Eaton and Hendrickson are out of the rotation at last. I think that we were hoping for a miracle. Let's see what the young guys can do. They'll learn as much in the majors anyway.

masn must have shown a replay of orioles nats from 1970 4-2 final. hill looked good, reimold 2 hits another big game for jones. by this time next year the orioles might have the best outfield in baseball.

I'd like to think so, Pete.

I know that the Orioles were never intended to compete this year, and their record so far is indicative of a young, patchwork team in transition.

But, man, do some of our minor league guys look good so far (Tillman, Hernandez, Berken, Erbe, Arrieta, Matusz, Snyder). And, man, are some of our young major league guys producing (Jones, Reimold).

And so what if the short-term veteran solutions (Eaton, Hendrickson) aren't working out? They are only here to buy the younger guys some time. And they younger guys are making strong cases for themselves.

Can't say I disagree one bit with the way this team has been handled so far. I like the fact that they have used low-risk veteran options, just to see if a cheap solution might work for a little while. (In years past, Eaton and Hendrickson would have been Plan A, and there would have been no Plan B.) I also like the fact that they have been deliberate with the players they call up. To bring up Montanez and Bergeson first was definitely the right move. In the past, we would have seen Matusz here now, a la Matt Riley, and likely ruined him forever. The way they're doing things is smart.

I think that if the young guys continue to force the front office's hand, we could see a very exciting team on the field in September. And instead of limping to the finish the way we have every year since 1997, we could actually see a very solid finish from the Baltimore club. And wouldn't that make us excited about 2010 and beyond?

Peter, my feeling is the future has already arrived. By that I mean pitching. Quality pitching, and mainly starting pitching, has been the bane of this organization for the length of it's seasonal losing streak.

Weiters will only be a plus, and perhaps the CORE component of the future contending teams, but the true heart of it all is their pitching. Take it away and Weiters is just another player biding his time for his next contract. But when Eaton was released and the O's were confirmed as moving on with their starters and towards the next permanent piece at some point (even though his replacement might not be permanent), they drastically improved their starter core in an 'addition by subtraction' mode.

So the future really has arrived. Start to enjoy it now. The starters will likely give greater performances on average, is my guess. Now if we could only get the defense to live up to it's potential....

Pete,

You must remember that against the worst team in baseball (yes, there is at least one team worst than the Orioles) the Orioles had to go to 12 inning to eke out a win.

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Pete's reply: Yes, I am aware of that, but if you're going to make that part of the equation, you have to cut the O's some slack for playing one of the toughest schedules in the majors so far.

I can't believe I'm saying this...but, it may be time to actually reconsider Danys Baez as a starter. I will be the first to say 2 years ago it certainly seemed like the O's paid way too much for apparent damaged goods but, after his surgery & what he's done thus far he has perhaps the best ratio of good innings thrown as anyone on the staff. His current role in relief is important however, we are also in dire need of starters that can give us 5-7 quality innings & up to this point in the season, those games have been few & far between. I would hope his endurance is now there because it's evident his arm strength is & what would it hurt to give him a few starts to see what he can do? I mean we gave Eaton 8 to tell us what we all knew after 3 so what's it going to hurt? As long as Albers is back up put him in Danys role & while were at it, please send Ray to Norfolk to get himself organized before he ends up blowing essentially his new arm out yet again. Right now Chris Ray is a mess & another disaster waiting to happen. Sit him down, work with him even back in Florida but, for his sake,stop this train wreck before it happens. Thanks.

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Pete's reply: I disagree on Baez. I don't think you fiddle with the things that are working.

Rich Hill has put another solid start on the boards. I hope the other starters feed off of his fortunes.

Congrats to Baez! His show of hustle and determination gave the O"s the win. If more of the players could show that kind of heart, then I think we could finish the season better than the 7-30 record we did with last year.

i wish we could've played the nationals earlier in the season. its a nice confidence boost.

great win, great effort from the bullpen, great to see some hitting and playing, but let's keep this in perspective... it was against the Nationals...

As much as I want to believe this team can be a .500 club this year and I am glad to see a overall good performance last night (along with the release of Eaton).

This team will not turn the corner until they beat some better teams...let's remember, this was the Nationals...

