The Sports Note

Don Banks put up a piece sorting out how he thinks all the divisions will shake out and he’s picked the Skins to finish 3rd in the East behind the Eagles and the Cowboys. Here’s what he had to say:

A reason to believe: The Redskins’ defense still seems almost afraid of takeaways, but Washington will put a better product on the field with the addition of rookie safety LaRon Landry and free-agent linebacker London Fletcher, and the return to health of tackle Cornelius Griffin.

The thing that makes you nervous: That Redskins offensive line, which was bolstered via a trade last week for veteran left guard Pete Kendall. With starting left tackle Chris Samuels missing the entire preseason with a knee injury, the line’s early play could be pivotal in how things start off this year for both young quarterback Jason Campbell and the Washington running game.

Add Banks to the list of people who’ll be eating crow when we win the division.

The trouble here is I like Peter King. His Monday Morning Quarterback column is a must read for me. Having said that, I am furious with Mr. King. How dare he rank the Redskins 24th (24th!) in his pre-training camp power rankings?!?!?! That’s an outrage. Here’s what Peter wrote:

I agonized over this one, because I think the Redskins are moving in the right direction. I like young quarterback Jason Campbell. I like Joe Gibbs’ ability to make owner Dan Snyder a more patient man and I like — really like — the addition of tackling machine London Fletcher-Baker. I could see the ‘Skins winning 10, but maybe in 2008, not 2007.

Damn right we are moving in the right direction. Look, I know we have a young quarterback and a defense that underachieved tremendously last year, not to mention injuries to our starting RB. But how are we worse then the New York Giants, a team that starts Eli Manning and lost its franchise running back when Tiki Barber retired? There are other ridiculous teams ahead of the Skins but I really don’t have the stomach to handle this anymore. At least we can say everyone’s sleeping on the Skins this year; its always more fun to win when no one expects it.

Jon Heyman says Daniel Cabrera is the Orioles most important second half player. Sounds about right.

In John Donovan’s midseason Power Rankings the Orioles are 25th. Donovan also names Brian Roberts as the O’s midseason MVP.

Jon Heyman gives Jeremy Guthrie an honorable mention for AL Rookie of the Year, do mostly to lack of run support.

….in a column talking about this year’s free agent busts YOUR ENTIRE BULLPEN is listed. Sigh. From John Donovan:

The Orioles’ bullpen
Baltimore had the right idea in beefing up its bullpen. The Orioles just picked the wrong guys to pull it off, and paid them way too much money. The team shelled out around $42 million for Danys Baez (three years, $19 million), Chad Bradford (three years, $10.5 million), Jamie Walker (three years, $12 million) and Scott Williamson ($900,000 for ‘07). Baez was ineffective (6.52 ERA) in his 31 appearances and he’s currently sitting on the disabled list with a forearm injury. Williamson made a brief stop on the list, too. And the bullpen, as a whole, has a 5.16 ERA, 11th in the league. That’s a lot of dough to pay for below-average results.

Not much to argue with here. I might half-heartedly mention that Williamson hasn’t really been given that many opportunities, when he’s healthy but Baez has been beyond awful. In the end the O’s bullpen has 20 losses, which leads the majors. Its all very depressing.

SI.com’s Marty Burns gave the Wizards draft a “B”.

Kelly Dwyer listsErnie Grunfield as the 11th best GM in the NBA. I might go a little higher then that, actually, based purely off of Caron Butler for Kwame Brown. Greatest.Trade.Evah!

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.

I’m not the only one predicting big things from the Orioles this year my friends. There are other, smarter people then me who see the possibility of a splendid ‘07 season for our boys. SI.com’s Jon Heyman has the Orioles at #4 on his Team’s that could surprise list (and I’m aware this is an old article, I just hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet):

4. Orioles. Finally developing some young players to brag about (Erik Bedard, Nick Markakis).

I hear ya Mr. Heyman. Add Daniel Cabrera to that list as well. Of course Mr. Heyman predicts that the O’s will finish 4th in the division, so maybe forget him then.

Also we’ve got Keith Olbermann (who I adore) giving us a somewhat nice compliment (also old):

The Orioles could pull a stunner, but all three of their young pitchers (Cabrera, Loewen and Bedard) would have to come through, and Nick Markakis would have to stretch his strong spring through 162 games.

And then Mr. Olbermann really earns some respect:

The Red Sox are the pick in the East with Baltimore second and the Yanks tumbling to third in a season that will harken back to the gory years of the early ’80s. Toronto’s fourth, and Tampa Bay an intriguing fifth. As stated, it’s the Tigers, Indians, Twins, White Sox, and Royals in the Central, then Oakland, L.A., and a you-pick-’em between Seattle and Texas in the West.

So there you go people. I’m not the only one expecting big things from the O’s. More on this weekend’s series victory over the Yanks to come. Oh and today’s our home opener.