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Some Thoughts on Ubaldo Jimenez

Posted in Free Agency, Offseason, Pitching with tags , , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

As of Wednesday February 19, Ubaldo Jimenez officially became a member of the Baltimore Orioles.  The Orioles signed him to a 4-year, $50 million contract.  While he’s expected to perform near the top of the rotation for the duration of the contract, he’s already completed his toughest task, which was passing Baltimore’s physical exam*.  The details of the contract aren’t that important (they can be found here), but at an average annual value of $12.5 million, at first glance this looks like a decent deal for the Orioles, especially if you’re last memory of Jimenez is the unhittable version of him from the 2013 All-Star break to the end of the season.

*I know the whole “passing a Baltimore Orioles physical” has been overdone this offseason, but I felt that it was my duty to make sure I had at least one joke in here about it.  Although any joke probably wouldn’t top this tweet from former Orioles’ pitcher Jeremy Guthrie.

If you’ve been reading the different opinions about the Jimenez signing, you see a lot of the emphasis on how the signing affects the team’s playoff chances in 2014.  This is important to talk about for a couple of reasons.  One is that since Jimenez will be 30 years old during the 2014 season, there is a decent chance that the first year of his contract will be his best. Second, with all the recent talk of Baltimore’s current window of contention potentially closing in the next year or two (Hardy and Markakis are free agents after 2014, while Wieters and Davis will be free agents after 2015), it appears that productive seasons from Jimenez will be more valuable to the team’s success in his first 2 years than his last 2 years.  There may be a bit of truth to both of these points, but I don’t necessarily want to focus only on 2014 in this post. Continue reading →

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Some Thoughts on Suk-min Yoon

Posted in Free Agency, Pitching with tags , on February 20, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

On Wednesday, I mentioned that at some point I would probably share my thoughts on Baltimore’s recent signings of Korean right-hander Suk-min Yoon and free agent starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.  Well today is your lucky day as I’ve deemed myself ready to discuss Suk-min Yoon.  Hopefully soon, I’ll discuss the Ubaldo Jimenez signing as well.

I’m starting with Yoon for a couple of reasons.  First, he signed before Jimenez, and second I don’t really know much about him, so this shouldn’t take too long.  Other than checking out a couple of videos on YouTube, I’ve never seen him pitch and don’t have any additional thoughts or analysis from what is already readily available to you (the reader) if you had performed the Google search yourself.  Although according to the video I just linked to, Yoon seems to regularly throw well over 100 mph, which is amaz…wait, nope that’s in km/hr.

Anyway, the Orioles signed Yoon on Monday to a 3-year deal worth a total of $5.575 million.  The deal includes incentives based on games started that could net Yoon an extra $7.5 million or so.  Yoon is 27 years old and has 3.19 ERA over 9 seasons playing in the Korean Baseball Organization (the professional baseball league in Korea).   He’s pitched mostly as a starter in the KBO (earning league MVP honors in 2011), but has had some experience in the bullpen, including the 2013 season due to some shoulder tendonitis.

Based on what evaluators have been saying, the general consensus on Yoon is that he’s either a back-end #4 or #5 starter, or an effective reliever in the major leagues.  If that’s the case, it’s hard not to like this deal.  At best, the Orioles get a back end of the rotation starter and at worst an effective reliever for less than $2 million per year.  To help you get better acquainted with Yoon, I’ll dump a couple of links on you from people who know more about him than I do.  Highly suggest taking a minute to look at both.

Camden Depot’s Jon Shepherd talks with Korea’s Yonhap News’ Jee-ho Yoo about Suk-min Yoon

Suk-min Yoon Scouting Report by former Lotte Giant Ryan Sadowski

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Could Ervin Santana Improve the Orioles Rotation?

Posted in Free Agency, Offseason, Pitching with tags , , on January 28, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

The Orioles have had a very slow offseason.  Sure they’ve signed approximately 57 outfielders to minor league contracts with invites to spring training i the hope that one of them can play in left at the major league level, but other than that and a couple of minor trades, it’s been pretty quiet.  One place they can still improve is in the starting rotation, where there are potential difference makers (albeit few) left on the free agent market.  Yesterday on ESPN Sweetspot Orioles blog, Camden Depot, Matt Kremnitzer took a look at one of those starting pitchers in Ubaldo Jimenez.  Today, I take a look at another, Ervin Santana.

Direct Link to Article –> Could Ervin Santana Improve the Orioles Rotation?

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A First Look at Ryan Webb

Posted in Free Agency, Pitching with tags , , , , on December 11, 2013 by oriolesprovingground

Yesterday the Orioles made the signing of right-handed relief pitcher Ryan Webb official, after Webb passed his physical.  Webb signed a 2-year, $4.5 million contract with the team.  Other than the Jim Johnson trade and signing a bunch of AAAA players (guys who are too good for AAA, but not good enough to be a major league regular), the signing of Webb has been the most significant addition for Baltimore so far this offseason, which seems to be leaving most of the Baltimore fan base a little restless as numerous free agents are off the board and the winter meetings are beginning to wind down.  Since Webb has played his entire major league career in San Diego and Miami, most of you have probably never seen him pitch.  With that in mind, I am providing a first look of Ryan Webb over at ESPN Swetspot Network Orioles blog, Camden Depot.  He may be their first “major” free agent signing, but hopefully he’s not their last as the team has multiple holes to fill.

