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This is actually good news for us.

The guy can throw and throw hard. We just gotta teach him stamina and control. A guy like this is nice to have around, just gotta make sure he works out.

Maybe some of those people who were whining about how could the Orioles let him go realize he doesn't have much value to anyone right now.

Very cool. I thought for sure some other team would take a shot at him. He's certainly a better bullpen candidate than some Rule 5 selections from this year's draft.

I wonder if he has a clause in his contract allowing him to become a free agent if he isn't on the major league roster by a certain date. It certainly wouldn't hurt for him to spend some time at Norfolk with Mike Griffin.

Good news!!

roch i think hernandez or berken will make the pen

Yeah! I'm really happy that Dennis is staying in the organization. He is a class act and a great guy with a live arm. Now that he is finally completely healthy, he will get a real chance to prove himself. He has the potential to be a really great reliever and a key part of the O's bullpen. I hope he can make the club out of spring training.

I think the bullpen can end up looking like this:
Sarfate
Hendrickson
Uehara
Meredith
Hernandez
Mickolio
Johnson
Gonazlez

With the bench looking like this:
Scott/Pie
Wigginton
Moeller

Do you think Sarfate has a chance to make the 25 man roster out of Spring Training?

I hope they go out and get a legit reliever instead of relying on those four "filler" type. We need a crew who can shut down the opposition in the 6-8th innings. We really need that bridge to the closer.

And the four listed about are not the bridge type!

David Hernandez is probably going to have one of those three vacant spots...

Then we are looking to start the season with three of the following: Meredith, Mickolio, Albers, Sarfate, and most likely a lefty specialist to be signed before long.

Roch, you should do a post before long on who could end up with the three bull pen spots and who has options left.

That's a pleasant surprise. I'm glad the Os will be able to get a look at him in ST. Hopefully he will continue to pitch pi**ed off and will open some eyes.

thank goodness. he should beat out Meredith or Mickiolo. Albers won't be beat simply because he can go 3 innings.

Looks Mcphail made another good decision to designate Sarfate. Amazing how well professionals now there buisness! Way stoked for pitchers and catchers to report!

Roch - I hate the tiny font size of the blog now! Very unfriendly and uncomfortable. Probably not your idea/fault but wish it was the old way. I don't even like to try to read it now and skip most of it. Just sayin'. I always skipped anyting that had the word "Brummie" in it but now skip most of it esp if any length. And no I don't NEED glasses - just hate tiny itty bitty print on anything! So - let's see a show of hands - who would rather we left Sarfate off the protected roster instead of Steve Johnson???? Yeah - that's what I thought!

Wow...good news, glad you reported on it before you were scooped by JASON RHODES or someone!

Even though I am not a great Sarfate fan that is good news. You can never have enough pitching arms. His 97 mph fastball may get him back to where he is a valuable asset, even if we end up trading him.

Whoa! Was Dan O'Dowd asleep for the past week? How did he let a jettisoned Oriole escape his Rockies roster?

Can't we just get rid of Albers now and give Sarfate his spot?

Of course, watch Albers go out there now and throw to a 0.00 ERA during the spring just to make my absolute lack of faith in him look bad. He's sneaky.

In all seriousness, this is great news for the club, although I imagine Sarfate was disappointed that nobody claimed him. I hope he makes it back to Baltimore and that this development works out for all.

Hello Roch:

I was hoping that the O's would package Sarfate with Luke in a trade, then sign Branyon as the DH. Oh well...any opinions?

Ann Marie: Gotta tell you, the Senators have the BEST, and I mean The BEST Hot Dogs in all of Baseball. Depending on my work schedule, I come up from York to the see the Sens play about 10 to 15 times per year. Pretty good baseball, especially if the Baysox are in town. We always sit as close to home as possible, get the best seats available. Heard that the new renovations are really pretty nice, eh? Maybe I'll be able to find you and I'll have the honor and the pleasure of introducing myself and my wife. (depending, of course on how she's feeling)

Kind of surprised he cleared but glad to have him back and down here at Norfolk, I'll keep you guys informed how he looks down here this season.

WOW!..I was expecting someone to pluck Sarfates off the waver wire..I am stunned!..He had a awesome Winter League performance, though he suffered an injury, and bad stats last season.

