Orioles Off-Season So Far...

We are right in the middle of football season and basketball season just started, so naturally, nobody is talking about Major League Baseball. There is good reason for people to not talk about baseball too much, but the Hot Stove is still an exciting time in the game. I believe it is interesting to follow player movement, but even I lose track sometimes in the offseason. Therefore, I decided to do the work for you and fill you in on what my team has done to this point.

Let's start with the Orioles and their major league free agents.
2B Alexi Casilla 30
OF Nelson Cruz 34 (Signed 4 year deal with Seattle)
C Nick Hundley 31
2B Kelly Johnson 32
OF Nick Markakis 31 (Signed 4 year deal with Atlanta)
RP Andrew Miller 29 (Signed 4 year deal with New York Y)
SP Johan Santana 35
SP Joe Saunders 33
OF Delmon Young 29

Out of all those players, I believed that Nick Markakis was the most likely to return.

He is a great clubhouse guy and the players on the team love him. Buck loves Markakis too and the Orioles wanted to keep him. The question is what price were the Orioles pay in order to retain Markakis. He is 31 years old, which is still in his prime, and he can still play. I honestly thought he was older because he has been in Baltimore so long. This is a guy that I really wanted the O's to keep because I felt he was underrated for this team. However, he of course didn't stay instead opting to sign with the Braves. Several national outlets seem to be trashing the move, including the one I posted, but I believe Markakis will be a steal for Atlanta.
The Orioles made a qualifying offer to Nelson Cruz and he turned it down.\Cruz is gone after signing a 4 year deal with Seattle. However, the Orioles get a 1st round compensation pick and I didn't really want Cruz last year, but was pleasantly surprised last season with his production. That being said he won't be worth the money he got over the entire term of the contract IMO.
Andrew Miller will be priced out of the Orioles range after an outstanding 2014 campaign. We will miss him, but he is going to make sick closer money elsewhere.
I personally would like to keep Joe Saunders and Delmon Young in the same roles they were in last year, but won't lose any sleep if they move on.
The other players are all expendable and it doesn't really matter if they stay or go. Although I could see one or more returning to Baltimore. Hundley may come back and be needed if Wieters isn't ready to go.
In addition to this list, Buck Britton was signed by the Dodgers.

Who the O's have added to the fold...
11/7 SS Ozzie Martinez (Minor League Deal)
11/18 LHP Frank Gailey (Minor League Deal)
11/18 RHP Oliver Drake
11/18 RHP Tim Gustafson (Minor League Deal)
11/19 3B Michael Almanzar (Minor League Deal)
11/19 RHP Mikey O'Brien (Minor League Deal)
11/19 RHP Kenn Kasparek (Minor League Deal)
11/19 LHP Chris Jones (Minor League Deal)
11/19 2B Derrick Gibson (Minor League Deal)
11/20 SS Paul Jarish (Minor League Deal)
11/20 RHP Terry Doyle (Minor League Deal)
11/20 Promoted RHPs Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson to 40 man roster
11/20 OF Alex Hassan (Waiver Claim via Oakland)
11/22 LHP Ronan Pacheco (Minor League Deal)
11/26 SS Rey Navarro
11/26 LHP Scott Barnes (Trade via Cleveland)
Barnes later claimed off waivers by Texas on 12/8
12/3 RHP Eddie Gamboa

12/8 IF Steve Lombardozzi outrighted to Norfolk
12/8 LHP Pat McCoy outrighted to Norfolk

One very intriguing story from this list is Eddie Gamboa. He became a knuckleballer a few years back while in this Orioles organization. This guy has never pitched in a major league game, but he was in spring training last year and he did become a free agent in the offseason. It seemed that the Orioles really wanted to keep Gamboa.
Other than that, it has been mostly minor league free agent signings that I honestly do not know a tremendous deal about, but these are good depth moves that have worked for Duquette since he has arrived in Baltimore. One of these signings included Michael Almanzar who was last year's rule 5 pick that this organization loves. Getting him on a minor league deal has to be seen as a coup.
Speaking of the Rule 5 draft, Wright and Wilson had to be added to the 40 man to not be selected in that Rule 5 draft. Either one would have been taken by some other team if they were available.

