Cabrera's effort today and the celebration surrounding the 1983 team got me thinking about how the landscape of baseball has changed. It shows that "progress" isn't always good.

Right now, the Orioles have a 13-man pitching staff. I was astounded to discover that for the entire year in 1983, the Orioles used only 14 pitchers. And that included having Flanagan and Palmer on the DL for a while, an ineffective Dennis Martinez, and two pitchers (Bill Swaggerty and Paul Mirabella) who appeared in only 10 games between them.

Of course, it helped to have a horse in the bullpen in Sammy Stewart, who threw 144 innings. And all the talk about George Sherrill being overworked is a bit ironic when you consider Tippy Martinez, a CLOSER, threw 103 innings.

Just think of the flexibility Altobelli had. In the World Series, he had eight outfielders (Lowenstein, Roenicke, Ayala, Bumbry, Shelby, Ford, Dwyer, Landrum), five infielders (Murray, Dauer, Sakata, Ripken, Cruz), two catchers (Dempsey, Nolan), and a DH who had to be a pinch hitter (Singleton). That left a 9-man pitching staff!

Could you imagine a team going with nine pitchers today? My goodness, it seems the Orioles use nine pitchers in just about every other game.

Well, Lind was hitting .293 before today's game (now hitting .311 as I speak), and both Wilkerson and Zaun have had their good days as halves of a platoon or in part-time roles. Too bad Halladay isn't going to try for a CG this time; he might've worn down by now. And I wish I could believe that Cabrera only needs to stop getting rattled after letting the first batter get on base or having somebody steal on him, but the head problem seems larger than that.

Isn't it about time to give up on Mr. Cabrera? It seems like he's been here forever, and he hasn't improved at all. It doesn't seem worth it to keep him for his flashes of dominance he shows once every 10 starts. Dump him and give one of the other young guys a shot. Just my opinion.

Ah it must be August. The O's are in the toilet and the Ravens don't know who their QB is. O's notes from K Law's chat: Wieters coming up in Sep does not affect his service time. Says Wieters and Tillman is the best prospect duo in all of baseball including Price and Beckham. Way too early to give up on Rowell but Snyder will never make it offensively as a 1B,the Reds are making a hard push for Sherrill so he can be their setup guy for the next 3 years and the top 5 farm systems are in no particular order TB,Bos,Tex,SF and Oak with Bal,STl and ATl just missing. Says Hou and CHIW have the worst. Also chooses Tillman over Arrieta as the better prospect.

GET RID OF THIS CLOWN!

I'm seriously done with him. There is no more potential with this guy, he just doesn't get it. Miller didn't fix him, Mazzone didn't fix him, and obviously Kranitz isn't fixing him. Cut bait already and go with something else. Are pitching is atrocious once agan, but at least with Olson and Liz its inexperience in the majors. Cabrera has the experience and yet he still plunks guys at an alarming rate, walks guys like its going out of style, can't locate, and uncorks wild pitches. He is just taking up space and inflating our staff ERA.

GET RID OF HIM!

Don't worry Roch Daniel is still learning how to pitch. After 140 starts in the major leagues he stat line is the same as it was in game 1, 11 hits 3 walks 2 wild pitches. He is still learning that when you are 1 and 2 on a batter the best thing to do is hit him. Like you said outside of Kc he hasn't won since May 20th. I have been told by many many posters on here and other sites that i need to be patient, we are rebuiding. I was out the game to day and most of the camden yards left in the 5th inning and i was home in time for the 8th inning. Dave has down his very best to keep this club together , but you can slowly see this team self destructing right before your eyes. Millar started it perfectly in the first game when he bad throw led to 3 runs. Roch How can this team keep running out this starters when they don't show the least bit of improvement, actually getting worse every game.Andy please please stop pitching a guy who has already exhausted the patience of 3 pitching coaches and hasn't gotten any better since his first start way back when, But he is young and still learning.

