My only question is how big of an airhead is D. Cabrera?

We've already heard his manager state that he (and others presumably) doesn't take what he works on in the bullpen to the mound with him to use it in games.

Then why, pray tell, do they still allow him to take the ball every 5th day?

The old "million dollar arm, 10 cent head" label never fit anyone more apropriately than this knucklehead.

Doesn't he have any minor league options left?

If he does, maybe taking the step of demoting him just might wake him up.

If it doesn't.........get rid of him.

So what if he blossoms elsewhere?

I'm betting he would still remain a jerk who has NO business being in a major league uniform.

The very fact that he is still with the parent club speaks volumes about how low this franchise has sunken in the past decade.

WILD THING IS THE SONG FOR CABRERA

Danny [ Rickey's boy ] is a bit of a rock head. I wonder how a person like that spends his millions? Every time I build them up, they make me look stupid. I 'm told that if we can come up with one more sore armed pitcher this year, Cal will tell the truth about how he never missed a game in 30 years. This will be shown live on the new reailty show in the works, " Lie Detector Live ."

Maybe you can change my mind, but I don't see how Mazzone can be much of a coach when the entire pitching staff, except for Guthrie and Bedard, seems to be going backwards. Cabrera is especially disappointing. Last night he goes 0-2 on the first batter, and then he walks him. He should never be letting people on base when he is ahead of them 0-2. He needs to put them away. I am just sorry the O's have to stink like this....again....and it never ends. Every little ray of optimism we have ends up blowing up in our face.

I'm glad Leo Mazzone is confident, but I'm not so sure Cabrera should just be given a spot in next year's rotation. Maybe the O's should treat him the way the Royals did Zack Greinke. They moved Greinke to the bullpen so he could reclaim his command but still get to face major league batters. The results were amazing and Greinke is now back in the rotation. I'm not saying that Cabrera necessarily has Greinke's talent-- the guy was the #2 overall pick-- but this model might be the right formula for Daniel.

Roch,

The whole D. Cabrera thing last night was pretty embarrassing, actually. He should ask Bedard how to throw at somebody without raising any particular suspicion. It does not involve 97mph fastballs at or behind people's ribs.

What made it embarrassing is the fact that it followed what Jim Palmer noted on the MASN broadcast to be "the most obvious balk" - and it was! Usually when there is a balk called, it's some phantom movement call by an umpire like Balkin' Bob Davidson. That one was so clear, he stopped in the middle of a windup. Which Palmer also noted was pretty dumb for him to be pitching from with a runner on third base anyway.

I guess Pedroia can feel safe in calling out Cabrera since he knows the Sox aren't seeing him again for the rest of the season. That was a punk thing to say though (but then again, Cabrera's pitch was a punk thing to do).

I would have liked to see Trembley take Cabrera out of there immediately, before he could even get ejected. That is not exactly "respecting the game" there.

I think it's apparent that some people on this team have quit on this season. Some people have not.

Kevin Millar's hard slide into 2nd to break up the would-be DP from Huff shows that he has not quit on this season for more reasons than just getting his option for next year. I think he has some team pride.

R. Hernandez, J. Payton - no team pride. I am tired of watching those two guys. Why, with the expanded roster, we continue to see so much of them, is honestly beyond me. I daresay we would even compete better without them at this point, so it's not an issue of integrity of the game. Payton dogging fly balls is an issue.

Hopefully we can at least find something to clutch onto to be optimistic for next year. At this point that's all I'm asking for. Just something little.

Actually, Roch...I already used that one last September, after Cabrera pitched the one-hitter in Yankee Stadium...and you know how much I hate to repeat myself.

Unless, of course, it regards the varied and various deficiencies in the bullpen...a seemingly neverending source o' discussion 'round these parts....

np: "Crawling from the Wreckage," Dave Edmunds

Cabrera will be a monster of a pitcher one day. Baseball fortunes turn on a dime and all it takes is one good stretch to make a season a good one. And, with the kind of arm he has, his "good year" can be one of the best in the league.

That being said, Cabrera is still a kid. He's been in the bigs now for I think about 4 years but we all forget that he's not like a lot of his teammates who started playing at a young age. Cabrera started late, and ever since his days in Delmarva, he's always been very raw. That being said, he has shown growth in spite of what the numbers say. His control problems are real tho, raw or not. For me, I understand that he's a big man and repeating the same delivery is harder for those guys, but he's oftentimes not even close. If it weren't for his hard fastball, I'd just say he is telegraphing his changeup and curve a lot of times. And when that's not there, his fastball command is hit and miss, more often it's a "miss".

That being said, Pedroia shouldn't talk too much. The kid reminds me of a Brian Roberts type of hard-nosed/scrappy/tough "out type at best (which is good) but he could also be just a David Eckstein/Adam Kennedy benefiting from getting good pitches on a good team. It's a strange thing to see him call out Cabrera and saying he "[stinks]". He is a rookie who hasn't proved a thing. And, he could be out of baseball in ~6 years himself. It's not as if he has the kind of top line potential that Cabrera has. The next time these two meet should be interesting.

I think Daniel had seen enough of fly balls one-hopping to Payton last night. Get him outta left field.

Yes, Cabrera is an idiot, and yes, I've come to the conclusion that he isn't going to blossom like we all hoped he would. At this point, if we can get anything of significant value in a trade, I have no problem with it. That said, assuming he doesn't incite too many more riots, he isn't an awful #5 starter. A 5 ERA who can throw 120 pitches every 5 days and is never injured is fairly valuable. He has the potential to throw a no-hitter any given night and because he's so durable can get you 5-6 innings even when his control sucks. I wouldn't pay much for him when he's a free agent, but if you wind up with him for 2 more years and let him walk, that might not be so bad.

You know we have reached an all time low when one of the two highlights the Orioles Official Site has to offer from last night's game, is Cabrera's ejection.......

When your opponents openly disrespect you by saying that you [stink], that's when you know for sure that you've become the butt of a ridiculous joke.

FlaOsFan is correct: Every little ray of optimism blows up in our faces. It was just three weeks ago that this was an interesting team to watch and we were hoping for a possible .500 season and now? Where's the bottom?

Also, whoever evaluates talent in this system needs to be fired. It seems as if we focus too much on what our pitching prospects can do as opposed to their flaws, just as we focus too much on the flaws of the position players (Knott, House, etc.) as opposed to what they can do. You know, Adam Dunn can't do a lot of things; he isn't much with the glove and he strikes out too much, but I'd trade Cabrera for him and his 40 home runs just as quickly as it would take one of Daniel's fastballs to zip behind Dustin Pedroia's ear.

Roch, I don't know which Orioles haven't quit yet, but glad you haven't. Nice to see Tike Redman getting playing time. I think I was the only one who believed in this guy. Why isn't Jon Knott getting more playing time and how good is this Victor Santos the O's just purchased from the Reds?

I really think that everyone is being too hard on Daniel Cabrera, unless he is literate and of average intelligence. It seems to me that he is devoid of any smarts and will never comprehend. He should be able to survive in the minor league. However, watching just about every game this season, it seems that our "batting practice" pitchers are no better.

who's Dustin Perdroia? or better yet who cares.

I hope Cabrera was reprimanded last night after the ridiculousness that he caused - it was totally uncalled for for him to throw at Pedroia. I'm done with him - I've been done with him since pretty much the beginning of the season, although I've never been a big Cabrera fan anyway. The Orioles don't need his drama...

Roch, I also have to ask about Hayden Penn. Why is he not with the club? The Tides are done for the year. What gives?