A look at two 'risky' Orioles relievers

I'm an Orioles fan. I'm a fan of pitchers who have odd charts. And when I have both...

*note: stats are SO/PU/GB/FB/BB/1B/2B/HR

Koji Uehara '11/Control 4/IP 1/cost-190
1-9/--/10-12/13-19/--/--/--/20

I kinda like pitchers who have a natural 20 HR on their chart. Not all the time, but when they can mitigate the runs they give up (like Arthur Rhodes 00 walking on 17-19 and then giving up the 20 HR) it's bearable (compared with, say, Brett Tomko who goes 16 BB, 17 1B, 18-19 2B(!) and then the 20 HR). They also tend to be cheaper than comparable players, which can be helpful in team building.

Koji here has decent control with his +4, but more importantly only has a single non-out result. True, it's a home run, but if he gets the pitch, batters swing an out 95% of the time on his chart.

Hoyt Wilhelm/Control +2/IP 2/Cost 340
1-5/6-9/10-17/18-20/--/--/--/--

Yes, I was a big fan of that JC Romero card where he had no hit results. I believe it also fits the knuckle-balling Wilhelm pretty well; if his knuckler is floating around the strike zone, it's impossible to hit. If his knuckler is flat though... prepare for some pain. His low control is the risk here, but having an all-out chart I think makes up for it.


I'll be posting pictures later.

edit:

Baltimore Orioles: 2011 edition

Sorry for the slight delay.

Remember, these are the Orioles of the 2011 season, not 2012.

Jeremy Guthrie: Starter, Control +4, IP 6, 450 points
1-4 SO, 5-8 PU, 9-12 GB, 13-16 FB, 17 BB, 18-19 1B, 20 2B, -- HR

Zach Britton: Starter, Control +2, IP 6, 330 Points
1-4 SO, 5-6 PU, 7-14 GB, 15-17 FB, 18-19 BB, 20 1B, -- 2B, -- HR

Brian Matusz (based on 2010 stats): starter, Control +3, IP 5, 260 Points
1-5 SO, 6-7 PU, 8-10 GB, 11-16 FB, 17-18 BB, 19 1B, 20 2B, -- HR

Koji Uehara: Reliever, Control +4, IP 1, 190 points
1-9 SO, -- PU, 10-12 GB, 13-19 FB, -- BB, -- 1B, --2B, 20 HR

Jim Johnson: Reliever, Control +5, IP 1, 170 points
1-4 SO, 5-7 PU, 8-14 GB, 15-16 FB, 17 BB, 18-19 1B, 20 2B, -- HR

EDIT: This one was misplaced, so he's added now.
Kevin Gregg: Reliever, Control +2, IP 1, 90 points
1-6 SO, 7 PU, 8-11 GB, 12-16 FB, 17-19 BB, -- 1B, 20 2B, -- HR

Vladimir Guerrero: DH, Onbase 7, Speed C, 190 Points
1 SO, 2-3 GB, 4-5 FB, 6-7 BB, 8-14 1B, -- 1B+, 15-18 2B, -- 3B, 19-20 HR

Matt Wieters: C, Onbase 7, C+8, Speed C, 270 points
1-2 SO, 3 GB, 4 FB, 5-7 BB, 8-13 1B, -- 1B+, 14-17 2B, -- 3B, 18-20 HR

JJ Hardy: SS, Onbase 6, SS+5, Speed B, 270 points
1-4 SO, -- GB, -- FB, 5-6 BB, 7-11 1B, -- 1B+, 12-15 2B, -- 3B, 16-20 HR

Mark Reynolds: 1B/3B +0, Onbase 7, speed C, 270 points
1-5 SO, -- GB, --FB, 6-10 BB, 11-12 1B, -- 1B+, 12-15 2B, -- 3B, 16-20 HR

Nick Markakis: LF/RF +2, Onbase 8, speed B, 240 points
1 SO, 2-4 GB, -- FB, 5-7 BB, 8-15 1B, 16 1B+, 17-19 2B, -- 3B, 20 HR

Luke Scott: LF/RF +1, 1B+0, Onbase 6, speed C, 220 points
1-4 SO, -- GB, --FB, 5-8 BB, 9-12 1B, --1B+, 13-16 2B, -- 3B, 17-20 HR

Adam Jones: OF +1, Onbase 7, speed B, 260 points
1-4 SO, 5 GB, -- FB, 6-7 BB, 8-13 1B, 14 1B+, 15-17 2B, -- 3B, 18-20 HR

Alas, my Orioles!

It's a shame, but they're gone from the postseason after that loss.

Things to work on for next year:

We need a third baseman and a second baseman. While Robert Andino is entering his prime, he's really best served in a utility role. Manny Machado has done well, but he may need more seasoning in the minors. With that said though, Reynolds cannot go back to third base. Please please please no. Really. It's hard enough to watch him impersonate Adam Dunn at first.

Stop hacking at everything. Extra base hits are nice, but walks are okay to draw guys. It's bad when three players have an OBP above .340: Thome, Markakis and McLouth. You guys need to cut down on the strikeouts and put balls into play.

The pitching is fine. Defense could be tweaked, but is fine.

The Nats are on, but I need to go to bed since I have work in the morning.

Go Orioles!

