Minor matters
Major League Baseball will announce its Managers of the Year in the AL and NL later today. I'm predicting that Minnesota's Ron Gardenhire is honored after leading the Twins to the Central Division title, with Texas' Ron Washington and Seattle's Don Wakamatsu also collecting votes.
The Twins looked like toast after Justin Morneau was shut down, but they made the playoffs. And it's not like they loaded up on pricey free agents over the winter.
After revealing the Orioles' interest in Billy Wagner a few days ago, FOXSports.com also is linking them to John Smoltz, with the assumption being that they're considering him as their closer.
Does anyone know what Lee Smith is doing these days? Is Bruce Sutter still in shape? How many Rollie Fingers am I holding up?
Baseball America's Matt Eddy has posted a list of players eligible for minor league free agency. You can read it HERE.
His roll call of players in the Orioles' organization includes:
RHP: Scott Chiasson (AAA), Fredy Deza (AA), Bob McCrory (AAA), Andy Mitchell (AAA), David Pauley (AAA), Alfredo Simon (AAA), Ross Wolf (AAA).
LHP: Ryan Rodriguez (AA).
C: Victor Castillo (A), Robby Hammock (AAA), Billy Killian (A), Steve Torrealba (AA).
1B: Eric Crozier (AA).
2B: Melvin Dorta (AAA).
3B: Jolbert Cabrera (AAA), Dick Guanipa (DSL), Brandon Pinckney (AAA).
SS: Donnie Murphy (AAA).
OF: Justin Christian (AAA), Ambiorix Concepcion (AAA), Victor Diaz (AAA), Dave Krynzel (AAA).
I'll admit to being confused about Simon's inclusion, since he accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. But I'm frequently confused and have learned to cope.
It's interesting to look back at all the fuss we made in spring training over guys like Pauley, Murphy, Cabrera and Hammock. How many words were burned on those four? My fingers are still singed. But they never made it to Baltimore.
If you'd like Eider Torres back, he can be plucked from the White Sox. And as long as we're talking about former Orioles, how did Jorge Julio end up with the Pirates? It's like the old shell game. I took my eyes off him for a second and lost him.
If you check out the list of Rockies, you'll find Damian Moss and Sal Fasano. You also might recognize a few Orioles farmhands with the Marlins.
J.R. House and Tim Raines Jr. finished up the season in the Royals' organization, and Val Majewski was tucked away in the Angels' system. The last I heard, he was playing independent ball.
Jon Knott was in the Brewers' system. Cody Ransom also is a free agent, and I only mention this so I can say "Give me back my son!" one more time.
The list of Phillies includes David Newhan, Andy Tracy, Mike Cervenak and Terry Tiffee. Rocky Cherry finished up in the Padres' system, which also includes Jesse Orosco Jr.
Other familiar names include Alex Cintron (Seattle), Winston Abreu (Tampa Bay), Howie Clark (Toronto) and Freddie Bynum (Washington).
Why does Ryan Freel (Texas) sound familiar to me?
Also, it didn't take long for Dave Jauss to find another job. He's reportedly been hired as the Mets' bench coach.
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Categories (click for archive)Roch Kubatko | Roch Kubatko Orioles |
Hi Roch;
I follow the Puertorican Winter League and Luis Montanez, in the first game he played, hit a double and a walk-off homer with two outs. Lets hope he brings that to the O's.
Than you for keeping us inform thru the Winter.
I would like to predict that Dave Tremblay gets zero votes as manager of the year.
I still can't understand how a guy like Jon Knott, with his awesome slugging percentage and on base percentage at the highest levels in the minors, can not have been given more than 37 plate appearances in the majors. What gives?
Roch:
I didn't look it up, but wouldn't Jesse Orosco, Jr. be the most senior of the juniors?
You could take ALL those names & create a AAA team & it would be lucky to finish above .500 , let Jauss manage it too! So why would the O's want any of them?
Hopefully Ransom signs somewhere else, so "one more time" is not "one last time."
Thanks for the updates. I hope we all have been practicing our very special Bud Adams finger greeting for Peyton and the Colts. Ready now - Right, left, right, BOTH, shake it, shake it, REPEAT!
Hey, Roch...
A poster on the OH board mentioned a pretty good 3B trade option in Brandon Inge. A RH bat with some pop that can man the corner well. He's a free agent after this season, so we could either re-sign him or let Bell take over after that point.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jon_heyman/11/18/roy.halladay/1.html
Jon Heyman randomly speculates we might be interested in Mark Derosa and Brandon Inge. It looks like Inge is literally 1 season away from being a 10/5 guy, and he doesn't have a no-trade clause in his current contract (1 year / $6.6 million). I'm not exactly sure why the Tigers would want to trade him though - I mean come on, the guy must be the most clutch player in the majors. He's so clutch he can promise little kids with cancer that he will hit a home run, and then go out and do it! Also he's a good defensive 3B with some versatility and pop who has spent his entire career with the Tigers. Seems like idle speculation.
Roch,
How does the 40-man roster affect the minor league free agent rule? In other words, as an example, if the Os had kept Alfredo Simon on the-40 man roster would he still be a minor league free agent? It seems to me the answer is "no", but I'm just guessing.
Baldy
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You can't be a free agent if you're on the 40-man. - Roch
Roch, I think that Smoltz would be an excellent choice. Even when he was getting pounded in the AL, it was usually the second time through the lineup.
Heck, I think we'd all be happy if we had 3 pitchers on the whole staff who could get through the lineup once.
Beerman, correct me if I am wrong, but P Manning didn't have anything to do with the Colts leaving. Also, he has been very differential to the Colt records & Unitas in particular. Did the Browns fans give the Ravens the Bud Adams greeting last Monday? Now that the last Brown has left the Ravens, that one is archives too , right?
Roch,
They Cody Ransom joke is STILL funny. :-) That's quite a laundry list of players. Lots of guys at triple A. Shows we still have a ways to go stocking the minors. I didn't know David Newhan was still playing. Why wasn't Rich Hill and Screech on the list?
Bill
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They were on the major league roster at the end of the year. Maybe that's it. - Roch
Damian Moss?
I thought he had died and gone to heaven.
Jeff:
Very simple answers: If you recall him playing LF in the season he spent with the Orioles, you'd clearly know why he couldn't get into a lineup as anything but a DH.
His bat didn't translate to the majors and since he joined the Orioles organization, his bat in the minors has never been quite as impressive:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=knott-001jon
For the record, I was 2 1/2 years old when the Colts left town, so I may have a completely different perspective than many commenters. And considering the first 15 years of my life there was no football team in Baltimore, I've always been a 'skins fan (yes, despite Danny boy).
However, I think it is a shame for people to lump Peyton Manning in with the whole history of the franchise and dump on him for things other people did when, as Brian just mentioned, he was just 7 years old. Take off your blinders just for a minute and realize you are witnessing in real-time the Hall of Fame career of someone who will become one of the greatest QB's ever to play the game.
In no way am I saying he's going to touch Johnny U. But take a look at what the man does week after week, drive after drive, and play after play. There's no denying he will end up among the greats.
It's like how we all hate the Yankees, but will readily admit that Mariano Rivera is one of the best closers of all time.