And now he's with an organization who is finally getting it together. In other words, he has a chance to be on a team who actually plays meaningful games after the All Star break.

He escaped baseball hell.... Good for you Chris!

Don't feed the troll.

Won't have to feed the troll. Methinks he'll be choking on his own drivel when he sees the improvement coming to the O's.

Go O's!

I think it's sad how quickly people forgot how good Ray was in his early time with the O's.

His 2006 stats blew Sherrill out of the water. But people only remembered his injury-induced 2007 stats. And then Sherrill, whose numbers were awful despite his high save count, was the next big then.

I'm always worried about Ray because of his delivery and what it means injury-wise. I don't know that he'll ever find his groove again, because I'm sure injury has forced him to tweak something in his very unusual, very delicate (in terms of which parts move when) release.

Best to him in Texas. He could be great. He could continue to flounder. Worth the gamble for the O's, though.

Peter,

ANy truth to the rumor that Ray heard about the trade from a reporter covering the Pam Shriver tennis event ? Supposedly Ray was there with Guthrie and a reporter (not sure who) asked Guts for his reaction to the trade (not realizing ray was there too)

The couple of times last year when he was on showed that he still had nasty stuff.

Lets just wait until he is an unrestricted FA and pick him back up.

Wayne- The Rangers are anything but a functional organization (see Hicks, Tom). However, much like the O's, they seem to be on the right track with Nolan Ryan running things. Hopefully he is able to buy the team.

I always liked Ray, because he had potential and he never gave me reason to dislike him in a personal sense. Always neat to hear stuff like this from those who are closer to the athletes themselves.

I remember that 2006 game The pitch Matsui took for strike three appeared to be well off the outside corner. Since the Yankees have the reputation as patient hitters who work the count, everybody was shocked when the umpire rang him up including Chris Ray. I wish him well,

Terry P has posted some very cogent arguments about why the Orioles can and should go after Miguel Cabrerra, and he has convinced me that it is plausible. Im in. Get ready to write a BIG check from Mr. Angelos account, Andy.

I'm hoping that the Orioles get to ruin Chris Ray's perfect relief season in the bottom of the ninth of Game Seven of this year's ALCS. Other than that, he's always been one of my favorites and I'll be rooting for him.

Gil,

Come On! You do realize that it's impossible for PA to write the check needed for a legit player such as Cabrerra, right?

You realize that such a stud (see real stats from a real player) go beyond AM's grand PLAN, right?

You realize the warehouse offered over 20m to Tex knowing he wouldn't take it, thus suckering the o's fan base into thinking they were willing to spend, right?

Come on Gil.... You know PA would rather grab a corner who hits 255 and goes yard 18x, right?

Cabrerra just doesn't fit in the Plan everyone. Not if we want to win 70 large this year, with the hope of maybe 78 in 2011.

Stay on course everyone!

Chris Ray has displayed good character in his time with the O's. I hope he regains his form and pitches great against the Yanks and Sox. It sure will help him having Nolan Ryan around. Good luck Chris.

Ray is a classy guy. He always showed grace under the difficult circumstances he faced on the mound these past two seasons. A lesser guy would have withered or exploded. He kept his composure and dignity and gave us a great example of professionalism. Good luck, Chris.

First time I saw Ray pitch, with arms flailing all over the place, I knew it would not be long till an arm injury.

Shame. He's due for a short career unless he changes his delivery.

wayne,

i heard about this thing called being optimistic. maybe you should try it.

i personally think the orioles definitely have enough players and money to get a cabrera deal done, so why not do it? a player of his calaber is definitely worth 20 million a year. IMO, he's better than teixeira.

on a different note, pete,have you heard anything about when/if the orioles are planning to make an offer to chapman?

I'll not beat the dead horse of how, despite the tremendous positive upside of Millwood (measured more in Character than stats probably), Chris Ray is one heck of a price to pay.

I'll say that I'm a fan of Chris' and wish him well. I think he'll still make on heck of a pitcher.

After all, he'll have the chance to pick the brains of both Palmer and Nolan...could be lethal.

Dave,

lol! Because the Orioles won't do it... period!

Hello!

Wayne: Seeing that in every blog I read concerning the Orioles, you have entered three or four or five times, always negative, always pessimistic, always caustic, always belittling, and that National Anthem tirade (ridiculously chauvinistic), I have four questions for you:

1) Do you have a life?
2) Do you have a family?
3) Do you have a job?
4) Do you have a clue?

