Today's featured comment
Today's featured comment comes from TerryP, who quickly grew weary of my Tampa Bay Rays -- print, net, blog -- media blitz:
TerryP's take: It's pretty bad when we get pep talks from the manager of one of the former classic bottom feeders in MLB. I suppose the rationale is that anything is possible but it's also just as possible that the mighty Tampa Bay team will slide down to .500 next year.
Who scares you offensively besides Pena, Longoria or Crawford or maybe Upton?. Their rotation is decent but nothing special (a lot better than ours, of course!) so it's one of those Cinderella stories but give credit where it's due. No one in Tampa seems to care, but their franchise competitive-wise looks brighter than Baltimore.
I guess you could argue that we are now more like Pittsbugh or KC with the consistent losing and with rosters full of unproductive vets that can't catch on anywhere but the BIG 3! Hopefully, this offseason will prove me wrong and we continue the rebuild by immediately releasing guys like Walker/Ramon and stop trolling the bargain bin/waiver wires. I am also hoping that the massive DL is cleared up so we get a true picture of our pitching situation.
Pete's take: Don't turn your nose up completely at the waiver wire. I believe that's where the Orioles stole Jeremy Guthrie. The lesson of the Rays isn't just player development, it's also trolling the bargain bin for the right pieces to complete the puzzle. I agree it's galling to have the Rays pole vault over the Orioles (and everybody else), but there are some things to be learned from their success, however short-lived you think it might be.
> 
Comments
Peter. Good points about the waiver wire/bargain bin.etc. I forgot about Guthrie. It also seems that we haven't had much luck overall; we get the waiver/fringe types and they play worse. Russ Ortiz, Victor Zambrano, Jay Payton-epitomize the type of player we end up with. Sure, these guys are worth a shot but our problem is that we often don't know when 'enough's enough" . How many times did we need to see Ortiz or Chen or Walker get pounded?
Hey, I'm tipping my hat to Tampa Bay and I'd certainly rather see them in the playoffs than the Yanks. There is definitely an element of luck in some of their moves. For example, if we picked up guys like Cliff Floyd, Gabe Gross,Erik Hinske or Troy Percival, this board would have been full of crticism last winter. It's not like these pick-ups set the world on fire and the inevitable trips to the DL occured but somehow it all worked.
When you really look at their record, the Rays turnaround is quite amazing, especially in such a short time and with the roster they have.
Posted by: TerryP | September 24, 2008 12:48 PM
What's Trembley doing? He preaches that, in fairness to baseball, the O's have to be competitive against the contenders coming down the stretch. So what does he do, he sits Markakis and Huff and puts Walker in a close game and lets him stay to long. First, Walker shouldn't have been in the game with his stats. Let's face it, the guy is finished, he has had ERA's of 6.75 in June, 8.18 in August and 15.75 in September. Yet, Trembley puts him in a winnable ballgame. He should have been out after he put the second Ray on base. Trembley isn't practicing what he preaches and just gave away a ball game.
Posted by: Deke | September 24, 2008 1:59 PM
Pete,
What is your over/under as to the turnover on the O's roster next season? Between contract terminations (MIllar, Peyton, Cintron, Castro?), releases (Cabrera, Castillo, Walker?), trades (Roberts if he does not re-up, Scott and/or Sherrill for the right returns and Ramon for $1), and minor league designations (Olson, maybe Liz and a few relievers), I think more than half of the 25 man roster will be diff. than the one on 8/31/08.
.............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Just went down the list and I get 13 players that I don't think will be on the Opening Day roster.
Posted by: daydreamer | September 24, 2008 2:15 PM
Maybe Dave kept Walker in the game for so long last night to shame him into realizing that Walker hasn't got it anymore and he should retire instead of taking his salary next season.
Posted by: Rusty | September 24, 2008 2:17 PM
The Rays are pretty much getting bad seasons from everyone of their hitters. Besides Longoria no one is playing even close to how they hit last year.
The Reason they are winning can be seen in the starting pitching. Kazmir will make his 27th start of the year Thursday. Putting him 5th on the Rays in starts this year. So in the end they have had very consistent starting pitching. Kazmir, Sheilds and Garza make up one of the best 1-2-3s in baseball this season.
The O's have Guthrie. So all they need is two more of him.
Posted by: Shawn | September 24, 2008 2:28 PM
Peter, I'm not saying whether it's curse or coincidence, but the facts are that John Denver died on October 12, 1997, the day the Orioles lost to Cleveland in the ALCS, 8-7, in the 5th game of the series the O's lost, 4 games to 2. The Orioles have not achieved the postseason since. Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" unexplainably remains the 7th inning stretch anthem. It's time to let John rest and the O's to find a winning spirit.
Posted by: David Kirby | September 24, 2008 5:53 PM
Doesn't Dave have a home in Florida, maybe he is a closet Rays fan?
..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: He does live in Daytona Beach...hmmmm.
Posted by: Keith Rowe | September 24, 2008 8:34 PM