Where is Wieters going to start this year... I'd put him at Frederick to start with Snyder and Rowell and make him earn the promotion to Bowie. This would also allow him to catch the pitchers at both levels and he would get a little experience with them all which would be great as they all come up over the next few years.

Roch--I can see Costanzo emerged on the scene hungry to win a job. First, he forces Hubele into retirement by beating him in Inka-dink. He'll be playing catch up to Heintz, but look for him to do the opposite--start catching lefty--and convince the Birds that he's Mike Squires redux. Finally, I expect Costanzo to take a big bite out of Quiroz's time behind the plate, catching Bradford so well that he'll be known as a superb handler of submariners and a catcher blessed with "beautiful hands."

I'm excited about Ramon this season. People are going to say we should trade him if he has a good start, but we need a good catcher to work with our young pitchers. I'd hold onto Ramon until Wieters is ready to go.

Roch: By looks of the few photos in the sun Hernandez looks to be in tremendous shape. He looks 20lbs. lighter, I may not have recognized him without the caption.

Nice that Wieters is there early. I'm getting the feeling, after listening to Brob interview ALoewen yesterday on 1300 that the clubhouse may have a better feel to it this year. Any feeling on that so far, Roch?

Hey Roch,

If you ever write a column about Roger Clemens, could you point out that 94% of
people on the Orioles Baltimore Sun forum think that he is lying

http://www.baltimoresun2.com/talk/showthread.php?t=135278

Shows that a vast amount of people think he is lying.

Its good to read these reports. It feels like we're there with the guys. Thanks for all your hard work Roch; us O's fans appreciate it.

Just remember, I've been saying for months that Ramon H was poised for a big comeback.
If he flops, forget I ever said it.
Why in god's name did Gibbons even GET a locker. He should be made to dress in the grandstand men's room.
ST is always wonderful until they have to start playing other teams.
Ask Trembley, now that he's had the winter to think about it, what happened to the O's in September? The easy answer is Zambrano, Santos, Baez and Ray, but there's got to be more to it than that.

any new trade rumors about roberts?

I would think Wieters starts at Delmarva, not Frederick. Why would he skip a level?

Hey Roch,

If you talk to Wieters tell him you know someone that can give him the "Aubrey Huff" tour of Myrtle Beach when he comes to town with the Keys.

I crack myself up.

Good for Ramon...he has alot to prove this year.

Roch,
It's good to see/read you back at the camp — where it all started with this blog in 2006. I feel like a charter member.

I haven't posted in a long while, but I do check in just about every day to see what's up and who's saying what. The diversity of opinions continues to amaze me, and the baseball smarts of some of the posters here is amazing, too. The Hot Stove season was interesting, but kind of a drag. I'm more about playing the game, and I think it will be fun to watch the O's this year, even if they are headed to the cellar.

Best to you and all the other Sun writers. Hope the paper's owners don't get too Angelos-like and mess with the level of coverage you can give to the team. Hopefully they know that the Internet is where it's at for newspapers now, and they won't tamper with the blogging and multimedia devoted to covering the O's.

Have a great year. Looking forward to reading the "best damn baseball blog on the Net."

Any news on the Roberts deal? Has he shown up in camp?

I predict Adam Loewen will have us all saying "Eric who?" by this time next year.

Definitely reason for concern on Patton. I'm sure the club will be very cautious with this, based upon recent history.
It's unfortunate that some here would jump to a negative conclusion. These were some of the same people who blasted Patton when he was naturally upset when, at age 22, he was traded from his hometown team, the team he had dreamed of playing for all his life.

It may be that it's nothing more than he experienced last season on two or three occasions. Could be that it's something worse, much worse.
The Astros and the Orioles were both aware of his shoulder discomfort last year. That was clear at the time of the trade.

I'm sure that at least the Orioles knew that Tejada's name would appear in the Mitchel report the next day. How the Astros didn't at least expect this, I wonder.

So the question is . . . would you rather have Tejada, a player whose skills are obviously in decline, a player who often seemed disinterested and lacked focus, and someone who twice asked to be traded or would you rather take a chance on the five guys that we received in return? Scott with 20+ homerun potential, Sarfate - maybe the eighth inning guy this year and a guy who throws in the high 90's, Albers - a potential 4th or 5th starter or long relief guy in the pen, Costanzo - maybe nothing more than a AAA guy with good power, and Patton - someone who may have been damaged goods when he came here or in the glass half full view, someone who may turn into a quality third starter somewhere down the road.

On a club that is in a rebuilding mode and trying to correct the mess that this team has become, I'll take the latter.

Great to hear Ramon is in shape. Hopefully he can be the clean up hitter insted of Millar.

Now that the players have taken their Spring Training physicals, is there any addition news concerning Patton's "labrum issues"?

Ok, Ramon showed up looking like he's in good shape. Great, glad to hear that. Who didnt show up in shape or does everyone look great? Its always positive positive positive with this team in spring training. Lets try to be a little more objective this year. Enjoy the sunshine you lucky dog !

Thanks,
JWBBZ

I agree with John on the Hernandez Weiters thing. Hernandez , if playing well, is more valuable to the young staff than what they may get back in ...prospects... in July.

I would think Wieters starts at Delmarva, not Frederick. Why would he skip a level?

Posted by: Eddie in NYC

He skips a level because he already played three years of college ball and he doesn't need the low minors experience.

Ray makes some excellent points regarding Patton. It was out there that he experienced some shoulder discomfort last season; it was no secret. But even if there is some risk in him coming down with some sort of injury, the O’s still made a good deal for Tejada and this franchise is in a better long-term position having dealt him and receiving what they did. I think this time next year more people are going to wonder why Houston made this trade rather than why we acquired Patton.

Still, with little seriousness, I wonder about young Patton discussing his labrum. Too much information for a young guy, I think. If someone told me about my labrum and what could go wrong with it, my shoulder would probably start hurting. Not only am I pessimistic, I’m also paranoid (and of course not a major league ballplayer).

By the way, Roch, great first day of coverage. It’s hard to believe it’s that time of year again already. I liked the Gibbons locker scandal angle to get things moving on the comments. Ha ha. What’s on tap for today? Maybe Millar and Huff have some things to say about what they’ve been doing since the season ended?

From Shapiro in the Post..... I could not agree more & this says it all...

Last week, I happened to be talking with a long-time general manager who actually started quizzing me about the Redskins' bizarre coaching search. I finally asked him what he thought of Cerrato, and he hardly hesitated.

"Nice guy, decent scout, I guess," he said. "But what's he ever done at this level? He's Snyder's raquetball partner. It's a joke."

Who designed those Oriole baseball caps? I saw a picture in the paper of the new pitching coach wearing one and from a distance it made him look like he was bald. Is it softball or baseball the Orioles are playing?

They *completed* the 12 minute run? As in the professional athletes did not stop running for 12 minutes? I know its baseball (a great sport) but geez.

I think we should hold onto Ramon as well. We can't have an entire team of inexperienced rookies. We need some veteran experience on this team and the catcher is a position that is very valuable to a team. Unfortnately we're stuck with some of these veterans because we can't trade them at this point. But if Payton, Mora, Millar, Huff, or Gibbons start lighting it up this season that will definitely increase the potential for them to be traded by July 31st to a team in need.