"You did what?!"

The Baltimore Orioles made YET ANOTHER terrible roster move. To make room for returning 3B Manny Machado, they sent 2B Steve Lombardozzi, batting .292, down to AAA Norfolk, instead of Ryan Flaherty (.188), David Lough (.172), Steve Pearce (.143), or recent call up Jemile Weeks.

In my opinion, Lombardozzi has earned the starting 2B job, or at least a right to share time with Jonathan Schoop.

Why does Orioles manager Buck Showalter persist on keeping Flaherty and Pearce around for year after year of mediocrity, while blocking deserving players from the roster? The team as a whole has to be more important than any individual player. This team will never succeed with Flaherty and Lough being automatic outs every time through the lineup. The O's always use the excuse that Flaherty is "versatile" on defense. Sure he'll play any position, but he plays them all poorly.

This is not the roster move of a team that wants to "win now". Stop digging the team into a hole, just to give repeated chances to players who will never be more than they are. Schoop deserves to be in the Majors. Lombardozzi belongs in the Majors. Flaherty, Pearce, and Weeks never will. Lough isn't ready yet.

Apparently I care more about the Orioles success than their management and front office do...

©2014 Denim McDemus

0-For Flaherty is a Cancer to the Orioles

Baltimore Orioles INF Ryan "0-For" Flaherty is now 0-15 with 7 strikeouts in 4 2014 starts. His overrated defense has been hit or miss.

This is nothing new. He was terrible the past 2 seasons. He is a career .213 hitter. He is not a major league caliber player, and never will be.

So why does the club insist on keeping him around year after year, hogging a roster spot from more deserving players? Why did they trade away Alex Gonzalez to keep Flaherty? Why is Flaherty slated to take over 2B when Manny Machado comes back, taking the spot away from Jonathan Schoop, the Orioles top position player prospect? Why does manager Buck Showalter insist on constantly giving Flaherty starts, ensuring an automatic out in the lineup for the 3rd season in a row?

The worst thing is, Ryan Flaherty seems to not be bothered by his lack of production. He comes off as way too laid back and uncompetitive, often even smiling after each guaranteed strikeout.

Sometimes, it seems as though his "I don't care" attitude seems to rub off on his teammates. It did last season, when the team seemed to lose their "refuse to lose" 2012 mentality, in favor of an "oh well, we lost today" approach. This season, the mentality seems similar.

The Baltimore Orioles still have not been able to sign stars JJ Hardy, Matt Wieters, and Chris Davis to extension, and may not be able to keep any of them. They need to be in "win now" mode. That is why they went out and signed several free agents in February. Keeping a laid back, underachieving player like Ryan Flaherty around is not going to achieve that goal. Giving at bats to a guy who is almost always a guaranteed out is not the way to achieve that goal.

Yes, the Orioles are only 4 games into the 2014 MLB season, but they are also 1-3 in the toughest division in baseball. It's not panic time yet. Yes, Ryan Flaherty has only had 15 at bats so far this season, but this is his third season with the Orioles (previously hitting .216 and .224). We know what he can and more importantly can't do.

I know a lot of people who are nice guys, but I wouldn't let them start in a Major League Baseball game for a team claiming to be contending for the post season.

©2014 Denim McDemus

Orioles Notes 4/3/12

Last night was a poor Orioles debut for Ubaldo Jimenez (5H, 4R), Ryan Webb (3H, 2R), and David Lough (0-4). That being said, it was only the 2nd game of a 162 game season, and was against the defending World Series champs.

Nice start for Orioles FA OF/DH Nelson Cruz: 2HR, 3R, 3RBI. He has basically provided all of the O's offense so far. Take that, people who wanted them to sign Morales instead!

I know it's early, but let's compare stats. Ryan Flaherty: 0-7, 2Ks (nothing new there…). Alex Gonzalez: 3-8, 1 Triple, 2RBI (1 game winner). Who would you have kept as Manny Machado's placeholder?

©2014 Denim McDemus

The Ryan Flaherty Blues

It's finally here, my favorite season of the year, baseball season. The Baltimore Orioles' exciting 2012 season, including their first winning season and playoff appearance since 1997, and a thrilling post season campaign in which they beat juggernaut Texas in the Wild Card play-in game and came a game shy of reaching the ALCS, gave Orioles fans a solid reason to look forward to 2013. 

