Are the Orioles as good as they look right now?
They are 8-2 in exhibition games, have scored 29 runs the last three games and 79 runs over the 10 games. They have the best record in the Grapefruit League and second-best among all American League teams behind Cleveland at 8-1.
Yes, these games means nothing and won't help them even a little bit three weeks from today when the Orioles open the 2014 season. Can you believe that? The opener is now just three weeks away.
If the Orioles were 2-8...
Once you have given up three draft choices, what is one more? Once you have signed one Santana, why not two?
A match between the Orioles and right-hander Ervin Santana might be made in free agent heaven.
The big news that came out last night was that Santana now wants to sign a one-year contract for just 2014 and he wants to get it done quickly. It was also reported that he wants to play for a team with a good offense. What pitcher doesn't, right?
Well, Ervin, the O's offense was fourth in...
With the Orioles' recent additions of pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez and outfielder/DH Nelson Cruz, the talk of signing current players to long-term extensions has quieted a bit.
But those issues are still facing the organization, and now that most of the 2014 roster is set, the O's may be able to turn their attention to shortstop J.J. Hardy, whose contract is up at the end of this year, and to first baseman Chris Davis and catcher Matt Wieters, who can be free agents after the 2015 season.
Here...
Do the Orioles have the best collection of young talent in the American League? Baseball Prospectus says yes, and ranked the O's first among AL teams this week in its 25-and-under talent rankings.
The Orioles are No. 6 in all of Major League Baseball, but tops among AL teams. St. Louis is ranked No. 1 followed by Washington, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Miami.
The Orioles have already been getting solid recognition in farm system ratings, earning a No. 10 ranking from ESPN and No. 12 from...
If I had a nickel for every time a fan brought up Jonathan Schoop over the last few days, I'd at least have a nice collection of nickels and would be well on my way to a purchase of a cup of coffee.
But coins aside, the kid has some of you fans quite excited. Nothing wrong with that. Hey, if you can't get excited during spring training, when can you?
So can Schoop win the second base job? According to Buck Showalter, he's every bit the contender for that spot that Jemile Weeks and Ryan...
Today, I'm taking my shot at ranking the position players in the American League East, ranking players from first to last in the division at each position, including designated hitter.
This is very subjective and your rankings could be quite different. Mostly, I ranked on past performance with not a lot of projecting and that hurts younger players with potential but not a major league track record.
I am ranking one player per position per team and, as we know, there is a chance some of these...
Do you remember the 2012 Orioles?
Of course you do, and one of the lessons we learned from that 93-win team that made the playoffs is that winning is a team effort. For that club, that specific cliche was maybe never more true.
Do you remember that the 2012 Orioles had just one starting pitcher, Wei-Yin Chen, make more than 21 starts or pitch more than 140 innings? Chen was one of 19 players to record a win that year. That list included Chris Davis. Chen was one of 12 pitchers to make a start...
With major league spring training now well under way, the Orioles' minor league camp has also begun at the club's Twins Lakes facility in Sarasota, Fla.
Below is a list of 162 players that already have or will very soon report to the minor league camp. About 30 of the players listed reported Feb. 21 for an early camp. The rest of the minor league pitchers and catchers reported on Friday, and the bulk of the position players are to report on March 4. The first minor league exhibition games...
The Orioles drafted a high school right-hander with their first-round pick in 2011 and the next year, he began his first full pro season in the South Atlantic League. It appears that will happen again with another young right-hander they drafted 22nd overall out of the high school ranks last June.
Dylan Bundy was on the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds opening day roster two years ago and Hunter Harvey is expected to begin the 2014 season pitching at Perdue Stadium.
Harvey, who turned 19 in...
The measure of someone's life is not it its longevity but it's about the people you touch and impact along the way.
The Orioles organization is devastated today with the news that a very loved member of the family, public relations director Monica Barlow, died at just 36 after a long battle with lung cancer.
You only have to spend a few moments today on Facebook or Twitter to see the many lives Monica touched.
I want to take this moment to pass along my deepest condolences to her husband...
