Huff Daddy
In an attempt to follow last winter's routine, which led to one of his finest seasons, Aubrey Huff has done just about everything the exact same way - which means he's pretty much done nothing.
Huff didn't undergo another sports hernia surgery or create more satellite controversy, but otherwise, it's been a carbon copy.
"I haven't really done much," he said yesterday during a phone conversation. "I'm trying to follow last year's program. I pretended that I had surgery and I'm laying low. I'm stretching and doing cardio right now. That's all I did last year and that's what I'm doing now."
Huff plans on starting his weight training with some light lifting around Feb. 1, just like last year. And he won't pick up a bat until he gets to spring training, just like last year.
"I feel great. I feel refreshed," he said. "Actually, I'm getting antsy. I'm ready to get down there."
In the meantime, Huff has been preoccupied with purchasing 35 acres of land in Evergreen, Colo., where he'll build his dream house.
"My wife and I always go out there at some point and go winter vacationing. It's just gorgeous out there," he said.
Huff found the time to once again appear on the Tampa-based "Bubba the Love Sponge" radio show, but the content was much more acceptable to the Orioles' brass. And this time, he didn't create an uproar in Baltimore by slamming the city.
Not everything should be duplicated, even after you've been named Most Valuable Oriole.
"They signed a new Sirius radio deal and you can't cuss anymore, so I couldn't get in trouble on that one," he said, laughing. "They're all clean now."
I'll have more from Huff in my next entry, including his thoughts on the Orioles' $140 million pursuit of free-agent first baseman Mark Teixeira and his strong desire to be the starter.
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Categories (click for archive)Roch Kubatko | Roch Kubatko Orioles |
Re Loewen in the WBC.
In fact, his outing there turned out to be prophetic. If my memory serves me well, he had a less than 50% strike to pitch ratio. He had good stuff with limited control and for all practical purposes , dodged a bullet. Lots of walks and K's.
So , perhaps we should not put much faith in the games as it was early in the Season, but I wouldn't discard the results either.
Roch,
good filler news for this time of year.Thanks for the great reporting as always.
Now to the important stuff. Any news on the Orioles going after another starter? We are looking rediculously thin in this area. And remember what McFail said "we are going to do everything to greatly improve our starting pitching"
Curious to see what his definition of "greatly" is? I think we have seen it.....lol
WAY TO GO McFAIL. Thanks for reinvesting in the team Ole Peter
Roch. . .I think Huff should have another outstanding season for the O's. He's got all the right stuff to make that happen, and thank god he didn't repeat his PR debacle from last year.
Braden Looper. . .is he still availble?? and have the O's shown any interest in him? I've seen him pitch several times, and he certainly seems to have excellent stuff and a great demeanor. . .though he's never quite lived up to the potential shown while in college.
We still need more pitching.
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Looper's out there and the Orioles were interested during the winter meetings, but he wanted too much money. - Roch
Just a passing comment... With Trembley leaning towards a 13 man pitching staff, it will severely limit offensive options especially as in last year, the bench will once again be powerless.
Good for Huff, I hope he has another fantastic year like last year. Always bugged me when he go to Baltimore how some of the fans there would rag on him. All they would have to do was to check his statistics prior to arriving and by and large they were excellent. Every player is going to have some down years (that's baseball). I also found his radio thing hilarious, but having not lived in the Baltimore area in eons, I suppose I am not as sensitive as folks are about their city (which borders on paranoria to me).
Is he practicing his knuckleball? We could use him as the #3 in the rotation.
Roch - any chance the Os try to sign Huff to an extension?
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I think there's a better chance that he's traded at the deadline, which will leave us all wondering who's playing first base in 2010. - Roch
I'm looking forward to hearing Huff's perspective on the Teixeira ordeal. I'd love to see another monster year from Huff for 1/3 the price of Tex. The man has always been a hitter and it sounds like now he has the desire to be great.
I'm probably jumping the gun, because you said you'd have more on Huff in the NEXT entry. I really would like to see Aubrey as the everyday first baseman next year and have the O's focus on finding a solid DH to fill in where Huff left off. Especially if Gomez makes the team as the utility man he can spell Mora at 3rd when needed. I think it would be a lot easier to do a platoon situation with a couple of left fielders switching off between the field and DH. Would we really rather have Sexson at first over Huff??
I am glad to see that so far Huffy hasn't gotten himself into any more horse****.
so Mattes and Saul will be coaching at Bluefield. didn't they both play for the Colts? Yeah, I remember Tom Mattes running the ball and Bill Saul was either a center or a linebacker. They should be a great help to the rookies at Bluefield. btw, congrats O's on your two latest signings. I can't wait til they start printing playoff tickets. btw #2, I've got three words for ya; Dunn, Wolfe and Garland. finally, great diplomacy Roch in your response to the question about Nester ASSpericio's station. no, that's not a typo.
Thanks Jack for another good filler post for this time of year. And that "McFail" angle, we never get tired of it.
Jack said:
WAY TO GO McFAIL. Thanks for reinvesting in the team Ole Peter
Dude you really need to come up with some new material, you hit new levels of suck with each and every post...maybe you should talk about how the Ravens did it the "right" way with their "signing" of Flacco or some other misinformed diatribe.
Back on topic, I don't see really think we need another bat, give Salazaar & Montanez ample chances to win a spot on the team.