Baltimore Orioles: Infield shuffle at FanFest

The Baltimore Orioles held their annual FanFest at the Baltimore Convention Center yesterday. As I said yesterday, it’s a great event and it always plays well with the Baltimore community. Regardless of the outlook for the team that coming year, the fans always turn out. This year was no exception.

FanFest wasn’t without it’s drama, however. First off it was announced Friday evening that both Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop would not be attending the event. (Zach Britton and Chris Davis were also not in attendance, but those were excused absences – Britton for rehab and Davis due to his wife having birthed twins earlier in the week.) Buck Showalter offered a little bit of clarity on the situation during FanFest (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

I’ve communicated with both of them. Jon’s is tough. He goes through four or five (phones) in an offseason, so getting ahold of him is kind of tough. Usually we go through his mom. But I talked to his agent and he made me aware of the advice he gave Jon, so we’ll live with it and move on.

…

Manny has … it’s one of those things I’ve learned through the years, before you kneejerk with stuff, so I’ve gotten a feel for what Manny’s absence is about and I have a pretty good understanding of that. Jon’s I don’t. The reasons I’m being given, not very good.

So in short, Schoop’s agent advised that he not attend the event. Would this be a silent protest to the way that the Orioles’ off season has progressed? (And I’m not even going to delve into the bit about the four or five phones…that was just a strange thing to say in Showalter’s part.) But ultimately he was advised not to attend by his agent. And in fact, it seems out of character for Schoop, who’s become a fan favorite.

Whatever Machado’s reason was for not attending, Buck Showalter accepted it as legitimate. If there was a personal or family problem, I suspect that most people would understand that. The fact is that some things are just more important than flying into town and attending FanFest. Odds are we’ll never know the true reason why he wasn’t there, but if the likes of Buck Showalter are okay with it that should be good enough for fans.

Speaking of Machado, he made news in absentia during the event. Buck Showalter announced that Machado would be moving to shortstop, his natural position, this year, and Tim Beckham to third base. Machado made it clear earlier this off season that he wanted to move back to shortstop, and the Orioles apparently are making that happen. Beckham himself addressed this news at yesterday’s FanFest event, and for the record he said all of the right things (quote courtesy of Jon Meoli, Baltimore Sun):

I’m open to it, especially if it helps the team and it’s a better fit for the team. The end goal is to win ballgames and you don’t want to lose sight of that, and I don’t want to make this a big deal. I’m just going to transition over there and continue to make the plays and be consistent.

Whether or not it’s truly the best fit for the team is another story. I’m not sure that having a guy who’s played in exactly five big league games at third in his career guarding the hot corner on Opening Day is what’s best for the team. However regardless of the methodology in getting to this decision, it’s been made. The Orioles will go with it.

Incidentally, don’t sleep on Beckham’s future with this franchise. Obtaining him was a good move last summer, and one for which Dan Duquette doesn’t seem to get a lot of credit. His attitude’s been great from day one; he just wants to play, and is willing to do whatever he needs to do in order to help his team win. That’s a Buck Showalter type of guy if I’ve ever seen one.

Needless to say, Beckham will rely heavily on his time in Sarasota both in drills and in games so as to get accustomed to playing third. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in some road games from the very beginning of spring training, because the more reps he gets at third in spring games, the better. Incidentally, happy 28th birthday to Beckham, who opted to spend his special day (yesterday) with his teammates and the fans at Orioles FanFest. Again, he’s all about the team.

 

Baltimore Orioles host their annual FanFest today!

Baseball season is here for the Baltimore Orioles! Well, at least for today at least. Starting at 11 AM (10 AM for season ticket holders) fans can take a respite from winter and begin their Birdland summer with Orioles FanFest. (Check out the Orioles’ office FanFest site by clicking here.)

The event is, as always, at the Baltimore Convention Center, and admission is $12 (if you don’t already have tickets, that is). I tell people every year that FanFest is a great event for kids of all ages – yes, even very old kids who love the Orioles and who love baseball! There are exhibits, silent auctions, merchandise sales, ticket sales, autograph booths, and much more. It’s truly a well-produced event, and it’s put on every year by the Sarasota Convention and Visitors’ Bureau.

FanFest is everything you get to experience at an Orioles’ game at Camden Yards – except the game. Fans will also get the opportunity to ask questions of players and coaches, so as to get their take on the upcoming season. As I said, it’s a great event.

So consider joining us down at the Convention Center today, between 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM. This is always the kick-off of the new season in a sense. And that’s especially true this year, as pitchers and catchers report on February 13th. That means that before you know it you’ll be seeing real game recaps here on The Orange Crush – as opposed to fluff articles such as this one!

Baltimore Orioles destined to get Chris Tillman back?

