Here's a roundup of a few takes on the Orioles' hiring of Dan Duquette by other writers.

* At SB Nation, Marc Normandin takes a look at Duquette’s personnel moves while with the Expos and Red Sox and wonders which Duquette the Orioles are getting — the one who drafted well and succeeded in the international market while with small-budget Montreal, or the one who didn’t draft as well with big-budget Boston but made some smart acquisitions and trades:

“It's tough to say how good Duquette will be in today's game. The kinds of things that led to success for him in the ’90s are more prevalent now — on-base percentage is valued much more, and the rich teams are even richer than they were 10 years ago. What we do know, though, is that the Orioles need Montreal's Dan Duquette more than Boston's, given the sorry state of their player development has led them to where they are, and strong drafting and trades are the only way to climb back out of that hole.”

Continue reading "What they're saying about Dan Duquette" »

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Here’s a look at what other media outlets are saying after the O’s beat the Red Sox in the season finale:

• Nando Di Fino of The Wall Street Journal writes about the “five perfect minutes of baseball” played across the major leagues on Wednesday night, including the Orioles’ 4-3 walk-off win at Camden Yards.

The 2011 Major League Baseball season had started approximately 260,632 minutes before midnight struck Wednesday night. Just five minutes later, and the fates of two teams would be decided by swings of two bats 1,060 miles apart.

There was a beauty in the sudden turn in events on Wednesday, which sent Tampa Bay and St. Louis to the playoffs and put a coda on the epic collapses of the Red Sox and Braves. Millions of different scenarios had to play out perfectly for it all to happen, from the short-term (a rainstorm in Baltimore allowed for a delay just long enough to keep the Orioles-Red Sox game on pace with the Yankees-Rays) to the long-term (Dan Johnson’s journey from Oakland prospect to Japanese baseball player to Tampa Bay reclamation project put him in the batter’s box in the bottom of the ninth as a pinch hitter).

There were multiple heroes involved, and when you ask 10 people to re-tell the story of what happened, you’ll get 10 different starting points. “Over five hours on a Wednesday night in late September,” Yahoo’s Tim Brown writes, “when baseball was supposed to be quietly ironing its bunting and hoping people soon would be paying attention again, the game willed itself to incomprehensible greatness.”

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles (and the Red Sox's collapse): Sept. 29" »

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Here’s a look at what other media outlets have been saying about the Orioles during the past week:

• John Tomase of The Boston Herald says pitching was Boston’s downfall against the Orioles this week.

Feel free to throw up your hands, because it’s one thing when you’ve got no chance to win. It’s another when you’ve got exactly the guys you want on the mound and things still don’t go your way.

For the second straight night, the Red Sox couldn’t have asked for a better situation, leading the Baltimore Orioles by three runs in the sixth inning with starter Josh Beckett in the game and Alfredo Aceves rested in the bullpen.

But as was the case Tuesday night, when the normally reliable duo of Daniel Bard (granted, he’s been shaky this month) and Jonathan Papelbon couldn’t keep the lead in a loss, this time Beckett and Aceves did the Sox in.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: September 22" »

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Here’s a look at what other media outlets have been saying about the Orioles during the past week:

• SI’s Jon Heyman writes that Andy MacPhail's likely departure is a blow to O's in more ways than one.

Baseball insiders are all but certain that well-respected executive Andy MacPhail will leave his post as president and general manager of the Orioles. MacPhail's expected departure is the latest in a string of blows covering more than a decade for the storied franchise gone south. But the real question now is the interesting one: Will anyone of stature take such a job?

"Who'd want it?'' wonders one high-ranking baseball person.

No one since Hall of Famer Pat Gillick quit in 1998 has been able to get the Orioles to the playoffs, and lately no one has even gotten them close to .500. MacPhail, a true pro, is a loss. But he really never had a chance from the start.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: Sept. 15" »

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Here’s a look at what other media outlets have been saying about the Orioles during the past week:

• Marc Normandin of SB Nation writes that Brian Matusz “is having one of the roughest stretches with the long ball in the history of the game, and now finds himself kicked out of the rotation in Baltimore.”

It's been a rough 2011 for the Orioles' Brian Matusz. He's followed up a solid rookie campaign with one of the worst performances in the history of the game. In one way, that nightmare is now over. Manager Buck Showalter has removed Matusz from the Baltimore rotation, citing Matusz's inability to "defend himself properly," meaning Matusz can't get hitters out, and there is no sense in having him face hitters while in that condition.  

Matusz has a 9.64 ERA after 10 starts and 43 innings. Unless things drastically change for the lefty out of the bullpen over the next few weeks, he's going to hold an inglorious record: at this point, Matusz is the only pitcher ever with 10 or more starts and more than three home runs allowed per nine innings.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: September 8" »

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Here’s a look at what other media outlets have been saying about the Orioles during the past week:

•After a strong finish in 2010, the O’s have reverted to their losing ways, writes ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick.

