The one positive thing (in my opinion) about the firing of Dave Trembley is that the players have one less excuse now. The almost daily distraction of wondering when Trembley would be dismissed is gone. With a current record of 15-40, the O's were obviously never held back simply by the manager; the main problem is the awful play on the field. And now that's what everyone will focus on instead of the interim manager, Juan Samuel.
Last night, in Samuel's first game as head coach, the O's played yet another terrible game and lost 11-0 to the Red Sox. Clay Buchholz threw a complete game shutout, allowing only five hits and walking just one batter. All five of those hits were singles. Buchholz also threw just 101 pitches, which is pretty difficult to do.
The hitting was terrible, and so was the pitching. Chris Tillman, in his second start this season, lasted just 1.1 innings and 57 pitches. He gave up four runs, five hits, and two walks, and never looked comfortable on the mound. The bullpen wasn't a whole lot better, giving up three home runs and allowing the Red Sox to tack on seven more runs as the game went along.
At some point, the O's are going to start playing better. Their play lately has been so ugly that it's extremely difficult just to find a few positives. The offense almost never scores more than four or five runs, and it's a miracle if the O's get some kind of rally going.
The O's are rebuilding; it's important to remember that. But even rebuilding teams are supposed to be fun sometimes. Right now, there's nothing fun about this team.
Showing posts with label Dave Trembley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dave Trembley. Show all posts
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Trembley and the bullpen
"When you've given up as many runs as we've given up late in the ball game I think it starts to limit or narrow what you feel your choices are."
That's what Dave Trembley said yesterday when talking about the O's struggling bullpen. Does anyone doubt that this is true?
I think most people would agree that Trembley is a chronic bullpen over-manager. He likes to frequently play matchups as far as right-handed and left-handed pitchers are concerned, and he likes to have defined roles for relievers. And he's hardly the only manager in the major leagues to believe in those two things.
Unfortunately, several decisions by Trembley simply haven't worked out this year. And honestly, with a 15-34 record, not many things will be working out. The latest debated bullpen decision by Trembley occurred in the O's 7-5 loss to the A's on Thursday. Heading into the eighth inning, the O's held a semi-comfortable 5-2 lead. But that didn't last long. Brad Bergesen had allowed just two runs and two hits up to that point, but the A's led off the inning with two singles. With runners on first and second and Bergesen's pitch count up to 93, Trembley decided to remove Bergesen and replace him with Jason Berken -- not a bad choice.
Berken, filling mostly a long-relief role this season, has pitched well so far in 2010 -- 24.0 IP, 1.50 ERA, 11 K, 4 BB. Berken, who entered the game to face the right-handed Rajai Davis, got Davis to fly out to right field for the inning's first out. But here's where things started to get tricky: with two left-handed batters coming up, Trembley removed Berken and brought in lefty Mark Hendrickson. Hendrickson, like Berken, has also mostly pitched in a long-relief role this year. But with the amount of injuries the bullpen has been dealing with (more on that later), Hendrickson has been needed in more high-leverage game situations lately.
Anyway, Hendrickson got Daric Barton to pop out to Cesar Izturis for the second out. Ryan Sweeney batted next, and he singled to left field to knock in a run and cut the O's lead to 5-3. Then things started to get weird, even by O's standards. Kurt Suzuki, the A's cleanup hitter by default, reached on an infield single to load the bases. The A's then pinch-hit for the left-handed Jack Cust with righty Jake Fox. With a right-handed batter up and another one, Kevin Kouzmanoff, in the on-deck circle, Trembley stuck with Hendrickson. Ahead in the count 0-1, Hendrickson got Fox to reach for an outside fastball and ground the ball to Izturis. The play looked routine at first, but on the ball's third hop it takes a bad bounce, obviously catching Izturis by surprise. Because of the bad hop, Izturis isn't able to get the ball to second baseman Julio Lugo quick enough to get the runner at second and everyone is safe. Seriously, watch the play. That's just bad luck.
But bad hops do happen, and at this point the O's still had the lead, 5-4, with two outs. The bases were still loaded, though, and Kouzmanoff was due up. Trembley removed Hendrickson and brought in righty Cla Meredith to face Kouzmanoff. On the second pitch, an 84 mph fastball right down the middle of the plate, Kouzmanoff lined a bases-clearing double to left center. The double gave the A's a 7-5 lead. After intentionally walking the next batter, Meredith got the final out to end the inning. But the damage had been done. The A's had scored five runs, completely shifting momentum, and most importantly, the score, in their favor. The O's couldn't muster any runs in the eighth or ninth and lost by that same score, 7-5.
After the game, many people blamed Trembley. The main complaint was that Berken should have been allowed to pitch to more than one batter. And they weren't necessarily wrong. Berken has been one of the few bright spots for the O's this year, and he may have been able to prevent the A's from taking the lead that inning.
But, really, we'll never know that for sure. Without that bad hop, the O's would have taken a two-run lead into the ninth with Will Ohman getting the ball for a potential save opportunity. But that sentence in itself shows just how bad things have gotten for the O's bullpen this season. Will Ohman, though he has pitched extremely well, is the team's closer.
Coming out of spring training, the O's bullpen looked to at least be decent. Mike Gonzalez had been signed in the offseason to be the new closer, and Jim Johnson would take over eighth-inning duties. Hendrickson and Berken would be middle-relief options, and Meredith and Ohman were also going to be situational choices. Matt Albers and Koji Uehara (when ready) were two other right-handed pitchers to be used whenever needed. Needless to say, that plan hasn't worked out. Gonzalez, Johnson, and Uehara (who just can't stay healthy or pitch in warm or humid weather) are all injured, and it isn't really known when any of the three will return. Even Alfredo Simon, who surprisingly assumed the closer role a few weeks back and pitched relatively well, injured his hamstring and is currently on the disabled list.
Because of those injuries, here's what the bullpen looks like right now: Ohman, Berken, Hendrickson, Albers, Alberto Castillo, Frank Mata, and David Hernandez. Hernandez lost his spot in the rotation to Chris Tillman, who has been called up from Norfolk to make his first start of the season. And Meredith, who has struggled, was sent down.
(By the way, according to that post in Orioles Insider, here's what Meredith had to say about his demotion: "It’s kind of been a weird year for me. I’ve pitched here, I’ve pitched there. Get in a groove for a little bit, get in a rut. I’ve been in a rut before. I don’t panic, but I’m not the one who calls shots around here. So, I don’t know. I’m kind of at the mercy of my employer. I’m 26 years old, my arm’s very healthy as is the rest of my body and I envision pitching for a long time whether it’s here or somewhere else. I’ve learned a couple years ago, you can only control the things you can control, this is one those things I can’t really control."
What exactly does that mean? Does he think he's pitched well this year? Is it really his employer's fault that he's striking out fewer batters, not getting as many ground balls, and giving up more home runs? Meredith needs to get with the program and just pitch better.)
So, yeah, the O's bullpen certainly looks different than what Andy MacPhail originally planned. Without all of those injuries, the bullpen probably would have performed better. But we'll never know. All we know is that the bullpen has put up some pretty bad numbers. O's relievers have allowed opposing batters to hit .357/.435/.791 with 17 homers. That on-base percentage against is fourth-worst in the American League (all rankings given are AL ranks), and their slugging percentage against is third-worst. Using some stats from Baseball-Reference, O's relievers have allowed the third-most runs per game (4.94) and they have six wins in relief compared to 11 losses. Oddly enough, they're tied for fourth in inherited runner scored percentage (34%), which tracks how often relievers allow inherited runners to score. Unfortunately, they've still allowed the third-most inherited runners to score because, well, they've had so many inherited runners to deal with (97, second-most).
There are a few more stats available to show that the bullpen has been bad, but that's a given at this point. Ineffective pitching and injuries are the two main culprits. But let's go back to Trembley's quote at the beginning of this post. First of all, exactly how many games have the O's bullpen blown? Again, according to Baseball-Reference, the O's have blown 10 saves, tied for the most with Kansas City. In 19 save opportunities, the O's have converted just nine saves, good enough for a league-worst save percentage of 47 percent. That's just not good enough, and even with an underperforming offense, the O's need to convert more of those saves.
Still, how easy is it to just blame Trembley instead? There's no question that he's not the best manager of bullpens out there. Far from it. The O's could probably get rid of Trembley and find someone today who could manage the bullpen better. But that begs the question: How much does it really matter how well a manager chooses to use a bad bullpen? Does it matter more? Less? Probably more, but it's not possible to use a team's best relievers all the time. Sometimes bad relievers have to be used in high-leverage situations, as painful as it may be.
Still, the coach's job is to put the best pitchers in the game with the best chance to succeed and get opposing hitters out, sure. But if that bad hop in the A's game doesn't eat up Izturis at shortstop, the O's probably win the game. And then, at least for one night, fans aren't irate with Trembley for choosing to stay with a reliever one batter too long or to fail to let another pitch longer. These are the little choices a manager has to make, but sometimes, there is no right answer.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
O's questions, links, and thoughts as Opening Day approaches
The Orioles begin the season on the road against Tampa Bay on April 6, and I can't wait. There's no guarantee that this Orioles season will be any different from previous disappointing seasons, but there is at least a bit of hope. Then again, it would be hard for the Orioles to do any worse than the Redskins or Wizards, so that's something to look forward to.
First things first: Here's the 25-man roster that the Orioles will start the season with, via Peter Schmuck:
Starting pitchers: Kevin Millwood, Jeremy Guthrie, Brian Matusz, Brad Bergesen, David Hernandez
Relievers: Mike Gonzalez, Jim Johnson, Mark Hendrickson, Matt Albers, Cla Meredith, Will Ohman, Jason Berken, Koji Uehara (DL)
Catchers: Matt Wieters, Craig Tatum
Infielders: Brian Roberts, Miguel Tejada, Garrett Atkins, Cesar Izturis, Ty Wigginton, Robert Andino
Outfielders: Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold, Luke Scott, Felix Pie
Not too shabby. You'll probably notice a few things: Craig Tatum made the team over Chad Moeller; David Hernandez beat out Chris Tillman for the fifth spot in the starting rotation; and Jason Berken apparently will be the long man in the bullpen while Uehara is on the disabled list. At least that's what caught my eye at first.
