Author Archives: Domenic Vadala

Welcome to Birdland Crush! Yes folks, for the record it's a spin off of the popular summer beverage native to the Mid-Atlantic Region - "orange crush." Nevertheless, I've been covering Orioles' baseball since 2009 in some capacity, and it's basically the greatest gig of all time so far as I'm concerned! But for those who aren't familiar with my work or bio, I'm familiar with pretty much every sport out there. But baseball is king - we all know that. So my hope is that you come back and check in after every Orioles' game, and throughout the off-season. I'm always on duty!

Baltimore Orioles: Should the Birds go after Dexter Fowler?

Everyone remembers what happened last season between the Baltimore Orioles and outfielder Dexter Fowler. The undestanding was that the two sides had an agreement, and Fowler allegedly even told various Oriole players that he was on the way to Sarasota for spring training. Yet at some point that changed, and before anyone knew it Fowler had signed a one-year deal to remain with the Chicago Cubs.

Somehow in all of that, the Orioles were painted as the bad guys in that they were presumptuous enough to believe that Fowler was theirs before he actually was. Nevertheless, history will probably say that Fowler did the right thing of course, given that CHicago won the World Series. Incidentally, the SNAFU was never explained on Fowler’s part – all anyone has ever known is that somehow the Orioles were actually the party that made a mistake.

Interestingly enough, Chicago signed free agent outfielder Jon Jay yesterday to a one-year deal. That effectively puts Fowle, who’s once again a free agent, on notice that his days in Chicago are over. Incidentally I do find it interesting that after winning the World Series for the first time since 1908, Chicago opted for a cheaper alternative than keeping what they already had.

Nevertheless, should the Birds renew their interest in Fowler? I say yes. Granted he made them look foolish last spring and somehow spun that as their fault, however if you want to take  step from being a good team to a great one, sometimes you have to bite the bullet. The O’s also need a leadoff hitter, and Fowler is a bona fide leadoff man.

I suppose the one hangup might possibly be that the Orioles would slide Fowler into right field, which has basically been platooned since the departure of Nick Markakis. Fowler sees himself as a centerfielder – and he’s a good centerfielder at that. However he’s not going to unseat Adam Jones, who’s both a gold glove centerfielder and a fan favorite.

However is that partly why Fowler flew the coup before even getting here last season? There were a lot of rumors as to that, so it’s possible that the Orioles might have to fight harder to get him. However there’s another reason why they need t land Fowler this off season: Toronto wants him as well. If there’s one thing the Orioles can’t allow, it’s for a player of his caliber to land in the AL East.

Undoubtedly, there will be plenty of other teams who are interested in Fowler besides the Orioles and Toronto. Fowler would slide right into the top of the Orioles’ order very well, giving them a good punch from the beginning of the lineup. Whether they can come to an agreement is another story that remains to be seen.

Baltimore Orioles: Would a lockout cancel the Winter Meetings?

Major League Baseball could in theory lock out members of the Baltimore Orioles and other teams on Thursday if they don’t reach a new collective bargaining agreement. So let’s say that a lockout occurs…would next week’s Winter Meetings be canceled as a result? Anything is possible I presume…

…however I doubt it. The Winter Meetings are scheduled well in advance, and a lot of planning goes into them. This year they’re being held right here in Maryland at the National Harbor resort outside of DC. It’s been in the works for a long time.

Nevertheless, the Winter Meetings will go on as scheduled. However if a lockout occurs on Thursday, that would put a hold on free agency. And as we all know, that’s a huge part of the Winter Meetings every year. Agents and even players are all lingering around and talking to owners and GM’s. There are always a few “big ticket items” that go off the shelves at the Winter Meetings in terms of free agents landing with new teams.

So if the players are locked out, that aspect of the annual gathering won’t be present, which means that very little news will trickle out of the gathering. There will still be the annual Rule 5 draft, in which one would expect the Orioles to be active as usual. And the executives will still discuss the business of the sport, among other things. Just no free agency.

Incidentally, there’s a third option aside from a new CBA or a lockout. The sides could also vote to extend the current CBA just a bit. That would signal to fans that a deal is close, they just can’t reach it by Thursday. It would be similar to what the United States Congress calls a “Continuing Reslution” – or CR. When they can’t reach a budget deal by September 30th (which is the end of the fiscal year) they’ll often pass a CR to extend the previous budget by a period of time.

This gives them more time to negotiate and so forth, however in reality all it truly does is kick the can down the road. But it keeps the Federal Government open as opposed to having it close and furloughing thousands of government employees. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the route down which MLB executives and the player’s association go later this week. Either way, a lockout doesn’t serve anyone in the long run.

Baltimore Orioles: Caleb Joseph behind the dish full-time?