Direct Link to Article –> A First Look at Ryan Webb

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Declining Options: Potential Pitching Fits for Baltimore

Posted in Offseason, Pitching with tags , , on November 8, 2013 by oriolesprovingground

The offseason is a week old, and one of the very first orders of business for teams (or players) is to do decide whether or not they should pick up their contract options or cut bait and become free agents.  Over the next 2 days we’ll look at all of the options that have been declined and see if there are any potential good fits for the Orioles in the 2014 season.  If I state that I think the team should make an offer, it doesn’t mean that they should do whatever it takes to sign them.  Due to the larger number of players, I’ll try to keep the explanations brief.

First up, the pitchers.

Starting Pitchers

Chris Capuano ($8 million mutual option declined by Dodgers)

In 2013, Capuano only pitched 105.2 innings this past year, due to two separate stints on the DL.  He started 20 of the 24 games in which he appeared.  Capuano shows a pretty heavy platoon split, but hasn’t been terrible as a starter the last 3 years, posting a FIP at 4.03 or under in each season.  He’d be an interesting sign for depth purposes, either as a spot starter or another left handed option out of the pen.

Verdict: Make an offer Continue reading →

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Making the Orioles a Champion in 2014

Posted in Offense, Offseason, Pitching with tags , on November 5, 2013 by oriolesprovingground

Over the past month, the writers at Camden Depot took on the task of analyzing the 2013 Baltimore Orioles on a position by position basis, which was followed with our own suggestions to make the 2014 better.  The following are links to each write up.

Starting Pitching (Nate Delong): Part 1 and Part 2

Right Handed Relievers (Stuart Wallace)

Left Handed Relievers (Stuart Wallace)

Catcher (Jon Shepherd)

First Base (Jon Shepherd)

Second Base (Joe Reisel): Part 1 and Part 2

Third Base (Stuart Wallace)

Shortstop (Nate Delong)

Left Field (Matt Kremnitzer)

Center Field (Matt Kremnitzer)

Right Field (Matt Kremnitzer)

Designated Hitter (Joe Reisel)

Bench (Joe Reisel)

Conclusion (Jon Shepherd)

Everyone did a great job on these posts and there is a lot of good information here, so I suggest you check it out.  Feel free to leave your own suggestions as to what the Orioles should do this offseason by commenting in the posts at Camden Depot (preferred) or here on this site.

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Making the Orioles a Champion in 2014: Starting Pitchers – Part 2

Posted in Offseason, Pitching with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 29, 2013 by oriolesprovingground

Today, over at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog, Camden Depot, I have part 2 of the offseason starting pitching outlook for the Baltimore Orioles in our continuing “Making the Orioles a Champion in 2014” series.  Since I looked at how the Orioles starters performed in 2013 in Part 1, I’ll be looking at what they can do to improve their rotation for the 2014 season.  We’re getting close to wrapping up this offseason outlook for the Orioles, so check back soon for links to every position.

Direct Link to Article –> Making the Orioles a Champion in 2014: Starting Pitchers-Part 2

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Making the Orioles a Champion in 2014: Starting Pitchers – Part 1

Posted in Offseason, Pitching with tags , , , , , , , , , on October 17, 2013 by oriolesprovingground

As I mentioned in last week’s post, over at ESPN Sweetspot Network affiliated Orioles blog, Camden Depot, the writers are undertaking a position by position review of the Orioles 2013 season, followed by what we think the Orioles should do in the offseason to make them World Series champions in 2014.  I was put in charge of looking at the team’s starting pitching as well as the shortstop position.  First up (for me) are the Starting Pitchers, Part 1.  In Part 1, I review the 2013 season, as it pertains to Baltimore’s starting staff, and it’s not too pretty.

Direct Link to Article –> Making the Orioles a Champion in 2014: Starting Pitchers – Part 1

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Statistically Speaking: Wrapping up the 2013 Orioles

Posted in Offense, Offseason, Pitching with tags on October 12, 2013 by oriolesprovingground

Like most teams, the 2013 Baltimore Orioles came up short of the playoffs, and will have some decisions to make heading into the offseason.  The Orioles finished the season with an 85-77 record, tied for 3rd place in a predictably competitive AL East.  They were 12 games behind the Boston Red Sox and 6.5 games out of the second wild card spot.  They were in the thick of the wild card race up until a 6 game losing streak beginning on September 19 ultimately did them in.  As I mentioned last week, despite winning 8 fewer games than they did in 2012, they arguably had a better team this year than last year.  In large part, this was due to the fact that they went from having the best record in one run games in 2012 (29-9) to the worst record in one run games in 2013 (20-31).  Some of this is luck, but some of it is also due to a less effective bullpen in 2013, as you’ll see below.

After the jump, you’ll find several tables that look at how the 2013 Orioles performed in certain categories compared to the rest of the American League as well as all of baseball.  It will provide a starting point to look at what the Orioles need to do to improve for the 2014 season.  In addition to my offseason opinions on this site, the writers at Camden Depot (the ESPN affiliated blog for the Baltimore Orioles) will be doing a position by position analysis that looks at what happened in 2013, and the steps that the Orioles need to take to improve that position to win the World Series in 2014.  I am responsible for the starting pitchers and the shortstop position.  I plan on linking to my posts as they go up, and will also post links to all the position write-ups at the end of the month when we’re all finished.

As always, please consult the Fangraphs Library for definitions of advanced statistics such as wOBA, FIP, UZR/150, and DRS.

Continue reading →

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Eulogizing the 2013 Orioles

Posted in Defense, Offense, Pitching with tags , on October 1, 2013 by oriolesprovingground

Friends and fans, we are gathered here today to remember the extremely promising, but ultimately unfulfilling life of the 2013 Baltimore Orioles, as their season officially came to an end.  Building on the playoff appearance last year that many analysts called “lucky”, the Orioles made a valiant effort to return to the playoffs, only to fall out of contention (mathematically) with 5 games remaining, due to an ill-timed losing streak at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Continue reading →

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