Birds Watcher | A Baltimore Orioles Blog

Showalter comes to Charm City

Dan Soderberg — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:09:58 +0000

Orioles New Skipper (source: Yardbarker)

According to ESPN.com’s Tim Kurkjian the Orioles have hired Buck Showalter to be the team’s on field manager. Showalter will reportedly take over the reigns of the Major League’s worst team on Tuesday when the team begins a lengthy homestand. Given that Showalter and Kurkjian share a desk at “Baseball Tonight” I have to assume Kurkjian’s sources are pretty good.

The announcement comes as a bit of a shock to this O’s fan. Given the amount of time that passed since Buck’s initial interview I had assumed that the club was unwillingly to meet his demands. Showalter has a reputation as a control freak so it will be interesting to see how he responds to notorious control freak Peter Angelos. According to various media outlets Showalter’s contract runs through the 2013 season, giving him 3 full seasons to right the ship. If I were Buck I would’ve held out for 4 years.

Today’s announcement probably means the Orioles will be relatively inactive before Saturday’s non-waiver trade deadline perhaps preferring to give Showalter a chance to evaluate the talent already on the team in hopes of formulating a plan for the off-season.

The big question now is: What does this mean for Andy MacPhail? Rumor has it that Showalter wanted more control than any other managerial candidate. Could it be that Buck will run the player development department and be the on field manager leaving MacPhail in a more traditional President’s role?

Wieters back with a bang

Dan Soderberg — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:13:55 +0000

It was great to see that Matt Wieters hot bat carried through over his 2 week DL stint. The leg injury that sidelined Wieters seemed to come at the most inopportune time for the young catcher. His bat was just starting to heat up and deliver on it’s great promise when word came that Matt would be sidelined for 15 days. Wieters returned to the O’s lineup on Sunday and went 1 for 4 before busting out yesterday with 2 HRs, 3 RBI and 2 BBs in 4 plate appearances. Matt’s OPS for the 2010 season now stands at .705. That’s not great and certainly won’t do anything for those Joe Mauer comparisons, but it is a season high. In fact, since reaching a low of .605 on June 19 Matt has raised his OPS 100 points. It’s a sign of progress in an otherwise dismal season. With Buster Posey and Carlos Santana displacing Wieters atop the list of the game’s next great catchers maybe Matt will simply be able to focus and evolve into a productive Big Leaguer. Wieters now has 691 career Plate appearances, just over one full season in the Majors and his career stats look like this:

BA: .272

OPS: .732

HR: 17

RBI: 75

Those are solid numbers for any catcher this side of Minnesota. It’s important to keep in mind that Wieters is still just 24 and has ample time to develop into the middle of the lineup hitter the O’s crave, he just may not be the “Switch Hitting Jesus”.

A bittersweet Induction Day for O’s fans

Dan Soderberg — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:23:13 +0000

Oriole fans will finally have something to cheer about tomorrow afternoon as Jon Miller, the former Radio Voice of the Orioles, is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. There is no broadcaster more deserving of induction than Jon. As a kid growing up in Baltimore I listened to Jon religiously, often turning off the sound on the TV to listen to the always entertaining radio broadcast. Whether Jon was doing his Vin Scully impression or telling stories of his days working in the minors he managed to make rain delays and blowouts into Emmy worthy performances. The Sunday games when Jon would team with the legendary Chuck Thompson were a real treat. There was no better way to spend a typical hazy, hot and humid Baltimore Summer day than with Chuck and Jon on WBAL, some steamed crabs on the picnic table and cold beer in your mug.

We didn’t know it at the time, but Jon’s departure from the Orioles after the 1996 season spelled the beginning of the club’s downward spiral. Peter Angelos wanted a lead announcer who would “bleed a little orange and black”, rather than one with integrity, talent and the uncanny ability to make the Orioles of the early 90s interesting. Other class acts like Pat Gillick and Davey Johnson would soon follow Jon out of the Warehouse. Fourteen years later there are very few people left who bleed orange and black at all. The best thing a manager can do is hire good people and let them do their jobs. Peter Angelos has always failed to grasp that concept. Jon Miller will achieve his ultimate vindication tomorrow on a stage in Cooperstown, NY.

Enjoy the moment O’s fans. Tell you kids about Jon’s time in Baltimore and the details of his departure. Be proud that Jon Miller once called Baltimore home. It may be quite awhile before an O’s fan can be proud of anything, until Robbie Alomar gets his much deserved place in Cooperstown.