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YeeeeeeHawwwwwww..Had a feeling McPhail might roll the dice. Awesome.We gotta find out what these kids have for next year.

What is your personal opinion on Matusz? Pitching Tuesday or no? I sure hope so.
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Yes. - Roch

I did it I jumped out of a 100 foot building!!!

Roch, hi-friggin' five, man.

This is AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Stop the presses! This has to be the quickest decision ANDREW has ever made. I guess there were no tee times at Bulle Rock available for the rest of the weekend?

My work knows how much of an O's fan I am. They are going to start putting the pieces together if im sick every time an O's prospect makes his debut. Ill see ya at the park if its true.

I'm giddy with excitement. Bring him up and if he is successful leave him here. By the way this is you anniversary present Roch.

Honestly, what more does he need to prove but, I'm a little concerned. The Major Leagues is rough...especially the Tigers offense. If he stays, he has to stay up unless necessary. I wonder who gets sent down if he comes up and who else gets sent down when Bergesen is back.

HOLY CRAP!! Don't ge. Me wrong, I love the idea of bringing Matusz up, but I really wasn't expecting it this year. I'm really hoping he can establish himself and maybe knock Berken out of the rotation once Bergy is healthy again. The future is now people, just think about it. We right now will have a rotation of Guthrie, Hernandez, Berken, Tillman and Matusz! Not to mention already having Reimold and Wieters as everyday players! Wow....just wow.

All I can say is, REALLY BAD idea, IMO.

Great news! This season has become compelling must watch baseball. Never thought I would say that about a team with no chance to contend. Matusz will be the best of the "Cavalry"!

Roch,

Sorry to go off topic, but when do we expect Josh Bell to make his debut with (I assume) Bowie?

Jim Carter
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I'm surprised it's taken this long, but I believe he's meeting up with the team today. - Roch

The Calvary has arrived!

Can you smell it? It has been a long time, but I think that is the distinct smell of hope for a better tomorrow.....

Why can't Andrew just come out and say left or right.
No, he has to play this stupid game which only makes him look more like the indecisive GM that he is.

I bet he has to start planning breakfast the night before. Either he is pitching or not in Bergs spot.

What do you mean strong indication, like one of your inside sources.
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A team official. - Roch

I am pumped for this man...almost as excited as when Jack Cust fell on his way to home plate against the yankees!

If Waters is called up, I am going to scream and slam my head into the wall. I am tired of seeing AAAA pitchers who are actually throwers pitch in the majors. Anyway, it defiently seems that Matusz is going to be called up (Yay). I said in Schmuck's blog that Matusz is ML ready. Even Steve from Masn said that Mr.Matusz is ready. I think everyone agrees that Matusz is ready. Mr.Mcphail is probably going to call up Matusz. He just doesn't want to confrim it so we can stay on the edge of out seats and speculate away. Well, I can't wait because the future is almost completely here and the pieces are starting to come together. Imagine 6 rookies in our rotation next month:Matusz, Tillman, Arritea(if he goes on a roll at Norfolk and get's called up), Bergy, D.Hernandez, Berken(okay, maybe Guthrie takes his spot and we have 5 rookies in next month's rotation). Go O's.

Good. Let's bring this guy and see what he can do. And let's see Arrieta in September as well.

yes yes yes I hope so

Nothing to lose. Lets see what he has!

Sound the cavalry charge!

I've been debating on OH for a while today, why Matusz should NOT be called up. Let's see which guys we already have up could step in being my main argument. Matusz WILL be called up, WILL make it. Let's see what else we have first.

That being said... what's your gut Roch? Does Matusz make the start Tuesday?
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Yes, I say he starts Tuesday. - Roch

Awesome!

Matusz, Tillman, Hernandez, berken, berg, weiters, reimold all getting valuable experience this year. This team can be really good next year.

Roch, is Josh Bell "projected" to be able to start opening day next season?
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Not necessarily. Might be a little too soon. - Roch

I sure hope this turns out to be true! Couldn't happen to a better guy! GO BRIAN!!

I think if they call him up, and i hope they do, that they are really doing a great job at the very least from a business standpoint. They have a useless, wasted season (we all knew it would be) but now with all the young guys with hernandez/tillman/matusz/wieters/reimold and the great jones/markakis combo, there will be a lot of excitement even if the W/L column isnt pretty. this will certainly put fans in the seats and there will be some excitement leading into next season and hopefully some soured o's fans will start being heard again and boston/ny fans wont make games at camden yards a road game for the o's anymore

I would love to see it, but I'm concerned with him not having even
touched AAA yet. Aren't both Arrieta and Patton having some bumps
after dominating AA too?

