orioles | The Baseball Zealot

Throw a Few More Signings on the Hot Stove

atkins The Baltimore Orioles answered the question, who’s on 3rd, by signing free agent Garrett Atkins. Garrett became a free agent when he lost his job to Ian Stewart, and the Rockies decided not to offer him a contract. It seems like only yesterday the 30 year old looked to be a bright young star hitting his way onto the scene in Colorado. In 2006 Atkins batted .329, with 29 homers, & 120 RBIs, following that with a .301 average, 25 long balls, and 111 knocked in, and in ’08 he drove in 99, with 21 big flies, and a .286 batting average. But when he tailed off to .226, 9 HRs, & 48 ribbies, it was time for him to move on, and Baltimore is hoping he’ll regain his stroke in an Orioles uniform.

The O’s also locked up lefty reliever Mike Gonzalez. Gonzalez appeared in nearly half of Atlanta’s game in 2009, 80 (which was 3rd in the majors), and with his funky delivery & nasty stuff Mike was able to strikeout 90 batters in 74′ innings pitched, he recorded a career high in saves, 24, with the Pirates in 2006. His contract is loaded with bonuses if he does well as the closer in Baltimore.

Mr. OBP, Nick Johnson will take his act back to the Bronx, where it all started. New York drafted Johnson in the third round of the 1996 amateur draft, he was a highly touted youngster in their organization, even batting over 700 times with the Yankees in 2002 & 2003 combined. But Nick’s career has been filled with its share of injuries, still he has an outstanding career OBP of .402 in 770 big league games. With Hideki Matsui signing with the Halos, it looks like the 31 year old lefthanded hitter will take over as the club’s designated hitter.

Across town Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi will pitch this upcoming season out of the Metropolitans bullpen. Ryota missed all of 2007 with an arm injury, but appears fully recovered as he posted a 2.42 ERA this past year for the Swallows, which was his career best. The 30 year old, Igarashi, a righthander, is said to have the best fastball in Japanese baseball.

Throw Another Log on that Old Hot Stove

curtis-granderson-steals So far, the biggest trade was the three-way deal involving the Yankees, the Diamondbacks, and the Tigers. New York got All Star centerfielder Curtis Granderson, enough said, they got the best player in the deal. Arizona got starting pitchers Edwin Jackson & Ian Kennedy. While Detroit landed centerfield prospect Austin Jackson, starting pitcher Max Scherzer, and a couple of lefties for their bullpen Phil Coke & Daniel Schlereth.

The Texas Rangers traded starter Kevin Millwood to the Orioles in exchange for reliever Chris Ray and Rule V selection Ben Snyder, the move was designed to free up money so Texas could sign free agent starter Rich Harden. The Rangers had enough money left over to acquire thirdbaseman Mike Lowell for catching prospect Max Ramirez from the Red Sox. Boston is interested in signing free agent thirdbaseman Adrian Beltre.

Pirates reliever Jesse Chavez has to be wondering whether it’s safe to unpack his bags, as he’s on his third team this offseason. He was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, who just dealt him to the Atlanta Braves for reliever Rafael Soriano. The Braves no longer needed Soriano, since bringing in Billy Wagner & Takashi Saito.

The Chicago White Sox brought in former Seattle Mariners closer J.J. Putz to replace Octavio Dotel, whom they chose not to retain.

Berken is Good for the Birds

berken De Pere, WI native Jason Berken took the mound against the White Sox Sunday at US Cellular Field. The Orioles righthander won his debut the end of May against the Blue Jays, but winning has been a long time coming, 2-11 coming into today. He brought his own rooting section, about 25 vocal friends & family members were on hand to back up this cheesehead. They almost came on the field after Robert Andino & Melvin Mora, who committed first inning errors. But this rookie has learned to overcome adversity, coming to the majors after Tommy John surgery, and today was no exception, as he bested Mark Buehrle & the White Sox for his 3rd win of the year, 5-4. In addition to myself, Dick & Bea, Steve, Roland, Debbie & George, Nancy Faust, and Caramel Corn Mike, were all in the house, the sad house.

