WHEN THE BALTIMORE ORIOLES TRADED 2007 All-Star pitcher Erik Bedard to the Seattle Mariners last February in exchange for four minor leaguers and a relief pitcher, Orioles fans expected to witness another rebuilding year in Baltimore.
The players they got didn't see it that way.
"Rebuilding is basically saying an excuse to lose," said Adam Jones, the top centerfield prospect Baltimore received in the trade. "There's nobody in here who has an excuse to lose. We are in the major leagues for a reason, so we just have to go out there and play."
Instead of rebuilding, the Orioles (44-44) are off to their best start since 2005, in large part because of Jones and reliever George Sherrill.
Continue Reading "Good Deal: O's Give Rebuilding a New Look" »
RIDING THE METRO home Saturday night, I was washed away in a sea of orange.
Orioles fans were everywhere in a city that's supposed to be a Nationals town.
I don't know where they've been the past few years — perhaps creating Peter Angelos voodoo dolls — but it appears the Washingtonians who cheered for the Birds when D.C. had no baseball team still exist.
And, more importantly, their team is better and more interesting to watch than the Nationals.
The enormous crowds at Nationals Park over the weekend hinted at the potential of a real rivalry.
But let's not kid ourselves. The Orioles fans were not showing up at the new stadium hoping to see the home team beaten to a pulp.
They were taking advantage of the chance to see their team without having to drive up Interstate 95.
I admire the Orioles fans' loyalty. There really is no reason they should stop cheering for the team they favored growing up even though another team has moved closer to home. And if you stick with a team as painfully pathetic as the Orioles have been, more power to you.
Once the O's and Nats start fielding good teams, some passion might emerge from both sides about the outcomes of their interleague series.
This weekend, though, it was nice to see that park completely full of baseball fans — even if orange was mixed in with the red.
Photo by John McDonnell/TWP
FROM THE RIDICULOUS to the sublime, the debate over the designated hitter is back at baseball’s forefront.
There shouldn't be any argument about it. There's no need for a player who can't play the field, just as there's no cause for a pitcher to be completely hapless at the plate.
Let's start with the preposterous case of Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang, who, incredibly, managed to land on the disabled list because running the bases seemed too difficult.
After Wang sprained his right foot, Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner blamed the entire National League — in which the DH mercifully doesn't exist — and called for the senior circuit to join the American League in using designated hitters.
THEY ARE SEPARATED BY a 45-minute drive, but unlike the Yankees and the Mets, or the Cubs and the White Sox, the Orioles and Nationals are each separated by at least a few good years from being the best teams in baseball. When the Orioles host the Nationals for three games starting Friday, the talk's not going to be about bragging rights, but instead about which team is in better shape for the future. Express breaks down five key positions to see who is closer to fielding a winning team.
» STARTING PITCHING:
The oft-injured but long-on-potential Shawn Hill starts for Washington in the series opener, while the most intriguing matchup may be Sunday's matinee between John Lannan and Jeremy Guthrie, left — two guys who could be part of their respective rotations for a long time. The Nats staff has four starters with ERAs under 4.00, but their staff will probably change significantly over the next few seasons as young pitchers make their way up. Baltimore's major league-ready staff looks better right now. Edge: O's
Continue Reading "Better Off: Who's Looks Better Long Term, Nats or O's?" »
IF NOT THE BIBLE for the national pastime's fans, "Baseball Prospectus" is at least the Rosetta Stone: It has an uncanny ability to convert previous statistics into usually spot-on predictions for the coming year.
At the height of fantasy baseball draft season, and two weeks before the Nationals open up their new ballpark, Express picked the brain of "Prospectus" editor Steven Goldman, who will speak at Politics & Prose on March 17, about the coming season.
» EXPRESS: I read that you guys like what's going on with Nats. Can you walk through what you see in the organization and how it's growing with ownership finally in place?
