Reimold on fire

He is off to some kinda start. Getting his first taste of triple A ball, the 25 year old LF prospect has put together some stellar numbers in a short time. Leading the league in OBP and Slugging, Nolan has shown the Baltimore brass that he should be next in line for a call up.

The problem is, we have ourselves a log jam at LF right now. Felix Pie and Lou Montanez are both currently on the O's roster and not to mention Luke Scott who can also patrol the area. The knock on Montanez, who is the reining triple crown winner at Bowie last year, is that he is a poor defensive LF and he is a little too old (27) to be considered a prospect. Pie on the other hand, is only 23 and has all the "tools" that teams look for in prospects. The problem with him is that he has seem to misplace the tool box because he even looks lost out in the OF, which is supposed to be his biggest asset.

It shall be interesting to see what the Orioles do over the next month with the LF position. I think giving Pie and Montanez a look isn't the worst thing in the world, but if Nolan keeps hitting the ball the way he has, it will be hard to leave him down in AAA for too much longer.

Baseball America has him ranked 2nd this week on their Prospect Hot Sheet, putting up a blistering line of 381/.480/1.095 while hitting 4 home runs in that span.

Also on the list at the bottom are two of Baltimore's top pitching prospects, Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz. Tillman has a 1.29 ERA in AAA in 14 innings and Matusz, while exclusively working on his fastball and change(his two worst offerings of the 4 plus offerings he has), K'd 8 in 6 innings for Single A Frederick.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/prospect-hot-sheet/2009/268037.html

Have some, won't you?

O's lose third in a row

Well the O's wasted a fairly strong outing by Koji Uehara as they fell to the Angels 3-2. The Orioles had a couple great opportunities in the first few innings, but could not get the big hit when they needed it.

The Good....

• Koji Uehara got into the seventh inning before beginning to struggle and then being hit with a line drive and needing to leave the game, but still ended up with a quality start.
• Adam Jones had a couple more hits and is batting almost .360 on the year
• Danny Baez and George Sherril combined to throw two and 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

The Bad....

• Felix Pie cannot hit, he just can't. He is now batting .157 on the season. Not sure how long the O's can keep trotting him out there. Between him and the catchers spot its two automatic outs.
• Luke Scott and Ty Wigginton combined to go 0/8 with 4 K's and 6 left on base. Not the kind of game you expect from you five and six hitters.
• As mentioned earlier the O's left a bunch on base in the first couple innings and ended up with 14 left on base for the game.

The O's have the day off today before looking to end their skid against the AL East leading Blue Jays in Toronto.

Rich Hill Update

Rich Hill pitched again last night in his second minor league appearance of the season, this time for the Norfolk Tides.

3.1 IP (60 pitches)
2 ER (HR allowed)
1 H
1 BB
5 K

Not too bad considering the key for Rich Hill is control. It is good to see him with a decent amount of Ks and a small amount of walks.

To date, this is his showing so far on the rehab appearances this year:

6.1 IP
3 ER
2 H
1 BB
8K

He may be up in Baltimore sooner than later. More than likely for Mark Hendrickson, giving the Orioles BP a much needed extra long man.

More Freel updates

In another weird twist to the Ryan Freel story according to the Baltimore Sun he was forced to return from the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Baltimore after doctors failed to clear him to play. Freel was supposed to play in a rehab game for single A Delmarva last night, but upon his arrival was asked to take a battery of tests by the Shorebirds physician. After batting practice he was informed by the physician that he would not be cleared to play. Freel was not happy about the decision saying:

"I wasn't very happy about it, not at all, and there is a lot more stuff going on here than anyone else understands. But it is what it is"

The next step for Freel is to report to double A Bowie on Friday for a new rehab assignment.

.....Well this is getting interested. Especially the quote by Freel, it would be interesting to know what "other stuff" he is talking about. Well at least right now as Lucas pointed out the O's are really not losing that much by not having Freel.

O's Lose second in a row

Well that was more like the Adam Eaton I had been used to. Eaton pitched poorly yet again as the O's fell 7-5 to the Angels last night. The O's did have a couple early leads like on Monday night, but again could not hold them.

The Good....

• Melvin Mora was 3/5 with a couple RBI's in his first game back from injury.
• Adam Jones was 2/4 with his fouth HR of the year.

The Bad....

• Adam Eaton allowed 5 runs on six hits and four walks and only struck on two as he failed to build on his strong start against the White Sox.
• Chris Ray and Jamie Walker combined to give up two runs on three hits and a walk in only one inning of work.
• Gregg Zaun was 0/4 and is now batting .111 on the year.

The O's will look to save the series this afternoon at 12:35 as Koji Uehara will face Shane Loux. Loux will be making his first start of the season as he has pitched out of the bullpen up to this point.

Freel wants out

Apparently we are hurting his career...

http://masnsports.com/2009/04/ryan-freel-is-not-happy-with-t.html

I must say, I think O's fans want him off the team more than he wants off the team.

Which brings up an interesting scenario if we do sent him down. Who to bring up?

I think Pie is going to have a few more months to see what he can do and to try and acclimate him to LF, so I think with that being said, Reimold is out of the picture. It would make no sense to bring him up just to sit the bench like Freel. I like Montanez up here for the fact that he can do some platooning with Pie.

With the way the bullpen is getting worked, I wouldn't be surprised if another pitcher would be called up. Time will tell.

He is owed around 4 million, so I think cutting him is out of he picture. I do think we could expose him to waivers and hope a team needs a jack of all trades, master of none type of player.

Injury Update

Melvin Mora is returning from the DL today and will replace Matt Albers on the roster.

....Cant say I am too upset to see Albers go down.

In other injury news it looks like Ryan Freel will be back on May 6th as he is preparing to start a rehab assignment.