Well, I hope that Dennis performs well in the Tidewater/Norfolk area. Playing AAA is not a bad deal for him or the Orioles, just surprised to have him back....WOW!

I'm happy to hear that but I'm wondering how Sarfate feels? I'm pulling for you, Dennis!

This is good news. Sarfate has great tools and even better character. He just needs to find the plate more consistently. Here's hoping he can figure it out and help the team. Welcome back, Dennis.

What are the gloom and doom guys going to say now..... Andy obviously knows what he is doing when it comes to making moves with the 40 man roster. He drop Dennis from the roster at any other time and he probably gets claimed. Very smart move on the FO. Great job Andy.

This is good news to me. When it comes down to it Sarfate has better odds of making an impact on the big league birds this year or next than Albers or Patton. I look at him to make a big impression, and maybe even make a little Jeremy Guthrie circa 2007 out of the pen.

Excellent backstroke... seriously though, I'm happy for the guy if that's what he wants. I am a bit surprised he didn't get claimed. One more arm competing can't be a bad thing.

None of these three... Matt Albers, Cla Meredith and Kam Mickolio really jumps out IMHO. May the best 3 stay.... Maybe Hernandez stays as a long man 6th SP, BUT I think this almost assures that Berken goes to AAA. I'd rate him behind these others.

Well, doesn't that just beat all. Everyone was crying about Sarfate being cut, and nobody else wanted him either.

Dennis, if you're reading this, go kick some butt in Spring Training. I hope you know that it's never been your stuff that has held you back - it's your location. I sincerely hope that you have improved, can stay healthy, and will be a big part of our improved bullpen this year!

I'm really surprised Sarfate wasn't claimed w/his velocity and he appears healthy. It's nice to see players passionate to play for the Orioles and I'm hoping he wins a spot. It'll be curious...just as it will be curious to see what Albers weighs in at coming into Spring Training!

I'm sure the fact that he went unclaimed was more of an eye opener to him than being released in the first place. He sounds like a good guy, I hope it works out for him. I agree Roch, even if he doesn't make the team, we'll see him in Baltimore again eventually because of injuries or trades.

Won't it be hard to separate himself in spring training unless someone is hurt or really struggling?

I think his accessibility and honesty during this process has been refreshing. You want all of these guys to get a chance but at the same time you know that's impossible.

That's good news. Sarfate pitched fairly well when he returned from DL last year. Hopefully, he'd conquer his Cabrerrusque streak this year. What he really needs is an off-speed pitch though.

Hey, we get to keep him in the organization! Yay! Sarfate is a good guy and a good guy to have. Here's hoping that this is the year he puts it all together.

And here's an O's lineup intro song mixtape

Player/Intro Music/alt. intro music

B-Rob/Paper Planes - M.I.A./Junior Kickstart - The Go! Team
Adam Jones/Desire - Pharoahe Monch/Search + Destroy - Iggy & the Stooges
Nick Markakis/Muscle n' Flo - Menomena/Lovely Allen - Holy F**k
Miguel Tejada/Phantom - Justice/Solta O Frango - Bonde De Role
Nolan Reimold/You Me Dancing - Los Campesinos!/You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - Spoon
Matt Wieters/Kick Out the Jams - MC5/Mother Puncher - Mastodon
Luke Scott/Have Mercy - Loretta Lynn/Letter to Memphis - Pixies
Garrett Atkins/Swim - Surfers Blood/Evil Is - Early Man
Cesar Izturis/Hotel California - Gypsy Kings/There Was a Murder - Clipse

Not all the songs would start at the beginning, obviously. And I know that isn't the original Hotel California, but it is a wayyyyy better version because, in the words of The Dude, "I can't stand the f***in' Eagles."

That is great news.....I am glad he is still in the organization....maybe he will show up in ST and a wow the guys that matter and will be in Baltimore in April...I am sure he feels lots better and comfortable that he is not scramblign to report to another team for ST in FL or AZ. Worse case scenario we have another OK pitcher in case someone gets injured.

Chad Moeller might want to put a little extra padding in his catchers mitt. I like that he is heated and hope he takes advantage. I'm not convinced the bullpen spots are taken and can easily see a couple of them (Fatso, Koji, Mickolio) on the DL or starting at Norfolk.

Roch:

There is nothing wrong with a little competition. If Albers doesn't lose some pounds they may have to grease the gates to get him into camp. He won't be the first person to eat his way off a team.

