It also says something about the lack of alternatives :)

I agree with you on this one, Pete. Berken is finishing strong. Right now, I think he should be headed to Florida in February and has a good shot at being in the 2010 starting rotation. I, for one, hope that he is.

They were saying he cut out the 4-seam fastball and is sticking with the 2-seam to keep the ball down low. Great adjustment that seems to be paying off.

As the one who struggled the most this summer, her sure has shown some grit and promise. It's night and day compared to Olson, Penn and DCab.

Speaking of DCab, that's exactly what they call some new heart surgery procedure when I hear radio ads in DC. I didn't think he was with the Nationals long enough to be linked to heart attacks like that.

The Orioles need to change most of the coaching staff for next year. Do you think Mr. Angelos would consider signing Cal Ripken to a long term contract to manage the team? He could bring Billy and B.J. Surhoff along also. They are solid baseball men that would create some excitement along with the talented young players the Orioles have been developing.

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Pete's reply: The last time I asked, Cal had no interest in being a manager. GM maybe. Owner maybe. But not manager.

One can't argue with the results, but watching the game last night I would say it wasn't so much that Berken pitched well. He pitched against a bad team that could not score twice with bases loaded and 1 out. It's amazing how bad teams make opposing pitchers look good.

MASN focused the camera on Berken as he was walking to the dugout after the 5th, and his body language told it all. He didn't look like he had anything left in the tank at 97 pitches, and his facial expression gave me the impression that he had enough and did not want to pitch any longer. This kid does not belong up in the Bigs. I don't think he's proved people wrong. He is at the very best mediocre for a prospect. His mental makeup is very weak compared to Tillman and Matusz.

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Pete's reply: Maybe so, but remember that this would be the last week of the Triple-A season, so 97 pitches probably is a lot under major league pressure at this point in the season.

I was watching the MLB channel when they cut into the O's game. Berken was getting out of a bases loaded jam and Mitch Williams was rooting for him, saying how he liked him a lot because he has the guts, if not the talent, to be an ML pitcher.

Unfortunately for Berken, talent is needed as well to be a successful ML starter and he has to be near perfect with his stuff to succeed (or get a lot of runs scored for him by his teammates).
Seems destined to be a long reliever.

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Pete's reply: I don't disagree, but the way he has pitched the past three weeks, he could be the fifth starter for a lot of teams. But remember, in the expansion era, the fifth starter for a lot of teams is a so-so pitcher.

If we can't get Cal Ripken to manage the team, let's go after Michael Phelps. That is, if the point is to get a famous, incredibly popular Baltimore sports figure who has Absolutely Zero experience as an MLB manager.

Some appear to be like old ladies that after a free lunch, complained about the napkins.

I remember when the Orioles wouldn't (a) score runs for Berken and (b) couldn't execute fundamental defensive plays that every multi-millionaire baseball player should be able to perform in his sleep. I say we lay off Berken. Yeah, he's had some bad games, but, not many. (I do agree he looked out of gas last night though). Dang, compare him to Koji who can pitch 4 good innings before the wheels come off. I think Berken has great potential.

I've been saying all along Berken would be ok when everybody else wanted to throw him under the bus.He had a lot of lousy run support in some of his earlier games and was done in by one bad inning.You can't make decisions on young pitchers in just a handful of games.He'll be in the rotation next year also.

A Steve Trachsel Cone comes to mind immediately. He may be able to occupy a spot until a better prospect comes along, but nothing more.

I really feel for the Indian fans. Their pitching staff is just awful, just a bit worse then ours. But all we really lost in the last few years was Beddard to a trade. Look at what they have lost to trades, two Cy Young guys that are both in their prime years. And who knows if Westbrook will ever win 15 games again after Tommy John, but really they had a really good rotation that could have stuck together for a long time, and I really think the other lefty Sowers will develop into another good lefty for the Tribe. So I guess for the Orioles fans that have a lot to complain about you do not have to look far to find someone worse off than you, they are in town this weekend. I know it is about the money, but that is the problem with clubs like Cleveland they cannot keep up with the other clubs financially.

I just hope that what has happened to the Indians does not happen to the Orioles in three to five years.

his numbers may end up being similar to Maddux after his first 150 innings.

Amazing all these geniuses (slugger etc) know so much more about pitchers than Macphail and company.
They can watch him walk off the field and then question his "mental makeup"?
are you serious? that is so ridiculous I should just let it go....but really that is INSANE.... get a grip.... you may not know as much as you think you know people.

