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Depending on how much of a tear there is, it could take a very long time. Mainly, if you are not treating it right, it is going to persist. I hope that isn't the case with Pie. He might have just done a real number on it and that is why it is taking so long because a normal strain could go away within a week. And don't worry, I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night.

I really Pie but it looked to me last year like he is a little "over-dramatic" with injuries. It's fine if he's like that as long he stays on the field. Don't go out soft on us Felix!

It just depends on the severity of the injury, and some people heal up faster than others. Plus, since the quadricep muscles are bigger than other muscles, such as calves, hamstrings, and arm muscles, it takes them longer to heal.

Even without the injury recovery issues for Pie and Reimonld, holding all four outifelders is a good idea. The injury histories are just a part of it --

Staying with that theme, though, Jones, Pie and Reimold have already proven they are no sure things in terms of health. And what if Markakis missed substantial time? It's not a "luxury" to have four talented OF's; in a 162-game season, it's a necessity.

And the DH makes it even more user friendly.

And, as for the other potential "log jam" that so many worry about if we signed another starting pitcher like Bedard or Sheets -- there are those who worry about where Berken, Hernandez, Arrieta, et al will have a spot. Don't worry -- that would be a good problem for one. And, for two, remember what Weaver and the O's always did with the good starting pitching prospects like Dennis Martinez, Scott MacGregor and Mike Flanagan -- they started as long relievers. Allowed their still developing arm to mature. Inserted them in less stressful situations. Got their feet wet. It would be WONDERFUL for Hernandez, Berken, Arrieta, Patton, and Erbe to get their opportunities in a role like that (and allow us to get the proven-to-be-below-average guys like Albers off the major league roster.

In fact, I think MacPhail is thinking on those lines and I like the off season so far.

As for the whining about not signing LaRoche. Get over it. You could throw a blanket over Dye, Thome, LsRoche and others in terms of adding a stick. None will be carry the team. Might as well wait for the one who fits payroll best. I would prefer Dye -- a RH stick, fewer K's. Stay away from Blalock please. Miggy is interesting at 3B -- only if dirt cheap and wanting to prove something. It would be nice to have him as a backup SS too so our weak hitting SS can be hit for more easily in the late innings.

Well, I've been a supporter of AMcPhail since he's been with the O's. The organization overall is in better shape than when he first took over. HOWEVER, the inactivity this winter is painful. Kouz was traded for nothing. LaRoche would have been a good fit. Why wait on Blalock if they like him? Last summer was the first in my life(I'm 44) that I have not attended an O's game. Summer 2010 looks like it will be the second. As it is set up now, this team has NO CHANCE to compete and probably don't have much chance for a .500 season unless the young pitchers go crazy this summer. I'm done. I'll keep my tickets to Ravens and Terps basketball, but O's and Terp football get dropped this year!!

Of course, I've liked Roch's writing and blogging for years so I'll continue to read his stuff, but my hard earned dollars will be spent elsewhere this summer...like Baysox games if I need a baseball fix. Afterall I have a 16yo daughter looking at college and a 14yo daughter behind her. As you know Roch, we have to save somewhere for college!

Roch i am sure glad that you picked up on that quad injury. If i would have said something about it of course it would have been viwed as being negative. But i do love how professional ball players wait until spring training before they do anything about there injuries, that always was just amazing.

Logjam, great word

There is no logjam, its called depth which the O's have lacked for years

Moldy is the 1B/DH!!!!

Roch,

Any insight into the gameday ticket increase? Seems like a bone headed move for a team with this many losing seasons in a row.
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Not really. Knew nothing about it. Story originally ran in Balt Business Journal. If it makes anyone feel better, season-ticket prices are the same. But of course, the other increases aren't going to sit well with a frustrated fan base. No surprise there. - Roch

Delgado is our last resort. If we don't sign him, we are waving the white flag before we even get to Sarasota, and a .500 season is out of reach. It's already bad enough that the Yankees have Vazquez & the Sox have Lackey as the #3 starters. We have to go get Bedard & Delgado and sign them to incentive-laden contracts if we want to field a competitive team this year.

