House released! (Headed To Boston?)

[eddie83]

Maybe but I can tell you without a doubt, neither will Gibbons, Bynum, Fahey, Gomez, Bako, and Millar(even though he's a good player.)

I don't disagree but that doesn't mean House is that big of a deal.

[fansince71]

Honestly, I'd love it if this happened. I want House to go to Boston and I want him to rake. I want the O's to see 19 times a year just how foolish they were for not giving this guy a shot.

Cust, Terrero, House...why do we even pick these guys up if we're not going to give them a fair shot?

Let me get this straight......you want the Orioles to go 0-19 against the Redsox every year, just cause we released (at his request mind you) , a career minor leaguer.

[bgfield]

Let me get this straight......you want the Orioles to go 0-19 against the Redsox every year, just cause we released (at his request mind you) , a career minor leaguer.

No. You clearly misunderstood/completely missed the point of what I said. I want to see House rake, so the O's can see what they missed out on by not giving House a shot. I don't want to lose vs. Boston. I just want them to see that they made a mistake.

Their mistake wasn't releasing House - obviously, if he makes the request, there's some pressure to grant it. Their mistake was never giving him a chance in the big leagues like he deserved. Would he be a career .900 hitter? Probably not. But I'd bet he'd be better than Paul Bako.

[NoVaO]

Luke Scott, Emil Brown, Esteban German, Ross Gload, Olmedo Saenz, Matt Diaz, Craig Wilson, Casey Blake, Marcus Thames, Jack Cust, Greg Dobbs, Ben Brousard, Shane Spencer, Raul Ibanez, Eduardo Perez, Josh Phelps, Ryan Ludwick, Greg Norton, Ryan Church, Dave Clark, Ricky Ledee, Craig Monroe, Brian Daubach, Erubiel Durazo, Lyle Overbay, Mark Sweeney..........

The list goes on and on and on. All have varying levels of talent. Some younger, some older. Some maintained success, others did not. They are all guys where they just needed a chance to succeed. And at some point in their careers, they did. Some of those guys simply put longer than normal to put it all together. Yes, lots of players fail, but so what? What makes people think these guys will fail?

House was a former #1 prospect. Injuries hurt him and he left the sport as well. Clearly, he fell off peoples' radar. A guy who missed a whole year of baseball, comes back, and doesn't miss a beat. Tears up AA and then tears up AAA.

24% of House's batted balls were line drives last year in AA

20% of House's batted balls were line drives in AAA last year.

This year he 24% of his batted balls were line drives.

He doesn't strike out much. He doesn't walk a lot but his BB% isn't bad either. His ISO power was .220 in 04, .150 in AA last year and then .263 in AAA. This year, its .200 away from Norfolk.

The guy can hit. And it isn't like we didn't value the guy...bb said that we were keeping him down there so that he would remain under our control next year (or something similar). There is no defense for this. I don't know why people even want to defend this. We still have three utility guys on our bench. What defense is there for that? There isn't. Its roster management at its worst.

[Baroquen131]

The overall problem is that we are holding on to fringe players like Bynum, Fahey, Gibbons, and Bako -- who have shown that they are mediocre at the major league level -- instead of giving chances to guys like Cust, Terrero, House, Knott, Dubois. None of them have been (or had been) given substantial chances at the ML level despite hitting successfully and showing potential in the minors. Heaven forbid, we find a diamond in the rough for the offense, like we did with Guthrie for the rotation this year.

I understand the team says it wants to focus on defense, but when the offense is pathetic... maybe, just maybe, you put a potent bat or two on the bench, rather than filling it with redundant players, because of poor FA signings, or roster mismanagement.

And the most important point of this, in my eyes, if mostly getting overlooked. When the AAA affiliate moved to Norfolk, we were generally thrilled at the minor league FA talent that was willing to sign with the club, as compared to when the team was in Ottawa. Well after basically ignoring House, Phelps, Dubois, Knott and company, the team might as well still be up North... I doubt we see similar players signing minor league deals. Not if they want a legitimate shot at the big league club.

Other teams may ignore prospects like these guys at the AAA level. Few of those teams are as consistently bad as the Orioles, and few are holding on to as much dead weight on the ML roster as we are.

Simply infuriating. Whatever.

[NoVaO]

BTW, did Boston violate tampering rules if House knew they were interested and that he asked for his release?

[orioles119]

BTW, did Boston violate tampering rules if House knew they were interested and that he asked for his release?

House has no room on that roster... they've got Ortiz for DH - House's only position.

[NoVaO]

House has no room on that roster... they've got Ortiz for DH - House's only position.

Even so, if the rumor is true that he asked for his release because he knew the Red Sox were interested...isn't that tampering if Boston let him know they were interested?

