters continued to hit the ball spectacularly, but missed the last week with an injury.

1B Nick Johnson: 99 AB, .273 AVG, .947 OPS, 9 HR, 19 RBI; A turnaround by the veteran. After looking washed up at the start of the season and even being demoted to AAA for a stint, Johnson is back and hitting more powerfully than ever! His 9 home runs in August were invaluable to our offense.

LF Nolan Reimold: 101 AB, .297 AVG, .907 OPS, 7 HR, 21 RBI; Looks like his injury woes are behind him


Cold Players

CF Peter Bourjos: 106 AB, .236 AVG, .607 OPS, 5 RBI, 5 SB; His defense is still impeccable, but his hot bat at the start of the season seems a long time ago. After almost making this list last month with a poor July, he has really gone cold in August. We need him to produce at the top of our lineup.

SP Wei-Yin Chen: 6 GS, 27.0 IP, 7.00 ERA, 1.81 WHIP; Chen has been a great success thus far, but regressed mightily in September and I have moved him to middle relief to try and get him going again. Chen has had a promising start to his major league career but at this stage of the season I cannot take the chance and keep rolling the dice with an ice-cold pitcher. Wada also struggled and was demoted to AAA for a while before being called up for mop-up duty. If you’re scoring at home, that’s $7.1m worth of offseason acquisitions by the previous GM losing their starting jobs.

CL Jim Johnson: 11 G, 4 SV, 9.1 IP, 9.64 ERA, 2.04 WHIP; Johnson has fallen apart the last 2 months and has been demoted from closer to middle relief. There is no discernable cause to his struggles but it’s no doubt that he needed a demotion.


Orioles News and Transactions

SP Jake Arrieta returns from the DL in place of MR Pedro Strop. SP Tsuyoshi Wada moved to the bullpen.

SS Manny Machado has his rookie season cut short by a torn thumb ligament and will miss a month.

SP Tsuyoshi Wada was demoted to AAA after being ineffective in relief duty, MR Pedro Strop recalled

Backup CF Jai Miller suffers a fracture foot that will keep him out of action for a month, MR Henry Rodriguez will take his spot on the active roster

SP Jake Arrieta had struggled since his return from DL and was replaced by SP Chris Tillman, who completed 2 starts in his AAA rehab assignment

September call ups: SP Jake Arrieta, SP Tsuyoshi Wada, 3B Wilson Betemit, C Hector Sanchez, LF Michael Saunders, 1B Joe Mahoney, 3B Zelous Wheeler

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C Matt Wieters won the AL Batter of the Week award on 13th August by hitting 13-26 (.500) for the week with 5 home runs.

C Matt Wieters torches the Detroit Tigers for 5 hits, but Orioles fall 11-14

SP Zach Britton hurled a 5-hit shutout of the Chicago White Sox with 7 strikeouts and 2 walks


Prospect Watch

SP Sloan Jackson [High-A]: 6 GS, 3-0, 35.1 IP, 4.08 ERA, 1.22 WHIP; Jackson has expectedly improved, but he still has a ways to go before I’m moving him to AA. Looks like my goal of having him as a September call up was way optimistic.

SP Dylan Bundy [ML]: 6 GS, 4-1, 43.2 IP, 2.91 ERA, 1.15 WHIP; Talked about him in the hot players column. Somehow fallen to #29 on the top ML prospects list, but it doesn’t matter because he won’t qualify as a prospect soon if he keeps up his play

C Mike Zunino [R]: 86 AB, .256 AVG, .757 OPS, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 16 BB; Beginning to turn things around, his walk rate is especially encouraging

LF Ruben Aguilar [R]: 109 AB, .183 AVG, .491 OPS, 1 HR, 10 RBI; Still struggling, but with his talent I believe he will figure things out soon

SP Kel O’ Keefe [R]: 4 GS, 0-2, 20.1 IP, 3.98 ERA, 1.48 WHIP; Our 8th round pick this year, O’ Keefe made an appearance on the top #100 prospect list, coming in at #92. His stats may look average, but he was unlucky due to a .351 BABIP and was much better in July. In fact, he earned a call up to Short-A, but was shelled in his only start there. With some more seasoning, he could turn out to be a late-round steal.