The real surprise (to me) is that Tatum made the team over Moeller. It's not that Moeller is any kind of spectacular back-up catching option, just that most O's fans were led to believe that Moeller would make the team and sort of groom Wieters and give him veteran advice throughout the season. (Peter Schmuck thought the same thing.) In parts of 10 seasons, here are Moeller's numbers: .226/.288/.351, 29 HR. Tatum (27 years old), on the other hand, has only played in 26 career games -- all of them coming in 2009 with the Reds. In those games, he hit .162/.250/.221 with 1 HR. For what it's worth, Tatum, in six minor league seasons, hit a combined .252/.318/.384 with 34 HR, so he's obviously not on the Orioles for his offense. Here is Dave Trembley explaining the decision to keep Tatum over Moeller:
Pretty interesting stuff, and it tells you how much that Trembley and the O's front office think of Wieters to make a decision like that. There's obviously no way to know how much Moeller's mentoring and veteran leadership helped Wieters, but that doesn't mean Moeller didn't bring anything to the table. But again, it's nice to see that the Orioles aren't just keeping veterans around just for the sake of doing it. However, since Tatum isn't much of a hitter, he'll need to control the pitching staff and running game while Wieters isn't behind the plate.
Here's what Trembley had to say about keeping Hernandez over Tillman (from the same Roch link):
It's hard to argue with that, and it's nice that the Orioles don't have to simply rush Tillman's development along just because he was on the team last year for a few months. Hernandez showed some improvement and earned the chance to start the team as the No. 5 starter; it doesn't mean that he'll be in that role for the whole season. And it's also a positive that the Orioles have a few options to consider when it comes to competent starting pitchers -- and that's something that should be consistent in the years to come. Also, here's what Rob Neyer thinks (hint: it's a good thing):
As for Berken winning the long-man role by default, well, that's fine. Because there have only been maybe two or three televised games, I haven't had the chance to see him pitch. According to Dan Connolly, in six appearances this spring, Berken has an ERA of 2.84. Last year he was downright terrible -- 6-12, 6.54 ERA, 1.43 HR/9, 1.50 K/BB -- but maybe he'll do a little better in the mop-up role. As for Uehara, will he ever be healthy enough to contribute to this team again? The O's could really use him in the bullpen.
Now, on to another surprising move: Apparently Miguel Tejada will begin the season as the O's cleanup hitter. Dan Connolly:
Roberts, Jones, Markakis, Tejada; or
Roberts, Markakis, Jones, Scott.
Roberts definitely stays in the leadoff spot, and Nick Markakis and Adam Jones simply flip-flop spots. Now let's compare Tejada's and Scott's career numbers:
Tejada: .289/.341/.469, 285 HR, 6.3 BB%
Scott: .264/.350/.495, 76 HR, 11.1 BB%
Tejada is still a good hitter, and he even hit 46 doubles while batting .313 during a much-improved 2009 season. But Scott hit 11 more home runs last season (25 to 14), drew 36 more walks (55 to 19), and simply seems like the better option to hit fourth right now. Starting the season with Tejada hitting cleanup is one thing, but keeping him there for an extended period of time doesn't seem like a good idea. Unless Tejada starts out the season on fire, hopefully Trembley moves him down the lineup a few places.
Two other notes: Millwood will get the Opening Day start, which was expected, and Felix Pie will start in the left field as well. The start for Pie is a little surprising, only because of how well Reimold played last season. But Trembley's reasoning makes a lot of sense:
Even if you're the biggest Reimold fan, it would be hard to disagree with Trembley. The goal is to be healthy for the whole season, so what's the rush in hurrying Reimold along while he's healing? Pie is also the better outfielder and has been steadily improving at the plate.
The roster is slightly different from what I thought it would look like on Opening Day, but it's not too difficult to see why the O's are making certain decisions. I'm excited to see what they can do this season.
First things first: Here's the 25-man roster that the Orioles will start the season with, via Peter Schmuck:
Starting pitchers: Kevin Millwood, Jeremy Guthrie, Brian Matusz, Brad Bergesen, David Hernandez
Relievers: Mike Gonzalez, Jim Johnson, Mark Hendrickson, Matt Albers, Cla Meredith, Will Ohman, Jason Berken, Koji Uehara (DL)
Catchers: Matt Wieters, Craig Tatum
Infielders: Brian Roberts, Miguel Tejada, Garrett Atkins, Cesar Izturis, Ty Wigginton, Robert Andino
Outfielders: Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold, Luke Scott, Felix Pie
Not too shabby. You'll probably notice a few things: Craig Tatum made the team over Chad Moeller; David Hernandez beat out Chris Tillman for the fifth spot in the starting rotation; and Jason Berken apparently will be the long man in the bullpen while Uehara is on the disabled list. At least that's what caught my eye at first.
The real surprise (to me) is that Tatum made the team over Moeller. It's not that Moeller is any kind of spectacular back-up catching option, just that most O's fans were led to believe that Moeller would make the team and sort of groom Wieters and give him veteran advice throughout the season. (Peter Schmuck thought the same thing.) In parts of 10 seasons, here are Moeller's numbers: .226/.288/.351, 29 HR. Tatum (27 years old), on the other hand, has only played in 26 career games -- all of them coming in 2009 with the Reds. In those games, he hit .162/.250/.221 with 1 HR. For what it's worth, Tatum, in six minor league seasons, hit a combined .252/.318/.384 with 34 HR, so he's obviously not on the Orioles for his offense. Here is Dave Trembley explaining the decision to keep Tatum over Moeller:
Craig Tatum is regarded as the better defensive player, which is why he beat out Chad Moeller.
"I think that's the only consideration," Trembley said. "You come down to Tatum and his ability to catch and throw. And I think it's pretty obvious."
Trembley doesn't believe that Moeller is needed to mentor Matt Wieters or the young pitchers.
"This is Wieters' team," Trembley said. "This is Wieters' pitching staff. We're expecting a lot from Matt Wieters. Chad Moeller is not there for Wieters any more. We feel confident that Wieters now, boom, it's yours."
Pretty interesting stuff, and it tells you how much that Trembley and the O's front office think of Wieters to make a decision like that. There's obviously no way to know how much Moeller's mentoring and veteran leadership helped Wieters, but that doesn't mean Moeller didn't bring anything to the table. But again, it's nice to see that the Orioles aren't just keeping veterans around just for the sake of doing it. However, since Tatum isn't much of a hitter, he'll need to control the pitching staff and running game while Wieters isn't behind the plate.
Here's what Trembley had to say about keeping Hernandez over Tillman (from the same Roch link):
"What we're doing is the best thing for the team and for his development," Trembley said. "He was put in a situation last year where he came up to the big leagues because of need. We had an awful lot of injuries and we had an awful lot of movement. He is going to be a fantastic major league pitcher for a long time, but there are some things that he needs to get better at, and we'd rather see him do that at Triple-A than in the big leagues."
It's hard to argue with that, and it's nice that the Orioles don't have to simply rush Tillman's development along just because he was on the team last year for a few months. Hernandez showed some improvement and earned the chance to start the team as the No. 5 starter; it doesn't mean that he'll be in that role for the whole season. And it's also a positive that the Orioles have a few options to consider when it comes to competent starting pitchers -- and that's something that should be consistent in the years to come. Also, here's what Rob Neyer thinks (hint: it's a good thing):
[I]t's struck me this spring that, for all the talk about nobody having enough pitching, a lot of teams have a No. 6 starter with real promise. The Yankees, Red Sox, Reds, Orioles, Padres, Rangers, Twins ... there are a lot of good young pitchers out there who aren't quite good enough yet to crack their team's rotation.
As for Berken winning the long-man role by default, well, that's fine. Because there have only been maybe two or three televised games, I haven't had the chance to see him pitch. According to Dan Connolly, in six appearances this spring, Berken has an ERA of 2.84. Last year he was downright terrible -- 6-12, 6.54 ERA, 1.43 HR/9, 1.50 K/BB -- but maybe he'll do a little better in the mop-up role. As for Uehara, will he ever be healthy enough to contribute to this team again? The O's could really use him in the bullpen.
Now, on to another surprising move: Apparently Miguel Tejada will begin the season as the O's cleanup hitter. Dan Connolly:
Roberts appears to be healthy, so he should have no problem starting the season at second base and in the leadoff spot. And that's great; losing Roberts for any significant chunk of the season would be rather detrimental to the O's offense. And although the Orioles don't really have a prototypical cleanup hitter at the moment, Tejada may not be the best option for that spot. Since Wieters isn't quite ready yet and Nolan Reimold won't be starting the season at 100 percent, Luke Scott seems like the better option to hit fourth. Now, I'll preface this by saying that it's not really a big deal, but let's at least see which one-through-four combination looks better:
If Roberts has rebounded from a herniated disk, he'll bat leadoff, with Adam Jones likely second, Nick Markakis third and Miguel Tejada at cleanup. Trembley has juggled several lineups this spring, including using various options in the fourth spot. Tejada has been there the most, and Trembley acknowledged Sunday that he thinks the veteran is his best current option at cleanup.
"He is the most experienced guy," Trembley said about Tejada. "That doesn't mean he will be there all the time, but he is the most experienced guy."
Trembley said he prefers to have a left-hander or switch-hitter behind Tejada, which means switch-hitting catcher Matt Wieters or lefty designated hitter Luke Scott likely would bat fifth. Trembley has used Wieters at fifth and fourth at different times this spring.
Roberts, Jones, Markakis, Tejada; or
Roberts, Markakis, Jones, Scott.
Roberts definitely stays in the leadoff spot, and Nick Markakis and Adam Jones simply flip-flop spots. Now let's compare Tejada's and Scott's career numbers:
Tejada: .289/.341/.469, 285 HR, 6.3 BB%
Scott: .264/.350/.495, 76 HR, 11.1 BB%
Tejada is still a good hitter, and he even hit 46 doubles while batting .313 during a much-improved 2009 season. But Scott hit 11 more home runs last season (25 to 14), drew 36 more walks (55 to 19), and simply seems like the better option to hit fourth right now. Starting the season with Tejada hitting cleanup is one thing, but keeping him there for an extended period of time doesn't seem like a good idea. Unless Tejada starts out the season on fire, hopefully Trembley moves him down the lineup a few places.
Two other notes: Millwood will get the Opening Day start, which was expected, and Felix Pie will start in the left field as well. The start for Pie is a little surprising, only because of how well Reimold played last season. But Trembley's reasoning makes a lot of sense:
"This is not a slight on (Nolan) Reimold, but this is the right thing for Reimold. He's not 100 percent. You think I'm going to go ask him to bust his butt on turf?" Trembley said.
"That kid is as tough as nails. We all saw him play for three months last year, half a player. Never complained, never did nothing."
Even if you're the biggest Reimold fan, it would be hard to disagree with Trembley. The goal is to be healthy for the whole season, so what's the rush in hurrying Reimold along while he's healing? Pie is also the better outfielder and has been steadily improving at the plate.
