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Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Columns:  Orioles free agency reset: What they still need, and who's left on the market The Sun 1/4  Orioles sign former top prospect Jesus Montero The Sun 1/3  Source: O's, Montero agree to Minors deal MLB.com 1/3  This, that and the other MASNsports.com 1/4  Orioles sign Montero to minor league deal MASNsports.com 1/3  Prospect profile: Brian Gonzalez made solid improvements in 2016 MASNsports.com 1/4  and provide hope for future rotations MASNsports.com 1/3  What Are The Chances These Free Agents Return To The Orioles? PressBoxOnline.com 1/3  Myriad O’s Thoughts: ’s market and Jesus Montero’s upside BaltimoreBaseball.com 1/3  What It’s Like to Go to the Orioles’ Fantasy Camp Sarasota Magazine 12/30

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-orioles-free-agency-reset-what-they-need- and-who-s-left-on-the-market-20170103-story.html

Orioles free agency reset: What they still need, and who's left on the market

By Jon Meoli / The Sun January 4, 2017

The collective world woke from its winter break this week to start a post-Edwin Encarnacion era of free agency, with the urgency level creeping up for teams to settle their offseason business.

With the reported agreement between Rajai Davis and the , the market on is starting to shake , and that means candidates for the 2017 Orioles are coming off the board.

Davis was just one of many players the Orioles had on their radar for their most glaring need at this point — an outfielder who, if not an everyday , will be part of a platoon with returning outfielders and Hyun Soo Kim at the corner spots.

And though team officials have said rookie could be the everyday , they’re also skeptical of evaluating players exclusively off September performance in the majors. That means an everyday designated hitter could be on the shopping list as well.

Here’s a list of the top players still available on the free agent market who could fill the Orioles’ needs in the or at designated hitter (or both) before the players report to in six weeks.

Mark Trumbo

Just as last year’s Orioles offseason had a -sized cloud over it into January, this year’s edition is painted by the protracted courtship of Trumbo. Last year’s 47- man would probably be more welcome back as a designated hitter than a right fielder, given the team’s stated interest in improving the outfield , but the market is only recently becoming clear for Trumbo.

He turned down the Orioles' $17.2 million qualifying offer, has a draft pick attached to him in free agency and just saw Encarnacion set the slugger market with a deal worth three years and $65 million guaranteed. A short-term deal worth more than the qualifying offer would be ideal for him, but maybe not for the Orioles.

Angel Pagan

A name said was firmly on the team’s radar at last month’s remains available, with the 35-year-old outfielder coming off a year in which he batted .277 with a .750 OPS for the . He’s a switch-hitter who holds his own from both sides of the plate and plays capable defense, making him a nice veteran complement to what the Orioles already have in the corners.

Davis’ reported $6 million deal with Oakland could be the going rate for veteran extra outfielders this offseason. Executive vice president said last month that the market was surprisingly high for this type of player. Luckily for him, there are plenty of options still left.

Colby Rasmus

This one checks a lot of boxes the Orioles seem to covet — with contact issues who could benefit from playing in Camden Yards — and Rasmus comes with the added benefit of being a capable defender at all three outfield positions.

Rasmus’ .206 average in 2016 was the worst of his career, but is just a year removed from a year that saw him 50 extra-base hits for the Astros. He could be a good fit for the Orioles, a team that has gotten the most out of inconsistent but talented players before.

Pedro Alvarez

In terms of a strict designated hitter, Alvarez makes all the sense in the world if the Orioles want to bring him back. His deal last year was worth a shade under $6 million, and he hit 22 home runs as a platoon DH. For something in that price range, the Orioles could bring him back and play Mancini against left-handed pitching.

Brandon Moss

The former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder, like Alvarez, showed big power in a limited role last year, but did so while playing both corner outfield spots and first base. It’s unclear whether he can hold up as a full-time outfielder at age 33, but the Orioles would be plenty accommodating to find ways to get a bat that swatted 28 home runs a season ago and has averaged 25 a year over the last five seasons with an .803 OPS into their lineup as much as possible.

Other possibilities: designated hitter , outfielder , outfielder Chris Coghlan.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-montero-0104-20170103-story.html

Orioles sign former top prospect Jesus Montero

By Eduardo A. Encina / January 3, 2017

The Orioles added a peculiar offseason reclamation project this week, agreeing to terms with /designated hitter Jesus Montero on a minor league deal, according to an industry source. Montero, 27, has struggled to live up to his billing as one of the game's top prospects.

Montero will be ineligible to play for the season's first 50 games of the upcoming season following a September suspension for testing positive for dimethylbutylamine, a banned stimulant. It was his second violation of the league's drug policy. Montero's suspension is without pay.

Montero, then a in the ' organization, was the No. 3-ranked prospect according to entering the 2011 season. He was traded to the one year later in a deal that landed the Yankees starting .

Montero hit .260/.298/.386 with 15 homers and 62 RBIs in his first season in Seattle, but in 2013 he was suspended 50 games for his part in the , which involved a health clinic sending players performance-enhancing drugs. The penalty carried over into the 2014 season.

Montero never panned out as a catcher, and has played first base and designated hitter exclusively since 2014. Last season, he played for the Blue Jays' -A team, hitting .317/.349/.438 with 11 homers and 60 RBIs in 126 games before his suspension was announced after the minor league season.

It's not certain whether Montero's deal with the Orioles includes an invitation to major league camp this spring.

