Orioles News - 11/15/07 - Top Priority

The Baltimore Orioles need a lot of things. A new, younger, better bullpen. Some good starting pitchers. A left fielder. A center fielder. A shortstop and a third baseman. A new owner. Oops, that slipped. Some players who aren't always in the news for all the wrong reasons, like steroids, running their mouth on radio shows (Ahem, Aubrey Huff)... Oops, that one slipped again. But what really is the Baltimore Orioles' top priority this off season? The O's obviously won't be able to fix all of these needs, so what should they do? I gotta say that the Orioles should go out and get some new relievers for the bullpen. This would be great. It would make the bullpen younger, instead of the bullpen right now that is aging. The bullpen lost Baltimore a lot of games last year. Too many games to count. But, a new bullpen could change this and actually (gasp), win the O's some games. It's been a while since the O's have had a good bullpen. Hopefully the Orioles could get a few relievers to upgrade the bullpen. - John T.

Orioles News - 11/8/07 - How Were The GM Meetings?

At the baseball GM meetings in Florida, the Baltimore Orioles accomplished their goals. They didn't pull off a trade or sign a free agent, but they were perfect in a different category. The O's went a perfect 15 for 15 in the category that really mattered to them. What category is that? Well, the Orioles met with all 15 teams that they wanted to coming into the GM meetings. They met with all of these teams to discuss possible trades this off season. The Orioles and Andy MacPhail also found that several teams had interest in some of the Oriole players. I'm excited about this though. The O's went a perfect 15 for 15 talking to all of the teams they wanted to at the meetings. That is a great start. Especially compared to some of the other years... Also, the Orioles found that several teams had interest in their players. That's great news because with Andy MacPhail calling the shots now, it's more likely that the O's will pull off more deals. - John T.

Orioles News - 8/19/07

Whats been going on with the O's lately? Well...

They lost yesterday to the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 in a heartbreaker in overtime. JR House made a key base running error in the top of the 10th inning that helped kill a possible rally. He had just hit a pinch-hit single to centerfield, and Brian Roberts headed to third, but the shortstop cut off the throw, and fired it over to first base to get House, who had gone too far from the base. Nick Markakis then grounded out to end the inning. Then, in the bottom of the 10th, the Blue Jays had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. The only hope to get out of the inning without being scored upon was a double play ball. Aaron Hill came up to bat for the Blue Jays and wasn't willing to cooperate. Hill hit a fly ball to left field. Vernon Wells tagged and scored from third base to win the game. Chad Bradford took the loss for the Orioles. This was a shame though because Jeremy Guthrie pitched a great game for the Orioles, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits as he struck out 6. He went 8 strong innings. Kinda shows how this season has gone so far. Missed opportunities. But I'll get to that and Guthrie later. Anyway, this loss has dropped the O's to 57-65 and gave them a 3-3 record during the road trip. They are now 16.0 games back of the leader, the Red Sox, in the A.L. East. Tonight they face the Texas Rangers in the first of a three game series, and the first game of a 10 game homestand.

Now for Guthrie. This is a great young pitcher who definitely has potenial to become the team's ace. But the big question is already on O's fans minds. Will he want to stay here in Baltimore? Or will he want to leave for somewhere else, somewhere with a better chance at winning? With the run support he's getting, can you blame him? What about Erik Bedard, our ace? When his contract is up, will he want to stay? With the size of the contracts other teams are giving lefty's, will we even be able to afford him? Or will he want to play for a winner? So many questions to be answered... - John T.