Recapping the Orioles' Offseason

Courtesy of Keith Allison

When your biggest offseason move is re-signing a player who was released by the Pittsburg Pirates half a year ago, you probably had a really quiet and uneventful offseason. That is exactly what the Baltimore Orioles have done. Dan Duquette, after leading the Orioles to a surprising playoff appearance in his first season as the general manager, decided to stand pat with the current core and hoped for a repeat performance from the group in 2013. The only major changes the Orioles made this offseason include declining Mark Reynolds’s option, letting go of Joe Saunders, signing Jair Jurrjens, claiming Alexi Casilla off waivers and re-signing Nate Mclouth.

Cleveland Indians paying for Bourn in the future

Scott Boras has always been known to wait for the market to develop for his free agent clients. Sometimes it works, as evidenced by Prince Fielder’s nine-year $214 million contract with the Detroit Tigers in late January last offseason. Sometimes it doesn’t. Michael Bourn is an example of how Boras’s plan fails as he signs with the Cleveland Indians for $48 million for 4 years. However, from the perspective of the Indians, this is an absolute steal for a player who was rumored to be asking for $100 million at the start of the offseason, even though Bourn’s presence does not push the Indians even remotely close to a place in the playoff. 

Why did the Mariners give Felix Hernandez 175 million dollars even though he may not be worth it?

The Seattle Mariners have just extended Felix Hernandez to the largest contract a pitcher has ever received, for reportedly 175 million dollars over 7 years. Hernandez is among the best five pitchers in baseball today, and will only be 33 when the contract ends. This kind of investment for a pitcher is inherently risky and Hernandez may not perform up to his contract on the field, but it is understandable why the Mariners would commit this amount of money to their only franchise superstar.

Raptors the lone loser of Rudy Gay trade

Rudy Gay has finally been traded, through a three-team trade to the Toronto Raptors. Rudy Gay has always had the looks of a superstar, which probably earns him his max contract in the summer of 2010. However, he has never played up to his potential on the court and he is having probably his worst season statistically since his rookie season. This trade gives the Raptors a potential All-Star, while providing both the Grizzlies and the Pistons with financial relief in the future.

How Keith Smart can improve the Kings' rotation?

In the first four games of the season, Keith Smart has primarily used a 10-man rotation. He uses the starters Isaiah Thomas, Tyreke Evans, James Johnson, Jason Thompson and DeMarcus Cousins for most if not all of the first and third quarters. In the second and fourth quarters, he has the second unit Aaron Brooks, Marcus Thornton, Francisco Garcia, Thomas Robinson and Chuck Hayes on the court for the first half of the quarters. In the second half of the quarters, Brooks, Evans, Thornton, Hayes and Cousins get most of the playing time and are the unit that closes out the games for the Kings.

Who should the Orioles start on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday?

The Baltimore Orioles have punched a ticket into the postseason, but their work is hardly done. They are currently tied with the New York Yankees for first place in the AL East entering the final series of regular season. The Orioles will play the Rays in Tampa Bay, while the Yankees will face the Red Sox at home. With the new playoff format, there is a clear advantage in winning the division over winning the wild card, since the 2 wild card teams have to play a wild card game before getting into the “real” postseason. As a result, the Orioles should treat the last 3 games of the regular season as importantly as they have the first 159 games. The Orioles have set their starting pitchers for the first two games of the series, Wei-Yin Chen for the first and Miguel Gonzalez for the second. The question remains: Who should the Orioles start on Wednesday, Thursday (if they are tied with Yankees for the lead in AL East) and Friday (if they lose the division and play the Oakland Athletics in the wild card game)?

Why Should We Believe in the Orioles?

Coming off a 4-2 road trip in New York and Tampa Bay, the Baltimore Orioles won another close game against the Seattle Mariners behind Chris Tillman's pitching. With less than a third of the season remaining, the collapse that many have predicted has yet to occur. Considering that only one starting pitcher has remained in the rotation the entire season, the Orioles have outperformed the expectations for the team by far. While the negative run differential continues to linger, there are some reasons to believe that the Orioles can around and be in the playoff hunt come September. I will be looking at the numbers in the second half primarily.

