When discussing Nick Markakis and what he might be able to do on offense this year, many fans now seem to be of the opinion that Markakis is no longer considered a middle-of-the-order hitter.
Those fans have some stats to back up that opinion. His slugging percentage has dropped every year from 2008 on, from .491 to .453 to .436 to last year's .406. His 31 doubles in 2011 is much fewer than recent seasons when he had 48, 45 and 45. His extra-base hits total has dropped the last few years,...
With as many farm teams and players that there are in the Orioles organization, there will always be some injured minor league players to try and keep track of.
Here is a partial list of some pitchers that spent some time injured last year and how they are doing now. I'll update more from the minor leagues as opening day gets closer:
* Right-hander Clay Schrader didn't pitch after July 25 last season due to a right elbow flexor mass strain. But he has already reported to minor league camp...
It seems that baseball is in love with big-time fastball velocity. Scouts talk about it, pitchers want to gain more of it, fans are impressed by it and reporters are plenty happy to keep track of it.
It takes more than a good fastball to succeed on that mound - we all realize that - but it seems to be the first thing discussed when debating the talents of a pitcher, pro or amateur.
How hard does he throw? Does his velocity hold up into the later innings? What speed does he top out at? Is he...
There seems to be a perception among some that the Orioles' offense is sadly lacking. Maybe when stacked up to that of Boston or New York that is true, but the Orioles had an offense that ranked around league average in the American League in 2011.
Here are eight team statistical categories from last year, and the Orioles ranked near or above league average in five of them:
Runs: 723 was AL avg. while O's scored 708 to rank seventh.
Average: .258 was AL avg. while O's were at .257 to rank...
It sure sounds like Ryan Braun is losing in the court of public opinion.
The Brewers' slugger and current National League MVP had his 50-game suspension for testing positive for elevated testosterone overturned and he spoke very passionately in presenting his defense publicly on Friday.
Yet this is an era where we have come to expect anyone in the public eye that gets disgraced in some way to spin the matter to put themselves in the best possible light. It's a time where sports fans are...
Matt Angle is not the kind of guy that would likely ever publicly say anything negative about his organization or teammates, but when he had praise for the Orioles on his way out of the organization Thursday afternoon, it sure sounded heartfelt and sincere.
"I felt like I had great coaches and great people that actually cared about (me) all along the way," Angle said by phone from Ohio yesterday. "That is from the training staff to the on-field coaches to your strength and conditioning. I...
Outfielder Matt Angle, who was drafted by the Orioles in round seven out of Ohio State in 2007 and made his major league debut last year, is now headed to the Los Angeles Dodgers, an Orioles official confirmed this afternoon.
Angle was designated for assignment by the Orioles on Feb. 10 when the club signed Luis Ayala and today he has been claimed by Los Angeles on waivers.
In 31 games last year, Angle hit .177 with one homer, seven RBIs, 12 runs and 11 stolen bases in 12 chances. He hit his...
While my neighbor Terry's yard looks like a plush fairway at Augusta National and, compared to his, mine is like the U.S Open rough, that is not what I'm talking about here.
The negative fans among us may be enjoying this time like no other. I get that the Orioles deserve to be bashed for 14 losing seasons, I just don't see the need to focus on it 24-7. Call me crazy, that's just me.
* This is from Yahoo! Sports' Orioles 2012 season preview:
Reputations in baseball die hard, and few...
I've heard this question a lot recently: Who will start for the Orioles on opening day? To me, who cares? The bigger issue is who will start and what will happen the other 161 days.
For some reason there is a bit of an obsession with the opening day assignment as if the club would have been a contender if Jeremy Guthrie was still here and everyone could pen him in now for that outing.
The Orioles don't have a clear candidate right now for that start but they also don't have a clear...
He's moving out of the cave and into the yard. The Orioles announced the hiring today of Ryan Wagner as the new public address announcer at Camden Yards. Here is the press release from the club:
The Orioles today announced that Ryan Wagner has been selected as the new Voice of Oriole Park. Wagner was chosen to be the club's new public address announcer out of a field of 670 applicants.