The club didn't make any major acquisitions in the off-season, but they really didn't have to. Last year's young, talent-laden roster is mostly intact, minus streaky and overpriced 1B Mark Reynolds. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. What the team did do, is amass incredible depth in pitching and outfielders, creating a stockpile of players for the Big League club to pull from, all hungering for a chance to join and contribute to this exciting Orioles team. 

Orioles Spring Training was exciting this year too. Take Spring stats and records for what they're worth, but a good Spring Training usually means good organizational depth. The Orioles compiled a dominent 19-9 record. Many players really stepped up their game to prove they deserved a spot on the team: Pearce, Jackson, Ford, Robinson, Dickerson, Casilla, Exposito, Valencia, Jurrjens, McFarland, Gausman, Bundy, etc. Unfortunately, most of those players didn't make the Major League team. Ryan Flaherty did not make that list, but was handed a roster spot anyway, despite having options, no longer being a Rule 5 player, and needing to learn how to bat and field.

Early on, the Orioles 2013 Regular Season has been exciting as well. Oriole Park at Camden Yards has averaged over 40,000 fans for the first home series. The crowd is full of orange shirts this year, rather than Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies jerseys. The fans are loud, raucous, and excited, creating a playoff atmosphere in April. The team hasn't disappointed. Through the first 5 games, 1B Chris Davis is having a historic run: .556Avg. 4HRs 17RBI. CF Adam Jones has been solid: .552Avg 12H 7RBI. RF Nick Markakis is hitting .348. C Matt Wieters has thrown out 3 of 4 baserunners and is batting .333. Nate McLouth has added hustle and speed at the leadoff spot and acrobatic catches in left field. Young 3B Manny Machado is playing defense like Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson. SS J.J. Hardy is showing a resurgence in his power hitting. The team is excelling in speed, timely hitting, and turning double plays. Reliever Darren O'Day has been brilliant. Starter Miguel Gonzalez had a great first start of the season. Rule 5 pick T.J. McFarland pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings in his Major League debut. There has been a lot to be excited about so far, but not from Ryan Flaherty.                

I know you've heard me complain about Flaherty over and over. You may ask why I pick on a young guy who looks like he's 12 years old. Unfortunately he's proving me right. Do I wish Ryan would have a great season and help out my favorite team? Sure. I wish that of everyone in the Orioles organization. But that's not what he's doing so far. 

The Orioles selected Flaherty from the Cubs in the December 2011 Rule 5 Draft, meaning they had to keep him on the Major League roster for all of the 2012 season, or they would have to send him back to Chicago or trade for him. For some reason, Baltimore's front office and coaching staff believed enough in Ryan to waste a roster/bench spot on him for the entire 2012 season and get him into 77 Big League games, despite his anemic hitting and bumbling defense. How did Flaherty reward them? With a .216 batting average and 19 RBI. He often looked like a deer caught in headlights at the plate, almost always being an automatic out. He couldn't run, grounding into many double plays. Calling him "versatile" just means he played poorly at multiple positions. The Orioles wasted a spot on their 25 man roster for all of last season on a guy who will never be more than a utility bench player. Maybe there's a reason why Chicago didn't protect him from the Rule 5 Draft by not even having him on their 40 man roster?    

So far this season, Flaherty is 0-10 and has played poorly defensively. He misplays a lot of the balls that come his way. He always seems to be out of position. He does not have a good throwing arm. I'll give you one guess who misplayed the ball that allowed the Twins to score the go ahead run last night...

Yet the guy who shouldn't even be on the roster continues to be handed at bats, starting at 2B in both games since walking wounded 2B Brian Roberts unsurprisingly went down with yet another injury, despite 2B Alexi Casilla having much better stats in Spring Training and last season. And for some reason manager Buck Showalter hasn't even had automatic out Flaherty batting 9th. 

I'd love to be excited by Ryan Flaherty since he's on my favorite baseball team, but I just can't. He's hurting the team by taking away a roster spot and at bats from more deserving players for the second straight season. I'm not sure what the Orioles coaching staff and front office see in him, but I certainly haven't seen it yet.        

Copyright 2013 Denim McDemus