Six months are just a snapshot in the life of a sports franchise, but that's more than enough time to kill the buzz in a city and turn a swagger into a crawl. Consider the Baltimore Orioles, who were brimming with enthusiasm in spring training, but wake up to a harsh reality today. The landscape includes lots of empty seats at Camden Yards, a run differential of minus-126 and a starting rotation with Jo-Jo Reyes and Alfredo Simon smack in the middle.

The 2011 season has been a letdown for baseball fans in Cincinnati, Colorado and both sides of Chicago, but the word "disappointment" can't begin to describe what the remaining diehards in Baltimore must be feeling. As the Red Sox and Yankees take part in yet another high-stakes American League East staredown this week, the Orioles are once again playing out the string in obscurity. They're 27½ games out of first place and on track to surpass 90 losses for the sixth straight year and finish below .500 for the 14th consecutive season.

That's still five years short of Pittsburgh's .500 futility streak. But the Pirates at least enjoyed a brief fling as media darlings this year -- and spent five days in first place in July -- before running into the adult portion of their schedule. The Orioles, in contrast, continue to put the "b" in "beleaguered."

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: Sept. 1" »

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Here’s a look at what other media outlets have been saying about the Orioles during the past week:

• Justin Havens of ESPN writes about how the Mark Reynolds trade has paid off for the Diamondbacks.

On the same Sunday that current Baltimore Orioles third baseman Mark Reynolds went 0-4 with two strikeouts, the Arizona Diamondbacks -- Reynolds’ former team -- defeated the New York Mets 5-3 to maintain a two-game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the National League West. But the game was yet another example of how different things are for the Diamondbacks this season, starting with the man who ended Sunday’s victory -- relief ace David Hernandez.

On Dec. 6, 2010, the Diamondbacks made what appeared at the time to be a fairly innocuous trade, sending third baseman Mark Reynolds (and John Hester) to the Orioles for Hernandez (and Kam Mickolio). While Reynolds has never been a superstar, he did hit 104 home runs over the course of three seasons from 2008-10. It was this trade, however, that helped change the D-backs’ course by simultaneously managing to improve the team’s offense, relief pitching and defense in one fell swoop.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: August 18" »

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Here’s a look at what other media outlets have been saying about the Orioles during the past week:

• The (Salisbury) Daily Times writes that it might be time to give up hope on this Orioles season.

These are the days when it's tough to be an Orioles fan. After an offseason full of hope and a competitive couple of months, Baltimore has plummeted out of the American League East race. You know it's bad when the Seattle Mariners -- who lost 17 games in a row before Wednesday -- still have more victories than the Birds, who currently own the worst record in the AL.

If you enjoy a adult alcoholic beverage, it might be time to crack open another one. Might dull the pain some.

The best thing now is to look toward the future and how the Orioles can best improve themselves for 2012 and beyond. Baltimore has some solid pieces in place -- J.J. Hardy, Matt Wieters, Nick Markakis and Adam Jones -- but obviously not enough yet to compete with the big boys of the division.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: July 28" »

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Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:

• Dave Schoenfield of ESPN’s SweetSpot blog lists three reasons he believes the Orioles’ three-year contract extension for shortstop J.J. Hardy is a risky deal.

1. Hardy is in the midst of his best season. After good seasons with the Brewers in 2007 and 2008 -- in which he hit 50 home runs -- he struggled in 2009 (.229) and didn't hit for much power with the Twins last season. That means his projected level of play is too difficult to predict. He looks great right now and considering the lack of quality shortstops in the majors, he's been one of the better ones in 2011. But is it merely a good two-month streak or just a guy who's finally healthy?

2. His injury history. He hasn't played 140 games since 2008 and won't again this year -- he's already missed 27 games earlier with an oblique strain, after missing more than 100 games combined in 2009-10.

3. How will he age? While he's not fast, Hardy has played a good shortstop throughout his career. He should remain good enough with the glove for three more years.

All in all, it seems like a good deal for the Orioles, assuming Hardy stays reasonably healthy. The Orioles are never going to be the first choice for top free agents, so they have to build from within and hope they can sign second-line players like Hardy to long-term contracts that don't break the payroll. Trading Hardy also would have left a huge gap at shortstop that would have been difficult to fill.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: July 21" »

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Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:

• As part of his weekly power rankings, Sports Illustrated’s Joe Lemire lists each club’s most important figure. The Orioles come in at No. 29 with manager Buck Showalter being the individual to watch:

The Orioles have now played 145 games under Showalter, dating back to when he took over last August, and for the first 105 games were 58-47, a .552 winning percentage that included a 34-23 finish last year and a respectable 24-24 start to this season; for perspective's sake, .552 would be only .002 behind Texas for the third-best record in the AL this season. Since then, however, Baltimore has gone 12-28, with four distinct losing streaks of at least four games, including an active seven-game skid. The O's have won one of their last 13 games, and Showalter would do well to finish strong for the sake of the team's psyche.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: July 14" »

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Here's a look at recent media coverage of the Orioles:

• In his weekly power rankings, the Sporting News’ Anthony Witrado slots the O’s at No. 28.