An Orioles fan originally from Baltimore, Wagner spent last season as a resident of Major League...
When Baseball America released its much anticipated annual list of the top 100 prospects in the game today, the Orioles had two players listed among the top 11 and three in the top 82.
Pitcher Dylan Bundy was ranked No. 10, shortstop Manny Machado No. 11 and infielder Jonathan Schoop No. 82. While 13 teams had more players on the list than the three Orioles, Texas is the only other organization with two players listed among the top 11 and one is Yu Darvish.
The rankings are a composite list...
Under Major League Baseball's new collective bargaining agreement all teams will be allotted a certain amount by MLB in a bonus pool to sign its top 10 round picks, starting with the 2012 First-Year Player Draft.
The amount of the pool total depends both on how high the team picks in the first round of the draft and how many selections a club has in the top 10 rounds. Baseball America released a list today of the bonus pool money allotted each club.
Here is the list published today by BA....
It won't be too long now before spring training heads for its final days and the main focus surrounding the team will likely be on which players make the Orioles' final 25-man roster that will take the field on opening day.
Over the next few weeks, there will be some debate and arguing, as there is every year, that the best 25 players should head north. Of course, this seems to make perfect sense, and why would a team not include one of its top 25 players on the roster to start a new...
The Orioles selected pitcher Dylan Bundy with the fourth pick in round one of the First-Year Player Draft last June. Now Bundy is beginning his first pro spring training camp this weekend. After signing a major league contract he is on the 40-man roster and reporting with many others to major league camp at Ed Smith Stadium.
Earlier this week,in this story, Bundy talked about his offseason workouts and excitement level about the start of spring camp. During our interview, I asked the...
In discussing Orioles pitching injuries in my blog yesterday the topic of pitch counts was raised by a few readers in the comments section. A pitcher passing 100 pitches may be getting close to reaching what some consider a high pitch count and his time left in that game may be limited.
The use of pitch counts drives some people in the sport and some fans crazy. They see some managers as prisoners of the pitch count and think many outings could and should go well past the 100-pitch mark with...
Before the 2010 season, Baseball America released its list of the top 100 prospects in Major League Baseball. Brian Matusz was ranked at No. 5, Zach Britton at No. 63 and Jake Arrieta at No. 99.
As we head into the 2012 season, all three pitchers are either currently dealing with an injury or had some injury issues last season. Yesterday, we learned that Britton is now dealing with some left shoulder inflammation and recently had an MRI. He said he fully expects to be ready for opening...
Pitcher Clay Rapada, who was designated for assignment by the Orioles on Feb. 6 after the Jeremy Guthrie trade, has cleared waivers and been released by the club tonight, according to the pitcher himself.
In a move that seemed pretty classy to me, the pitcher confirmed a CBSsports.com transactions page report via Twitter that he has been released.
The 31-year-old lefty, who was signed by the Orioles last winter as a minor league free agent, went 2-0 with an ERA of 6.06 for the Orioles in 32...
However this situation ends officially with Seong Min-Kim, the 17-year-old Korean high school pitcher, the Orioles are taking a big public relations hit for this signing - and it appears that it is deserved.
MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko was the first to report tonight that, according to his industry sources, Kim's contract with the Orioles was going to be voided.
Korean reporter Daniel Kim told me tonight that the Korean Baseball Organization has issued a press release in Korea, where it...
At this time last year, pitcher Dylan Bundy was getting ready to write the final chapter of a high school career that would lead him to the first round of the Major League Baseball draft in June. A year later, he finds himself days away from boarding a flight to Florida for his first major league spring training camp.
After leading his Owasso (Okla.) High School team to a 37-2 record and going 11-0 with an ERA of 0.20 last spring, Bundy was named Gatorade National High School Player of the...
Orioles center fielder Adam Jones describes himself as happy that he avoided a pending Friday arbitration hearing as he and the club settled on his 2012 contract tonight. But he said he had not heard anything yet from the Orioles about talk of a possible contract extension.
"Not to my knowledge," Jones said when asked if contract extension talks have begun. "Maybe internally (among the Orioles) with themselves, but not that I know of. I don't personally know of any talks. If you talk to...
