Earl Weaver Rules

In a lot of ways, it’s more of the same for the Orioles.  They’re probably going to lose 90 games and they were never really in contention in the second half of the season.  But unlike most years, I think there’s some glimmer of hope you can take from 2007 as you think about the teams future.  First and foremost was the emergence of Erik Bedard as an ace.  While the term ace is often overused, Bedard would have led the league in strikeouts and would have won 15 games for the second straight season. The oblique injury is something to be concerned about but with nothing to play for, they made the rigth move and shut him down.

Jeremy Guthrie was a pleasant surprise as well.  He only finished with seven wins but 200 innings out of the question and anytime you have an American League pitcher, especially one who throws in the AL East, who had an ERA below 3.75, you have something there.

Probably the biggest quandry was Miguel Tejada.  Yes, he led the team in hitting and he had the RBIs to go with them and while he had the injuries, the slice in his power is a little confusing.  He still has time, but the last time he didn’t hit 20 homers was way back in 1998.

Nick Markakis looks like a keeper as he should cross the 100 RBI mark in just his second season.  He also leads the team with nineteen homers and he’s right behind Tejada with a .294 batting average.  He’s definitely someone who you can build around.

So we have two more weeks of Orioles baseball and once again, the playoffs will start without them.  The offseason will be interesting to watch to see how the Orioles complement what they have so I’ll hold judgement for 2008 until then.

The Orioles have a little more then two months to go in yet another mediocre season but in my opinion, I think we really have something to build on here.  The Orioles rotation is coming around and it’s coming around in a big way and if there’s one spot where a team can show an immediate improvement, it’s with a good pitching staff.  So while these last couple of months of 2007 won’t mean much, Orioles fans might, just might have something to look forward to next year.

What about Erik Bedard.  He’s won his last five decisions and his last three starts have been nothing short of awesome.  He’s given up just one run with 36 strikeouts in 23 innings and if it weren’t for his mediocre win/loss record, he’d be in line for a Cy Young.  Still, he leads all of baseball with 167 strikeouts and Bedard’s coming out comes at a time when the Orioles might have a chance of popping their head above the .500 mark for the time in forever.

The rest of starters appear to be coming along and once again, it looks like Leo Mazzone is working his magic.  Jeremy Guthrie still has an ERA under three and and even Danny Cabrera looks like he might be coming around.  You still have that inconsistency, and he’s had a tough July but let’s wait and pass judgement at the end of the year.  Heck, the fact that Cabrera made it through the entire season looks like an accomplishment so I’m giving him these last two months to show something.  Even Brian Burress has been respectable.

The fact that the Orioles should be basically .500 based on their expected win/loss is also something to build on.  So the Orioles are playing liks a .500 team already.  The offense needs to be better though.  They’re scoring a half run less then the AL average and while they’re batting average of .268 isn’t bad, they’re slugging of .401 is below par.  One thing I am impressed with though, and it’s helped out the pitching, is how good the defense has been.  The Orioles are behind only the Athletics in defensive efficiency. 

So while the Orioles flounder in the standings, it really might be a case of waiting until next year.  Anyway, the Orioles kick off a three game series tonight against the Devil Rays.  Danny Cabrera gets the start against Scott Kazmir.  Bedard throws tomorrow.

It looks like another meaningless second half of baseball for Orioles fans.  At least sort of.  There’s the hollow goals, like staying out of last place and not losing 100 games but probably more then any other year, Orioles fans have to be disappointed with how things are going.  At eleven gaves below .500, the Orioles sit a distant 15 games back of first and they’re closer to the Devil Rays in last place then they are the Yankees in third.

Still, a strong second half would be something to build on for 2008.  And a nice trade or two would also go along way.  The Orioles should be sellers to a point, but you don’t want to lose your base that could be used to build on next year.

The pitching staff has been surprisingly good and that’s something you can never have too much of.  Erik Bedard, even without the awesome performance he had last weekend, has established himself as a bonafide ace and then guys like Jeremy Guthrie have gotten it done as well.  Danny Cabrera has been the biggest disappointment but even he still has that potential tag attached to him.

Nick Markakis, while not having an awesome year, has shown that his pedigree was legit.  He has a chance to drive in 100 and hit 20 homeruns, and while that’s not terribly impressive, for this team, it is.  Brian Roberts has also emerged as one of the better second basemen in the league.

