You gained a member this week, fellow citizens of Birdland. It’s been quite the hectic week here at the Arnold household, as we welcomed our first child – Brooks – into the world last Saturday night. I won’t bore you with any more of that except to say that I know that I have plenty of O’s links to catch up on. Sorry for the lapse!
Let’s see what we’ve missed in the Bird O’Sphere this week…
2017 Positional Rankings – Left Field
FanGraphs continues their positional rankings, and the O’s come in at a very surprising (to me, anyway) seventh in MLB in left field. That’s the good news. The bad is that the guys over there have decided that the O’s must really not like Hyun-soo Kim for some reason. It’s hard not to draw that conclusion, as O’s fans know, but we were afraid we were just being paranoid. I’d like to see Kim sign an extension this year, personally.
Darren O’Day: Underappreciated Relief Weapon
Is Darren really underappreciated? I’m not sure that he is – his time spent on the DL last year made everyone who didn’t appreciate him wise up, and reaffirmed the level of appreciation for those of us who already do. Still, Camden Depot’s Matt Kremnitzer reminds everyone just how important he is to a bullpen that could (should?) once again be dominant.
Bird’s Eye View Episode 193 – With a Little Help from My Friends
Jake and Scott were joined by ESR’s Andrew Stetka this week to talk about all the Brady Anderson hubbub.
Introducing MASNSports.com’s Guest Bloggers
Speaking of Mr. Stetka, he’ll once again be joining MASN as a guest blogger on Mondays this season. Joining him are Dillon Atkinson of O’s Uncensored and Zach Wilt of Baltimore Sports Report. One name I am disappointed to not see on the roster though is Roar from 34’s Matt Taylor. We’ll be sure to check out Matt’s blog for links throughout the year and share them here – he’s great.
Craig Gentry is Headed for an O’s Roster Spot – Can he Actually Help?
Gentry seemed like a dark horse just a few weeks ago, but the consensus among the beat writers is that he will likely make the team. Camden Chat’s Mark Brown tries to understand the club’s thinking in this regard, and wonders how the 33-year-old might help the 2017 Birds.
YESSS! We head back for a double dip at Camden Depot for this one, because it’s a great example of the numbers reaffirming what our eyes see. How many times did we curse at Chris Davis for taking yet another called third strike right down the pike last season? That’s bad! He should stop doing that! Joe Wantz digs into the stats and unearths the truth that the lower Davis’ called K percentage is, the better of a hitter he is.
Spring Training Primer: Manny & Castillo Return, Manny on Jones’ Thievery, Sisco & More
Rich Dubroff, who is now over at Baltimore Baseball (and PressBox), runs down a laundry list of Spring Training topics. This was perfect for me, as, like I said, I’ve been out of the loop all week.
Yadier Molina Demands Adam Jones Apologize
As athletes are wont to do, Team USA found some extra motivation for their WBC Championship game this week. In this instance, it was that the Puerto Rican team had apparently already planned a victory parade and had championship shirts made up. Adam Jones let this be down. Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, a member of Team PR, isn’t happy about it.
Yeah, this is dumb. Shut up, Yadi.
That enough reading (and listening) to get everybody through this gray Friday? Just 10 days until Opening Day. Hang in there.