If the only valid reason to follow a given sports team is if it wins the biggest championship in that sport, then even Yankee fans are losers. After all, they've only had 27 World Champions, and the team has been in existence for over 100 years.

I think I'm pretty lucky to have 3 World Champs in the Orioles, three or four with the Colts, one with the Ravens, three with Duke basketball, two with Denver University ice hockey, three with Johns Hopkins lacrosse, back-to-back Div II football championships with Northern Colorado, and probably more that I can't remember.

I lovbe baseball, I love the Orioles, I feel just as bummed as anybody as their 12 year bout of ineptitude, but I could be a Cubs fan or a Lions fan or an Indians fan or a Royals fan or any number of others who have never won anything.

Baseball is about hope (which "springs eternal in each human breast," as the poem goes). Get some. And have a Merry Christmas.

Wayne...

Do you realize that Cabrera is not a free agent, thus the bane of your existence, PA, cannot simply stroke a check to get him? Do you realize that Detroit gave up half their farm system (2 top ten pick players) to get him and DWillis?

At this point, its simply not worth it. What does 1 overweight, drunk outfielder who probably is 2 years older than stated get you when it costs $20mil a year and your top 3-5 prospects?

Built to last is much better than built to win for a year or two like the O's tried in 96-98. Spending buttloads of cash on marginal FA's doesn't equal wins. Blowing your farm system on one player won't get you off a 64 win season. If the O's got also got Vlad the Tejada-Lopez-Raffy year, they still would have broken down a year later because of the pitching.

Look at some of the Red Sox top salaries:
JD Drew $14mil
Ortiz $13mil
Lowell $12.5mil
Beckett $11.8mil
Dice-K $8 mil
V-Tek $5mil

The decent one in the bunch is Beckett, the rest are old or broken down.

Dan, Ray had one terrific year for the Orioles along with a good one. I wish the best for him in Texas and expect him to get his game back there (and we'll all be happy the O's won't have to face his nasty stuff as much as if he'd be traded to a AL East team).

Nevertheless, you don't need to rag on George Sherrill the way you did. Ray's stats were better than his 2008 totals, where despite being named to the AL All-Star team Sherrill's ERA was a mediocre 4.72. Part of that had to do with arm troubles late late in the season, but no matter, Chris was much better two seasons prior to that.

On the other hand, this year George put up much better numbers than the '06 Chris, both for the O's (2.40 ERA) and the Dodgers, but especially for L.A. when he was almost unhittable (0.65 ERA) at times. His combined ERA was 1.70, better than a full run better than Ray in his dominant '06 season (2.73). Ray had more saves, true, but that's because the Dodgers used him as a set-up man for Jonathan Broxton. Had he stayed with the O's, Sherrill would project to about the same number of saves (assuming the starters gave him enough chances).

Ray's a class guy. Doesn't matter if his fastball comes back, until he develops his splitter he is a 1 pitch pitcher. His slider has a hit me sign on it so it doesn't count.

Jeff, I think the majority of O's fans realize Chris Ray is a great guy, and could very well resurrect his career in Texas but considering the market which is flush w closers and relievers and the O's overwhelming need for a top of the rotation, innnings eating, low ERA veteran, which Millwood most definitely comprises, considering such, trading Ray was literally a no brainer! Regardless of how warm and fuzzy he makes your sensibilities feel, a number one or two slot in the rotation SHOULD ALWAYS OUTWEIGH a CLOSER, especially one as busted as Ray. Closers can be easily developed or picked up in the yearly shuffle.
This notwithstanding, I wish him well, especially against everyone in the American League East not playing at OPACY.

Did Albers have shoulder surgery? He has shown promise and has gotten some big outs, it sucks he's pitching with a hole in his shoulder.

Noel...

you were doing so well until you uttered the words "Duke Basketball".

Jeff, It's good to see that Chris left on a relative high note. He has a chance to bounce back with Rangers and I hope he's able to. He was lights out for the Orioles back in 2006.

I totally remember that pitch to Matsui. I mainly remember it because I thought, "Wow, the Orioles actually got a favorable call against the Yankees"- cuz the balls looked well off the plate. Gutsy throw nonetheless- and he seemed to spiral downwards from that point on. The next time he faced the Yankees they lit him up if I remember correctly.