I've said this before, but Cabrera is what he is. There's no such thing as a magic "light" that goes on. He's an ok 4th starter that will eat up innings and win about 12 games a year on a good team. He is Livan Hernandez basically. I'm sure one year in his career he will be be consistent for a longer period of time, but this is what he is. Whether or not to keep or trade him is another question. I guess it depends what you can get for him. You don't just give up a 200 inning pitcher who you have under control for a few more years for nothing.

I think we'll see a lot of average major leaguers coming up from the O's system... a lot of serviceable guys, and improvement certainly over past year. Bu I don't see anyone that will be ask good as Josh Becket, John Lester, Joba Chamberlain, James Shields, Scott Kazmir, David Price, or Roy Halladay are or will be. Jeremy Guthrie could be in that class, but not really a #1 like Becket, Kazmir, or Halladay. They need great starting pitching to really be competitive over an entire season.

this is 2007 again, just a month or so late.Change the faces, same old story. What's Kranny think about this mess? He's not calling Leo for advice is he?

And who in their right mind is targeting 2010 as some kind of breakout year? How about 2012 or later?

I think Daniel would be better suited for the National league. Lets trade him next week. Get a couple of A or AA prospects.

the silver lining for O's fans is that Reimold and Wieters both hit dingers today with Reimold going 3-4 and Wieters hitting a pinch-hit grand-slam in the 9th... to bad Bowie still fell one run short.

Get ridda of this bum.

Great homestand. Swoon is officially on. Stay away from the yard!! Don't put money in Pete's pocket. He has ruined this team!!!

Roch, for once please reply back to me on thsi question. Why does dave t always avoid sports writers question in relation to daniel. today he was ask how much longer can you continue to watch daniel slide in all of his recent starts. Dave very calmly said he had problems getting the lead off batter out in every inning, How did that answer that question. When please tell me when is he just going to explode one time and stop defending pitchers that have no business in the major leagues

On the bright side:
The O's don't really need a closer so they can feel free to trade Sherrill.

The O's won't have to give up a first round pick if they sign Tex.

Saw this on Yahoo:

Hot trade rumor of the day: White Sox send Juan Uribe to the Red Sox, freeing up salary room to deal for Brian Roberts and paving the way to send Orlando Cabrera to the Dodgers. Death, taxes and Kenny Williams making a trade the last week of July. [CBS Sportline]

here we go--what killed us was the previous jays series---3 we should have won......face it, rebuilding was the watchword and it still is....trade cabrera, he is not worth the wait anymore and honestly, is like a little leaguer with runners on. trade payton and hernandez for whatever..bring up weiters---if he is as good as he is supposed to be, major league experience will help, not hurt....trade sherrill too as you mostly need a closer only when you are ahead in games--he will bring good value.......

JPA. Guilty as charged! I must admit that I was one of those who opposed trading DCabrera when he actually pitched well for a month. In hindsight, not good on my part; I suppose I was/am so desperate for any signs of consistent pitching that I over-reacted. We probably wouldn't get much for him now and we had any depth at all, we likely would send him packing. As is it now, he will be send out there every 5th day and get lit up because we have no one else.
I'm not sure what you meant by him 'being abused by the previous regime'? Cabrera has had a multitude of managers/pitching coaches and the end result is basically the same. This guy has had every opportunity to prove himself and after the dust settles this year, it's time to move on. With the extreme shortage of pitching,illustrated by the numerous chances the Ponsons/Ortiz/Fossums keep getting, some team will give us something for him.
The Jays, Adam Lind in particular, must be sorry they are leaving town. That guy must have hit .800 against us!!!

