Friday, December 2, 2016
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
World Champions 1983, 1970, 1966 American League Champions 1983, 1979, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1966 American League East Division Champions 2014, 1997, 1983, 1979, 1974, 1973, 1971, 1970, 1969 American League Wild Card 2016, 2012, 1996 Friday, December 2, 2016 Columns: Amid hopes for an even stronger bullpen in 2017, Orioles can't just stock it with young starters The Sun 12/2 Orioles sign outfielder Logan Schafer to minor league deal The Sun 12/1 Orioles season-ticket prices to stay flat in 2017 The Sun 12/1 O's to lay groundwork on deals at Meetings MLB.com 12/2 Hearing from Duquette and Showalter leading into Winter Meetings MASNsports.com 12/2 Orioles sign outfielder Logan Schafer (plus other notes) MASNsports.com 12/1 Spring training report dates and other notes MASNsports.com 12/1 The new CBA and how it could impact the Orioles MASNsports.com 12/2 MLB Rumor Central: Orioles interested in Curtis Granderson? MLB.com 12/1 Orioles FanFest Tickets Are On Sale Today CBS Baltimore 12/1 Orioles won't raise season-ticket prices for 2017 Baltimore Business Journal 12/1 Our 10 Favorite Dog Calendars for 2017 Dogster.com 12/1 http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-amid-hopes-for-an-even-stronger-bullpen- in-2017-orioles-can-t-convert-young-starters-yet-20161201-story.html Amid hopes for an even stronger bullpen in 2017, Orioles can't just stock it with young starters By Jon Meoli / The Baltimore Sun December 2, 2016 The Orioles rightly expect their bullpen to improve in 2017. They just can't stock it with young starters. Orioles manager Buck Showalter, during his appearance as part of the team’s Hot Stove radio show on 105.7 The Fan, rightfully praised his bullpen as a strength that can be expected to improve in 2017. “We might/could improve by having, say a Donnie Hart all year,” Showalter said on the show. “We might/could improve by having a healthy Darren O’Day all year. He only pitched, what 30 innings this year? Something like that. Who could expect Zach [Britton] and Brad [Brach] to do the same thing they did out of the bullpen, but why not? "Mychal Givens, you’ve got to put in that same group as [Dylan] Bundy and [Kevin] Gausman — a young guy who has another level to go to. We just got him to where he’d throw his changeup the last month of the season and defend himself against left-handed hitters. He was stubborn with it, but finally he started having success with it. Mychal has got a chance to go to another level, too.” All that does, however, is illustrate some of the challenges facing the team this offseason. We can call that group — Britton, Brach, Hart, O’Day and Givens — the valuable ones, as those are the ones Showalter assumes teams will be asking for at the winter meetings come Sunday. “We’re going to get beat up about people asking us about moving our bullpen, because when guys like [free agent closer Aroldis] Chapman leave the board, they’re going to look at a lot of our guys as potential cheaper versions to close,” Showalter said. “And we’re not giving them away, trust me. They’re going to have to pay dearly for us to do something like that.” But the inclusion of all of them — including Hart, who Showalter said would have to pitch his way off the club in spring training, not onto it — means the rest of the bullpen will be built in a way that could bite the Orioles the same way it did at times this year. They’ll account for five of the eight spots, and another at this point must be allotted to whichever of the team’s six starting pitchers isn’t in the rotation. However you fill the last two spots, it's best for the organization's future if it's not one of their hopeful future starters. In talking about the long relief role that Vance Worley occupied for most of the season, Showalter speaks with such reverential tones that it's easy to overstake their importance. But with the deadline to tender contracts to players looming Friday afternoon, Worley and his projected arbitration salary of over $3 million are easy for a team looking to save money to let go. That would be sacrificing a constant that the team, given some of the question marks in its starting rotation, will likely come to rely on. Consider this: Last year, the Orioles had 15 relief appearances of three innings or longer with one run or less allowed. Worley had six of them, with Tyler Wilson next in line with three. The Orioles had 22 relief appearances