John Danks controlled the O’s lineup Saturday night, with a little help from Gordon Beckham’s robbery of a couple of Brian Roberts shots, despite walking six. I wasn’t in the bathroom for Carlos Quentin’s big fly, the three additional runs were the difference, as the bullpen (Matt Thornton, Octavio Dotel, & Bobby Jenks) held the lead for a 4-1 White Sox winner! I’d bought a ticket, even though Kevin had a freebie for me, the Sox box office refunded my error, very nice. Lisa, Dick & Bea’s dog groomer, was also there for the post game fireworks Saturday night, the fireworks & Lisa, both very nice!

My Dad doesn’t really follow baseball all that much, but asked me after the Sox lost 2 of 3 to Baltimore, aren’t the Orioles a bad team, in last place? Yes to both, shaking my head.

Big Elvis Was Not in the Building

elvis Last night was Elvis Night at the Cell as the White Sox hosted the Orioles. Big Elvis was not there, but something you should see before you die is waiting for you at the Barbary Coast in Vegas. Jamie Aaron Kelley performed outside Gate 4 before the gates opened (then did the National Anthem & performed on the field after the game), all of his fans braved the raindrops as he sang Kentucky Rain, and thanked him very much before going inside the ballpark. Flying Elvises (or is it Flying Elvi) dropped out of the sky with the American Flag to America the Beautiful, quite inspiring, even to a non-patriot like myself. Then after the game there was a terrific fireworks display done to Elvis songs, the rain waited until after the game, but got quite wet while ewing & awing.

My friend Steve couldn’t make the game, but summed it up nicely. He was listening to the game on the radio, heard Thome’s homer, but then fell asleep, so did the White Sox. Big Jim’s Dad was sitting by us, high fives all around when his son went yard. Wore my Elvis glasses with chops, brought along a couple extra pairs, and got an Elvis photo with Minnie Minoso.

It’s nice to be back at the Cell, even though the baseball has been boring & less than inspiring. On Tuesday night versus the Royals went to the bathroom, missed Paul Knoerko & Carlos Quentin’s home runs, Sox lost, disappointing. I wasn’t really looking forward to going back for a day game Wednesday day, especially with Zack Greinke opposing Jose Contreras, but Rob loves going to day games, so we went, and they won, surprising. It was good to see Dick & Bea, and Nancy Faust.

Going back again Saturday night, at least there are post game fireworks, and a freebie ticket. And then Sunday I get to see Mark Buehrle, which is always a pleasure.

Orioles spot Red Sox 9 run lead then bats take over

As hard as it may seem to believe, Rich Hill’s ERA jumped a full point in his start against the Red Sox last night. Hill allowed 9 hits 9 runs in 3 plus innings.

Fortunately for Baltimore, the Oriole bats were working overtime. They achieved the biggest comeback in franchise history saving Hill from being the goat. Baltimore won by the score of 11-10.

It was also the biggest comeback by a last-place team over a first-place team.

George Sherrill the young stopper for Baltimore, got his 17th save of the year.

"One-run saves are tough. I haven’t been part of a winning team yet, so I guess when we get to 83 wins, that will be more exciting. Until then, this is probably one of the biggest."

One-run saves are indeed tough. That’s why the good ones get paid the big bucks.

By the way, I’m don’t follow the Red Sox too closely but why is Julio Lugo leading off and Jacoby Ellsbury batting eighth? Lugo seems to be one of those players that just won’t retire. And I’m not sure if I mean that in a good way or a bad way.

Hill to skip his first start with Orioles

Hmm. Baltimore Oriole and former Cub Rich Hill was scratched from his start today.

It was due to “stiffness in his left elbow” and it’s “just precautionary”.

And so begins his time with the Orioles. Any bets on how long before he sees time with their farm teams?

Hill finding a home with the Orioles?

