MVN - Most Valuable Network

Markakis & The Contract

While a handful of teams are still in the playoffs, teams like the Baltimore Orioles are stuck in watching it from home and face the prospect of a long, hard winter.

That being said, now is the time to sign Nick Markakis to a long term deal. I have said over and over, I have full faith in Andy MacPhail and I more or less said last year that the right fielder not being signed to a long term contract isn’t an issue — however, if it’s not done this off-season it will be.

After seeing his peers like Ryan Braun, Evan Longoria, and Troy Tulowitzki signed to healthy contracts, after the progress Markakis has shown, he deserves the same.

At this point, if they go through arbitration process, Markakis will get a huge pay day indeed; however, the longer the team waits to sign him to a deal, the higher his price will go and the greater the likelihood that he’ll bolt.

Considering the Orioles are rebuilding, and it may be a while before they start to win, now is the time to sign Nick.

Let’s avoid Pandora’s Box from opening when it does not need to be the case.

MASN & Thorne

This in from the Baltimore Sun (via Ray Frager’s blog)…

The Orioles already have made a solid offseason move — they’re bringing back Gary Thorne.

MASN has picked up his option for another year of play-by-play, Thorne said today from his Florida home.

Thorne is a pro’s pro. Regardless of the product on the field, with Thorne on TV and Joe Angel on the radio, the club can stack up against just about any other team in the majors.

Thorne was willing to be somewhat optimistic for next season. “Hopefully, they bolster this thing [pitching] and give themselves a chance,” he said.

I don’t know what you all think of Thorne, I’ll say there’s no other voice like his in the sport (aside maybe Vin Scully); however, I am less than impressed with him at times.

He can call a game and he’s definitely a professional, but he makes a lot of errors and not really much for analysis. Despite everything, I do enjoy hearing him and Palmer banter back-and-forth. As well, he’s got a some credibility with me as he’s not afraid to take the Orioles to task when they do something wrong — unlike some others I have seen on the air — perhaps because of the work he does nationally with ESPN.

Although Thorne has some detractors, we could do worse. As Mike Boehm would say, “oh, God, that voice…”

Then there’s Palmer — he’s an a old-school Baltimore legend, and I appreciate that he tells it ‘like it is’, but I find him a little self-aggrandizing, pompous and annoying at times. With him, sometimes ‘less is more’.

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As well for those of you who have watched MASN from home? What do you think of their coverage? Myself, I think the network has improved immensely in their game coverage, but they need more games in HD — there will be a dedicated channel for high-def in ‘09 — so that brings a glimmer of home for all of us with HDTV’s at home.

I do think they need a lot more baseball-specific programming, rather than just airing games plus some more original stuff. It seems like they are doing a decent job with the Ravens now, but they have a world of opportunity with baseball, and they have not maximized it.

The one problem that MASN has is that their success is tied with the Orioles and Nationals. As long as both organizations are in the second division, the network’s growth will be stunted; thus, improving the product on the field has to be made paramount.

Looking Back…

As the season has come to sad, but merciful end, I’d like to hand-out my own awards to select Orioles who have a difference, or perhaps have stunk it in ways we could not have imagined.

That being said, I’m going to ride off of James’ coattails for a little…

O’s MVP and Comeback Player of the Year: We’ve debated this some. I still believe it’s Huff — especially the way he began the year with fans and just delivered time and time again — the O’s would even be more worse off.

However Justin and Andrew have made a very compelling case for Nick Markakis, but I still think it’s Huff.

Least Valuable Oriole: Daniel Cabrera. In April-May, I was expecting him to perhaps improve after a string of strong performances; however, he regressed — almost to the point of being worse off than he ever was and earning a one-way ticket out of Baltimore. I’m sure the guy tried, but if he can’t get anyone out, leads the league in walks and hits, plus, has shown little-to-no-improvement, it’s time to cut bait with him after five years.

Again, another guy we’ve talked about.

Best Newcomer: Adam Jones. The kid is still raw, and has shown flashes of brilliance — however, I am amazed with his play in field, as he moves like he’s a ten year veteran, not a second year player. Expect his ceiling to be very high. I would have given Sherrill honors, but he faded after the All-Star break and fought injury; while Luke Scott has done a lot of good on his part, his .255 average does nothing for me.

Call-up who impressed me the most: Right now, it would be Lou Montanez. The kid stayed above .300 in his in time Baltimore, and he’ll have spot next year - God willing — however, he needs to become a much better outfielder, and work on his throws along with the fundamentals. Seems like a great kid, and has the tools to contribute to the organization.

Moment of the Year: The Orioles comeback against the Tigers where they won 11-10.

Moment to Forget: Actually, everything after August 17th; a horrible bullpen; kids not ready for prime-time. A 7-30 finish. Not good.

A Moment to Remind of Us of the Good Old Days: The 1983 World Championship Reunion…

Best Promotion: Perhaps the $1 tickets; however, from the looks of it, people didn’t take advantage of it. People won’t pay for bad baseball.

The promotion that should return: Bat Day

Anything else to add, the floor is yours…

O, Danny Boy, Redux…

Daniel Cabrera.

The sound of his name either makes you wince, groan, or yell expletives. For years, we have been looking forward to him seeing the light and perhaps becoming a dominant majoe league pitcher; however, after a promising April and May, his whole season basically has gone to well — use your imagination.

