Bummer of a loss today- hate to lose in extras like that. What really has me down, though, are the rumors that McPhail is looking at V-Mart. V-Mart was part of the great Indians team that never was: remember when Grady Sizemore, Travis Hafner, Ryan Garko, Jhonny Peralta, Josh Barfield (and later Asdrubal Cabrera) with a rotation led by CC and Cliff Lee were going to be the next big thing? V-Mart was the catcher, and those were halcyon days. Unfortunately, it all came crashing down, and none of those position players continued to live up to their hype. Anyway, just reminiscing there, but the point is that V-Mart is a poor, poor fit for the O's. As a hitter, he's adequate- the kind of player we already have in spades. He's justifiably highly valued as a catcher who can hit, but that's not something we need! Sure, Wieters still has some work to do, and it's more than we hoped he'd be dealing with at this point. However, an average hitter with little ability to throw out runners and a penchant for spending time on the DL just really does not seem like the fix we're looking for. This looks like another mid-level FA pickup so that Andy & Petey can pretend that they're trying to do something for the team rather than making a real investment in someone who can actually help. Catcher is one of the few spots that we are doing ok in at the moment. Not as great as we'd hoped, perhaps, but still certainly adequate and we have plenty of time for higher hopes to come true. Get us something we don't have already, like say a shortstop who is either a good fielder or a good hitter. We've learned Josh Bell may not be what we hoped, also. Is Wiggy our 3B? 1B? We still need a corner infielder as well as bullpen help. Please tell me the V-Mart rumors aren't true!

James III,

Victor can & does play 1B....has for a while. Victor's BB/K rate is Amazing. Victor kills Lefties (the O's don't).

If Matt Wieters is going to be the guy the O's drafted, his bat should play everyday, though he can't Catch everyday. Between he and Victor and 1B/DH/Catcher there plenty of AB's for both.

I don't get the Mid-level Free Agent thing. Signing Victor would be the biggest Free Agent the O's have signed in Years. Sure, he's not A-Rod, but A-Rod is locked up I think. Was there another Free Agent that makes better sense than Victor?

...and a better Defensive SS than Izzy? There defiantly aren't any of those available. 2nd best defense SS in the AL isn't good enough? "Good Defense up the middle"...anyone?... Signing Izzy in the off-season better be Job #1 for Andy. at least, imho.

That is a stunning statistic -- and reveals just how weak the O's pitching has been for the past decade.

Compare Jim Palmer's 9-year stretch starting in 1970, IP/CG:
305/17
282/20
274/18
296/19
178/5
323/25
315/23
319/22
296/19

I can't help wondering if this generation of pitchers is actually weaker due to not pitching *enough*.