28. Baltimore Orioles (23). Matt Wieters’ 1.9 WAR is All-Star worthy. Unfortunately that didn’t do much from staving off a five-game losing streak last week.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: July 7" »

Posted by Baltimore Sun sports at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
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Here's a look at recent media coverage of the Orioles:

• No Orioles made Joe Lemire's All-Star team, and the club checked in at No. 24 in the SI.com writer's weekly rankings.

The collective opponents of the Orioles have hit 93 home runs this year -- led by a five-homer bashing by the Reds on Saturday -- a number so high that if they were to organize themselves into a team, they'd rank third in the majors, behind only the Yankees and Rangers. While the Orioles (81 HRs, fifth in the AL) and especially shortstop J.J. Hardy (9 HRs in June) have shown some recent power, they are still at a deficit. The league average is to allow a homer in 2.4 percent of opponents' plate appearances, yet nine of the 12 Orioles to have thrown 25 or more innings this year have a rate higher than that.

• With a dearth of All-Star-caliber third basemen, ESPN’s Steve Berthiaume states the case for Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy making the AL All-Star team at third.

That's why you could make an argument that Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy should start at third base for the American League. No, I'm not seriously suggesting this as a solution -- I'm merely taking an A.L. shortstop, one who we've been overlooking all season and pointing out that his offensive numbers could put him at the top of the third-base list.

• Orioles starter Zach Britton is ranked second on CBSSports.com writer Larry Dobrow's list of top rookie pitchers.

Whether due to injuries or to menacing deployment of a pickaxe, he forced his way onto the roster this spring, which speaks volumes about his good fortune or his psychosis. Either way, the Orioles are the better for it.

-- Chris Branch

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Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:

• SB Nation’s Rob Neyer says that losing record aside, the Orioles are enjoying a fine season.

If there's one thing we might have learned, though last night's games, it's that Buck Showalter might not actually be a Miracle Worker. Then again, it's probably not his fault that Lee and Guerrero are regularly wasting dollars and plate appearances. What we might also have learned is that Buck Showalter is, at the very least, a pretty good manager.

Last year, the Orioles were 32-73 when Showalter took over as manager. Afterward, they went 34-23. Those numbers are a testament to relative managerial talents, for sure. But there's never been a manager born that was the difference, all by his lonesome, between 32-73 and 34-23. It simply wasn't realistic to think the Orioles would continue to play .600 baseball simply because of Uncle Buck Showalter. Nor was there much reason to think that [Vladimir] Guerrero and [Derrek] Lee would make a big dent in the standings.

Here's the thing, though: Before Showalter arrived, the Orioles were 32-73. Since his hiring, the Orioles have gone 64-56 ... which is still really impressive and does probably say something about Showalter's talents. And suggests that once the organization is free of overpaid veterans like Derrek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero and comes up with some good young homegrown hitters, the 25-man roster will be in excellent hands.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: June 16" »

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Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:

• Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman evaluates MLB’s 12 new managers and how they’re faring. He gave O’s manager Buck Showalter a sparkling review:

He changed the culture last year, proving he was exactly the right man to shake up the moribund organization. Unfortunately, they are one of many teams beset by injuries, in their case to several infielders and pitchers (even so, they are only 5 ½ games behind the Red Sox in the impossible AL East). In the end, he may be the best choice of all. An expansion of the playoffs would be something else to cheer in Baltimore.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: June 9" »

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Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:

• Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman listed the 2011 Orioles as one of his “Snakebitten Six” teams.

Team igniter Brian Roberts has been idled, the result of another concussion. He's been prescribed rest, but it isn't known when he'll be able to return. Free-agent pickup Derek Lee, who was supposed to be the veteran presence they needed, has wrist and thumb problems in spring and is now sidelined with the ever-annoying oblique injury. Cesar Izturis recently had elbow surgery. And J.J. Hardy earlier was out with his own oblique injury, making the infield nothing short of a disaster area. Starting pitcher Brian Matusz, who is much-needed, will make his season debut Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Justin Duchscherer is still out with a hip issue.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: June 2" »

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What they're saying about the Orioles: May 26

Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:

• Ben Penserga of DelmarvaNow.com says that Matt Wieters is no Buster Posey, but he's not a bust.

People can say some dumb things sometimes.

Granted, Wieters has not had the same early success at the plate as Giants catcher Buster Posey or the Twins' Joe Mauer. And because he didn't, people started turning on him.