The move was first reported by Fan Rag Sports.

http://m.orioles.mlb.com/news/article/212769762/orioles-jesus-montero-agree-to-minors-deal/

Source: O's, Montero agree to Minors deal

By Brittany Ghiroli / MLB.com January 3, 2017

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles have agreed to a Minor League deal with Jesus Montero, according to a source, though he will be ineligible for the first part of the season. The club has not confirmed the deal.

The catcher-turned-first baseman, who spent last year with Toronto's Triple-A Buffalo team, was suspended 50 games after testing positive for a stimulant, his second penalty for a banned substance. Because the suspension was announced in September after the Minor League season was over, it will begin in 2017.

Montero, who will not attend big league camp with the O's, was also suspended for 50 games in August 2013 for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal.

The 27-year-old Montero has played parts of five seasons in the big leagues, coming up with the Yankees as a catcher in 2011. He made one career start for Seattle at first base in '14 and then appeared at first for the bulk of his 38 games for the Mariners the following season. He did not advance past the Minors last year.

Montero hit .317/.349/.438 with 24 doubles, 11 home runs and 60 RBIs in 126 games for Buffalo last year. His signing was first reported by MLB Network Insider Jon Heyman.

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2017/01/this-that-and-the-other-135.html

This, that and the other

By Roch Kubatko / MASNsports.com January 4, 2017

Another outfielder is off the board while the Orioles try to figure out who’s playing right for them on .

The Athletics signed Rajai Davis to a one-year deal last night worth a reported $6 million guaranteed. He’s no longer an option for the Orioles, who are intrigued by him every winter without reaching an agreement.

The Orioles would prefer a left-handed hitter, so Davis wasn’t an ideal fit. He’s also 36 and owns a career .314 on-base percentage. He’s posted an OBP of .306 in each of the past two seasons.

The 43 stolen bases represented his most appealing quality for a team that totaled only 19 last season, the lowest amount in the majors.

Angel Pagan, and remain on the market. Mark Trumbo does, too, though he’s viewed more as a designated hitter.

* With various reports suggesting that Jose Bautista could settle for a one-year deal, I’ve been asked whether the Orioles might suddenly be in play for the free agent outfielder.

Not unless the script calls for a heel face turn.

Bautista remains a villain in Baltimore and executive vice president Dan Duquette hasn’t softened previous comments that suggested the Orioles would pass due to fan backlash.

The idea that Bautista might sign a pillow contract didn’t surface until after the Winter Meetings, but the Orioles still don’t look like a match. There are other factors, including age (36), declining production and the cost of a first-round draft pick.

A report in Yahoo Sports stated that Bautista wanted more than the $17.2 million he turned down by refusing the Blue Jays’ qualifying offer. Another reason why he’s unlikely to be playing his home games at Camden Yards.

The guess here is that Bautista winds up back in Toronto, where he’s a bat-flipping hero.

* I’m wondering whether Jesus Montero will make it to the complex for spring training or if he’ll just work out at Twin Lakes Park and largely be removed from media scrutiny.

Players have been known to travel back and forth, but Montero must serve his 50-game suspension at the start of the minor league season. This is more of a we’ve-got-nothing-to-lose signing that will cost the Orioles $550,000 if he makes it to the majors, according to FanRag Sports.

Executive vice president Dan Duquette is intrigued by Montero’s bat. There isn’t much else to latch onto at the moment, considering that Montero hasn’t been a catcher since 2013, has served two 50-game suspensions and struggled to keep his weight down. He’s gone from one of baseball’s top prospects to reclamation project.

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket.

Montero is a career .292/.341/.429 hitter against left-handers in 340 major league plate appearances. He’s hit .228/.265/.379 in 525 plate appearances against right-handers.

Montero hit .218/.283/.382 with a , triple and two home runs in 15 games against the Orioles. It’s the only triple of his major league career, which has consisted of 226 games over parts of five seasons.

The three-bagger came against Wei-Yin Chen on May 1, 2013 at Safeco Field. Montero was eighth ahead of .

* The minicamp roster for next week also includes -A Delmarva shortstop , who will continue to work on his throwing.

The Orioles must determine whether Mountcastle, who turns 20 in February, can stay at shortstop. Otherwise, his arm may force a move to the outfield.

There doesn’t seem to be much debate regarding his bat. Mountcastle looks like he’s going to hit. The Orioles are convinced of it.

Mountcastle owns a .286/.321/.416 slash line in 168 games. He had 28 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs and 51 RBIs in 455 at-bats at Delmarva last year.

The Orioles made Mountcastle the 36th-overall pick in the 2015 draft out of Hagerty (Fla.) High School.

* Orioles had three pickoffs last season, tied with the Red Sox for fewest in the majors. The Angels were first with 20, followed by the Dodgers with 19.

Must be a California thing.

Does this stat matter or did I just waste a few precious seconds of your time?

In keeping with that potential theme, the Orioles ranked fifth in total number of pitches thrown with 24,317. The Reds were first with 24,903.

Does this stat illustrate the lack of “out” pitches on the staff? Maybe too many foul balls or nibblers which leads to higher counts.

Maybe I need the Orioles to make some real news real soon.

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2017/01/orioles-sign-montero-to-minor-league- deal.html

Orioles sign Montero to minor league deal

By Roch Kubatko / MASNsports.com January 3, 2017

The Orioles made one of their depth-type moves today that won’t bring much risk and certainly no reward until perhaps later in the summer.

Jesus Montero, 27, agreed to a minor league deal, the signing confirmed by executive vice president Dan Duquette. The former elite catching prospect now is a first baseman/designated hitter who’s suspended for the first 50 games of 2017 after testing positive for the banned stimulant dimethylbutylamine back in September.

