Accardo excited to be on board
Reliever Jeremy Accardo, whose one-year, $1.08 million deal with the Orioles was finalized this morning after he passed his physical, did just as much homework on his new club as the Orioles did on him.
After becoming a free agent, Accardo spoke to several players, including Orioles pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, to gauge their feelings on the organization and playing in Baltimore. He was already feeling good about the prospects of signing with the Orioles, but he said he was ultimately sold after talking to president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail and manager Buck Showalter late last week.
"I talked to probably five or six teams, maybe even seven, that were pretty legitimate talks," Accardo said in a phone interview. "When I talked to Andy and Buck on the phone, I was pretty sold there. I just wanted to weigh the options. This is where we want to be for the next few years, and hopefully even longer than that."
Accardo, who turns 29 tomorrow, said he looks forward to getting opportunities to pitch late in games and get key outs.
"That’s one of the main reasons why I did it," he said. "They have a great back end of the bullpen. The season is pretty long. There is going to be some people with nagging arms, and the opportunity is going to be there. That’s all I can really ask for. They didn’t really [promise] me anything. I don’t want anything handed to me. That would take away the point of going in there, working hard and competing. I’ve been scrapping and trying to get by my whole career, and I've done it to this point. All I can ask for is the opportunity. What I make with it after that is kind of up to chance."
Accardo's best season came in 2007, when he set career highs with 30 saves, four wins and a 2.14 ERA for the Toronto Blue Jays.
"The last two years, I’ve been healthy. I haven’t had a problem," he said. "But over the last two years, going up and down and through all that stuff with Toronto, I think a change of scenery is great. Through that, I learned how to pitch more. I think I’m much smarter than I was in '07. Now, I just have to go execute. I think I’m ready to do that."
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Comments
Accardo is just turning 29. Still plenty of upside. His only problem seems to be staying healthy. That's a concern, but this seems like a good gamble.
I like that the O's are going after younger guys now instead of the "over the hill" gang.
Posted by: Jim | December 17, 2010 3:49 PM
Seeing as he no longer has the forkball...I think he's only a 2 pitch guy now and not nearly as good. He probably is excited lol - almost as excited as Adkins was last year when no one wanted him either, until the O's swept in. I hope i'm wrong. If we're signing the Accados of the world, then why haven't we tried to sign Chris Ray?
Posted by: Beaned1 | December 17, 2010 4:02 PM
Beaned1...looks like you might have been...are you Accardo's personal pitching coach and know how he holds his fastball, cutter and change? Give it a break! This is a nice, low price move for someone who's done it before at the highest level and is healthy. He'll be a nice addition if he stays that way. This is very similar to the Guthrie move. That turned out pretty well, didn't it?
Posted by: mickey | December 17, 2010 4:12 PM
Alright Mickey I'll give it a break dude. Its true, he's a pretty good gamble rt now and we need a couple more bullpen arms. And traditionally he's great against lefty hitters, too, which is kind of rare. Hopefully this works out well. Pretty sure Guthrie was a waiver's pick up and we got him on the cheap from an overloaded Indians pitching machine but i see yer point.
Posted by: Beaned1 | December 17, 2010 4:25 PM
Welcome aboard Jeremy!
Always good when a player wants to play for your team. And, unlike Gregg, wants nothing handed to him. Wants to earn it.
That's the type of mentality the O's need to cultivate and acquire in their transactions.
Everybody pushing everybody else.
Everybody pushing in the same direction.
Everybody rooting for everybody else.
Good acquisition AM!
Nice article Jeff. Keep them coming in!
Merry Christmas O's fans!
Posted by: John in Conn | December 17, 2010 7:27 PM
Hey Jeff
Is there any truth to a report according to Rumor Central on ESPN.com that O's and LaRoche are close to a three year deal?
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/features/rumors?date=20101217
Happy Holidays to all the O's fan out there
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Jeff Z's reply: That report has been out there for a couple of days. O's officials insist that while they are negotiating with LaRoche, no deal is imminent.
Posted by: Chang | December 17, 2010 7:39 PM
Beaned1 "sounds" just like brummiepaul, down to the whining and the lol. Down to only two pitches now you say? Mariano Rivera made a pretty damn good career with only one pitch. But you wouldn't know that since you're nothing but whine for the sake of whine. Loser
Posted by: RealityCheck | December 17, 2010 7:45 PM
RealityCheck, you suck. why all the personal attacks?
Posted by: birdfanman | December 18, 2010 12:05 PM
Personally, I wouldn't mind the personal attacks if I continually expressed opinions on these pages that were not well researched, which of course showed my ignorance even more. The point is, RealityCheck is probably like me, tired of all the BS losers who have only negative things to say, without merit for the most part. That's the absolute worst kind of FAN. The word itself comes from PHANATIC, remember? Let's try and have positive phanaticism along with accurate comments and I think I'd stop bashing comments like "Fox WOULD get 35-40 HR's if allowed to play everyday". Come on people...expect to get bashed if you allow it. Oh yeah, Gregg is highly overrated and would not fit in to what Buck wants anyway. Don't get on AM when Gregg signs somewhere else. Check out the numbers, people. This one is easy.
Posted by: mickey | December 18, 2010 1:47 PM
So..... where is toilet? Hehe))) Joke, relax ;)
Thank you
Posted by: LorencoHug | December 19, 2010 9:24 AM