What I want to know is, whatever happened to patience? What happened to actually waiting for a prospect to develop a little bit before throwing him out with the trash? I mean, Wieters has only been in the league for less than two full seasons. Wasn't it a little quick to dismiss him?

Anyway, Wieters is proving people wrong in the best way this year -- with his performance. Since May 11, he's raised his batting average 35 points to a respectable .273 and, going into Wednesday night's game, was tied for the team lead in RBIs. Yes, it'd be nice to see his power numbers continue to go up (15 to 20 home runs at the end of the season would nice), but all the signs point to a guy who's development is still on the upswing.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles" »

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Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:

• Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports tells the story of how dumb luck brought Zach Britton his out pitch.

When Zach Britton(notes) uses his middle finger, it’s not an obscenity. It just causes them. Opposing batters punctuate ugly swings and flaccid ground balls and strikeouts with every last morsel of a sailor’s vocabulary, and if Britton really wanted to add insult to injury, he would extend his bird as a reminder of what caused that particular at-bat’s demise. 

The Baltimore Orioles’ 23-year-old rookie starting pitcher has spent the first five weeks of his major league career confounding hitters with one of baseball’s rare beasts: the left-handed power sinker. Forget the high heat, the diving splitter, the tilt-a-whirl slider, the whittling cutter, the ACL-tearing curve -- it’s the sinker, the workaday pitch almost anyone can learn, that, when mastered, can transform a man into an out-making automaton.

No one throws a sinker like Britton. Actually, the ball isn’t even supposed to sink. When he was in Class A, futzing around with different grips like all inquisitive pitchers do, one of his coaches, Calvin Maduro, tried to teach him a cutter. He told Britton to dig his middle finger into the seams, rest his index finger alongside it and throw. The ball was supposed to move in against right-handed hitters. It dove a foot away. 

“I don’t know what you’re doing,” Maduro said. “Just keep doing it.”

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles" »

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• Alex Remington of Yahoo! Sports writes that Mark Reynolds’ big drop in Ks might not be a good thing.

If Babe Ruth invented the home run, then Mark Reynolds invented the strikeout. He's the only man to ever strike out 200 times in a season, and he's done it three years running, all while hitting 104 homers in the thin desert air. But the 2010 Diamondbacks set an all-time team record for strikeouts, and new general manager Kevin Towers identified Reynolds as the personification of the problem -- which of course he was, if you believe that strikeouts are a problem -- and Towers shipped his hot corner star out to Baltimore for a couple of relievers.

The trouble is, that's not the only thing that's dropped.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: May 12" »

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Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:

• MLB.com columnist Terence Moore thinks Cal Ripken Jr.'s legendary Ironman streak was less impressive than Lou Gehrig's even though Ripken’s lasted 502 games longer.

You may recall that Gehrig also earned his nickname as "The Iron Horse" by playing in a record 2,130 games before succumbing to a bizarre muscular disease that eventually was named in his honor. His record for that playing streak lasted 56 years until Cal Ripken Jr., kept going and going before snapping it in 1995.

Nothing against Ripken Jr., but Gehrig remains the standard bearer for that record, too.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the O's: May 5" »

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Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:

• CSN Baltimore’s John Eisenberg writes that Orioles starter Zach Britton keeps rolling.

The rookie left-hander won again Tuesday night, pitching six strong innings in a 4-1 win over the Boston Red Sox at Camden Yards. The Orioles are now 4-1 in his starts and 5-11 in games started by everyone else.

“You just don’t see a ball with that much movement very often,” said Orioles first baseman Derrek Lee, 35, a veteran who has seen a lot of pitchers. “He’s going to be tough all year.”
The Orioles are onto something here, folks. No rookie pitcher wearing their uniform had ever won four games in April until Britton did it this month. Tuesday night, with his sinking fastball constantly sawing off hitters, he allowed one run on five hits while lowering his ERA to 2.84.

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: April 28" »

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Here's a look at what other media outlets have said about the Orioles in the past week:

• For a profile of Orioles left fielder Luke Scott, ESPN’s Amy K. Nelson spoke with Scott in spring training about his offseason comments about President Barack Obama not being born in the United States.

During a three-hour drive from a spring training game to the home in De Leon Springs, Fla., just north of Orlando, Scott talks about politics, race and religion. His tone is professorial, but the new mandate has had an effect: Scott says he can't talk about anybody by name, that he doesn't want to cause a distraction to his team.

"Our forefathers got it; they got it, man," Scott says. "They took godly principles and they put them into action, and they developed our Constitution -- the land of freedom where each man is accountable and responsible for his actions. By the sweat of his brow and the effort he makes he can mark out his future, regardless of opportunity.”

Continue reading "What they're saying about the Orioles: April 21" »

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