The roster is slightly different from what I thought it would look like on Opening Day, but it's not too difficult to see why the O's are making certain decisions. I'm excited to see what they can do this season.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Mora wants to play, lashes out at Trembley
Unhappy with his recent lack of playing time, Melvin Mora felt that it was reasonable to share his feelings on the subject today with the media:
So basically, Mora is saying that because he was a good player in previous years, he should be playing everyday now no matter what -- or something like that. Here's Dave Trembley's response:
Trembley is, more or less, saying that Mora shouldn't be getting regular at bats because he isn't the same player -- which is true because he's not.
This season, Mora is hitting .256/.321/.330 with three home runs and 27 runs batted in. In 285 at bats, Mora has collected exactly 15 extra base hits. Fifteen. His fielding at third has been about average -- 0.4 UZR, 0.6 UZR/150 -- so it's not like he's been making up for his woeful hitting with extraordinary defense.
I can't comment on whether or not Trembley respects Mora, but I do know that lots of other players around the league are hurt and are playing through pain just like Mora. First of all, if Mora really is hurt, then he shouldn't be playing (especially not as an everyday player). Second, hurt or not, his hitting numbers are very bad. At this point in his career, he's just a singles hitter, and it's difficult to believe that he was actually hitting fifth earlier in the season.
For comparison's sake, Wigginton is hitting .257/.304/.392 with seven homers and 27 runs batted in. He also has 19 extra base hits in 245 at bats, which really isn't that much better than Mora, but it's still four more in 40 fewer at bats. His defense at third has been pretty bad, but he has been better than average at first. He hasn't played many games at either consistently this season, so take that for what it's worth.
As far as playing time goes, neither Mora nor Ty Wigginton deserve regular at bats in the lineup. And after his outburst, Mora pretty much sealed his fate of looking for another team to play for next season.
"I don't appreciate the disrespect, because I've been playing hurt for a guy who won't respect you. I don't deserve it. I need to have my respect. This is not a guy who just came to the Orioles. This is a guy who's been here for nine years.
. . . I need to sit down in my house, see what team [is] thinking to win. I know here they're rebuilding and they bring a lot of young guys here, good players. I know it's time for me to move on."
. . . Mora insisted the benching wasn't as maddening as the reason he was given for the move.
"Don't give me the excuse that I cannot beat John Smoltz, that I cannot beat Josh Beckett or I cannot beat [Jon] Lester or I cannot beat Pedro Martinez or I cannot beat nobody here, because I've been here for nine years. I've been here for nine years and all those guys in the East, they know me. You don't make the All-Star team for nothing. You deserve respect."
So basically, Mora is saying that because he was a good player in previous years, he should be playing everyday now no matter what -- or something like that. Here's Dave Trembley's response:
"If I give a guy a day off -- guys who are up there in age, they've played a long time, guys who are struggling -- I'm trying to help them. I'm not trying to hurt them. It's easy to look at things from the negative. You've got to be a team guy here."
Trembley is, more or less, saying that Mora shouldn't be getting regular at bats because he isn't the same player -- which is true because he's not.
This season, Mora is hitting .256/.321/.330 with three home runs and 27 runs batted in. In 285 at bats, Mora has collected exactly 15 extra base hits. Fifteen. His fielding at third has been about average -- 0.4 UZR, 0.6 UZR/150 -- so it's not like he's been making up for his woeful hitting with extraordinary defense.
I can't comment on whether or not Trembley respects Mora, but I do know that lots of other players around the league are hurt and are playing through pain just like Mora. First of all, if Mora really is hurt, then he shouldn't be playing (especially not as an everyday player). Second, hurt or not, his hitting numbers are very bad. At this point in his career, he's just a singles hitter, and it's difficult to believe that he was actually hitting fifth earlier in the season.
For comparison's sake, Wigginton is hitting .257/.304/.392 with seven homers and 27 runs batted in. He also has 19 extra base hits in 245 at bats, which really isn't that much better than Mora, but it's still four more in 40 fewer at bats. His defense at third has been pretty bad, but he has been better than average at first. He hasn't played many games at either consistently this season, so take that for what it's worth.
As far as playing time goes, neither Mora nor Ty Wigginton deserve regular at bats in the lineup. And after his outburst, Mora pretty much sealed his fate of looking for another team to play for next season.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Weekly Rundown: Blatche, Musial, Trembley
Weekly Rundown is a combination of links and brief comments on stories and topics that I couldn't get to during the week. If there's something important that I missed, don't hesitate to send an email or leave a comment.
- Dave Allen on the outfield defense of Nick Markakis and Adam Jones so far this season:
For the Orioles things have not gone as well, giving up an additional 20 runs in outfield defense. Nick Markakis and Adam Jones are two of the game’s up-and-coming star outfielders and their futures are bright, but their defense this year has not been good. Together they have given up over 15 runs, but it is important to remember this does not mean we should expect them to be poor fielders going forward. UZR and other defenses metrics, by all accounts, take huge numbers of innings before they become predictive and are subject to big fluctuations even of the course of an entire season.
Markakis and Jones came into this season with great fielding numbers in 2008. Markakis at +11 UZR/150 in over 1300 innings in RF and Jones at +11 UZR/150 over 1000 innings in CF. This year Markakis is -16 UZR/150 over 760 innings in RF and Jones -12 over 600 innings. This new data put together with the old tempers our expectations; maybe Markakis is only a +5 to +0 corner outfield and maybe Jones is just a +5 to +0 center fielder.
Despite the subpar numbers in the first half, I still believe Markakis and Jones are good enough outfielders to improve their performance in the second part of the season. [FanGraphs] - Gilbert Arenas donated $25,000 to charity in exchange for the chair that President Obama sat in during the Bulls-Wizards game at Verizon Center earlier this year. The chair was also autographed by the president. [Washington Wizards Blog]
- Andray Blatche will wear No. 7 instead of No. 32. Only time will tell if the number change will reflect a change in Blatche's attitude and dedication. [D.C. Sports Bog]
- Eddie Jordan isn't to blame for Blatche's shortcomings. It's up to Blatche to reach his potential. [Truth About It]
- Steve Melewski presents an interesting question-and-answer session with David Stockstill, the Orioles' director of player development. [MASN Sports]
- Joe Posnanski does it again -- this time on the greatness that was/is Stan Musial. [Kansas City Star]
- Curtis Granderson had a wonderful All-Star experience, and he shared a couple of brief videos. [Big League Stew]
- Dave Trembley isn't assured of managing the Orioles past this season, but he's still working as hard as he can to improve the team:
"I think we're getting to the point now with our organization where we almost taste it. We can see what's coming and we get a little ahead ourselves," said Trembley, who maintains that he gets far more fan support than criticism. "I think it's a positive quality that our fans expect us to win, but I also think, we all need to be realistic. Andy has been very forthright in saying, 'Hey, we got a ways to go.'
"For us, it's more important to get the right guys in the right slots, to make sure they're getting experience and showing improvement. To put it bluntly, we don't have enough players that are done reaching their potential to, on a day-in and day-out basis, succeed in this division. I take the losses personal, but I think you have to keep things in perspective."
I agree with Jeff Zrebiec: Unless the Orioles have another terrible late-season collapse, Trembley should return in 2010. [Baltimore Sun] - In Dave Cameron's 2009 MLB Trade Value series, which only has five more names to go, Nick Markakis is listed at No. 35 and Adam Jones is 19th. Somehow Billy Rowell (.229/.289/.367 at Single-A Frederick) isn't included. [FanGraphs]
- Not sure about you, but I'm definitely rooting for Cadillac Williams. [Pro Football Talk]
- Some intriguing thoughts on why the blogosphere and the mainstream media may not be all that different. [Deadspin]
- Most fans agree with, or at least approve of, the Redskins' recent selection of Jeremy Jarmon in the NFL supplemental draft. [Redskins Insider]
Monday, July 13, 2009
Weekly Rundown: Roberts, Steve McNair Jr., Camden Yards
Weekly Rundown is a combination of links and brief comments on stories and topics that I couldn't get to during the week. If there's something important that I missed, don't hesitate to send an email or leave a comment.
I decided to play some pickup basketball yesterday, so that's why the Weekly Rundown is a day late. Anyway, here are some non-LeBron links that I thought were worth mentioning:
I decided to play some pickup basketball yesterday, so that's why the Weekly Rundown is a day late. Anyway, here are some non-LeBron links that I thought were worth mentioning:
- Dave Trembley talking about Brian Roberts last week:
"He hasn't played up to his expectations on a consistent basis, and I think that's bothering him. I think he's searching for an answer for that. I think he feels like he's let some factors get to him and affect the way he's played. He told me the other day that he accepts responsibility for that. He felt like he let me down, let his teammates down. I told him all he can do is go forward. You've got to put the past behind you and you've got to go forward."
Roberts is still having a decent season, but his overall numbers -- .273/.339/.433 -- are down compared to the last few seasons. Still, he already has eight home runs (he hit nine last season), and he's driving in a lot of runs (42) out of the leadoff spot. I don't think he'll continue to hit as many homers, but hopefully he starts to walk a little more to raise his BB/K ratio from 0.63, which would be the lowest since his rookie season. [Orioles.com] - WJFK (106.7) will broadcast Wizards games for the next few seasons. [D.C. Sports Bog]
- Apparently Oscar Salazar and Felix Pie are on the trading block. [Baltimore Sun]
- According to Jason La Canfora, who now works for NFL Network, Redskins veterans with four years or more NFL experience won't have to spend the night at training camp this year. That Jim Zorn is a nice guy. [Pro Football Talk]
- Steve McNair Jr. looks to carry on his father's football legacy -- at wide receiver. [FanHouse]
- Michael Lee on the Wizards and last season's attendance:
...[G]ate receipts for the Wizards declined more than $4 million last season, which put them among the 10 worst teams behind Sacramento ($9.7 million), Toronto ($9.1 million), Los Angeles Clippers ($6.8 million) and Miami Heat ($5.3 million). [Ken] Berger writes that Charlotte and Indiana also went down more than $4 million from the previous season.