Is Caleb Joseph the anointed starting catcher for the Baltimore Orioles in 2017 and beyond? First off, to answer that question we’re assuming that Matt Wieters has no future in Baltimore. My personal opinion is that he won’t be back, which yes creates a vacancy behind the dish. But that’s not something that we obviously know for sure as of yet.

I suspect that the market for Wieters will start being set at next month’s fast-approaching Winter Meetings. But back to Joseph – are the Orioles prepared to go with him as their starting catcher assuming that Wieters walks? That would be the conventional wisdom I suppose, because he’s been more than a reliable backup to Wieters to this point. In 2015 he started for much of the first half of the season while Wieters was still injured…

…and the results were fairly good. While he only hit .234, he played a big role when he needed to do so. Last season of course he only hit at a .174 clip and couldn’t even deliver an RBI. However the fact is that you aren’t going to expect too much out of your catcher at the plate. If he can get a base hit here and there, maybe a home run, and perhaps move guys over on the base paths, you’re going to be happy.

Joseph does have a prowess behind the plate, and while he’s not Wieters he would probably have been starting last year on quite a few teams. However the question is whether or not he’s the heir-apparent if Wieters walks. Again, I say yes.

And not just for the fact that he is in fact a solid catcher. But who else is out there for the Orioles? The Birds have expressed interest in bringing back former catcher Nick Hundley, and there are several other decent catchers on the market this year as well. However the question is whether or not any of them are comparable with Joseph. And my personal opinion is that they are not.

To me it would serve no purpose to bring someone else in only to keep Joseph as a backup. He’s well liked in the clubhouse, and even if he doesn’t always get on base he does contribute. However we also know that often times teams will make guys compete for the starting job, and that might be where the Orioles go with Joseph. But at the end of the day, I think he starts behind the plate on Opening Day.

Baltimore Orioles: How important is spring training?

The Baltimore Orioles and other MLB teams closely monitor how many reps and how much playing time their players get during spring training. The question is whether or not that’s as necessary as people think. In essence, are spring training games really important?

And speaking for myself, the answer is yes. Every year in the NFL we hear the criticism of preseason games and how they’re meaningless. In terms of the standings, yes they’re meaningless. But for the same reasons, athletes in both leagues need exhibition games.

In baseball, hitters often need two weeks worth of games to get their timing back. That’s why often the first two weeks of Grapefruit or Cactus League play is vanilla – even by exhibition standards. And I’m not disagreeing in that the “on-field product” is vanilla in those games. But they’re necessary.

Pitchers and catchers of course report a few days before position players, and that’s for timing reasons as well in a sense. It gives them some extra time to acclimate or re-acclimate themselves with one another, because obviously if they aren’t on the same page…needless to say the games will take on a poor quality. And they’ll be very long!

When people question the need for exhibition games I’ll always say that they’re very necessary. There are a lot of things that can be simulated in a practice. But there’s a big difference between that and playing in a game against another team with umpires and so forth.

There’s also a chance for coaches to take a look at young players who may have a future in the organization. As the later innings of these games go on, we see them being rotated into the games. So coaches can get a look at players that might well be the future of the organization, in real live game action. That’s a valuable tool.

In essence, what happens in October began taking place on the sunny fields of Florida or Arizona back in March. And the fact is that spring training is a leisurely atmosphere, as opposed to the intensity of the regular season. Players and coaches are often much more accessible for autographs, and in a sense teams literally uproot their entire operation and move it to a small community in Florida or Arizona for a month-and-a-half. Spring training has a certain charm with which the regular season can’t really compete. And that’s part of the beauty of baseball.

Baltimore Orioles: How would an MLB lockout affect fans in the long term?

Nobody wants a work stoppage in MLB, neither the Baltimore Orioles, the rest of the league, the players, or the fans. However if a deal isn’t done by next Thursday, that’s a very real possibility. Personally my recommendation to everyone involved is to get a deal done – even if it means signing a contract that extends the current deal an additional month or something along those lines. Just get it done.

Nobody wants to see what happens in a work stoppage in the modern day. As I said yesterday, I would submit that some of the issues the NFL is now having began with their lockout a few years ago. Granted no regular season games were missed, however that put them on the radar of labor unrest.

Baseball struggled to force itself back into the national spotlight following the 1994 players’ strike. That year’s fall classic was canceled, as was the beginning of the 1995 season. Finally the season started following teams missing 18 regular season games. And fans took out their frustrations at the turnstiles, with empty seats attending games en masse.

This is why many people credit the great Cal Ripken Jr. for saving baseball when he broke the consecutive games played streak that September. It gave people a reason to come back and pay attention. Obviously we don’t know how things would have unfolded if not for the streak, however whether the sport would have bounced back the way it did is unclear.

My point here is that there’s no streak or subsequent home run record chase on the horizon this time around. If anything, the contemporary version of that might have been this past world series, which was a feel-good story on both sides. So…does MLB really want to leverage that in an attempt to win at collective bargaining?