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Pete's reply: We all know it was the Nationals, but I'm looking at individual performances. Hill's command of his breaking stuff was really good, which is very encouraging.

Good luck to your boy [ Cal St. Full. ]
X O's prospect Brandon Tripp. Signed with the Marlins. AA advanced 7 games so far. 2nd chances sometimes work out.

Eaton is gone and we're one step closer to getting to phase 2 of "the plan". My guess is that a third of the roster could be turned over by 8/1, if not sooner, depending on who they can trade before the deadline. Pie, Ray, Moeller/Zaun and maybe Andino get cut or demoted soon. Then Walker, Baez, Huff, Sherrill, Hendrickson (hopefully) and/or Mora could be traded. Maybe even Guthrie (will be 31, going to arbitration and lots of pitchers ready to step up) for the right package if he can improve his game to increase his value. Actually, if all went, it'd be almost 1/2 but I doubt all will get moved this year.

Second half of the year will be fun watching the kids develop for 2010,

Exactly!! Last year, the season really turned, it seemed, after that extra inning loss to these same Nationals with Sherrill giving up a home run seemingly for his first blown save. It would be karmic appropriate for the season this year to turn upwards after a game like last night.
Pete, what are your thoughts about who the Os bring up on Tuesday? I think it has to be Jason Berken, given that Hernandez pitched seven innings last night for Norfolk.
Berken is a real battler dating back to his Clemson days...a real bulldog of a pitcher...hope he gets the shot.

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Pete's reply: I'm pretty sure it's either Berken or Waters.

I don't want to take away from the win, but I mean it was the Nationals

It's easier for a bullpen to look "suddenly rejuvenated" when facing the Nationals. And let's see Rich Hill pitch against the Orioles' divisional opponents' lineups before we get too excited. Encouraging, yes, but he's only had to face the Royals and the Nationals so far.

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Pete's reply: I agree, but the point was to get him out there and get him some confidence. Mission accomplished.

Good point, Mr. Peter.

I think if things go the way they look like they're going, suddenly we've managed to scrounge up at least 2 decent starters in Uehara and Hill to add to Guthrie. Those are the kind of moves successful rebuilding plans are built on. At the point I think we can agree on:

• Guthrie needs to reclaim his fastball command to reattain his "Best O's SP" moniker, but at worst he's still at least a #3 SP.

• Hill needs to turn in a round of consistent command and confidence to at least be a #3 SP.

• Uehara has actually been the most bulldoggish and consistent O's SP. He is right now at least a #3 SP.

For me a "#3 SP" is anything from Len Barker/Rocky Coppinger to Ted Lilly/Jimmy Key," that is, a pitcher consistently capable of reaching the 6th with about 3-4 runs. Having 3 starting pitchers who can at least hang in the majors wasn't something we could have said last year. Maybe we can say that with some certainty by midseason this year? If so it will help fortify the rotation to withstand the influx of young guys pushing the back end slots. I think the way to think of the current roster is as a foundational core whose job is not to do anything particularly spectacular but to be solid in a number of areas. What we have on the farm will help add to that base.

Jones, Hill and now Reimold... (Not to mention Roberts and Cake) Wieters and some of our pitching prospects to follow.. I'm starting to get excited again!!! Is this what false hope feels like?

It's nice to have a win, and great to see Rich Hill looking competent.

But let's not read too much into a win over the Nationals. The O's just finally ran into a worse team.

Nice sentiments but let's be real, lowering the team ERA by .5 is turning a corner for this team.

Pete,

More importantly, Dave T stuck with his hot hands in the bullpen. In lieu of throwing a guy one inning and yanking him, he left the guy in that was going well, and bagging that "slotting" philosophy! Good job all around, particularly against a good hitting team!

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Pete's reply: I agree, but he didn't have much choice.

This guy can be the one with the high pitch totals in the current rotation...but none of the other current "pitch to contact" slots in our rotation should.

When Hill puts guys on, he still attacks the batter and goes for a K or a DP. He is more reminiscent of prior O's Cabrera and Bedard in that ability.

Last night, 98 pitches only 53 strikes. Can't keep doing it every 5 days...he also pitched against the Royals and Nationals for chrissakes...what happens when he faces the Rays, Yanks, and Red Sox when those hitters go deep into the count?