The strange this is, the Orioles don’t have a ton of trade bait.  Their biggest chip, Miguel Tejada, is on the shelf and they don’t have many guys who will be free agents next year.  Erik Bedard has one more year of arbitration so he’s going nowhere (and he should get locked up long term if people are smart in the front office).  So we’ll see how active the Orioles are in late July.

The Orioles open up against the struggling White Sox beginning tomorrow.  Jeremy Guthrie gets the start and he’ll face Jon Garland.  The White Sox are in a similar situtation to the Orioles although they’re two years removed from winning a World Series so a lot of their fans are probably in denial right now.  And Orioles series win would probably knock that denial out of them.

Miguel Tejada things he’ll be back in the Orioles lineup after the minimum 15 days on the disabled list.  Will Carroll thinks otherwise and I tend to agree with his assessment.  You don’t see someone come back from a broken anything in two weeks and he compares the fracture to what happened to Derek Lee last year with the Cubs and that injury lingered all season.  This also makes the chances of trading him this year tat much tougher so it’ll probably be something that happens in the offseason.

The Andy MacPhail era has begun in Baltimore and I don’t know if he waved a magic wand or something but the Orioles aren’t doing all that bad.  Yeah, they dropped their last two but prior to that was a three game winning streak.  So since Perlozzo was fired, the Orioles are 3-3 and .500 ain’t all that bad when you’re an Orioles fan.

Probably the most impressive win was on Friday when Danny Cabrera took care of the Diamondbacks while the hitters took the wood to Brandon Webb.  Cabrera struck out six and while he still has two wins to go just to get up to .500, it’s something to build on.  He also got his ERA back under 5.00.  This was after six straight starts where he gave up at least three runs so not seeing any crooked numbers was a nice thing.

Brian Roberts has continued to rake and he now has an impressive six game hitting streak. In five of those games he had more then one hit and he’s seen his batting average climb from .305 to .324.   And he’s hit two of his four homeruns in his past three games.

Tonight, the Orioles start a three game set against the Yankees.  Tomorrow’s matchup of Roger Clemens versus Erik Bedard would make a great ESPN game but it looks like they’re showing the Mets/Cardinals game instead. 

I’d really like to see someone a site like this for the Orioles minor league affliates.  The Minor League Blogs network is looking for writers so if this is something you’d be interested in, drop me a line.  I’ve been told there’s even a little bit of money in it for the writer (yes, it’s hard to believe I get paid to write on this blog).

What more can you say then, this team stinks.  Yeah, they have some good players, and yes as Orioles fans we should be used to this, but it’s still a drag.  Nothing seems to quite go right for the Orioles.  Bruce Chen?  Danny Cabrera?  Heck, even Chris Ray have all been hyped but none of them ever lived up to expectations.  Chen is gone, Cabrera looks like a back end starter and Ray looks like a guy who’d be headed for middle relief if we had someone to replace him.

Of course all of that should be fixed right?  Sam Perlozzo is now gone and he must have the been problem.  Yes, I’m being saracastic.  I’m going to defend Perlozzo because he was hardly awesome out there but firing the manager probably isn’t going to bring this team back from the depths it’s sunk to.

It looks like Joe Girardi is the name being thrown around and I’m a little skeptical.  Yeah, he got a lot out of that Marlins team last year but you wonder if Peter Angelos wants the headache.  It’d be nice if we got him, but it also wouldn’t surprise me of the the Orioles picked up more of a company man.

What about Brian Roberts though.  That power thing he had going a few years ago is gone but he leads the team in just about everything.  Nick Markakis is also a guy who looks like he’s finding his own and he very well could drive in 100 runs on a pretty bad team which is impressive in it’s own right.  And Miguel Tejada is quietly having a nice season despite not belting a bunch of homeruns.

So this team has some parts, they just have to be put together.  You wonder if a front office move is next.  I’d hate to completely break down this team because I like a lot of the players but something, anything has to be done.  Sigh.

And it doesn’t get an easier as the Orioles roll into San Diego for three against the best of the National League.  Tonight we’ll see Steve Trachsel take on Jake Peavy.  Mr. Peavy is the early fav. for the Cy Young in the NL so I’m not holding my breath in this one.  In fact I might not even stay up past the third inning with it being on the West Coast.

It looks like, after another mediocre start and some questionable calls, that Sam Perlozzo may be on the chopping block soon.  While the Orioles haven’t been horrible and they had a decent start in April, things have fallen off and at 20-23, they find themselves 9 1/2 games back of Boston.  Even being in second place doesn’t mean much and some of those losses, like last Sundays against Boston, are Perlozzo’s fault.

