Earl Weaver Rules

When your biggest addition is former closer Danys Baez, it’s tough to be too optimistic about the Orioles.  The Orioles spend money, but they seem to do it wisely enough to turn those dollars into wins.  This season, the Orioles were pretty much on the sidelines when it came to the hot stove, unless you count all of the relievers that the Orioles picked up. 

So that’s why when it came to NBCsports.com preview on the Orioles, you can see why the team doesn’t get a lot of credit.  The final prognosis is that the Orioles might have implemented phase one with the improvement of their bullpen, but at least this year, we shouldn’t be too optimistic about the Orioles’ chances in 2007.

Spencer Fordin, the Orioles beat writer for MLB.com, recently answered reader’s questions in a mailbag column.  He talks about the Orioles long term plans for Jay Gibbons as well as how the bullpen should flush out heading into the 2007 season.  I particularly like his answer as to why Corey Patterson shouldn’t be the Orioles lead off hitter.

Baseball Prospectus’ Maury Brown recently had a very detailed interview with Jim Duquette. In the interview, they cover everything from the recent trades and free agent signings that have gone down with the Orioles as well as how the Orioles are going to address left field.  Good stuff and well worth checking out if you have a BP subscription.

John Sickels recently wrote up a very interesting prospect retrospective on Cal Ripken, Jr.  Good stuff and it’s very interesting to see how his power blossomed through out his minor league career and that fact that even a Hall of Fame player like Ripken would spend four years in the minors offers hope for a lot of young players.

The Orioles traded their Jeckyl and Hyde starter Rodrigo Lopez to the Rockies for two minor leaguers.  Lopez had been regressing after a solid season in 2004 and was eventually pulled from the rotation.  He loss a league high 18 games in 2006 and he just barely kept his ERA below six (5.90).  Now he’ll get a fresh start in one of the toughest places to pitch.  Lopez’s best season was probably his rookie year but that was way back in 2002.

The two guys that the Orioles got were right handed pitchers Jim Miller and Jason Burch (follow the links to see their minor league stats in 2006).  Both spent 2006 at Double A and neither guy put up stellar numbers.  Both made all of their appearances in relief.

There were rumors floating around about a month ago that Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. was interested in buying the Orioles and had met with current owner Peter Angelos about a staggered sale.  Angelos squashed those rumors by simply saying he wasn’t selling.  Now Ripken has come out publicly and said if Angelos were to ever sell the team, he’d definitely be interested.

Ripken’s company, Ripken Professional Baseball, already owns two minor league teams.  Then again, this means little until Angelos is willing to let the team go.  As far as the job Ripken would do, I guess you can say he can’t do much worse.

No big surprise here.  Cal Ripken, Jr. was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame along with Tony Gywnn.  He had 3,000 hits, the iron man streak and he played most of his career at shortstop and all that adds up to Hall of Fame credentials.

I was going to do a look back at the Earl Weaver years but I might changes gears and do a year by year Cal Ripken,, Jr. retrospective instead.  It’d be fitting with his upcoming induction.

There’s a great column over at the Hardball Times about Orioles’ great Cal Ripken, Jr.’s early years as a professional baseball player.  Good stuff and worth checking out.  We all take for granted Ripken’s fantastic career but you forget that not all of the super starts had it easy coming up through the minors.

Kevin Goldstein recently unveiled his list of the top 10 Orioles prospects and you have to like what you see here.  Right handed pitcher Brandon Erbe tops the list after playing a full season at Low A as an eighteen year old.  133 strikeouts in 114 1/3 innings is very solid, especially for a guy coming right out of high school.  This is a big kid (6′4″) and if he fills out his frame and gets the proper time down in the minors, he could be a stud.  Looks like he’ll be starting the season at High A next year.

Number two on the list is third baseman Bill Rowell, who also fell into the excellent category.  Rowell was the Orioles first round pick in 2006 and he hit very well in both the Rookie League and short season ball.  He was a shortstop in highschool and it looks like his play at third year wasn’t all too hot.  Goldstein projects him moving to first at some point. 

Pedro Beato (rhp), Garrett Olsen (lhp), and Radhames Liz (rhp) round out the top five.  Overall, Goldstein gives the Orioles a good mark for rebuilding their minor league system.  Maybe, just maybe, the Orioles can use these guys in two or three years to finally make a run at something.

The Orioles signed starting pitcher Danny Cabrerra to a one year, $1.75 million deal.  This means the two parties won’t have to go arbitration.

Cabrerra showed flashes of greatness last year but his achilles heel is still his walk rate, which is still through the roof.  He did strike out 157 in 148 innings though and that means Cabrerra is worth taking one more look at.  He’ll be 26 next year so he’s still young.

Cabrerra is really one those guys who can go either way.  Not that he’s the next Randy Johnson, but the Unit had control problems early in his career and he worked through them.  Then again, he could flame out pretty quickly as well.

Joe Sheehan did a nice job of evaluating what effect Aubrey Huff will have on the Baltimore Orioles in 2007 and he seems to be cautiously optimistic.  While no predictions are made, he says the Orioles have a “chance” to compete for the Wild Card.  Great read.

The Orioles signed Aubrey Huff over the weekend to a three year, $20 million contract.  Huff can play third, first and the outfield and while he’s struggled in 2005, he bounced back in 2006 with an .800+ OPS.  Huff had a career year in 2003 when he hit 34 homeruns and drove in 107.  Not too bad of numbers for a guy who’s played for a crappy team all of his career.

Huff also has a decent eye at the plate.  His career high in strikeouts in a given season is only 88, which is really good for a power hitter.  And he’s walked as many as 56 times in a season.  He’s a career .285 hitter with a .342 OBP.