We often seem to enjoy looking at projections for how a team or player will do before each season. One of those projections is the over-under wins total set by oddsmakers and sportsbooks.
I wondered, for instance, if the Orioles' recent additions of Ubaldo Jimenez and Nelson Cruz created a sizable change in how the oddsmakers looked at the club.
The answer is that it didn't.
Bovada.lv, the online casino and sportsbook, had the Orioles' over-under wins total at 77.5 before those signings...
A lot of fans were excited when the Orioles signed pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez and outfielder/DH Nelson Cruz to free agent contracts. But the club had to give up its 17th and 55th picks in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft to get that duo.
The Orioles had already parted with the 35th overall pick in the Bud Norris trade last July, so the O's could have had three of the first 55 picks this June. Now they will not draft until the third round with the 91st overall pick.
They are not punting the...
They didn't have to go far to do it, but the symbolic gesture by several key Orioles to attend Nelson Cruz's press conference may be a big step forward for Cruz with his new team.
With their words - and yesterday with their actions - the Orioles players have warmly welcomed Cruz to the team. They are not condoning his suspension, but they are also letting him know he is one of them now and it's time to go to work.
Of course, it's now up to Cruz to avoid another suspension that would...
After pitching out of the bullpen last season, Orioles 2009 first-round pick Matt Hobgood, will return to a 'pen role in 2014.
O's director of player development Brian Graham confirmed that during an interview Sunday night. Not only that, but he said the 23-year-old right-hander has a chance to begin this year pitching at the Double-A level for the first time as a pro.
After Hobgood underwent shoulder surgery in early 2012 and missed all of that season, the 2009 fifth overall pick returned...
When I asked Dan Duquette back at the Winter Meetings if the Orioles would consider signing a player that had a PED-related suspension, he indicated they would consider doing that.
"We do our due diligence on all the players," Duquette said then. "I think that, you know, being part of Major League Baseball, there is program in place that deals with that. Once it's dealt with, I think the players can go back to work."
It may not be the most popular stance, but that is pretty much my...
Well, we heard and read that the Orioles were all in on A.J. Burnett. They went from that to actually adding Suk-min Yoon, Ubaldo Jimenez and Nelson Cruz. Of course, the Cruz deal is not official yet. Yes, the free agent season had some twists and turns over the last few days, weeks and months.
When it becomes official, Cruz's addition would give the Orioles six players on their roster that were on the 2013 American League All-Star team.
The Orioles certainly used the system to their...
At the start of free agency, MLBTradeRumors.com projected that slugger Nelson Cruz could get a three-year contract worth $39 million.
As we know, things change, and so did this free agent market. Today, the Orioles agreed to a one-year deal with Cruz worth $8 million plus incentives.
Was that a deal the Orioles simply had to take? Sure seems so, and after earlier giving up their first-round pick next June (17th overall) for Ubaldo Jimenez, they will now part with the 55th pick for Cruz. That...
It sure seems like one signing has energized a fanbase.
The Orioles signed pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez to a four-year deal and suddenly no one is posting here that the team will finish in last place, is cheap, is too slow to act or will win just 70 games this year.
Will that one signing make the difference for the Orioles on the field this year? I guess we will find out, but it sure has made a difference, at least so far, with the enthusiasm of a fanbase that was waning.
Now fans seem to be...
When Jhonny Peralta signed a four-year, $52 million free agent contract in November with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Orioles brass probably took note.
Some feel the Peralta deal is a comp - a good comparison for a possible deal between J.J. Hardy and the Orioles. Hardy can be a free agent after this season and the Orioles say they want to re-sign him.
They are both shortstops and both are 31. They have some similar offensive statistics, but Peralta is ahead of Hardy on offense with Hardy the...
Once you have given up the 17th and 35th picks in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft, why not part with another one?
That is a question the Orioles face now, as they have been linked to players like Nelson Cruz and Kendrys Morales on the free agent market.
This morning on MLB Network, Ken Rosenthal said the Mariners and Orioles remain the most likely landing spots for Cruz, with his last team, Texas, still a possibility.
Last summer, the Orioles traded a competitive balance pick to Houston in...