He became the 1,000th player in Orioles history when he made his debut with the club on Aug. 1. But now will he will be among the first to leave this offseason?
What to do with free agent outfielder Gerardo Parra?
The day before that debut, Parra was acquired from Milwaukee for Triple-A right-handed pitcher Zach Davies to help shore up the O's corner outfield. While Parra struggled at times with the Orioles, the 22-year-old Davies went 3-2 with a ERA of 3.71 in six starts with Milwaukee. He...
On his way to making the Orioles' 40-man roster, 24-year-old right-hander Parker Bridwell may have found some consistency.
He has heard the criticism often. Some nights, he has electric stuff and then a week later he gets rocked. He was called inconsistent. It is a label he'd like to leave in the rear-view mirror.
Added to the 40-man roster yesterday along with pitchers Chris Lee and Andrew Triggs, Bridwell went 4-5 with an ERA of 3.99 in 18 starts for Double-A Bowie this season. But it was...
That first call-up to the major leagues is always a very special day in any player's career. But a big day that comes before that is when a player is added to the organization's 40-man roster for the first time.
It happened to three Orioles minor league pitchers today as the club added left-hander Chris Lee and right-handers Parker Bridwell and Andrew Triggs. This means none of the three can be lost in next month's Rule 5 draft and that all three will report with the rest of the big league...
Are the Orioles facing a possible either/or scenario with first baseman Chris Davis? Are they looking at a situation where they can either sign him, or not sign him and add two or more players with that money?
Recently, we looked at an early projection for an Orioles 2015 payroll. With the club looking for starting pitching and outfield help, not to mention possibly re-signing Davis and maybe more of their own free agents, it seems it will be hard to do all of that and still keep the payroll in...
You would think a pitcher that wins a Cy Young Award would probably be a high draft pick, got a big-dollar signing bonus and never pitched to an ERA of 5.00 or more in the majors leagues.
You might think that, but then check out Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros. The bearded one won that award last night.
Jim Stevenson is the scout that signed Dallas Keuchel and told Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle that Keuchel was never considered a top prospect. He said of Keuchel's American League...
The San Francisco Giants made a move yesterday that seems to be playing to solid reviews, locking up one of their core players for the future.
They signed shortstop Brandon Crawford to a six-year contract extension worth $75 million. The Giants signed him for his two remaining arbitration seasons and bought out four free agent years.
Crawford is a homegrown player, drafted by the Giants in round four in 2008. He pulled off a rare trifecta this year when he was an All-Star and also won a Gold...
For six players from the Orioles minor leagues, their time in the Arizona Fall League is almost over. They've played for the Peoria Javelinas, who are 12-12 with three games left and cannot finish in first place.
But the six have gained valuable high-level experience. Orioles director of player development Brian Graham was recently in Arizona and I asked him about the O's prospects out there.
Adrian Marin is a 21-year-old infielder who was the Single-A Frederick Keys' shortstop the past two...
One look at the Orioles' projected payroll for next year leads me to this conclusion: To get what they need to get done, the payroll very likely will have to increase in 2016.
The Orioles have four players with salaries locked in for the 2016 season:
* $16.3 million - Adam Jones * $15.8 million - Matt Wieters * $13.0 million - Ubaldo Jimenez * $12.5 million - J.J. Hardy
They have 11 arbitration-eligible players and their salaries for 2016 were projected by MLBTradeRumors.com recently:
* $6.9...
About a week ago, I wrote about Double-A Bowie hitting coach Keith Bodie and how he fit in very well in his first season in the Orioles organization in 2015. Bodie has had a long and strong career in pro ball.
During my visit with Bodie, we talked about a few Bowie hitters during the Eastern League playoffs.
To no surprise, Bodie is pretty high on first baseman Trey Mancini.
"I've been around a lot of good and special players and what he has done this year is very special," Bodie said. "He...
When news of Matt Wieters accepting the Orioles' qualifying offer spread yesterday afternoon, some fans immediately feared this meant the Orioles would have less money to sign Chris Davis or other free agents.
Well, Wieters made $8.3 million last year and through arbitration, had he been an arbitration-eligible player this year, his salary probably would have increased to $10-$11 million. So this is no huge overpay, here but Wieters will play for $15.8 million in 2016.