Are all the Baltimore Sun baseball reporters on vacation or what ? I have to read a flimsy AP account of the game(s). Geez !
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It's up to our Web site people when they decide to post our stories. Trust me, we're writing them. - Roch

Today, Cabrera just continued the pattern he has shown shown over his last 9 starts, which doesn't count the complete game against Kansas City. During this stretch he has thrown 50 innings, given up 65 hits and 41 earned runs (an ERA of 7.45). If you count his hits, walks and hit batters, he has put 100 men on base, an average of 2 an inning. You can't be a starter in the big leagues if you average putting two men on an inning or if you carry a 7.45 ERA because you are not going to win. In his case, as Roch points out, his team has lost 7 of his last 10 starts, and he is lucky that his record isn't worse because his team has saven him twice when he gave up 6 runs. Its unfortunate that his performance is no better than it was last year, and he wouldn't be starting on any other team in the majors but the Orioles because their starting pitching is such a talentless group (Guthrie excluded) at the current time. The starters which had collective ERA's around 4.50 in April and May, regressed to 5.83 in June and now are in the midst of their worst month of the year with a month-to-date June ERA of 6.67. If you combine that with the relief staff that did such a great job the first 3 months of the season, ballooning to an ERA of 4.70 in July, with only 1 win, 5 losses and 3 saves,you can see that wins will be tough to come by if the team doesn't hit exceptionally well.
While on topic of poor performance, it is interesting to note that the Orioles' cadre of shortstops has hit a collective .214 with 1 home run and 29 RBI's. Even Willie Miranda hit better than that, and better yet, he could field.

Daniel Cabrera absolutely sucks...We need to cut him at once. He can take his potential elsewhere because he will never reach it. NEVER!

The Birds will bounce back and take 2 of 3 from the Angels this weekend. Huff and Scott will each bang 3 home runs in the series and Sherrill will collect 2 saves.

Jones makes a game saving catch in Sunday's (yes, Sunday's) win.

First half of the season we kept hearing how great the lockeroom atmosphere was. how is it doing now that reality has set in?

I don't think Hayden Penn is being treated harshly. His era is over 5 in the minor leagues this year. You can't bring someone like that up. He had lots of opportunities and he blew all of them. He might get another shot, but there's nothing wrong with explicitly stating that he needs to earn it.

As for Daniel, I really wouldn't mind the fact that he sucks as much if he was our 5th starter instead of our # 2. I agree with the assessment that he was mistreated by the former management. He was. He didn't start playing baseball until he was like 19. He was rushed to the bigs out of AA and never allowed to work, learn, and blossom in the minors. I wish we could demote him back to AAA like last year, but this year there's no one to take his place.

As for competing in 2010, not bloody likely! But I'm waiting for our Tillman/Weiters duo to prove me wrong.

Our starters stink. How many games this year have we started off behind before the 3rd inning. I bet it about 75%.
Too many walks!!
Trade everyone...Trade me. The only thing I can say about the O's is: GO RAVENS!!!

I really thought Daniel had turned it around earlier this season but he just seems to get worse. I say trade him to the anyone who will take him just get him out of Baltimore and send Olson with him - get what we can for him.

I think Cabrera is purposely pitching like garbage to ensure that he isnt traded to a contender. Wouldnt want those added expectations - would we Daniel?

August got here 1 week early this year. The O's are in their usual end of summer swoon. I say let's bring up a couple of Double A pitchers and see what they can do. They can't be worse than what we have now.

TerryP-- kudos for the admission! I too hoped for the best with Daniel but he seems to be like many players on this team a fundamentally unsound player whose trajectory was poorly estimated. Probably Daniel's worst bit of fortune was coming out of nowhere to throw a one-run complete game against the White Sox 5 years ago. He has scattered in just enough performances to think he was workable. But honestly, other team's weren't giving much up for him even when he had that mini stretch of good baseball so we should not feel bad about that. My stance had been "deal him if you can" but I doubted we get much of anything. Now we definitely won't.

Many of the O's problems come down to poor baseball IQ. I still contend that over the years they have been the anti-Patriots. Pitchers get on the mound and look like deer in headlights with the O's (other than Guthrie who came from the Tribe and Sherrill from the M's). Who was the last O's pitcher who knew how to get the job done and wanted the ball in a big time situation? (1/2 credit for JJ so far) Is it the kids we draft, the coaching throughout the system, or the losing atmosphere of the organization?

tomc13 - good post!