Which brings up the question of what happens to Leo Mazzone.  Does he walk too because of his tight relationship with Sam Perlozzo, or do you give him the manager job.  The Orioles are middle of the pack in ERA but that’s better then year’s past when they’ve been closer to the bottom.  Of course the pitching staff is also dead last in walks allowed too.  So maybe he never got his magic done in Baltimore and it’s time to cut the losses.

I’m of the opinion that they should give Davey Johnson the job again.  He’s more sabermetrically inclined and he’s gotten done in the past.

It’s been three weeks, but I’m back.  Some net problems at Baseball Historians HQ caused some posting problems so I was out of action.  I missed the four game winning streak that pushed the Orioles back up to .500 but now, after four straight losses, the Orioles are back are well back of the first place Red Sox.  Nine games in fact, but just one game back of the second place and still struggling Yankees.

It’s bad when your closer is tied for your team in wins but that’s the case for the Orioles.  And Steve Trachsel of all pitchers leads the team in ERA.  Erik Bedard is getting it done but without run support, he hasn’t picked up a win in his last five starts.  And while Miguel Tejada is hitting a nice .314, he’s hit only two homeruns.  Last I heard, they hadn’t pushed the fences back at Camden Yards.

The Orioles try to avoid a sweep tonight with Brian Burres on the mound.  He picked up his first career win in his last start so hopefully he can follow that up with a nice outing and end this skid.

I guess I don’t like these two game series, considering the Orioles have gotten swept in both of theirs this weekend.  This time it was two at the hands of the Red Sox and with the four game losing streak, the Orioles are now back to an even .500 record.

Once again, it was a lack of offense that cost the Orioles.  A pretty good start by Danny Cabrera went to waste and he took the loss.  He gave up three runs on five hits and five walks with five strikeouts in 6 2/3 and the loss drops him to 1-2.  Miguel Tejada drove in the only run for the Orioles in the 6-1 loss with a solo homerun.

Yesterday was more of the same as the Orioles lost 5-2.  A grand slam homer off of Chris Ray in the eighth inning was what did the Orioles in.  Adam Loewen had a pretty nice start and he gave up a run on two hits and five walks with five strikeouts in six innings but it was wasted.  Melvin Mora went two for four with an RBI and Nick Markakis doubled and drove in one.

Now the Orioles have to try to get back on track against a hot Indians team in Cleveland.  I’d be pretty happy if the Orioles took two out of three in this and started next week with a winner record again.

Well, the Orioles nice winning streak came to an abrupt end when the Athletics came to town.  Erik Bedard was hit hard yesterday and he surrendered five runs in the fourth inning and never had the lead in a 6-5 loss.  Bedard lost his first game since opening day and he gave up five runs on seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.  Brian Roberts had a nice day at the plate and he went three for five with a homerun, two runs and two RBIs.  Aubrey Huff homered and he drove in three.

Then this afternoon, the Orioles were shut down by Dallas Braden.  Aubrey Huff was the hitting star in the 42 loss and he went two for four with a triple, a run and an RBI.  Jeremy Guthrie took the loss and he gave up two runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts in five innings.

The Orioles stay home and they host the Red Sox for two games.  Danny Cabrera has the unenviable task of taking on Curt Schilling tomorrow.

Don’t look now, but the Orioles have won four straight and they ahead of both the Yankees and the Blue Jays, and just behind the Red Sox, in the American League Central.  They did it with a three game sweep over the Blue Jays and you wonder if things are just starting to click.  I know we have 2005 to look back on to see how quickly things can fall apart but for now, we should enjoy it while we can.

On Friday, we had a good old fashioned come back.  Down 4-2, Aubrey Huff and Kevin Millar drove in a run a piece in the eighth to tie it and then Nick Markakis drove home Corey Patterson to win it in the ninth.  Markakis finished the game with three hits and Melvin Mora drove in two and walked three times in the 5-4 win.  Danny Cabrera threw a solid 6 2/3 innings and he struck out seven and Chris Ray picked up the win with a shutout ninth.

It actually got easier from there.  Saturday’s game saw Adam Loewen throw 5 2/3 decent innings and he improved to 2-0.  The seven walks were disappointing but they didn’t come back to haunt the Orioles in the 5-2 win.  Chris Gomez finished with two hits and two runs while Miguel Tejada drove in two.