The Wizards finished 21st in attendance last season averaging 16,612 fans, which was a dropoff from the season before when the Wizards ranked 15th at 17,962. Overall, the Wizards had 55,344 fewer fans walk through the turnstiles (about 1,350 per game). [Wizards Insider] - Mark Buehrle may decide to hang up his spikes when he turns 32, and his decision will have nothing to do with his pitching abilities. [Yahoo! Sports]
- Last Tuesday, in a tribute to Michael Jackson, Ken Griffey Jr. wore one white batting glove and came to the plate as "Billie Jean" played over the sound system. [Big League Stew]
- Want to see a "true baseball story" at the movies? Rob Neyer doesn't think it'll happen. [SweetSpot]
- LZ Granderson does his best to, sort of, defend Holly Robinson Peete, who wrote a few semi-controversial things on Twitter as the Steve McNair saga unfolded. I have an idea: If you don't want people to overreact at things you say/write on a social networking site, then don't write anything at all. [ESPN]
- Apparently JaVale McGee isn't a big fan of the nickname "Epic Vale." [Bullets Forever]
- And finally, apparently Camden Yards doesn't suck. Well, of course it doesn't. [Deadspin]
Friday, March 27, 2009
Trembley's got jokes
After a poor performance earlier today in a spring training game against the Florida Marlins, Jeremy Guthrie received a little bit of Dave Trembley-style humor:
Guthrie didn't have one of his best performances, but that's fine because it's spring training. And, according to this box score, Guthrie apparently walked 22 batters. Somewhere Daniel Cabrera is confused that this is possible (it's not).
But looking at the rest of the box score, which I'm assuming is actually correct, I get the feeling that the Orioles are going to be in a lot of games like this during the season. Obviously that's no huge revelation, and a potential rotation of Guthrie, Koji Uehara, Adam Eaton, and two of Mark Hendrickson, Rich Hill, Alfredo Simon, and Hayden Penn could very well end up being the worst rotation in the majors. Nonetheless, there's a lot of young and exciting talent both on the major league club and in the organization, so no matter how poorly certain pitchers perform this year, things are still getting better.
But for this season, a lot of high-scoring games certainly appear to be on the horizon.
On a different, and much lighter, note, I'd like to commend Roch Kubatko, who is covering the Orioles in spring training right now, for going to work every single day and providing tremendous coverage of the team. Even while battling a cold today, Kubatko did a great job, as usual, and still offered some solid insight throughout the day.
Jeremy Guthrie allowed six runs in the first inning, returned to the dugout and was congratulated by manager Dave Trembley.
"He told me, 'Nice job. We blocked the extra point after the touchdown.'"
Guthrie didn't have one of his best performances, but that's fine because it's spring training. And, according to this box score, Guthrie apparently walked 22 batters. Somewhere Daniel Cabrera is confused that this is possible (it's not).
But looking at the rest of the box score, which I'm assuming is actually correct, I get the feeling that the Orioles are going to be in a lot of games like this during the season. Obviously that's no huge revelation, and a potential rotation of Guthrie, Koji Uehara, Adam Eaton, and two of Mark Hendrickson, Rich Hill, Alfredo Simon, and Hayden Penn could very well end up being the worst rotation in the majors. Nonetheless, there's a lot of young and exciting talent both on the major league club and in the organization, so no matter how poorly certain pitchers perform this year, things are still getting better.
But for this season, a lot of high-scoring games certainly appear to be on the horizon.
On a different, and much lighter, note, I'd like to commend Roch Kubatko, who is covering the Orioles in spring training right now, for going to work every single day and providing tremendous coverage of the team. Even while battling a cold today, Kubatko did a great job, as usual, and still offered some solid insight throughout the day.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Examining the 2008 Orioles' season
Now that the 2008 MLB regular season has come to an end, the Orioles have finished in last place for the first time since 1988.
Finishing in last place is never a good thing, but the Orioles do happen to play in one of the best, if not the best, division in MLB -- the AL East.
The AL East was one of two divisions in baseball with four teams -- the Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, and Blue Jays -- that finished at least 10 games above .500. The other division was the NL Central, with the Cubs, Brewers, Astros, and Cardinals all at least 10 games above the .500 mark, and it took an insane 36-16 run by the Astros from the start of the second half to Carlos Zambrano’s no-hitter in the controversial two-game series in Milwaukee to be among those four.
Because the AL East is so tough, all five teams in the division finished at the top in strength of schedule. The Orioles (68-93) had an awful 22-50 record inside the division and were just 16-32 versus left-handed starting pitchers.
The Orioles, though, had a pretty good offense (except for a slow start and a sluggish finish): 11th in runs scored (782), 9th in total bases (2,384), tied for 10th in OPS (.762), 6th in doubles (322), tied for 13th in home runs (172), and 11th in batting average (.267).
While the hitting was surprisingly impressive, the pitching was dreadful. I’ve covered the Orioles’ terrible pitching in other posts, though, so I don’t think I need to waste much more time recounting the horror again; I’m looking at you, Steve Trachsel, Fernando Cabrera, Garrett Olson, Brian Burres, Bob McCrory, Jamie Walker, Kam Mickolio, Greg Aquino, Radhames Liz, Daniel Cabrera, Ryan “Ice Man” Bukvich, and Adam Loewen (pre-injury).
Anyway, let’s go through some of the positives and negatives of the season.
Positives
#1 -- Aubrey Huff’s great season.
Where did this come from? In January of 2007, the Orioles signed Huff to a 3-year, $20 million contract. In his first year with the O’s, Huff hit .280, but he hit only 15 HRs, drove in only 72 runs, and finished with a .337 OBP and a .779 OPS. Those numbers are decent for a hitter towards the bottom of the lineup -- not someone batting fourth or fifth in the majors.
This season, though, Huff had his best year since 2003 when he was playing with the Rays. That season, Huff hit .311/.367/.555 with 34 HRs and 107 RBI. This year, Huff hit .304/.360/.552 with 32 HRs and 107 RBI -- very similar. Huff finished 5th in the AL in OPS and tied for 8th in homers. He hit more home runs than Vladimir Guerrero, David Ortiz, Justin Morneau, and Carlos Pena. He also had 82 extra base hits (most in the AL) and stayed healthy all season (154 games played), which is something many of the Orioles weren’t able to do as the long season rolled along.
His dramatically improved presence at the plate was certainly one of the reasons why the Orioles offense was better than last season’s.
#2 -- The steady pitching of Jeremy Guthrie.
Guthrie was an outstanding starting pitcher this season on a team that, at the moment, only has one reliable starter. Guthrie finished with a 3.63 ERA, a 1.23 WHIP, 120 strikeouts (5.66 K/9), and only 58 walks in 190.2 innings pitched. Opposing batters also hit just .242 off of Guthrie.
Unfortunately, the Orioles didn’t really take advantage of many of Guthrie’s starts, and he finished the season with a 10-12 record. Meanwhile, a pitcher like Garrett Olson, with an atrocious 6.65 ERA, had a 9-10 record. So the next time that someone tries to point out a pitcher’s worth and immediately points to the number of wins or the win-loss record, simply ignore them.
#3 -- The players received in the Miguel Tejada trade: Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Dennis Sarfate, and Troy Patton.
The latter of these four, Patton, has yet to pitch for the Orioles because of a left labrum tear. But he’s only 23 years old, and he is hoping to recover in time to make the club next season.
Scott is a very streaky hitter, and this season was no different. He will probably never hit higher than .275 in a full season, but he did add some pop to the Orioles lineup by hitting 23 HRs and driving in 65 runs. His .807 OPS this season was actually a huge upgrade over the everyday left fielder last season, Jay Payton, who had a .668 OPS and only 7 HRs in 434 at bats in 2007.
Albers was pitching very well (3.49 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, .240 BAA) before an MRI revealed a partially-torn labrum in his right shoulder. Albers decided against having surgery and chose to rehab instead. If Albers, 25, is healthy enough to pitch at the start of next season, he may end up in the starting rotation.
Sarfate was also impressive in his first season with the Orioles. His overall numbers -- 4.74 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 86 Ks, 1.39 K/BB -- were not good at all, but they include his four starts (or disasters) on the mound. In those four starts, Sarfate amassed a 10.34 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched; however, as a reliever, Sarfate had a 3.38 ERA in 64 innings pitched and struck out 71 batters. His brief stint as a starting pitcher may have shown him that the way for him to succeed is as a reliever.
Interestingly enough, Sarfate also pitched most of the season with a fractured clavicle in his right shoulder. According to MASN’s Roch Kubatko in this blog post, “[t]he fracture occurred while Sarfate was moving into his new home [in April]. He bent over to pick up a set of keys that he dropped, and the door that he swung open slammed into his shoulder.” He ended the season on the 15-day disabled list, but he should be fine after he rests in the offseason.
#4 -- Melvin Mora’s second-half surge. (Yes, it’s not really a half -- whatever.)
Before a hamstring injury slowed him down with a few weeks left in the season, Mora was having arguably the best second half of any hitter in the American League. Mora hit .376 after the break; only one other player in MLB had a higher average over that period with as many at bats: Manny Ramirez (.388). Mora’s other numbers over that time period include 12 HRs, 55 RBI, and a 1.073 OPS.
Mora still finished the season with solid numbers -- .285/.342/.483, 23 HRs, 104 RBI -- but it would have been nice to see him able to complete the season while playing at such a high level.
#5 -- The first-half performances of George Sherrill and Jim Johnson.
George Sherrill and his flat-billed cap brought some stability to the Orioles bullpen in the first part of the season. Before the All-Star Break, Sherrill had a 4.08 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP in 39.2 innings pitched; he also accumulated 28 saves. But after the break, Sherrill pitched only 13.2 innings and put up some bad numbers: 6.59 ERA, 1.76 WHIP, 3 saves. He also missed about a month battling some shoulder inflammation. There are two possibilities for Sherrill’s poor second half: 1) He pitched only 45.2 innings in 2007, so maybe the workload this season was too much for him; and 2) The All-Star Game went 15 innings, and AL manager Terry Francona had Sherrill throw 2.1 innings, which may have added some fatigue to Sherrill’s arm.
Nonetheless, Sherrill’s pitching in the first half was just an added bonus to the ample rewards the Orioles received in the Erik Bedard trade.
Another welcome surprise was the presence of 25-year-old Jim Johnson, who didn’t even start out with the Orioles on Opening Day. But Johnson was brought up after making one start for Norfolk, and he soon became the primary set-up man for Sherrill in the bullpen. Johnson’s numbers from April through July -- 53.1 IP, 2.03 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, .181 BAA -- were fantastic, and he deserved to be the Orioles’ representative in the All-Star Game more than Sherrill.
But like Sherrill, Johnson began to fade a bit -- 15.1 IP, 2.93 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, .323 BAA -- after the break. He was shut down for the rest of the season in early September when an MRI revealed damage in his shoulder. He was heavily relied upon in the first portion of the season, which may have been the reason for his shoulder problems.
