Tony-OH

Givens looked pretty good in his debut yesterday wit the Baysox. One thing I didn't realize was how much weight Givens has put on since he was with the Orioles. The announcer said he's 6-foot, 250 pounds. Maybe that's part of his knee issues? Either way, he looked pretty good overall and it would not be surprising if the Orioles decided to bring him up soon.

Just watched Povich's start yesterday and let's just say that was the most dominant start I've seen since that one DL Hall start last year in Norfolk. He was way too good for AA last night, sitting 93-69 with a good change, solid slider and curve. His fastball really gets in batters and plays up even more. He got 15 swings and misses, many on high fastballs. He also got several K's looking on offspeed pitches and one fastball meaning he was was fooling them. Obviously this is just one start, but that was very, very impressive. The only down side? The velocity dipped a bit in the 5th as he closed in on 60 pitches and they pulled him after 68 pitches because he had gone 5 innings. Still not sure why the Orioles do this and don't try and stretch guys out a but more. Either way, really, really impressive start by Povich. Clearly the best I've seen him.

I imagine they don't think Santander is 100% physically so they want to give him some time to heal. The thought of running Frazier out in RF vs Stowers didn't sit well with anyone.

It just depends on what you believe I guess. They said Hyde is given information (read as given a lineup) on the lineup but he has final call. In other words, he can decide if a guy is dinged up or not feeling well and can adjust the lineup. I doubt very much though that he was pulling Stowers out of the lineup at the beginning of the year because he just didn't believe in him. I think Hyde does very little to overturn the apple cart with information he's given on lineups.

An interesting thread to read through. I'm fine with this move as long as Stowers is going to get "mostly" everyday PAs including at bats against lefties. Stowers has shown if he plays everyday he will produce. He has not shown the ability to be productive part-time, something many players struggle with. Ortiz's demotion is a product of having an $8 million Frazier that Elias still feel a need to play. I do think most of the Elias "roster mismanagement" conversation starts with Elias's poor offseason and unneeded signing of Frazier. Even now, Frazier is miscast as an everyday player, but his salary dictates that he will be for the most part. As many of said when he was signed, even if Elias didn't believe in Mateo, he had plenty of internal options to overcome him if he struggled. I mean, right now, who believes Frazier makes this team better than Ortiz? By sending Ortiz back to AAA, he's saying that he was no going to get everyday PAs and that's because between he already has four guys for three infield positions right now. This goes back to Elias' poor offseason where he was unwilling or unable to move guys that may have freed up this playing time allowing players like Ortiz and even Westburg to be in the majors contributing vs making Norfolk the best AAA team in all of baseball. Now saying all that, the Orioles are 18-9 and playing very well so you can't be too down on Elias' major league roster moves. The way the team is made up right now, and knowing that Frazier is going nowhere anytime soon, sending Ortiz back down makes sense. If the plan is for Stowers to be an everyday player, including against left-handed pitching, then I applaud that move as well. As I said before, there are plenty of PAs for him, Santander, and Hays and at the very least this should end Frazier playing corner outfield in anything but an emergency.

Mountcastle can't be batting in the middle of the order. That lineup generator Sig has sucks!

And a garbage swing on a garbage pitch by Mountcastle to end it. Fitting.

Sayin' that, Mountcastle doesn't have much of a chance against this guy. Not the kind of guy he hits.

Pretty good job by the Orioles to get the tying run to the plate in the game. If O'Hearn wouldn't have swung on ball 4 and then struck out, they'd really have something going.

Yeah I get why he's not going in because of the DH.

Crude PA by McCann.

They basically pitched around Jorge with McCann on deck.

Ugh, this is where I wish we had Adley.

Jorge is really seeing the ball well.

That crap Brown just said is the exact moment you realize announcing every statistic is not always worth saying.

The trade was fine at the time because that's the kind of trade when you are a legitimate WS contender. You have to give up quality to get quality. If the Orioles had not run into that white hot Royals team they had a legitimate chance to win the World Series that year.

Rodriguez could be 75 years old and he would dominate the Orioles.

I'd give Voth a chance again unless Irvin makes a great start tonight and looks like the guy he was last year.

Good Lord Kremer is a knucklehead.

I think Hyde is running up the white flag on this game and going after the next one. I expect Kremer to be in there for at least 100 pitches regardless of the runs he gives up. His job is just eat as many innings as possible before he catches the next flight to Norfolk.

Oy, this is one of those games that's going to be frustrating to watch. Kremer sucks and the Orioles are making Rodriguez look like Cy Young.

Maybe it's just time to accept that Mountcastle is just the unluckiest guy in MLB. He's a walking black cloud of luck. He needs to offer some rum to Jobu!

Crazy, it's almost like he has a history if hitting lefties.

Kremer was like, my ERA is 7.01 now, wonder if I can get it higher. Why yes, yes he can. Good thing Norfolk is starting to by nice this time of year.

Got to get Voth up before Kremer buries us.