Even though he has a splint on his right pinky finger that ended his time in the Arizona Fall League early, Wednesday was a good day for pitcher Brandon Erbe.
The Baltimorean and life-long O's fan from McDonogh High made the Orioles' 40-man roster for the first time.
"Just excitement," the 21-year-old Erbe said. "You're kind of one step closer and in the minors, that's your goal to continue to make progress. This is a step in the right direction. Being from Baltimore, now I can look...
Today we wrap up our two-part series taking a look at the Orioles' picks in the first ten rounds of last June's draft with scouting director Joe Jordan. Today we get Jordan's thoughts on the O's first five picks from last June.
All the quotes in the article are from Jordan.
Some of the best pitchers in baseball get outs without throwing the ball as fast as they can. They have found that by giving up a few miles per hour on the radar gun, they get better fastball command and movement. That can lead to better control, faster outs and lower pitch counts.
After five seasons in the Orioles' farm system, pitching prospect Brandon Erbe now subscribes to this "less can be more" theory with his fastball.
He can crank it out at 95 and did often in his early years in...
Now that the time for free agency has arrived, I'm asking a few questions today and providing an opinion or two about them along the way. Feel free to add your own comments.
What is the O's biggest need?
A starting pitcher.
I don't expect them to get John Lackey, although that would be nice. But they need to add a dependable, reliable and above average talent. You can never have enough pitching and everything starts with a solid rotation.
Even though the Orioles have solid prospects at first and third base in Josh Bell and Brandon Snyder, the club is still in the market to add players at those positions.
In an interview today, O's president Andy MacPhail said it's unlikely that either young player would start with the O's on opening day in 2010.
"I would prefer not. Josh doesn't have any time at Triple-A and Brandon doesn't have that much. It would be my preference to get them both some time there. You don't always...
A recent Baltimore Sun article projected the Orioles' current payroll for 2010 at about 45 million dollars. That is looking at players already signed for next season and projecting arbitration-eligible players and other contract renewals.
In an interview on Tuesday, O's president Andy MacPhail would not confirm the O's current figure, but said a projection in that area is likely accurate.
"People are free to speculate about what (our payroll) it is. You can make educated guesses on...
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Today, I am very thankful I have such great family and friends. Also thankful that I get to cover my hometown team, the team I grew up rooting for in the Orioles.
Also, thankful so many of you have found this blog, read it often and even take the time to offer comments. Thanks to all!
Now some Turkey Day takes:
When looking ahead to the 2010 season, it seems the O's have four starting pitchers pretty set in their rotation with Jeremy Guthrie, Brad Bergesen, Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman.
That would leave the O's needing to add just one starter to the rotation. But O's president Andy MacPhail isn't ready to say that just yet.
"I would say we are in far better (rotation) shape than we have been in years past because of those four. But they are not necessarily assured of anything. We could...
So just how important is the closer on a baseball team?
The closer may be the most important player on a good team. If you've beaten a team for all or most of eight innings, there is seemingly nothing more devastating than blowing the lead in the ninth. If you've come from behind late to get the lead, you need to seal the deal.
But is the closer critical on a losing and/or rebuilding team?
Here's my take on the O's and the closer position for the 2010 season.
The question came up on the Wall to Wall baseball show that airs Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. on MASN.
Why aren't any Major League Baseball officials concerned about the payroll and competitive disparity in the AL East where the Yankees and Red Sox are on one level and the other three clubs are at another?
I guess the biggest reason is because this impacts three clubs and not the other 27 teams. Why should anyone in MLB or a team official from Minnesota or Kansas City or Texas care?
Let's take a look at the O's minor leagues today.
I present Melewski's 2009 Orioles minor league All-Star team.
I didn't consider a player that made the Majors before August 31, eliminating players like Brian Matusz and Matt Wieters. I didn't consider players that played in fewer than 50 games, eliminating Josh Bell, among others, from consideration.
This isn't necessarily a listing of the best prospects, just those that had good years at those positions. For the outfield, I did not...
When the Orioles were consistent winners in the 60's and 70's, they did it with pitching and defense.
That's not pitching and homers or pitching and a good on base percentage.
That's pitching and defense.
If you can standout in those two areas, you will be in a lot of games and probably win your fair share of them.
Dave Trembley mentioned late last season that there was some sentiment in the O's organization and even among the coaching staff, to move Jim Johnson into the starting rotation
After all, that was his role throughout his entire time in the minors.
But, with spring training now less than three months away, that talk has cooled according to the O's manager.
The Orioles have made their needs pretty clear for this offseason. Now the time to make acquisitions is near with the Winter Meetings starting Monday.
O's skipper Dave Trembley expects the Birds to be active in Indianapolis and on into the offseason.
"I think the Orioles will be aggressive. But I also think some decisions throughout baseball may go further into the offseason than they have in the past, simply because of the economic situation and [because] the non-tender dates are later...
As baseball's Winter Meetings are set to begin on Monday, some fans are stoked to see what the O's first move will be.
There seems to be a segment of fans who just want a move, the bigger the better, to create a little excitement around here.
I can understand that, but if the O's make a trade, I hope they don't deal much if any of their young pitching.
As the baseball off season moves on, O's manager Dave Trembley never keeps that legal pad too far away.
On it he makes notes about the upcoming season and writes down different possible lineups for his 2010 Orioles.
Of course, Trembley is hoping there is player that will be in that lineup that he can add later, a middle of the order type hitter that the club will acquire.
The skipper saw rookies Nolan Reimold and Matt Wieters deliver at the plate last year and both should have prominent...
ESPN's Buster Olney recently wrote an article praising the Orioles young base of talent. Baseball America listed Josh Bell as the fifth best prospect in the Arizona Fall League.
That same publication listed six Orioles among the best players in their Double-A and Triple-A leagues from 2009.
A picture has emerged that some national media think the O's have top young talent to build around. The Orioles are not talking up their own players, others are doing it for them.
There are a mountain of stories you can read on the internet about baseball and each team in the Majors.
You can be online all day and still not come close to checking it all out.
But the other day, I read an article in the Boston Globe that was very interesting to me. It was written by Sox writer Amalie Benjamin and is filled with quotes from Boston GM Theo Epstein.
We don't know for sure how hot or cool the O's trade talks are for Kevin Millwood. That doesn't stop us from expressing a few opinions and facts about the right hander.
One reader suggested (without any documentation I may add) that the pitcher the O's are considering sending to Texas for Millwood is Brandon Erbe.
If that is true, no thanks to that deal. Especially after Bowie manager Brad Komminsk told me recently he had Erbe as rated better than Jake Arrieta.
If it would be a...
Let me understand this, or try to. The Yankees, who are looking to cut payroll some this year, acquired a player owed $23.75 million over the next three years and gave up three young players earning less than $1 million combined so far.
Oh those misers in New York.
I know that as an O's fan we might look to criticize anything the Yankees do, but I'm not sweating their Curtis Granderson acquisition.