joepepsi

I think it was pretty clear the NL in 2007 was much improved over 2006. The NL may lack the superior teams of the AL, (Indians, Red Sox, Yankees, Angels), but it's a more balanced league. I agree the NL is loaded with the wonderful young talent. The AL has several excellent young players as well, but not as many as the National League. While the AL East is often cited as the powerhouse division in baseball, it's worth pointing out the Yankees and Red Sox get to play the D-Rays and Orioles 35 times a year.

Yeah, Andy MacPhail took over late June or early July. He was the Twins' GM, then the Cubs' President, iirc. Reportedly he is actually respected by Angelos due to his work with MLB and the recent player contract. So the hope is he actually has the autonomy that no Angeloriole GM has ever had. Still, he moves painfully slow, so the house cleaning can't come fast enough for an Oriole fan like me. Now, Jayson Stark is reporting Angelos still has to approve the deal and he's not available today. This is the way it's always been. Angelos must approve every deal, yet he is often elusive, making potential deals drag on for days, frustrating trade partners. So, although there is hope with MacPhail in the organization, there's yet to be any clear sign he is in control. If Roberts is traded, you'll know he at least has some power. Roberts is a favorite of Angelos', who believes it's better to have recognizable names on the squad, then players who can actually help you build a competitive team. They can't flip Scott just yet.....they desperately need hitters, especially ones that have a bit of power.

Don't forget earlier they added Luke Scott, Troy Patton, Matt Albers, Dennis Sarfate, and "George" Costanza in the Tejada deal. In recent years the Orioles have consistently fielded one of the worst outfields in the majors. Adding Jones with Markakis and Scott goes a long way toward correcting that. Pie gives them a pretty talented young OF.

I'm a bit suspicious of Pie as well, but anytme you have a chance to trade for a 21 year old AAA starting pitcher and all you have to give up is a 30 year old average hitting 2B, I think you do it.

Rumors are if the Bedard goes down, then Roberts will be traded to the Cubs for Felix Pie and Sean Gallagher! If that happens it's a great trade for the Orioles....

Chris Ray had TJ surgery in the summer. I've been an Orioles fan since 1966 and I can tell you, there is nothing more depressing for a baseball fan than what happened to this team after Angelos took over. Last year they spent $42 million on a bullpen. The GM's at the time, boneheaded Mike Flailagan and "kazmir for victor zambrano" Duquette believed 2006's problems were due to blowing many leads after the 6th inning. They lacked the savvy to realize the real problem was they didn't have the lead often enough by the 6th inning. This has been typical of the failed analysis that pervades the organization since Pat Gillick left in 1998:, drafting toolsy players over those who can actually play, overvaluing of mediocre free agents, rushing questionable minor league talent, and hanging onto average players long after they've peaked. Andy MacFail pulled the trigger on a pretty good trade of Tejada, but since then it's looking like Angelos has been using the same veto power that has destroyed this organization. The cubs have offered to overpay for Brian Roberts but he's a favorite of the owner's, so the deal hasn't happened. The Mariners have offered Adam Jones and at least two good prospects for Bedard, but MacFail has sat on his hands to the point where Bavasi has told him he's done dealing: take the final offer or leave it. The team is a mess. Currently they have no CF'er, no ss, Kevin Millar at 1B, a fading Ramon Hernandez at catcher, and only 3 starters counting Bedard. They are unquestionably the worst team in AL right now, possibly in the majors. Holding onto Bedard, Roberts, and other veterans is only delaying the rebuilding process. It's not as important what MacFail gets in return for these players as it is he just gets the rebuilding process started so the fans can began to feel some hope for the first time in a long time. Using Aquino or Sarfate as a closer is no different than Brewers giving the ball to Kolb or Turnbow.

Hardy was in AA at 20 also. He hit .279/.367/.428. Escobar at 20 hit this combined between A and AA: .306/.331/.366. The 20 year old Hardy flashed good defense, very good on base skills, and solid power numbers. The 20 year old Escobar is a fantastic defender by all accounts who so far seems to hit like Alex Sanchez. I'm not saying Escobar won't develop into a special player, but I suspect the minors are full of skinny fast ss with a good glove. If he adds 30 pounds and starts showing some power, then I'll believe he may be special. But, really, you say that about any minor leaguer.

