Ravens, Terps, Orioles and More

The Oriole Way is down


The Baltimore Orioles went wire to wire in 1997 with a team that included players like Roberto Alomar, Rafael Palmeiro, BJ Surhoff, Randy Myers, Jesse Orosco, Brady Anderson, Mike Mussina and of course Cal Ripken. Now the Orioles are well on their way to their 9th straight losing season. Their team is plagued with over the hill and never went up the hill veterans. They have some talented young arms but not much youth to speak of in the everyday positions. Brandon Fahey (a sort of utility type), Corey Patterson (who has been around for years and will most likely never reach his full potential) and Nick Our Savior Markakis are the only players under 28 who have seen a lick of action at everyday positions. So lets break those three down to start off.

Fahey has overacheived already...and he is batting .280 with 2 homeruns. He will most likely never be anything more than a slower, lankier David Newhan. Corey Patterson has been slumping but he has actually done better than expected once he was giving the opportunity. His .271 average is at its lowest since May 19th. His speed alongside Brob's add a good bit of excitement to an otherwise bland, no character, crappy stickball team. Patterson does have his flaws besides his recent slump though. He can't hit lefties. Of course this is abnormal for left-handed hitters but it limits Patterson's at bats when he hits only .197 against them. So that leaves us with Mr. Savior. He has had a lot of hype for a player that hasn't showed tremendous power or speed or defensive capabilities. I will give him this. He has a very professional bat for such a young hitter. However, he hasn't shown any signs of true power nor is he as speedy as some had made him out to be. In my oppinion I never see Markakis hitting 30 homeruns a season or stealng 30 bases. Therefore, unless he hits .400 I can't see him being a big star. A solid outfielder who hits .320 with 25 homeruns and 100 rbi in his career year, I can see. So I'm not trying to squash all you Markakis lovers (he is a hottie can't lie) but the fact is he IS NOT going to turn this franchise around. He also IS NOT going to be the next Cal Ripken because even if he had those numbers I talked about above, that wouldn't be seen as anything special in a world full of 30+ hr, 100+ rbi corner outfielders. We have seen young talented outfielders just in the past couple of years underdevelop in the O's system. (Check Matos, Bigbie and even Gibbons to a degree) Still, Markakis could be a good player for the Orioles for a very long time, however don't expect him to turn this franchise away from the shithole they are heading towards, called the "Oriole Way."

The true Oriole Way can not be restored with players such as Chris Gomez, Jeff Conine, Javy Lopez and Kevin Millar taking up roster spots on a team that is battling for fourth place in the AL east. These "role players" or maybe you will hear "character player" are basically what I like to call "scrub players" or maybe "suckass players." I want any person to convince me how they are helping the team, the franchise as a whole or younger players develop. What good does having a 34 year old Millar and 40 year old Conine platooning at 1st base do? Are they going to travel back in time and have a breakthrough year? Why not trade them? Get ANYTHING. Hell just get rid of the almost 4 million dollar salary they eat up and open two more roster spots to some young guys. They will both be gone next year, either in another uniform or retired. You could probably get acouple top 20 of their organization prospects for the two since playoff bound team look for veteran bats at the trading deadline. Gomez is another story. He is actually completely worthless if Conine and Millar are both healthy. Think about it. Conine and Millar can basically play LF or DH with an occasional LF for Conine. Fahey plays 2nd, SS and LF. Gomez plays all 4 infield spots but thats unecessary with the ingredients I just mentioned above. So basically he rots an ass into the wood on the bench. He isn't worth anything in the trade market, but atleast he isn't taking any salary up, unlike the next 2.

TRADE JAVY LOPEZ AND MELVIN MORA. Javy Lopez is 35, with old knees that aren't going to get any better. Now I know he isn't worth much but why not get what you can for a guy that will be on another team next year. Melvin Mora is a little different. I know some of you might say, "What?!? I love Melvin Mora and his quintuplets!" Others might know I myself love Melvin Mora. This being said, hes 34 with a big time contract and is actually worth something on the market. While he might get what he is worth in a trade, he is worth acouple decent prospects to some attempting-to-make-a-playoff-run team. I think he is a quality guy who plays the game the way it should be played, but we should get rid of him since he is only going downhill, and we are obviously not going uphill anytime in the near future. Mora could yield some top notch prospects and perhaps a decent reliever.

Now with all this dumping of vteran players I want done you might expect me to want to trade Miguel Tejada. However, this is not the case. Don't trade him. Why not him since he would be worth the most you ask? Its not simply because he is good. He is special. He is such a better overall hitter than any other shortstop. He plays a position in which hitters such as Bill Hall, Khalil Greene, Carlos Guillen, and Juan Uribe come after him on the homerun list at SS. If you just went, "What the hell does that mean?" Well thats kind of what I was going for. Those guys I just mentioned aren't in the same league as Miggy when it comes to hitting and the stats show that since none of them are hitting over .260 besides Guillen. Tejada is 1st in homeruns and rbi for shortstop, 2nd in hits, 3rd in slugging percentage and 4th in average. He is in the middle of the pack in fielding percentage and still has a gun of an arm so I want people to get that junk about his defense abilities being subpar out of their heads. He also has turned the most DP's in the league. This kind of bat at SS doesn't come around often, even today. Miguel, at 30, can still be a part of the rebuilding process. He still has atleast 5 good years of hitting in him, and with an eventual position change, this could be made into 10 years.

So yes I want a firesale of the veteran field players, but keep Miggy. Get whatever prospects you can for guys that will be gone next year no matter what in Lopez, Millar and Conine. Entertain offers for Mora. I'll post my thoughts on the pitching staff and more on exactly what to do in all these moves I want to do later. For now, stay classy.


In other yet similiarly sad news, the O's couldn't even get Brian Roberts' bobblehead right. I got the inside info that they sent in the wrong picture.