Eric, I wish I could get Keith Law's chat, but I think it costs something. I did, however, read the Reds' blog on www.cincinnati.com, The Enquirer's site, and nothing at all is mentioned about a prospective Sherrill trade. I'd be happy to see it be imminent, though. He makes the most sense of any trade chip. If we won 80 and he saved 50, 60, or 70, what would be the point?

Thing is, though, I don't know what SS the Reds could offer. If they are pushing hard for Sherrill, it depends how hard. Are they pushing hard, as in Jay Bruce hard? Or Johnny Cueto hard? And if they are, what happens to Luuuuuuuuke?

And again, I ask you, Roch, why did we learn this from Keith Law? Are you also aware of this but just aren't reporting it yet?

Our Pitching staff is making every team look like the 1927 Yankees. If i were managing this team i would have Brian Burress in the bullpen considering he is only good for 4 innings anyways, i would have traded Daniel Cabera 3 months ago, trade Ramon Hernadez just to make room for Matt Weiters and bring up all the starting rotation down at Bowie

Wow, I'm astounded at the Cabrera bashing. I really am. He gave up a ton of hits today, though he only walked two. What I'm curious about is how today's bashing will impact his next start. Will he pitch scared instead of attacking the strike zone?

Baseball, to a slightly lesser degree than tennis, is a mental game. I frankly think that's Cabrera's weak spot, so let's see what kind of mental adjustments -- or mistakes -- he makes following today's start.

You read it here first, folks:

The Summer Swoon Begins!

Time to cut the cord on all these starters,except for Guthrie.Make Liz a reliever,send Olson back down.Obvious that they Can't do it.Bures would have problems getting a high school team out.Bring up some fresh arms that throw strikes-along with Weiters.IMO Ramon does not call a good game behind the plate.As for Cabrera, trade him for a mid level prospect or use him as a pinch-hitter.

TerryP..

What is with Rogers? At least out here on Sportsnet it was one of those Poker shows. I had the day off!

Did you get the game in the Soo?

Hey roch you must have been really disgusted with the orioles yesterday or was it the bloggers. , because you stopped posting at 5:32 I know one thing every time i ask you to answer a question you completly ignore me , you must be related to Dave trembley because he never answer's a question that is asked.I know you have your little click that you only respond to, butyou should take the time to answer some one's question every once and awhile Or he could be you just don't like me.
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I work this blog 7 days a week. There are times when I have to shut it down at a certain hour. As for your "question," not sure how to answer it. Why doesn't Dave Trembley give a more direct answer about Cabrera? We ask 'em, he answers 'em. And we're not going to berate him like he's on the witness stand. There's a time to ask a follow question, and a time to back off. It's up to him how he wants to respond. That's the best I can do for you on that one. Sorry. - Roch

My God, yesterday was incredibly painful X 1.5!

It felt like we weren't even in the game besides some of the catches by Markakis and Payton in the outfield.

We were talking up in my section and we think that they just can't play during the day. Hey Roch-what is their daytime W-L vs. the nighttime? Are there stats on that?

Anyway, this seems to be a real problem. They just choked yesterday.

It was clear to me that the only reason that Sherrill pitched (besides just to get the playing time) is because he is being scouted by a few organizations before the deadline and we want some good prospects.
So yesterday was partially a "used car show" (or previously owned) in addition to a sad demonstration of baseball.

Truthfully, Sherrill has such a great story, he deserves to go to the post season and that won't happen with the Birds.

And the guy climbing the mast on the Schaefer building was much more interesting than the game.
Whatta' ya think Roch?

