Reading the spin from Birdland
This is how bad it's gotten for the Orioles: apparently Felix Pie is now being looked upon as some sort of savior.
And so is Koji Uehara.
And Jim Johnson.
And Michael Gonzalez.
"Help on the way for Orioles?" reads the headline in today's Baltimore Sun atop a story in which O's president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail reveals that all four of those injured players could be ready to return to the club by the end of the month.
"All those guys will be welcome here," interim manager Juan Samuel is quoted as saying. "We do need some help."
OK, fine. But a little perspective is in order here. It's not like these guys were tearing up the league before they were sidelined.
Pie had just 20 at-bats before going on the DL in mid-April with a torn back muscle. (Yes, he had five hits. But, still. Only 20 at-bats.)
Uehara had pitched just five inning before straining his right forearm and being shut down.
Jim Johnson had pitched just 9.2 innings (to a 6.52 ERA) before right elbow inflammation landed him on the DL.
And Michael Gonzalez, the heralded new closer, had gotten rocked and pitched all of two innings (18.00 ERA) before ending up on the DL in early April.
So it's not exactly the cavalry coming to rescue the Orioles.
Sigh. Yet this is what passes for good news on this team these days.
Meanwhile, the injured player the Orioles need most of all, lead-off hitter and former All-Star second baseman Brian Roberts, is still in a holding pattern, according to the club.
His herniated disk is not responding to treatment. The Orioles don't know when he'll be back. He hasn't been able to do any baseball activities.
The possibility of season-ending back surgery looms.
And a once-proud franchise flounders as never before.
Comments
I see Angelos is interviewing manager candidates with MacPhail. I guess MacPhail doesnt have complete autonomy as they keep trying to sell us.
PETER - sell the club....nobody wants you here. Did you not pick up on that when you ran for mayor ? HAHA
Posted by: Cereal Blogger | June 15, 2010 12:37 PM
If anyone in the O's front office is considering bringing back any of these guys before they're 100% healthy, they should be fired immediately.
Posted by: TS1 | June 15, 2010 1:09 PM
Through 64 games:
1962 Mets 17-47
2010 Orioles 17-47
Let's just lock up the #1 pick as soon as possible, so that whoever that is can come here and, also, have the life sucked out of them because of the losing disease.
Posted by: jason | June 15, 2010 1:12 PM
Why won't they just shut B-Rob down for the rest of the year and have him get back surgery? He's obivously not going to help us this season, and it would be nice to have him ready for next season (if he's not done for his career).
Posted by: Mr. Deez | June 15, 2010 1:12 PM
Sounds like B-Rob needs surgery now before we lose him for next season, too.
Posted by: jwjimbo | June 15, 2010 1:24 PM
Thank you, Kevin Cowherd, for a little bit of honesty. You are the ONLY person on the Sun staff that seems half-willing to look behind the curtain.
Mr. Angelos, please sell the team!
Baltimore Sun, please do your job!
Posted by: Hopeless Fan | June 15, 2010 1:30 PM
This franchise has floundered like this before - 1988. Does everyone realize that since the O's won the World Series in '83 they have only had 8 seasons of better than .500 baseball out of 26. Since '04, the winning pcts have gone DOWN - .481, .457, .432, .426, .422.
Except for '96 & '97 - this "once-proud" franchise has been irrelevant In fact, the O's have only won 1 division crown in that time - 1997. And finished second 3 times.
Everyone likes to blame Angelos and McPhail but this team has been TERRIBLE FOR A LONG TIME.
Posted by: Christian | June 15, 2010 1:53 PM
Sorry Kevin,
I got just one word for this mess...Eeyore....
Posted by: Brak | June 15, 2010 2:29 PM
Felix Pie had 8 hits in 20 at bats. He is a good fielder too. He showed great signs of power last season. That is why everybody wants him back. I mean, you can't tell me that isn't an improvement on Corey "SparkPlug" Patterson.
Posted by: avi m | June 15, 2010 2:48 PM
Brian Roberts will not be back in an Oriole uniform ever again. They are LYING to us about the severity of his injury.