I think Capuano gets the 5th spot because he's a lefty. Bush took a step back in '07. That's too bad, I like him, but he had a chance to really become a solid mid rotation guy last year, and he blew it. Villy and Gallardo have passed him by. I am surprised there haven't been more rumors/talk about trading him. I think it's a foregone conclusion the rotation is going to the one adambr2 proposed. Bush starts in the pen, but inevitably there will be a need for him in the rotation before the year's out. Very few teams go an entire season with the same 5 starters from opening day to the playoffs. The Phillies for example had 8 pitchers who started 10 games or more. The D-Backs 7, Mets 6, Braves 6. Dodgers had 6 that made at least 15 starts; Rockies had 8 pitchers that started at least 8 games. Bush makes a pretty fine 6th man. I don't see where Vargas fits in, though. Parra should go to AAA and get regular work. It's been a long time since the guy has pitched 125 innings in a year. He's hardly ever healthy so I think it would be best for him to work every 5 days in the minors, build up arm strength and show he can physically hold up to the workload of a rotation.

Escobar doesn't look like anything special to me....at least with the bat.

He has a long way to go to beat out Grady Sizemore as most valuable young player.

2007: Tulow: .291/.359/.479 Hardy: .277/.323/.463 Hardy on the road: .276/.316/.452 Tulow on the road: .256/.327/.393 Hardy is about 2 years older and has 300+ more plate appearances. Tulo put up better minor league numbers on offense, so it's reasonable to suggest he will be the better hitter. But given their major league careers so far it's not a foregone conclusion. Furthermore, the differences is defense between a quality a ss like Hardy and maybe a great ss as Tulo is purported to be, is probably not that big of a deal. So at this point I think it's too early to make any statement like, over the next 5 years Tulo will be the "most valuable young player" in baseball. There are a tremendous amount of very good young players in the majors right now. I hesitate to pick one who's value is largely linked to the inflated numbers of his home ballpark. Personally, I'd rather take my chances with Hardy and Weeks than Tulo and Jayson Nix.

Geoff Jenkins is available. He posted an .807 OPS last year against righties. His career OPS against them is .883. Just sayin.....

I always thought Darrin and Bill were horrible. Then I got ExtraInnings and my perspective changed. Some teams are unwatchable because of the broadcasters. Bill at least chats it up a bit and comes across as decent fellow. Brewers broadcasts are one of the better productions.

It isn't, but anti DH fans consider the double switch akin to rocket science. Great post Joey! Your examples of AL strategy and the excitement of a great pitcher facing a great batter are wonderful. Nearly every NL game features a scenario similar to this: the 6 hole hitter leads off an inning with a double. 7 hitter gets a walk. 8 hitter hits into double play. Pitcher strikes out. Any NL inning where the bottom 4 of the lineup leads off is any inning where rallies fail. As you point out, there is much more strategy to working your way around a tough lineup than pitching around good hitters because the bottom 2 in the lineup are automatic outs. I like the DH in the AL and no DH in the NL.

If that's true then it's also true that a pitcher who doesn't hit is not a baseball player, he is a pitcher. And a defensive specialist who's an automatic out is not a baseball player, he's a defensive specialist.

I like the DH fine, and have favored the AL style baseball most of my life. Since the Brewers moved to the NL, I've become a fan of that league as well. I have no problem with each league having separate DH/non DH rules. First of all, it's important to realize that the NL already employs the DH. Only they call it a Pinch Hitter. You hardly ever see a pitcher hit more than 3 times a game, so the NL is using the DH at least 40% of the time. As far as the idea that the DH benefit the AL in the World Series because they can carry David Ortiz, well, I see that as more of a roster management issue. As long as the NL continues to favor Craig Counsell types over David Ortiz types it will continue to be the inferior league. Too many NL teams waste that no. 8 spot in the order with a light hitting catcher or middle infielder. The Brewers started 2007 with 4 defensive minded players on the bench, Miller, Counsell, Graffy, and Gwynn, and only one good offensive player, Gross. Gross almost never played. That strategy in the AL would get you killed! Because of superior roster construction, the Angels, Red Sox, and Indians would have won any division in NL too, even without the benefit of the DH.