Montero appeared in 126 games with the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo, batting .317/.349/.438 with 24 doubles, 11 home runs and 60 RBIs. He made the All-Star team.

Montero hasn’t played in the majors since appearing in 38 games with the Mariners in 2015 and going 25-for-112 (.223) with six doubles, five home runs and 19 RBIs. He appeared in six games the previous year and 29 in 2013 as his career took a severe downward turn.

“Jesus Montero can hit,” Duquette wrote in a text message, adding that Montero will have to serve the suspension.

The Yankees signed Montero as an amateur free agent in 2006 and traded him to the Mariners with Hector Noesi in January 2012 for Michael Pineda and Vicente Campos. Baseball America rated him as the No. 3 prospect in 2011, but he’s batted .253/.295/.398 in parts of five major league seasons spanning 226 games, and he hasn’t caught in three years.

The Blue Jays claimed Montero off waivers from the Mariners on March 28, 2016. He’s a career .311/.364/.495 hitter in the minors.

Montero has been criticized for his conditioning - he showed up at 2014 spring training a reported 40 pounds overweight - which led to a run-in with a Mariners crosschecker while the player was rehabbing an oblique injury in the low minors.

As the story goes, the scout took exception to Montero not hustling off the field after coaching first base, ordered an ice cream sandwich and had it sent to him. Montero came out of the screaming with bat in hand and fired the sandwich at the scout.

Montero previously was suspended for 50 games for his part in the Biogenesis scandal. It’s been quite a ride for him.

The Orioles could use another first baseman at Triple-A Norfolk if Trey Mancini breaks camp with the club. Christian Walker moved to the outfield last year. Montero also could get at-bats as the designated hitter if he sticks with the organization.

FanRag Sports first reported the signing.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2017/01/prospect-profile-brian-gonzalez-made- solid-improvements-in-2016.html

Prospect profile: Brian Gonzalez made solid improvements in 2016

By Steve Melewski / MASNsports.com January 4, 2017

In the minor leagues, sometimes a young player has to repeat a level to improve as a player.

That was the case in the 2016 season for Orioles left-handed pitching prospect Brian Gonzalez. A third-round pick (No. 90 overall) in the 2014 draft, Gonzalez pitched at Single-A Delmarva in 2015 at 19. He went 4-9 with a 5.71 ERA. Last season, back again with the Shorebirds at 20, Gonzalez went 10-8 with a 2.50 ERA and ranked third in the South Atlantic League in ERA and .

He ranked second in ERA among qualifying O’s minor league hurlers, behind only Alexander Wells, who posted a 2.15 ERA at short-season Single-A Aberdeeen. He tied for second in wins among O’s farmhands and was third in . His walk rate was reduced from 5.03 to 3.53 walks per every nine innings.

When the Orioles gave up draft picks for signing and Ubaldo Jimenez before the 2014 season, Gonzalez became their top draft pick that June. He was selected out of Archbishop McCarthy (Fla.) High, where he played for a powerhouse that won three consecutive state titles. Gonzalez signed for $700,000, which was $105,800 over slot.

Showing a that usually sat between 90-92 mph, touching 93 and 94, he threw 147 2/3 innings for the Shorebirds, allowing 135 hits with 58 walks, 111 strikeouts and a .247 average against.

“He’s got a plus , he’s always had that,” said Delmarva manager . “His () was better and more consistent this year, too. But I think the biggest gain he made this past season was with his fastball command. He was able to with his fastball deeper into games rather than going to his secondary stuff right from the get-go. Just located it better than the previous year.”

What made his changeup a plus pitch?

“Good arm speed with deception,” Minor said. “Typical lefty having his changeup run away from a right-handed hitter. He was real consistent with it to throw it when he did and the way he did. He could throw it in any . Sometimes he finished guys off with a fastball because they were looking for it so much.”

Left-handed batters hit just .197 with a of .207 against Gonzalez. He gave up just one extra-base hit (a triple) against lefty batters over 167 plate appearances. Right-handed batters hit .267 off him. He gave up just a .180 batting average with runners in , while hitters went 0-for-11 against Gonzalez with the bases loaded.

Gonzalez developed a delivery that was cleaner and smoother than in 2015, working with Delmarva pitching . He also remained remarkably consistent with an ERA of 2.51 in 13 first-half starts and a 2.49 ERA in 14 starts in the second half.

I asked Minor if he thought Gonzalez could add some velocity as his career moves on.

“I think he could. He’s still just 20, 21,” Minor said. “He could get a little stronger and still grow more. He’s got pretty good arm speed, so he has a chance to add a bit there.”

Gonzalez, who turned 21 in October, also made gains holding runners last year. Basestealers against him were thrown out 26 percent of the time in 2015, and that mark was 35 percent last summer.

Gonzalez was ranked as the club’s No. 23 prospect by Baseball America at the end of the 2014 season. He will likely be among the top 20 when its Prospect Handbook is soon published.

As with almost any young player, he’ll need to continue to progress and put up numbers at each level as he moves up on the farm. He is expected to start the 2017 season in the rotation for Single-A Frederick.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve-melewski/2017/01/dylan-bundy-and-kevin-gausman-combine- hope-for-future-rotations.html

Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman provide hope for future rotations

By Steve Melewski / MASNsports.com January 3, 2017

At a time when the Orioles farm system gets plenty of criticism, the organization also may be heading into a near future with two first-round draft picks heading up its starting rotation. Perhaps for many years to come.