I guess people haven't heard or have given up wondering about the sanity of the Orioles but I thought I'd mention that:

1. Salazar (no not that one) was signed to a minor league contract to provide depth. Hmmm, 29 yrs old, .232 hitter who went 1-23 last year. That will really help.

2. Unless you buy tickets the day before home games you have to pay a surcharge (I guess to cover employees salaries?). Of course if you buy them ahead of time, you will have to pay that fun surcharge Ticketmaster or whomever charges. So you will pay either way unless, I guess you buy them from the box office ahead of time?

For a team that seems to continually fail in the PR department AND have lost for more than a decade, including a whopping 64 wins last year, they love to reward the fans.

So where will this additional money go to? The next imaginary big hitting FA that is available?

I know I must sound like one of the constant whiners but the Orioles just have no common sense any longer and unless they do well on the field this year, you have to wonder how small the crowds will be (except of course for the Red Sox/Yankees games). Oh, I forgot to mention if you happen to be one of the few that want to support the Orioles against the tide of Red Sox and Yankee fans for those games you will have to pay MORE money for those home games, as well as the season opener since they are now premium games.

A complete losing organization, on and off the field.

I linked in to the show last night from aol.com which goes to 105.7 with Baltimore local sports stations (if folks were not aware). You and Steve brought all the warmth to the "Hot Stove." Good stuff! Reimold sounds a little further away from being 100% than we thought so depth is good.

I'm not in a mood to complain, but I just simply agree with others that I am totally shocked how little we did this offseason. The signing of Gonzalez beckoned a better offseason to me. Why sign a good reliever for 2 years if you don't plan on competing? More reminiscent of 2007 than I thought. As for tix prices, you can get 'em for 5 bucks most days if you are creative so no whining.

Reimold's better off just letting his foot heal for now especially since the weather's cold.I just hope Bergys ok when he shows up and doesn't have to alter his delivery because of his leg.I think he could win 15 games this year pitching out of the 3rd spot.

There is no 'logjam' They have six OFers and one of them is the DH. Scott is an 'emergency' OF. I guess they put him out there when the next alternative is Jeremy Guthrie. If the O's had two or three major league quality, major league ready OFers in triple A they would have 'logjam' But the next minor league OF likely to be up to the O's is Matt Angle and he is a couple of seasons away

Hey Roch, I think the Orioles still have plenty of time to sign a name player. We just have to be patient. There is way too much speculation. Back in December, a major writer for Baseball Propectus assured us he had the inside track on the signing of free agents and wrote a column that had the following predictions:
Ben Sheets - Rangers
Andy Pettite - Astros
Ivan Rodriguez - Will probably retire
Kevin Millar - Orioles
and Eric Hinske, Ray Durham, Jim Edmonds, Paul Byrd and Odalis Perez are attracting very little interest. Even a fan like me with very little expertise on the details of the deals could write better stuff. The worst position to be in is when you don't know you don't know, and that is where a lot of these predictions originate.
There is still time. Be patient.

I could offer a pretty thorough explanation on why "day of game" prices increase (in addition to the obvious fact that this is a trend that many teams are heading toward), but I'll save it because a lot of y'all seem to prefer whining and complaining rather than actually looking at the well-researched reasons and, well, we all know how "facts" get in the way of discussion here....

To whomever said they didn't know where the added money was going... "to the employees paychecks?" I laugh. I laugh really, really, really hard. Come work in baseball for a year. After you've adjusted your lifestyle downward, get back to us with your riches. Fact: working in sports doesn't pay well. It just doesn't. I'll never make a ton of money, but I love what I do. Like, I really, really, really love what I do. And to now do it in a minor league setting? It's like my birthday 365 days a year!

To complain about the costs of "Premium Games" like BOS/NYY, I'm pretty sure the majority of teams do that. Off the top of my head, I can name at least a dozen teams who did that in 2009; some of whom were crappier than others, and from the experience behind the ticket counter, I can tell you it did NOT affect ticket sales. People who WANT to go to a game, WILL GO (they'll complain about it and hope that after enough complaining, I'll reach into my secret stash of Tickets for People Who Complain a WHOLE LOT, but in the end, they still buy their tickets). People who want to go and make excuses not to go, didn't really want to go in the first place. Tiered pricing structures are here to stay.

