Earl Weaver Rules

MLB.com picked Manny Machado as the tenth best prospect in baseball in their recent list.  He turned 19 during the year yet still managed to post some nice numbers as he split his season between Low-A and High-A.  This is a big kid with a solid glove and he should be roaming the infield for the Orioles sooner rather then later.

Of course there’s still a chance they switch him over to third base so there’s that to contend with.  Some of it will have to do with whether he keeps up the great defensive work and some of it will be based on the needs of the Orioles.  Eventually he could show a little more pop too.

1)  Dylan Bundy  RHP
2)  Manny Machado  ss
3)  Jon Schoop  INF
4)  Parker Bridwell  RHP
5)  L.J. Hoes  OF/2b
6)  Nicky Delmonico  3b/1b
7)  Ryan Flaherty  INF/OF
8)  Jason Esposito  3b
9)  Xavier Avery  OF
10)  Dan Klein  RHP

The Orioles signed Japanese left handed starter Tsuyoshi Wada to a two year, $8.15 million deal that also includes a $5 million option for 2014.  Wada had a really nice year in Japan last year (1.53 ERA, 16-5 record with 168 strikeouts in 184 2/3 innings).  He’ll follow in the footsteps of Koji Uehara, who the Orioles were able to sell high at the trade deadline last year.

Wada is a left hander and I like the move. If he can be a solid third or fourth starter, the Orioles should get their money’s worth for a little more then four million a year.  The Orioles continue to develop their international scouting and I like some of these moves they’re making.  It looks like the Orioles have their eyes on Chen Wei-Yin in Taiwan.

The Orioles traded Jarret Martin and Tyler Henson for Dodgers starting pitcher Dana Eveland.  Eveland has bounced around and while he was solid with the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate, he always seems to have a problem once he’s throwing in the big leagues.

The Orioles will be Eveland’s seventh team and he’s only 28.  Probably the biggest trade he’s been in was the one that sent Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks.  He’ll make $750,000 next year which is solid for a guy who should compete for a spot in the back of the rotation.  With the Orioles still on the outside looking in, they need a few innings eaters while their young talent develops and hopefully Eveland can fill that role.

As far as what they gave up, Henson was a fifth round pick that never really panned out although he’s still only 24.  Martin is a few years away and he looks like he needs to work on his command.  So they didn’t give up any blue chips.

The Orioles put right handed pitching prospect Oliver Drake onto the 40 man roster and in effect, they protected him from the Rule 5 draft coming up in a couple of weeks.  Drake pitched at three different levels last year and put up some solid numbers.  He did struggle once he got to Double-A though and my guess is that’s where he starts the 2012 season.

That put the number of players on the 40 man roster to 39.  The Orioles have been in talks about signing a Korean pitcher so he could be the final roster spot but that also meant there were some odd men out. 2011 Minor League pitcher of the year, Tim Bascom, was left off the roster so he could be scooped up by someone in December.

The Orioles are close to a deal that would lock up Korean relief pitcher Tae-Hyon Chong.  They’ve apparantly agreed to terms but the specifics still aren’t locked down so we’ll have to see if we’re getting a bargain or not.  Chong helped Korea win the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics and he’s an unconventional submarine style pitcher.

He still has to pass a physical but I’m always leery of these foreign players.  His numbers are impressive (under 2.00 ERA) but it’s in a completely different league.  And eventually these odd deliveries work for part of the season before teams and players catch on.  Still, hopefully he’ll make a solid contribution to the Orioles pen after is was gutted during the 2011 trade deadline.

Kevin Goldstein released his list of the top eleven Orioles prospects and it’s a pretty good batch with two five star prospects and one four star.  Topping the list is right handed pitcher and 2011 first round draft pick Dylan Bundy.  He just turned 19 and he’ll most likely get a full season slot to start the season but this kid bears watching.  He was taken fourth overall and it’ll be fun to see how he develops.

Second is the Orioles 2010 first round pick, Manny Machado.  The shortstop split time between Low-A and High-A he’s also 19.  Goldstein speculates that he could eventually move to third base but this is another guy I’m interested in seeing develop.

Rounding out the top five are Jonathan Schoop (inf), Nick Delmonico (3b) and Jason Esposito (3b).  All of these guys are a couple of years away.  The Orioles have some nice young talent coming up we just have to be patient as they all develop.