Looks like Rich Hill’s career may have another lease on life. The Orioles may announce tomorrow that they may acquire him from the Cubs for a PTBNL.

The advantage for Hill is that he’d be back together with old friends. He’s worked with both pitching coach Rich Kranitz and bullpen coach Alan Dunn while in the Cubs organization.

I personally liked Hill when he came into the Cubs organization but last year’s debacle can be described as nothing else but the yips. He simply couldn’t get the ball over the plate at the AAA, A or Rookie level. My concern from the Cubs standpoint, is if Rich Hill gets his head screwed back on straight, Mr PTBNL better fill the bill.

Update: The deal has been finalized tonight. Hill is an Oriole now. Also tonight, the Cubs traded Michael Wuertz to Oakland for minor leaguers Richie Robnett and Justin Sellers.

I don’t anything about these guys yet and Wuertz was certainly no great shakes but don’t these deals recently (the Hill deal notwithstanding) seem to be made by a rebuilding team?

just saying…

Cubs give up on Pie… it was only a matter of time

Felix Pie has been traded to the Baltimore Orioles. The fact that he’s been traded shouldn’t come as too much as a surprise to Cub fans. The acquisition of Joey Gathright was pretty much the final nail in Pie’s coffin as a Cub.

In return for Pie, the Cubs got back LHP Garret Olson and RHP Henry Williamson.

Looking at USA Today’s fantasy profile on Olson, it’s hard to find any positives. That page is filled with words like, “mess”, pathetic performance” and “ugly numbers”. I can say that up until he got to the majors 2007, his K/9 hovered around 9.0. But his 6.00+ ERA last year doesn’t inspire confidence.

Henry Williamson is more of an unknown having pitched professionally for 2 years with only 90 innings under his belt. Last year in A ball, he struck out 42 in only 29 innings if a small sample size is any indication.

Will Felix Pie flourish or at least survive in the Orioles organization. If he follows Corey Patterson’s pattern, he might have some share of success. A change of venue has always helped Pie. Unfortunately for him, the successes he’s had have been in the minors and winter ball. Once placed in the bigs, all the talents that Felix was supposed to possess seem to vanish.

Koji Uehara Signs With O’s

koji-uehara The Orioles have signed 33 year old starting pitcher Koji Uehara, of the Yomiuri Giants. As a rookie in 1999 he was the leader in wins (20), strikeouts (179), ERA (2.09), winning percentage (.833, 20-4 record), complete games (12), and was named Rookie of the Year. Koji was the Sawamura Award (named after legendary Yomiuri Giants pitcher Eiji Sawamura of the 1930s & 40s) winner in 1999 & 2002, best starting pitcher in Japan. Due to an injury in 2007 Uehara pitched as a closer, saving 32 games, with a 1.74 ERA. He returned to the starting rotation in 2008.

Koji has enjoyed alot of international success with a 12-0 record and 2 saves, appearing in the Olympic Games (twice), the World Baseball Classic, as well as the Asian Baseball Championships. He was the winning pitcher against Cuba in the championship game of the WBC, and led the tournament with 16 strikeouts. In 1998 Uehara rejected a $3 million dollar offer to sign with the Angels on the advice of friends and acquaintances, and instead signed with Yomiuri. Although he had his struggles in 2008, he is a durable pitcher, and it should be interesting to see how he fares with the Orioles.

New unis for the Orioles

The Orioles updated logo

Looks like the Baltimore Orioles will be wearing new uniforms next year.

“We’re always re-evaluating our brands and we’re proud to represent our local fans and area,” (Greg Bader, Baltimore’s director of communications) said of the changes, which include restoring the word Baltimore to the team’s road jersey. “And with these moves, we hope to connect to the community, to honor the 55-year history of our franchise and to also look to the future.”

Apparently, the changes “have been in the plans for almost year”.

The uniforms were unveiled at a ceremony at which over 2500 people attended. Jim Palmer, no stranger to modeling, was on hand to model the uniform along with OF Nick Markakis.