Steve,

Why would the O's send suspects and not prospects to the AFL?

There was a mention that Showalter was urging several current O's major league players to go to Sarasota after the season. Who is going and what are they working on?

What players from the O's organization are going to play winter ball?

Thanks,
Butch

--

From Dan: Matt Angle went to Sarasota to work on playing second base with Bobby Dickerson and Mike Bordick. There was talk about maybe sending Chris Davis or even Alfredo Simon there, but that didn't happen (Davis, for instance, was scheduled to have sports hernia surgery). As for suspects and not prospects, most of the "prospects" went to instructional league and are pretty raw. Don't know specifics on winter ball yet.

I just finished reading something that Kevin Cowherd wrote . This is why the Orioles are where they are . How dumb can you be Sr. The Oriole's are in the best shape they have been in years .
Take a look of the people in the Hall of fame , and how the started . Shut up about this man . It's people like you is why we are where we are . What makes you think it can be done over night . When it took all this time to get where we are .Let the baseball people that know what they are doing alone . PLEASE !!! Write about something you know about .
Curt S.S. Md

Baseball America actually had Avery ranked as the third best prospect in the organization before this season (in addition to best athlete). It's highly unlikely he will remain near the top of the next rankings after a mediocre season, but he'll probably still sneak his way into the bottom of the top 10.

Actually, Baseball America listed Avery as the Orioles 3rd best prospect.
It's likely that different teams use the AFL for different purposes. Looking at the pitchers, I suspect the Orioles chose Johnson, Gleason and McCurry to help decide whether to include them on the 40-man roster before the Rule 5 draft. All three had rather good strikeout to innings pitched ratios, a good sign for a reliever especially. Lambert was injured all season. I think they opted to give the top pitching prospects rest and recovery time.

Actually Avery was #3 on last year's rankings:

1. Manny Machado, ss
2. Zach Britton, lhp
3. Xavier Avery, of
4. L.J. Hoes, 2b
5. Dan Klein, rhp
6. Wynn Pelzer, rhp
7. Mychal Givens, ss
8. Ryan Adams, 2b/3b
9. Ryan Berry, rhp
10. Jonathan Schoop, ss

I am no scout. But I get to attend several Delmarva games each year and I usually sit right behind home plate (great vantage point). When Sean Gleason pitched, I thought that my life was in danger. That guy can throw HARD. I hope that he keeps moving up...

Tough time to be a Baltimore baseball reporter, huh?

Is the AFL for prospects or for organizational types? I would be curious what BA would say about the pack of prospects the Oriols are bringing to the mix...

--

Usually top type prospects now. But ones that are closing in on the majors. Double-A types

What is the story with Lambert? Why did he not pitch last year, and why was he sent to the AFL?

Also, any word on why some of the more highly touted prospects (Machado, Schoop, Givens) were not sent?

Hi Steve,

Sorry, my question wasn't really a question, more of a commentary on the "prospects" the Orioles are sending to Arizona. I mean, it seems like a pretty pathetic group to me. Avery is the only real prospect of the bunch but only because of his age versus his competition, and his OPS in Bowie was pretty terrible this year...

For anyone who actually reads my posts, this serves as an addendum for Roand Hemond who is credited with the original idea for the Arizona Fall League, an off-season developmental league owned and operated by Major League Baseball, featuring the top prospects from each of the MLB teams, with all games played in the spring training stadiums in and around Phoenix, Arizona.

Curt, all I can say is, "Huh?"

I won't ask what a Solar Sock is if you don't ask me what a Bay Sock is. I always thought our AA team should have been the Bowie Buoys anyway. Cue The Kingsmen ...

Curt -

When did anyone ever ask for an overnight turnaround? I don't remember that.

What I do remember is that Andy MacPhail was hired in 2007, right after the June draft. Four and a half years, four drafts, a few solid trades and a load of ugly contracts for over-the-hill mediocre power hitters and bad middle relievers later, the O's are coming off their fourth straight 93+ loss season under the MacPhail regime.

And what's the hope for next year? This team will go into 2012 with the same starting rotation it had in 2011. Jeremy Guthrie is solid and Zach Britton's a nice young pitcher, but that's about it. Brian Matusz is a trainwreck, Jake Arrieta's coming off a major surgery, and the rest of the options are question marks at best.

And the holes are the same on the offensive side as well. No first baseman, no second baseman, no third baseman, no left fielder, no DH. Sure, I guess Mark Reynolds fits into one of those roles, but he's a square peg in a round hole at best. Home runs are nice and I don't freak out about strikeouts as much as most people around here, but when you're striking out 200 times, you've got to at least hit .250 to make up for it.

Think about it, Curt. We're asking ourselves the same questions we were asking ourselves in 2007. Has there really been any progress? When we're asking the same questions four years later, I don't see how that's possible.