Roch, why no mention of the serious upgrades to be done to Camden Yards? I just dug up an article yesterday about the new 74x24 HD display, the new LED out of town scoreboard and the new audio system?

I think this is great news...I have been saying for at least 3 years that the ol' jumbotron is terrible.

Roch, the question that’s been continually asked is, why did the Pirates even trade for Matt Morris last July? That had to be stupidest trade of 2007. The lowly Pirates were dumb to be saddled with Morris, who’s clearly not the same pitcher he used to be, and his contract.

Roch, I don’t know if a Garza-D. Cabrera comparison is warranted, and the Rays would’ve been true suckers if they dealt Young for Cabrera. Garza, while not spectacular, is just 24 and showed improvement in 2007 over his previous season. I thought he was fairly well touted though not someone you’d expect to emerge as an ace (perhaps a middle of the rotation pitcher). Tampa needs pitching if they want to climb out of the AL East cellar, and they seem to have a relative abundance of young outfielders. Young is a bit volatile though he’s still extremely young at 21. His meager OBP last season should be cause for concern, but again, he’s young. I’d say the biggest concern is that he matures and doesn’t let personality issues be the thing that prevents his career from gaining traction (that’s a big concern, I’d say).

I’d say D. Cabrera is fairly untradable at this point, unless the O’s want practically nothing for him or give him away as a throw-in for a bigger deal. Who would want to give up a lot for a young pitcher who is two years away from free agency and is regressing? Garza, on the other hand, is four years away from free agency—a big consideration for smaller market clubs—and is poised to take another step. Cabrera is a mystery who will probably continually frustrate everyone but the hitters he faces.

All of the talk has been on the Twins dealing Johan Santana, and they and other teams seem to be aggressive on that front. Now, here they are pulling of a six-player trade and Santana isn’t involved. Check that out—a front office that can do multiple things at once. We can all probably predict that the window of trade opportunity will probably pass the Orioles by as they stall and ponder and wait for other things to happen or not. Perhaps a few moves are made but not as many as they could have while they work on a one-at-a-time approach.

Jennifer, I doubt Bonds would put on a skating outfit or look the part, Brady however would be perfect for the role in every way.

Does this mean the O's will only get 1/5th of the prospects from the academy in the DR Roch? I hope it doesn't turn out to be like the academy in the Police Academy movies....

Age.... it didn't stop Roy Hobbs now did it? :-)

JTK---Please tell me you didnt just quote The Hulksters CD...."take a look at the vein in my tricep..."

What happened to the Nationals grand plan to spend money like the Red Sox and Yankees? Didn't Stan Kasten say they had more money to spend than even the Yankees?

So ARod never took their call and Hunter is in LA, A.Jones is calling ATL and Rowand is hanging out in Dallas.

Seems like they must have some of that infernal confederate money....

That Nationals list also contains a former Oriole minor league player by the name of Jimenez.... anybody remember how terrible his offensive stats were in 07.....

and we've signed how many...? slow and methodical.... Geez, if this organization gets any slower it's going to take them 1½ hours to watch 60 minutes.

Roch, thanks for the follow-up on the Dominican complex story. Well, actually it's a simple story, but you know what I mean. Ha, ha!

It's good to see the Orioles moving from the back of the pack to the middle of the pack in terms of the Dominican, although it floored me to see that the Orioles have no presence anywhere else in the world.

I'd still like to see an analysis of what it would cost to come up with top-of-the-line facilities of their own throughout Latin America and Asia. I'd be surprised if Peter wasn't saving enough money from the expiration of the Benson and Wright contracts, and the upcoming trades, to make those things happen. Of course, he will pocket the money, but at least someone could call him on it, and compare the Orioles' spending abroad to other teams'.

Under the current system, teams don't need to spend draft picks or much money to get Latin American players. Until that's fixed, any team that isn't a leader in scouting and development down there is foolish.

I really like what the O's are doing now with the Dominican Stadium. Hopefully we can build a decent player development system down there.

Any chance we release Gibbons before the start of the season? I have a feeling his name is going to be on some of the steroid lists.

i really hope they don't get rid of mora, bedard or tejada actually.

JPA - I agree with you with 2 exceptions (surprised???).

First, my reading of the article is that it says Tejada and Mora are a lot better than commonly assumed and uses chances/game as evidence. In passing, Henneman offers the possibility that the pitching staff may influence the total number of opportunities, but seems to discount that. He also points out that, with the high number of chances Tejada averages, it is not a valid argument to say he cannot get to most of the balls hit his way. That is my read, anyway.