There is still a lot of work to do and the Rumor Mill is churning. Do not be discouraged by the lack of early mega news. Things happen very quickly.
The Orioles have been tied to Torii Hunter and Matt Kemp among others. As a fan, I would certainly love either one of those guys in black and orange. However, that is impossible on at least one of them. That is because Torii Hunter is headed back to Minnesota.

Honestly the only thing that has me worried about this offseason is the report of Duquette being offered the job as Toronto's president. If he truly wants that position it could be a major issue for the Orioles whether they can prevent him from taking it or not. Eventually if he really wants it he can force his way into the position and it could get ugly. I hope that nothing happens on this front and that he isn't interested in leaving Baltimore. We will see what happens on this front.

If you want more daily information on the Orioles offseason, you should be following Roch Kubatko and Steve Melewski over on MASN. Both can be followed on Twitter as well.
Here's to the O's making some smart moves!

-Noland

Cal Ripken Jr. Talks JJ Hardy

MASN's Roch Kubatko sat down for an interview with Cal Ripken Jr. on his blog. The interview was great stuff, as is pretty much everything that Roch posts on his blog. I love checking out the School of Roch. This post stood out to me though, because it was a Hall of Famer talking about one of our best players. We O's fans love JJ Hardy because he does all the little things right. I was a huge Hardy fan before he ever came to Baltimore. While he was with Milwaukee, I was on the Hardy bandwagon and wanted us to look into trading for him. Luckily we did and it worked out for everyone. It is great to get a Hall of Famers opinion on any of our players though. Even better to get an opinion of a shortstop from the greatest shortstop of all time...

"He doesn't do it flashy,"
"He knows himself, he gets good jumps on the ball, he gets good reads, he positions himself well. I like all the little fundamental things he does. He gets there early on steal coverages, he makes tags the right way, he's in the right position early on cutoffs and relays. You can tell that he's a thinker. He thinks about the game, he thinks about what his responsibilities are. And he doesn't make the highlight reel because he's not that flashy-type player. He makes the hard plays look much easier than they are."
"If you're in your position early and you're anticipating, not the good hop, but the bad hop, then you're ready for it," Ripken said. "Those are the small, little things he does. Even on a double play throw, one of the most common mistakes that big league players make, and any guys make, is they go to second base anticipating that it's going to be a good throw so they can turn it. But players like J.J. go there thinking, 'OK, this might be a bad throw.' If it's a good throw, it makes it easy. If it is a bad throw, then you're already ready to catch it and at least get the out, or catch it and then finish the foot work that can let you turn the double play.
"To me, it's his approach all around. He's anticipating, he's thinking, he looks at all the possibilities."

Good to see Cal Ripken Jr. agrees with me. I don't need flashy, I want someone that does that job right. We had flashy and bad in Pie. We don't need players like that. We want competent major leaguers. Luckily the O's have a very competent major leaguer in Hardy.

-Noland

Seminole Baseball

The Florida State Seminole baseball team is one of the classiest teams in all of college sports. The tradition for the team is unparalleled and Mike Martin is a class act. He also has 1700 career wins. Steve Melewski over at MASN had some really nice words about the Seminole baseball program today. Just like all Noles, Melewski is a class act. Steve was out radio broadcaster in the mid 2000s and is proud of his time in Tallahassee. The Seminole baseball team is one to be proud of. Dick Howser is the best coach in college baseball. I am now and will always be proud to be a Florida State Alum. Check out Steve's post here. He commented on my comment during the post. You can also follow Steve on twitter @masnSteve. Melewski now of course covers the Baltimore Orioles.

-Noland