Orioles with a Winning Season

Day in and day out, I spend my time with Orioles fans, and if you have recently looked at my Facebook, you will notice that I am also a fan. Now I know, "Taylor, you like the Phillies." True, but I am a Phillies fan raised by my parents who are a Phillies fan and an Orioles fan. My first baseball game that I can remember was at Camden Yards, and I have always had a love for the Orioles as far as I can remember. Are the Orioles a fan of me? Do the Orioles care about my wants and needs? My wants and needs as an Orioles fan is that I want them to succeed, I want them to have a winning season, and I want them to move out of the "cellar" of the American League East. But the front office of the Orioles keeps going against that dream, they keep making trades that help other teams, but not their own. What am I supposed to think when the Orioles are shopping around for offers for both Mark Reynolds and Kevin Gregg. The team cannot be based around Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, and Mark Reynolds. That's not a strong enough core of players, but hopefully with the return of an always ailing Brian Roberts, and a strong season from Nolan Reimold might help out the O's cause. With the addition of Chris Davis at first, and J.J. Hardy returning at shortstop, the Orioles are still in a desperate need for pitching. Find me one pitcher on the Orioles starting rotation that is the "ace" or find me a definite closer on the team. ERA's are through the roof on that team and in the AL East, there's probably a good reason way.

It's hard to succeed in a division that has the competing rivalry of the Yankees and Red Sox. The Tampa Bay Rays have been strong ever since 2008, and the Blue Jays want to become contenders. Last year, the Yankees had 97 wins, the Rays 91, the Red Sox 90, and the Blue Jays finished at .500 with 81 wins. The Orioles need to step up their game, and having Buck Showalter as a manager certainly does help, but the absolutely need, need, need to obtain some serious pitching both in the rotation and in the bullpen. I for one am willing to have Cal Ripken Jr. come back as a coach, as a manager, as a consultant, and if the "Iron Man" is willing to, get onto the field and play. The last time the Orioles had a winning season was in 1997 and their best player was Mike Mussina. Ouch. So now, it is time to take back Camden Yards from all the New Yorkers and Bostonians that flock down to Baltimore! It is time to make a stand with the Orioles front office to force them to make the team succeed! And it is certainly time to see the Orioles win the American League East because: THIS IS BIRDLAND!

The Mexicutioner in Trouble

Many know the nickname, "The Mexicutioner" being Manny Pacquiao, but in Kansas City, Missouri, that nickname belongs to closer Joakim Soria. Soria just returned from a visit in Los Angeles to see a specialist and was told the he has damage to the ulnar collateral ligament. What exactly does that mean? It means that Soria's biggest option to return to baseball is Tommy John surgery. The right-handed pitcher stated that he would speak to his family in Arizona before ultimately deciding what to do, but surgery is most likely the answer. With Tommy John surgery, Soria would be knocked out of the entire 2012 season just as he missed the 2003 season with the same surgery. How exactly do you have Tommy John surgery twice? Well apparently the same problem arises and once again the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) needs to be repaired. Losing Soria would be a great loss to the Royal's bullpen, mainly because he has been known to be such a great leader to a relatively young group a pitchers. And without him, the Royals will be forced to have a "closer by committee" set up in which Jonathan Broxton, Greg Holland, and Aaron Crow will be the frontrunners for the job. People don't realize just how important Joakim Soria is, the 27 year-old closer averages 37 saves a season, those numbers are similar to closers like Jonathan Papelbon and Brian Wilson. Soria unfortunately had one of the worst seasons this year in terms of saves with only 28, with missing time in May and also the last two and a half weeks of the season. In the 2012 season, "The Mexicutioner" had 43 saves, and the Royals had 67 wins, meaning that Soria saved 65% of the Royals wins. He finished second in saves that year, only behind Rafael Soriano with 45. Hopefully Joakim Soria can recover from his almost inevitable Tommy John surgery and come back healthy in the 2013 season. But as of right now, the Royals are just waiting to see what Soria wants to do.

Eye on the Ball Miguel

Ouch.