1B Joe Mahoney [AAA]: 112 AB, .384 AVG, 1.183 OPS, 9 HR, 27 OPS; Another rising prospect, Mahoney destroyed AAA pitching and pretty much forced his way into my roster as a September call up. He doesn’t have the pedigree of a top prospect and time will tell if his hitting translates into the majors. But those stats are just gaudy.

CL Zachary Osborne [High-A]: 14 G, 17.2 IP, 7 SV, 1.02 ERA, 0.98 WHIP; Osborne dominated High-A and will be promoted to AA shortly

2B Jonathan Schoop [AA]: 78 AB, .308 AVG, .923 OPS, 4 HR, 11 RBI; Schoop’s triple slash numbers showed significant improvement on his return from injury, and he will probably start next season in AAA.

SS Dan Gamble [High-A]: 115 AB, .252 AVG, .755 OPS, 4 HR, 23 RBI; Gamble’s stats fell for the second month in a row, but he was already ahead of his expected development curve.


Around the League



AL Batter of the Month: Eric Hosmer (KCR): .392 AVG, 10 HR, 20 RBI
NL Batter of the Month: Ryan Howard (PHI): .326 AVG, 12 HR, 30 RBI
AL Pitcher of the Month: Jeremy Hellickson (TBR): 6 GS, 5-1, 2.98 ERA; A Tampa Bay pitcher has won the award every month since May
NL Pitcher of the Month: Zack Grienke (MIL): 6 GS, 5-0, 1.47 ERA
AL Rookie of the Month: Brandon Guyer (TBR): .322 AVG, 9 HR, 30 RBI, 24 R; I was initially outraged that Dylan Bundy did not get rookie of the month, but then I saw Guyer’s stats, just amazing.
NL Rookie of the Month: Zack Cozart (CIN): .360 AVG, 7 HR, 18 RBI

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SP Homer Bailey (CIN) tossed a no-hitter on 5th August, walking only 1 hitter and striking out 5
Seattle owner Hiroshio Yamauchi passed away earlier in the month from illness, son Chris Yamauchi will take over the running of the club. He is said to be tolerant and charitable.


Monthly Review

Record: 68-64 (16-12), .515, 15 GB – 4th

With a month left in the season, it seems that the race for the final AL wild spot has come down to 3 teams. The Red Sox (69-64), White Sox (67-64) and us have the same number of losses and no other team is within 4 games. Our run differential continues to improve behind an offense that continues to improve and now ranks 3rd in the AL, but we are just 12th in runs allowed despite the acquisition of Lincecum. While Lincecum spots a great FIP with us, his ERA hasn’t been stellar due to some bad luck (4.23 since joining). Bundy has been a revelation but there has been no consistency for the last 3 starter spots. Any of our options can throw a complete game, but they can also implode for 6 runs in 3 innings in any given start. I have decided to just go with the hot arm, and for now I have Arrieta, Tillman and Britton filling those spots with Chen and Wada chipping in from the pen. Hopefully their presence will stabilize the bullpen, who has been bad all season long and can use all the help it can get. The offense is firing on all cylinders with players stepping up and producing all across the lineup. If I had to nitpick, it would be against the top of the lineup, where Bourjos and Roberts have been mediocre last month despite good full-season stats, but that’s due more to a cold spell than anything else.

[SkyeWalker]

September 31st, 2012

Wild card race down to the wire! Orioles-Yankees tied with 3 games to go!

Hot Players

SP Tsuyoshi Wada: 6G, 4 GS, 3-2, 38.2 IP, 2.79 ERA, 1.14 WHIP; A stunning revival following a demotion to AAA and then the bullpen. Wada began the month with 2 relief appearances of 3.2 and 4.2 innings respectively and allowing a single run, helping us win both games despite our starter leaving early. He was promoted to the rotation where he delivered 4 good starts, including 2 complete games! We wouldn’t be where we are now without his contributions.

MR Troy Patton: 9 G, 1 SV, 2 HLD, 13.1 IP, 1.35 ERA, 1.13 WHIP; Having struggled for most of the season, Patton chose the right time to come on strong. His contributions were invaluable with the rest of our pen struggling.