Pete, I think you're probably right about turning a corner. Some perspective is needed regarding last night's game. There's a world of difference between playing the Yankees and the Nationals, and although the pitching was outstanding versus Washington, it looked simply awful in New York. True, Eaton's gone, but there are still the two bullpen meltdowns in the other games that killed any real chance to rally. That needs to be addressed, though last night's relievers gave us reason
for hope.

Otherwise, there are a lot of signs of encouragement everywhere you look: Jones blossoming into a (is it too soon to say?) superstar, Reimold looking ready, Wieters on the way, and a stable of "reach in the hat and pick one" good-to-outstanding pitchers strewn throughout the minors. All of this points to the renaissance for Oriole baseball that we've all been waiting long to see.

I want to touch on Hill's performance last night. Yes, he needs to cut down the walks and lower the pitch count, but other than that he looked very, very impressive. Typically, a plus fastball is considered the most dominant pitch, the one that is toughest to hit, but I want to put Hill's curveball in that category. When he has it working, which he did for much of the game, it's virtually unhittable, regardless of whether he's facing a left or right handed hitter.

When Quiroz was catching Hill in Spring Training, he said that was the best curve he'd ever seen, and I can't think of anyone with a better one.Blyleven is generally considered to have had the breaking ball by which all others are measured, and I think Hill's is right there. The only Oriole hurlers who come to mind with anything consistently approaching that would be Olson and Bedard.

I think if Hill can command his fastball better, there's no reason to think he couldn't be pushing 20 wins some year. Maybe that's over optimistic, but that curve is just sooo devastating. Fun to watch.

Pete, I just saw above where you said you thought the Orioles might promote Waters. Why? Yes, he's had some big league experience, but he's not pitching that well this year (an ERA closer to 5.00 than 4.00, a less than stellar WHIP, and an unimpressive walks to strikeouts ratio--any positives?).

Simply put, there are better candidates at the moment, so why on earth bring up someone who's scuffling? Where's the logic in that? I don't remotely see it.

It's one thing to allow Waters to put it together in Norfolk, since there are real expectations that he could help the O's down the road at some point, but it's quite another to put him on a major league staff that still is struggling to find itself. I hope you're wrong about him being an option, Pete, or hope you can perhaps explain to me how this would not be a bad move.

Berken, also mentioned by you, has pitched vastly better than Waters, but has been in fewer games. Still, between those two Berken seem more deserving.

The only thing that Andy didn't tell you pete is that when you turn that corner it leads into a dead end street. The only difference with this rebuilding plan is the ORIOLES PLAY IN THE TOUGHEST DIVISION IN BASEBALL and they will never and i mean never spend more money then BOSTON OR the Yankee's and those two teams will always do what ever it takes or cost to stay ahead of the curve.The orioles are like a team swiming up hill. For every one thing that goes right.{hill pitching 2 good games} They now have guthrie and ray that forgot how to pitch. fix one hole and many more keep poping up. I am all for rebuilding but whever they fill on hole they have to start over again. They can bring up some young pitchers and assume that they pitch well and then lose Mora and huff next year. 200 rbi to replace and 50 home runs. They won't have 5000 fans in the stands come august and andy might not worry now about how many are leaving because of lack of patience but he sure will be when they all don't come back.

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Pete's reply: I guess he'll have to take that chance because the alternative is another decade of defeat. The Red Sox and Yankees will always have more money, which is why Andy has chosen to focus on trying to do a better job of player development.

If the team generally and Hill specifically get no credit for a win against the Nats, does it also not reflect poorly on any pitcher or the team for losing to Boston and NY? If you piss and moan about losing to the Yanks and Sawx, but refuse to give credit for beating the Nats, you reveal yourself as wearing blinders in order to just want to piss and moan and see only negatives. There are positives and negatives whirring around this team right now and you can either pick all of one or the other, or you can see it as it really is which is a mixed bag.