Chris Tillman, formerly of the Baltimore Orioles, is still a free agent. Many industry people believe that he’ll end up back in Balimore – at least for 2018. Tillman of course is coming off a rather disappointing season, but one in which he was never 100% healthy. The market hasn’t exactly developed on Tillman to this point.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll be back. However the Orioles did allow him to work out and attend their annual mini-camp in Sarasota during the first week of January. I suspect that if there wasn’t a serious push to keep him in the organization they wouldn’t have done that. But who knows?

The Birds are obviously waiting as long as they can so as to avoid having to pay Tillman top dollar. The longer the wait, the more the price presumably comes down. Tillman could even end up a guy who might sign a minor league deal. That would be ideal for an Orioles team that looks for value as opposed to a big splash. Tillman on a one-year deal worth $1 million or so (maybe plus incentives) would certainly be value.

However that’s also a risky game to play. At some point someone will sign Tillman – meaning that the rug could always be yanked out from under the Orioles. It’s kind of like waiting until that optimal moment to ask someone to the prom. If you want too long, even if it’s “understood” that the person you’re asking is the person you’re asking, someone else might jump in. Not that I speak from experience there or anything…

Baltimore Orioles: Two former Birds to Cooperstown

Two former members of the Baltimore Orioles were elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday: Jim Thome and Vladimir Guererro. They are joined by Chipper Jones and Trevor Hoffman. If you put the four of them together, that’s one heck of a 2018 class.

Keep in mind however that neither Thome nor Guererro are Orioles’ Hall of Famers. They’re Hall of Famers who happened to play for the O’s. In Guererro’s case it was just one season: 2011. In Thome’s case, they traded for him at the deadline in 2012. He was injured for some of that second half which culminated in the Orioles making their first playoff appearance since 1997. However I would submit that he provided leadership and experience in that clubhouse that was incredibly valuable.

There’s little controversy about these players – they both deserve to be there (as do the other two). Guererro justifiably should go in as a Montreal Expo. He’s a career .318 hitter who averaged 34 home runs a year. While with the Orioles he only hit .290 (in what was the final year of his career), similar to Thome I would submit that he provided leadership that helped that clubhouse play to a superior September, culminating with knocking Boston out of the playoffs on the last day of the season.

Though only a career .276 hitter, Thome averaged 39 homers a season, and 108 RBI. He smacked three homers with the Birds in 2012 over 28 games. The Orioles were also his final team, which in effect makes them the answer to a trivia question. I suspect that he’ll go into the hall as a Cleveland Indian.

In Thome’s case however it goes a bit beyond his on-field accomplishments. There was no greater citizen in MLB than Jim Thome during his tenure. Cleveland and Baltimore are very similar in that they’re somewhat smaller cities, both with a lot of passion. And they carry themselves very close to their teams. They also like their athletes humble, and they appreciate community-minded guys. That was Thome for his entire career.

Whenever he’d change teams, he’d almost always engross himself in local charities, and lent his name to fundraising for them. He’s maintained the relationships with many of those charities after leaving that team, and is a part of at least one or two charities to this day in every city in which he played.

But it goes beyond that with Thome. He paid (or is paying) in full for each of his ten nieces and nephews to attend any four-year college of their choice. That’s one heck of a gift to get from your uncle! Jim Thome gets it in a sense. He wasn’t an Oriole for long, but he’s a guy that I suspect most Baltimore fans appreciated as having come their way.

All four players selected yesterday are worthy of being in the hall. But the one criticism I’d make of the class overall is that it didn’t include Edgar Martinez. He’s well worthy of being in the Hall of Fame. There’s always next year, I suppose.

Baltimore Orioles add stop in Norfolk to spring schedule

The Baltimore Orioles close Grapefruit League play on Sunday, March 25, 2018. They’re scheduled to take on the Philadelphia Phillies that day in Clearwater, FL. (Their final home game in Sarasota will be Saturday night, March 24th against Minnesota – also their opponent the follow Thursday afternoon for Opening Day at Camden Yards.) They will then break camp…

…and technically head for home. But there’ll be one more stop before they get there. The Orioles will play one final spring game, on Monday, March 26th at Harbor Park in Norfolk against their triple-A affiliate, the Norfolk Tides. First pitch is scheduled for just after 3 PM.

This will be the seventh time that the O’s will have played an exhibition game at Harbor Park – 2007, 2009, 2012, 2014, and 2017 being the other years. In those first two years they played the Washington Nationals. This will be their eighth time playing at Harbor Park, and the fourth in which they’ve played Norfolk. In reality, it amounts to an intersquad scrimmage.

Norfolk Tides General Manager Joe Gregory released the following statement regarding the game (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports:

The Orioles have such an outstanding fan base in the Hampton Roads area, and we’re extremely fortunate to have a major league affiliate committed to growing baseball in our local community. This is yet another example of the terrific relationship we have with the entire Orioles organization. We’re excited for this event to kick off our 2018 season.