Well it was fun while it lasted, but I think it's official, we're on our annual slide. Should we start looking forward to the draft now? haha

I think Jeff makes a good point on Cabrera. Basically, what you see is the pitcher he is, and over the course of the season, it amounts to at best a 4th starter who eats innings (and who doesn’t appear to get injured), and someone who one year will probably put together a great season, fool some team into paying him a lot of money for a long period of time, and then revert back to the Cabrera we’ve come to know. There is nothing wrong with this—guys like Cabrera have been plugging holes in major league rotations for years. The problem is, everyone expected a lot more out of Cabrera. It’s a big drop to go from the next Randy Johnson to the next Livan Hernandez. There has to be an expectations adjustment for everyone.

Of course, now everyone wants to trade Cabrera. I’d say like most of the players on the team, he should be shopped, but the club should also consider that they have very few healthy big league pitchers who are capable of tossing 200 innings (it appears to be just Guthrie and Cabrera). Is it worth cutting ties to Cabrera and getting some low-level prospects in return? I say no, unless some other club is willing to overpay for him (if there’s a Josh Hamilton type player out there someone wants to give for him, by all means go for it—do we have Seattle and Houston on speed dial?). Next year, faced with having just Jeremy Guthrie capable of bearing a major league workload, the team will be shopping for a pitcher like Cabrera who’s 5-10 years older and is relatively cheap (but probably still makes more than Cabrera).

I say the team, while it’s in a rebuilding phase, should work on Cabrera being its workhorse and give up any illusions he’ll be their future ace. Get 120 pitches/6-7 innings out of him per game no matter how badly he’s getting hit particularly if the other starters are barely finishing 5 innings. If any of the other young starters can assert themselves, Cabrera becomes more and more expendable. Right now, though, that appears unlikely for this season.

Roch, can you answer this baseball question? Eric wrote that "Wieters coming up in Sep does not affect his service time."

Is that true? If so, after what date in the season can you call up a rookie without those days counting toward his service time?
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I'll have to check on that. - Roch

A sept call-up will add days to his service time, but not nearly enough to give him an extra year of arbitration a la Ryan Braun, who was called up in May. Wieters will not have enough time on the roster to be considered a super-two player, where he would only get 2 years of minimum contracts, and 4 years of arbitration. It's not like when his service time hits 6 yrs exactly, he will be a free agent. Say he gets a sept cal-up this year, and is with the big league club for the next 6 seasons. It's not like on sept 1 of the 6th season, when his service time would be exactly 6 years, he becomes a free agent. I hope that clears it up. To put it simply, 30 days of service time won't affect any free agency or arbitration status.

Dave - the only thing I can tell you comes from Dave Johnson on the Tom Davis Show - According to him, the minute Wieters appears on the O's roster "the clock starts ticking" on his service time.

Personally, I can't wait for him to get up here - so I can read all the blog commenters rip into him and try to run him out of town the first time he goes 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

Roch,
Any news about this?? "Earlier this week, the Rockies took a run at Orioles right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, offering infielder Clint Barmes, but the O's had no interest in trading their best pitcher." as reported by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.
Not that I am the end all of sport news, but I never heard of this at all... Anyone else?
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It doesn't surprise me at all, but I hadn't heard about it. Guthrie is pretty much untouchable unless the club is overwhelmed by an offer. - Roch

To go along with my comment above, in general, we as fans have put way to much stock in "potential" and our expectations in players. Cabrera is a great example. 99% of players continue on the same path they begin in their first season or two. Even Randy Johnson, to whom Cabrera often gets compared, wasn't as bad as some might think at the beginning of his career. His second full season in the bigs he won 14 games and his ERA was under 4. Certainly he became a bit more dominant in his peak, but he was pretty much always a good pitcher from the beginning of his career. Cabrera has been an average pitcher over the course of each of his now five seasons. He allows about 1.5 runners each inning... even when he cuts down his walks, he gets hit harder... and if you put runners on base they will score. I'm sure he will have one or two career years (probably around 28-31) when he gets it under 1.4 and wins 15-16 games. Since cheap 200 inning, double-digit wins pitchers are hard to come by, I say keep him until his walk year... just don't count on him for anything more than what he is.