Then yesterday, it was Nick Markakis again with a double, a triple, three RBIs and two runs in the 7-3 win.  Tejada drove in three and finished with three hits.  Even Steve Trachsel got it done and he picked up his first win with 5 1/3 solid innings.  He gave up just one run on four hits and four walks with three strikeouts.

At the end of all that, the Orioles sit at 11-7.  Next up is two against the Athletics beginning tonight and it’ll be Erik Bedard taking on Danny Haren.  I know it’s easy to be an optimist right now, but I like our chances in this one.

The Orioles scored 19 runs in their three game series this week against the Devil Rays and they took two of those three games.  The first game on Monday was the most impressive hitting display as the Orioles racked up nine runs.  Freddie Bynum, Melvin Mora and Aubrey Huff all went yard in the game.  Mora drove in three runs as did Bynum in the 9-7 win.  Adam Loewen was roughed up but the pen and the hitters picked him up.   Jeremy Guthrie picked up the win and Chris Ray saved it with a perfect ninth.

Yesterday was the loss and while the Orioles pitching threw eight solid innings, it was that one where things weren’t right that caused the problems.   All six Devil Rays runs came in the fourth inning and Steve Trachsel gave up all of them in the 6-4 loss.  Jon Knott hit a three run pinch hit homer in the eighth inning to make the game look closer then what it was.

Today, Erik Bedard had a tough time and he was tagged for single runs in each of the first three innings but two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth gave the Orioles the lead for good.  Bedard struck out eight in just 5 2/3 innings and he improved to 3-1 on the season.  Nick Markakis hit homerun number three and Miguel Tejada went three for four with two runs in the 6-4 win.

So the Orioles are 8-7.  If you had asked me at the beginning of the year whether I’d take an 8-7 record after 15 games, I would have been all over it.  Next is the Blue Jays as the roll into town for three games.   Danny Cabrera will take on A.J. Burnett in the opener.

Don’t look now, but the Orioles are twelve games into the season and they’re .500.  After three straight wins over the Royals, the Orioles sit at 6-6 and they’re in the mix in a tight AL East race.  Yeah, it’s early but Orioles fans can’t be too picky.

On Thursday, Jay Gibbons had a walk off RBI single in the bottom of the tenth to break a 1-1 tie in the Orioles 2-1 win over the Royals.  Steve Trachsel had a nice start to keep the Orioles in it and he gave up just one run on three hits and a walk in seven innings in what was his best start of the season.  Chris Ray picked up the win after a perfect tenth inning.

On Friday, Nick Markakis got the stick going and he hit a grand slam in the 8-1 win.  Erik Bedard picked up the win with a very nice outing and he gave up just one run on five hits and four walks with nine strikeouts in six innings.

Then on Saturday, Chris Gomez hit a grand slam to push the Orioles to a 6-4 win that finished the sweep.  Danny Cabrera had a mediocre outing but he was picked up by the pen, which shutout the Royals through four innings.  Scott Williamson picked up the win and Chris Ray saved it with a shutout ninth.  Alberto Castillo finished the game with two hits and two runs.

Then yesterday’s game was cancelled with all of the rain.  Next up is a three game series in Tampa as the Orioles head south.  Adam Loewen gets the start in the opener tonight.

Three series down, two series lost.  This is the way it’s been for Orioles fans for some time though and this week was no exception as the Tigers came into town and took two of three from the Orioles.

Things got off to a good start on Monday as the Orioles opened Camden Yards.  They jumped all over Chad Durbin for four runs in the third inning and then they tacked on two more in the fifth for good measure.  Kevin Millar homered and Brian Roberts had two hits and two runs in the 6-2 win.  Of yeah, Danny Cabrera threw a really nice game as well.  He gave up just two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts (yes, no walks!!!) in 7 2/3 innings. 

Then it went downhill from there.  A decent start by Jaret Wright went to waste as the Orioles scored just a single run.  Corey Patterson went yard in the eighth and that was the Orioles got in the 3-1 loss.  Even worse was last night where the Orioles didn’t score until the twelth inning.  Adam Loewen and six relievers combined for an eleven inning shutout before Kurt Birkins gave up a grand slam homerun in the top of the twelth in the 4-1 loss.  The lone run came when Corey Patterson scored on a balk of all things.  The team managed just six hits in twelve innings though, and that’s not going to cut it.

