The Oriole Report

The Orioles cut pitchers Andy Mitchell, Steve Green, and Andy Tracy, catchers JR House and Eli Whiteside, infielders Terry Tiffee, Mike Cervenak, and Cesar Crespo, and outfielders Jon Knott and Ruddy Yan.

I would have liked to have seen Knott and House make the team, or at least make it until the final cuts. I have a feeling O’s fans will see them both before the year is up. The rest of the cuts are no big deal.

The Orioles returned rule 5 pick Adam Donachie back to the Royals after they couldn’t reach a deal to keep him in the farm system. But the Orioles did manage to trade for a catcher for minor league depth.

The Orioles traded 28 year old outfielder, and Orioles minor league player of the year, Cory Keylor to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for 37 year old catcher Alberto Castillo. The Orioles will most likely place Castillo in AAA Norfolk. I grade this trade a C because it basically has no bearings on the Orioles for this or any future season. Keylor was an organizational player that had a good year last year. No harm done.

Outfielder Jay Payton strained his hamstring and is going to miss between 1 to 3 weeks of playing time. Payton will most likely either be on the DL or not available for opening day. He had a great spring training and would have been the starting center fielder on Monday. Its not a really bad injury and he shouldn’t miss too much time.

The Orioles made 6 more cuts today. Pitchers Hayden Penn, Kurt Birkins, Sendy Rleal, Rob Bell, and Jon Leicester were sent to minor league camp along with utility player Brandon Fahey. This leaves the Spring Training roster at 40, not too long now before final cuts and the real baseball starts.

I thought Hayden Penn should have got some more time in Major League camp and a shot to beat out Steve Tracshel for the 5th starters spot, but the Sam Perlozzo and the Front Office won’t let that get in the way of the $3 million they’re paying Tracshel.

The Orioles claimed right handed pitcher Sean Tracy off waivers from the Chicago White Sox. The O’s also released Roger Cedeno.

Tracy: 0-0, 3.38 ERA, 8 IP, 1.13 WHIP, 3.38 K/9

Grade: B-

Tracy only pitched sparingly in three stints for the White Sox last season, but he showed some promise while he was there. Last year was the first time pitched in the Majors and he’s only 26 years old, so we can stick him in our minors until hes ready or we need him. Its never a bad thing to have more Major League ready arms in your farm system. The low strikeout rate is a little worrisome, but that was only in 8 innings and he had 7.08 K/9 in 130 AAA innings. Tracy had a 4.40 ERA at AAA, and also started 20 games. A solid move, that in the least improves AAA and gives us another useful arm if we need it.

The Orioles cut 9 more players from the Major League Spring Training roster today. They will all be going down to Sarasota for minor league camp. Those players are pitchers James Hoey, Michael Cory Doyne, Victor Moreno, and Francis Beltran, outfielders Jeff Fiorentino and Roger Cedeno, catcher Ryan Hubele, and infielders Cesar Crespo and Oscar Salazar.

The Orioles are 9-8-2 on the Spring after sweeping the 2 split squad games yesterday and then losing to the Red Sox today. Erik Bedard pitched 5 more shutout innings yesterday, lowering his spring ERA to 0.64.

The Orioles reassigned Luis Hernandez to minor league spring training in Sarasota. He was the only player cut from big league camp today.

The Orioles have lost 4 games in a row to fall to 7-6-2 on the spring season.

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The Orioles are now down to 52 players on the Spring Training rosters as 7 players were sent to minor league spring training, 1 was released, and 1 left on his own. Victor Moreno left the team to be with a relative who was sick. Jose Acevedo was released after getting hurt wrecking his motorcycle just before spring training started. Infielder Elder Torres, outfielders Val Majewski and Luis Montanez, first baseman Brandon Sing, catcher Brian Bock, and pitchers JJ Johnson and Chris Waters were sent to minor league camp.

The Orioles are 7-3-2 so far in the Grapefruit league. The starting pitching, except for Steve Traschel, has been the bright spot so far. Rob Bell and Jeremy Guthrie are fighting for the 12th spot in the bullpen. Both have thrown 6 scoreless innings so far.

The Orioles sent top pitching prospects Garrett Olson and Radhames Liz to minor league Spring Training today, along with right handed pitcher Freddy Deza and outfielder Cory Keylor. Olson gave up a run in two innings pitched, Liz gave up two runs in two innings, and Deza gave up the walk off two run homer in the Orioles opening game loss.

Olson has a chance to see some action in the Major Leagues this year if he continues to develop and pitch well at AAA Norfolk. Liz will have a harder time cracking the big leagues this year, but he is definitely a future part of the Baltimore Orioles. Deza and Keylor will play this year in the minors barring many major injuries.

Well, Spring Training games get underway for the Orioles tomorrow. Starting tomorrow, we will play 33 games in 31 days for the Grapefruit League season. By the end of those 31 days, the Orioles must pare down their roster to 25 guys. This will most likely include 12 pitchers and 13 hitters.

Throughout the month, I will be keeping you updated with who gets cut from camp, and sent down to minor league Spring Training. I’ll also occasionally give updates on how certain players are doing. Spring Training is mostly a time to finalize rosters, so thats what I’m going to focus on.

I can’t wait until April 2nd, when we open up the season in Minnesota to face off against the Twins. But, in the meantime, it should be excited to see who performs in Spring Training and makes the team.