The Orioles drafted right-hander Dylan Bundy No. 4 overall out of Owassa (Okla.) High School in 2011. He was the last first-round pick by scouting director Joe Jordan. They selected Kevin Gausman, also No. 4 overall, in 2012 out of LSU. He was first top pick for current scouting director .

You may think the No. 4 pick should be a hit for any team. Well, the five pitchers drafted No. 4 before the O’s back-to-back duo were , Daniel Moskos, Brad Lincoln, and Tim Stauffer. The last pitcher drafted No. 4 overall that has accumulated even 5.0 or more career is Baltimorean . He was drafted by the Phillies in 2001.

So if the Bundy-Gausman duo continues to progress, it would be a coup for the organization to put two homegrown pitchers atop its rotation.

Gausman, who will be 26 in three days, went 9-12 with a 3.61 ERA in 30 starts and 179 2/3 innings in 2016. But it was the second half where Gausman really elevated his pitching, going 8- 6 with a 3.10 ERA. Between Aug. 23 and Sept. 14, Gausman pitched four scoreless starts in five games, going 4-0 with an ERA of 0.82. He pitched the Orioles to a victory in Game 162 at New York to get them into the playoffs. He led O’s starters in ERA, innings, WHIP, strikeouts per nine innings and walks per nine innings.

Gausman led the Orioles with 18 quality starts. But he was provided one run of support or less in 12 of his 30 starts. The Orioles scored just 2.73 runs per game over his starts in 2016.

Bundy, who turned 24 in November, was moved into the rotation in the second half and went 4-2 with a 2.76 ERA his first six starts. He allowed five runs in four of his last eight starts, going 4-3 with an ERA of 6.00 as he likely tired. But we saw enough evidence to see why Bundy was a top-rated prospect for years, even as he dealt with elbow surgery and shoulder issues.

Bundy picked up his first major league win on May 27 at Cleveland. From July 22 to Aug. 12, he ranked tied for first in wins (four) and fifth in strikeouts (32) among all major league pitchers. He pitched to a 1.84 ERA in that span. As a starter, he allowed a batting average against of just .231 and he fanned 9.0 per nine innings.

He became the 17th Orioles pitcher to record 10 wins in his rookie season. The last Oriole to accomplish the feat prior to Bundy was left-hander Wei-Yin Chen, with 12 wins in 2012.

If O’s fans truly dare to dream, will one of these pitchers turn into a legitimate ? Will both? A year or two down the , will pitchers like and join them in an all-homegrown rotation?

Nothing wrong with dreaming big. O’s fans have seen young pitchers show plenty of promise before only to be disappointed, so some of you may be cautiously optimistic about this pair.

But at least both already have major league success on their resumes. In Bundy’s case, it comes after just 167 innings on the farm and just 38 2/3 innings at Double-A, with zero innings at Triple-A. He was truly learning on the job last season. He handled it all great. Getting through the year healthy was huge.

Gausman showed some mental toughness to me in 2016 by continuing to pitch well without much run support. He didn’t even get his first win until his 13th start on June 25. He then overcame constant talk about his winless run of road starts. A stretch of 25 straight starts away from home without him getting a single win ended in August.

Gausman went 5-7 with a 3.31 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 15 starts with nine quality starts against American League East clubs. He has gone 10-13 with a 3.63 ERA and 15 quality starts in 36 career starts against the AL East.

No one could blame an Orioles fan for looking at Bundy and Gausman and being excited to see high draft picks that look good. Or hoping that the day is coming when they become great. Gausman is under team control through at least 2020 and Bundy through 2021. They could be heading up the club’s rotation for at least four more years together.

https://www.pressboxonline.com/2017/01/03/what-are-the-chances-these-free-agents-return-to- the-orioles

What Are The Chances These Free Agents Return To The Orioles?

By Rich Dubroff / PressBoxOnline.com January 3, 2017

Since free-agent season began, only two 2016 Orioles, left-handed reliever and outfielder/ , have picked new teams. , a minor league free agent, signed a major league contract with the team.

After the utter lack of Orioles news during the holidays, January promises to be more active. There are still free agents to sign, and there are still 2016 Orioles, who are now free agents, eager to be signed.

Let's check in on them.

Mark Trumbo

Along with former Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista, Trumbo is the highest-profile free agent remaining. Free agency is probably uncomfortable for the outfielder, who is more private than most other players, and it could drag on for a few more weeks.

A year ago, the Orioles were the only serious pursuer of first baseman Chris Davis, and his contract wasn't signed until Jan. 21.

Besides the Orioles, the St. Louis Cardinals and have been mentioned as possible Trumbo pursuers.

Does he re-sign with the Orioles? Possible. The Orioles would like to have him back. They just don't want to spend in excess of $15 million a year on Trumbo.

Pedro Alvarez

There has been some chatter this winter about Alvarez, who's going through the free agency process for the second straight year.

At the MLB Winter Meetings, his agent, , said Alvarez, who is defensively challenged, was working out as an outfielder to try and improve his marketability. He's viewed as a pure designated hitter in baseball circles.

Besides the Orioles, who could be interested as a late offseason or early spring training signing, the only other team to be linked with Alvarez is Kansas City, which needs to replace , who signed with Toronto.

Does he re-sign with the Orioles? Possible, but it's unlikely until Trumbo's destination is decided. Could the Orioles, who already have an estimated $156 million payroll for 2017 sign both Trumbo and Alvarez? It seems unlikely.

