Orioles interested in Cespedes

I’m going to make this short and sweet today because I suspect that most of Baltimore is probably more preoccupied with the Ravens than they are with whatever I have to say. Quite honestly, you can throw me into that bracket as well! However as “The Byrds” told us in Turn, Turn, Turn (Ecclesiastes chapter 3), for all things there is a season. Soon the seasons will “turn,” and Baltimore will be orange and black.

Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes confirmed through various media sources last last week that the Orioles were one of six teams that were showing a lot of interest in him. Cespedes is a young player that’s very highly touted going into 2012. Whereas everyone’s interested in Prince Fielder, Cespedes could be the next Prince Fielder. Odds are that he would fit in very nicely in left field for the Orioles, complimenting Adam Jones in center (assuming he’s still on the team). That would open up the DH slot for Nolan Reimold.

Cespedes was a member of the Cuban National baseball team, but has since defected to the Dominican Republic. He’s considered an outfielder with all five tools, and put up a .333/.424/.667 batting line in 2010-2011. The other teams who have shown major interest in Cespedes are apparently the Tigers, Marlins, Cubs, White Sox, and Indians. To me the wild card there are the Marlins. Miami has a huge Cuban population, and presumably Cespedes would be a guy that would draw a large number of them to the park on a nightly basis. Whether or not the Orioles land Cespedes remains to be seen, but the fact that they’re involved in the “sweepstakes” is a good sign.

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