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...
The Orioles may actually have a chance to exceed expectations this year. That is because it sure seems expectations for a season have never been lower in recent memory.
Maybe the fans will be wrong, as many were last year when they predicted a .500 finish and some were even talking about the team being a playoff contender. The Orioles were coming off a 34-23 finish the year before and the young pitchers had excelled down the stretch. Vlad Guerrero was signed and most of the fans seem very...
The kid in me that grew up as a die-hard Orioles fan wants to scream at the Pirates for bailing out the Yankees of a bad contract, or at least one that hasn't worked out too well for them.
In December 2008, New York signed pitcher A.J. Burnett to a five-year deal worth $82.5 million that pays him around $16.5 millon per season. While Burnett pitched well in the first year of the deal - going 13-9 with an ERA of 4.04 in 2009 - he went 10-15, 5.26 in 2010 and 11-11, 5.15 last year. He led the...
Well, it has been quite a few days of spirited discussion and debate about a young pitcher that almost none of us know much about and have never seen pitch.
The Orioles signed Seong-Min Kim to a minor league contract Jan. 30. He either throws 80 or 83 mph, or maybe 88, depending on the report you read and trust most. He's either a high shool sophomore or maybe entering his final year. Someone said Korean kids graduate at 19 so he could be a 17-year-old sophomore. His curveball is either...
Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette talked to a group of reporters tonight at Sports Legends Museum adjacent to Camden Yards before he appeared as a guest at the annual Babe's Birthday Bash.
Here are some comments Duquette made:
Duquette dismissed the chance of the Orioles signing free agent Manny Ramirez.
Duquette on Manny by smelewski
Duquette talked about the Orioles signing today of relief pitcher Luis Ayala and its impact on the bullpen.
Duquette on Ayala and...
The Orioles are planning to bring some of their minor league players to Sarasota for an early spring training and there could be 30 or more players asked to report Feb. 23.
They are several reasons to do this. In the case of some players, like outfielder Trent Mummey, who will report early, he was hurt and missed a lot of last year and could use some extra work.
In the case of some pitchers, like Bobby Bundy, they could potentially be used in one of the early major league exhibition games to...
Orioles minor leaguer LJ Hoes could not quite contain his excitement this week. He got an important phone call Wednesday morning and before long posted this via his Twitter account:
"Just got the best news ever God is good...Big league Camp here I come."
Hoes will join Xavier Avery as O's farmhands that are getting an invitation to the Birds' major league spring training camp, where they join the big leaguers in the clubhouse and on the field.
"I'm just very excited," Hoes said by...
Daniel Kim is a reporter for what is basically the ESPN of Korea. He has been closely following the story of Kim Seong-Min, the 17-year-old lefty high school pitcher signed recently by the Orioles that is from his country.
The Korean Baseball Organization, which runs the nation's top baseball league, seems to believe the Orioles violated protocol in signing Seong-Min and have taken their concerns to Major League Baseball. The KBO has lodged a complaint with MLB over the Orioles' alleged...
Even though they played just about a half-season each last year in the Carolina League, it sure seems quite possible that the Orioles' top two minor league position players could begin the 2012 season with Double-A Bowie.
The Orioles have to decide if they will start the dynamic, young double play combo of 19-year-old Manny Machado and 20-year-old Jonathan Schoop in the Eastern League with Bowie after the duo played at both Single-A Delmarva and Single-A Frederick last year.
While the stat...
Here is a mild surprise to me: Keith Law of ESPN.com rates the Orioles' farm system 17th out of 30 in baseball. Frankly, with all the criticism the Orioles' farm system has been getting, I would have expected a ranking a little lower, maybe in the 20-25 range.
The Orioles, according to Law's ranking, which cannot be linked as premium content, still rank fourth among American League East teams.
2nd - Tampa Bay
3rd - Toronto
10th - New York
17th - Orioles
18th - Boston
I was shocked to see...
If a healthy Brian Roberts is batting atop the Orioles' lineup, they have one of the best leadoff hitters in the game to ignite their team. If Roberts is out - and his status remains very much in question for 2012 - the Orioles don't have a bonafide leadoff hitter in that spot.
Orioles leadoff hitters didn't rate very highly among American League teams in 2011:
* Runs - ranked tied for eighth with 92
* Batting average - ranked 14th and last at .240
* On-base average - ranked 14th and last...
Whether they liked the Jeremy Guthrie trade (a few did) or not, it seemed everyone had an opinion on the deal. It's Day Two WG (without Guthrie) and here are more thoughts on the deal and its ramifications.
* I would rather have seen the Orioles trade Guthrie for a couple of 22-year-old pitchers with some promise for the future, and many fans would agree with that. But I also realize that was very difficult to pull off and it sounds like the Orioles had virtually no chance for a deal like...
Jason Hammel was all set to report to spring training in Arizona with the Colorado Rockies. After today's trade to the Orioles, along with Matt Lindstrom for Jeremy Guthrie, the 29-year-old right-hander will now be heading to Sarasota soon to join his new team.
"Obviously, it was a surprise this morning," Hammel told reporters via a conference call this afternoon. "My plans had basically been finished for spring training in Arizona, but that doesn't change anything. Baseball doesn't...
This Jeremy Guthrie trade is not playing to rave reviews with fans or media.
Guthrie was a popular player who pitched well for this team and the early response from fans is that the Orioles did not get enough in return for the right-hander. This morning, he was sent to Colorado for pitchers Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom.
Keep in mind that the closer a player gets to free agency, the less value the player has in a trade. Plus, Guthrie is coming off a year where his ERA increased from 3.83 to...