PUT THAT SHOVEL RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR LAPTOP.

JO

Shoreman,

I don't believe the font size has changed. You CAN change it (assuming you are using a computer and a mouse with a scroll wheel) by holding down the control key AND moving the scroll wheel on the top of the mouse forward or backward. The font will enlarge (move wheel forward) or shrink (move wheel backwards).
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The font looks the same to me, too, but I was checking into it. Thanks for responding and hopefully solving the mystery. I can always count on my readers. - Roch

Berkens going to be the 5th starter.Tillman will start the year at AAA.Anyway glad sarfate's back and he'll probably beat out Michilto.

Roch, doesn't it raise a red flag when a relief pitcher throws 94-96mph and not one team is interested in taking a chance on him? Is there more to this than meets the eye? Your opinion please.
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Not really. It's a tough time to get picked up by another team, with rosters mostly set heading into spring training. - Roch

So much for the attraction of a power arm. Other teams know what the Orioles know. Pitchers need to throw strikes.

So everyone who said how dumb it was to take Dennis off the 40-man roster can officially apologize now. Line up to the left, no shoving.

Ken Francis: The great reliever buyout of 2007 was a move widely ridiculed in the industry at the time, for good reason. The issue wasn't that Chad, Danys, and Jamie were awful -- you're absolutely correct that Bradford in particular is/was a very effective pitcher and Walker was effective for a year after signing. The problem was that by industry standards Flanny overpaid AND overcommitted to sign these three. That MacPhail later chose to save $5million dollars of Chad's salary was a very appropriate move. If the Rays weren't taking on such an expensive contract, I'm sure Andy could have gotten a player in return, but that's the way it works with salary dumps.

Flanny wildly overpaid for nine years of bullpen help and got the equivalent of about three, which is about what he should have anticipated. It was a terrible deal then and it's a terrible deal now. Thank goodness we can now turn the page on it.

Roch: Does he have the ego that it sounds like he does? There's a reason 29 teams passed on him, 40-man roster squeezes and all.

Good to see Sarfate staying in the organization. He finished well in 2009. Hopefully, he can pick up there. We haven't had guys who could consistently miss bats since 1997. Davey Johnson understood that. I look for Mickolio to have a breakthrough season . . . . he misses bats. Not thrilled by Meredith and even less with Fat Albers.

Noticed that the Blue Jays signed Kevin Gregg, possibly making Scott Downs available. Downs has always impressed me and despite being injured last season, put up good numbers. His numbers the previous two seasons were outstanding. The guy is nasty. He will make $4 million in the final year of his contract this season. I would jump all over him in free agency.

I don't normally post on here, but in response to complaining about font size, I had a similar problem with small text on several different websites in the problem turned out to be Internet Explorer. If this is the case, switching to Firefox did the trick for me.

Clearly the only way to look at this is that Andy made a terrible trade for Tejada and got so fleeced that the return could't even get claimed off of waivers. At least, that's the only way to look at it if you're a sociopath.

Did you see Steve Bisciotti's shot at the yankees? I found it very funny and very true.

I'm glad he is back. I wouldnt be surprised if he has an excellent spring and makes the roster. No need to rush Hernandez or Berken. Thanks Roch for answering my question about how the waivers and designated for assignment works lets hope he impresses and stays in the organization. So if you are keeping count on my posts I have said so far its put up or shut up time for Dennis Sarfate, Lou Montanez and in the minors Billy Rowell. Better than last year when Adam Eaton and Rich Hill were on the roster!

Sarfate, Albers, Wigginton, and Scott are all potential trade options but I don't think the Orioles would get much in return for them individually or collectively. However, Wigginton apparently lost some weight and got in better shape which could result in a decent Spring training. Since Scott is a very streaky player, he could get very hot during Spring traing or in the early part of the season. May be Andy can luck out and sell high if any of these four players get hot and raise their trade value. I don't think any of these players are long-term solutions. The Orioles need to make room for the young pitching prospects like Hernandez, Erbe, Arieta, Mickolio, Lebron, and Perez who all could be bullpen candidates for the long-term or temporarily until they transition to starters. Trading Scott and Wigginton will also open up more playing time and at bats for Pie and Aubrey.

roch
since jim street says the m's are picking up bedard medical . why would andy even talk to them ? also says could re sign soon
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Because Bedard is a free agent and anyone can sign him. - Roch

I'm pleasantly surprised Sarfate's still hear.
Now I get to hear Thorne call him "Safarte" again and again.