Despite losing Jason Hammel to an injury in the first game after the All-Star Break (ASB), the Orioles rotation has performed to a respectable level since then. (A good start is one where the starter pitches more than 5 innings, and allowed less than half the runs as his innings. 2 runs or less in 5 innings, 3 runs or less in 6/7 innings, 4 runs or less in 8/9 innings are good starts to me.) Since the ASB, Wei-Yin Chen has 5/5 good starts, Miguel Gonzalez has 2/5 good starts, Chris Tillman has 3/5 good starts, Tommy Hunter has 3/4 good starts, and Zach Britton has 1/4 good starts. That is a combined 14 good starts of the total 23 starts (1 start by Jason Hammel). When you look closer, two of Gonzalez's starts have been borderline good (3 runs over 5 2/3 innings and 4 runs over 6 2/3 innings). That means the Orioles' starters are keeping the team in the game 70% of the time. That is a really good percentage. The only starter who has not performed well since the ASB is Zach Britton. If Britton continues to overwhelm, Arrieta may be back in the majors sooner rather than later. The bullpen has continued to perform, especially if you take away two of Jim Johnson's appearances (11 earned runs over 2 outs combined). Pitching has stabilized and if Zach Britton can perform to Tommy Hunter's current standard (hope he can keep up this standard), run prevention will not be as difficult as it was in the first half.

The problem so far in the second half has been offense. The Orioles have scored more than 3 runs in only 11 of the 24 games since ASB, 4 times scoring 4 runs. It is remarkable that they have won 13 games with this kind of offense. The starting lineup seems to be set now with no upcoming injury returns. Betemit and Andino will platoon at third base, and Lew Ford and Nate Mclouth will platoon in left field. There are some who are over-performing, like Nick Markakis and Omar Quintanilla. There are some who are under-performing, such as Matt Wieters, Chris Davis and Mark Reynolds. I expect the offense to improve slightly for the rest of the season, as Ford/Mclouth will likely be much better than Endy Chavez. I am not overly optimistic about Orioles' improvement in offense, especially in the infield. However, the outfield has hit much better since the return of Markakis and Ford should improve with a larger sample size.

The most improved aspect of the Orioles' game since ASB might be the defense. The Orioles have committed only 10 errors in 24 games, about the same rate as the team with the best defense in the league, Seattle Mariners. There are 4 legitimate outfields on the roster now, compared to 1 in June. Betemit has been better, and Reynolds has really shined as a first baseman. Taking Chris Davis out of the field to replace the injured Jim Thome has also been a plus to the defense.

Looking at every aspect of the game since ASB, I am optimistic about the pitching and fielding going forward, but not so much about the offense. A few of the players, JJ Hardy and Mark Reynolds, need to break out of their season slump, which may indicate that it is not a slump anymore. When the team does not have many opportunities to score, it is even more important to get clutch hits. However, the Orioles have ranked last in the AL in batting average with runners in scoring position for the season. If they can't improve their overall offense, an improvement in clutch hitting should at least help the Orioles to score more runs.

Analyzing the Sacramento Kings' offseason

The Sacramento Kings have been quiet as usual in the offseason since the draft, until yesterday. The Kings used their remaining cap space to acquire James Johnson from Toronto in a trade and agreed to a contract with free agent Aaron Brooks. In the process, the Kings waived Hassan Whiteside and now have 14 players on the roster. With a team salary at or near the NBA salary cap this year, the Kings are most likely done with their offseason moves, though a trade remains a possibility. With the Kings’ roster set for next season, it is time to evaluate the moves the Kings made during this offseason.

Reviewing an Previewing the Baltimore Orioles at the All-Star Break

The All-Star Game is over and every team has completed at least half of its schedule this year. The Baltimore Orioles, with a record of 45-40, have exceeded any expectation their fans have for them before the season. However, results drive expectations, and fans are looking for a playoff spot now

Celtics try to move on after Ray defects Boston

The era of the Big 3 (the original one), formed in 2007 when Danny Ainge traded for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to join forces with Paul Pierce, is now over. Ray Allen has chosen to sign with the Miami Heat and the younger version of Big 3 for a better chance of a title.

As betrayed as an Celtics fan should feel, offering Ray Allen 12 million dollars for 2 years seems to