The 'Boy Was I Wrong!' Thread

[Pre-Highlanders]

I think I still have a stack of Ben McDonald rookie cards somewhere -- all mint. Any takers?

I remember thinking that history would judge that Mike Mussina was not worthy of sharing that Sports Illustrated cover with Ben McDonald, who was going to be what Walter Johnson could have been had he wrestled alligators.

[NNYyardbird]

On two occasions ('71 and '79) I thought the Orioles would be able to win ONE of 3 games versus the Pirates.

I thought Jim Palmer would throw a gem versus Sutton to win the '82 Division Title.

I thought Armando Benitez would be a big game closer.

[Greg Pappas]

I remember thinking that history would judge that Mike Mussina was not worthy of sharing that Sports Illustrated cover with Ben McDonald, who was going to be what Walter Johnson could have been had he wrestled alligators.

I still have Ben's first ever appearance for the Orioles in a ML game on a VHS tape somewhere. God we all thought he was the second coming...

Anyone know what he's been up to?

[glenn__davis]

I still have Ben's first ever appearance for the Orioles in a ML game on a VHS tape somewhere. God we all thought he was the second coming...

Anyone know what he's been up to?

I heard him on the Bob Haynie show about 2 years ago -- he was the manager of one of the fantasy teams in a camp that Cal Ripken runs. I'd guess he does a lot of that sort of stuff.

[nsw]

Ben McDonald was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame this month.

http://www.arklatexsports.com/news/Ben-McDonald-to-be-Inducted-into-College-Baseball-Hall-13746/

[Sanfran327]

Hi, my name is BTerp and I was wrong on Jerry Hairston :laughlol:

Actually, mine is slightly different; I thought we should have kept both, played Roberts at shortstop and not signed Miguel Tejada.

Boy, was I wrong

I don't know what to think of this... if we'd have kept Hairston, we'd be so much better off right now with him at SS. Of course, we would have still needed to have Tejada to trade him for all of these new pieces.

[Greg Pappas]

Ben McDonald was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame this month.

http://www.arklatexsports.com/news/Ben-McDonald-to-be-Inducted-into-College-Baseball-Hall-13746/

Thank you, and Glenn as well...

Good for him... I always liked him as a person, and it's a real shame he got hurt. Could've been special.

[Migrant Redbird]

I posted the following at BOTB back in Dec 2003. Hairston and Roberts

.... The Orioles do not have a "glut" of outfielders. Unless the Orioles acquire someone besides Guerrero and Pudge, Gibbons will move to 1st, Mora will play 3rd, and Cust is not regarded as useful anywhere except as a DH. That leaves Bigbie in LF, Matos in center, and Guerrero in RF, with Cordova and Surhoff as possible outfield backups if they're not cut before the 2004 season starts. (Segui is a fragile option at DH/1B as well.)

Jorge Julio is a young closer who may not quite be ready full-time, but I'd rather have him for the long run than Izzy. Julio is only 24 years old and he recorded 25 saves in 2002 and 34 last season. He did blow 6 saves in 2002 and 8 last year, but I think the upside for such a young closer is almost unlimited. Plus, he only made $350K last year.

.... I think the Orioles will retain Hairston because of his superior defense and higher upside,... Hairston competing with Fontenot does give the O's a better shot at having the all star 2nd baseman for several years.... Roberts, OTOH, would be the better candidate for us, given that (1) he's a switch-hitter, while Hairston bats RH, (2) he's a year younger, (3) he's ML minimum compared to the $2M Hairston probably will get in arbitration. Brian hits slightly better against RH pitchers, but he's OK against southpaws. His BA is 8 points lower from the RH side and his SLG is 5 points lower, but his OBP is 55 points lower at only .296. However, that's only 129 at bats, so one would get a better perspective if we had his minor league splits available. He has excellent speed, having stolen 23 bases in 29 attempts.... Actually, I'd be tempted to give up Wainwright for him, but I'd be overjoyed if the Orioles would take Marquis instead.

A month later, I posted the following. op Southpaw Pitching Prospects

The List (with descriptions of each player deleted):

1. Scott Kazmir, Mets, Age: 19, ETA: Late 2005.

2. Cole Hamels, Phillies, Age: 20, ETA: Late 2005.

3. Greg Miller, Dodgers, Age: 19, ETA: Late 2004.

4. Matt Riley, Orioles, Age: 24, ETA: 2004.

5. Andy Sisco, Cubs, Age: 20, ETA: 2006.

6. Sean Burnett, Pirates, Age: 21, ETA: Late 2004.

7. Travis Blackley, Mariners, Age: 21, ETA: Late 2004.

8. Jeff Francis, Rockies, Age: 22, ETA: 2005.

9. Ryan Hannaman, Orioles, Age: 22, ETA: 2005.

10. Macay McBride, Braves, Age: 21, ETA: 2006.

Honorable Mentions: Erik Bedard, Orioles; Mike Gosling, Diamondbacks; Ben Kozlowski, Rangers; Francisco Liriano, Giants; Adam Loewen, Orioles.