Obviously we can’t know what the short or long-term affects of a work stoppage would be. But if games are missed, you can imagine that there would be people who wouldn’t come back to the ballpark right away. And that would be a disaster for the sport. Baseball is an everyday affair; if suddenly people aren’t coming to or watching games, that will affect not only the league’s bottom line, but it’s PR as well.

One might argue that a work stoppage could in theory make MLB the most obscure of the four major leagues. In summertime, it’s the only game in town. The good news is that I don’t see it happening. Even if there is a lockout next week, there’s still a long way to go before the regular season begins.

Baltimore Orioles: Is MLB about to go through labor unrest?

The Baltimore Orioles and the rest of MLB might well have their world rocked at some point in the near future. Earlier this week, FOX’s Ken Rosenthal reported in this article that all is not necessarily well on the labor front in baseball. The current CBA expires next week on December 1st, and there’s a real possibility that the owners might lock the players out if no deal is reached by then.

I’ll let you read Rosenthal’s article and draw your own conclusions as to who’s right and wrong. However mind you that there’s never been a sniff of labor unrest since the conclusion of the 1994 players’ strike which canceled the World Series. Baseball had  a tough time coming back from that, and many say if not for Cal’s streak the sport might have never recovered.

So the very idea that there could be a work stoppage is a scary prospect for baseball fans. First off however, a lock out could occur right now and some folks might not even know it. December’s winter meetings might be more low-key than they otherwise would be, however a work stoppage is only a work stoppage if there’s work to be stopped. Right now, we aren’t talking about games being played.

So a lockout next week wouldn’t be the end of the world. It wouldn’t be good, but it’s easily fixable. But if it starts to go into the later months of the winter, that could be a problem. If actual games start getting affected (even spring training games), I’m not sure how patient people will be.

I would submit that some of the bad PR the NFL has began with their lockout years ago. Granted no regular season games were affected, but that’s where labor strife began. MLB needs to take note of that, because a lot of people are now turning more and more cynical of the NFL. Now the majority of that is due to the fact that Roger Goodell is inept. However that goes back to their lockout, as that’s where it seemingly began.

To piggyback on that point, I would submit that baseball is as popular now as it’s been since that 1994 strike. Some of that has to do with the fact that we just completed a true feel-good post-season and World Series. But…does the league really want to risk that turning south?

Admittedly, I usually side with labor over management in these situations. However your average fan doesn’t care if it’s a lockout (where the owners lock the players out of the facilities) or if it’s a players’ strike (where the players’ union refuses to play). The ends are the same: no games. So my message to MLB and the MLBPA is to get this fixed. If not by next week, certainly in time for the season to start.

Incidentally, what would a work stoppage mean for this region? Teams like the Frederick Keys and Bowie Baysox would probably see an attendance spike, as would the Potomac Nationals. But do we really want it to get to that?

Baltimore Orioles: Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I’m going to keep this incredibly brief today, as Baltimore Orioles’ fans have better things to do than read The Orange Crush. But from me to yours, I want to wish one and all a Happy Thanksgiving. Yes folks, Thanksgiving Day is upon us!

The Orioles and Orioles fans have a lot for which to be thankful this year. First and foremost, the team returned to the post-season. Yes some will point out that it was a short-lived stint. But hey, they were there. And one would hope that would drive interest going into next year.

However fans have something bigger for which to be thankful as well: the team itself. There are so many places in America that don’t have access to Major League Baseball, and thus don’t know what a boom it is in their everyday civic lives. Look at cities like Charlotte, Portland, Las Vegas, etc. Even smaller cities such as OKC, Jacksonville, etc.

Not only are Orioles fans blessed to have the Birds, but also two National League teams within close proximity. Not everyone has that. And yes folks, it is in fact a blessing – from a sports perspective, that is.

Again, best wishes to all of Birdland for a great Thanksgiving!

Baltimore Orioles tap into the past to fill vacancies

Most Baltimore Orioles fans probably remember Alan Mills, as he’s a veteran of nine seasons with the O’s. However one of his teammates on the 1996 team was Roger McDowell, who was hired yesterday as the Birds’ new pitching coach. Mills will fill into a new role as well, as the Orioles’ new bullpen coach.

McDowell’s been Atlanta’s pitching coach over the last 11 years, helping to lead their rotation to a rank of fourth in the majors. His staffs had a 3.88 ERA over that time span. He replaced Leo Mazzone in 2005, who ironically left Atlanta to come to the Orioles at that time.

Mills has spent five years as a pitching coach in the Orioles’ organization, returning to the team with whom he spent the lion share of his career. He was somewhat of a fan favorite when he was with the Orioles over the aforementioned nine years, and was always one of the more well-known members of the bullpen. A bullpen that he’ll now lead.