I think that goes for some of the others as well. Olsen still has a chance to be an ok 4-5 starter on a good team if he finishes the year strong. His splits suggest he could possibly be a quality lefty bullpen specialist if he worked on his control against left-handed batters. Burres is a 4-5 starter on a bad team, a AAAA type player in a good franchise. A nice guy to be able to call up, but not make the club out of spring training. Liz will be an average middle reliever. I really think they should consider stretching Johnson back into a starter. He has been dominant over 55 innings. He's wasted in the pen on this team that won't be seeing many leads in the 8th inning to hold. And his future has to be as a starter. What's the holdup?

h is for holdup...

I read what Keith Law said and didn't see any mention of the Reds being interested in Sherrill. Maybe it was the Redbirds / Cardinals?

I am a Cabrera supporter; however, if he doesnt show some improvement by the end of the season it might be a lost cause. I can just see him being released and then signing with the Yanks and killing us for the next 6 years.

...I agree with the postings that Cabrera will eventually have one good year but otherwise be a 4 guy.

...I think Liz is about the same as Cabrera - lots of moving parts and can't repeat delivery mechanics consistently. Another 4 guy. Liz should still be in Norfolk.

...Olsen just needs more time. Too bad he has to learn at the major league level. He should still be at Norfolk looking towards a Sept call-up.

...Penn should get a Sept call-up just to see what he has and project him into next season. His ERA is somewhat inflated by early season poor weather conditions. Looking at his ERA since mid-May might be a better indicator of where he is in his injury recovery.

...Guthrie is a keeper. I just hope we have him under contractual control at the time when the AA players start making an impact at the majors.

Jeff, CRB, et al - I agree on Cabrera. He can be frustrating as all get out, but he's young, fairly cheap, and durable. We don't have a replacement for him, and we wouldn't get enough value for him in a trade. We all need to be less fickle regarding him, take the good with the bad, and understand he's a good 4th starter. Too bad we don't have three guys better than him, but that's not his fault.

To everyone pointing out it's the annual summer swoon, I don't give your prognostications much credit. Every tough loss or streak someone posts that sentiment. Predicting in March that we'd be within five games of .500 in late July would have been much more impressive.

Roch, thanks again. Nearly all of us really appreciate what you do.

Fans who expect Dave Trembley to insult one of his players in a press conference don't understand management.
Imagine that your boss held a press conference and said you were doing a lousy job. How would that affect your performance?
Grow up, people. The reason Trembley is a good manager is precisely because he wouldn't do something like that.

I'm sure my offer will fall on deaf ears, but if you're all tired of complaining about Cabrera, would you like to make an imaginary bet on whether Milwaukee calls up Jay Gibbons after Sept. 1? Given the way they slug, I doubt it makes a ton of difference whether they'll need the "insurance" of a LH OF bat, and even if Cameron's bombing, only Gabe Kapler (RH) or perhaps Tony Gwynn Jr. (LH bat; still down in Nashville) could play CF. Unless Corey Hart gets blinded from wearing his sunglasses at night or Prince Fielder catches salmonella from his new vegan diet, I can't imagine Gibbons would ever find a spot in the field, or even PH that much, esp since both Branyan and Counsell are adequate LH bats off the bench. Anyway, Gibbons is only 1-for-5 at Huntsville so far so it's way too early to tell. I live just south of Nashville, so if anyone on the list living in the Mid-South wants to do a field trip to Huntsville or just wait & see if Milwaukee brings him up here to AAA, speak up.

Steve - my bet is the Reds are not pushing that hard for Sherrill unless there's other O's in the mix. Jay Bruce is a top-five prospect who they weren't willing to deal for Bedard who (at the time) was the best starter on the market. Cueto I'm sure is out of reach too. Sherrill has heart and class but is hittable and far from lights out.

Wow, lots of negativity today. I'm not nearly as bummed as some of you are. It's called rebuilding for a reason.

Cabrera is what he is, an average thrower with no clue how to pitch. But there isn't anyone to fill his innings so he has to keep going out there.