Those who recall some of my comments about the Orioles stockpiling pitching prospects might note that they have 4 of the 15 lefties on this list, while no other team has more than one. I assume that this article on top southpaw prospects will be followed by one on righties. It will be interesting to see if any of the Orioles RH prospects make that list as well.

Here's the Orioles pack of young prospects:

Eric DuBose, age 27, LHP, ML Career: 21 games, 10 starts, W3-L6, 79-2/3 IP, 3.73 ERA

Kurt Ainsworth, age 25, RHP, ML Career: 22 games, 15 starts, W6-L7, 96 IP, 3.75 ERA

Matt Riley, age 24, LHP, ML Career: 5 starts, W1-L0, 4.71 ERA, allowed 1 ER in 2 starts (10 IP) last September

Erik Bedard, age 24, LHP, ML Career: 2 games, 2/3 IP, 13.50 ERA

John Maine, age 22, RHP, Orioles Minor League Pitcher of the Year for 2003, W6-L1 at Frederick, 3.07 ERA

Denny Bautista, age 20, RHP, represented Marlins in 2003 Futures game, came over in Conine trade, 25 A/AA starts: W12-L9, 3.41 ERA

Adam Loewen, age 19, LHP, 2002 1st Round Draft Pick

So much for my prognostication credibility when posting upon Cardinals forums!

It's interesting to note who among those top 15 southpaw prospects has succeeded to date: Kazmir, Hamels, Francis, Bedard, and Liriano, and that the only other O's prospect from that time frame besides Bedard who has succeeded to some extent has been John Maine. Such is how luck runs when it comes to pitching prospects.

[TommyD4207]

Man, no mentions of Catalanatto or Dellucci? Some of you guys aren't coming forward enough. :rofl::rofl:

There's always my "favorite" player, J.R. House who's not even a catcher anymore. :laughlol:

As for me, I didn't think Trachsel was going to go into complete attrition.

[mweb]

Yes, I was wrong on Dellucci, undetermined on House though. However, it's not like there wasn't sound logic on both guys, and it's not like signing Dellucci would have been the end of the world, him instead of Payton would be pretty similiar except Payton is a better defender. But yes, would have been bad, no doubt. With House, there wasn't exactly much downside in giving him a shot.

[TommyD4207]

Yes, I was wrong on Dellucci, undetermined on House though. However, it's not like there wasn't sound logic on both guys, and it's not like signing Dellucci would have been the end of the world, him instead of Payton would be pretty similiar except Payton is a better defender. But yes, would have been bad, no doubt. With House, there wasn't exactly much downside in giving him a shot.

As for the Dellucci/Cat issue, I'm just not a huge fan of platoons in general. Also, I just remember the prevailing wisdom was that they could be had for cheap and the FO were idiots for not pursuing and then they went on to sign 3 year deals.

The fact that he's not a catcher anymore is pretty damning evidence to me. But that's just me. When he's completely removed from the position, there's really nothing left to be determined I'd say.

And the main reason I think that is when you're getting replaced in AAA by guys like Josh Paul and Humberto Quintero, I think the proof's in the pudding.

Although, if you really want to have another 20 page thread on the subject, I'd probably be down.

[mweb]

As for the Dellucci/Cat issue, I'm just not a huge fan of platoons in general. Also, I just remember the prevailing wisdom was that they could be had for cheap and the FO were idiots for not pursuing and then they went on to sign 3 year deals.

The fact that he's not a catcher anymore is pretty damning evidence to me. But that's just me. When he's completely removed from the position, there's really nothing left to be determined I'd say.

And the main reason I think that is when you're getting replaced in AAA by guys like Josh Paul and Humberto Quintero, I think the proof's in the pudding.

Although, if you really want to have another 20 page thread on the subject, I'd probably be down.

Yeah, both of those platoon guys ended up getting more than most of us, including me expected.

Again, what would have been the harm in giving the guy a chance in the majors? Sure, he could have failed, but considering who was playing for us at the time, and our record, I still disagree with any argument that says he shouldn't be given a chance.

A lot of the arguments on here about guys like House, Knott, Terrero are more about who we've had playing in the majors than the player we want to give a chance. When the team is putting established garbage(production wise) out on the field, and there's a younger guy in the minors who may be productive and is ML ready, what's the harm in giving him a shot?

BTW, have you admitted to being wrong on anything?

[Saintbird]

When I was little I thought Jerry Hairston, Luis Matos, and Delino Desheilds were good... Boy was I wrong

[bsebllfan4life]

I think my more recent wrong idea was that Cpat and thn even Tike (when Cpat went down) was going to be the solution to CF for a while.

[bsebllfan4life]

I just hought of my biggest one yet....Anyone remember the name Stanton Cameron. ( I wont count it against it if you havent) He played for the Baysox when the were playing at Memorial Stadium. Hit three moon shoot homeruns, one of which I got the ball from, had him sign it and was just counting one all that $$$$ I was going to get on Ebay for it a few years latter. Boy was I wrong.