How exciting. Obviously a report for an upbeat team heading for the big prize!

I saw where the O's have opened negotiations with Hardy for some sort of long term deal. But you have to wonder if JJ will want to stay, regardless of money. He'll never be in the playoffs with this team, a huge downside in the Orioles sales pitch.

Still, the team deserves credit for not wasting time in trying to sign the guy.

I think Hardy should be given a long term extension. His production is over what I expected going into this season. I really like the move.

Maybe being away from it, (Die hard O's fan from Cleveland,) but I still feel some genuine optimism with how they've played so far under Buck. Perhaps they've finally turned the corner.

And personally, here's hoping the O's sweep the Tribe out of the Yard in two weeks!!!!

i'll make a prediction- this is Matusz' last start for the orioles for the next 2 months or so.
He's getting hit by guys that couldn't even get their bat on the ball when he was even mediocre at best.
Do everyone a favor and get him the hell out of Baltimore.

i am officially calling Andy's so-called plan to Grow Arms and Buy Bats an abject failure.If he had any pride, he'd admit his catastrophic failure to breathe any life into this franchise, and leave town.

mcfail must go. Slowwalter the cast off gets the boot NOW.next season get serious about the pitching and keep those that have a future and give up on he rest. (Arrieta,Gurthrie;johnson,Gregg)(Markakis,Jones,Wieters) Hardy if price is reasonable) Be serious about the other 17 and clean house. YOU CAN DO NO WORSE THAN LAST PLACE WITH !7 NEW PLAYERS>

You would have to question Hardy's sanity if he were to sign with the O's. The object of every player is to win. He might consider signing for a discount if he thought this team could win. As it stands now this team is lost. The ERA of this staff will be well over 5 by the end of the season. No pitching, no players in the minors major league ready. This team is actually in worse shape than 13 years ago. The only solution is to change ownership and get someone in here with a baseball mind.

well, not so hard to figure that out I guess...it took Hughes a trip to the DL and more than 6 weeks on a throwing program to get his arm strength back up, and the sad sack Orioles braintrust, and I use that term loosely, decides to let Matusz attempt his rehab in the major leagues by telling him he has to learn to pitch without a fastball.
Yep, we're out of our minds, right?

AM has failed, and he's forcing the manager to say and do stupid things.

My next prediction: One of them is going, and soon.

The buck stops with Peter Angelos, as some on this and other blogs have stated. Angelos simply doesn't care about winning. As long as MASN is bringing in the big bucks, he has no interest in putting a winning team on the field. And his lackey the GM, or Director of Baseball Operations, or whatever you want to call him, follows his wishes. MacPhail is just doing what his boss tells him to do.

It is so blatantly obvious in the signings the O's have and have not made in the past few years. The bottom line is what is important. Who will sign for cheap, that's what counts. Cases in point: Garrett Adkins, Vladdy, Derrek Lee, Victor Martinez and Mark Texeira.

The first three signed cheap with the O's because they are/were washed up. Angelos figures he might catch lightning in a bottle with these guys. If they play well for cheap, that's good; if not, at least they were cheap. And we usually get the "if not" part. But no where does actually trying to win enter his thinking.

Look at what's happened with those three players specifically. Atkins was so bad they had to release him after only two months. He was so awful no other team even tried to claim him. Lee is hitting, as of yesterday, .239. Pitiful. And Vladdy is hitting even worse than he did in the second half of last season, which was pretty pathetic then. He's so bad they're even talking about taking him out of the clean up spot. But, once again, they all signed for cheap, which is what counts.

Now, let's look at the last two, Martinez and Texeria. Right now, Victor Martinez is hitting .335, which is only second in the AL. Wouldn't he look good in the middle of our lineup right now? But, no, the O's were "outbid" for him. Sorry, but I don't believe that. They let themselves be outbid because Angelos didn't want to pay anybody. Same with Texeria. He's now only leading the AL in homers. What did the O's do for the "hometown boy"? They put out an offer they knew would be far too low. Why? Because they never had any intention of signing him.

The general rule for the O's right now is this: If you can still play and command a relatively high contract, the O's will pretend to be interested, but won't sign you; if you're washed up and willing to sign for what is, in the relative scheme of things, a pittance, then the O's will definitely sign you so you can continue to go downhill while wearing an O's uniform.

Peter Angelos, please please please, sell the O's now!!

Isn't it time, after all these years, for MR. ANGELOS to take his "minor league team" down where they belong (AA -maybe) and stop fleecing the Baltimore fans??? This would allow a "real" owner to put a decent team in the stadium.

If the O's are going to fire anyone, they need to start with Joe Jordan. Here are the O's 1st round picks since he became director of scouting on Nov 16, 2004, along with players the O's could(should) have drafted. 2005 - #13 - Brandon Snyder (#23 Jacoby Ellsbury or #28 Colby Rasmus). 2006 - #9 Billy Rowell (#10 - Tim Lincecum(this one gets beat into the ground or #11 Max Scherzer). 2007 - #5 Matt Weiters - this the first one he got right - 1 out of 3 is bad. 2008 - #4 Brian Matusz - despite injury, still good pick - he was exactly what the O's needed at the time. 2009 - #5 Matt Hobgood - the O's needed to draft for impact instead they draft for signability - like the days of old Syd Thrift(# 8 Mike Leake, #10 Drew Storen or #12 Aaron Crow).

McPhail is trying to plug the holes created by the terrible scouting the O's have in place. There is still a lack of talent in the minors.

Joe must Go!

Its good to see that someone agrees with me. Steve Berthiamune agrees that JJ Hardy should make the All Star team as a 3B, but I believe that he should make the permanent move over there to make room for free agent SS Jose Reyes

dspedden - Interesting thought about moving Hardy to 3rd (assuming he would go for it. How about go a step or two further - If you move him to 3rd move Mark Reynolds to 1st and see what he can do. The Os would probably like to trade Lee if they could get something worthwhile. Have the infield be Hardy at 3rd, Andino at short, Davis at 2nd, and Reynolds at 1st. Unless I'm mistaken it seems that most of Reynolds' errors are throwing errors. Moving him to 1st would certainly cut down on that. I'd say try that infield, put Reimold in left and leave him there. Trade Scott or have him share DH duties with Vlad, and go from there. I think Reynolds has too much pop in his bat to throw him under the bus. Plus, from all accounts the guy works his butt off with the coaches and HAS cut down on his strikeouts. I'd also like to see him a little higher in the order where he might have men on base more often. Just a few thoughts, here...............