[eddie83]

Luke Scott, Emil Brown, Esteban German, Ross Gload, Olmedo Saenz, Matt Diaz, Craig Wilson, Casey Blake, Marcus Thames, Jack Cust, Greg Dobbs, Ben Brousard, Shane Spencer, Raul Ibanez, Eduardo Perez, Josh Phelps, Ryan Ludwick, Greg Norton, Ryan Church, Dave Clark, Ricky Ledee, Craig Monroe, Brian Daubach, Erubiel Durazo, Lyle Overbay, Mark Sweeney..........

The list goes on and on and on. All have varying levels of talent. Some younger, some older. Some maintained success, others did not. They are all guys where they just needed a chance to succeed. And at some point in their careers, they did. Some of those guys simply put longer than normal to put it all together. Yes, lots of players fail, but so what? What makes people think these guys will fail?

House was a former #1 prospect. Injuries hurt him and he left the sport as well. Clearly, he fell off peoples' radar. A guy who missed a whole year of baseball, comes back, and doesn't miss a beat. Tears up AA and then tears up AAA.

24% of House's batted balls were line drives last year in AA

20% of House's batted balls were line drives in AAA last year.

This year he 24% of his batted balls were line drives.

He doesn't strike out much. He doesn't walk a lot but his BB% isn't bad either. His ISO power was .220 in 04, .150 in AA last year and then .263 in AAA. This year, its .200 away from Norfolk.

The guy can hit. And it isn't like we didn't value the guy...bb said that we were keeping him down there so that he would remain under our control next year (or something similar). There is no defense for this. I don't know why people even want to defend this. We still have three utility guys on our bench. What defense is there for that? There isn't. Its roster management at its worst.

Where does he play? DH when we paying Huff 6 miilion a year. His defense is terrible, so he basically would be a pinch hitter. I have never understood that hitting at the minor league equals major league success. He is facing jouneymem minor leaguers and kids not ready for the big leagues. Fahey is only here because Miggy is hurt and they don't want Gomez playing everyday at short.

[NoVaO]

Where does he play? DH when we paying Huff 6 miilion a year. His defense is terrible, so he basically would be a pinch hitter. I have never understood that hitting at the minor league equals major league success. He is facing jouneymem minor leaguers and kids not ready for the big leagues. Fahey is only here because Miggy is hurt and they don't want Gomez playing everyday at short.

I would rather have a right handed batter off the bench than a designated pinch runner or a fill in for our back-up shortstop. How many times have we seen one of 8 or so left handed batters flail away at a loogy late in games oly because we had nobody sufficient enough to do anything with the bat on the bench?

Hitting well in AAA doesn't equal major league success. But the rate of success is pretty good for guys who put up good numbers there, if given enough ABs. There is a lot of proof of this.

[eddie83]

I would rather have a right handed batter off the bench than a designated pinch runner or a fill in for our back-up shortstop. How many times have we seen one of 8 or so left handed batters flail away at a loogy late in games oly because we had nobody sufficient enough to do anything with the bat on the bench?

Hitting well in AAA doesn't equal major league success. But the rate of success is pretty good for guys who put up good numbers there, if given enough ABs. There is a lot of proof of this.

How many teams in baseball have a Terry Crowley type, (pinch hitters) sitting on the bench? I get frustrated as well with LHRP's facing our lefties late in games but unless you have a 27 man roster that is how the game is played now.

[nadecir]

Seems JR House was smart enough to have a clause in his contract that stated that he could get his release from the Orioles if he wasn't on the major league roster on July 1.

Triple-A Norfolk catcher J.R. House, who was hitting .296 with seven home runs and 48 RBIs, left the organization. House had an opt-out clause stating that if he wasn't on the major league roster by July 1, he could ask for his release. House played for the Tides July 1 and July 2 before he decided to leave the team. House remains on the Tides' roster, according to a club spokesman.

Team officials liked his bat but didn't feel that he had a strong enough arm to catch in the major leagues and the glut of designated hitter/first base types on the roster prevented House from getting a call-up.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-osnotes706,0,7896615.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines

[orioles119]

Seems JR House was smart enough to have a clause in his contract that stated that he could get his release from the Orioles if he wasn't on the major league roster on July 1.http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-osnotes706,0,7896615.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines

Ah yes.. that's the same clause that got the Orioles David Newhan.

[geschinger]

I would rather have a right handed batter off the bench than a designated pinch runner or a fill in for our back-up shortstop. How many times have we seen one of 8 or so left handed batters flail away at a loogy late in games oly because we had nobody sufficient enough to do anything with the bat on the bench?

The question is what would Trembley rather have?

[mweb]

The question is what would Trembley rather have?

I think the better question is what makes more sense? The answer is House or Knott, if I was the GM, I couldn't care less if Trembley wants Fahey(or someone else like him now that Bynum might be out).