Sorry for the pun, but I simply could not resist. And that is right blog followers, it's a special "Two Blog Tuesday" in which I post two blogs about whatever I want! I debated talking about Joakim Soria's possible need for Tommy John surgery, Derek Holland's contract extension with the Rangers, but I feel as though Miguel Cabrera is a personal, and fan favorite. One of the best first/third baseman on the field right now will be taking a week off because of a non-displaced fracture of the orbital floor in his right eye. This came from a ground ball off hit by Hunter Pence in the Tigers loss against the Phillies on Monday. Apparently the ground was exceptionally hard that day because the hopper came up and struck Miguel Cabrera's sunglasses which possibly saved his eye. Cabrera was bleeding immediately because the ball hit his sunglasses which then cut into the area around his eye. His sunglasses even had an imprint of the ball's stitches on them. It must have been fate that Monday was the first day that Cabrera decided to wear sunglasses on the field. One could question whether or not that it was Cabrera's fault due to poor fielding, but he has only committed one error all Spring Training. The first person to come up to Miguel was pitcher Max Scherzer, who first made sure he could see, and then told him, "You're OK!" He said this to make sure that Cabrera didn't freak out because of the blood that was coming from his face. Cabrera was always on his feet, but was clearly dazed by the impact of the ball, and hopefully he will not have to start the season on the DL. Since Opening Day is two and a half weeks away for the Tigers, they hope Miguel will be ok and won't have any serious damage to his eye. Manager Jim Leyland stated that, "It was swelling up pretty quick. Basically, he looked like a fighter that needed a cut man and wasn't doing too good in the fight." Hopefully Miguel can keep up the good fight and have a speedy recovery.

Chase Utley you are the Man

Phillies fans are getting worried. Chase Utley is not doing as well as we would have hoped he would be at this point. With a chronic knee problem in both knees, Utley has left Phillies camp to go to an unknown specialist in an unknown location to have them looked at. With that being said, Utley will most likely start the season on the disabled list, just like last year. The Phillies are at a loss with Utley out of the lineup, the longterm 3-hole hitter, who is a .911 OPS hitter from 2005-2010. It's difficult to see Utley in a position where he was in 2011 where he only hit .259 with 11 homeruns. The 5 time All-Star had/has a Hall of Fame career behind him and he hopes to further that career after dealing with his knees. People have stated that Utley is possibly one of the best offensive second baseman of all time, but there are red flags rising. Chase has not appeared in one Grapefruit League game this Spring Training, and manager Charlie Manuel is worried. Many of the Phillies fear that Chase's problem is not going away and also fear that he may never be 100%. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has stated that Utley has his a plateau in his progress, and he is not where the team would like him to be. Phillies fans know that Chase Utley is not where he would like to be, mainly because Utley is one of the hardest working players out there, he has worked through this pain before. Surgery is one thing that has not really been discussed and it is hard to say because Utley has not discussed the matter publicly. In terms of temporarily replacing Utley, Freddy Galvis has been impressing the front office and coaching staff this Spring Training, and has been unofficially named the Opening Day second baseman. But looking at the lefthand side of the Phillies infield, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are now gone. Two All-Stars, two players who hit 3rd and 4th for the lineup since 2005/2006, the two players that have arguably contributed to the Phillies the most in the past 5 seasons, and key to their success in the National League East. Chase Utley is a fan favorite in Philadelphia, a player who gives 100% even when his body is only willing to give 50. He is a player who will never be booed by Phillies fans, which is saying something, because Chase Utley is a class act, and in the words of the late Harry Kalas, "Chase Utley, you are the man."

Those "Amazin" Mets

What happens when you are a team owner and you invest your money in a "legitimate business" to make a quick dollar? Well ask Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz and they'll tell you that it costs approximately $162 million in payoffs to victims of Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme. 162? That's a number that sounds awfully familiar to a baseball fan, oh wait! It's the amount of baseball games in a season, which means that the Mets owners will being paying exactly One Million Dollars per baseball game. That's money that they could have invested into Jose Reyes' contract, or the future contract of David Wright. Maybe the Mets could have signed Prince Fielder, or Albert Pujols, but no, they have to pay off money which was issued by the United States Government. Wilpon, an owner since 1980, stated, "The first order of business and the first priority will be getting down to Florida tomorrow, getting to the Spring Training camp, and trying to bring the New York Mets back to the prominence that our fans deserve and the city of New York deserves." HAH! I will certainly laugh about that one later. If New York fans want to look a team that is successful and prominent, they should look 20 minutes across the city at Yankee Stadium to see a real team play. Or at least a team that fans and the city of New York deserves. Apparently Mets fans are supposed to "stick with us." But to be honest, if I were a Mets fan, I would have stopped being a Mets fan in 2007 when their "Amazin" collapse happened. I know that this blog post may be biased with me being a Phillies fan, but you have to look at this at a standpoint of a Mets fan. How dumb could your owner be to invest in something like Bernie Madoff's "Company" which MLB restrictions go against? That is money that could be spent towards free agents, towards new contracts for great players, and hopefully towards a World Series Championship! But meanwhile, ticket prices will most likely go up, players will not sign large contracts, and prospects will be traded away. Sorry Mets fans, but things are not looking too good for your team. Talk about a great 50th Anniversary...