I for one will boo like crazy when the bring Mike Gonzales back in to a game. He and Koji should be arrested and executed for stealing money.
Posted by: Cam Elto | June 15, 2010 2:58 PM
the wagons were surrounded
and the scalps were taken..
only thing left now is for
the vultures to pick at em!!!
stick a fork in em they are
way past done!!!
boog headed to oc a long
time ago,
jon miller is back in the bay
area, and the fans oh the
suffering, oh the embarassment,
oh the orioles,, they just are
plain bad.....
maybe we should rename them
the baltimore browns??? they
haven't stunk this bad
since the 50's .........
Posted by: bob m | June 15, 2010 4:56 PM
Bout time someone at the Sun said something that makes sense
Posted by: Anonymous | June 15, 2010 5:16 PM
I finally heard on "The FAN", Jeremy and Scott finally saying what we all have been saying, The Orioles stink and I put that at the feet of the GM. He traded sone fringe players that we nned, until we could sign an A+ player. They need a thumper. Just look at the team on the field. Individually they are ok...Adam, Nick, Ty....but they are not enough. I can't look at the games they are so pathetic.....the front off has to help these guys with some hitters. Wieters is a joke...hailed as the second coming of the Savior. What has he done. NOTHING<
Posted by: John | June 15, 2010 5:46 PM
Kevin...quit stealing my material! Fall in line. Drink the Kool Aid. This blog is far too sensible and it won't be long before you have YOUR press pass pilfered down on Calvert Street like I did four years ago.
Just saying...you'll never get a job at MASN with blogs like this!
;)
Great seeing you at the Towson Soccer Festival!
Posted by: Nestor Aparicio | June 15, 2010 8:45 PM
PLEASE MR. ANGELOS Do not sell the team. I believe MR. MACPHAIL will succed given enough time and patience.. I just wish I could see how we can get a 1B and/or DH that can hit 40 HR to give our hitters protection and get them some better pitches to hit.Adam Dunn would have been nice or maybe Prince Fielder would be my 1st two choices.. Gonzalez should help a lot as a set up lhp and Pie was really hitting well all spring, he is a plus defender and his speed and makeup might be our best option for leadoff. I realize they are our top two HR hitters but Wigginton, Scott, Millwood and Lugo should be traded if we can improve our depth.. There should be a 1B hitter out there blocked by a big hitter in front of them. Chris Davis of texas hits better than any of ours.. I just don't believe Snyder is going to have the power we need even if he starts hitting again.. Fielder might become available and if we can't extend him we still get 2 1st rd. picks with the compensation. That is the only in season move I believe could make a difference this year..
Posted by: GRANT | June 16, 2010 3:40 PM
Those four guys won't make any difference! The Koji can't pitch and he sure as heck can't pitch in heat(remember texas)? Pie 20 at-bats forget it. Johnson and gonzo need to sit or else the damage to their arms are gonna happen.
Play the games , suck it up, enjoy the post game buffet..
Posted by: Phil | June 16, 2010 8:50 PM
**snore**
This sounds familiar. Oh yea, it's almost the exact same thing Mr. Cowherd posted the last few entries he made in this blog.
Yes, we are all tired of losing.
Yes, the players "on their way back" are not all-stars.
Yes, this organization has been a mess from the top-down for the past 12+ years.
Nobody says any of these injured players are the savior of the season. But they are certainly a better option than those on the roster whom they would replace.
I think we all agree that Mike Gonzalez was a bad signing, and I'm not trying to defend him at all. However, judging his ability to perform by a couple outings this year when he was playing injured makes no sense.
A similar situation for Jim Johnson, who was outstanding his first year, above-average in his second year (when not asked to close games), and was apparently pitching injured this year.
Koji (again, regardless of the overall verdict on this contract), when healthy, is one of the best pitchers on this team. Whether that's more of a compliment to him or an indictment to the entire staff is immaterial. Having him in the BP at full strength would be a very valuable asset.
Yes, this team is bad, we get it.
But they aren't going to get any better regardless of how many time we point that out.
Posted by: jeffChill | June 16, 2010 10:23 PM