As for TicketMaster charges, I hope no one really believes that the Orioles are part of that. The team sees none of THAT money. They don't ask for it, and they don't get any of it. It's part of the "joy" of using TicketMaster. Of course there are other ticketing companies, but from the backend of it, TM has been the most reliable (and maybe not for purchasers, but for the people who work in the box office and ticketing departments). Plenty of "losing" teams do it, and the fact that season ticket prices remain the same? I only WISH I had that problem when I was in Cleveland.

C'mon, these aren't arbitrary decisions made by the front office. They aren't. That much, I can assure you. All two of you who read my posts.

PS... there are always scalpers you can swindle.

PPS... better yet, go out and support the O's minor league teams. I'm sure Bowie, Frederick, Delmarva (new logo this year, wooop wooop!), et al would love your support, too!

"I'm not a doctor, though I played it a few times as a kid".
LMAO

Hi from IKEA. I think the ticket deal will solve itself. Usually around August, September tickets are $1 anyways. The place is so empty I sat next to Dave Jauss for 4 innings before anyone knew I was there.

Simple solution to anyone that wants to go to games buy season tickets you can sell them to opposing team fans for profit.

From Orioles PR Department:

To justify the additional costs incurred from hiring extra accountants to tally the rev share profits, the Orioles have found it necessary to raise costs for tickets for select games that actually have attendance - as well as for local fans who want to walk up and get tickets.

The defenders of this ticket raise will quote this from the Sun:

"The average ticket at Camden Yards costs "about $22 or $23. Last year, the Major League Baseball average was $26 to $27," Bader said. "So we will be under the Major League Baseball average again."

But of course they didn't do the "average payroll" in MLB is $XX while the O's has been $XX. That's taking the full picture in. Not one half of it.

I'd pay 3x's the cost of a ticket if the O's spent the necessary amount of money to acquire free agent talent to supplement the Young Guns. But to cut payroll annually and then raise ticket prices...

Who wants to defend this decision?

I'm sure the O's are going to use this extra money to spend on free agents next year though. I have complete confidence in that.

Even the high grade strain usually heal up in less than three months. So it's a little surprising to see that Pie is still symptomatic after all this while. It's possible that Pie may somehow have reinjured it or he didn't receive proper treatment in the off season.

Ravens should introduce a surprise element into their game tonight by throwing the ball more - at least initially - because Indy would be geared up to stop the run. Besides Indy's pass defence isn't that great.

amarie,

I always read your posts. I just wish there were more of them. You always bring a sense of realistic optimism to the discussion. Living in Kentucky, the idea of gettng to go see the various baby Os is a retirement dream. The information about and "feel" of the minors that you infuse your posts with is greatly appreciated. It's nice to hear from someone who genuinely gets that even with the depair induced by losing, the love of the game transcends the win loss record.

Oriole Dugout Club - I have 3 grandsons @ $15 apiece.
They get a ten game season ticket package, O's hat, lunch box, coupons, birthday cards, free admission to fanfest, and more.
We get as many additional tickets to their games for $6. Hot dogs - a buck, cokes - a buck, popcorn - a buck.

My sons all go on college night $8.

They now have a senior citizen plan.

I'm still going to remain unhappy about where we are this off season, but Hendrickson, Bedard, and a workable 1B/3B would clear that up ----- BUT don't knock the O's efforts to keep the price down, they are doing a great job!!!

amarie - I wish you had decided to offer a thorough explanation for the increase in day of game ticket purchases - aside from "because they think they can get away with it". I am in the group of people who DETEST having to pay Ticketmaster their per ticket fee plus the per order fee plus the shipping fee unless I want to use my printer, ink, and paper to print them myself, when that is an option. There are plenty of reasons to choose to purchase tickets this way and pay the fees, and just consider that for a "$30" ticket the actual cost is really going to be $37.50. I even understand that all kinds of events are advertised at "$10 in advance, $12 at the door". It still is a bit galling to hear that a sports team with a 12 year losing record sees fit to discourage walk-up ticket sales by imposing an additional fee. Hell, they should be offering a discount if they can't sell the tickets in advance.