1B Chris Davis: 77 AB, .338 AVG, 1.020 OPS, 6 HR, 15 RBI; Another player getting hot at the right time

C Matt Wieters: 88 AB, .284 AVG, .880 OPS, 5 HR, 11 RBI; A third consecutive month on this list, Wieters is turning into an elite hitting backstop. The extension we gave him at the start of the year is looking better and better.


Cold Players

SP Wei-Yin Chen: 6 G, 3 GS, 0-3, 12.0 IP, 12.75 ERA, 2.58 WHIP; Chen is faltering when we needed him most. He has been a disaster every time he was rolled out this month and we had to move him to mop up duty in the end. Maybe he was not used to the workload of a full major league season.

SP Chris Tillman: 5 G, 3 GS, 15.1 IP, 8.80 ERA, 2.09 WHIP; Read: Chen, except when I had to press either one of them into a start at the end of the month due to our injury woes, Tillman was my choice and he gave me a decent enough start (7.1 IP, 4 ER) that I ended up winning the game. He will probably have to start the last and potentially deciding game of the season for us.

MR Michael Wuertz, Henry Rodriguez, Luis Ayala, Pedro Strop: Combined 35 IP, each with an ERA more than 6. And they are now my 4 middle relievers. A meltdown waiting to happen here.

3B Matt Reynolds: 72 AB, .167 AVG, .583 OPS, 3 HR, 7 RBI; Back to the black hole he was at the start of the year, maybe it’s a good thing that he’s out injured.

2B Brian Roberts: 97 AB, .206 AVG, .593 OPS, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 3 SB; Spent most of the month in the leadoff spot but failed to produce


Orioles News and Transactions

Devastating news! We will lose SP Dylan Bundy, owner of a 2.87 ERA in his first 7 starts in the ML as a NINETEEN-year old and arguably the hottest young pitcher in the game today, for the next 12 months after he had to undergo elbow ligament reconstruction surgery. He will almost certainly miss the entire 2013 season as well. Just heartbreaking news for Bundy and us, just when things were going so well for him. It was the worst possible timing too, losing him at such a critical juncture in this season will force him to set out pretty much the whole of next season too. I’m really crushed by the news.

And if that wasn’t enough, midseason acquisition SP Tim Lincecum was diagnosed with elbow inflammation on 24th September and will miss 2-3 months. His injury squeezed our already short-handed pitching staff, and I had to end up giving SP Chris Tillman an important start. The only bright side here is that Lincecum would be ready for next season. I was planning to extend him this offseason, but with his mediocre performance since joining and this injury, I might be tempted to let him play out part of the 2013 season before coming to a decision.

3B Matt Reynolds was injured running the bases on September 28th and will miss a week. He has almost certainly played his last game for us as I’m not looking to pick up his option for next year.

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RF Adam Jones was named player of the week on 10th September after batting 9-23 (.391) for the week with 5 homers and 10 RBIs.

Around the League



AL Batter of the Month: Kevin Youkilis (BOS): .322 AVG, 6 HR, 21 RBI
NL Batter of the Month: Jose Reyes (MIA): .422 AVG, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 15 SB
AL Pitcher of the Month: Danny Duffy (KCR): 6 GS, 3.1, 1.66 ERA
NL Pitcher of the Month: Roy Halladay (PHI): 5 GS, 4-0, 1.54 ERA
AL Rookie of the Month: Taylor Green (SEA): .367, 6 HR, 17 RBI, 13 BB
NL Rookie of the Month: Bryce Harper (WAS): .329 AVG, 5 HR, 13 RBI

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ML home runs leader RF Jose Bautista (TOR) will miss 2-3 months with a torn biceps injury


Monthly Review

Record: 82-77 (14-13), .516, 15 GB – 4th

What an exciting month! The wild card race was literally back and forth! We were 1.5 GB at one point, yet had a 1.5 game lead at another point. It seems only destined to end this way, two teams tied for the final spot with one last series against divisional rivals to settle it all. The only way it could get any better is if we played Yankees straight up the last 3 games but hey, we might just be seeing each other in a one-game play-off for the final spot. Of course, the injuries to Dylan Bundy and Tim Lincecum were devastating, no one is capable of losing its top 2 starters and coming out no worse for the wear. After Bundy was lost and our two backup starters Chen and Tillman struggled, I had to resort to a patchwork 4-man rotation just to hang in the race! The subsequent loss of Lincecum pressed Tillman into a vital game and he pitched just well enough for us to win the game in extra innings. The bullpen was taxed significantly and cracked under the pressure and workload, with all four of my middle relievers putting up horrid stats for September. Our offense is good, but not great and as a result our run differential last month was negative. Part of it is due to the frequent implosions that caused us to lose games by big margins, but it’s not an encouraging sign for our staff.

