Can Heath Bell Help the Orioles?

Posted in Free Agency, Playoffs with tags , , , , on May 23, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

About one week ago, the boys over at MLB Trade Rumors indicated that the Orioles were one of four teams that were interested in Heath Bell, which prompted the following reaction…

Turns out the Orioles weren’t joking, as they signed Bell to a minor league contract two days later. It’s not like the Baltimore bullpen doesn’t need help. They are currently have the 5th worst FIP in all of baseball (or 26th best if you’re an optimist), and have barely been better than replacement level as a group (0.3 fWAR). Additionally, the bullpen only strikes out 18.0% of batters faced, which places them 28th in baseball (not good). Ryan Webb, Darren O’Day, and Zach Britton are the only relievers who can be trusted at this point, so taking a flier on Bell isn’t the worst idea. Continue reading →

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Minor League Recap: May 12-May18

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 20, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

Last week, we saw the Orioles call up top pitching prospect Kevin Gausman for a spot start against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday. It was an unexpected and curious move, especially since that Gausman would be pitching on short rest and it was only his second start after spending time on the disabled list with a bout of pneumonia. Long story short, Gausman’s start for the Orioles did not go well, and he was sent back down to Norfolk the following day. What’s even more baffling is that on the day of Gausman’s start, Miguel Gonzalez was available out of the bullpen for long relief, if needed (he was). This raises the questions that if Gonzalez was available for long relief, why wasn’t he available to start? I don’t think I’ve seen a reasonable explanation for his call-up, and even if there was, it doesn’t seem like a sound decision.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 3-4 (W-L), 37 RS, 48 RA

Bowie (AA): 4-2, 26 RS, 17 RA

Frederick (High-A): 4-3, 45 RS, 28 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): 1B Brett Wallace – 11/27 (H/AB), 1 2B, 3 HR’s, 5 BB’s, 6 SO’s

It was a banner week for Wallace as he continues to hit the ball well after a slow start to the season. The 3 home runs during the week are certainly impressive, but it’s also nice to see him walk about as much as struck out. Continue reading →

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Can History Tell Us Anything About Chris Davis’ Return from the Disabled List?

Posted in Offense with tags , , on May 15, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

Chris Davis came off the 15-day disabled list this past sunday after missing time due to a strained oblique.  Today over at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot, I take a look at similar players who have suffered the same injury and compare how they performed before their injury to how they performed after being injured in the hope that the findings will give some sort of indication as to what we can expect from Davis the rest of the season.

Direct Link to Article –> Can History Tell Us Anything About Chris Davis’ Return from the Disabled List?

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Minor League Recap: May 5-May 11

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 14, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

We’re trying out a new “Transactions” feature as part of the weekly minor league recap this week. It’s basically a list of transactions involving the Norfolk, Bowie, and Frederick affiliates that occurred over the week and is located at the bottom of the recap. It’s pretty self-explanatory actually, so I probably didn’t even need to write the words in that last sentence. Anyway, I thought it might be a useful addition seeing as there are typically a lot of minor league moves in any one week. As I noted in my piece about minor league host families last year, the Orioles made over 90 transactions in about a months time in 2013. Hopefully this feature will help keep track of where everyone is playing for the moment.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 3-4 (W-L), 42 RS, 46 RA

Bowie (AA): 3-4, 35 RS, 46 RA

Frederick (High-A): 3-4, 18 RS, 25 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): 2B Ivan De Jesus – 10/29 (H/AB), 2 2B’s, 1 3B, 6 BB’s, 6 SO’s

If it seems like a second baseman is winning this “award” every week, it’s basically because they are. According to their website, the Tides currently have 6 second basemen on the active roster (obviously, they’re not all playing second base on a regular basis). This week it was De Jesus’ turn to have a strong week. There were a lot of decent offensive lines for Norfolk this week (they averaged 6 runs a game), but De Jesus had the best combination of hitting, power, and patience out of the entire group. Continue reading →

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Minor League Recap: April 28-May 4

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 6, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

It was a “.500” kind of week for Baltimore’s affiliates, as each of the teams detailed in this weekly installment won as much as they lost, with Bowie and Frederick even scoring the exact number of runs that they gave up. Frederick barely got any games in as they had to deal with a ton of rain and a couple of postponements/cancellations in the beginning of the week. Additionally, Norfolk used 16 different pitchers during the week, so no one really got a lot of innings. Feel free to use any of these fun facts as an ice breaker in the coming week.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 3-3 (W-L), 36 RS, 33 RA

Bowie (AA): 3-3, 22 RS, 22 RA

Frederick (High-A): 2-2, 18 RS, 18 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): 1B Brett Wallace– 8/23 (H/AB), 2 2B’s, 2 HR’s, 2 BB’s, 9 SO’s