Here's hoping there are some trades at the deadline. This team needs to get younger and more athletic. I still think 2010 is the year the O's make significant progress. Until then I'll be satisfied with watching the young players develope on the O's and the Minor League teams.

Oh, Roch, see if you can find out when MacPhail is going to answer some of the fans questions on the Orioles website. It's been awhile, lol.

p is for please make some more trades.

It amazes me to read some of the entries in this blog. For 10 years the O's have hurt their best prospects (pitching and position) by bringing them up before they are ready. They stink up the place and are never heard from again. Daniel C did not know how to play baseball when he first was called up. He wasn't given a chance to learn it in the minors and it is hurting him, now.

Most of the current rotation will not be the rotation when the O's next make the playoffs. If they bring up players in AA now and they aren't ready then we will never see them again either.

This is a bite the bullet year. We live with this rotation for the year. We don't bring up Weiters ot Tillman or Arieta. We let them get experience at each level and not rush them. We didn't rush players in the 70's and 80's and we should't do it now. Andy and Dave are doing the right thing. All the cries of bring up so and so are EXACTLY WHAT THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN FOR 10 YEARS. It didn't work then and it won't work now.

Have patience. Too many people still think if we just do this we will contend. NOT!!

p is for PATIENCE

Call up Weiters and throw a contract at him like Tampa did to Longoria. that takes care of the service time issue. Do the same for Nick, Adam, Guthrie, and sign BRob to a extension and then we can say the foundation for rebuilding is set!

CRB and Jeff-- I definitley agree with the points you make about Cabrera. Dimitrios-- you are surprised about the lack of love for Cabrera? He may have only walked two (and hit one) but he was wild throughout the strike zone. Command is not only balls and strikes but getting ahead and dictating an at-bat. Cabrera like Olson, Burres, and Liz always seem to labor through counts and they don't really have an "out pitch" when they rarely find themselves ahead in the count.It seems pretty basic, but if you can't hit your spots, you most likely won't fluorish in this game.

To that end I agree with Almost Believin' that Penn is not being treated harshly-- he is just not pitching well enough to warrant a callup. If you remember Olson actually did earn his way up here (1.50 ERA or close to it) only to prove yet again he is a AAAA pitcher. Liz kind of stunk and was rewarded so if that is your comparison I guess it is "unfair" that Penn has not been called up yet.

Anyone else getting that sinking feeling that another July deadline is coming and going without an organizational upgrade? I do trust MacPhail but I'm not sure the action is out there to be had. I'm anxiously awaiting news. Thanks for all the updates Roch!

There is absolutely no reason to call up Wieters this year. This year is toast (despite being surprisingly enjoyable). Won't we all be much happier years from now having as much time as possible to appreciate Wieters as an Oriole when it actually means something.

No need to rush him.

Gibbons getting signed by a NL team is somewhat baffling.... he would have to play in the field. The man is a poster child for the DH.

Why get all worked up about Cabrera, is he really doing that much worse than Liz, Olson, or Burres for that matter? Finish out the year, IF he can be dealt this winter & if they have better options ready, OK, otherwise, you will see him here again next year as a starter. He is still young, has a live arm, isn't breaking the bank (key with potter), etc. The O's have nothing to loose right now & no better options....

Not sure if this year's pleasantly suprising start caused Andy M to hold back on more rebuilding/trades, but if so recent results should make that light very green now. Everybody except future, rock-solid, building blocks like Markakis, A Jones, Guthrie, & J J, has to be potential trade material. As for Cabrera, if you can find some team desparate (foolish?) enough to give up someone worthwhile for him, jump on it. As a previous writer said, he is what he is; it's too late for some sudden transformation to take place.

Daniel Cabrera, I'm afraid, will never be accused of being a cerebral pitcher. He is regressing as a pitcher. The surprise element in his pitching is completely missing. As a hitter you know what to look for. His side game: of fielding his position; holding runners; throwing wild pitches at the most inopportune time, hitting the batsmen etc is the worst that I've seen.