Noel,

That's it? That's what u got?

And as to your response about the anthem, you showed your axs. But feel comforted in knowing most in hun-land feel like you do.

And Shamsham, seriously? I'll take an overwieght drunk every day of the week. You do realize he would have been far and away the best oriole last year, right? Or do you just always like shouting out all the young names with potential?

OK, now go google his stats.... go ahead! Then come back with your warehouse spin. Np!

Good luck to Ray-Ray!
But this is great for the O's rotation....Millie has "Sutcliffe" written all over him.

Good luck to Chris Ray, he deserves to get another shot and I hope it works out for him.

I aced one-time #10 in the world Graham Stilwell. I still made more money playing two years of poker than playing 40 years of tennis.

I have nothing against Chris Ray and hope he does well.

The trade is a good trade for the Orioles. If it's a good trade for the Rangers, too, so be it.

I think we are all well aware of what has been going on in Bird Land the past 12 years. To say this trade isn't enough is stating the obvious. To piss and moan about a future that hasn't happened yet is fulfilling a need to gain happiness by being a sourpuss.

I predicted 58 wins last year. I am hardly one who comes up with Warehouse spin. I have my share of skepticism but the facts are the Orioles are moving in a direction of improvement. If you want to don your Free the Birds t-shirt and proclaim all is hell, go right ahead. Such statements in light of recent reality is as vacuous as the past 12 years.

Noel:
I understand as an O's fan you hate seeing negative comments from the same individual numorous times. But......as you stated the Cubs, Indians, and Royals fans do have it bad, on the other hand, the Cubs and Indians at least contend for their respective divisions or have an opportunity to make a wild card, or even false hopes for one. We on the other hand can't. Our hopes and dreams remain on the so called youngsters that we have in our minor league system that frankly if you look at the standings or stats those teams the teams themselves are no good. I remember all the other names that we waited on or boasted about, maybe you can remember these names......Minor, Hammonds, Bigbie, Richards, Chen, Lopez, Hairston, Loewen, McDonald, Matos, Matthews Jr, and so many others. Where are they now? So you may throw out all the youngsters name that are so awesome, and believe me I want them to do well for our team I really do. The way we make them sound is that when they make to the Bigs then every team is going to bow down and MLB will have to reckon with this crew and we will win 5 or championships. By the time some of them become good they will move on cause Angelos won't pay them or we will still suck and they will want to succeed be it with another team. We need to spend some cash on some proven talent, and for a team like ours it takes a little more money to get them here to prove we will try to get better. Nothing wrong with paying for a proven 3rd baseman and then Bell is the real deal, have you ever heard anyone complain that they have 2 great 3rd baseman? Then you trade for the other pieces you need with one of them. Why can't we pull off some of the trades like the Nationals who just got an awesome reliever for a player to be named? Why can't we make a run at Halladay? Give a couple of guys that you have no clue how they will do for a guy that you know what he is capable of? Sounds like a good risk to take, and we move ahead, I am sure he could get us at least 12-15 more wins and possibly help the young guys? But we never get REALLY involved with that. We will pick up other players like catchers that are released by other teams to see who can compete for a backup spot. Other teams garbage and then we make them sound good.

Come On! You do realize that it's impossible for PA to write the check needed for a legit player such as Cabrerra, right?

You realize that such a stud (see real stats from a real player) go beyond AM's grand PLAN, right?

You realize the warehouse offered over 20m to Tex knowing he wouldn't take it, thus suckering the o's fan base into thinking they were willing to spend, right?

Come on Gil.... You know PA would rather grab a corner who hits 255 and goes yard 18x, right?

Cabrerra just doesn't fit in the Plan everyone. Not if we want to win 70 large this year, with the hope of maybe 78 in 2011.

Stay on course everyone!

Posted by: wayne | December 12, 2009 11:57 AM

____________________________

Yes, please O's, stay the course. Let the Ravens get all the g/f beaters and ex cons.

wayne/Brummie....
same 24/7 whine; same (lack of) writing style....imagine that.

Seperated........

Terrific post!

"I distinctly remember a game during the 2006 season when the neophyte closer threw a 3-2 slider to Hideki Matsui with the bases loaded and two outs and the Orioles’ clinging to a one-run lead...."

Was that the same game where A-Rod parked a nearly identical 3-2 pitch over the center field fence in the very next at-bat?