Well whatever that happened in the last month, it’s come down to this! The final series of the season will decide who gets the final coveted AL wild card spot. We are tired with the Yankees at 82-77, with the Angels still having an outside chance at 2 games back, sitting at 79-79. Our final series of the season is away at Tampa Bay, who clinched the AL East pennant weeks ago but could reach a 100-win season by sweeping us at home. The Yankees host the Red Sox, who used a strong month to wrap up the first AL wild card spot and has nothing to play for. Well I must admit that this doesn’t look good for us, but with only 3 games left, luck plays as much a factor as anything else so there’s no telling what will happen. With things so tight, I cannot sit in my luxury box any longer! I will personally manage the last 3 games of the season. Remember that 65-win preseason estimate? Look whose laughing now. Whatever the results of the last 3 games, I will have no regrets

[SkyeWalker]

October 1st, 2012

Orioles escape after Adam Jones hits home run in 11th inning!

The Rays got the lead in the second inning when Guyer led off with a stand up double before Pena singled him to third. Guyer then later scored on a fielder’s choice on a Sean Rodriguez grounder. Meanwhile, Rays starter Matt Moore, mowed down our lineup the first time through, recording 3 perfect innings. It all came apart in the 4th however, Reimold’s singled and Adam Jones grounded into a fielder’s choice but Wieters doubled him to third with one out. Moore struck out Davis but Nick Johnson worked a walk to load the bases. Roberts then drew an RBI walk on 4 straight balls and Andino lined an RBI single. We were unable to add any more runs after Bourjos struck out on a full count pitch with the bases loaded, one of 3 strikeouts on the night for him. Tampa Bay tied things at the with a 2-out rally at the bottom of the 9th as Evan Longoria doubled before Ben Zobrist singled him home.

Both offenses were shut down after that as the game went to extra innings. After striking out the side in the 10th, the Rays pitching staff unraveled in the 11th. Adam Jones got a lead off homer! Wieters then singled before Sanchez and Johnson walked to load the bases with no outs. Unfortunately, Roberts, Wheeler and Bourjos were retired in order to end the threat. I left Luis Ayala in for the bottom of the 11th after he pitched 3 innings of 1-hit ball and he prompted retired the side to earn us the win and himself the player of the game!

Elsewhere, the Yankees won a pitchers’ duel 1-0 over the Red Sox, with Corban Joseph’s 3rd inning solo homer the difference between the two sides. We remain knotted at 83-77, this race is going down to the final day!

[SkyeWalker]

October 2nd, 2012

Orioles leave tying run on 3rd, waste chance to go ahead of Yankees!

This game will go down as one that got away for us. Zobrist doubled home Desmond Jennings to lead off the scoring at the bottom of the first but we struck back with 3 runs in the top of the 5th. Nick Johnson doubled to lead off and Roberts was walked after Bourjos and Betemit was retired. Machado then singled Johnson home before Reimold was walked to load the bases. Adam Jones then lined a 2-RBI single before Hellickson finally got the in-form Wieters to ground out to end the inning. We couldn’t hold the lead however, Tsuyoshi Wada gave up a solo homer to Jennings, then allowed singles to Cervelli and Longoria. Jim Johnson came in to put out the fire, but allowed another single to load the bases. 2 RBI fielder’s choice later Johnson finally got Rodriguez to fly out to end the inning.

We had a golden chance to tie the game in the 9th after Chris Davis hit a leadoff triple. But closer Fernando Rodney struck out Nick Johnson, Hector Sanchez and Peter Bourjos looking to end the threat and let us to wonder what could have been.

Luckily for us, Boston beat the Yankees in extra innings with Lars Anderson’s 11th inning home run off the legendary Mariano Rivera (not quite legendary this season with a 6.15 ERA). One game left in the season and we are still tied at 83-78! The Angels still have an outside chance, sitting just a game back at 82-79. A true race to the finish!