Orioles should look at demoting him to AAA. I think the pitching coach should call his game from the bench. Most of Cabrera's pitches are in 92, 93 miles range and have similar trajectory. So it's easy for the hitter to home in on them. He doesn't effectively utilize the four corners of the plate.

Cabrera should also try to add some deception to his delivery because what he is doing isn't working. Maybe, he should try closing his stance a little more.

Bill L and others: I say Gibbons only gets called up if Milwaukee gets desperate because of injuries or lack of performance. He might occupy a roster spot for a few weeks while someone else gets healthy, serving as a role player off the bench and perhaps making an occasional start. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if Milwaukee cuts him by the end of the season.

I know some were astounded that Gibbons had to wait this long to get consideration from any club, but there’s really not much of a market for an often-injured, declining player who has at best average fielding skills and who is at best an average hitter and who also got busted using performance enhancers. Best of luck to him—perhaps he can find a new career as an okay role player.

JPA,

Yes, I am surprised by the Cabrera bashing, precisely because I think the days of being deluded into thinking he can carry a staff must be over -- should have been over a year ago. His nice start this year, in other words, was a pleasant surprise, rather than what we should expect of him. Basically we can think of Cabrera as effectively replacing Sidney Ponson in the rotation -- without the alcohol issues. That might not be such a bad thing.

Let's give Cabrera credit for working his tail off to get to where he is. If he's not further along, I'm not sure we can blame him as much as we can blame his inherent talent level. He has looked outstanding at times, and he's still working hard. Maybe something good will come out of that. Maybe not. The point is, I'm giving up hoping so as to stave off continued disappointment.

As for the other guys -- Liz, Olsen, Burres and others -- they, as others have said, need time. Let's remember, the competitive nature of this team at times this year shouldn't preclude us patiently developing our players -- often at the Major League level.

Keith Law is a former ML exec. I believe his word over Dave Johnson's. And he did say the Reds were interested in Sherrill and making a hard push. Didn't say they'd land him. According to reports, 8 teams have scouts following Sherrill like "the papparazzi follows Britney" to quote J Heyman. As for Guthrie, I'm sure Colo offered more than Barmes, he was just the only "name" which is why Ken mentioned him and no one else. According to Stark today, Bos,NY and TB are the hardest pursuers of Sherrill but Angelos won't deal him to an East team according to Stark. Someone should remind Pete of the McGregor,Tippy, Dempsey trade.

BC Mike. Here in the Soo, we get 4 Sportsnet channels on Bell ExpressVu, which means a steady diet of Blue Jays games. I didn't see the last 2 losses but followed them at work(on my breaks of course!). We also get some Jays games on TSN so basically most of the 18 Jays/O's games are on some channel, except for the poker games(why is that considered a 'sport'?).
Anyway, like you I am a Jays hater and I kills me to see us get beat like a drum time after time because of our inferior pitching. The main difference is their guys come in and throw strike after strike. Their 'pen is lights-out and with Halladay and co. they have a decent starting staff, especially if Marcum recovers. Too bad they don't have much offense(except against us!) but still, they are better than us overall.
Once again, the sharks are circuling around us, trying to grab the few decent players we have left. Dont' trade Sherrill, Roberts or Huff,.no matter how many prospects/suspects teams dangle. With the 10 bodies we received from Houston & Seattle, only 3-Sherrill, Jones and Scott are proven to be useful. The jury is still out on Safrate, Albers, Tillman and Payton and the rest is just fodder...
I say build around Markakis, Roberts, Jones, Huff, Sherrill, Johnson, Guthrie, Scott and assemble the rest from our own farm system, with a few holdovers from this year and maybe a few lower tiered free-agent signings and returns from excess baggage such as Millar, Payton, Hernandez, Cabrera, Walker. I'm on the fence right now for '09 with the likes of Mora and Bradford, both have shown signs of life but if we can get a MLB ready body, then make the move.
Boy, this rebuilding is easy!!