Since Monday, the forecast for Opening Day in Baltimore has gone from sunny with a high of about 45 degrees, to mostly sunny with a high in the low 60’s, to now THIS crap:
Gotta love weather guessers. Fortunately, this should change a few more times before Monday. Here’s to sunny skies…
Don’t forget that SUNDAY (SUNDAY SUNDAY!) is Birdland Radio Day. 12 straight hours of O’s talk at BirdlandRadio.com. Don’t miss it!
Let’s see what’s up in the Blog-O-sphere today.
How Will Messy Kim Situation End for Orioles?
Have you heard that Hyun-Soo Kim has flat-out refused his reassignment to AAA Norfolk? Good times. As Rich Dubroff of CSN Mid-Atlantic explains, the team now has until noon Sunday to figure out what to do with him, and there are no good options. They can release him and throw all $7 million he’s due in the garbage, try to find a team in Korea to buy him back, or add him to the 25-man roster. What a mess. Whose idea was it to sign him without minor league options in the contract? And why didn’t anybody make a bigger deal of that at the time? Wei-Yin Chen had options, so it’s not like this is SOP for signing international free agents. Friggin’ Orioles.
How Well Did Hyun-Soo Kim Handle Fastballs in Korea?
The consensus about Kim’s failure seems to be that he just can’t handle the higher-velocity pitchers in MLB. So, how did he do in Korea against those rare pitchers that topped 90 MPH? Not good! Jon Shepherd of Camden Depot digs into a KBL database to investigate, and it looks like even over there Kim had next to no power against harder fastballs. He slugged .264 in 70 PA against pitchers with fastball velocities of 90+, compared to .794 in 69 PA against pitchers with fastball velocities under 90, in the small amount of data that Shepherd was able to find. Where you at on this, Orioles scouts?
Three Ways to Talk About Miguel Gonzalez
Ok, I’ve had about all the Kim talk I can stomach. Moving on from a future former Oriole to one of the most recent former Orioles, Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs wrote about Miguel Gonzalez, and you should read it. He concludes that it’s very likely that the Birds “didn’t see the guy they recognized” all spring, even in his decent final start. The velocity had vanished, and now, so has MiGo from the O’s clubhouse.
2016 Orioles Predictions: Local Media Weigh In
Press Box gathered up win predictions for the Orioles in 2016 from local Baltimore media members, and our own Phil Backert is at the top of the list! Others, like Mark Viviano, Tony Pente of Orioles Hangout, Steve Melewski, and Stan “The Fan” Charles all give their opinions as well.
A Crazy Camp Doesn’t Get Any Calmer with Kim News
I know, I know – I said we were done with Kim. This link, from Roch Kubatko, though, isn’t JUST about Kim. Roch sums up what, to him, has been “one of the most bizarre, exasperating and exhausting spring trainings in franchise history.”
The good news is, it’s over! The next time I talk to you guys in this space, it’ll be on Monday – OPENING DAY. Let’s. Go. O’s.