In the minors he had been a starting pitcher; in 2007, he threw 148 innings for the Norfolk Tides. Perhaps Johnson’s arm wasn’t completely ready for the demanding role of set-up man, but he should be fine for the start of spring training.
#6 -- Dave Trembley’s old-school coaching and post-game reactions.
No manager is perfect, and Trembley certainly had his fair share of questionable decisions as far as bringing in various relievers. But he did a good job with the hand he was dealt this season. Trembley also had the team playing at an extremely high level before the team’s abrupt collapse in August/September.
Also, I thoroughly enjoyed Trembley’s post-game press conferences and interviews. He’s always mad when the team loses, as he should be, and he doesn’t hide the fact that he hates answering questions instead of being in the clubhouse talking with his players. His face almost always turns bright red; it’s an intimidating appearance. He’s not afraid to say what he feels is right or what needs to be said in certain situations. He’ll defend his players or call them out if he feels it’s necessary. Trembley is accountable for whatever happens on the field and aware of what it will take to turn this team around.
#7 -- Jay Payton won’t be back next season.
Payton plays the game hard; I understand that. He runs hard down the first-base line, he hustles after every ball in the outfield, and he’s not afraid to bang into the wall to make a catch. In a way, he’s kind of like David Eckstein: the guy who just plays the game “the right way” and looks like he’s giving everything he has. Well, that’s fine and dandy after a while, but when a team is losing and that player isn’t performing all that well, it doesn’t matter as much. When Eckstein was playing on World Series winners like the 2002 Angels and the 2007 Cardinals, it didn’t matter that he only had OPS’s of .751 and .738, respectively, because he played decent defense, moved runners over, and put the ball in play. Winning games makes individual players’ deficiencies matter less. Now, I bet you couldn’t even guess what team Eckstein finished the season with. (It’s the Arizona Diamondbacks, by the way.)
The two seasons in Baltimore have been the worst of Payton’s career. I mentioned his 2007 stats earlier, but his numbers this season were worse. He only hit .243 and had an OPS of .637, which is very bad. Sure, he basically played in a platoon role because of Luke Scott in left field, but Payton still had over 330 at bats -- he just didn’t hit well or get on base much. And that’s not even considering the fact that Payton made $4.5 million in 2007 and $5 million in 2008.
#8 -- Nick Markakis’s defense.
Markakis led all ML outfielders in assists this season with 17, and he committed just 3 errors while playing in 157 games. At the beginning of the season, opposing runners challenged Markakis; many of them soon learned that wasn’t such a good idea. Besides throwing runners out, he also made numerous outstanding diving catches and played solid all-around defense in right field.
#9 -- The presence of Adam Jones.
Having Jones in center field this season was a breath of fresh air for Orioles fans. Not only is he a solid player, but he’s only 23 years old. His numbers -- .270/.311/.400, 9 HRs, 57 RBI, 10 SB -- are not overly impressive, but this was his rookie season. Jones also covers a lot of ground in the outfield to form a fantastic center field-right field duo with Markakis. He certainly has plenty of room to improve, but Jones certainly possesses the tools to do so.
There’s no doubt that Jones has the potential to be exceptional on the field, but he’s already special off of it. First of all, he’s not afraid to take pictures for Yahoo! Sports with his eyes closed. Second, he hates to miss games, evident by his constant nagging of Dave Trembley to let him back on the field when he was dealing with a fractured foot. Trembley obviously had enough to deal with this year with a crumbling pitching staff, but the image of Jones asking, “Can I play now, Coach?” on a daily basis was (and still is) pretty funny.
#10 -- The limited appearances by Lou Montanez and Oscar Salazar.
When Jones was placed on the disabled list in early August, the Orioles purchased Lou Montanez’s contract from Double-A Bowie. At the time, Montanez had hit .335 with 26 HRs and 97 RBI in 116 games and was leading the Eastern League in all three Triple Crown categories. When the Bowie regular season ended about a month later, Montanez was still in the lead to clinch the Eastern League’s first Triple Crown since 1976. He also won the MVP award for his outstanding season.
Though he still needs to improve his outfield skills, Montanez, who turns 27 in December, played very well in the first 38 games in the majors of his career. The former third overall pick in the 2000 MLB Draft hit .295 with 3 HRs, 14 RBI, and a respectable .763 OPS. He also managed to homer in his first major league at bat against the Angels, which will leave him with an amazing memory for the rest of his life even if he ends up back in the minors next season.
Injuries and infield concerns also presented some playing time for 30-year-old Oscar Salazar. Mainly a corner infielder and designated hitter, Salazar batted .284 with 5 HRs, 15 RBI, and an OPS of .879. The 34 games played with the Orioles were the first for Salazar since a brief 8-game appearance with the Detroit Tigers in 2002.
The Orioles always appear to be looking for serviceable bench players, and both Montanez and Salazar deserve a chance to stick around next season.
Other notables: The great offensive seasons by Roberts and Markakis; this gem from Joe Angel: "Trachsel's taking a long time between pitches... well, if you had his stuff, you wouldn't want to throw it either"; Buck Martinez’s crazy hair; Juan Castro’s defense; listening to Gary Thorne say “Guillermo Quiroz,”; Jim Palmer’s random stories and love for In-N-Out Burger; Kevin Millar’s blond hair experiment; and his one-time at bat music after apparently losing a bet.
Negatives
#1 -- Another second-half collapse.
Nothing signals the end of summer like the annual Orioles collapse in the second part of the season. This season, the Orioles managed to tread water in late July (6-8) and August (11-17), but the epic implosion eventually came in September when the Orioles went an astounding 5-20. Yes, 5 wins and 20 losses.
The horrible final month capped off a 22-45 post All-Star Break record for the O’s, during which the Orioles happened to have separate losing streaks of 5 games (8/22-8/26), 8 games (8/29-9/6), and 10 games (9/17-9/26).
Both injuries and bad pitching certainly played a significant role in the team’s second-half downfall, but so did the schedule. The Orioles finished off the season with 37 games in this order: 3 vs. Boston, 3 vs. New York, 3 vs. Chicago, 3 vs. Tampa Bay, 3 vs. Boston, 2 vs. Oakland, 4 vs. Cleveland, 3 vs. Minnesota, 3 vs. Toronto, 3 vs. New York, 4 vs. Tampa Bay, and 3 vs. Toronto. Those eight teams finished the season with a combined record of more than 100 games over .500 (699-596). So the Orioles looked terrible as the season came to an end, but they had lots of help.
#2 -- Awful pitching.
Just posting the numbers:
Overall pitching: 13th (out of 14 teams) in AL in ERA (5.13), 14th in walks (687), 14th in strikeouts (922), and 13th in runs (869).
Starting pitching: Tied for 13th in ERA (5.51), 13th in innings pitched (882.0), 14th in walks (395), 14th in strikeouts (514).
Relief pitching: 11th in ERA (4.50), 3rd in innings pitched (540.0), 14th in walks (292), 7th in strikeouts (408).
Ouch.
#3 -- Daniel Cabrera’s pitching (and batting).
Since his debut with the team in 2004, the Orioles have been waiting for Daniel Cabrera to turn the proverbial corner and harness his raw skills. After yet another disappointing 2008 campaign, the Orioles may still be waiting in 2009 if the front office decides to bring him back since he’s eligible for arbitration and may get around $5 million.
Unfortunately for the Orioles, Cabrera’s performance this year was arguably the worst of his career. Cabrera finished the season on the disabled list with a right elbow sprain and the possibility of his back affecting his pitching at various points during the season. Some injuries may explain not only his awful numbers -- 5.25 ERA, 1.05 K/BB, 1.61 WHIP, .286 BAA -- but also his fluctuating pitch speeds on the radar gun. Before this season, Cabrera consistently reached the upper 90s with his fastball; this season, he sometimes threw in the upper 80s to low 90s.
But to dismiss many of Cabrera’s troubles because of the possibility of an injury would be foolish; his pitching mechanics haven’t improved in five seasons, and he is usually among the league leaders in walks, hit batsmen, and wild pitches. This season was no different -- 2nd in the AL in walks (90), 1st in HBP (18), and 1st in wild pitches (15). It’s bad enough that Cabrera simply cannot correct his troubles on the mound; instead, every time he pitches and Jim Palmer is in the broadcast booth, Palmer lectures about how Cabrera’s mechanics seem to have deteriorated.
And the mention about Cabrera’s hitting is for this reason: in 14 career at bats, Cabrera has struck out 14 times. He’d probably have a better chance swinging a telephone pole.
#4 -- Watching the Orioles run the bases.
This one is pretty self-explanatory, but if it’s not, then it’s definitely Trembley-explanatory. Here are some comments from Trembley after the O’s ran themselves out of another inning on Sept. 22 against the Rays:
“We had two crucial baserunning mistakes. It's three balls and two strikes and you're running, and it's a fly ball. Don't you stop? It's not Kamikaze baseball. You don't just run until you're out. To me, that's just a total mental breakdown on his (Salazar's) part. Total. And to be honest to you, that's embarrassing to me and the club and the people who are watching the game. And I'm not burying him, but that's not right."
Orioles’ baserunners seem to frequently run themselves out of bigger innings by getting greedy or not paying attention. Also, many runners on the team don’t get good secondary leads and are pretty bad at going from first to third on a single. Sure, the O’s have many slow runners like Millar, Hernandez, Huff, Scott, Quiroz, and Salazar, but slow runners can still pay attention and take the extra base when necessary.
#5 -- Jamie Walker.
Walker, 37, was placed on the disabled list in late June with inflammation in his left elbow. He battled back to rejoin the Orioles in about a month, but he appeared to still be feeling the effects of the same injury and just wasn’t the same pitcher.
His numbers show just how ineffective he was this year: 6.87 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, .325 BAA. Left-handed batters hit .304 off of him and had 7 HRs. Even though he has one more year left on his contract, the Orioles may choose to let him walk and cut their losses.
#6 -- Luis Hernandez and Freddie Bynum both failing to keep the shortstop job.
When the Orioles started the season with Luis Hernandez as the starting shortstop, Hernandez wasn’t asked to do much. He was supposed to play solid defense and maybe hit around .250. But he didn’t have much range at shortstop (he’s more of a second baseman), and he batted .241, had a .295 OBP, and had only one extra-base hit, a double, in 79 at bats.