Peter-
I ofcourse, have been looking ahead to the offseason.
I feel it is obvious the O's will strongly pursue either Adrian Gonzalez or Prince Fielder.
I agree with Roch that Fielder's weight should be concerning because he is just 25. AG is only 27 though, so its not like you are taking in a Palmeiro or Sosa.
They both have 2 years left before they can enter free agency.
I say, make the push for AG. You might sacrifice some HR and AVG, but you get a better glove.
Lets not forget that AG has no protection in San Diego where as Fielder has Braun, Hardy, Escobar, etc...
I think Pie's recent success might just save us a young arm, in any deal. AG will "cost" less, and I am drooling at putting him behind Markakis and Reimold, mixed in with Jones and Weiters (who is about to go on a tear and never look back btw).
Here is my prediction and I will be willing to put money on it, that I am at least 80% right.
We will get Gonzalez in exchange for......drum roll please.....

Guthrie
Pie
Brandon Snyder
Berken or Hernandez
1 A-ball pitcher (Zagone, Gleason, Beato, etc)

I hate losing Hernandez because I think he is on the verge of becoming top tier, he just learned about getting ahead of everyone, now knows to attack the 0-2 counts and get out of innings quickly.
Anyway, how close do you think I am?

I am more and more optimistic about the O's pitching for next year as each game goes by. Berken may not be part f the rotation next year, but I bet he'll make it a tough decision, he seems to be improving every game. We've had a bunch of good starts recently, it's mainly been the offense that has let us down.
Last night the bats woke up as well. When they have done this in the past, the trend is for those bats to go right back to sleep again. Perhaps this time they will keep alert.
The remaining games me a lot to me as a fan. I want to see them play hard and give the contending teams a fight.
There is nothing that will boost my confidence for next year more than seeing the O's play competitive baseball down the final weeks of the season. Take pride in being spoilers O's!

I got Arietta in Berkie's slot next season....but Jason, you go boy! Prove me wrong.

I think that at this point, the Pads trading Adrian Gonzalez would be like the O's trading Cal Ripken in his prime.

Seriously, Gonzalez was born in San Diego, lives with his wife there, and his brother Edgar plays on the Pads too. He's like a icon of the city now.

Ryan. That proposed trade for AG seems fair to me but hard to say if San Diego will go for it. They are like the O's in a sense that major rebuilding is required but on the other hand, they need someone for the fans to cheer for while all that is going on.
They did trade Peavy so maybe there's a chance they pull the trigger. Personally, I'd love to see AG at first for us as he's a bona-fide slugger and a key hole filled.

Ryan,

Interesting thought. However I would not be too concerned about Prince's weight. As far as who you picked to be trade bait, I do not know if San Diego would take that. they would probably not want Guthrie, and I would speculate that Matusz would be the guy they want, because of ties in San Diego. It is an interesting thought though. Since New York has Tex at least they would not compete for either player, but you never know, they might just to throw someone like Fielder at DH. but the Orioles will have to bite the bullet on any trade they make because the only thing they have a lot of depth at is young pitching, and you have no way of knowing at this point which ones should be dealt. I think that Free Agency may be the best bet, however I am not sure who is available yet.

Pete -

I've heard twice now where pitchers have cut out the 4-seamer. Ray and now Berken.

Why so long (July/Aug) to make that adjustment? Ray said he talked to Baez who gave him that advice.

So where's Kranitz? Who's coaching these guys?

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Pete's reply: Haven't talked to Kranitz about that, but lots and lots of pitchers throw a four-seamer very effectively and mix it with the two-seamer to keep hitters off balance, so it's not like it's a mistake to have that pitch in your repertoire. The O's have been having the young pitchers concentrate on locating the fastball, both the two-seamer and the four-seamer. But the four-seamer is straighter, so if you miss, it's more likely to get hit a long way. Don't think there's a villain here and wouldn't conclude too much from Berken. Even during his last five starts he has a 4.93 ERA.

To Whom it may concern:

Both Teams have already hinted that both Fielder and Gonzales are going to be shopped this offseason.
The article in SI said that the Brewers are willing to take the PR hit if they get the right package because of the lack of money spent around him.
Gonzalez was actually claimed on waivers this month but Pulled back. I guess a trade could not have been worked out.

Trust me. The O's will be pursuing BOTH of them very hard. They WILL get 1 or the other. I actually think Gonzales is BETTER than Texiera if you take into account that he is only 27.
I also think Gonzales will cost less as far as young pitching is concerned.
Just keep your fingers crossed that Pie keeps hitting, and doesn't make to many "Pie decisions over the next month. Andy will handle the rest.

Pete,

I have the greatest respect for you as a journalist/writer, but I wish you would use "RBIs" when writing about more than one run batted in.

The "SUN's" stylebook calls for "RBIs," and the correct way to pluralize an initialism is to add an "s."

You could look it up.

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Pete's reply: So you want me to say Runs Batted Ins from now on?