of three innings or longer overall, but consider all of the times a young pitcher brought up to eat innings in one of those tailspin series made matters worse. Worley, he of the 3.53 ERA, was used in every role imaginable, but he was at his best in that long relief role, saving innings for the rest of the bullpen when a starter couldn’t get deep in the game. The purchase of Logan Verrett this week from the New York Mets, in the eyes of many, was a sign Worley’s days may be numbered, with the right-hander joining Tyler Wilson, Mike Wright, Parker Bridwell, Joe Gunkel, Chris Lee, Jayson Aquino, T.J. McFarland and Jason Garcia on a list of pitchers with options who could be deputized in Worley’s role, then be sent down to keep someone fresh. But in looking at how the 2017 bullpen might be constructed, counting on all of them as long relief options is a bad sign for the organization and its future. These are, after all, the pitchers the Orioles will be counting on to be starters in 2018 and beyond, when they face the possibility of life without all four of Chris Tillman, Ubaldo Jimenez, Yovani Gallardo and Wade Miley. In that case, the eratic schedule and Norfolk shuttle life may not be sufficient in preparing as many as three of those young pitchers to join the rotation full-time the following year. For pretty much all of those young pitchers, a major league bullpen role could end up being their role. Depending on where they are in their careers, being there for all or most of 2017 might not help them grow past that. For pitchers like Wilson and Wright, who spent most of the first half of 2016 in the major league rotation, they’re in an awful state of limbo where Triple-A isn’t enough of a challenge but there’s little room for growth in a sporadic long relief role at the major league level. McFarland’s time riding the shuttle has led to him regressing a bit, while Aquino, Lee and Gunkel could reasonably remain starters for the entire year at Triple-A. If the Orioles are that intent on saving a few million dollars in non-tendering Worley and using that cadre of up-and-comers in his place, there could be long-term repercussions for a pitching staff that will undergo a lot of change in the next year or so. And when that change happens, forget how a year of uncertain roles could impact those developing pitchers — wouldn’t it be nice to have someone like Worley who can slide into the rotation should they not be ready? To ascribe that much to a decision on whether to tender a player like Worley might be a bit of a stretch, but the Orioles pitching staff could look different this time next year, and there’s no telling how having to find a facsimile for a proven major league swingman out of your cache of future starters might prove detrimental to the outlook of the team. http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-orioles-sign-outfielder-logan-schafer-to- minor-league-deal-20161201-story.html Orioles sign outfielder Logan Schafer to minor league deal By Eduardo A. Encina / The Baltimore Sun December 1, 2016 The Orioles have signed outfielder Logan Schafer to a minor league deal, the club announced on Thursday. The Orioles have signed outfielder Logan Schafer to a minor league deal, the club announced on Thursday. Schafer, 30, opened last season playing for the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League and ended it on the Minnesota Twins’ major league roster. He hit .238/.342/.317 in 26 games with the Twins. The left-handed-hitting Schafer will add outfield depth to the organization. A former third-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers, Schafer spent his first eight seasons in the Brewers organization, playing parts of five seasons with the major league club. His most extended time in the majors came in 2013, when he saw action in a career-high 134 games with Milwaukee, hitting .211/.279/.322 with four homers and 33 RBIs in 337 plate appearances. Overall, Schafer is a .214/.292/.318 hitter in 318 major league games. Last year, after playing independent ball in May, Schafer hit .264/.340/.361 in 64 games with Triple-A Rochester before earning a major league call-up on Aug. 29. Schafer started strong with the Twins, hitting .296/.406/.444 in his first 13 games with the club, but then hit just .194/.293/.222 in his final 13 games, which included 10 starts. Schafer's split statistics are even over most of his major and minor league careers, but last season he actually hit lefties at a .320 clip (24-for-75).