The former top prospect has really been struggling at the plate this season, so it’s nice to see him put together a very productive week. The 9 strikeouts are still a little bothersome, but at least some of the power is starting to show up. Even though Wallace used to be a top prospect (the key phrase being “used to be”), fans shouldn’t expect much out of him, as he’s transitioned from prospect status to “organizational depth”. Continue reading →

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Tommy Hunter: Pitching on the Edge

Posted in Pitching with tags , on May 2, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

After trading Jim Johnson during the offseason, the Orioles were left without a closer.  They attempted to replace Johnson by signing Grant Balfour, but we all know how that ended.  Following the failed signing of Balfour, they looked at their in-house options, and Tommy Hunter emerged as the team’s closer towards the end of spring training.  Hunter has been pretty good so far, converting 7 of his 8 save opportunities.  However, it’s the way he’s been converting those saves that caught my attention.  Today I have a post on ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog, Camden Depot that looks at how Tommy Hunter in the closer role will keep Orioles fans on the edge of their seats all summer.

Direct Link to Article –> Tommy Hunter: Pitching on the Edge

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Minor League Recap: April 21-April 27

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 29, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

The Bowie Baysox AVERAGED over 7 runs a game last week, yet only won 4 of their 7 games. How’d they do that? I’m not even mad, that’s amazing. I don’t really have anything else to add in this week’s introduction to the Minor League Recap. So let’s get right to it.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 2-4 (W-L), 26 RS, 30 RA

Bowie (AA): 4-3, 52 RS, 34 RA

Frederick (High-A): 3-4, 31 RS, 42 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): 2B Cord Phelps – 6/17 (H/AB), 1 2B, 1 HR, 6 BB’s, 3 SO’s

If you remember from last week (and you should since I only posted it a half hour ago), Phelps had one of the worst weeks you could imagine. I think it’s safe to say that he rebounded very nicely, getting on base 12 times in 23 plate appearances. Continue reading →

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Minor League Recap: April 14-April 20

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 29, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

This recap is now a week late, and a lot has happened since then. For example, a whole entire week has passed! With that in mind (let’s throw in a little laziness as well), I’m going to leave out pretty much all analysis/commentary.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 2-5 (W-L), 22 RS, 37 RA

Bowie (AA): 1-4, 18 RS, 22 RA

Frederick (High-A): 4-2, 22 RS, 18 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): 2B Jemile Weeks – 5/18 (H/AB), 2 2B’s, 1 3B, 9 BB’s, 4 SO’s Continue reading →

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Minor League Recap: April 7-April 13

Posted in Minor Leagues, Offense, Pitching, Prospects with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

First, apologies for the minor league update coming to you a day late. No excuses from me, so I won’t tell you some intricate story how the cat knocked over a glass of cranberry juice (no, it was beer, yeah that’s what it was!) just as I was about to hit the post button. Better late than never, right? Also, as an FYI, I can already tell you that it’s going to be AT LEAST a day late next week too.

Other than it being a pretty tough week for all 3 affiliates, I don’t have much more to say, so let’s get right to it.

Weekly Summary

Norfolk (AAA): 2-4 (W-L), 25 RS, 32 RA

Bowie (AA): 3-4, 25 RS, 27 RA

Frederick (High-A): 1-5, 18 RS, 35 RA

The Good:

Hitters

Norfolk (AAA): OF Julio Borbon – 7/21 (H/AB), 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 BB’s, 5 SO’s

Borbon was picked up by the Orioles in the minor league portion of this past winter’s Rule 5 draft, giving them some much needed outfield depth in AAA after losing Xavier Avery and L.J. Hoes in two separate trades.  Probably the most impressive line from Borbon’s week is the fact that he walked 7 times (career 5.7% walk rate in more than 850 major league PA’s). Continue reading →

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Orioles Still Have a Problem Getting On Base

Posted in Offense with tags , , , , , , on April 11, 2014 by oriolesprovingground

Over the last 2 off seasons, one of the main issues the Orioles have needed to address was their lineup’s ability to get on base.  That issue wasn’t addressed before the 2013 season, as the team finished towards the bottom of the league in OBP, and was ranked dead last in BB% in the American League (ok, they weren’t DEAD last, they were tied for dead last).  While they made some newsworthy acquisitions during this past offseason, it wasn’t clear that they did anything to improve their on base skills, and two weeks into the season, it’s starting to look pretty obvious that they didn’t.  It’s very early in the season though, so do they have a chance to be a better OBP team?  I take a look at it today over on ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot.

Direct Link to Article –> Orioles Still Have a Problem Getting On Base

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