Yesterday, the Orioles played the White Sox in front of an empty stadium at Camden Yards. The game was televised, so I watched the majority of it and today at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot, I talk a little bit about how strange that was.
Direct Link to Article –> Watching a Strange Ballgame in Baltimore
It’s Monday, so that means there is a new podcast over at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot. This week’s guest on the Camden Highball is Tucker Blair of the Baseball Prospectus prospect team to discuss Orioles prospects and Baltimore’s minor league system.
Direct Link to Article –> The Camden Highball: Get to Know Your Orioles Prospects
Head ver to ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot for this week’s episode of The Camden Highball podcast, where Pat Holden and I talk to Matthew Kory from Baseball Prospectus about the Orioles, Red Sox, and the rest of the AL East.
Direct Link to Article –> The Camden Highball –> Talkin’ AL East in the Year 2015
On Tuesday night, the Orioles secured the top spot in the American League East for the first time since 1997, ensuring their place in the 2014 playoffs. They did so by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 8-2 in front of a raucous (if not quite sell-out) crowd in Baltimore. Ubaldo Jimenez (he of the 4.90 ERA and 14.0% BB rate) picked up the win, throwing 5 innings, giving up only 2 hits and 2 runs, while striking out 6 batters. Of course he also walked 4 batters, which Orioles fans have come to expect when Jimenez takes the mound. The night itself seemed to sum up the 2014 Orioles well, as not only did they get an unexpectedly good (ok, not good, but decent) performance from Jimenez, but all 8 runs were driven in by players who weren’t expected to make a significant impact this year, and some who have only been on the team for a couple of weeks. Jimmy Paredes and Nick Hundley each drove in a run, while Alejandro De Aza and un-sung hero Steve Pearce drove in 3 a piece. Here’s a fun fact, De Aza has produced more fWAR with the Orioles in 12 games (0.7) than he did in 122 games with the White Sox (0.6). The late August trades Orioles GM Dan Duquette made for De Aza and Kelly Johnson may have flown under the radar at the time, but could prove to be very valuable to the team, especially in light of the Chris Davis suspension.
So what happens now? Continue reading
There hasn’t been too much to report on last week in the minor leagues. Oh wait, there was a trade that happened, and there seemed to be a lot of people that didn’t appreciate my take on it. Other than that, the Norfolk Tides cooled off a bit after an extremely hot 3 weeks and we saw some position player pitching in Norfolk, as third baseman Cord Phelps took the mound in extra innings on July 31 against Toledo. Phelps didn’t last long, pitching 0.1 innings, while giving up two hits and the game-winning run. The fact that the game ended quickly after Phelps entered the game was probably for the best.
Norfolk also saw the additions of Ubaldo Jimenez and Ryan Webb to the Norfolk roster, as Jimenez was there for a rehab assignment (he won’t be there long), while Webb was designated off the 25-man roster (similar to being optioned and different from being designated off the 40-man roster – it’s confusing I know, so you can read more about it HERE). I don’t understand the move by the Orioles to send Webb to AAA, as he has been their third best reliever this year, only slightly less valuable than Darren O’Day. It puzzled me enough that I went on a mini-twitter rant about it the other day. Continue reading
After a long vacation that didn’t involve any baseball, I’m back with my first post since early June. Today at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot, I take a look at a very familiar topic that has seemed to pop up during the trade deadline and the offseason ever since I started writing about the team. Writing about upgrading Baltimore’s starting rotation is quickly becoming a bi-annual tradition, where the names change, but the statistics stay the same. Take a look at the article to see who I suggest they go after this time.
Direct Link to Article –> Orioles Starting Rotation (Still) Needs Improvement
Last week we looked at what the Zips projection system over at Fangraphs thought the Baltimore Orioles position players were capable of in the 2014 season. Comparing those projections to the wins (fWAR) the team received at each of the offensive positions in 2013 resulted in the 2014 Baltimore offense to be worth 4.7 wins worse than the previous year’s team. Today we’ll take a look at the pitching staff and see if we can bring that number back into the positive.
Starting Pitcher
2014 Zips Projection
In 2013, Baltimore starting pitchers as a whole were one of the weakest parts of the roster. The starters combined for only 7.4 fWAR, which placed them 24th among all major league starting rotations. Much of that production came from Wei-Yin Chen, Chris Tillman, and Miguel Gonzalez. Scott Feldman and Bud Norris also added about 1 win each in a little less than half a seasons worth of work for the Orioles. Other than that, 9 other pitchers produced anywhere in between 0.5 fWAR (Jason Hammel) and -0.8 fWAR (Freddy Garcia). I looked at how the starting rotation fared in depth at ESPN Sweetspot Network Orioles blog Camden Depot earlier in the offseason, so if you would like a more detailed analysis, you can find it here. Continue reading
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.
Don’t discount the fact that I passed 5 Orioles physicals. #CareerAccomplishments
— Jeremy Guthrie (@TheRealJGuts) January 23, 2014
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
Orioles Proving Ground 