Answering the Call of Duty: Jim Thome

For the first time since 2007, Jim Thome played first base on Monday's Minor League Spring Training Game. Thome played 4-innings at first for the first time since 2007 where he played a total of 8 innings at first for the Chicago White Sox. After the game he was questioned, "Just like riding a bike, right?" To which Thome replied, "Oh no. No, no." Many don't realize that Jim Thome is 41 years old, he's been in the Majors since 1991, which as of this season is 21 seasons ago. Plagued by back problems, old age (by baseball standards), and overall rust, Thome will have some trouble playing at first. In the Spring Training game, a ball went right by him, to which he replied, "The ball always finds you when you haven't been out there in a while." With Ryan Howard gone, who will play first? Or who will fill the void of RBIs and homeruns? Ty Wigginton, Laynce Nix, John Mayberry, Domonic Brown, and Jim Thome all can't play at once to fill the void. So what is Charlie Manuel to do while Howard out on injury? He hopes to have Thome there to play at first and is banking on around 200 at-bats. Unfortunately if Thome only pinch-hits and plays as the DH in Interleague Play, that means that he will still only have around 115 at-bats. (Most at bats of a pinch-hitter was Lenny Harris who had 83 in 2001 with the Mets). But Phillies fans aren't going to forget what Jim Thome has done for the city, hitting 47 homeruns in 2003 in the last season of Veterans Stadium. Thome is in the top 6 of homerun hitters in the past 10 years that isn't linked to steroids. He hit his 600th with the Indians in the 2011 season (finished with 604) and he hopes to have many more with the Phillies in 2012. There are some things that Thome has to re-learn at first, and he's hoping to get his mitt back into shape. I wish Thome luck in the 2012 season, and hope that he can play first at the best of his abilities. 

What Has Third Base Become?

A-Rod Steals Third on Adrian Beltre in Texas
(Ironic, I know)

The "Hot Corner" has become a position is looked at now almost more than any other position. Why you ask? Well I'll try to inform you. Third has now become a position where you have to field like a shortstop and hit like a first baseman. Before this off season (the year of the closer/first baseman), recent years have shown that third baseman are become more and more coveted by teams. Let's look at some of the recent trends at third. Who plays third base as of right now? Starting off the 2012 season, new third baseman, Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez will now take over third for the Miami Marlins thanks to Jose Reyes filling the shortstop position this off season. The defense on the left side of the field will not be as good as it was in '03 when they won the World Series, but it surely will be an improvement. But wait, who was that guy at third for the Marlins in 2003? Oh right, Miguel Cabrera. Since Prince Fielder has now taken over first for the Detroit Tigers, Cabrera is back to his original position in MLB at third. Want to know something remarkable about Cabrera? He's gained in the realm of 50 lbs from when he left the Marlins in '07. Playing third keeps you agile, and playing first, well look at Fielder. You can get big and still have great defense. So "Miggy" will certainly have to lose some weight to regain some agility and make sure he is able to field the ball well at third. Unfortunately for him, the 2012 Fielding Bible expects him to make plenty of errors throughout the season. So how does the average third baseman stack up to these power figures shifting to third? Unfortunately, he doesn't. How does the Chicago Cubs third baseman Ian Stewart stack up against A-Rod? He doesn't. How does Juan Uribe of the Dodgers compare to Ryan Zimmerman? He doesn't. The idea of a third baseman that can only field is out the door. Mark Reynolds of the Orioles does not have the greatest fielding percentage, but can hit 30 homers in a season. That's what the Orioles wanted, power! After signing Adrian Gonzalez to first base, the Red Sox were forced to move Kevin Youkilis back to third, which his defense lacked, but he still could drive in runs. Phillies fans can remember a time after Scott Rolen, when there was a platooning of David Bell (my favorite, seriously), Abraham Nunez, Wes Helms, and Greg Dobbs. In closing, I just hope that third base can become a position where baseball players can succeed, whether they are amazing fielders or power hitters, third base simply amazes me. In my opinion, there's almost nothing better than an "around the horn" double-play ball.