Matt Wieters

Wieters' time with the Orioles presumably ended when the team signed catcher last month to serve as a bridge until prospect is ready.

Last month, Boras said he didn't expect Wieters to sign until this month, and he hasn't.

Atlanta, Washington and the are among the teams that have been rumored to have interest in Wieters.

Does he re-sign with the Orioles? Highly unlikely. Despite some loose chatter that the team could have interest in bringing Wieters back, last month's conference call with executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter to announce Castillo's signing also served as a sendoff for Wieters.

Tommy Hunter

Hunter is a favorite of Showalter's and of many fans. He also savored his time in Baltimore and was excited to return last August after 13 months away.

He served as a useful right-handed relief substitute while Darren O'Day was sidelined and had a 2.19 ERA in 12 appearances.

There's no been talk about Hunter this offseason.

Does he re-sign with the Orioles? Possible. He might have to sign a minor league contract, and there doesn't look to much room in a healthy for him. He's also out of options, but he feels comfortable with the Orioles.

Michael Bourn

Bourn was impressive as a fill-in last September when he had a .283 average and .358 OBP in 24 games.

He would very much like to return, and the Orioles have spoken with his agent about a possible reunion.

To make the Orioles as a reserve outfielder, Bourn would have to complement Joey Rickard and might have to beat out choices Aneury Tavarez and .

Does he re-sign with the Orioles? Possible because he's a left-handed hitter, and the Orioles need more of them.

Vance Worley

Early last month, "the Vanimal" was non-tendered. He has yet to find work elsewhere. According to MLBTraderumors.com estimates, Worley was set to make $3.3 million in arbitration, a number the Orioles were uncomfortable with for a long man/spot starter.

Does he re-sign with the Orioles? Unlikely. Even though he did a creditable job with the Orioles, he'd have to take a significant pay cut from the $2.6 million he made in 2016.

Nolan Reimold

Reimold has had a long history with the Orioles, but it appears to be at an end. There's been no talk about Reimold this winter.

Does he re-sign with the Orioles? Highly unlikely. But, Reimold has been counted out before, and while it doesn't seem likely, he could sign a minor league contract with the team.

Drew Stubbs

Stubbs and Bourn were added to the roster when it expanded in September, and the outfielder was used mostly as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner.

He batted .136 in 20 games.

Does he re-sign with the Orioles? Highly unlikely. He'd have to sign a minor league deal and, like Bourn, beat out a pair of Rule 5 draft choices.

Paul Janish

Janish is an organizational favorite. The shortstop has signed minor league contracts with the Orioles the last two seasons and played a total of 28 games. The only times he was with the Orioles before roster expansion came when shortstop J.J. Hardy was on the disabled list.

Despite his terrific fielding and wonderful attitude, Janish doesn't hit, and at 34, he has a lot of options, both in and out of baseball. He's just two classes short of an economics degree at and could be an asset to the Orioles' organization on or off the field.

Does he re-sign with the Orioles? Unlikely. While he'd like to play on, with three small children and major league prospects dwindling, Janish may not be with the Orioles in 2017.

http://www.baltimorebaseball.com/2017/01/04/myriad-os-thoughts-mark-trumbos-market-jesus- monteros-upside/

Myriad O’s Thoughts: Mark Trumbo’s market and Jesus Montero’s upside

By Dan Connolly / BaltimoreBaseball.com January 3, 2017

The ’ signing of designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion in late December – it hasn’t officially been announced yet – likely makes Mark Trumbo the most feared slugger left on the free-agent board.

I know if I were a GM and looking for power, I’d take Trumbo over Jose Bautista and , among others.

The question is what did Encarnacion’s three-year, $60 million deal do to Trumbo’s market?

You can look at it two ways.

The fact that Encarnacion received only three guaranteed years makes you wonder if Trumbo will only get three years. I, for one, thought four for Trumbo was a guarantee, and that a five- year deal might be in the offing from someone.

What helps Trumbo is that he is three years younger than Encarnacion, who turns 34 this week (Trumbo turns 31 later this month). I think it is obvious Encarnacion is a more complete offensive player, but Trumbo is a better bet, given their ages, to maintain his power over the next four years. And, despite being disparaged by some, Trumbo is a better defensive player than Encarnacion. They both can handle first base, although scouts tell me Trumbo is more fluid there (he only started four games at first for the Orioles because of the presence of Chris Davis).

There are some in the industry that believe Encarnacion and his people settled, and he should have held on for a longer deal. History backs that up. Nelson Cruz got a fourth-year heading into his age-34 season in 2014. Heck, landed a seven-year, $126-million deal heading into his age-32 season back in 2010.

I thought Trumbo would be in the four-year, $60-65 million range heading into this offseason, and I’m sticking with that.

The reason is the second part of this: The Indians weren’t really on anyone’s radar for Encarnacion. So, Encarnacion’s signing didn’t take away one of Trumbo’s musical chairs. Teams like the and , who were in the Encarnacion sweepstakes, could still use some power. I’m not positive Trumbo fits with either, but he’d certainly help both clubs if they have the money – and years – to give.

As for the Orioles, I’m hearing they are still in a holding pattern. They want Trumbo back at a certain price and are sticking to that – for now. In my year covering him, Trumbo struck me as a patient guy. So eventually someone – the Orioles, Trumbo or another team – is going to blink.

An ex-Oriole once told me about free agency: “It’s not about when you sign, but where and for how much. Mostly how much.”

