He's back! Tejada signs 1-yr deal.

[AlbNYfan]

I am very happy that Miggy is back. I think he adds a lot to the club despite. He also agreed to a one year contract, which most here said he would not. It may be difficult watching him at third at times, but no worse than Wiggy and Huff. I also predict, in the OH tradition, that he will follow in the foot steps of Ramon Hernandez, Danys Baez and Melvin Mora over the last couple of years as the player that will be ridiculed most for every mistake and praised the least for any contributions he makes.

[JTrea81]

Not fond of Jones batting cleanup at all.

I know he wants to do it, but he just needs to concentrate on hitting the ball consistently and not worrying about driving in runs.

[Scrat1]

Not fond of Jones batting cleanup at all.

I know he wants to do it, but he just needs to concentrate on hitting the ball consistently and not worrying about driving in runs.

I agree with this. I have the most faith in Reimold or Wieters batting 4th. Really, I'd like Wieters 3rd and Reimold 4th w/ Markakis 2nd. I want to see if Jones' pitch recognition returns before he's anywhere near clean-up. Watching him chase breaking stuff out of the zone for the second half of the season left a bad taste in my mouth.

[weams]

Markakis had a ten year veteran's strike zone as soon as he entered the league. He was consistantly getting called strikes a foot outside the zone last year. He can't walk with calls like that.

Terry Crowley. Dave Trembley.

[El Gordo]

Markakis had a ten year veteran's strike zone as soon as he entered the league. He was consistantly getting called strikes a foot outside the zone last year. He can't walk with calls like that.

Terry Crowley. Dave Trembley.

I agree that he was getting burned by the umps on outside pitches. Did they speculate on why they thought that was?

[jets4ever]

Not fond of Jones batting cleanup at all.

I know he wants to do it, but he just needs to concentrate on hitting the ball consistently and not worrying about driving in runs.

I'm surprised they would even consider him for that spot in the line-up at this stage of his career because of his consistency (or lack thereof).

[SrMeowMeow]

Building on this point, wouldn't we need to allow for negative value if Crede goes down with a major injury forcing the O's to use a stopgap at 3b instead of an every day player? If we're assigning potential values to a player like Crede, I think we have to give him a significant negative range because of the injury factor.

The concept of what Crede is worth vs. what Tejada is worth would seem to be a highly subjective discussion. I can make a case that Crede is a -2 to 5 while Tejada is a 2 to 4 (based on Crede's injury history and the intangibles that Miggy brings to a clubhouse that includes a lot of people that really like him) and argue that Miggy should provide equal or better value than Crede in 90% of the liklely outcomes.

And my analysis would be no more objective or accurate than anyone else's would be.

I'll respond to this but I'm really responding to everyone. First of all, I don't have time to do another detailed post so to start off, what I'm saying can be summarized by:

When you are a long-shot to make the playoffs, the larger the variance in a player's projected production, the better.

There is only one assumption to this statement, which is that if you don't make the playoffs it doesn't matter how many games you win. Obviously some people disagree, but it's a question of personal preference.

Anyway, the logical (and provable) conclusion to draw from this assumption and thesis is that a bad team benefits more from risky players and a good team benefits more from consistent players.

Maybe I'll do the math and make my own thread because this is kind of a derailment.

And don't say things like "projections and predictions are an uncertain science so they're all just as good". That's false.

[LookinUp]

Not fond of Jones batting cleanup at all.

I know he wants to do it, but he just needs to concentrate on hitting the ball consistently and not worrying about driving in runs.

Don't take this personally, as any feedback about your post or anything...

I just had a bad shot.

[weams]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvi3Ni3IUOo

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4838326&name=olney_buster&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2findex%3fentryID%3d4838326%26name%3dolney_buster

[Shopay]

Not fond of Jones batting cleanup at all.

I know he wants to do it, but he just needs to concentrate on hitting the ball consistently and not worrying about driving in runs.

Trea, I completely agree with you here. It would be a mistake to put Jonesy in the four spot.

[Ven6]

I did not read all the way through this yet so pardon any repetition.

From the Horse's mouth today.

Miggy plays third base.

Nolan is the "Left fielder for the next ten years."

Atkins will play first base.

Izturis is such a defensive advantage at short that third base defense is not a big issue.

Markakis will be HUGE with the new protection in the lineup and they prefer to have a right handed hitter behind him in the lineup.

Pie and Scott will both DH some. Both Andy and Dave prefer a DH who is also a position player.

Bergy says his leg is 100%.

Adam Jones asked Crowley if he can bat fourth.

Kranitz says the best thing that happened to his pitching staff is the consolidated spring training in Sarasota.

David Hernandez is still well thought of.

Datz is in charge of running spring training and keeping track of game situations and the opposition's bench and bullpen. He will make suggestions to the Manager. "My job is to be thinking three innings ahead, with the help of Kranitz."

Mike Cuellar has a sudden major health issue.

Mike Gonzalez is the closer.

Jim Johnson is the eighth inning guy.

Koji is throwing, when he is ready, he will be looked at for the bullpen.

Guthrie told me that he never cares what rotation slot he pitches from. He says he faced more number ones when he was the fifth starter than he did last year as the number one.

Kevin Millwood was shocked to be traded and is excited to be part of something exciting here in Baltimore with all the youthful talent.

Kranitz says Matusz's changeup and Tillman's curve are both exceptional major league pitches which can get major league hitters out in the strike zone.

more later...

That list inspires me. Thanks for sharing.

[Moose Milligan]

Not fond of Jones batting cleanup at all.

I know he wants to do it, but he just needs to concentrate on hitting the ball consistently and not worrying about driving in runs.

Agree with this.

[24fps]

That the base running had been so horrid. An eight year old brought it to Andy MacPhail's attention that we were the fifth worst team in baseball on making outs on base.

Am I alone in being slightly concerned that an eight-year-old knows how statistically dreadful our base running is but our GM evidently doesn't?

:scratchchinhmm:

[byrdz]

ARods first season at third wasn't that hot from what I remember. He was a much better fielder than Miggy is now. The fielding has the potential to get real ugly and often but I like the signing.

I also like that there are incentives built into the deal. The fact that it's a one year by itself is incentive enough for him to do well.

[Lucky Jim]

Am I alone in being slightly concerned that an eight-year-old knows how statistically dreadful our base running is but our GM evidently doesn't?

:scratchchinhmm:

Probably. Because the rest of us know AM knows how bad our baserunning was (even if it got better). He commented as much last year, I believe.