This little bit from Jayson Starks Rumblings & Grumblings doesn’t put me in a good mood:
At least Abreu’s old team was able to trade him at the deadline last year. That’s more than the Orioles were able to do with Miguel Tejada. And scouts who have followed the Orioles this year are unanimously reporting that this team will regret that missed opportunity for the final two-plus years of Tejada’s contract. Not that Tejada is “done.” He’s hitting .317, with a .381 on-base percentage. But his .423 slugging percentage is down more than 100 points from his first season in Baltimore. “He’s played every day for a long time, and he’s worn down,” one scout said. “His weight is an issue. His range has declined. He has trouble pulling the hard stuff now. His bat speed looks slower. And he doesn’t have a great supporting cast, so it’s easy to pitch around him.”
The Rookiepedia is a very interesting/helpful people powered resource for the NBA draft. (via Bullets Forever)
A hot NBA rumor out there (started by Sam Smith here) is that the Wizards and Trail Blazers were talking about trading Zach Randolph for Antwan Jamison. The WaPo Wizards beat man Ivan Carter says it ain’t happening in today’s chat:
McLean, Va.: Any truth to these Randolph for Jamison rumors? And can the personalities of Arenas, Stevenson, and Randolph work on this team? I see them getting bored on a long road trip and setting Etan’s dreads on fire.
Ivan Carter: Before we get to Kobe: I’ve asked around about the so-called Randolph rumor and from what I can gather, there is nothing to it. It came from Sam Smith of the Chi Tribune, who essentially writes a trade rumor column. The Portland people I spoke with yesterday said the Wiz and Blazers have not discussed a Randolph deal and that vibes with what I know about the Wiz. Abe Pollin isn’t going to trade his favorite player since Wes Unseld (Jamison) for a guy who has been arrested repeatedly, plays no defense and has a monster contract. Not going to happen. That said, you’d better believe that Portland is looking to move him. They’d love to.
Follow my thought process for a moment here, if you would: The Orioles can’t hit this year. Ranger’s first baseman Mark Teixeira is a Baltimore native and would love to play for the O’s. He is also soon to be a free agent and the Rangers, who suck, are perhaps interested in trading him. SI.com’s Jon Heyman notes that the O’s would be a contender to trade for Mark but that Nick Markakis would be targeted in return. Nick Markakis is one of the O’s best hitters, not to mention a young (see: cheap) budding star.
Why on earth would the O’s trade a young hitter for another young hitter? Makes no sense. Believe me, I’d kill for the O’s to trade for Teixeira but they need to give up pitching, not hitting. Send over Hayden Penn and other people as part of a package but don’t give up Markakis. That makes no sense at all; in filling the void at 1st (sorry Aubrey but its true) it makes no sense to create a new one in right. At the end of the day I’m pro trading for Teixeira, anti trading away Markakis.
Things aren’t going so hot for my beloved Orioles (we’re now five games under .500) and Manager Sam Perlozzo is taking a lot of heat. And, if the quotes from today’s WaPo write up of yesterday’s 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays is any indication, he’s beginning to feel the pressure. To wit:
“I think that if you feel like you haven’t put your people in the right places, then you should worry about your job,” Perlozzo said. “I don’t feel that is the case. I feel like if anybody knows anything about baseball, they’d know that any games that we lost, our setup guy and closer have been in at the end. You got to have some common sense or knowledge about the game to realize what’s going on out here.” (Italics mine)
Now this is of course pretty much true…but still. You don’t like to see your manager basically throwing two of his players under the bus. Chris Ray’s confidence is shaky enough as it is. Continuing:
“When you manage a team, you are going to have some people that might not like you,” Perlozzo said. “If they can’t perform because they don’t like me, then they can’t be very good people. Whether you like somebody or you don’t like someone or you support them or you don’t, a lot of people come in here to see people play. You have no right in this world not to give 100 percent out there, no matter who is in charge.” (italics again mine)
Again, this is all true…but not very well put. Its probably not going to endear Sam to people if he starts implying that people with complaints aren’t good people.
Now I don’t know what to think about all this. Its not like if someone else was the manager we’d be a game behind the Red Sox or anything. I mean, firing Sam doesnt change the fact that Patterson can’t hit, Mora looks washed up, Gibbons is now our LF and Huff is, well, Huff. Having said that, I think Sam is on his way out. And he knows it.