Next up are the Royals, who roll into town today for a four game series.  Steve Trachsel will get the start in the series opener tonight.

Happy days.  The Orioles went into Yankee Stadium and took two of three from the former division champs.  They got off to a good start on Friday witha 6-4 win.  Nick Markakis and Jay Gibbons drove in two runs while Melvin Mora had three hits and two runs.  Adam Loewen pitched five solid innings and he gave up just two runs on five hits.

Then the pen failed us on Saturday.  The Orioles jumped out to a 7-3 lead but saw it disappear with a three run shot by Jason Giambi and then a walk off grand slam by Alex Rodriguez.  Melvin Mora had a big day with a homerun and five RBIs while Chris Ray took it on the nose with the A-Rod homer.  This could have been a sweep but oh well.

Yesterday, Erik Bedard got off to a rough start but he calmed down and picked up his first win of the season.  He gave up three runs (all in the first inning) on five hits with five strikeouts.  This time, Chris Ray got it done and he picked up the save.  Kevin Millar had the big game at the plate.  He went two for three with a homerun, three RBIs and two runs.

The home opener is this afternoon as the Tigers roll into town.  Danny Cabera gets the start and a win would give the Orioles a three game winning streak.  And they’re sitting just a game and a half out of first as only the Blue Jays have a winning record in the division.

It’s already getting ugly for Orioles fans and I’m going to have to break out those Earl Weaver years retrospectives sooner just to lighten the mood.  The Orioles were swept by the Twins and this time it was Ramon Ortiz who did a number on the Twins.  While that was happening, Jaret Wright was getting shelled to the tune of six runs (four earned) in 2 1/3 innings.  Give some props to the pen for not letting it get too out of hand but it didn’t matter because the Orioles had no punch.

The Orioles scattered six hits in the game.  Melvin Mora doubled, scored and drove in a run while Brian Roberts tripled and scored.  And guess what, it doesn’t get any easier because the Orioles roll into New York for three games.  I’m having 1988 flashbacks.

I guess we should get used to this.  This time, the Orioles had the pitching with Danny Cabrera throwing seven solid innings.  Unfortunately, the hitters racked up only two runs on five hits.  Your two runs came on a Melvin Mora solo shot and a Aubrey Huff RBI single.  Huff actually had a pretty solid game.  He had two hits and a walk.

Cabrera gave up three runs on six hits and four walks with nine strikeouts in seven innings of work.  Jamie Walker and Chad Bradford each threw a shutout frame to finish up the game.  Tomorrow, it’ll be Jaret Wright on the mound.  Maybe we can get a couple of more hits.

Erik Bedard took it on the chin today.  I didn’t realize the Twins offense was this good until I saw them on TV today but man do they have a solid middle of the order.  Bedard saw it too, to the tune of six runs on ten hits and he didn’t even make it through the fifth inning.

Miguel Tejada had the only homerun of the game for the Orioles.  Tejada, Aubrey Huff and Jay Gibbons all had two hits in the game.

Danny Cabrera will get the start tomorrow.  It sure would be nice if the Orioles didn’t bury themselves so things at least stay interesting through, say, July.  Sigh.

MiLB.com continued their look at spring training camps with a look at the Orioles.  The burning question has to do with how well the Orioles have done the past two years in the draft and then there’s a Q&A with Jeff Fiorentino.  Good read with a ton of information.

Rob Neyer talks about the Mazzone Effect on his blog.  Erik Beddard put together an impressive run against the Red Sox recently and that’s his spring board into how much of an impact Leo Mazzone can have on the pitching staff.  He also predicts the Orioles to finish fourth, which also isn’t much of a suprise.

David Gassko at the Hardball Times recently took a look at the five key questions the Orioles have leading into 2007.  He talks about the reunion between Leo Mazzone and Jaret Wright as well as whether we can expect anything out of Melvin Mora in 2007.  He wraps things up with a prediction that the Orioles won’t do much in 2007.  He does have the Orioles with a winning record though, which would be a pleasant change.

I am somewhat optmistic about the Orioles heading into this year.  I know they won’t be in the playoff mix but I think they’re finally building a solid core and there’s some young guys to get excited about.

The Orioles managed only one run on five hits today against some pretty mediocre pitching by the Red Sox.  The only run of the game came when Aubrey Huff singled home Miguel Tejada in the fourth inning.

Daniel Cabrera was in his usual form. He gave up a single run but he walked five in five innings of work.  He struck out three and gave two hits.