Signing Montero is a low-risk Duquette move

FanRag Sports reported Tuesday that the Orioles agreed to a minor-league deal with first baseman/designated hitter Jesus Montero that would pay him $550,000 if he makes the majors.

Montero, 27, was once one of baseball’s top prospects when he was a catcher in the New York Yankees’ organization, but has never lived up to those expectations.

He doesn’t anymore and he won’t be playing anywhere for the first couple months of the season – he was suspended 50 games last September while with the Blue Jays’ organization for testing positive for a banned supplement. Montero also was suspended in 2013 because he was involved in the Biogenesis scandal.

So why would Dan Duquette give the right-handed hitter a shot with the Orioles?

Because he’s shown he can hit in the past – he blasted 15 homers and batted .260 as a 22-year- old with the Seattle Mariners in 2012 – and he’s still in his prime.

And this is what Duquette does. He takes low-risk chances, and every now and then one works. You may never see Montero in an Orioles’ uniform. But, then again, you might. That’s what this organization does: Provides an opportunity if you can play.

They’ll have to wait to see if Montero can play when the games begin to count, however.

https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/articles/2016/12/30/the-boys-of- spring?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Biz%20Daily%20%E2%80 %94%201/3/2016&utm_term=941CEO%20Biz%20Daily

What It’s Like to Go to the Orioles’ Fantasy Camp A 65-year-old baseball fan tests his limits.

By Jerry Kammer / Sarasota Magazine December 30, 2016

Somewhere around the time I became a teenager in the summer of 1962, I attended an Old- Timers’ game at Memorial Stadium in my hometown of Baltimore. The only thing I remember about it was my puzzlement at the way the old-timers ran the bases. They looked old, almost comical, swaying left and right. Like ducks, I thought.

Now, more than half a century later, I understand that arthritis was the probable cause of the peculiar locomotion. Now the arthritic duck is me. I have two artificial hips, for which I am grateful every day. Before I got them I had the mobility of the Tin Man—rusted tight until Dorothy grabbed an oil can and lubricated him for the trip to Oz.

And now I can tell the story of my own trip to a land of wonders. Several years ago in January, while my neighbors in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., were suffering through another snowstorm, I was stepping off a bus from the Sarasota airport into the sunshine drenching the Buck O’Neil Baseball Complex, part of the spring-training home of the .

I looked past the palm trees to a wall that was an Orioles Mount Rushmore in paint. It carried the images of six Baltimore immortals: Brooks and , , , and Cal Ripken Jr., each a Hall of Famer. At the age of three score and five years, I had come as a participant in the Orioles’ annual Dream Week.

I came in the spirit described by Frank Deford, a member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame and a son of Baltimore, who wrote: “If you really care for a ball club when you are young—really care—I don’t think you ever get it out of your system, wherever you go, whatever the team does. It’s like any first love, a fantasy you see all the more precious through your imagination’s rear-view mirror.”

This deep loyalty to the hometown team is one of baseball’s great fascinations. It not only ties individuals to the team, it binds entire cities and regions together. Psychologists say such emotional instincts are part of our evolutionary equipment for forming large societies that cohere around great rituals and ideals that affirm our righteousness against rival groups. That’s why Orioles fans can call up at will the glory and euphoria of World triumphs in 1966, 1970 and 1983, while repressing memories of defeats in the of 1969, 1971 and 1979.

The Orioles are a big part of my hometown’s identity. So what a thrill it was to walk into the clubhouse in Sarasota and find something amazing waiting for me: Hanging from a hook in a hardwood cubicle was an Orioles jersey with my last name on it. I stopped to soak up the moment, then texted a photo to my wife. The message: “When I was a kid, I KNEW this would happen.”

That’s why another name for Dream Week is fantasy camp. This one is a bucket-list indulgence, especially for me and the 10 campers older than my 65 years. It’s part of the process of negotiating a compromise—surrendering gracefully the things of youth and refusing to go gently into that long postseason.

We are at the far end of the camp’s age distribution, which the Orioles have defined as beginning at 30 and ending when the last dog dies. Our group of 114 men and three women included seven in their 30s, 45 in their 40s, 41 in their 50s, 19 in their 60s, and five men in their 70s. The oldest, a 77-year-old retired dentist, came to camp with his 70-year-old best friend, a cardiologist he met after being rushed to the hospital with a heart attack. That was four decades ago. He is still going strong.

The Orioles charged a little over $4,000 for a package that included mid-January batting practice indoors at at Camden Yards, a round-trip flight from Baltimore, most meals, use of a clubhouse loaded with exercise equipment, daily laundry service for our uniforms, and access to trainers gifted in the art of tending the pulls, strains, and pains that would have campers lined up at the training room every morning and night. Coolers were stocked with beer and soda, and buses shuttled us to our resort hotel on the beach of Lido Key.

Most of us probably had gone through a calculation that Cornell psychology professor Thomas Gilovich has described to The Wall Street Journal. While some people choose to spend their money on items they can keep for years, others go for experiences. “If you’ve climbed in the Himalayas, that’s something you’ll always remember and talk about, long after all your favorite gadgets have gone to the landfill,” he wrote.

Dream Week’s principal activities were the 10 games—one every morning and one every afternoon—played by the 12 teams into which we were divided. But for many of us, those were the shiny gadgets, and the week’s highlights were the opportunities to socialize with the two dozen former players who had come to coach us while renewing their bonds with each other.

The oldest, looking remarkably good at 80, was , who described the indignity of having to haggle with Orioles management for a $30,000 contract after hitting 46 home runs in 1961. Many were veterans of the 1983 team that battled through one of the most dramatic, maddeningly inconsistent and ultimately triumphant seasons in the history of the O’s.