In MacPhail's mind, O's on track

How many tickets does he buy? I admire the guy, really I do, he made two astute trades last year, seems to be drafting and getting Peter A to sign top talent, broke into the Japanese market with some success. However, sports are entertainment, at least they are supposed to be. On most evenings, for a premium price the Orioles are NOT entertaining, on many nights with errors and base running blunders it almost would seem to be professional if the stadiums they were playing in wasn't so nice. But lets cut to the chase or as we say in my line of work Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): You can do all the things that Andy wanted to do and has done AND put a respectable professional team on the field. The errors, baserunning, Pitcher not holding runners on, the blame goes squarely on the coaching staff! However, not getting major league caliber starting pitching and/or not providing the opportunities to players who either in Spring Training or AAA that he is taking the heat for he should, that is squarely on him! I'm really glad that Mr. Angelos has given him all the time he needs because I don't think the general fan base has that much patience.

As far as signing Free Agents when the time is right, I'll take the under of that over under. We will offer low, we will hear no free agent wants to sign here and we'll get another Wiggenten type guy.

The check is in the mail!

I'm genuinely excited about Rich Hill. It looks like the upside case may be coming to fruition. That's why I think we all have to cut MacPhail some slack with Eaton and Pie. MacPhail is taking some low cost chances. Only a few are going to work out, but only a few of these have to. It's not hard to imagine that by the end of the season there will be 5 solid pitchers in the rotation. There is finally some cause for optimism in Birdland.

Pete, I think an honest, comprehensive look at WHY the Orioles organization fell apart in the first place so many years ago is a very worthy journalistic piece. I say so because it is important to understand how so much that was good was lost and for so long, so that those things might not be repeated.

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Pete's reply: Maybe so, but I've written several of those over the years and the past hasn't changed. I think it's better to look ahead and do the things good teams do to get better.

Last night's win might have been against the Nationals but the Orioles pitching staff gave up 2 runs to a team that has been scoring runs in bunches so far this season (go ahead look it up the Nationals are near the league lead in runs, avg, etc). The Nationals lose games because their bullpen is horrid, not because they don't score runs. Give credit in this game at least to the O's pitchers, they did what they needed to do and got the job done.

For all the talk of "it's just the Nationals", keep in mind that they actually have a good hitting lineup. Their problem is that their bullpen is probably the worst in the majors. Holding that lineup to only two runs and four hits over 12 innings is pretty respectable.

I don't know why so many guys are ready to jettison just about the entire team. I am sure that most players will be available at the right price, but unless the Orioles get back a good return there's no need to dump everyone.

My prediction for next moves are for Ray to go to Norfolk to work on his command when it's time to bring up the next starter for Tuesday, and for Montanez to go down when Luke comes off the DL. Lou will be told to play regularly, get his stroke back, and when he is sharp again he may be back up to officially end the Great Pie Experiment of 2009. In the meantime Pie gets to stick around and serve as the 4th outfielder and spot starter against righties for a few weeks.

I want to repeat what i said during the pre season...Let the kids develop properly..im not going anywhere and i have been and O`s fan since 1969.."When they are ready they will knock down the door to get here "(credit "Pete") Would i love to see Tillman pitch tuesday while Wieters catches..ABSOLUTELY! But i could wait till next year. Dont lose faith AM has brought us closer

If you look at Bowie last year, they made the playoffs. This year Norfolk is in 1st. The Rays Triple AAA team in Durham has been near the top the past few years. There is hope with the young guys. One day at a time for the O's. And everyone keeps saying it's only the Nationals. Well these are the teams you should beat. I was always taught growing up in sports that you are supposed to beat the bad teams and give it everything you have to beat the good ones. As long as it goes in the W column, who cares who it's against. A win is a win. People need to stop always finding a negative.

For all those who are saying these wins aren't legitimate because it's the Nats, remember this: The Nationals are the 3rd best hitting team in the Major Leagues (behind the Dodgers and the Phillies), Guzman was leading the league in BA coming into Friday's game, Adam Dunn is 5th in home runes, Zimmerman's hitting better than ever (and has a 30-game hitting streak to boot), and Nick Johnson is actually healthy for once.

Really, if they could get the rest of the rotation and their entire bullpen to pitch like Martis, they'd be contenders. Instead, they've got 2 or 3 decent guys and 9 crappy pitchers.

I think that the next move to make is to send Felix Pie to the minors and keep Reimold in the starting outfield. He carries a big stick and proves that he can hit at the big league level. Also maybe bring up Synder at some point to play first and let Huff be the DH. I am excited about all the young O's that we have ready to compete for starting jobs!!!