So, when Bynum was activated from the disabled list on May 8, the Orioles handed him the starting shortstop job and asked him to do the same. Instead, Bynum proceeded to produce at a lower level than even Hernandez did. Bynum, who also isn’t really a shortstop, didn’t play good defense; he made 5 errors in 32 starts and didn’t get to many hits to the left or right of him. (Remember how this game ended?) He was also horribly unproductive at the plate: .179 AVG, 0 HRs, 8 RBI, .444 OPS.
The inability of both Hernandez and Bynum led to fans being forced to watch Alex Cintron play the infield like Roger Dorn before he found out that Rachel Phelps wanted to move the team to Florida and get rid of all the players in Major League. At least the team traded for Juan Castro, who didn’t hit well but actually fielded his position -- imagine that.
#7 -- Ramon Hernandez’s relatively unproductive season.
Hernandez had a sluggish year behind the plate; in 118 starts, he was tied for 2nd in the AL in errors among catchers (9) and 3rd in passed balls (9). Though the pitching staff didn’t help him to hold runners very efficiently, Hernandez also played a significant role in allowing 99 stolen bases, the most in the AL. Only two everyday catchers had worse numbers in the running game than Hernandez (.195 caught stealing percentage): A.J. Pierzynski (.186) and John Buck (.174).
As far as hitting, Hernandez had a very solid second half. He hit .288 with 7 HRs and a .791 OPS after the All-Star Break, but he hit just .237 with 8 HRs and a .747 OPS before the break. For someone who made $7.5 million this season, those numbers just don’t add up.
Other notables: Having Orioles pitchers give up leads almost immediately after getting them; watching Daniel Cabrera cover first base; lots of injuries; the possible return of Danys Baez to the bullpen next season; Rick Dempsey in the broadcast booth; Mark Viviano as the sideline reporter instead of Amber Theoharis; horrible camera angles and the lack of replays from MASN; and starters routinely going fewer than 5 innings.
Even though this season didn’t end well, there’s always next year. Besides, the Orioles have plenty of things to look forward to next season and in seasons to come; nonetheless, the front office has plenty of important decisions to make in the offseason.
I’ll try to go over most of them in the next post.
Finishing in last place is never a good thing, but the Orioles do happen to play in one of the best, if not the best, division in MLB -- the AL East.
The AL East was one of two divisions in baseball with four teams -- the Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, and Blue Jays -- that finished at least 10 games above .500. The other division was the NL Central, with the Cubs, Brewers, Astros, and Cardinals all at least 10 games above the .500 mark, and it took an insane 36-16 run by the Astros from the start of the second half to Carlos Zambrano’s no-hitter in the controversial two-game series in Milwaukee to be among those four.
Because the AL East is so tough, all five teams in the division finished at the top in strength of schedule. The Orioles (68-93) had an awful 22-50 record inside the division and were just 16-32 versus left-handed starting pitchers.
The Orioles, though, had a pretty good offense (except for a slow start and a sluggish finish): 11th in runs scored (782), 9th in total bases (2,384), tied for 10th in OPS (.762), 6th in doubles (322), tied for 13th in home runs (172), and 11th in batting average (.267).
While the hitting was surprisingly impressive, the pitching was dreadful. I’ve covered the Orioles’ terrible pitching in other posts, though, so I don’t think I need to waste much more time recounting the horror again; I’m looking at you, Steve Trachsel, Fernando Cabrera, Garrett Olson, Brian Burres, Bob McCrory, Jamie Walker, Kam Mickolio, Greg Aquino, Radhames Liz, Daniel Cabrera, Ryan “Ice Man” Bukvich, and Adam Loewen (pre-injury).
Anyway, let’s go through some of the positives and negatives of the season.
Positives
#1 -- Aubrey Huff’s great season.
Where did this come from? In January of 2007, the Orioles signed Huff to a 3-year, $20 million contract. In his first year with the O’s, Huff hit .280, but he hit only 15 HRs, drove in only 72 runs, and finished with a .337 OBP and a .779 OPS. Those numbers are decent for a hitter towards the bottom of the lineup -- not someone batting fourth or fifth in the majors.
This season, though, Huff had his best year since 2003 when he was playing with the Rays. That season, Huff hit .311/.367/.555 with 34 HRs and 107 RBI. This year, Huff hit .304/.360/.552 with 32 HRs and 107 RBI -- very similar. Huff finished 5th in the AL in OPS and tied for 8th in homers. He hit more home runs than Vladimir Guerrero, David Ortiz, Justin Morneau, and Carlos Pena. He also had 82 extra base hits (most in the AL) and stayed healthy all season (154 games played), which is something many of the Orioles weren’t able to do as the long season rolled along.
His dramatically improved presence at the plate was certainly one of the reasons why the Orioles offense was better than last season’s.
#2 -- The steady pitching of Jeremy Guthrie.
Guthrie was an outstanding starting pitcher this season on a team that, at the moment, only has one reliable starter. Guthrie finished with a 3.63 ERA, a 1.23 WHIP, 120 strikeouts (5.66 K/9), and only 58 walks in 190.2 innings pitched. Opposing batters also hit just .242 off of Guthrie.
Unfortunately, the Orioles didn’t really take advantage of many of Guthrie’s starts, and he finished the season with a 10-12 record. Meanwhile, a pitcher like Garrett Olson, with an atrocious 6.65 ERA, had a 9-10 record. So the next time that someone tries to point out a pitcher’s worth and immediately points to the number of wins or the win-loss record, simply ignore them.
#3 -- The players received in the Miguel Tejada trade: Luke Scott, Matt Albers, Dennis Sarfate, and Troy Patton.
The latter of these four, Patton, has yet to pitch for the Orioles because of a left labrum tear. But he’s only 23 years old, and he is hoping to recover in time to make the club next season.
Scott is a very streaky hitter, and this season was no different. He will probably never hit higher than .275 in a full season, but he did add some pop to the Orioles lineup by hitting 23 HRs and driving in 65 runs. His .807 OPS this season was actually a huge upgrade over the everyday left fielder last season, Jay Payton, who had a .668 OPS and only 7 HRs in 434 at bats in 2007.
Albers was pitching very well (3.49 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, .240 BAA) before an MRI revealed a partially-torn labrum in his right shoulder. Albers decided against having surgery and chose to rehab instead. If Albers, 25, is healthy enough to pitch at the start of next season, he may end up in the starting rotation.
Sarfate was also impressive in his first season with the Orioles. His overall numbers -- 4.74 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 86 Ks, 1.39 K/BB -- were not good at all, but they include his four starts (or disasters) on the mound. In those four starts, Sarfate amassed a 10.34 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched; however, as a reliever, Sarfate had a 3.38 ERA in 64 innings pitched and struck out 71 batters. His brief stint as a starting pitcher may have shown him that the way for him to succeed is as a reliever.
Interestingly enough, Sarfate also pitched most of the season with a fractured clavicle in his right shoulder. According to MASN’s Roch Kubatko in this blog post, “[t]he fracture occurred while Sarfate was moving into his new home [in April]. He bent over to pick up a set of keys that he dropped, and the door that he swung open slammed into his shoulder.” He ended the season on the 15-day disabled list, but he should be fine after he rests in the offseason.
#4 -- Melvin Mora’s second-half surge. (Yes, it’s not really a half -- whatever.)
Before a hamstring injury slowed him down with a few weeks left in the season, Mora was having arguably the best second half of any hitter in the American League. Mora hit .376 after the break; only one other player in MLB had a higher average over that period with as many at bats: Manny Ramirez (.388). Mora’s other numbers over that time period include 12 HRs, 55 RBI, and a 1.073 OPS.
Mora still finished the season with solid numbers -- .285/.342/.483, 23 HRs, 104 RBI -- but it would have been nice to see him able to complete the season while playing at such a high level.
#5 -- The first-half performances of George Sherrill and Jim Johnson.
George Sherrill and his flat-billed cap brought some stability to the Orioles bullpen in the first part of the season. Before the All-Star Break, Sherrill had a 4.08 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP in 39.2 innings pitched; he also accumulated 28 saves. But after the break, Sherrill pitched only 13.2 innings and put up some bad numbers: 6.59 ERA, 1.76 WHIP, 3 saves. He also missed about a month battling some shoulder inflammation. There are two possibilities for Sherrill’s poor second half: 1) He pitched only 45.2 innings in 2007, so maybe the workload this season was too much for him; and 2) The All-Star Game went 15 innings, and AL manager Terry Francona had Sherrill throw 2.1 innings, which may have added some fatigue to Sherrill’s arm.
Nonetheless, Sherrill’s pitching in the first half was just an added bonus to the ample rewards the Orioles received in the Erik Bedard trade.
Another welcome surprise was the presence of 25-year-old Jim Johnson, who didn’t even start out with the Orioles on Opening Day. But Johnson was brought up after making one start for Norfolk, and he soon became the primary set-up man for Sherrill in the bullpen. Johnson’s numbers from April through July -- 53.1 IP, 2.03 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, .181 BAA -- were fantastic, and he deserved to be the Orioles’ representative in the All-Star Game more than Sherrill.
But like Sherrill, Johnson began to fade a bit -- 15.1 IP, 2.93 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, .323 BAA -- after the break. He was shut down for the rest of the season in early September when an MRI revealed damage in his shoulder. He was heavily relied upon in the first portion of the season, which may have been the reason for his shoulder problems.
In the minors he had been a starting pitcher; in 2007, he threw 148 innings for the Norfolk Tides. Perhaps Johnson’s arm wasn’t completely ready for the demanding role of set-up man, but he should be fine for the start of spring training.
#6 -- Dave Trembley’s old-school coaching and post-game reactions.
No manager is perfect, and Trembley certainly had his fair share of questionable decisions as far as bringing in various relievers. But he did a good job with the hand he was dealt this season. Trembley also had the team playing at an extremely high level before the team’s abrupt collapse in August/September.
Also, I thoroughly enjoyed Trembley’s post-game press conferences and interviews. He’s always mad when the team loses, as he should be, and he doesn’t hide the fact that he hates answering questions instead of being in the clubhouse talking with his players. His face almost always turns bright red; it’s an intimidating appearance. He’s not afraid to say what he feels is right or what needs to be said in certain situations. He’ll defend his players or call them out if he feels it’s necessary. Trembley is accountable for whatever happens on the field and aware of what it will take to turn this team around.
#7 -- Jay Payton won’t be back next season.