The loss puts the Orioles at 9-8 on the season.  The Orioles have the day off tomorrow but then the Orioles play their first night game on Tuesday.  Jaret Wright gets the start.

The Orioles extended the contract of Brian Roberts by two years yesterday.  He’ll make an additional $14.3 million over that time, which isn’t too bad of a deal if Roberts can find his way back to his old form before his injury in 2005.  Regardless, he’s a productive second baseman and that’s nothing to scoff at.

PECOTA has Roberts coming down to earth in 2007.  They have him at a .263/.336/.390 line and a 17.1 VORP, which is almost half of last year’s total. 

In an organizational preview, MiLB.com takes a look at the Orioles minor league system.  There’s a ton of stuff here including player profiles for each farm team and it looks like the expected standouts are Bill Rowell and Pedro Beato.  It’s a nice read and a good overall look at the things.

It’s been a pretty good spring for the Orioles.  They’re now 7-2 and only the Yankees have a better spring record in the American League.  Even more impressive is that they did it against Japanese phenom Matsuzaka.  They bounced him for four runs in his four innings with Jason Dubois (two for three with a homerun and two RBIs) and Jon Knott (three for four with a solo homerun) leading the way with the bat.

Steve Trachsel had another mediocre outing.  He gave up two runs on six hits and a walk in three innings but Rob Bell threw two shutout frames to lead the pitching staff.

Next up is the Dodgers with Erik Bedard getting the start.  It’ll be another day game.

Pretty nice.  Melvin Mora doubled twice and he drove in four runs as the Orioles took out the Mets today 6-3.  Brian Roberts scored twice and he doubled and drew a walk.

Jaret Wright threw a shutout inning in the first inning Waters had a decent outing with two shutout frames.  Tomorrow, the Orioles take on the Marlins with Adam Loewen getting the start.

Spring baseball has started for the Orioles and similar to most days last year, the Orioles lost.  Steve Trachsel got the Orioles off to a rough start when he gave up three runs in the first inning.  Brian Burres was also hammered as was Deza, who gave up a two run walk off homerun to end the Orioles chances of walking away with a win.

Chris Gomez hit the only Orioles homerun and he finished with three RBIs and two runs.  Nick Markakis and Jeff Fiorentino each had two hits in the game.

Tomorrow will be a rematch between the Orioles and Marlins.  I’m thinking win this time.

Jamie Walker had to make a trip to the hospital today when he took a comebacker to the back of the head off of the bat of Nick Markakis.  He’s got a minor concussion and it’s unclear as to when he’ll be back.

The Orioles avoided arbitration with Erik Bedard when they signed him to a one year, $3.4 million deal deal.  He could make another $100k is he hits various innings pitched total so if he goes 200 innings, it’ll end up being a $3.5 million deal.

Bedard broke out in 2006 and won 15 games with 171 strikeouts.  There’s no doubt that heading into spring, he’s the number one guy and he should get the opening day start.  PECOTA has Bedard with a weighted mean average WHIP of 1.38 and a 4.19 ERA with a slightly lower 6.7 strikeout per nine innings rate.  They do have him with a 47% improve rate though so they expect him to probably be on the better end of those numbers then the lower.

Hayden Penn had a tough 2006 season.  His season was derailed by an appendectomy of all things and after a red start at Triple A, Penn came back from the surgery and struggled.  His 2006 line looks like something out of a video game (that you’d see from the opposition) but this is a guy who was a top prospect coming in 2006 so now we’ll get to see what he can really do now that he’s fully recovered.

Penn hopes to be in the rotation in 2007 and a good spring would go a long way toward solidifying his spot on the team.  If he doesn’t make the rotation, it’d be nice to see pick up some major league innings in long relief (a la Earl Weaver) then make his way into the starting rotation.  But this is why I wasn’t too crazy about the Steve Trachesel signing.  It means one more year of question marks for Penn.

I know, it’s not final yet until the physical goes down, but the Orioles are going to sign Steve Trachsel to a one year, $3.1 million deal to replace Kris Benson in the rotation.  Trachsel won 15 games last year but his numbers were hardly stellar.  He walked 78 and struck out only 79 in 164 2/3 innings.  His WHIP of 1.60 was nothing to write home about either.  He’s a soft throwing right hander who’s 36 and known for working very slowly during the game.

Then again, at this point, beggars can’t be choosers.  This is obviously a reaction to the Benson injury and Trachsel very well might have been the best guy left out there.