Dumping the deadwood and using the youth IS turning the corner for this organization. Keeping deadwood is getting damn old. Chris Ray can go too opening up another spot so they can bring in another young pitcher. Lose a catcher and bring in Weiters as well. Get moving.

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Pete's reply: I honestlyl cannot believe you're ready to give up on Ray this quickly. That's truly the kind of kneejerk thinking that got this team into the mess it has been in for 11 years.

What a bunch of defeatist malcontents. We won a game! Let's savor it. Why complain about who we beat? They may be the Nationals but they are still a Major League team with professional players. I didn't get a chance to see it but it appeared to be a well played game and a good win. Let's not forget we have beaten some good teams this year and I think we will beat some more. I think this team is headed in the right direction and I think we are going to see an increasingly better and competitve team from here on out. Stop dwelling in the past and let's look to the future. There are brighter days ahead.

For those who think I drank the Orange Kool-Aid, fortunately for me, Orange is my favorite flavor.

I think if Waters or whatever pitcher they call up, can at least keep them in some games unlike Eaton that this team could be a lot more competitive. I still believe the key is Jeremy Guthrie. If Jeremy can start to look like the pitcher of the last two seasons, the starting five will give this team a good chance to win.

I am probably in the minority on this, but I honestly believe that Mark Hendrickson could be a valuable member of the O's BP. It seems like in his starts that he had 2-3 good innings so as a reliever if he can do that consistently, he could be a very effective long man in the pen.

Pete, I haven't heard much about the way George has pitched lately, but since his demotion from the closer role (albeit briefly), he has been lights out, as he is going after hitters and challenging them. I don't know if was mechanics or confidence, but he has responded like a guy that wants to be the closer full time and these are the type of guys that I want on my team.

Would just one more person please tell me that the win last night was only against the Nat's. Thirty more times and I might get it.

They are turning the corner. They were constistanly a team playing above .400 since 2001 and now they a flirting with the double Mendoza line.

Everyone keeps saying the Nat's are terrible and collectively they are but they do score runs and they do have good young pitching. The Nat's aren't going to be good most nights because of their inconsistent young pitchers but they are gonna have some good outings.
Last night the Nat's were a good team with a good pitcher and the O's beat 'em. I think the O's are a couple of starters and a Weiters away from being competitive. Go O's

If you didn't know that this was going to be a dark and difficult year for the O's, no amount of explanation by McPhail will convince you that 2009 is the lowest of the low for Oriole baseball. Soon, we start up and by 2011 we will compete within the Am. Leg. East. and I mean really compete. 2010 will be better, but the Yankees and the Red Sox are just too far ahead to catch by next year. We are missing a couple of parts in the minors, like the shortstop of the future. But, if we don't panic and bring the kids before they are physically ready for a major league campaign, I think the pitching is there and that is the most difficult part of the equation to solve.

Pete , it's hard to turn the corner when your'e going around in circles .

Maybe you need to write an article explaining the difference between building a team and building an organization. If this business was about entertainment, this Keystone Kops team would be as popular as baseball bloopers reels. Fans will pack the house when we win and are competitive. This whole organization was rotten from the ground up. It had to be torn down to the ground and rebuilt. For the entire Angelos era this was never done. Improved drafting started just before MacPhail was brought in and he tore things down to bare ground from the day he arrived. Those who nitpick whether any particular player should have made the team in spring training or whine about whether a Wieters should come up in April or June just dont get it. The fans will come back when the team wins, not when it is "entertaining" them a la Bill Veeck/Eddie Gaedel hucksterism or making baseball decisions based on a poll of the fans as politicians make decisions. A poll of fans wanting Tillman up now will not help you win and fans who vote for bringing him up now cant be fired when the move backfires, so MacPhail is 100% correct in not giving in to the whining of the fans too blind to see the building of the entire organization going on right before their eyes..