Payton plays the game hard; I understand that. He runs hard down the first-base line, he hustles after every ball in the outfield, and he’s not afraid to bang into the wall to make a catch. In a way, he’s kind of like David Eckstein: the guy who just plays the game “the right way” and looks like he’s giving everything he has. Well, that’s fine and dandy after a while, but when a team is losing and that player isn’t performing all that well, it doesn’t matter as much. When Eckstein was playing on World Series winners like the 2002 Angels and the 2007 Cardinals, it didn’t matter that he only had OPS’s of .751 and .738, respectively, because he played decent defense, moved runners over, and put the ball in play. Winning games makes individual players’ deficiencies matter less. Now, I bet you couldn’t even guess what team Eckstein finished the season with. (It’s the Arizona Diamondbacks, by the way.)
The two seasons in Baltimore have been the worst of Payton’s career. I mentioned his 2007 stats earlier, but his numbers this season were worse. He only hit .243 and had an OPS of .637, which is very bad. Sure, he basically played in a platoon role because of Luke Scott in left field, but Payton still had over 330 at bats -- he just didn’t hit well or get on base much. And that’s not even considering the fact that Payton made $4.5 million in 2007 and $5 million in 2008.
#8 -- Nick Markakis’s defense.
Markakis led all ML outfielders in assists this season with 17, and he committed just 3 errors while playing in 157 games. At the beginning of the season, opposing runners challenged Markakis; many of them soon learned that wasn’t such a good idea. Besides throwing runners out, he also made numerous outstanding diving catches and played solid all-around defense in right field.
#9 -- The presence of Adam Jones.
Having Jones in center field this season was a breath of fresh air for Orioles fans. Not only is he a solid player, but he’s only 23 years old. His numbers -- .270/.311/.400, 9 HRs, 57 RBI, 10 SB -- are not overly impressive, but this was his rookie season. Jones also covers a lot of ground in the outfield to form a fantastic center field-right field duo with Markakis. He certainly has plenty of room to improve, but Jones certainly possesses the tools to do so.
There’s no doubt that Jones has the potential to be exceptional on the field, but he’s already special off of it. First of all, he’s not afraid to take pictures for Yahoo! Sports with his eyes closed. Second, he hates to miss games, evident by his constant nagging of Dave Trembley to let him back on the field when he was dealing with a fractured foot. Trembley obviously had enough to deal with this year with a crumbling pitching staff, but the image of Jones asking, “Can I play now, Coach?” on a daily basis was (and still is) pretty funny.
#10 -- The limited appearances by Lou Montanez and Oscar Salazar.
When Jones was placed on the disabled list in early August, the Orioles purchased Lou Montanez’s contract from Double-A Bowie. At the time, Montanez had hit .335 with 26 HRs and 97 RBI in 116 games and was leading the Eastern League in all three Triple Crown categories. When the Bowie regular season ended about a month later, Montanez was still in the lead to clinch the Eastern League’s first Triple Crown since 1976. He also won the MVP award for his outstanding season.
Though he still needs to improve his outfield skills, Montanez, who turns 27 in December, played very well in the first 38 games in the majors of his career. The former third overall pick in the 2000 MLB Draft hit .295 with 3 HRs, 14 RBI, and a respectable .763 OPS. He also managed to homer in his first major league at bat against the Angels, which will leave him with an amazing memory for the rest of his life even if he ends up back in the minors next season.
Injuries and infield concerns also presented some playing time for 30-year-old Oscar Salazar. Mainly a corner infielder and designated hitter, Salazar batted .284 with 5 HRs, 15 RBI, and an OPS of .879. The 34 games played with the Orioles were the first for Salazar since a brief 8-game appearance with the Detroit Tigers in 2002.
The Orioles always appear to be looking for serviceable bench players, and both Montanez and Salazar deserve a chance to stick around next season.
Other notables: The great offensive seasons by Roberts and Markakis; this gem from Joe Angel: "Trachsel's taking a long time between pitches... well, if you had his stuff, you wouldn't want to throw it either"; Buck Martinez’s crazy hair; Juan Castro’s defense; listening to Gary Thorne say “Guillermo Quiroz,”; Jim Palmer’s random stories and love for In-N-Out Burger; Kevin Millar’s blond hair experiment; and his one-time at bat music after apparently losing a bet.
Negatives
#1 -- Another second-half collapse.
Nothing signals the end of summer like the annual Orioles collapse in the second part of the season. This season, the Orioles managed to tread water in late July (6-8) and August (11-17), but the epic implosion eventually came in September when the Orioles went an astounding 5-20. Yes, 5 wins and 20 losses.
The horrible final month capped off a 22-45 post All-Star Break record for the O’s, during which the Orioles happened to have separate losing streaks of 5 games (8/22-8/26), 8 games (8/29-9/6), and 10 games (9/17-9/26).
Both injuries and bad pitching certainly played a significant role in the team’s second-half downfall, but so did the schedule. The Orioles finished off the season with 37 games in this order: 3 vs. Boston, 3 vs. New York, 3 vs. Chicago, 3 vs. Tampa Bay, 3 vs. Boston, 2 vs. Oakland, 4 vs. Cleveland, 3 vs. Minnesota, 3 vs. Toronto, 3 vs. New York, 4 vs. Tampa Bay, and 3 vs. Toronto. Those eight teams finished the season with a combined record of more than 100 games over .500 (699-596). So the Orioles looked terrible as the season came to an end, but they had lots of help.
#2 -- Awful pitching.
Just posting the numbers:
Overall pitching: 13th (out of 14 teams) in AL in ERA (5.13), 14th in walks (687), 14th in strikeouts (922), and 13th in runs (869).
Starting pitching: Tied for 13th in ERA (5.51), 13th in innings pitched (882.0), 14th in walks (395), 14th in strikeouts (514).
Relief pitching: 11th in ERA (4.50), 3rd in innings pitched (540.0), 14th in walks (292), 7th in strikeouts (408).
Ouch.
#3 -- Daniel Cabrera’s pitching (and batting).
Since his debut with the team in 2004, the Orioles have been waiting for Daniel Cabrera to turn the proverbial corner and harness his raw skills. After yet another disappointing 2008 campaign, the Orioles may still be waiting in 2009 if the front office decides to bring him back since he’s eligible for arbitration and may get around $5 million.
Unfortunately for the Orioles, Cabrera’s performance this year was arguably the worst of his career. Cabrera finished the season on the disabled list with a right elbow sprain and the possibility of his back affecting his pitching at various points during the season. Some injuries may explain not only his awful numbers -- 5.25 ERA, 1.05 K/BB, 1.61 WHIP, .286 BAA -- but also his fluctuating pitch speeds on the radar gun. Before this season, Cabrera consistently reached the upper 90s with his fastball; this season, he sometimes threw in the upper 80s to low 90s.
But to dismiss many of Cabrera’s troubles because of the possibility of an injury would be foolish; his pitching mechanics haven’t improved in five seasons, and he is usually among the league leaders in walks, hit batsmen, and wild pitches. This season was no different -- 2nd in the AL in walks (90), 1st in HBP (18), and 1st in wild pitches (15). It’s bad enough that Cabrera simply cannot correct his troubles on the mound; instead, every time he pitches and Jim Palmer is in the broadcast booth, Palmer lectures about how Cabrera’s mechanics seem to have deteriorated.
And the mention about Cabrera’s hitting is for this reason: in 14 career at bats, Cabrera has struck out 14 times. He’d probably have a better chance swinging a telephone pole.
#4 -- Watching the Orioles run the bases.
This one is pretty self-explanatory, but if it’s not, then it’s definitely Trembley-explanatory. Here are some comments from Trembley after the O’s ran themselves out of another inning on Sept. 22 against the Rays:
“We had two crucial baserunning mistakes. It's three balls and two strikes and you're running, and it's a fly ball. Don't you stop? It's not Kamikaze baseball. You don't just run until you're out. To me, that's just a total mental breakdown on his (Salazar's) part. Total. And to be honest to you, that's embarrassing to me and the club and the people who are watching the game. And I'm not burying him, but that's not right."
Orioles’ baserunners seem to frequently run themselves out of bigger innings by getting greedy or not paying attention. Also, many runners on the team don’t get good secondary leads and are pretty bad at going from first to third on a single. Sure, the O’s have many slow runners like Millar, Hernandez, Huff, Scott, Quiroz, and Salazar, but slow runners can still pay attention and take the extra base when necessary.
#5 -- Jamie Walker.
Walker, 37, was placed on the disabled list in late June with inflammation in his left elbow. He battled back to rejoin the Orioles in about a month, but he appeared to still be feeling the effects of the same injury and just wasn’t the same pitcher.
His numbers show just how ineffective he was this year: 6.87 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, .325 BAA. Left-handed batters hit .304 off of him and had 7 HRs. Even though he has one more year left on his contract, the Orioles may choose to let him walk and cut their losses.
#6 -- Luis Hernandez and Freddie Bynum both failing to keep the shortstop job.
When the Orioles started the season with Luis Hernandez as the starting shortstop, Hernandez wasn’t asked to do much. He was supposed to play solid defense and maybe hit around .250. But he didn’t have much range at shortstop (he’s more of a second baseman), and he batted .241, had a .295 OBP, and had only one extra-base hit, a double, in 79 at bats.
So, when Bynum was activated from the disabled list on May 8, the Orioles handed him the starting shortstop job and asked him to do the same. Instead, Bynum proceeded to produce at a lower level than even Hernandez did. Bynum, who also isn’t really a shortstop, didn’t play good defense; he made 5 errors in 32 starts and didn’t get to many hits to the left or right of him. (Remember how this game ended?) He was also horribly unproductive at the plate: .179 AVG, 0 HRs, 8 RBI, .444 OPS.
The inability of both Hernandez and Bynum led to fans being forced to watch Alex Cintron play the infield like Roger Dorn before he found out that Rachel Phelps wanted to move the team to Florida and get rid of all the players in Major League. At least the team traded for Juan Castro, who didn’t hit well but actually fielded his position -- imagine that.
#7 -- Ramon Hernandez’s relatively unproductive season.
Hernandez had a sluggish year behind the plate; in 118 starts, he was tied for 2nd in the AL in errors among catchers (9) and 3rd in passed balls (9). Though the pitching staff didn’t help him to hold runners very efficiently, Hernandez also played a significant role in allowing 99 stolen bases, the most in the AL. Only two everyday catchers had worse numbers in the running game than Hernandez (.195 caught stealing percentage): A.J. Pierzynski (.186) and John Buck (.174).
As far as hitting, Hernandez had a very solid second half. He hit .288 with 7 HRs and a .791 OPS after the All-Star Break, but he hit just .237 with 8 HRs and a .747 OPS before the break. For someone who made $7.5 million this season, those numbers just don’t add up.