Though as long as it is just to get a taste while Bergy is out...
probably wouldn't hurt any.

hey roch is there anything new on sano yet is he goin to sign with the orioles
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Nothing new. - Roch

It's too early BUT it shouldn't hurt to give him a cup of coffee and then send him back down to finish the year at Norfolk. Roch, would he be the first player from last year's draft to play in the majors if he started on Tuesday?
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No. At least four that we can count, including Beckham, Perry and Schlereth. - Roch

Hey O's fans....I'm a Reds fan but have ben followig your youngsters, and watching from here in Denver. It looks like the future couldnt be brighter...Good luck, I think you all will be very good for many years...

JC CINCY

wow

I guess that shows Jake Arrieta, just because your a Scott Boras client doesn't mean you get to make the majors ahead of other people if you do not preform

ROCH I AM GLAD THEY ARE GOING TO BRING UP MATUSZ, HOPEFULLY THESE KIDS WILL DEVELOP AND GIVE US YEARS OF GREAT PITCHING, I KNOW I SOUND LIKE A BROKEN RECORD, BUT IF WE COULD GET TOM GLAVINE OR ANOTHER PROVEN VETERAN PITCHER NEXT YEAR, AND GET RID OF GUTH OR BULLPEN HIM,THAT WOULD BE GREAT. THESE KIDS COULD USE A GOOD MENTOR TO HELP THEM DEVELOP. I AM GLAD HUFF, OR SCOTT WAS NOT TRADE, THEY ARE OUR POWER HITTERS AND WE NEED THEM TO COMPETE WITH YANKS, AND SOX. ALSO AGAIN ROCH THANKS AM LOT FOR DOING THIS BLOG, I HAVE REALLY ENJOYED IT THIS YEAR, AND HOPE TO FOR MANY MORE YRS.

Will this really happen?What about Jake in Triple-A?

I'm a little late to the party, but wanted to say congratulations, Roch, and thanks for all the great posts - same to all of you out there, especially the good writers and brilliant stat posters. I've been reading since Day One at the Sun and my life is better for it. And who can forget 41-38?

I live in San Diego (from Baltimore, but here since 2001) and saw Matusz pitch for USD. Trust me, we won't be disappointed! He's been ready for a while! I'm loving the new-look O's!

Ode To Roch

Congrats on marking your first year at MASN
Its funny how quickly the time is a-passin'

You're first with the news, far and away
Even give us the line-ups (minus Felix Pie)

You tell us the latest on Bergy and Wieters
And if we're counting comments, you're the league leader

To all of your readers, you give us great joy
Even when your shirt is the color of koi

You're the best of the bloggers, one of the rarest
But you'll never be as good-lookng as Miss Theoharis

Congrats Roch! Get well, Amber!

Baby Birds!
Ain't the Beer Cold!

I still don't understand why some seem to think AM can't make a decision. He talked to his 'people', listened and made a decision. It doesn't have to be MADE or even announced til Tuesday trolls. Face it, you don't know WTF you're talking about. AM wasn't on the golf course (and BTW, if he was on the 19th hole, he can carry a cell phone...duh). He was on the phones. He made the deal he could make and moved on to the next task at hand. Give the guy some slack. I don't see him looking over your shoulder as you collect cans.

Roch,I may have missed it in an earlier post but when is Johnson's kid due to make his first start?
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I believe he just reported to the team today. Don't know when he's starting, but am trying to find out. - Roch

from the time he was signed he was on the fast track to the majors. 3 yrs of college ball. very mature. several quality pitches. pitched very well in spring training. dominated at frederick, dominated at bowie. if you can pitch successfully at double a you deserve a shot at the big leagues. o's probably think if he isn't successful out of the gate he is mature enough to handle it. arreita and patton aren't pitching well at norfolk. and macphail said a while back there will be no more stop gap guys to come in and start. only guys they believe may have a future. if matusz does well and berken can string together 2-3-4 good starts in a row the o's should try to trade guthrie
before the end of aug. or in the off season. by the middle of next year the orioles will be regarded as a good team and their won loss record will start to show that.

ok, so I might be the only one, but I am totally against this! The whole time McPhail's talked about not rushing the kids, and then this happens? I know Bergy's hurt, and they weren't planning on that, but what happens when Bergy comes back? Or if Matusz gets shelled in his one or two starts? I do not like this move at all...

Roch,

This made my day! I hate to say I told you so, but....

