Is Deza still on some sort of injury rehab?

I am officially on the Castillo bandwagon! How much are the membership fees?

If he's been getting AAA batters out by throwing strikes and has good control he'll be ok. If he's been getting them to swing a junk up high or in the dirt, he'll be gone by this time next week.

When will we see Randor Bierd back? He pitched well (threw strikes) until he got hurt. He could certainly help in that 6th and 7th inning.

At this point Liz and Burres are going to have trouble getting deep into games. But I think Trembley should give Olson a longer leash. He doesn't build the pitch count as much and has shown the ability to rebound from a bad inning.

Thursdays game Guthrie vs. Halladay should be a good one. 2 of 3 would be nice but the bullpen is hurting.

This next week will determine how the rest of the season goes. @ Toronto @ Boston.

Lets see if Castillo can actually get lefties out, unlike Walker.

t is for Fernando Tatis

Roch,

When was Kam Mickolio moved up to AAA norfolk? I was flipping through the channels last night and didn't get to see him pitch but the announcers were raving about how he struck out a few guys. Do you see him moving up this year at any point? How do you see him fitting into the bullpen? Wow, if this guy also works out then Seattle really needs to start kicking themselves.

Thanks Roch, hope the trip to Toronto wasa good one. I have to admit I don't know a thing about Castillo. I guess Loewen was put on the 60 day DL to make room for him.
Just got done voting for Brian Roberts 25 times for the final spot on the AL All-Star team. Looks as if they will let me vote some more.
Letter x for the mark I put next Brian Roberts name on the final vote.

Roch - Is the "Last Word" available on the Sun website?

Mark c -

Our lawyers will be after you for that "rawhide" parody.

And for the length of your post, too.

But thanks for the tribute.

My brief comment yesterday re. the O's announcers sure stirred up a bunch of fans. Just what I wanted, now how do we get the "Big Guy" to take notice?? Rebuilding extends beyond the playing field. And, please, ditched the combo telecasts on the O's vs Nats, don't need that ever again, or will that put too much of a strain on the MASN bottom line.
OK, any comments?

If Trembley holds true to form Castillo will be thrown right into mix tonight. Hope he doesn't sink.

BTW - The Ravens are sending out Season Tickets starting today. So it's time for the O's Summer Spiral to begin. Maybe this year will be different but if our starters can't go past 5 it will be more of the same.

It is time....put Huff at third, make Mora your super sub and bring Weiters up. Let the kid start at DH with a few starts a week at catcher.

Huff is almost 5 years younger than Mora. Mora can play every infield position as well as the outfield. He can come in as a pinch runner or hitter. He is a veteran, perfect position for him.

As to Weiters, the kid can just plain hit. Let him adjust to the ML and learn the pitching staff through DHing and part time catching while Ramon is still here. Every indication is the kid is smart and a hard worker. To learn the staff, prior to the game you can even let him warm up pitchers in the bullpen on his DH days

Eddie Murray's first year he was blocked at 1st by Lee May so he began his career at DH, and that turned out quite well.

This way we get younger at third, younger at DH and catcher, and have the best utility man since Tony Philips.

Oh boy! If Castillo can get lefties and righties out, we can dump Walker!

It's like Christmas and my birthday all rolled up in one! Can somebody tell Castillo to post a 0.30 ERA for us?

This is very interesting, seems Bedard gave, by choice, a radio interview. The most interesting thing is that he gave it to a radio station in Philly!

http://www.950espn.com/Audio/tabid/183/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1464/Seattle-Mariners-Pitcher-Erik-Bedard.aspx

seems odd no?

Wasn't Alberto Castillo the number three catcher for the O's last year?

From all accounts, a great defensive C.

The O's BETTER WIN tonight! I'm in a horrible mood because I hate automobiles. Should it really cost $450 to put a cheap part in a car? I swear the auto industry is such a rip off! I'm going to follow in Guthrie's footsteps and start biking to work. This is just stupid! GRRRRRR

There goes my weekend bar tab! : )

Welcome to Alberto Castillo! Please throw strike one, don't nibble, and use the defense behind you.
Back to the subject in the last post about the announcers. Stranded here in the netherlands I am subject to watching the visitors announcers (homers for other team obviously) and this can be very frustrating. As annoying as Thome can be, he's much better than most. Even being in the Air Force I wish they wouldn't interrupt games with astronauts and other non-baseball related subjects DURING the game!

Finding all sorts of good links today, here is a table of all the draft picks and thier status for rounds 1-10. If I am Josh Satin I am asking my agent why I got less then 25% of what any other pick in my round got.

Looks like the O's had to go a little high to get Avery but Hoes, despite talking about first to third round money fell right in slot.

castillo has pitched in the atlantic league the last 5 years. maybe there's still hope for jay gibbons :)

I disagree, I really don't think this week will say anything about the rest of the season.
We know going into it that the
a. Orioles are at a similar skill level to the Blue Jay.
b. That the Red Sox are a beat up team (that will still beat up the O's).

