Read today the the Tampa Bay Rays are trying to trade either Jeff Niemann or Jason Hammel to ease the constraints of having 6 starters! Being that we have 2 and a few guys who will play the role until they are voted off of Oriole Island, has there been any discussion or rumors of interest? In the next 3 or 4 days there are going to be several releases that are better than our 3-5 guys.

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Pete's reply: I would guess the Orioles will be watching the waiver wire in case somebody fits. Haven't heard about any talks with the Rays. Usually that kind of thing is less likely among division rivals.

I hope they keep Gomez and dump Freel. Freel has no arm for the outfield and can't play short. Gomez has been a steady O's bench player and seems to be able to hit right handers a bit better plus can play first.

But the O's base decisions on options and salaries not baseball performance.

Cabrera performed really well, but needs to work on his fielding. I think he was an unsung player this Spring. I beleive he almost outhit anyone.

As for Hammock and Moeller. I'd go with the better defensive player because with the O's staff this guy is going to be on his hanuches a lot!!!

As to Pie, well I guess AM must have gave DT an ultimatum.

And our staff, well, let's jsut say Eaton and Hendricksen make it real hard to get excited about the upcoming year. Sorry.

Well I do not like the idea of having a .210 hitting infielder having to be in every inning of every game, if the Orioles keep 13 pitchers it is a mistake. You need a quality shortstop to play the 7, 8 and 9 innings more than a 13th pitcher. If they keep 12 pitchers. as much as I like Gomez, Cabrera has better numbers, who knows but I assume who ever is better with defense at short will make it, I am sure that Izturis will be pinch hit for a lot in late innings. Moeller or Hammock, either is fine. If Zaun still has elbow issues next week, who knows.

Is Trembley that stupid? Would he really hold Roberts out of the OD lineup because he missed exhibition games? If he does then he needs to be fired on the spot. That is the absolute dumbest thing ever, the man is a 6 year veteran, he knows what he needs to do to be ready for OD.

Who is going to back up Izturis if Gomez and Cabrera are gone? Freel? I have to say that I was never a big Chris Gomez fan. Watching him hit is a sight. I know he was there for his defense though. Although, I was at a game last year against KC, I think, when he hit a big grand slam that put the O's ahead.

Pete,we played a team either yesterday or the day before that everybody was raving about,Daniel Murphy,and Montanez outperformed him in every category in the same league and had just as good numbers this spring.And by the way Bob L. doesn't limit his negativity to just the O's,he really hammered Brenda Friese and the Trps yesterday too,as well as the Ravens at preseason last year.Maybe the most negative person I have ever seen on a blog.

Why not Pie for Hammels/Niemann? The Rays are going to start Gabe Kapler in CF until Upton is back. Pie should be able to fill that role for them, since Kapler is no spring chicken and is coming back from retirement. Mr. Super Ceiling has to be able to play better than Gabe, you would think.

Hammels or Niemann are better than anyone not named Guthrie, and that includes Uehara. Either would be a good pick-up for the O's.

Pete: Any chance the Orioles may make some moves to improve their rotation? with some of the last cuts coming?

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Pete's reply: Possible, I guess, but not probable.

I really hope Eaton gets lit up and cut after his next ST start. *crosses fingers*

I must confess to being nervous about Roberts' status. I hate the WBCs.

Okay, Cabrera earned his way on the team and Gomez didn't. If they're looking for a backup at short, Cabrera should be it. If they cut both of them, that seems rather dangerous to have no real back up at short. Also, if they but both, then they're obviously going with 13 pitchers, and I agree with Peter that that seems stupid. However, they might do it in order to avoid the waiver wire with some pitchers (Penn, I guess).

Sounds like Trembley thinks Roberts is being a prima donna and wants to teach him a lesson. I'm not entirely sure I blame him. Roberts doesn't seem the same since marrying the underwear model and signing the big contract.

Peter
It doesn't matter how you play in the spring. The O's have their minds set.
Penn has major league stuff. He just can't pitch!

But the O's base decisions on options and salaries not baseball performance

Oh, that's right. I forgot, we paid Jay Gibbons to rake for us last year. This whole time I thought they were talking about yard-work. I didn't realize we were actually talking about baseball.

Let's not confuse the issues with the facts here. Releasing Jay Gibbons completely negates this comment.

Let's also not forget that Freel is 4.5 years younger than Gomez and has a career OBP of .357 compared to .325 for Gomez. He also has more than 4x the SB's as Gomez with only (roughly) 50% more CS. Oh, and he has a career BA .010 points higher than Gomez, and and OPS nearly .050 higher. Hrm... all of those seem like baseball statistics to me....

o is for "Oh boy."

As much as I like most of what MacPhail has done so far, I hope that it doesn't turn into another Roland Hemond situation. We just took anything that the Chisox threw out. I hope that Pie exceeds AM's expectations, but one has to question keeping him and sending Lou Montanez down, given the numbers.

Really, who still cares about more cuts coming? The club already has shown it had its collective mind made up about who would make the roster before spring training even started. Otherwise, Felix Pie, Mark Hendrickson and probably a couple of others would have been sent packing, and guys like Lou Montanez and Brad Bergesen who actually earned spots, as opposed to being handed spots, would still be here. As for Pie, teams weren't exactly lining up to acquire him from the Cubs last winter. What makes the Orioles so convinced he wouldn't pass through waivers unclaimed at this late point in spring training like David Pauley did? (Rhetorical question; I know the point is moot.)

Cut Guthrie

Come on people. Spring training is such a ridiculously small sample size, no one should be "winning" a job based on it.

Felix Pie has much more potential than Montanez in the long run, and he needs to play every day to have any chance at reaching that potential.

Montanez will get another shot when someone gets hurt, as is inevitable, and if he can get hot while he's up, maybe he can stick for a while. But eventually (just like last year), he's going to come back down to earth,

As for the pitching, I'm stumped on why Bergesen wasn't kept on the roster. Hendrickson, Eaton, Baez... they're all washed up, overpriced has-beens who really have no business being on any major league roster right now. Might as well let Bergesen give us a little hope, since he's unlikely to last once the true young guns arrive in another year or so.

Hey John the Baptist,

While your right on, what's the point! Neither of these long in the tooth utility players belong on the Orioles opening day roster. We sent down much, MUCH better talent than: Hendrickson, Eaton, Walker, Baez, our new back-up SS, whoever the back-up catcher will be and Pie! So for a team particularly SP like ours we also have 7 guys stealing oxygen and at-bats from some hard working and productive prospects! Yeah I know Andy Mac has a plan, well the "toss out 37 ragged out arms and hope to get 12" didn't work. Maybe we should have looked at a level of free agent pitchers above the botom of the barrel. It's a long 162 game season, we will lose more than 100, but arguing who is better Freel or Gomez in the big picture, WHO CARES!