Dan Duquette said the...
Here are two pitching stats for a team in the 2015 regular season. This team had a starting rotation ERA of 4.34 to rank 12th in the American League. The same team got 912 2/3 innings from its starting pitchers this year to rank last in the AL.
Was the team the Orioles? No, the team is the Kansas City Royals and they won the World Series.
In ranking 12th in starting pitcher ERA in 2015, Kansas City was ahead of only Boston, Baltimore and Detroit in the AL.
The Royals blew the doors off two...
A few notes and quotes in today's entry:
The Duke: Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette was a guest Wednesday on MLB Network with host Chris Russo from the general managers meetings and was asked if some moves are expected to happen fast in the trade and free agent markets:
"Well, this is going to happen pretty quickly between now and the Winter Meetings (in early December), I think. Teams are lining up and aligning their interests with each other. I think you'll see some trades in...
It seems there is already substantial interest in free agent reliever Darren O'Day, an Oriole for the last four seasons and one whose highest ERA with the club was the 2.28 he posted in 2012.
He's had a rock-solid four years with the club and he even made the All-Star team in 2015 as a set-up man. That is rare.
O'Day went 6-2 with a 1.52 ERA and many other impressive stats in 2015. How about a 0.934 WHIP or a walk rate of 1.9 batters per nine innings to go along with a career-best 11.3...
For the second time in his career, Orioles third baseman Manny Machado is a Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner. The results were announced tonight during a live broadcast on ESPN2.
Machado won over the other two American League finalists - Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays and Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers.
Machado also won a Gold Glove at third in 2013 when he also was awarded a Platinum Glove, which goes to the best fielder in each league. His Gold Glove two years ago made him the first...
We've seen predictions about where some of the key free agents may sign and predictions for the contract values, but one element we would have a hard time predicting is exactly when these contracts will be signed.
The timing of the deals could impact other moves teams make. Take the Orioles, for instance. If they are truly going to be a player for first baseman Chris Davis, they must be prepared first of all to sign a player to a deal in excess of $100 million for the first time.
But what if...
Orioles top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy has been scratched from his scheduled start today in the Arizona Fall League. It was to be his third outing in the AFL.
"He has a little tightness in his forearm," said Orioles director of player development Bran Graham, who is in Arizona today. "He's fine, no injury. Just some tightness, so we backed off. It's day to day. With tightness in his forearm, obviously, we're not going to push him through that. There is no major concern."
Bundy had...
The Rule 5 draft is the last event of the Winter Meetings and it is now about a month away. This year it takes place on Dec. 10 in Nashville. Any player selected in this draft must remain on the selecting team's 25-man roster for the entire 2016 season or be offered back to his original club.
Players are eligible for selection in the Rule 5 draft when they are not on their organization's 40-man roster and:
* were signed at 19 or older and have been in the organization for four years; or
*...
By my count, the Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers led the majors by making three qualifying offers each. The Nationals, Cardinals and Padres made two QOs each and eight different teams made one offer each.
Again, if I have figured correctly, only three teams (San Diego, Seattle, Chicago White Sox) that made qualifying offers won fewer than 81 games last year. Those three teams (with four total picks) would get compensation picks ahead of the Orioles if the players they made QOs to turn them down...
There were many reasons the Double-A Bowie Baysox won their first Eastern League championship this season. The great leadership of manager Gary Kendall and his coaching staff and the strong performances of so many players were pretty important.
But there was one man who was there for all of it and did some solid work out of the media spotlight. But as I talked to Bowie hitters, his name came up often.
They were happy to thank hitting coach Keith Bodie for his help during the season. This...
So why did Miguel Gonzalez pitch so well in 2014, and for much of his first three years with the Orioles, only to struggle in 2015?
Was it all about injuries? Did the league catch up to him? If so, why didn't that happen during the 2014 season? Is his stuff just not good enough?
At one time, it seemed Gonzalez was the Orioles' most underrated and/or underappreciated starter. Now, after his 2015 campaign, there are certainly some that feel his spot in the 2016 Orioles rotation is far from...