The Diamondbacks are very strong in pitching and defense too. In fact they pitched and played defense very well against Colorado and Chicago. Where they are weak is offense. Their offense stinks, and it did all year. In pitching, speed, and defense, both teams were evenly matched and played true to those strengths. The difference was Colorado's superior offense. The Rockies were right to finally realize even in a hitter's park you need good pitching. And Tulowitzki, Matsui, Atkins, and Helton showed what Bill James wrote 20 years ago, much of what appears as good pitching is really good defense. So, strengthening those areas have tremendously helped the Rockies' historic run. But this is also an offense of very good hitters, most of them entering their prime age years. The Brewers allowed only 18 more runs than the Rockies did this year.(776 vs. 758) While I agree they need to tighten up defense, it's questionable how much difference Colorado's "superior" defense really made versus the Brewers "poor" defense. What is true, the Rockies scored a far more runs than the Brewers, 860 vs. 801. If the Brewers allowed 776 runs this year and scored 860 runs they would have easily beat the Cubs, probably manhandled the D-Backs since they did just that during the season, and would be locked in a struggle with Colorado. Then the whole nation would be hearing about the miracle kid pitchers, Gallardo and Viily, the vacuum glove of Hardy, the arm of Hart, the Rickey Henderson like play of Weeks, the gritty veteran leadership of Jenkins, who has waited a decade for this chance, the "bloody sock" courage of ailing Ben Sheets, bravely pitching through injury for his team, and the assured HOF careers of Fielder and Braun.

Stairs had a great season with Toronto. He could always get on base and had some power. I'd take him over Mench any day. I've been an Oriole fan since I was little kid. In recent years they always called guys like Surhoff and Conine professional hitters. So I take the term to mean old players who no longer have any power but have learned to poke singles over the infield, trot to first base, and get thrown out at 2nd on a force play. That's the Oriole version anyway....

I suppose they really need a lefty batting second. Otherwise, I think Hart would be a good 2nd hitter. He seems to be able to drive whatever the pitcher throws at him. Gross seems the most logical choice for now. Ibanez is a good call, but he renders Gross to another season at a reduced role. Coco Crisp is someone who will probably be available. He's a switch hitter with speed, but doesn't really have the on base percentage that Doug is looking for.

The "professional hitter" tag has always bugged. The best professional hitters I can think of are Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, ARod, Pujols, Vlad, etc. But that's not who it refers to. "Professional hitter" mean Jeff Conine, who's just about the Worst Hitter in baseball. I suppose there are catchers or middle infielders with worse numbers, but they have a defensive value to counter their offensive negatives. I'm guessing Doug means a Mark Loretta type. I wish JJ had that kind of patience, but he seems too intent of swinging at the first or second pitch every at bat. Hardy with a .360 obp would be an All Star caliber ss.

Post of the year! No more enlightening to be added about 2007. We should all go home now and start posting again in the Spring. Mom? Is that you? http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/smile.gif Thank you molitor fan for the kind words. After this last slap on the wrist I figured I'd be done with it once and for all. Now, maybe I'll stick around for awhile. http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/pimp.gif

Wow, I can't believe the anger here. Normally I am the biggest cynic around, but I found the letter sincere, upbeat, thankful, and promising better effort next year. Grow up little boys. Other owners don't even bother to address their fans.

They also traded away 40% of what should have been their 2007 rotation. Freddy Garcia is workhorse that isn't easily replaced. He's injured for Philly this year but it doesn't change the fact the White Sox traded a good consistent starter without a suitable replacement. They also traded Brandon McCarthy, who I thought was supposed to be a stud.

I liked that lineup last night, with Gross 2nd, Hart 5th. On the other hand, it may be better having Gross 5th, preserving the left-right-left configuration for 3-4-5. Last night's lineup left me thinking Bill Hall is gone for 2008. He could be the best trading chip for Doug, and seems to be the player who could most easily be replaced from the current roster.

Best line of the night from Jim Hunter, Orioles TV broadcaster, as Texas hit their 2nd grand slam to get their 20th run. "Now Texas is starting to lay it on." Like it was still close at 16-3.