The best part of this is that I have 3rd base lower level seats to the games on Monday and Tuesday. If you had told me 3 weeks ago that I'd get to see Tillman and Matusz, I wouldn't have believed you!

Just catching up on all the blogs, saturdays are for sleeping in!

I would like to extend my congratulations for your first year of service at MASN. I hope those people up on the 5th(?) floor know what they have going for them, and to think, I almost missed on a wonderful thing.

Congrats again,

Alex

This year has been fun mostly because of all the great rookie's coming up, and watching them actually succeed. Past years rookie's did not fair so well. Looking forward to seeing Brian Matusz pitch.

And congrats on the 1 year MASN anniversary Roch. Keep it up. I still wish MASN would display your entire post (sans comments) on your blog front page like the Sun used to. For those of us who read you on mobile phones, it's a drag to have to load multiple pages to read your posts. Especially when I fall a few posts behind.

Can someone please "take care of" the Red Sox fan next to MASN's field microphone? We can hear all of his obnoxious chants.

The Liverpool fans of baseball.

If he's promoted on August 4, that would be the 18th anniversary of Mike Mussina's promotion, also at the age of 22, and also in his first professional season. It didn't seem to hurt him too much.

My work knows how much of an O's fan I am. They are going to start putting the pieces together if im sick every time an O's prospect makes his debut. Ill see ya at the park if its true.

I'd love to see this happen, whether it's just for a cup of coffee or for good. It's pretty consistent with Andy's philosophy. The road map you started out with is one thing, but then you let the facts on the ground be your guide. The dire condition of the rotation is a good enough pressing reason to divert from the road map.

But I do wish people would remember Koji is still on the team.

OK, In an earlier comment, I said I was against this if he was not staying, but I have to admit, I am really excited. If he stays, I would like to see Berken in long relief when Bergy gets back. Go with a rotation of Bergesen, Guthrie, Hernandez, Tillman, Matusz. When there is another injury grab the hotter betwen Patton and Arrieta. Gammons will be tripping over himself to predict the O's as best non-playoff team.

Brummie_Oriole said:
Stop the presses! This has to be the quickest decision ANDREW has ever made. I guess there were no tee times at Bulle Rock available for the rest of the weekend?

This is why people have no respect for you, Brummie. You take something that most fans have wanted to see, something that even you have indicated you'd want to see, and use it to make another snide remark directed at Andy MacPhail. Is it within you to make one single post that includes substance and doesn't include some comment degrading MacPhail?

Jack said:
Why can't Andrew just come out and say left or right.
No, he has to play this stupid game which only makes him look more like the indecisive GM that he is.

I bet he has to start planning breakfast the night before. Either he is pitching or not in Bergs spot.

This is why people have no respect for you, JACK. The Orioles *never* announce transactions until the last possible moment, in case something unexpected happens. Right now, the O's will need to send out a member of the bullpen to make room for Matusz. In your world, they announce it to everyone that Matusz starts, and that they will send out Reliever X. What happens if sometime between now and then Matusz gets hurt tripping down his stairs? What if Reliever Y gets hurt and they cannot afford to send Reliever X down? You don't pay attention, Jack. You never pay attention. You can't see what Standard Operating Procedure is. We all understand it. Why don't you?

This is really a surprise to me. From everything I'd heard up to this point, Matusz was going to finish the year in Norfolk then have his arm put on ice. Reason being it's his first year of professional baseball and he's not used to throwing this many innings. From everything I'd heard this was set in stone. I thought if anything Arrieta was going to get the call up, but even then not until the conclusion of his minor league season.

They have been preaching patience, and not bringing these guys up too soon. I figured they would use temporary band-aids like Pauley & Waters instead. Maybe they want this future to start now. Maybe they feel it will boost attendance. In any event, they had better be sure that this kid is ready for the jump. He hasn't even seen AAA competition yet, let alone the bigs. Arrieta looked like a world beater in Bowie too, and has been subpar since getting the call to Norfolk.

If it were me, I wouldn't do it. I'd send him to AAA, not Detroit.

Prediction: If Matusz has a so-so debut, you'll get a comment from noted baseball expert KyleProBoller calling Matusz another MacPhail bust.

matusz has the best stuff in the organization. I think calling him up is the right move. He's earned it. I think he will pitch just fine at the major league level. The guy averages more than 1k per inning. Everyone knocks his fastball, but he has command of four pitches and he will strike out batters with any of the four pitches. He's not a flame thrower but he is a strike out artist!!!! good move O's.