Nice to see Brandon doing well. There was a write up on him on another sports network I won't mention.

Basically it documented how much of a hard worker he is and how much he really wants to prove that he can make it to the majors.

Is Brandon primarily playing 1b? The question about him is his defense in the infield so far. I am sure with his work ethic he will do whatever he has to in order to get better. Some miscues could be expected from a guy transitioning from behind the plate, but guys have done it before.

With both corners of the Orioles infield being open soon, there is a window there for Brandon to crawl through, though I don't think he will be ready by 2010.

Is it hard to really judge the worth of a fall league ERA? Considering a lot of the players in the field probably don't have as good a feel for each other, wouldn't a stat like ERA tend to be a bit higher due to the ability of the team behind the pitcher to make plays?

I could be completely off on this one. I live in Hawaii (I know, poor me) and don't generally get a chance to see the Winter league games.

Keep up the aloha shirts Pete.

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Pete's reply: I would think a 4-plus ERA is fine in that kind of league, but Chad Thall's 10-plus ERA doesn't work at any level.

Hey Peter, with the Dodgers not offering arbitration to Furcal, do you see the O's being more interested in him?

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Pete's reply: I think they are concerned about his health, but he's certainly the kind of player they need.

Isn't the AFL a notoriously bad place for pitchers to go? According to BA, the league averaged 6.9 runs per game per team. Makes Matusz's ERA look even that much better by comparison. Hope he starts at Bowie and is ready for Baltimore as a September callup next season.

Matusz's performance IMO, was not that respectable. He got his clocked cleaned several times and had a penchant for giving up the extra base hit to include 6 HR's. On the plus side, he had a great W(7)/K(31) ratio. He'll get better as this was his first confrontation with an elite group of hitters rather than the college crowd. Like Wieters, he started fast and then faded at the end.

Snyder was the best hitter the Orioles had there. As you stated, Wieters started off good , but then he faded rather quickly over his last few games. Reimold did as he did in 07... a little bit of power, but no consistency. And as for Davis, not only was his bat anemic, so was his fielding.

I had the privilege of attending early BP at Camden Yards in 2005 - as a friend of his high school coach - the day Brandon Snyder was signed as their first-round pick. Sandwiched between Sosa and Palmiero, he hit four out to straight away center two days before he graduated from high school. I've been pulling for him ever since - he just turned 22.

Appreciate the coverage on the Arizona Fall League...very nice. Lived out there in Phoenix area for a few years, and was always amazed at the availability of professional baseball at virtually any time of the year...

"Shortstop Blake Davis, who has a special place in my heart because he comes from Cal State Fullerton, batted just .161."

Are you sure that wasn't his fielding average? I know that is harsh but didn't he have something like 60 errors at SECOND base?

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Pete's reply: The kid has struggled, no doubt about it.

Peter--is Snyder going to get a look at 1B in Spring Training? Is he even invited?

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Pete's reply: Don't think there are any invites out yet, but I doubt he's going to make the whole jump this year.

Pete,
Shouldn't the Orioles PR staff be sending out these stats?

Their PR dept is minor league. That's not fair, as it is an insult to the minor leagues.

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Pete's reply: That's not really fair. I don't know that it's common for the major league club to send out low-minor stats. They have them and will send them out to whatever media entity requests them, but I think they leave it to the individual minor league clubs to use them for publicity purposes.

Have to wonder if Weiters wasn't a little worn out by the AFL,and still batted .301.Reimhold is almost ready and what more does Salazar have to do to get a consistent shot?Montanez looked good at Bowie and up here too,like him better than Luke Scott.Snyder and Rowell could be ready by 2010.Would rather see any of them as opposed to Hernandez,Payton,Millar,and Fahey/Hernandez/Bynum.Why not move Mora back to short?Move Huff Daddy to third and Scott to first and platoon Salazar and Montanez?

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Pete's reply: I'd be surprised if Mora could still play a passable shortstop at 37.

Any work on the player the O's will receive for Bradford? One would have thought that this would not take this long. Just give the O's a list of 4 or 65 players and let us pick.

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Pete's reply: I'm hearing it will probably be cash, not a player.

One fan mentioned Luke going to 1B, and Montanez in LF.
I would rather see those two PLATOON in LF, a la Brother Lo and Roenicke.