We have been teased by potential — for example, his one-hit performance in New York at the end of 2006 — however, it’s been business as usual, walks, hit batters, a lack of control, focus and near the top of league in statistics you don’t want next to your name.

If you’re Andy MacPhail, at this point, what do we do with Cabrera? I really, really hoped that he’d turn the corner this season and was looking forward to being overly positive, instead I’m ready to see if he someone else can take his spot. Maybe he should be non-tendered, or traded.

But…

The fear with getting rid of him is that some magical pitching coach will get Cabrera together and he’ll be our worst nightmare; alas, he could just have a ten-cent head.

Loyal readers and bloggers, should Danny Boy have the honor of wearing an Oriole jersey, or do we send him on his way out…

Open Thread: What About Moose?

For the past week, I have heard a lot of talk on Mike Mussina and his free agency. Right now, in the position he’s in, he can opt to join another team, or ride into the sunset and retire.

The man won his 20th game on Sunday — for the first time ever — as the New York Yankees beat their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox. At 40, one might think he’s got one good year or two left, as well might want to return next year to inch closer to 300, so the possibility is strong that he might return.

There’s been chatter on the radio, and on the ‘net about Mike Mussina possible returning to Baltimore. While, it might be a good feeling amongst fans to have a guy who may should have never left the city to return, the age factor is enough for me to say ‘pass’.

Like I said about Roberts, there’s no need for the organization to pay a guy some bloated salary when the money could be better served somewhere else (perhaps with a younger pitcher; i.e. Burnett — who will opt out and is not the friendliest guy out there — thus, I have buyer beware with him).

Sorry, the Orioles need to go younger and stay the course.

Nevertheless, I think it’s a bad move to sign to Moose — as much as I respect him — no matter how popular it may be to do so.

We won’t be getting him of the mid-1990’s, we’ll be getting one of a decade later and older.  Jamie Moyer might be a good case to contradict what I have just written; however, Mussina is, well, still 40, and not getting any younger.

That being said, the floor is yours. What do you think?

What About Roberts?

Being that the Orioles are at such a perilous state — let’s ponder a question that took up an inordinate amount of our time during the winter, fans’ time on blogs (such as this), message boards, and on sports talk radio.

The issue of Brian Roberts.

Last week, Sun columnists Bill Ordine and Kevin Eck discuss in a point-counterpoint fashion when it comes to keeping the venerable second baseman around (Ordine is against keeping him; while, Eck is for having him stay here).

Folks, this is my take — again.

Everyone and their mother loves Roberts, not only for his play on the field, but being a great representative off the field (sans the steroid stuff) in the Baltimore community.

As a fan, I would not want him to go; however, realistically, as a baseball head, if he brought me X amount of prospects, and a golden arm or two — because we need it — he’s dealt.

If this team were around .500 or so, I’d take the risk and sign him to extension; alas, since Baltimore is only a sub .500 team at best, the resources should be devoted to building a team from the ground up — not keeping beloved figures around for a bloated salary.

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Goodnight Irene: 2008 year in review

“Sometimes I live in the country

Sometimes I live in town

Sometimes I take a great notion

To jump in the river and drown.”

-Tom Waits

The 2008 baseball season has finally come to a long merciful end and here is my Orioles and MLB wrap-up.

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Splish, Splash, Taking A Bath

Well, it’s 10 losses in a row for a Baltimore Orioles. Chris Waters was decent as he went six innings and gave up three runs, but labored towards the end. The Orioles were behind 3-0 when the skies opened up and the waters — I mean, the rain came down.

At least the loss came quick, and we didn’t have to wait all night or be subjected to perhaps a shaky bullpen to figure it out. There was an announced crowd of 17,176 — I say closer to 10,000 — saw the third to last game of the season and the end could not come soon enough.

The Jays’ Scott Richmond pitched six shut-out innings to earn the win.

Next week, I’ll start handing out grades for everyone on the 2008 season & that should be interesting.

The Bottom

It’s your turn to drive today & take the keys to the car. The Orioles lost again to the Rays, 11-6, and unbelievably had a 6-0 lead at one time during the game.

I guess there’s nothing like handing the keys to the Rays for a division title.

I’m out of words and just disgusted as to what I have seen this week. Is it possible to be this bad? Yes.

There’s nothing like two bottom feeding teams in the region (the other being the Nationals, and boy do they *really* have problems).

You all have the floor.

Depressing: Open Thread

Eight straight losses; a bullpen that cannot hold the lead (God bless Jamie Walker — I love the guy personally, but he’s been very ineffective); players now going through the motions; of course, our annual swoon — only 5-24 in the last 29 games???

After a season that looked to be somewhat promising and that could have energized a fan base looking for something, anything to latch onto, the baseball Gods have punished us once again. Well, after watching the Orioles lose to the Rays in both games of their doubleheader on Tuesday, I have thrown up my hands. The team — more or less, the bullpen — blew the second game for Alfredo Simon — who looked great and could be a budding arm in the rotation.

At least there is some promise, but…

What do we do? At this point, we as fans might have to suffer through losing and hope our talent comes through the lower levels and improves — if does it even happen. The Orioles are starting to build a system — however, it has to work from the ground up, and we are a ways bit from being an elite one much like what the Red Sox, Angels, Marlins or even Yankees have.

Now’s the time vent, hope, question or just rant about whatever you think about the Orioles…