I may be getting up in 6 hours and will be tired, but it was worth staying up to watch my first Orioles postseason game, and what a win it was.

Jim Johnson scared us all in the 9th, but he locked it down.

Go Orioles!

Baseball's Postseason

All but one wild-card slot are locked up, with a couple division races still ongoing.

I'm happy the Nationals are in. I will admit though, I am getting tired of hearing about how this is DC's first postseason baseball in 80 years... this statistic is rather stupid when one notes there was no team in DC from 1979 to 2004. So that's 25 years and no team to even try to win, thank you very much.

The Orioles are also in the dance, though they and the Yankees are still fighting for the AL East crown. I'm happy they're in the postseason, but I'd like them to win the division. It's okay if they don't.

The Orioles are fascinating

At least to me they are anyways.

See, I remember the playoffs, and even more vividly, the firesale of 1997. I was there for a game in Cal's final year (2001), and have paid attention to the Orioles and their shenanigans.

To me, the Orioles struggled for so long due not to bad luck, but poor choices.

Look at the Orioles roster in times past, and you'll see free agents that weren't worth the money (Miguel Tejada, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, etc.), and for a baseball team outside of New York, you can't really afford to make big bet after big bet on free agents and keep losing those bets. Those roster spots are lost to the prospects that need to develop, and those prospects are what's going to lead you out of the wilderness and into long-term success.

Though I should point out how few of their current line-up/pitching staff they actually developed. And this leads to a second point: trades wherein you dump overvalued (or unsignable) talent onto other teams for prospects, and wait for the results.

Mark Reynolds: Acquired from the D'Backs. He's a true three-outcome hitter, but that power was something we need. Gave up two pitchers to acquire him, including David Hernandez, but I liked this trade.

JJ Hardy: Traded from the Brewers to the Twins for Carlos Gomez and then the Twins traded him and Brendan Harris to the Orioles for ... junk. Seriously, I didn't understand it at the time and I still don't understand it now, when Hardy's power and glove have made for nearly 7 WAR in two seasons, and the Twins have gotten -0.6 WAR from the pitchers they got.

Robert Andino: Fleeced the Florida Marlins for Hayden Penn.

Matt Wieters: Wait, he's one of ours!

Wilson Betemit and Nate McLouth: Vets bought on the cheap. Decent placeholders to keep spots warm.

Adam Jones: This was widely recognized as a terrible trade for the Mariners at the time, and it's only going to get funnier as time goes on. Adam Jones, Chris Tillman, George Sherrill and others for Erik Bedard. Look, I liked Erik Bedard, as I am fascinated by left-handedness, but when I saw what we got for him, I was ecstatic, since we weren't going anywhere for a few years. George Sherrill actually was decent, but it's the SP and OF that mattered for us. While I do recall people talking of Jones being the next Griffey, Jr., that wasn't in the cards... but that's fine, 13 WAR by 26 is fine by me thank you.

Nick Markakis: While some may see him as a disappointment, he's a fine piece to have. Not going to be overvalued anytime soon, but it's nice to have another Orioles-only prospect turn up.

Chris Davis: This is the one trade that, while it made sense on paper, the trade for him and Tommy Hunter in exchange for Koji Uehara (a pitcher with great control and hilarious splits) hasn't panned out yet. And did we need another Reynolds on defense?

For the pitchers:

Wei-Yin Chen: Japanese vet.

Tommy Hunter: Acquired from the Rangers.

Jason Hammel: When he and Matt Lindstrom were traded for Jeremy Guthrie, I thought this might not work out, but Hammel's been a key starter, Lindstrom was swapped for Joe Saunders and Guthrie's already been traded from the Rockies. Clear win.

Jake Arrieta: Actually one from the farm. Yay!

Zach Britton and Brian Matusz: I think there is plenty of potential here, but these two need to step up, though Matusz might still be having injury issues. Both come from the farm.

Chris Tillman: Makes the Bedard trade even worse for Mariners fans.

Miguel Gonzalez: Scooped up from the Red Sox, which amuses me given the state of Boston's pitching staff.

Jim Johnson: Another of ours.

Luis Ayala: Journeyman who started out with Expos.

Pedro Strop: Taken from Rangers for Mike Gonzalez. I was happy we got anything for Gonzalez, and that he's useful is icing on the proverbial cake.

Darren O'Day: picked up off waivers from the Rangers.


............

So, to conclude, it becomes very apparent that our roster is not full of players who the Orioles signed, developed and played. But if we are better at identifying and picking up other team's scraps, and making something of it, that's the way we ought to go for now.

I am excited to see what Tyler Bundy and Manny Machado do, but I can wait. I've waited this long for a contender, I can wait on a couple more prospects to mature.

Thoughts on pennant races

To be honest, this is the most interested I've been for current baseball events in a good while.

See, I've been a fan of the Baltimore Orioles since the mid-1990s, and of the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals since ~2000. And if you know anything about those teams, they've been bad for a while now due to varying reasons.

I'd love to see the Orioles take the AL East rather than one of the two wildcard spots, but it'll be nice just to see them in a post-season game again.

... and the Yankee's just lost 5-4 to the A's, and since the Orioles also lost (2-1 to the Red Hose) we keep pace. Yay! Sort of...

Hey, I take victories where I can. It's been a long time.