The biggest challenge that McDowell will have is working with the likes of Bundy and Gausman – the Orioles’ young starters. That and managing guys like Jimenez, Tillman, and Gallardo, and trying to figure out where they each belong. Mills’ biggest challenge is going to be keeping the quality of the staff where it’s been.

The Orioles of course got this done just in the nick of time for the Warehouse to close for the Thanksgiving holiday. So Birds’ fans can now be thankful that the pitching staff has leadership this year!

Baltimore Orioles: The line between freedom and tyranny

Luckily for the Baltimore Orioles and MLB, the league doesn’t appear to have the issue that the NFL currently has whereby players are protesting the national anthem. An I suspect that moving forward we won’t see anything like that in baseball. It’s too tied to the fabric of our country, and too synonymous with holidays such as Memorial Day and the 4th of July.

There are lots of people however calling for the NFL (and perhaps even MLB) to pass a rule saying that players and coaches have to stand for the national anthem. And I can’t say that I myself wouldn’t support that, because as an American I do resent the fact that any of my fellow countrymen could turn their backs on the liberties and freedoms that we’ve all been given. Those freedoms are symbolized in our flag and in our National Anthem.

However where’s the line exactly between freedom and tyranny? When the Collin Kaepernick argument was hot, there was an internet meme going around saying that forced patriotism existed across the globe…in countries like North Korea. And that in and of itself is something that should give Americans pause.

Would it in essence be tyrannical to force MLB players to stand for the national anthem? Mind you folks, we’re not talking about true tyranny in the sense of kneel down and kiss the king’s ring at a penalty of death. However as Americans we also believe in freedom of expression. So would forcing someone to stand when they may not want to do so be violating that freedom of expression?

It’s really a tough call. However there’s also a distinction that needs to be made. MLB and the NFL are private organizations – in essence, private companies. Your place of employment does have the right to regulate certain aspects of your life, like it or not. You can’t NOT wear a coat and tie to work if that’s required as part of the dress code and then claim it’s a violation of your freedom, as an example.

So if a league such as MLB identified that players sitting for the anthem would offend a large portion of it’s clientele (which it undoubtedly would), one could argue that they could and should make a rule against it. And while that’s kind of where I fall in this discussion, I’m also wary of the flip side of the coin. It does come off to me as an invasion of one’s freedoms in a sense – possibly.

However in closing, I would mention that at some point, we as a nation need to reclaim our very status as a nation. Since the end of WWII, anti-nationalism has taken hold in Europe. Now in no way am I suggesting that people should blindly follow everything their government does and says regardless of anything else. However at a certain point you have to have some sort of national pride – on a minimal level, respecting your nation’s flag and anthem. Otherwise you go from being a country to a group of people who share a geographic region.

Baltimore Orioles: Deal from a position of strength?

There’s a school of thought out there which says that the Baltimore Orioles should consider dealing closer Zach Britton. So let me preface this by saying that I think that’s one of the most ridiculous ideas that anyone could have. When you have a closer that just finished the season 47 out of 47 in save attepts, your goal should be to keep him on your roster – not deal him.

However the flip side of the coin is that Britton would potentially net a nice return for the Orioles. A closer of that caliber doesn’t come around everyday – which is why he’d bring them a good return. Or would he?

For the record, Dan Duquette is on record as saying that he’s not dealing Britton. One of the Orioles’ biggest strength is their bullpen. While guys such as Brach or Givens may well do fine in the closer’s role, weakening the ‘pen by dealing it’s marquee member is a bad idea.

Furthermore, I’m not sure that other teams would be as willing to play ball with the Orioles on Britton as some might think. As I said above, Britton would potentially net the Orioles a nice reutrn. Nothing is gauranteed in life, as we know. Every team, including the Orioles, is going to try to get as much as they can out of a trade while giving up as little as possible.

Teams would know that the reason Dan Duquette would be shopping Britton is because he thinks he can find an everyday right fielder or DH. Are we truly to believe that teams aren’t going to balk at dumping an everyday player for a guy that pithes one inning?

Granted Britton only pitches one inning a game. However right now there’s nobody better than he in the game at what he does. And we knew that before he had  a perfect season. But the fact remains that he’s a one inning guy.

I could see another team leveraging the fact that they’d only be getting perhaps 4-5 innings a week out of Britton (best case scenario) by trying to get away with offering the Orioles less. For a guy like Britton, one would expect big leauge ready talent. In fact, one would expect someone with big league experience – and at a high level at that. Whether or not another team would view it the same way would remain to be seen.

The good news is that Dan Duquette isn’t going to deal Britton away for peanuts. In fact, if his comments are to be believed he isn’t going to deal him away at all. Howver the point is that other teams will often give the impression of undervaluing your players just so they can get them cheaply. But again, I don’t see Britton going anywhere anytime soon.