That was the season of Orioles Magic, when they persevered through two seven-game losing streaks, won their division and then stomped the White Sox in the American League Championship. A week later they celebrated their World Series win against the Phillies in the usual champagne-drenched locker room where catcher —the Series MVP and now a Dream Week coach—took a call from the White House and told President Reagan, “You can tell the Russians we’re having an awful good time over here playing baseball.”

Baseball and Baltimore

In 1957, when I began playing Little League, the Orioles had a rookie named . He was a man of surprising social as well as physical graces who played his entire 23-year career in Orioles and black, and made baseball’s All-Century Team. In an era when slugger moved from town to town, getting a candy bar named after him and becoming the prototype of the mercenary genie released by the onset of free agency, Brooks stayed with his team. Wrote Gordon Beard of the Associated Press, “He never asked anyone to name a candy bar after him. In Baltimore people name their children after him.”

That’s just one sign of the importance of the Orioles to Baltimore—and the importance of Baltimore to baseball. Let’s talk about how Baltimore saved baseball—a story about and Cal Ripken and Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Everyone knows that Babe Ruth transformed the game with his titanic home runs. Most aren’t aware of Ruth’s heroics in pulling the game from the public wreckage caused by eight members of the Chicago Black Sox accused of throwing World Series games in return for payoffs from gamblers. As baseball historian and documentarian Ken Burns wrote, “After the 1919 Black Sox gambling scandal corroded trust in the sport, baseball was rescued by the advent of the incomparable Babe Ruth.” The Babe—aka the Sultan of Swat, the Caliph of Clout, The Great Bambino, the Big Bam, the Wazir of Wam—gave fans a reason to believe again.

Seventy-six years later, after the game had suffered the disillusionment of the players’ decision to walk off the field rather than accept the salary caps demanded by owners, it needed another redemptive jolt. The strike played out like a tawdry tale of greed and ego in a country increasingly worried about the great divide between the super-rich and the rest of us. Ripken dispelled that disillusion with a glorious run as the Iron Man, a superstar with a lunch-bucket ethos and a love for the game.

The Sept. 6, 1995, nationally televised celebration of Ripken’s 2,131st consecutive game, breaking ’s record, was one of the most cathartic and euphoric moments in baseball history. It gave Ripken a place close to Ruth in baseball iconography and the story of Baltimore. Burns wrote, “It is baseball’s rare good luck that both times the modern game seemed in mortal peril, it has been saved by the achievements of an extraordinary individual from Baltimore.”

Burns also saw a continuation of Baltimore history with the beginning of a transformational era of baseball-stadium architecture. “It all started in Baltimore, naturally, with Camden Yards,” he wrote. “The Orioles’ new park was the progenitor of a style that came to be known as ‘New Major League classic,’ a deliberate attempt to evoke the beloved original concrete and steel ballparks built in the 1910s, unlike the multiple-use cookie-cutter suburban stadiums that had proliferated in the 1970s.”

Paul Goldberger, then architecture critic of , hailed the ballpark as “a building capable of wiping out in a single gesture 50 years of wretched stadium design… This is a design that enriches baseball, the city and the region, all at once.” It miraculously transformed baseball architecture, ending an era of monstrously clumsy stadiums.

Fantasy vs. Anatomy

Speaking of clumsy, it’s time to acknowledge the event that harshed my Dream Week Mellow.

The warnings were in the air, carried by soft whispers and confirmed by silent shakes of the head. One told of a former camper who broke two ribs stepping off the bus from the airport. Another featured a guy who fractured his wrist diving back to first base. Others concerned diverse dramas of muscle, ligament, cartilage and joint. The word went out to dial our exertions back. Its most concise formulation was a wry aphorism: “Start slowly, then taper off.”

Bill Stetka, the camp’s amiable director, waved the caution flag at our first group meeting in the cafeteria, where we had a fine breakfast and lunch every day. “Nobody is being scouted,” he admonished us. “Nobody needs to blow up his hamstring on the first day.” He laid out the rules intended to minimize pounding for those of us with compromised skeletons. There would be liberal use of “courtesy runners,” for example, so batters wouldn’t even have to run to first base.

But alas, Stetka’s Monday morning warning couldn’t forestall my folly, which had presented itself on Sunday afternoon, after we had donned our uniforms, loosened up with group calisthenics and fanned out to shag flies or take grounders. It was a sort of scouting minicamp. The former players who would coach the teams took notes they would use to arrange an even distribution of talent and age in that evening’s “draft.”

I took my position at third base. That was my first mistake, the tragic flaw of hubris amplified by an absence of geriatric self-awareness. I was an old guy remembering a young right arm. It had thrown a no-hitter when I was 12. When I was 17 and my batting average had sagged as the speed of pitchers had accelerated, my arm and glove were my only dependable tools, and they allowed me to play at third or behind the plate. Even when I was 45 I won $85—$5 each from 17 colleagues in the Republic newsroom who bet I couldn’t throw a football 50 yards.

Before Dream Week, I had tried to prepare my arm despite the limitations imposed by winter. Mostly I tossed a lacrosse ball against a wall in an alley behind my office in downtown Washington, D.C. I was following an old pattern: Loosen up the shoulder and you are good to go. But on this day, my shoulder was not the issue. I was about to receive a lesson in anatomy, specifically about an aging body’s loss of elasticity.