The signing of Walker, Bradford, and Baez also cost us our 2nd and 3rd round draft picks. Maybe we'd have drafted well, maybe our picks wouldn't have panned out. It's also possible that having lost those two picks we were more willing to spend on our other picks (darned good thing, too, as we got Wieters in round one and Arrieta in round five). I always cringe, though, when you lose a draft pick for a middle reliever.

So it doesnt sound like he has any plans to deny the assignment and become a free agent?
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He can't. He's never been outrighted and must accept the assignment. - Roch

orange crayon jesus - I you think you're going to get me to yield on this point, you'll need to do better. Even if Flanny overpaid for Bradford, it wasn't that much more than industry average, especially since Chad was a quality arm.

Even with the Rays taking on the salary (and we're not talking an enormous amount, ocj), something's got to come back in return. When Texas wanted to do a salary dump with Millwood, they still got Ray back (plus a Rule 5 player. No, the Orioles shouldn't have just given Bradford away, absolutely not.

Again, Tampa Bay were playing to make the playoffs and they needed an arm, so to that extent it's a seller's market.

But I revert to the square one question and ask why was it so important that the O's conduct a salary dump in the first place? They had a struggling bullpen and getting rid of one of the very best of their relievers with no good alternatives in view doesn't make any sense.

After all, it wouldn't have broken the bank for the O's to have hung on to Bradford, enabling them to maintain some stability and continuity in the 'pen. That makes a whole lot more sense to me than doing a salary dump just because they could.

And remember, it's not just a salary dump, it's a player dump and one that I don't think can be readily justified based on the roster options.

My early prediction for the 25 man roster:

Lineup:
Roberts 2B
Tejada 3B
Markakis RF
Reimold LF
Jones CF
Scott DH
Wieters C
Atkins 1B
Izturis SS

Bench:
Wigginton IF
Pie OF
Moeller C
(Andino/Turner IF, one of them if there is a 7 man bullpen, and neither if there is a 8 man bullpen)

Starting Rotation:
Millwood
Guthrie
Bergesen
Matusz
Tillman

Bullpen:
Sarfate
Hendrickson
Uehara
Meredith
Hernandez
Mickolio
Johnson
Gonazlez

My only questions are whether Sarfate will make the team right away or if he'll start out in triple A and whether the team will want the extra backup infielder (andino/turner) or if they'd be comfortable with wigginton.

I know it's still early, but What do you think, Roch?
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Depends how guys are throwing. Albers makes the team if he's effective and other right-handers are struggling. The Orioles also could bring in another reliever on a minor league contract who ends up making the team. - Roch

both safate and albers were coming off injuries going into the start of last season. i expect both to be on the team and pitch really well this year. i truly believe that the bullpen will be dramatically improved this yr. plus with our young pitchers having gain some experience last yr by mid season as the starters gain more experience i look for the o's to be a very competitive team. you can have great hitting a wind up under .500. to win you must have good pitching and this is the year the pitching steps up.

From the Jim Calis chat on espn earlier, I think these are the 2 guys the O's should look at in the draft (assuming Bryce Harper is gone):

Woodsman (WW Washington)

Where will Christian Colon be drafted this year and what position will he make his debut SS or 2B
Jim Callis
(3:03 PM)

Unless signability is a question, upper half of the first round and he could be the first four-year college position player taken. He'll debut at SS.

and

Tommy (New York)

Anthony Rendon is now the consensus top position player in college and he is only one season removed from high school. What precisely did he develop that has made his draft status shoot up so much after being ranked 30th in the state of Texas (by Baseball America) and approximately 250th overall in the 2008 Draft Preview?
Jim Callis
(2:51 PM)

He has continued to progress in all phases of the game. He showed more power more quickly than expected and plays a nice third base.

he also has this to say about Bell:

justin (california)

Who are your personal top 3 3b spects. thanks
Jim Callis
(2:55 PM)

Pedro Alvarez, Lonnie Chisenhall, Brett Wallace. I don't think Wallace will be able to stay at third base and Alvarez may not in the long run. If you want to disqualify them, my next two guys are Todd Frazier and Josh Bell. With Josh Vitters, a somewhat iffy bet to stick at third, next in line.