The tiered pricing I understand, and not just because most or many other teams do it. That's like charging more to see the Black Eyed Peas than to see the Four Tops. Not that you will ever see me paying extra to go to a Red Sox or Yankees game, but to all the fans of those teams who don't care about the price because it's still cheaper and easier to get than in NY or BOS it really won't discourage them so let them pay it. And for as long as there is such a premium pricing and the Orioles are not beating those teams OPACY will still be Fenway or Yankee Stadium South because I am not the only one who feels this way, and the Orioles fans will self-select to stay away, making more tickets available for visiting team fans.

So help the ones who are not just knee-jerk complainers understand why this is a sound business practice. For the record, I work in a business in which customer service is a huge consideration, and I don't see this as being very customer friendly. Thanks.

Jedd,

I find it interesting that you already know that the Orioles payroll will be lower this season. In order to know that, you'd have to know:

- The arbitration salaries for both Guthrie and Scott.

- Whether or not we're signing anyone else.

- Of those players we might sign, you're likely to need to know their performance next season considering some of those contracts will likely be incentive based.

You know a lot more than I've credited you with, and for that, I apologize.

But before I give out too much praise, I must point out that you conveniently left out part of this oversimplified equation you've created to show that Angelos is just stealing your money. If the Orioles are currently raking in the cash, then for much of the past decade, they would have been sweeping it out the door. In case you've forgotten, the Orioles spent a nice amount of coin, albeit fruitlessly, but were still charging below average ticket prices.

But who am I to debate with someone that knows the future?

amarie - I love reading posts from people who just "get it". Like you, I know that baseball (and sports in general) doesn't pay well until you get to the top. The selling point is always that you love the job.

While I am a bit disappointed in our offseason, we have added a few key ingredients.
1. We have a closer, and he's a lefty. That will be important when the Orioles are trying to close out games against the likes of Teixeira, Granderson, Posada, Ortiz, Drew, Pena, and Crawford.
2. We basically have 3 new relievers already (Mickolio, Uehara, Hernandez), so our bullpen is going to be revamped.
3. Our lineup is going to be okay, even without a big bopper in the middle. I think Mr. Wieters can hold his own at #4. Atkins could step up and be that 20hr, 100 RBI guy too. He's done it before, and not long ago. He's also looking to prove himself. I think we'll find that we got ourselves a good player.
4. Most importantly, we have a solid MLB pitcher to head our rotation. I like the addition of Kevin Millwood. It reminds me of the addition of Rick Sutcliffe in 1992. Young team, young rotation, and he stabilized it for us. We had a nice year that year, and I think we can do it again. We have some good young pieces in the rotation and in the lineup, and their progression is going to tell the tale this season.

By the way, has anyone noticed that over the 12 full seasons that Carlos Delgado has played, he's averaged 35 homers and 112 RBIs? It's quite possible that Delgado has been at the top of the Orioles' list all along.

Roch - there has to be a reason why Andy is waiting on these moves, right?

Roch,

I am not a doctor either, but when I pulled up lame for the first time in my life running to 1B to try to beat a throw and felt like I got shot in my thigh, I learned a few things about quad strains.

There are different grades of them; grade one is very minor and usually will heal up within a week or two. Grade two (the one I got) bruises up really bad, hurts a lot more, and takes 2 weeks to 6 weeks to heal or more. Mine took about 3 weeks to allow me to jog and run slowly with no pain, then the 4th week I was as good as new. There is a grade 3 which is just below a tear and that one can take months to a year to heal and usually leaves you needing to wear a soft cast and walking on crutches.

Roch,

Do you ever get sick of the O's fans who bash every move they make? Also, have you heard any interest/contact in bringing Bedard back?
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There's definite interest in Bedard, but he's not expected to sign with anyone until later this month, if not early Feb. - Roch

Roch, did you ever get around to watching the Big Lebowski?
That was the first thing I thought of when I saw Logjam or "Logjammin" in the movie. You know it's hard to get a girl back to the family farm in Minnesota once they've seen Karl Hungus!
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I actually watched part of it at a friend's house last weekend. Will watch it again from the beginning. - Roch