Even if the birds (somehow) sweep the week, the season could end at the trade deadline.

hey Roch, read your article on Bergeson. could you start including the age of these guys in future articles? i assume he's 22 b/c he was drafted in '04 out of high school, but you know what they say about assuming...
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Patrick Gutierrez wrote that story. Bergesen was born in Sept. 1985. - Roch

oops missing the 2nd link:
http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/draft/2008/bonuses/signing_bonuses_08.aspx

Terpfan - In regards to what we gain by having a 33 year old journeyman pitcher in our minor league system. First, if you check there are quite a few guys like him dotting the rosters of minor league teams. Especially at AAA. Secondly, their aren't alot of left-handed relief pitchers at that level. Thirdly we gain by having him around just for a predicament like we are currently in. He's pitching well, getting out lefthanders and we need a specialist just for that. I doubt management views Brian Burres as someone you want facing JD Drew, Jason Giambi, or Carlos Pena in the 7th or 8th inning. I'm certain they don't see Olson as that guy either.

Recently, during the Milwaukee series this left-handed relief specialist named Brian Shouse faces the O's. The announcer says he's 39 years old and I'm thinking I've never heard of the guy. He made his ML debut in 1993 and didn't pitch again in the majors til 1998. At the age of 33, with 12 previous innings in his ML career, he returns to the bigs again at the age of 33. He has been pitching in the majors ever since. In fact, he's currently having his best season yet with a 3-0 record and 2.08 era. He'll be forty in September.

I'm not saying this will happen to Castillo, but having read the article on him from Bruce, wouldn't it be a great story!!!

Just a self serving opinion...
Leave Weiters alone, finish the year with 150+ AB's at AAA and figure him as the opening day starting Catcher in 09.
He's a lock for ROY......
Like I said, Just my opinion and yes I know whats said about opinions!

I have a really bad feeling about the latest Loewen setback. The stress fracture thing can't be good.

sorry Roch, shoulda known you wouldn't make that rookie mistake. i read so many articles today and i think i read your "pedal pushers'' article right after that one and got confused. my bad.

More on the Loewen type of injury;

http://www.lib.kobe-.ac.jp/repository/90000292.pdf

Interesting read.

Thanks Dr. Andrews! I appreciate the precaution you took with our former #4 pick overall. Loewen's fracture split with a titanium screw and rod in it, but it was good to pitch at full speed! If he had any other name, I highly doubt we would continue sending our pitchers to this chipper shredder... please someone name a success story on this squad.

with what the Cubs just gave up to get Rich Harden from Oakland, you can bet that Brian Roberts won't be wearing a Cubs uni anytime soon!

Hey folks-- time to work smart. If you know anyone in another NL city who is voting for their NL All-star, tell them to vote for Brian and you will vote for their guy. Double your results.

JPA... have you noticed that every other name on the "Final Vote" ballot is doing something to get their fans voting? The O's? Send out cute little emails. Arrrgh. I did spend a good bit of my day voting for Brian, and I mass-emailed everyone I know telling them I will buy them all a drink for each time they vote for Brian as well. I'm already broke after shelling out $600 to fix my car today, so they'll all take pity on me and not take me up on it :) But it was a fun idea.

The Genius strikes again,Trembley should have got him out as soon as the ball was hit to the wall.Sarfate threw 18 straight fastballs and Rios finally caught up with it.Trembley is horrible at handling the bullpen.You bring a guy in a tight game who's making his major league debut.Let's see we had a day off yesterday where is Bradford or Cormier?Can you hear the THUD tonight?it's the sound of a bullpen imploding.Where are you Sam?Lee?Do you believe in reincarnation?

roch, you have clearly hinted how excited you were to have castillo up here on more than one occasion. you definitely left a qualifier when you were concerned how his stuff would translate to major league level but it appears to me like you talked to one scout who saw him on a good night or two against overmatched aaa hitters and looked at his stats and jumped to a conclusion that was not warrented. maybe the next time you could actually see the pitcher in person before you jump ahead of yourself. please.
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I just passed along what one scout said about him, his numbers and some fun-facts that make him an interesting story. I never said this guy was going to be great. I never saw him pitch, he's 33 and he hadn't played above Single-A until this year. And he's been a position player. And in the independent leagues for a long time. Just because I predicted that the Orioles would bring him up doesn't mean I was touting him as the next Sparky Lyle. It is worth noting, however, that nobody else was writing about him as a possible roster addition except me - the moment that Loewen left Sunday's game. How about a little love for that? - Roch

Bye Bye Bynum just cost us our second loss in a row.We have people playing for us who wouldn't be playing anywhere else.Fahey has been swinging the bat better lately and why you pinch hit him with Jay first pitch Payton is beyond me.Another loss by the Genius.Got outmanaged by Cito Gaston.Why do you wait til the game is tied to bring in your best pitcher,JJ should have been in when DCabrera left.And Hernandez couldn't throw out my grandmother.What a joke this team is rapidly becoming just like always as the second half approaches.That's about 15 games Trembley has blown in my honest opinion.

I think Trembly has lost it with the pitchers. Without Albers he doesn't know how to utilize his relievers-has his mind made up that Johnson can only pitch in the 8th etc and the game may be over by then. We also need to find a shortstop somewhere who can consistently make plays. No reason to lost tonight..bring in Johnson with the game on the line in the 7th with a lead and worry about later later!

Whatever happened to Sendy Rleal?

One has to wonder who is doing the pitch calling. I am becoming less and less enamored with Hernandez each game I see him behind the plate. He doesn't move as well as he use to behind the plate and balls get by him that shouldn't; he doesn't throw as well as he use to and balls go into the outfield or are late; as I watch the O's lose several close games I have to wonder about the pitch calling particularly when a new pitcher comes into the game. While Weiters may be a year or two away, perhaps its time to start looking at replacements for Ramon, particularly if a trade market develops.