Roch, Far be it for me to really know what is going on at spring training as I sit here in Augusta, GA, but I am really confused about Gibbons remaining on the squad at this point. If we traded Miggy and Bedard and are trying to trade B-Rob for a new youth movement, how can we rationalize keeping Gibbons? I am personally glad a trade involving Roberts has not worked out to this point since B-Rob and Markakis are two of the few reasons I continue to follow the O's after 40 years (that includes 20+ recent years of heart ache). I say we give Gibby his walking papers and his 12 mil and tell him to enjoy Japan. Kudos to Scott Moore and Tike for putting up with this stuff. I guess I should not expect Gibbons to pull an Ozzie Guillen and offer at least some of the money back and hit the road. Can you please interview McPhail and get an explanation on this Gibbons situation?

Also, can Trembley or anyone else explain why Chuck, I mean Luis, Hernandez is still the proposed starting SS? Fahey is not exactly a major upgrade, but he has clearly earned the starting job at this point. Is it possible that Trembley loses some of the respect he has earned from the other players to this point by keeping Gibbons and allowing Luis Knoblach, I mean Hernandez, to play? I would hate for that to happen.

Leicaster is no dummy it appears....

Yeah Norfolk will be better than the O's this year... the O's will be stuck with a bench of Payton & Gibbons & have Hernandez at SS.

Can anyone slip MacFail the phone numbers of the agents of Cintron or the guy the Cubs waived last week? Maybe he could ask Kasten, before he leaves today, what the Nats might want for Lopez? Either would be a vast improvement.

That was ...not smart.... of Young to not get serious before late Feb. Johnson is healed & back isn't he?

Glad to hear Trax pitched a decent game to shut the whiners up.I'm actually more worried about the offense than pitching although I expect Sarfate to bomb out before long. Houston dumped a bunch of crap players on us.

Can you believe if Os trades Trachsel to Cubs again this summer?

I can't help but wonder what may have happened if Trachsel got shelled today. Was the decision made to add him to the 40-man roster after his solid performance? Or had the decision already been made and it just wasn't announced? He may have come this close to not making the team.

As it stands, I see his leash extending on a month-to-month basis and no longer. The best we can hope for is a repeat of last year's stats. Eat some innings, buy some time, and teach the young 'uns the ropes.

I'm kind of hoping Gibbons' suspension stands because I don't think the club wants to make any tough decisions right now either way. I still like the idea of sending Moore to Norfolk where he can play every day, get lots of time at second base, and come back as a regular once the Roberts deal is done, and Gibbons has either been traded or released.

I've also noticed several people chomping at the bit hoping to sign Mark Texeira. A rebuilding club doesn't sign guys like Texeira. It would be a complete waste of money. The timing isn't right. This team hasn't even been torn down yet. That won't happen until the end of this year at the earliest. But I believe MacPhail is heading the right way and has a strategy in place.

As for Luis Hernandez, he's got Major League tools on defense. Let's see how long it takes for him to make his first three errors after the regular season starts. Problem is even if he flashes brilliant leather, he may still only be hitting a buck sixty. For now, Fahey has earned the starting role.

It's a process, and it will take time. This is Major League Baseball, not a Fantasy league. It's not easy to undo years and years of mistakes and bad judgment.

Was at the game in Viera today and had a nice time. Adam Jones made a few nice plays in center. Also we had a quite
a few of us fans shouting out the "0" in the national anthem which freaked out the singer a little bit but she recovered nicely:) Wish we coulda seen a few more of the regulars but was a good game nontheless.

Pedro Florimon? Who's Pedro and is he our new short stop? Roch, I'm not dumb, Pedro played for the Ironbirds last year, but I'm wondering why he was in the game today when spring is almost over? And why is Adam Stern in the game to? I'd like to see Stern in the bigs this year playing. Since we don't have to win this year, why not? Like I said before, let's have some fun. If Luis can be our new SS on opening day, I've decided to start stretching, running and getting in a few hacks in the cage for my debut. I'll sign for a mere $30,000 a year. Just don't sign me for 12 mill or I might get hurt and miss work.
By the way, George Michael is on Eli Stone ch 2. He not a bad actor either. Better than the performance Jay Payton put on for the media. Take your money and shut up.

First Nick Markakis takes grounders at SS. Now FLANAGAN is pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays. Whoa! Flanny? No Jeremy Flanagan that is. Does anyone know if Jeremy is related to our own loved Mike Flanagan? Wouldn't that be cool if he pitched at Camden Yards for the Rays this year?

i was at the game too. there were four scouts logging pitches and speeds, primarily for Traschel and Sarfate, and Lannan for the Nats. very interesting to watch the scouts work.

Why do so many put so much importance on ST numbers, he asked hypothetically? There are lots of things that could influence them - pitchers told to throw certain pitches to every batter or every 3rd pitch, hitters working on going to the opposite field, fielders breaking in new gloves.

Add to this the fact that most ST Fields are no better than High School fields.

If the decision to keep HOFer Eddie Murray on the roster was based on ST he would never have made the big club.

A couple weeks ago on the Anita Marks show (or is it the Anita Clue show?), she asked Millar if he thought Fahey was the favorite to win the job. Fahey was hitting .417 at the time. Millar said it is more important to look at what a guy does in the regular season than ST. He is right.

Hernandez may not hit .290 over a 162 game season, but he has proven he has the glove. He has had the glove throughout the minors, too.

The current line of thinking is that Luis is "pressing" because he is worried about not getting the starting job.

My opinion is "who cares?" I think Luis' D is the least of our worries.

The bigger problem, fans, is whether the O's are going to carry Gibbons' bloated salary into the season.

