Earl Weaver Rules

Welcome to the first post in a season-long blog on your beloved Orioles. As an outsider looking in (and a Cleveland Indians fan) the two things about the Orioles that stir any emotion in me whatsoever are as follows — the bald bouncer from the Jerry Springer Show snapping the Iron Horse’s record and Robbie Alomar hawking a fat loogie in that umpire’s face. Despite my jaded memories, the fact remains that in the mid-90′s, Baltimore was a force to be reckoned with in the American League. So most of you probably have your beliefs in how to restore the O’s to glory. In this preview I’ll give a quick rundown of the projected starting lineup in this first post. In the second, I’ll take a look at the starting rotation and some key relievers (the ones not charged with manslaughter). So here we go. In the words of Samuel L. Jackson, “Hold on to your butts.”
OUTFIELD:
Left field: Luke Scott. 2010 Splits: .284 batting average, 27 home runs, 72 RBI, .902 OPS. Brief: Last season, Scott was the power hitter on a team lacking power. It’s not a great compliment but make no mistake, Scott is a very solid hitter that brings consistency to the O’s lineup from the leftside of the dish.
Center field: Adam Jones. 2010 splits: .284 average, 19 home runs, 69 RBI, .767 OPS. Brief: The prodigy I’m sure many Orioles fans are waiting on to take the next step in his development. He splashed on the scene a couple years ago and has shown signs of breaking out. Scouts have said that his bat is generating more power and producing more backspin on the ball, allowing it to carry. Here’s hoping for Baltimore fans that Jones can doink a few more off that hot dog in right field.
Right field: Nick Markakis 2010 splits: .297 average, 12 home runs, 60 RBI, .805 OPS. Brief: The 27-year-old has saw his power numbers dip for the fourth consecutive year. Great average, but at a position normally reserved for dudes with 20-inch biceps that tear the cover off the ball, wouldn’t you guys trade some average points for some increased slugging?

INFIELD
Third base: Mark Reynolds. 2010 splits: .198 average, 32 home runs, 85 RBI, .753 OPS. Brief: You know what I wrote for Markakis? Go ahead and take that rationale and flip it on his head. In a move to add some pop from the right side of the dish, the Orioles brought in the strikeout king of Arizona (sort of like the Sausage King of Chicago). This dude is truly feast or famine, but when he’s feasting, the ball is in the stratosphere.
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy. 2010 splits: .268 average, six home runs, 38 RBI, .714 OPS. Brief: A tough go for Hardy in 2010 with the Twins. Injuries and the big new ballpark in Minneapolis led to miniscule power numbers. He’s still just 28 and if he can keep his wrists, amongst other body parts, healthy.
Second base: Brian Roberts. 2010 splits: .278 average, 4 home runs, 15 RBI, .745 OPS. Brief: Remember in the early 2000′s when Roberts was a one-man unstoppable force of nature? (Coincidentally it occurred right in the meat of the so-called steroids era. But I digress…) Roberts was riddled with injuries last year, hence the low numbers. Now 33-years-old, perhaps Roberts best days are behind him. However, if he can keep that average up above .280 and drive the ball gap-to-gap, Roberts will remain a very valuable piece on this O’s roster.
First base: Derek Lee. 2010 splits: .260 average, 19 home runs, 80 RBI, .774 OPS. Brief: My man is a true mystery. I think now that he’s 35, it’s time to accept that Lee isn’t a power hitter. I’ve heard excuses from my Cubs fan friends about the lack of power from D-Lee. (Many of them are legit considering his track record of injuries). But, we see this 6-foot-five dude with big muscles and expect him to hit 40 home runs and it’s just not his thing. He’s at his best when he’s driving the ball to right-center field for extra-base hits. P.S. Lee took batting practice for the first time with that bum thumb of his…so you got that going for you…which is nice…
Catcher: Matt Wieters. 2010 splits: .249 average, 11 home runs, 55 RBI, .695 OPS. Brief: Wieters is a 6-foot-five 230-pound lumberjack that’s oozing with potential that Orioles fans are hoping he taps into in 2011. The 2007 first round pick needs to come alive and he needs to do it now-ish if the Orioles want to be taken seriously. Get it goin’ Hoss.
DH: Vlad Guerrero. 2010 splits: .300 average, 29 home runs, 115 RBI, .841 OPS. Brief: I started laughing when I saw Vlad’s stats in ’10. An average year for Guerrero was a career year for 98 percent of the league. I love this guy. He swings at everything, he hits everything, he’s tough, doesn’t wear batting gloves…what’s not to like? If the Orioles tank (just playing devil’s advocate) O’s fans can still go see a guy whom I consider one of the most fun players to watch.
Alright that’s it for this week, see you next time for pitchers. Seacrest out.

There’s little doubt that the best baseball player to put on an Orioles uniform in the last 25 years is the Iron Man, Cal Ripken, Jr.  Now, you can relive some of his greatest moments with the Cal Ripken, Jr. Collector’s Edition DVD.  The set comes with five complete games as well a bonus disk with a bunch of extras.  Here are the games you get to relive with this set:

September 6, 1995 – Cal Ripken, Jr. passes Lou Gehrig for the most consecutive games played by a baseball player.
May 28, 1996 – Cal Ripken, Jr. hits three homeruns for the first time in his career and drives in a career best eight runs.
October 1, 1996 – Cal Ripken, Jr.’s first postseason appearance in 13 years, he goes three for three in game one of the ALDS against the Indians.
June 13, 1999 – Cal Ripken, Jr. goes a perfect six for six and sets Orioles single game records for hits (6) and runs (5).
July 10, 2001 – Cal Ripken, Jr.’s final All Star Game.  Ripken goes on to homer in the game and he wins the second All Star Game MVP award of his career.
Bonus Disk – A look at Cal Ripken, Jr.’s career.    This is a fun and fact filled documentary of one of baseball’s all time greats.

This is a must have for any Orioles fan and even more so if your a Cal Ripken, Jr. fan.

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.

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.