Welcome to Orioles Opening Day 2016! For the third year in a row I will attempt to live blog the Orioles first game of the season. If it’s anything like the other years, I’m sure that I’ll start out strong and fade quickly in both jokes and content. Enjoy the game!
(3:01) – Oh, hello baseball Continue reading
Last Friday Matt Wieters surprised many by accepting the qualifying offer the Orioles made him. As a result, he will now be a member of the 2016 Orioles on a one year, $15.8 million contract. That’s not a small amount of money, but it’s surprising he accepted the deal, considering there are no other catchers on the free agent market, leading one to believe that Wieters would have been in line for a large payday had he rejected the qualifying offer. Either he found that the offers he would’ve received were lower than expected, thought he could make even more money on the free agent market after the 2016 season, enjoyed playing in Baltimore (the only organization he’s ever known), or a combination of all three.
The situation of Wieters accepting the qualifying offer has already been covered in excellent fashion (as usual) over at Camden Depot. On Monday, Jon Shepherd provided a very thorough and realistic set of options as to where the Orioles offseason may go as a result of this, while Tuesday saw Matt Perez laid out some reasons (in much more depth than what I have above) as to why Wieters may have accepted the qualifying offer. Since the situation has already been covered so well, I won’t be going over any of that in this piece and I suggest that you head over to Camden Depot and read the articles in their entirety.
If you read Camden Depot on even a semi-regular basis, you already know that the writers recently participated in an exercise outlining their individual plans as to how they thought the Orioles should approach the offseason, with Jon picking what he ultimately thought would be the best course of action. An index of the entire series can be found HERE. What I would like to do is take another look at my personal blueprint for the Orioles 2016 season, and see how Matt Wieters accepting the qualifying offer (which I did offer him in my hypothetical offseason) changes my strategy going forward.
My blueprint can be found HERE (it focused on building major league depth and a minor league system), but below is a quick recap of the free agent signings I would have made.
The original assumption was that after paying players currently on the roster, providing raises in arbitration (using the numbers provided at MLB Trade Rumors), and paying league minimum to players who have not accrued enough service time, I would have approximately $44.7 million to spend on free agents. Now that Wieters has accepted the qualifying offer I extended him, that number has decreased to $28.9 million. Let’s see what adjustments can be made while following the same set of rules (which includes NO trades). Continue reading
Late last week, there was an interesting exchange between Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter and the Orioles beat reporters involving former Orioles closer Jim Johnson. The discussion revolved around whether it was a good idea for the Orioles to bring him back as a free agent after being gone from the team for the past two years. Today over at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot, I explore whether that would be a good idea.
Direct Link to Article –> Is a Reunion With Jim Johnson a Good Idea?
Over the course of this week and next, the writers of ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot have been putting forth their plans on how they would construct the 2016 Orioles given a budget of $120 million. After everyone has given their thoughts, editor and founder Jon Shepherd will decide which direction to take (or which combination of directions to take). The first two options have been posted earlier this week and I’m up next. My strategy involves building depth at the major league level by adding free agents who aren’t tied to draft pick compensation. This allows the Orioles to keep their picks and add additional draft selections through the loss of their own free agents.
Direct Link to Article –> Building Major League Depth and a Minor League System
Yesterday, there was a new episode of the Camden Highball podcast over at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot to help you get the week started. Pat and I talked to Jeff Long of Baseball Prospectus and Baltimore Sports and Life about Oliver Drake, Steve Pearce, and Manny Machado.
Direct Link to Article –> The Camden Highball: The Rosters They Are a-Movin
This week on the Camden Highball, Pat and I wonder if Steve Pearce can be a super utility player and talk about Jimmy Paredes‘ hot bat. We also talk to Ryan Romano of Camden Depot and Beyond the Boxscore about the less than ideal starts of Bud Norris and Chris Tillman. This week’s episode also features music from Brad Engler.
Direct Link to Article –> The Camden Highball: “That’s Not Good”
Last week’s Minor League Recap never got completed, so this “week’s” version will combine the last two weeks of baseball. Think of it as “two for the price of one”! Although, I don’t think that’s accurate because it’s still only one post. “Double for your money” is probably a better assessment of this installment of the recap. So not only are two weeks rolled into one post, but it’s also arriving a day later than usual because I had some podcast duties on Monday night for Camden Depot. If you’re reading this because you like the Orioles minor league baseball, then check out the podcast (it’s linked in the previous post on this website) because we talk to Camden Depot’s Joe Reisel, who is our man down at Norfolk. He sees anywhere from 30-40 games per year and has great insight on the AAA squad.
Weekly Summary
Norfolk (AAA): 5-8 (W-L), 33 Runs Scored, 40 Runs Against
Bowie (AA): 8-4, 61 RS, 37 RA
Frederick (High-A): 6-7, 49 RS, 67 RA Continue reading
Minor league baseball is back, and with it is the return of the Orioles Proving Ground Minor League recap. Similar to previous years, the recaps will run weekly (for the most part) throughout the minor league season. I’ve said it before, but to reiterate, this exercise is not meant to be a scouting one, as these observations are based on the stat line for the week in question and nothing else. I’m not a scout and I don’t get to enough minor league games to draw a scouting conclusion on the players at hand. Having said that, I will occasionally add a scouting thought to some players based on what I have read or heard about a player’s major league expectations (if they exist).
Here we go.
Weekly Summary
Norfolk (AAA): 7-4 (W-L), 55 RS, 36 RA
Bowie (AA): 5-6, 42 RS, 54 RA
Frederick (High-A): 7-4, 44 RS, 43 RA Continue reading
The 2015 season hasn’t even started yet, but today at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot, I start to take a look at what the 2016 Baltimore roster could potentially look like. It may sound too early to be talking about such things, but the Orioles find themselves in a somewhat unique situation, as 11 of their players are currently scheduled to hit free agency following the end of the 2015 season. If all 11 leave, the resulting depth chart may not look so pretty…
Direct Link to Article –> Another Look at the 2016 Orioles
Orioles Proving Ground 