I like what I hear and we should have some prime position players to get in the first round. Bell is essentially his 3rd rated 3B (to stick at the position). I hope he makes a great impression in ST and in Norfolk.

Right, Sarfate is glad to be back...riiighhtt...the guy is scrambling...he's got nuttin but a heater

This is off-topic, but if you could answer this for me, Roch, then that would be great...

For someone like yourself that's running a blog, what's the protocol for posting material online that one finds in something like ESPN Insider? Something like Insider is a paid-for service, and I'm just wondering if it's acceptable for a free service to cite information from a paid-for service.

Thanks

Luke
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Don't know if there's a firm rule, but you could provide a link and cut-and-paste a portion of the info. - Roch

Sarfate has always had a very high ratio of walks-per-nine-innings, going back to the minors and college. He gave up 5.5 per nine innings last year with the O's -- and every pitcher who had a higher ratio than that is now gone from the organization.

The first thing Sarfate should do is get a haircut like Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn in Major League.
He'll surely find a spot on our roster with a nice lightning bolt pattern.
Good Luck Dennis.

I'm pulling for Sarfate. He was very friendly at Fanfest and went out of his way to get down from the signing tables to give multiple autographs to people in wheelchairs.
I asked him how his hand felt and he said he was in the best shape he had been in in the last two years and was anxious for spring training. So here's hoping he finds control in spring training and forces his way on to the staff.

Roch-

The Pad's front office said today that resigning AGON is not going to happen because of the obvious salary demands.

I PRAY to God that the O's are in it come July 31st this year, and the Pads look to move him. I think even if they are just floating around 500, it makes sense to end the drama, and get that peice. Who knows, look at teh Rockies winning like 25 of 29 a couple years ago.

It would be nice to finally be buyers. AND, with how hard the start of the season is this year, if the O's are around 500 in July, they are right in it.

I hope he understands that his location is what he needs to be concerned with. Everyone knows he can throw his stuff pretty hard, so could Daniel Cabrera.

Guy on MLBTradeRumors is reporting that Bedard may soon re-up with the Mariners. I'm a firm believer that the Tejada signing was more a PR move than anything else. The O's(MacPhail) had zero interest in Miggy in December, but when the heat from a very disgruntled fan base, turned up in mid-January Miggy, despite his baggage, looked much more appealing. He certainly isn't the middle of the lineup bat any of us envisioned getting back in November, but it did quiet the fan base.

I would be curious to know, given the choice in December, whom would O's fans rather see in 2010 . . . . Bedard or Tejada? My hunch is the answer is Bedard, overwhelmingly. Of course we'll never know the answer, but I see much of that disgruntlement returning if Bedard were to sign with anyone but the O's. What say you Roch?
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Bedard won't do the Orioles much good on a one-year if he can't pitch until around the break and he isn't effective coming off labrum surgery. - Roch

Just what we need.....another reject in our minor league programme.

Thanks andy!

Our bullpen has been good early in the year the last few years, then soon gets burned out. The improved rotation should help this, but why not also go to an eight man bullpen. That would help keep them fresh, and our manager is to dumb to use the bench anyway.

Whoever made the comparison to Daniel Cabrera is spot on. Throwing the ball in the mid to upper 90's means nothing if the batter just has to watch four out of the zone and walk down to first base. If Dennis wants to pitch in the majors, he needs to work on getting the ball in the strike zone a lot more than he has ever shown to this point. I hope he can, but I won't be holding my breath.

First time I agree with Brummie. Sarfate can throw the ball but he can't pitch. Maybe he will figure it out, but no one else wanted the guy says alot about what others think of him.

I hope he and his wife like Norfolk too because that's where he's going to be this season. There are seven spots in the pen, and, like you said, four are locked up. Hernandez will probably get one of the other three, which leaves two slots between Albers, Berken, Meredith, Mikolio and Sarfate. I think Sarfate is last on that list. Because he cleared waivers, he's more likely to be in the minors than Meredith, who is out of options. It doesn't matter any way because Sarfate doesn't have the command to be a reliable major league pitcher.

I'm believing that Dennis Sarfate will compete and win a BP spot in ST, and more than carry his weight this season. A lot is riding for him; I believe he is up to the challenge.

Who is "quotes" and why doesn't he start his last name with a capital letter like everyone else?