I joined four or five other guys on the dirt at third. We joked about the oceanic distance over to first base. Someone suggested we put a relay man by the pitcher’s mound. Someone else wondered if the rule for courtesy runners could be expanded to allow for courtesy throwers.

Like some of the other guys, I heaved my first throw to first on a bounce. For my second grounder I moved up on the infield grass, fielded the ball, shifted it to my right hand, cocked my arm and brought it forward—a sequence my arm had performed tens of thousands of times. Then came my introduction to the cruel reality that as we get older, our muscles, along with other tissues, lose elasticity, the simple ability to accommodate strain.

My arm traced its arc toward the release point. When it got there and my wrist began to snap forward, something like an ice pick stabbed the inside of my forearm, just below the elbow. The ball dived and careened toward second base, like a pheasant winged by buckshot skittering into the brush. I loosed an involuntary scream.

The pain was bad. The embarrassment was worse. The Orioles trainers would tell me what an MRI would confirm. I had torn the flexor pronator. It was a muscle I had never heard of, a name that sounded as sinister as it was strange. It made me think of Lex Luthor, comic book megavillain and Superman nemesis. It had brought me low for the sacrilege and absurdity of trying to play Brooks Robinson’s position at age 65.

I was stunned, a little depressed, and self-pitying. My arm had betrayed me, I thought. It had gone over to the dark side, joining the conspiracy of my arthritic hips. Was this how Caesar felt in his fatal final game against the senators in Rome? Et tu, Brute? You, too, right arm?

But the arm I was lamenting wasn’t just a remnant of my long-lost claim to mediocre athleticism. The ability to throw is basic to our identity as human beings, as Homo Erectus. As an article in the Journal of Anatomy notes, “The hominid lineage began when a group of chimpanzee-like apes began to throw rocks and swing clubs at adversaries…this behavior yielded reproductive advantages for millions of years, driving natural selection for improved throwing and clubbing prowess.”

So don’t ask for whom the flexor pronator tears. It tears for thee. Mine had ripped like a rusted cable on a suspension bridge, plunging my fantasy into the depths of Sarasota Bay. Within a few hours the internal bleeding and swelling had turned my entire forearm into a thickened technicolor mass of red and purple and orange and black. Fortunately, the blown arm was the only bad thing that happened to me during the week. It was followed just a few hours later by the best thing.

At the camp’s opening dinner Sunday night, when the results of the draft were announced, I learned that I would be a part of Dempsey’s Dippers. That was the team coached by Rick Dempsey, the fiery, tough, funny catcher who was my favorite Oriole in the generation that followed Brooks Robinson. Sportswriter Richard Justice said Dempsey became “one of the most popular players ever to wear the [Orioles] uniform…by diving for foul pops, and throwing out base runners, by being a blue-collar guy in a blue-collar town.”

On Monday morning, I overheard Dempsey tell his assistant coach, former Orioles pitcher , that the team had already had a casualty. “It’s this guy Kramer,” he said, pointing to his clipboard. “Blew his arm out.” I told Dempsey I’d like to play and that first base might work. So he penciled me into the line-up for a few innings in a few games. I got a couple of easy assists on ground balls. At the plate I was terrible. My biggest contribution to the team was a walk that loaded the bases that was followed by another walk that brought in the winning run. By Thursday I gave up the charade and watched the remaining games while sitting on the bench in street clothes. So there wasn’t much fantasy on the field for me.

But there were plenty of wonderful moments. Some came in the after-breakfast meeting, where there was an abundance of playful banter among the players and the coaches, who were awarding the symbolic gold ropes for outstanding individual performances as well as brown ropes for conspicuous achievement in screwing up. The brown ropes were more fun. One went to a catcher whose failure to catch a pitch allowed it to drill the in the shoulder. Another went to a guy whose effort to cover second base for a force out came to an abrupt end when he tripped over the bag and “went down like he was hit by a sniper.”

The writer, diving to make a catch.

An Evening with Dempsey

My favorite part of Dream Week was the customary evening when each team treats its coaches to dinner, and the coaches reciprocate by treating the team with stories of old. Our evening gave us the chance to hear from Rick Dempsey, who passed around his ring. Here are three Dempsey nuggets.

About catching Jim Palmer, the Hall of Fame pitcher (who appeared at camp for a few hours and had his picture taken with individual campers and his old teammates): “When the count was 0 and 2 he would say, ‘Call for a fastball, low and outside, and put your glove up about an inch from the corner.’ So I’d do it and I could catch that ball with my eyes closed. That’s how good his control was.”

On playing for the late Earl Weaver, the irascible manager legendary for both his berserk encounters with umpires and sometimes his own players, and for his ability (well ahead of the statistical compilations chronicled in the book Moneyball) to draw maximum advantage from match-ups and situational analysis: “Earl was an ass, but he was the greatest manager I ever played for.”

On why he participates in fantasy camp: “I love it that you guys love the game enough that you’re willing to come down here and make fools of yourselves.”

Dream Week was indeed a wonderful week. It strengthened my connection to the team, reaffirmed my identity as part of the city it represents. I have only two regrets. First, that I didn’t ask to show me how he threw the “foshball”—the forkball change-up hybrid he used to whiff 14 bewildered and hopeless White Sox players in Game Two of the 1983 AL championship series. I could have initiated contact many times but just didn’t want to intrude. We did have a conversation one day, as I waked past him in the clubhouse. I remember every word:

Boddicker: “Good morning.”

Me: “Good morning, Mike.”

The second regret should be obvious: I wish I had come to fantasy camp 20 years ago, when I was a young man of 45.