» GOLDMAN: One thing happened to the Nats as they made their sort of very unclean break from being the Montreal/Puerto Rico Expos is the previous management deprived the team of anything like a future. If the team that arrived in Washington wasn't an expansion team, it was pretty close. Jim Bowden, despite the occasional flight of fancy, has done kind of an interesting job really assembling pieces from across the majors as they wait for the farm system to grow, and the farm system seems to be up and coming.
» EXPRESS: Do you like idea of adding Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes — two players teams were trying to get rid of — as the right idea for the Nats?
» GOLDMAN: There are two kinds of steals when you make deals in baseball. One is the salary dump. The other is a team looks at a player and says, "I don't think he's going to do it" or "He's kind of jerk and don't want him around." Those are the kind of deals you look back 50 years later and say, "What were they thinking?" And I think the Nats certainly have that kind of possibility. With Dukes, the Rays made the right decision because it was clear Dukes clearly wasn't going to blossom in that environment.
Continue Reading "Dear Mr. Fantasy: 'Baseball Prospectus 2008'" »
Sports columnist Matt Swenson calls 'em as he sees 'em.
IS THERE ANYONE on the Orioles who didn't do steroids?
Obviously, the answer is yes. But the long list of Birds mentioned in the Mitchell report, the result of an investigation into drug use in Major League Baseball by former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, amounted to a virtual who's who of Baltimore players over the past 10 years — with the notable exception of Cal Ripken.
On baseball's most infamous list: Miguel Tejada (pictured at right), Brian Roberts, Jerry Hairston, Kevin Brown, Gregg Zaun, David Segui, Jay Gibbons, Gary Matthews Jr., and Jason Grimsley.
The above group does not include Rafael Palmeiro — who served a MLB-mandated suspension in 2005 for using steroids and whose addition to the black list was obvious — and Brady Anderson, whose 50-home-run season still ranks as the most suspicious during the steroids era.
Express sports editor Matt Swenson calls 'em as he sees 'em.
ON AN OTHERWISE PLEASANT summer morning earlier this year, I stood in left-center field. The ball came to me and, thankfully, I caught it.
Never before had I felt so relieved — not for fear of embarrassment over an error but because that catch represented the final out in a 44-1 loss suffered by Express' softball team.
So, the day after the Baltimore Orioles suffered their historic 30-3 defeat by the Texas Rangers, my heart goes out to the Birds.
Continue Reading "Swengali: O's Won't Move Past Slaughter" »
Express sports columnist Matt Swenson calls 'em as he sees 'em.
JUST IN CASE YOU FORGOT there were baseball fans up Interstate 95, about 75,000 Orioles fans made their way to Cooperstown last weekend.
Why? They were longing for something to cheer about. The Orioles of present day, who, to be fair, are playing better under interim manager Dave Trembley, don't have much to offer in that department.
That's why you see so many empty seats at beautiful Camden Yards. Cal Ripken, though, brings the crowds out.
The Iron Man's enshrinement in the Hall of Fame was the franchise&'s first good news since last century, when Baltimore last enjoyed a winning season.
THE LATEST SHAKE-UP at Camden Yards is as predictable as it is futile.
A mediocre record made terrible (29-40) due to a 1-8 home stand is enough to get most managers fired. Sam Perlozzo is no different. In some ways, he should consider himself lucky — his misery is over.
Targeting Joe Girardi as Baltimore's new skipper and former Twins and Cubs executive Andy MacPhail for the team's COO opening aren't necessarily bad ideas. In fact, both have proven more than qualified for the positions.
Just don't expect this to the be the cure-all the Orioles have been looking for over the past 10 years.
Continue Reading "Swengali: Angelos Is the Birds' Problem" »
Express sports columnist Matt Swenson calls 'em as he sees 'em.
IF YOU WERE TO LOOK at the rosters of the Nationals and the Orioles on paper, Baltimore is better at almost every position.
On the field, though, these two local teams are virtually even. Not only were their records separated by just one victory heading into Thursday night's game, but Washington had already ensured a Beltway series victory this week — one month after Baltimore took two of three at RFK Stadium.
Remembering that neither the Nats nor the O's are looking at much success this year, you'd have to say Washington is in far better shape as a franchise, all things considered.
Addison Road