For what it’s worth, this game will not count towards the unofficial Grapefruit League “standings.” But it will be the team’s final tuneup before Opening Day. And as interchangeable as the Tides’ and Orioles’ rosters can be at times, it could well be a very important game to a lot of people.

Baltimore Orioles: Jarrod Dyson headed to Birdland?

Could Jarrod Dyson be the left-handed bat that the Baltimore Orioles are coveting? In recent days, the O’s have been rumored to have been talking to various players – one of which is Dyson. He’s a career .258 hitter, but he also averages 50 stolen bases a year. He’s also a career .982 fielder in the outfield.

Dyson would be a good addition, because it would also allow the Orioles to keep some of their younger outfield pups back in the minors for some extra seasoning. Speaking for myself, the stolen bases intrigues me. He’s a guy that could give the Orioles some added speed on the base paths – something they’ve lacked for years.

Furthermore, he’s got playoff experience. Now if you listen to the experts this team won’t sniff the post season. But those experts said that in 2012, 2014, and 2016 as well. Having a former World Series champion on the roster can make a world of difference.

Fans of course will remember Dyson leading the charge of chirping at the Orioles’ dugout during the 2014 ALCS while with Kansas City. Players, coaches, and fans alike didn’t appreciate that. And yes, from the perspective of this writer, it came across as juvenile. However in this era where guys change teams at will, players have to have short memories. Now certainly if Dyson’s going to join the Birds he’s going to have to understand that they don’t do things in that manner. But I have no doubt that he’d be welcomed as a brother in the clubhouse.

This isn’t a done deal, but when it is you can we’ll be on it here at The Orange Crush – and more as we hear it!

Baltimore Orioles: Pace of the off-season

A lot has been made of how little the Baltimore Orioles have done this off season thus far. However whether they’re good moves or bad, most Orioles fans know that Dan Duquette doesn’t really get cranking up until February or March. With the team’s annual FanFest celebration this coming Saturday however, fans do want to know who they’ll be seeing on the field at Oriole Park at Camden Yards this year.

That aside, the Orioles aren’t really unique in their tactics this time around. The hot stove season has been a cold one league-wide. It’s kind of shocking to see the caliber of player that’s still out there on the market. I would have thought that the Arrieta’s and the Moustakas’ of the world would have been scooped up long ago.

But it seems that plenty of other teams are taking the wait and see approach – just as Dan Duquette has done almost every year in Baltimore. And I think that a lot of it is due to the fact that teams are becoming more and more budget-wary. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Sure, signing a big ticket free agent at the winter meetings or even before makes a big splash and it gets fans excited. And I think that at times, that’s literally been teams’ goals. Get fans excited about the next season back in December so they’ll buy a ton of merchandise, tickets, etc. And it may not necessarily be a bad idea…

…because if you wait too long on a guy, he’s not guaranteed to be there forever. But with that said, while it’s great to have that guy a part of your team and merchandise flying off the shelves, suddenly it comes time to pay the player. And that’s where teams realize that the idea of a mega-contract lasting ten years or so might not have been the greatest idea.

So I think that a lot of teams are waiting, in hopes that eventually guys’ prices will come down. If you could add a guy like Arrieta for two or three years at a reasonable salary, is that not better than adding him for seven or eight years at an inflated one? It all but guarantees that you get value for your money, because the player in theory won’t wane until after the contract is up.

Next year of course the likes of Machado and Harper will be on the market, which will make for a vastly different off season to this year. But for now, most of the league is waiting and seeing.

Baltimore Orioles almost sent Manny Machado to Cleveland

Manny Machado was almost traded to Cleveland last month by the Baltimore Orioles. This according to John Morosi of mlb.com. Apparently one of the names that was thrown around to be sent back to the Orioles in return was RHP Danny Salazar.

If you read the article I linked above, Morosi doesn’t go into too much detail about the deal itself. So it’s unclear if this potential trade (which incidentally could still happen) was Machado-for-Salazar straight up, or if there were other pieces involved. But I would caution the Orioles on this one…

…granted Cleveland has a surplus of starters, and they would have been offering the Birds what they wanted: a big leauge-ready pitcher. (Not even a big league-ready pitcher, but a straight up big league pitcher.) However Salazar has many of the markings of some of the other names that have come through the Orioles’ rotation over the years. There’s a reason that Cleveland’s trying to unload him: he’s inconsistent.

Last year he was only 5-6 on the year, with a career-high 4.28 ERA. Playing roughly half of his games at Camden Yards, that might become a bit of a problem. Now in fairness, inconsistent also means that he has his good points. There are times when he’s really on – but also times when he’s really off.