Other notables: Having Orioles pitchers give up leads almost immediately after getting them; watching Daniel Cabrera cover first base; lots of injuries; the possible return of Danys Baez to the bullpen next season; Rick Dempsey in the broadcast booth; Mark Viviano as the sideline reporter instead of Amber Theoharis; horrible camera angles and the lack of replays from MASN; and starters routinely going fewer than 5 innings.
Even though this season didn’t end well, there’s always next year. Besides, the Orioles have plenty of things to look forward to next season and in seasons to come; nonetheless, the front office has plenty of important decisions to make in the offseason.
I’ll try to go over most of them in the next post.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Don't mess with Trembley (Especially if you're not that good)
This isn't exactly shocking news, but the Orioles' pitching staff has been terrible lately. Since the all-star break, the Orioles have an MLB-worst team ERA of 6.30. Orioles' pitchers have given up 492 hits in 394 innings pitched. They've struck out 271 batters and walked 203, which averages out to a miniscule 1.33 K/BB ratio and an awful 4.64 walks per 9 innings.
But again, I'm sure you knew all that. But what you might not have known is that last Friday in a loss against the Tampa Bay Rays, Fernando Cabrera, who gave up 5 runs (4 earned) in 2 innings pitched, visibly angered manager Dave Trembley when he came to the mound to remove Cabrera from the game. Instead of handing Trembley the ball, Cabrera flipped it to him -- big mistake.
It was bad enough for Cabrera (5.40 ERA, 9 HRs allowed in 28.1 innings pitched) to be pitching poorly, but, as shown above, it's not like he was the only struggling pitcher on the team. But he brought attention to himself with that single move, even if it was surely just one out of obvious frustration.
The combination of the incident with Trembley in Tampa Bay with the rest of his incidents on the mound of giving up multiple runs was enough to justify Cabrera's release today. Trembley offered a few choice words on the matter:
Whether or not Cabrera is a milkshake drinker isn't clear. But what is evident is that at this point in time, it's somewhat acceptable to be a mediocre pitcher on the Orioles. But if someone doesn't display some class and decides to show up Trembley instead, he's gone. Of course, that player being Fernando Cabrera certainly made the decision a bit easier.
But again, I'm sure you knew all that. But what you might not have known is that last Friday in a loss against the Tampa Bay Rays, Fernando Cabrera, who gave up 5 runs (4 earned) in 2 innings pitched, visibly angered manager Dave Trembley when he came to the mound to remove Cabrera from the game. Instead of handing Trembley the ball, Cabrera flipped it to him -- big mistake.
It was bad enough for Cabrera (5.40 ERA, 9 HRs allowed in 28.1 innings pitched) to be pitching poorly, but, as shown above, it's not like he was the only struggling pitcher on the team. But he brought attention to himself with that single move, even if it was surely just one out of obvious frustration.
The combination of the incident with Trembley in Tampa Bay with the rest of his incidents on the mound of giving up multiple runs was enough to justify Cabrera's release today. Trembley offered a few choice words on the matter:
"I think you always make evaluations based on performance first. Not everybody here is a milkshake drinker. They're not all guys that you'd want to bring home and introduce to your daughters. You understand that. But performance is the bottom line. I didn't see Fernando Cabrera fitting in on this club next year. I think we can do better. I told him I appreciated what he did, but I didn't see him making this club coming out of spring training. I think there is no substitute at any time for respect and integrity."
Whether or not Cabrera is a milkshake drinker isn't clear. But what is evident is that at this point in time, it's somewhat acceptable to be a mediocre pitcher on the Orioles. But if someone doesn't display some class and decides to show up Trembley instead, he's gone. Of course, that player being Fernando Cabrera certainly made the decision a bit easier.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Some points and thoughts from this past week
-- While watching the Orioles this week, my first thought was that they should just leave Dave Trembley as the manager. With Trembley as interim coach, the O's surprisingly took two out of three from the Padres. Then on Friday, Daniel Cabrera pitched up to his potential and the O's won again to make it three in a row. (If you're not an Orioles fan, with the current situation this team is in, winning three games in a row is almost like making the playoffs.) But the last two games against the Diamondbacks have looked like more of the same, including lack of offense, mediocre pitching, and a complete lack of urgency. If the O's want to get shutdown by Jake Peavy, then hey, that's fine. But Dave Bush? Come on, guys.
Anyway, I still believe that the O's should just let Trembley manage the team until the end of the season, then depending on what happens, such as if the team shows any positive signs or winning trends, then they could re-access the situation. There's no need to rush into hiring a manager, like Dusty Baker, who just probably would be another bad fit in a long line of bad teams and frustrated managers -- who have annoyed every O's fan in the process.
-- I stumbled upon this story about one minute ago: Apparently over the weekend, a player who you've probably never heard of before, Fred Evans of the Miami Dolphins, was "arrested early Saturday morning, and tasers were used to subdue him, after an alleged argument with a Miami Beach taxi driver." I could be wrong here, but I think the reason for his tasering may have been as follows: "According to the report, Evans bit one officer on the wrist..." It might not be such a good idea to be out so late if the possibility of biting a cop may arise in the process -- just my two cents. Even Bill Romanowski has never bitten a cop before. I think.
-- With that last note, I fell into the trap of discussing the disturbing trend of NFL players being arrested and following the disappointing behavior of guys like Pacman Jones, Chris Henry, and Tank Johnson. In better news, Jon Kitna recently predicted that the Detroit Lions will win at least 10 games next season. And I'm glad that Kitna did this; his remarks leave an important reminder that NFL players aren't all just clowns who get arrested. They also can make us fans laugh with funny and bizarre predictions that don't really make any sense. Kudos to you, Mr. Kitna.
-- I have really wanted to comment on the latest news in the Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett situations in which multiple trade scenarios have been speculated about over the last several weeks. But I really don't think either one is going to get traded right now. The Lakers would be a disaster if Kobe left, so I seriously doubt that would happen. And even though KG has remained pretty silent and hasn't gone nearly as far as Kobe has in demanding trades out of LA, I think KG needs to get traded and that McHale should seriously consider it. The T'Wolves have been pretty bad for years, and their only young player with any talent is Randy Foye. The team's nucleus includes Foye, Ricky Davis, KG, and now Juwan Howard of all people. This whole team is a mess, and it must be bad because even Troy Hudson is trying to get out of there.
KG might really be against a trade to the Celtics, and that's ok. But he should really consider leaving and playing for a winning team while he still has much of his athletic ability and talent left. Even though the Suns seem very reluctant to trade Amare Stoudamire for Garnett, that deal would be a perfect fit for both teams. Phoenix would probably win the title, and the T'Wolves would have a younger player to build around along with Foye. But since it makes too much sense, it won't happen. Go NBA!
-- On another NBA note, I also don't have a mock draft to offer in my blog. Mock drafts are interesting to look at, but they're always wrong. No one really knows what a GM or an NBA team is thinking, and at any time they could have one player higher and ruin everyone's perception of what they thought would happen. I have no idea who will get drafted where, let alone who will get drafted number one. I guess the Blazers will take Oden over Durant, which seems to be the most popular pick.
Anyway, I still believe that the O's should just let Trembley manage the team until the end of the season, then depending on what happens, such as if the team shows any positive signs or winning trends, then they could re-access the situation. There's no need to rush into hiring a manager, like Dusty Baker, who just probably would be another bad fit in a long line of bad teams and frustrated managers -- who have annoyed every O's fan in the process.
-- I stumbled upon this story about one minute ago: Apparently over the weekend, a player who you've probably never heard of before, Fred Evans of the Miami Dolphins, was "arrested early Saturday morning, and tasers were used to subdue him, after an alleged argument with a Miami Beach taxi driver." I could be wrong here, but I think the reason for his tasering may have been as follows: "According to the report, Evans bit one officer on the wrist..." It might not be such a good idea to be out so late if the possibility of biting a cop may arise in the process -- just my two cents. Even Bill Romanowski has never bitten a cop before. I think.
-- With that last note, I fell into the trap of discussing the disturbing trend of NFL players being arrested and following the disappointing behavior of guys like Pacman Jones, Chris Henry, and Tank Johnson. In better news, Jon Kitna recently predicted that the Detroit Lions will win at least 10 games next season. And I'm glad that Kitna did this; his remarks leave an important reminder that NFL players aren't all just clowns who get arrested. They also can make us fans laugh with funny and bizarre predictions that don't really make any sense. Kudos to you, Mr. Kitna.
-- I have really wanted to comment on the latest news in the Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett situations in which multiple trade scenarios have been speculated about over the last several weeks. But I really don't think either one is going to get traded right now. The Lakers would be a disaster if Kobe left, so I seriously doubt that would happen. And even though KG has remained pretty silent and hasn't gone nearly as far as Kobe has in demanding trades out of LA, I think KG needs to get traded and that McHale should seriously consider it. The T'Wolves have been pretty bad for years, and their only young player with any talent is Randy Foye. The team's nucleus includes Foye, Ricky Davis, KG, and now Juwan Howard of all people. This whole team is a mess, and it must be bad because even Troy Hudson is trying to get out of there.
KG might really be against a trade to the Celtics, and that's ok. But he should really consider leaving and playing for a winning team while he still has much of his athletic ability and talent left. Even though the Suns seem very reluctant to trade Amare Stoudamire for Garnett, that deal would be a perfect fit for both teams. Phoenix would probably win the title, and the T'Wolves would have a younger player to build around along with Foye. But since it makes too much sense, it won't happen. Go NBA!
-- On another NBA note, I also don't have a mock draft to offer in my blog. Mock drafts are interesting to look at, but they're always wrong. No one really knows what a GM or an NBA team is thinking, and at any time they could have one player higher and ruin everyone's perception of what they thought would happen. I have no idea who will get drafted where, let alone who will get drafted number one. I guess the Blazers will take Oden over Durant, which seems to be the most popular pick.
But aside from Oden and Durant, here is a list of players that I really do like, no matter where they get drafted this year: Al Horford, Mike Conley Jr., Corey Brewer, Jeff Green, Taurean Green, Jared Dudley, Carl Landry, and Acie Law, just to name a few. I don't know much about any of the foreign players, mainly because, I'VE NEVER SEEN THEM PLAY BEFORE, aside from the nifty little clips that ESPN shows during the draft. It's great to see how easily Yi Jianlian dominates in the clips they show, namely because he's two feet taller than anyone he's playing with.
That's enough for now. Just for the record, next weekend during the NBA Draft, I'll be doing a running blog to post later on that night. That should definitely be some fun, and the NBA draft is always hilarious.
Here's to the Wizards actually picking someone this year whose name I can pronounce.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)