Also-

Macphail has said many times that Tillman and Matusz are UNTOUCHABLE. And he would have to be blown away to move Arrieta.
The O's have plenty to get a deal done though.
San Diego wants a major league ready arm. They would want a 1B prospect to replace AG. They need young outfield help after losing some of their veterans, Giles etc.
Then they will ofcourse want some young pitching.
I tossed out Hernandez and Berken simply because they would probably be considered our next 2 MLB ready arms.
Then, the A-Ball arm is always the final peice. A decent, yet not TOP prospect.
Certainly not a McCurry or Erbe, obviously not Hobgood.

Some of you guys are classic. Do you think that if the O's had serious talent in Norfolk or Bowie that they would have left them there till the Sept. callups & watched one loss after another mount with Berken?
The fact is, this kid has given them innings, he has more confidence now even after all those early losses and, he's made adjustments which kids like Penn & DCab never seemed to be able to do. One other thing, he never ducked a start or whined about his lack of offense which seemed to happen every game he took the mound. He kept his mouth shut & pitched & good things are now starting to happen.
I really feel that Berken & Bergy along with Tillman & Matusz & Guthrie will be one tough 1-5 should they be given some run support.
Adam Dunn will be money well spent in the middle of what we do have coming back.

Here are my illogical suggestions:

1. Manager- Oprah. Everything she touches turns to gold and she used to be on WJZ back in the day. I think she can share with the team that positive thinking nonsense she preaches.

2. GM- Adrian Gonzales. After we trade Wigginton, Mora, Scott, Pie, Guthrie, Trembley, Henrickson, Brady Anderson's rollerblades and every other sub-star on the roster for him, we will need to get our money's worth. So along with an O's hat, he gets a GM hat too.

3. Owner- Brooks Robinson. If he Owns like he plays 3rd, he's going to be great! Cal is too busy running Cal Ripken Baseball, Cal Ripken World Series, Cal Ripken goes to China Worl Tour, Cal Ripken on TBS, Cal Ripken Stadium, the Cal Ripken Courtyard by Marriott shaped like the Warehouse and Billy Ripken to worry about running the O's.

Pete,

Do you know why we did not claim Kazmir off waivers???

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Pete's reply: No, but it might have something to do with why the Rays put Kazmir on waivers.

Slugger-

So when we lose or look bad it is because we suck and when we win or look good, it is because the other team sucks? Have you ever heard the old adage that they pay the other guys too?

Ryan - So you want to trade Guts coming off a terrible season and who has never shown he is better than a 3rd starter on a good team, a 4th OF project with no instincts for the game, a pitcher who is likely no better than our 4th or 5th starter next year and an A ball prospect for a young, all star caliber clean up hitter? If you can do it, you are better than AM for sure. What makes you think you can get SD's marguee player without throwing in AT LEAST Arrieta or Bergesen? They dont want Snyder, they have a better 1B prospect so if they take him it is as minor league organizational depth. Is there any more futile sign one has gone from fandom to fandumb than proposing we trade all of our projects and rejects for other teams superstars?

Can't believe we wouldn't have put in a claim for Kazmir. We wouldn't have done the trade for a bunch of prospects but we could have tried.

I don't like that trade for either Gonzalez or Fielder. While Gonzalez is the "real deal", and would be an anchor of the infield for years to come, that assumes (and you never assume) that a) San Diego native wants to spend the rest of his career on the East Coast; b) we'd actually be able to sign him to a long-term contract for the kind of $$$ he wants, especially if we have to compete with the bottomless pit bank accts of BOS and NYY. Never, ever, ever give up good young pitching (see Schilling/Finley/Harnisch deal), you always come up on the short end of the stick. And Fielder scares the h*** out of me, come on, the guy's only 25 and is bigger than the Empire State building. How long before knees, hips, hamstrings, etc. blow out? Why do you think MIL wants to unload him now, while he's at peak value? He'll be an also-ran in 5 years or less.

Continuing the thought above, and regardless of what the trolls who like to post here all the time say, we're on the right track. Unless someone gives us another Adam Jones-type deal, we need to stand pat and let the kids we've got coming through the system, see what else develops. The last few months have been encouraging, and while frustrating to watch them blow leads and pull Little-League baserunning mistakes (which, sorry, is on the coaches more than the players), I think things will continue to come together in the next year or so. Don't blow this group of kids up just to get a proven bat. Who knows, Snyder, Bell, or someone not on our radar yet will be that person.

Fans have to be patient wit the rookies. Berken may yet be good starting major leaguer, and he has been showing progress over his last few starts . Look at Berken's statistics at Norfolk. He dominated at AAA, and may yet dominate in the majors. This goes for the other rookies, Wieters, Pie, Hernandez. etc. These guys weren't rushed as some have been in the past. They have proven themselves at every level.