Here is a thought about that - wouldn't Jeter and ARod have MORE chances with better pitching than Tejada/Mora with worse? We are still confined to 27 outs per side per 9 inning game. Better pitchers, in theory, throw more groundballs, get the DP ball when needed and give up less extra base hits. Lesser pitchers give up more outfield outs, limiting an infielder's opportunities.

Second, Tejada has made a number of fine plays. Going up the middle to get a ball and rob the batter of a hit or taking a relay throw from CF and gunning the runner at the plate by 10 feet does not get much notice in a 10 - 4 loss to the Angels in May.

Tejada also makes bone-headed plays, but I do not think the stats support the idea that he ALWAYS makes them or even makes them in EVERY game or critical situation. If so, why is he among the leaders in chances/game, fielding %, Zone Rating, Range Factor, and assists/game for all MLB SS in 2007?

Jeter, playing for the team that re-sets the record for highest payroll ever each successive year, gets to play in considerably more post-season games than Tejada or any other SS. Jeter has played in 123 postseason games. Name another SS who has done that! (It also proves you do not need Ozzie Smith at SS to get to post season) Fox has done more for Jeter’s reputation as a clutch performer than anything Derek Jeter has actually done.

How many Omar Vizquel (11 gold gloves, 57 postseason games) moments do you have? I bet you cannot recall one standout play he has made. With 11 Gold gloves, you would think just by chance, just by dumb luck….

I think someone should start a pool to predict when the O's will do something. I'm in for $20, I'll take February 10th.

s stands for sssllllllllllllooooooowwwwww
going

What's the rush?

Everybody who wants Tejada, is waiting to see if they can get Cabrera. Everybody who wants Bedard is waiting to see if they can get Santana.

To rush a trade would bring lesser return.

And none of the other available Orioles is all that much wanted.

CRB-- good post on the Garza-Young trade. The D-Rays need desperately to improve their pitching and they seem to have a number of good hitting prospects. A lot of 11-7 losses won't do them much good. However, if they loved Young (as much as we LOVE Roberts) there's not a chance they trade him. I agree that you should just put DCab in the minors or try a few experiments. You have more to lose than to gain by giving him away.

Tom D--good considerations. I had thought it was odd that Henneman discounted his own valid criticism. I agree that Miggy tends to get blasted for defense that is mediocre rather than bad. I think we are overly emotional about it because a lot of mistakes occurred in a particularly awful stretch when it seemed like we couldn't get out of our own way. Little things like that also tend to blow up when you are the only supposed superstar on a team that is as bad as the O's. I like Miggy and I think he has been royally screwed by this organization. I think people should recognize that when the guy complains once or twice a year.

In 2007, 27 shortstops played 100 games or more. Of those SS, Tejada ranked 17th in fielding percentage and 19th in range factor (which is the same thing as chances per game).

The interesting thing is, he was 12th in assists per game, and 25th in putouts. In general, you'd think that assists are a better indicator of a player's range. A SS get some putouts on caught line drives, and will occasionally tag 2nd base after fielding a ground ball, but you would expect the vast majority of his putouts would come from forceouts where Tejada takes a throw from 3B or 2B, or on caught stealings. This probably explains why Tejada has a very good Zone Rating Factor, but a lousy Range Factor.

I'm not saying that the fault is necessarily with Roberts or Mora - maybe Tejada plays too far from 2B to take a lot of throws or something. Or maybe Roberts covers 2B on all steal attempts. I just thought it was interesting.

Why is everyone researching and posting these stats on Tejada's fielding? Anyone who watches the Orioles every day knows he's not the same player he was 3 years ago. His offensive stats are still a bargain for what we are paying him, but his defense is a liability! Trade him (if you get value in return), move him to 3B, or DH him, no more SS!

And now for something completely different: A man with 3 noses!

Actually an answer to a nagging NFL Question:

Why are there green stickers on every NFL quarterback's helmet?
I've noticed watching football this year that every quarterback has a neon green circle sticker on their helmet. Why is that?

and the answer from Yahoo Answers:
A helmet with a green dot on the back has radio contact with the sideline.

Last year, the Atlanta Falcons had several plays where both Vick and Schaub were on the field at the same time. Each one of them had a radio contact inside his helmet. It is thought that this could be used to cheat, and thus only one person with a green dot on their helmet may be on the field at once.

If a team wants to run a trick play with 2 quarterbacks one of them must use another helmet.

In 2007 Os catchers were not allowed to throw runners out.