I'm tired of hearing this was supposed to be a dark, dismal failure of a season. What team, starts a year saying we are losers, lets just mail it in and take our 65 wins and get out of dodge. First, as professionals many playing for their next contract I don't buy it! Aubrey Huff, he's playing for BLING! All of our pitchers should be pitching to stay off those bus rides in the minors! Now if your saying our front office didn't do their jobs to field a professional caliber team, then the question is WHY? Of course we all knew it, when you pay the major league minimum to Eaton and Hendrickson you can read what I expected in March (see this blog archives). But for people to vote on the quality of our manager and he gets 73% as an "A" and our GM tries to pass Eaton and Hendrickson off as Major League Starting Pitchers, I'm sorry I have to call a spade a spade and rolling out 2/5 of a rotation like the O's have been doing is criminal!

you aren't related to a guy known as Travis Moon are you?

Yea, one bad pitch to Zimmer. The Yankee's line up is full of Zimmers. I'm glad we are beginning to turn the corner. But turned it-I don't think so.

Yup. Turned the corner against the Nats... or Gnats... we've just outdueled the worst team in the majors after getting swept by a hot and bona-fide major league club. Turned the corner means there are more lumps to come while our minor league talent goes through a major learning curve in the major leagues. Watch putting that cart in front of the horse please.

But I hope so... the O's are the triumph of hope over experience.

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Pete's reply: I think you missed my point. I wasn't talking about the team starting to win. I was talking about the team starting to transform with the removal of Eaton and the arrival of Rich Hill and somebody else this week.

Pete's reply: I guess he'll have to take that chance because the alternative is another decade of defeat. The Red Sox and Yankees will always have more money, which is why Andy has chosen to focus on trying to do a better job of player development.

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While I agree player development is the right way to move forward, the fact is the Orioles can spend more and still be profitable, Angelos cries the blues while his team is valued at $227M more than he paid for it. That does not include ownership stakes in MASN.

They have an estimated $174M in revenues and $92M in salaries. Now I know the expenses doesn't include other team costs (though certainly not spring training facilities). The Orioles are 5th in Operating Income. The Yankees are next to last. While the Yankees obviously have dramtically more revenue, they spend to win (not aleays wisely as eveidenced by recent lack of overall success), bur the Orioles have let teams like Tampa also show that a competent business side can succeed with their new ownership.

The gate receipts have fallen over the years and that is the responsibility of the owner and his policies. Baseball teams have two sides, baseball operations and the business operations. The baseball operations side is certainly better than has been, but the business side is as woefull as ever.

Using the division as an excuse doesn't fly year after year

Well, maybe. You have to be pleased with Hill, and Reimold is making a strong case for himself. I'm also pleased they released Eaton, that's not what would have happened a couple years ago. There are no doubt some encouraging signs, but it'll take more than one win against a weak team for me to consider them through the turn just yet.
I think the possibility for this team having a strong second half is encouraging, but really, it was one game. The O's have had a couple of well played, even well pitched games this season, including a shut out. The key will be some consistency, particularly from the rotation.
Check back after they've won 4 out of 5 or 7 out of 10 against some decent teams, and then ask me if they've turned a corner.

Schmuck, seriously. I guess you are openly applying for a M(ister) A(ngelos) S(ports) N(etwork) gig. Seriously. It's sad to see you grovel like this. I mean you have always been part of the AngeloO's Pravda machine, but this is shameful.

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Pete's reply: In what way, because saying the arrival of Rich Hill and the departure of Adam Eaton represents a turning point for the pitching staff? I'm willing ot bet, based on your comments about my history, that you've been reading me for no more than a few months. I don't need to defend my career covering the Orioles on those grounds. Do your homework.

You're joking right??? Last I looked they're playing the Nationals; the worse team in baseball.

Pete,
I am a born and raised O's Fan....back in the Murray, Low'stn, Cal, Bumbry, Dempsey.....I know then, ptiching is what got us many places (and the 3-Hrs - I loved them all)....so, I am agreeing with you....as I say to my son, baseball is a 50 win - 50 lose before anything starts....so, it is what you do with the last 62 games....I believe the O's are building something special, Jones, Markakis, Roberts and the young Catcher....I really like this core of players, they seem to really feed off each other.
With the pitching (our 5 starters), we are only need have 2 of our 5 starters win 2 games, then, we need the bullpen to win one (thats 3 wins) and possibly lose the last 2 gms (if looking at the 5 Starters), so by that math, we are playing at a .600 clip, that is 95+ wins...I think we are building to this goal, 95 wins will put you in the post season every year....love your stuff, keep it up.

