Let's Talk Baseball

I know, I've been a huge baseball slacker this year. It was a pretty busy summer and since my O's shit the bed kind of early and my XM has been doing the same, it was kind of hard to keep up on the games of my boys. Now that the season is over, things are happening. Yep... that's how we roll.

The O's parted ways with pitching coach Leo Mazzone late last week. If you recall, Mazzone was the miracle worker behind the Atlanta Braves stellar pitching, but for some reason, it never came together in Baltimore. The pitching prospects weren't terrible.. until they hit the field and/or the disabled list. If Mazzone can't help, I'm curious to see who can. There are rumors going around about hiring Alan Dunn, who joined as bullpen coach midway through the season, along with former Florida Marlins pitching coach, Rick Kranitz. Hell, it can't get any worse, can it?

The O's also lost Vice President Jim Duquette in early October. He resigned, citing a change in his daily duties once Andy McPhail came on board as President of Baseball Operations. Duquette has consistently worked in concert with Mike Flanagan, who also might suffer at the hands of McPhail's house cleaining. However, as I said earlier, things are pretty glum in the O's clubhouse. As much as we adore the men that work for them, maybe it's time to move on and bring in some new blood (I'm talking about the players too!). There seems to be little to no bad blood between Duquette and the organization though. He has stated that the O's are on the verge or turning things around and that the situation might not be as dire as it seems. Do I believe him? Not entirely, but I sure hope he's right!

The winter meetings appropriately begin in December, and it's possible the O's could make some impressive moves. They've already released Jaret Wright and Victor Zambrano, leaving some room for improvement. Hopefully the starters from last year (who have a ton of potential) will return injury free and the O's can get some much needed help in the bullpen. Trembley will be sticking around as coach, although I'm not sure how I feel about that situation. There are ups and downs to each. He's shown that he's a stickler and doesn't take any shit, which I think is a good thing. I just wish he had some more experience to pull from. Looks like McPhail is willing to give that to him. I don't even want to talk about players just yet (but I will.. a little). Corey Patterson is up for free agency and there are talks to dump him for Torii Hunter. I'm not saying I don't like him, but why are we always willing to give up solid players (and Patterson does have speed which has been a plus this season) for guys that are on the way out? I mean, I don't know how old Torii Hunter is, but it feels like I've been hearing about him for YEARS and I can just see it being another situation where a player comes to the O's and dies a slow, painful death. But send him to another team and he THRIVES (see Eric Byrnes). If we get him, I hope he thrives with us. That'd be a nice change. I think they'll stick with Millar, although sometimes I'm not sure why. He's entertaining though, and I do enjoy when he sticks it to the Sox...

Speaking of the Sox, LET'S GO CLEVELAND!!! Granted, I think I'm gonna root for the Rockies in the series, but I sure as hell would love to stop listening to the Red Sox fans go on and on about how great their team is. I'm sure the TV ratings will once again be nonexistent for the Series, but if it means no Red Sox or Yanks, I'm all for it. The Rockies swept the DiamondBacks for their first World Series berth, and the Indians are now up 3-1 on the Red Sox. No game tonight, but the fourth (and what could be the deciding) game will be played tomorrow night in Cleveland, giving them a chance to clinch the title in their hometown.