If I’m the Orioles, I’d say been there, done that. Again, we don’t know what else would have been part of that deal. If in fact it was a one-for-one swap, I’d say the Orioles would be getting fleeced. Salazar has the markings of another Ubaldo Jimenez. Now with that said, he could also end up as a classic “change of air” type of guy, get to the Orioles, and be what Jake Arrieta was to the Chicago Cubs.

But are the O’s willing to run that risk? My personal opinion is that I hope they are not – for their sake. If they’re going to trade Machado, a Salazar-like guy could well be a part of that trade. But what they want to do is get some top-notch pitching prospects in return. Either prospects who are ready to make the jump to the big leagues now, or perhaps who have had a cup of coffee there already – perhaps in a September call-up or something like that.

The last thing they want is a guy who’s been inconsistent for five years somewhere else, and who could be a reclamation project at best. Again, perhaps he would end up an Arrieta-type. But…can the Orioles afford to run that risk?

Baltimore Orioles tickets on sale in five days

One of the big questions each off season is when will Baltimore Orioles tickets officially be on sale? Well, this week we found out. The date is January 25th; the time is 2 PM.

At that time, fans will be able to visit http://www.orioles.com/tickets to purchase tickets for Orioles’ home games. They can also call 1-888-848-BIRD (2473) to purchase as well. There’s also the old trusty method of going down to Oriole Park at Camden Yards and buying tickets in person.

Fans will also be able to purchase tickets at next Saturday’s Orioles FanFest celebration at the Baltimore Convention Center. And yes, this coming week opens FanFest week, for what that’s worth. As I tell people every year, it’s all the excitement of an Orioles game at Camden Yards, all the fanfare, and everything else – except an actual game!

Opening Day is the one game that will not be included in this coming week’s public on sale. Fans can guarantee themselves tickets for Opening Day by purchasing a full or 29-game season ticket plan. Opening Day this year is scheduled for Thursday, March 29th, at 3 PM against the Minnesota Twins. March 30th is scheduled as an off day, which in essence makes it the rain date.

Baltimore Orioles: Can Chris Davis return to form?

Pitching has been the big talking point for the Baltimore Orioles thus far in the off season. And justifiably so. However there are two parts to any story in sports: both offense and defense. What will the Orioles’ offense look like in 2018?

That question hinges largely on the bat of first baseman Chris Davis. Davis seemingly hit his peak in 2013, when he hit 53 homers with a .286 average for the year. 2015’s 47 home runs at .262 wasn’t shabby either.

We all know what Davis is capable of doing. However last year he only hit 26 home runs, at .215 for the season. That’s a tough drop-off. However it’s also worth remembering that Oriole bats went into a tailspin for much of September last year as well. Not just Davis.

So why would that bode well for 2018? September was the sum of literally everyone on the team pushing too hard – including Davis. That won’t be the case when spring training or the regular season begin. Everyone will have a new slate. However there have been numerous reports of Davis working out, and working out hard thus far all winter. Could that make a difference?

Interestingly enough, Davis has admitted that the shifts which teams play against him have affected him. Although perhaps not in the way that opposing teams would have envisioned (quote courtesy of Brittany Ghiroli, mlb.com):

A lot of it is just the shift. I’ve been shifted since — I can remember — 2011, I think, was probably the year it was the most consistent throughout teams. The last couple years I’ve tried so hard to try to hit against the shift, to play that game with them, that I got away from who I was.

Those shifts are designed to guard where players seem to generally hit the ball. The idea being that someone’s there guarding that spot, and it’ll assist the defense in recording an out. However in that same aforementioned article, Davis also said that he became “too picky” last year, presumably in attempting to defeat the shift:

Last year, I had way too many called strikes. Called third strikes. Way too many counts where I was taking two strikes before I ever took a swing. For me, it’s a matter of being a little too passive or too picky and not trying to capitalize on the pitches early in the count.

In simpler terms, Davis outsmarted himself. He became so ardent in trying to defeat the shifts that teams were playing on him, he was letting good pitches go by – and swinging at bad ones. Ultimately that racked up the strikeouts big time. So in a way it’s an interesting critique on how one lives his life in that you have to be yourself. If you try to become someone other than yourself, odds of failure go way up.

The fact that Davis recognizes his mistakes and is working to correct them bodes well for the Orioles’ offense. As critical as people can be at times, most fans know that when Oriole bats get cranking the ball starts to fly out of the yard. And I’m sure we can expect a lot of that from Davis this year. Teams can play a shift all they want, but if he hits the ball out of the ballpark, it’s meaningless.

Since he won’t be letting pitches go by this year as he did in 2017, we should expect more of that. However it’s not just the home run ball; even if he records a would-be out on the ground, the ball’s still in play. The defense could commit an error, and/or runners could move up. That can’t happen on a strike out. Does this mean that the Orioles’ offense won’t ever struggle this coming year? Not at all; every team does at some point. However the hope is that the lows aren’t quite as low with Davis’ new techniques. And perhaps the highs are higher as well.