One last thing, can you advise all O's fans what kind of plan we have to get any (if any) FA's in this upcoming offseason (I am sensing we are looking more at quality than SPLASH - and why Tex. didn't become and O (knowing the money offered from both the O's/Yanks - counting all the taxes was about the same - is beyond me - he just lost many fans who always supported him), what are likely options, possible targets? Keep up the great work!

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Pete's reply: I was looking at the free agent list the other day. There aren't a lot of obvious guys, but it's still early.

I'm reminded of the scene in Tommy Boy where Chris Farley says, "I..have..a..plan", and David Spade's character just looks disgusted and says, "yikes!". I have no confidence in any of the O's "plans". The fact is that they've stopped trying ever since they got that sweetheart deal from MLB to compinsate for the Nats. Every player of value that does not share the same skin color of Angelos gets chased off. Roberts, Markakis- long term deals, no problem. Every minority player has to jump through hoops to get a deal, or negotiate via the Baltimore Sun. That's why I haven't grown attached to Adam Jones. He's a superstar in training, but look how fast he will bolt when the O's try to lowball him when his contract is up. This is the Oriole Way, and the track record speaks for itself. Two words- Eddie Murray.

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Pete's reply: So, let me get this straight. You liked the way they were "trying" five years ago, but not now?

Until we can play with any team we have not turned anything .Lets keep working hard on are pitching and see if we can turn this around

Pete,
With the thinning of the staff at the Sun, it seems like you are the only writer there. I know Connely asks qeustions for the fans to answer, but it seems like a one-party system now. Beat writers don't often voice opinions as it it not their job and they need to keep a good relationship with the clubhouse.

I listen to you on WBAL during the day and I appreciate your conservative and rational thoughts, but you are turning liberal when it comes to the Orioles.

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Pete's reply: If you mean I am too easy on them, I have been the past few weeks because the alternative is to go back to the team-building method that was employed for nine straight losing seasons. I really think you need to give MacPhail's plan the time to work. Nobody ever rebuild a team entirely in two years. It's going to take another year or so to show dramatic results. Signing medium pitchers and superstar prices (Derek Lowe, Jon Garland) is a prescription for chronic mediocrity.

That's exactly my point Pete. When the MLB bought the Expos, Angelos went into a total spending freeze. Before then, he was perfectly willing to pay market value for free agents.(Albert Belle didn't work out but effort was there)
He and Syd Thrift then force fed the likes of Chris Richard and Jerry Hairston Jr and Jay Gibbons to O's fans as "rebuilding". Angelos would moan that without a TV deal the O's couldn't be competitive. MLB approves the Nats in DC, Angelos starts to saber-rattle, Selig caves, gives Angelos almost 100 percent control of MASN, guarntees that MLB will kick in millions if the Orioles aren't sold for at least 365 million, and here we are. O's fans are still putting up with reasoning like not having a shortstop last year, and going into this year with 3/5 of a rotation. This is not trying, and if we are supposed to hold our collective breath and wait for our minor league guys, well, Jeff Hammonds and Ben McDonald were supposed to be can't miss to. I'm sorry, I try to be optomistic, but when you go into the year full well knowing that Hendrickson and Eaton are journeymen, and that's acceptable to ownership, that's not trying by definition.

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Pete's reply: You made MacPhail's point. Yes, Peter was willing to spend then, and it sent the Orioles reeling into oblivion, because signing those free agents at the wrong time cost them high draft choices and millions that could have been spent better at the right time. MacPhail just might know what he's doing, but you'll have to give him time to do it. If you can't wait, then you'll be waiting forever for a winning team. Sounds crazy but it's true.

I am and always will be an O's fan. I know our record is not good but I am real excited about this team this year. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's been what, a little over a year and a half since AM has had control of the team and look at his accomplishments. I think that the only thing that will hold this team back from regaining respectability is if AM takes the job as commisioner of baseball, which could very well happen. go O's. I think AM is doing a tremendous job and I am enjoying watching it happen. I bet you other teams in the AL east are watching and saying: We better win now because Baltimore is coming soon. Be a little moe patient O's fans. I think we are closer than we all think to a very good major league team. Thanks Andy.

when are the orioles going to get rid of
jamie walker. thats a roster we could
use.