To say the least, a few waves were made around Birdland the other day when former Oriole Mark Reynolds was designated for assignment by Cleveland. A lot of fans felt that the Orioles should have looked to re-sign Reynolds, and the thought crossed my mind, as well. However, I'm not sure that Reynolds is precisely what the Orioles need right at this moment. We all know who Reynolds is on the field, so there's no use in going into it here.
Last offseason, I said on Birds Watcher that I felt the...
Fans of plate discipline and on-base percentage, this blog post is for you. Today is the anniversary of Bobby Grich's record-setting ability to get on base without hitting the ball. Grich established a team record for walks in a game with five on Aug. 9, 1975. Grich ended the day 0-for-0 and scored three times, the most of any Orioles player that day, in a 12-6 victory against the White Sox.
Grich finished the 1975 season with 107 walks. Meanwhile, Ken Singleton had 118 walks to establish a...
When Manny Machado made his debut with the Orioles in 2012, many things changed. The callup from the minors for the then 20-year-old gave the team a much-needed boost in early August and helped push the O's to their first playoff berth in 15 years. The Birds were 60-51 prior to Machado's promotion, but went 33-18 afterwards.
At the time, the move was made as a bit of a necessity. The combination of Wilson Betemit and Mark Reynolds at third base was not working out defensively. A solid game...
While I'll admit I wasn't present for the actual bench-clearing brouhaha that went down at Nats Park on Tuesday night, I have to say I for one am glad it happened. Just a couple of weeks ago on this very blog, I was commenting about how this Nationals team doesn't seem to be fighting for their wins this season. Granted, I went on to explain that I don't have clubhouse access so there's no way for me to actually ask the players what their feelings are on how the season's playing out or...
Adam LaRoche's offensive numbers are better than a league average hitter, and only the second-worst among Nats regulars, but he ranks 22nd in the league among qualified first basemen in OPS.
The problem isn't that the Nationals are locked into one more year of LaRoche. They faced the same issue in the 2012 offseason when they went after Prince Fielder. It is that there isn't a Fielder on the free agent market this offseason. The best available free-agent first baseman is Mike Napoli, who...
It's been going on all season, pretty much. Maybe not a lot during the first month, but full-swing since sometime in May. If you're on Twitter or you listen to sports talk radio, you know it. You might even be guilty yourself.
"It," of course, is complaining.
We're no stranger to complaining here in Baltimore. Prior to last year, we endured a solid decade of nothing but (we had 14 total years of losing, sure, but it took time for the pattern to settle in).
This was not without reason....
On Sundays, I usually have lunch with some friends before the game at one of the fine Baltimore establishments across the street from Camden Yards.
Before this season, the topic of conversation would have centered on what the Ravens and the other teams in the NFL would be doing considering the Hall of Fame game (a preseason contest) was on yesterday.
The topic only came up only once that day. This has been a huge change since last season.
However, we are worried about one Baltimore team: the...
There was a point several months ago, before games against Atlanta became object lessons in what the Washington Nationals have failed to master. It was opening day, when last night's game was projected to be a key matchup between the key contenders for the NL East title.
On that cool April day, Stephen Strasburg pitched seven shutout innings and Bryce Harper hit two home runs as the Nationals started the season with a 2-0 win against the Marlins. The beginnings seemed auspicious enough and...
The Washington Nationals are 12 1/2 games out of first place at 54-57, three games below .500, with a three-game series against the division-leading Atlanta Braves looming this week. The Nats and Braves have nine such games to play before the end of the season, so each of these games count doubly in the standings. But with the Braves playing as well as they have lately, the Nationals lost three games in the standings in the past week.
But a division title, at this point, is all but...
This past weekend, we saw something that we see every year (generally in August), as the Orioles had their annual Hall of Fame induction. Every team has a Hall of Fame in some manner, and while getting elected to your team's hall might not be as prestigious as Cooperstown, it's quite an honor. Some people seemed to question the election of second baseman Roberto Alomar this year. For sure, he barely slid in under the main qualification (three years of service to the team). However, my...