While you have to say ST stats with a grain of salt (I am starting to detect a theme), one think I have noticed in the few chances I have had to see Gibby is he is pulling the ball.

If we remember, the only times Gibbons had anything even smelling like success last year was when he stopped pulling the ball and went with the pitch.

Lately, Gibbons has Cal Ripken's stubbornness with Manny Alexander's results. If the highpoint of your last several seasons is reaching .236 and you can't see that the same 'ol approach is beneath failure you do not deserve a spot on a MLB club.

Stop worrying about Luis. The O's need to suck it up and send Gibby somewhere he won't hurt the team.

Dave – That must have been a blast. Did any of them talk to you?

I like to sit around the scouts at OPACY. It is much harder to do now days because of ticket prices and because most scouts sit in the luxury boxes lately, too.

Gives you a whole different perspective on the game.

While I learned that many of them are not pleasant people and many are also just plain idiots, I also learned a lot of things to watch in the course of the game.

One scout told me he would take Gary Roenicke over Ricky Henderson in LF any day. OK, that was Gary Roenicke who told me that, but you get my point.

The most talkative guys are the advance scouts who travel ahead of a team to get the 411 on their next opponents. Many live out of a suitcase more than a traveling salesman and welcome some conversation that passes for intelligent.

Roch could probably get a lot of good story material from some of these guys.

Great article at orioles.com written by Kevin Millar. How can you not like this guy?
http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/news/article_perspectives.jsp?ymd=20080327&content_id=2461202&vkey=perspectives&fext=.jsp

I predict half of the players that begin the season on the 25 man roster will be gone by August. There is much room for improvement and many more moves to be made.

Shipping the bats North... I thought they did that a couple of weeks ago. What's their excuse going to be once the season starts...." they haven't arrived from Florida yet...."

Hey if Nick is playing SS and 2B, why not let him pitch?

He's got a hell of an arm. He'd probably be our new ace! I say this year, we let the players try out new positions. Who wouldn't love see Ramon in the OF and Millar catching? Hey, if we're not contending at all this year, why not test the players at different positions? : ) I'm still for Markakis pitching though... HAHA

L.Hernandez should pack HGH Gibbons bags and both should go................they should be playing on a minor league team somewhere , oh thats right , they are....................................I don't think Trembley is making all the decisions on this club , I don't think they could find a true manager who wants to put up with all the input that is obviously coming from the front office .............Tremble took it because he is grateful and doesn't realize yet he deserves better,,,,,,,,,,,,,this team is a joke , it hurts me to say it , but it is true........... Peter the Great must be proud..........

My guess is that Vanvalkenberg isn't invited the the owners box for martinis this year....

Hey Jennifer,

You know millar was a catcher. Right...

Rob

Prediction: Luis Hernandez will be hitting below the Mendoza line by the middle of May and will have to be removed as the O's starting shortstop. Brandon Fahey deserves to be the opening day starter at shortstop or they need to pick up someone off of the waiver wire. There is no way with his history of weak hitting in the minors, that Hernandez is going to suddenly, hit .250 or .260 in the majors, which the Angelorioles need from a starting SS.

"z" as in zero or close to it.

Hey did anyone see this:

The St. Petersburg Times reports that the Rays are interested in acquiring an outfielder and could be willing to trade Edwin Jackson or Jason Hammel in order to get one.

Let's send them Jay Payton and pick up one of these young pitchers. We'll see how happy Jay is in Tampa.

Nice post Tom D. Love the quote-- "Gibbons has Cal Ripken's stubbornness with Manny Alexander's results."

I agree with all of the concepts you laid out, but as I asked before, do we really know that Hernandez is a sure-fire major league caliber fielder? His month+ of performing at the ML level is barely more impressive than a spring training stint. I think for veterans you can pretty much throw out ST stats, but for young guys, all information is potentially useful--but like you say, it is definitely not a great predictor of success during the season. People have said that they hav eno doubt about Luis' fielding, but then again he never had such a period of sustained pressure in the majors. Maybe he'll work it out, maybe he will further deteriorate under the lights.

I guess I can see both ways and certainly I wouldn't anticipate much from Fahey though he seems more consistent (in his below league average sort of way).

Markakis was a pitcher in high school, so it's not like it's a far fetched idea.

Here's what will happen:
L Hernandez will not relinquish the starting SS role and will make less than 12 errors the entire season. Spring Training don't mean a thing except getting some swings in and staying healthy. Luis will bat between .248 and .275 and O's fans will gasp more than several times at his above average range and double play ability. Hey as fans of the Orioles you better take what you can get. This is not at all a dig on Fahey who is by all means a solid backup, on the David Newhan level.

Gibbons is no longer an everyday ballplayer and is quickly regressing to a level below even that. The team will not cut him immediately instead they will 'showcase' him and hope that OF/DH types on good teams either underperform and/or get hurt. In that scenario the O's may find a taker for a percentage of his salary and move or, in a better scenario may find a team (not in Japan preferably) who will take the player and his salary in exchange for a lower level prospect. Gibbons is by every account a dishonest cheater and as much as I don't have an opinion on that side of him, he stinks as a baseball player. Therefore since there is no real loyalty in pro sports, I agree with one of the previous posters who wondered why Jay is even on the team currently. Cut Gibbons and the team is better that second.

Tampa wouldn't give us used jockstraps for Payton, much less one of those 2 pitchers....

I know Nick was a pitcher.... so who knows? Perhaps if Millar, Huff, Hernandez and Mora's bats light up, and our pitching blows, we can throw Nick in. This season should be the "Who Cares?" season and just try out different things. It would certainly be more entertaining!