Also, at this point, you don't get rid of Pie. I like the idea of him being the #9 hitter, with Roberts at #1. Put Reimold at first until we come up with a better option. It would give us a lot of flexibility, and that speed at the bottom of the order ahead of Roberts only makes him that much more effective. You can't have enough pitching, speed, or defense. Power hitting is largely over-rated, and come playoff time, I'd rather have a team built around pitching / speed / defense than an offensive juggernaut that can be shut down in a short series.

proposing trades is a bigger waste of time than dreaming the ravens trade for brandon marshall and anquan boldin.

My wishlist going into September-
1. Roberts gets to 60 doubles
2. Markakis ends up 20+hr, 110 rbi
3. O's play about .500 ball
4. Reimold finishes hot, wins ROY (prob too late, think Bailey or Beckham win it)
5. Matt Wieters finishes hot, pops 5-6 more home runs.
6. Chris Ray finishes strong, goes into next year as closer.
7. Melvin Mora tanks the season so AM doesnt get any funny ideas to resign him

FYI. I believe the Orioles and Rangers had a deal worked out a few years ago where Sidney Ponson was headed to the pitching-starved Rangers for prospect Adrian Gonzalez, but Peter Angelos nixed the deal.

Interesting thoughts. I would imagine McFail put in a claim for Kazmir and then let it go when Tampa indicated that they would want prospects or pull him back. Probably not really worth it for us.

Pie is intersting. He actually has gotten hotter than Reimold. It's funny how things work out. Reimold hit all but 4 or 5 of his homers in May and has since cooled off. Now Pie is lighting it up when his head is in the game. Will the REAL O's left fielder please stand up?

Good afternoon, Peter,

Berken, like the rest of the O's rookie starters, needs to learn to conserve pitches. Hopefully, that will come with time. 95-100 pitches in five innings is too many. I don't agree with the current trend of using 100-110 pitches as the reason to lift a pitcher (I think that decision should depend on how the pitcher is doing, as it used to be - has his velocity dropped, his control is going, the game is close and each pitch has been under pressure, etc.), but rookies and second year pitchers do need more babying (for lack of a better word) because they haven't thrown so many innings in a season as they will in the majors (Peter, was this done in the four man rotation days with rookie starters who'd been college players and hadn't spent long in the minors?)

Also, haven't the O's had six rookie pitchers win their first ML game? I thought Tillman was number six.

Re offense - I'd love to see Gonzales or Fielder here, but, if we don't, and it's Bell at third and Scott, Aubrey, or the kid from Tampa Bay at first, this team can still improve offensively simply by improving their plate discipline, and thus draw more walks and have more chances to score. The Angels added Bobby Abreu, one of baseball's most disciplined hitters, and his teammates have said they've learned from him. As a result, they've been at or near the top of the AL in runs. The O's are 10th in runs, though fourth in batting average, which shows that average does not necessarily correlate to runs scored. OBP seems to usually correlate to runs better, and the O's were ninth or 10th in OBP (current OBP is .334. Yankees are .359 - Brian Roberts, having a fine season, is at .353, lower than the Yankee' as a team.) Swinging at more strikes and fewer balls will also further improve the team's batting average, which will also result in more runs scored. More run support can only help our young pitchers, as there's less stress pitching with a big lead occasionally than in close games all the time.

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Pete's reply: No, Tillman did not win his first ML start...I don't think the 100-pitch thing was in vogue during the four-man rotation days, but that was a different era. Back when there were 20 teams and four-man rotations, a lot of teams had more than four good starters, so they didn't have to baby their best pitchers. If you didn't hold up, they had someone to take your place. Now, with great pitching more scarce and pitchers getting paid $10 million a year guaranteed for three or four years, you have to preserve that golden arm.

Hey, Frank, you misspelled MacPhail's name, there... wait, hold it... Holy Di%$balls! How could I be such a dunderhead? I bet you did that on purpose, didn't you? And I thought that I was clever, but you just one-upped EVERBODY, mr. man! Keep up the good work, you're going places. To the moon!!!

The talk of signing free agents is premature in my opinion. From what we have seen of Pie lately he can play left field and Reimold can move to first base. We have Snyder in the minors who may work into the 1B mix. We also have Bell at 3B for Bowie who may wind up at 1B if his glove work is not major league caliber.

Berken appears to have a bit of a bulldog mentality that well serve him well down the road.

i don think the O's wanted Kazmir and the $20 million due to him over the next two years, his career 5 2/3s inning/start average, or this seasons 5.92ERA.

People want to dump Jeremy Guthrie after a bad season, and want to pick up Kazmir who is hurt every other year???

All the guys need to pitch... then we will find out who can adjust or not... its not about how you start but how you finish that counts, RIGHT?