The non-waiver trade deadline has passed and it appears the Nationals are staying intact. Given the team's performance this summer, there were times in which I thought there might be a few more mumblings on the rumor mill followed by a few changes come the end of July. But as I've continued to watch this team over the course of season, this might be the best thing for them.
Washington is quiet clearly invested in maintaining its core group players who they'll continue to develop over time....
The pressure was on Orioles vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette over the past few weeks. A lot of trust has been placed in Duquette to help build a ballclub that will compete deep into October and have a chance at a World Series. The July 31 non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone and after acquiring three pitchers in a month, Duquette has to be applauded for not allowing any top prospects to depart. That's been the philosophy of the team even before Duquette arrived in...
The non-waiver trade deadline traditionally marks the beginning of the home stretch for baseball season, which makes now a great time to indulge in the fun of making a few Orioles predictions. Of course, the usual disclaimers apply: I wouldn't bet on me being right so you shouldn't, either.
With that, here we go:
* Chris Davis will break the 50-home run mark, but not 60
As amazing a first half as that was we all knew he wasn't going to keep up the pace. The good news is he's already had...
A team doesn't end up in the position of the Nationals without more than one problem, and while most of the focus has been on an offense that has scored the second-fewest runs in the National League, there are other problems. For the month of July, the Nats offense was what most expected it to be: an offense full of streaky hitters that scored the sixth-most runs in the NL, scoring five or more runs nine times and two or fewer 12.
The Nationals have been prone to these strange...
Jon Lester and the Red Sox shut out the Orioles in the finale of the three-game series in Baltimore, highlighting one of the O's few offensive weaknesses - their numbers against left-handed pitching. The Birds were held to four hits against Lester, walked just twice and struck out eight times. They were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and grounded into three double plays.
Forty-one of the Orioles' 58 wins have come against right-handed pitching, and they have gone 17-15 this season...
The weather has been remarkably cool and crisp for late July, as if a hand reached out and parted the humid air to allow fans a better ending to the last homestand of July. On Sunday, before the team went to Detroit, there were little kids running the bases. Surprisingly, there were Nationals running them as well, and with almost as much joy and abandon.
It was a perfect day in D.C., almost too perfect, like one of those television shows that paints a Washington political scene so much more...
The good news: The Nationals have won four of their last five games. The bad news? They trail the Braves by 8 1/2 games heading into play this week. Some more good news: The Nats still have nine games head-to-head with Atlanta before the end of the season. By getting the deficit back under that nine games, the Nats still kind of control their destiny.
It's a tough road, but it looks better than before the series with the Mets over the weekend, which started with the Mets clobbering the Nats...
In looking back through franchise history, I have no doubt that the Erik Bedard-for-Adam Jones trade will be looked at as the turning point in this era. However, I think we often forget that there were other players involved in that trade, namely Chris Tillman. Of course, at the time of the trade, Tillman was only a prospect, and he was immediately inserted into the Orioles' minor league system. I attended his major league debut in July 2009, and I can't say that I wasn't impressed.
If you...
The first-place Red Sox are coming to town this weekend, but I have the Tampa Bay Rays on my find. I've feared that the Rays are the biggest threat to win the American League East ever since David Price returned to form. Price came off the disabled list in early July and the Rays are 15-3 since his return. Overall, the Rays pitching staff has five complete games in July, which MLB.com tells us is the most in the month since the Mets had five in August 2010.
As I sat at my computer Thursday...
There's little doubt to any Orioles fan about who the leader of the team is. Since Adam Jones arrived in Baltimore prior to the 2008 season, fans have slowly fallen in love with the outspoken center fielder. When Andy MacPhail pulled off the trade to acquire Jones from the Seattle Mariners, I'd guess that few predicted the impact that he could have on the organization. That impact is growing deeper each day, and it's something that could put him in a class few have joined.
Jones went...