Orioles plan to select the contract of INF Manny Machado

[bluedog]

MARK IT ZERO!!

Not really, no. There's no pressure, no one expected the Orioles to be playing this well, this late.

This. I think the O's are having fun as a team for the first time in a while. Let's get Manny a taste of that.

[Greg]

Roch Kubatko ‏@masnRoch

BTW, Machado homered tonight for Bowie. Crushed a changeup. People I've talked to say he will adapt to majors and 3B with little problem

[Ven6]

This. I think the O's are having fun as a team for the first time in a while. Let's get Manny a taste of that.

Yes. What a world of difference for MM's exposure to MLB vs any prospect we've had in 14 years.

[bluedog]

If he can just put up average offense and defense, that would be a HUGE improvement at third.

Exactly. This is why I think it may be a brilliant move by DD. And if Machado actually gets on a tear, it could be a difference maker in the playoff race.

[bluedog]

And we were all totally content with the cool Steve Johnson 9 K's, 8/8 star alignment story.

Ha!

It's been really refreshing to see guys like Gonzalez, Tillman and Johnson all make big contributions to the O's after being promoted from the minors. Hope Machado follows suit.

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

I think this move definitely sends the right message and as a fan, I love the excitement of it. Certainly it would suck if MM doesn't handle it well, but again I think this move sends the right message to the fan base and creates even more excitement than there already is.

[Lucky Jim]

Trailing?

I use pythag not the standings anymore. The standings are irrelevant.

I doubt the players feels the pressure as much as the fans think they do.

This is certainly possible, but hardly intuitive, to me.

Jim, tell me where a coach is asking him to carry the team? Its not a sink or swim situation. Its come in and bat 7th and get your feet wet. So no, there is no pressure but to be himself and play baseball. He's got a cast around him to protect him.

It's not an either/or. There's not only one form of pressure. Any number of our players have struggled coming up w/o being asked to carry the team. Further, he's barely 20. There are lots of valences.

SoxHotCorner, a guy who has played the game, has pointed out the very big difference of bringing up a highly rated top prospect when the going is good, vs bringing that same highly rated guy up when the going is bad and expecting him to save the world. Not sure what you don't get here. Oh, I remember, you're to DD what JTrea was to AM.

I don't even disapprove of the move. I'm just curious about the idea that there's "no pressure." But, yeah, my posting re: DD (like, where I defended the Hammel trade, endorsed the Chen signing, or noted the excellent job he did building the bullpen) shows a clear obsession w/ running Duquette down.

Just think how this differs from when Wieters got called up. Team already in the cellar, had the SAVIOR moniker tagged on him.

There is a perfect example. I was waiting for someone to point it out. Didn't have to look very far of an example of what not to do. Good post.

I get that he'll face a different pressure than, say, Wieters (sort-of - different in degree, more than kind) but that doesn't (to me) wipe the slate clean. I guess he might be oblivious to the position the O's are in (under-manned, under-talented, under-funded), or the uphill climb they face through a brutal end of schedule. Or maybe he has ice water in his veins (if so, I doubt he'd mind coming up at any time). There's lots of possibilities. I guess I don't think we can write off the possibility that he will feel enormous pressure in this context, however.

[Ven6]

I think this move definitely sends the right message and as a fan, I love the excitement of it. Certainly it would suck if MM doesn't handle it well, but again I think this move sends the right message to the fan base and creates even more excitement than there already is.

Sends the right message to the players (and minor leaguers) too.

[OriolesFaithful]

This has easily been the greatest season for me since 1997. Unreal.

The story keeps getting better and better and I can't wait to see the final two chapters of this amazing comeback story! Can you imagine, Machado, their famed prospect being the missing link at 3B? Incredible stuff!

[MurphDogg]

Kind of brutal luck for Tolleson getting injured right before rosters expand.

The Sun article the other day said that the O's expect him back within 15 days. If that is the case, he will be back by the time the roster expands.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-08-05/sports/bal-orioles-pregame-os-face-price-in-series-finale-vs-rays-20120805_1_lew-ford-lf-elliot-johnson-ss-steve-tolleson

[OrangeJerseys]

You come at the king, you best not miss.

[boddicker52]

I'll bet Wei-Yin Chen looks out at the crowd tomorrow and thinks his T-shirt Thursday sure packed 'em in.

[Fired-Up]

Just checked the only thing that matters. The standings! O's are are tied for 1st for that Wild Card. We are in it to win it.:2yay-thumb:

[StottyByNature]

My initial reaction to this was shock. However, I was a proponent of making a big trade because I was thinking, basically, when will have another chance like this? This move may be a nice compromise between the big move and doing nothing. The risk here is losing one year of control over Machado. That's much easier to swallow if it doesn't work than if we had traded Machado or Bundy and didnt make the playoffs. What the heck, let's go for this thing and get excited for the kid!

[bluedog]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm kinda freaking out here.

We're tied for a wildcard spot in mid-August, we're 4.5 games out of the division lead, we're the hottest team in baseball (with Detroit losing tonight), we have possibly the hottest hitter in the majors (Markakis), the team is averaging 1 to 2 amazing, "game of the year" type wins seemingly every week, the starting pitching seems to flirt with a shutout almost every nite, the bullpen rattles off complete games worth of scoreless streaks (9 scoreless innings last nite) like it's going out of style, the Yankees are in the midst of a brutal stretch of games, while we've got 7 games against teams with losing records (KC, Boston) on tap, we have a 5.5 game lead over the Red Sox (!!), the national sports press is forced to eat crow about their constant predictions of an imminent O's collapse on an almost nightly basis, Matt Wieters seems to be finally blossoming into the offensive force we've all expected him to become and Adam Jones has already arrived, Chen is outpitching Darvish on 1/1000th of his salary and now Manny Machado is about to make his major league debut!!!

What a GREAT time to be an O's fan!