I suppose that for the rest of Sam Perlozzo’s tenure as the manager of the Baltimore Orioles the adjective “embattled” will regularly be attached to his name. I’m not sure that it’s fair. Certainly when Perlozzo took over, nearly two years ago, there was a feeling that his time had come. At the time, Thomas Boswell wrote
In a sense, Perlozzo has stood in uniform, face pressed to the candy store window, ever since. Now, at 54, in one of those moments of pure baseball justice, Perlozzo is being allowed inside. The candy’s all his now. He’s manager of the Baltimore Orioles, at least for the last 55 games of this season. Nobody ever deserved a turn at the wheel more than Sam.The names that Perlozzo has worn on his chest include Reno, Tidewater, Toledo, Little Falls, Lynchburg, Hawaii and Jackson. Once, he was even a Yakult Swallow in Japan. Perlozzo hasn’t taken that uniform, which defines him, off his back for the last 28 years. But sometimes, those uniforms haven’t returned all the affection he bestowed on them.
However I might want Perlozzo to succeed, he hasn’t. His handling of the bullpen – especially his reliance on Danys Baez who’s allowed the winning run way too many times to earn any degree of confidence from the team. (Allowing him to pitch the ninth with a six run lead was not a bad idea though.)
Perlozzo has been under fire recently because of several in-game managing decisions and clubhouse unrest. On Friday night, third baseman Melvin Mora became the third Oriole to publicly criticize the manager after he learned from a reporter that he was not in the starting lineup.
Until Perlozzo’s predecessor, Lee Mazzilli was fired mid-season, the team under Angelos had never fired any manager mid-season. (In retrospect, was Mazzilli that bad? Boswell got in his digs. OTOH, in 2004 the Orioles had two months of success and in 2005 three great months. Both times the hope faded quickly and the season ended as most Orioles’ seasons have ended for the past decade – in 4th place ahead of only Tampa Bay.)
Ideally, I’d hope that the team would wait out the season. The Orioles do not have the offense to win much more than 81 games, so changing managers isn’t going to be the difference whether or not the team reaches the post season.
Also with the pitching going well – especially reclamation project Jeremy Guthrie – can the team afford to alienate its most valuable coach, Perlozzo’s friend and pitching coach, Leo Mazzone? Mazzone came to Baltimore to be his friend’s right hand. Would he stay with the team if Perlozzo left? The team’s better off waiting out the season.
Unfortunately with the latest buzz, I don’t think that Perlozzo will last the season.
According to two club sources, the Orioles will give serious consideration to bringing back Davey Johnson if Perlozzo is let go during his second full season as manager. Johnson’s highly successful two-year run as manager ended in 1997 when he abruptly resigned because of a conflict with owner Peter Angelos after the organization’s last winning season.Johnson, who couldn’t be reached to comment yesterday, was 186-138 with the Orioles in 1996 and 1997 and directed them to back-to-back American League Championship Series. He hasn’t managed in the majors since leading the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1999 and 2000 seasons.
He was the bench coach for the U.S. team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and is managing the American team in its quest to qualify for next year’s Summer Olympics.
To this point, the Orioles, according to sources, have not had significant discussions with Johnson or any other potential candidate, including former Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi, who also is well-regarded by team executives.
Angelos didn’t return calls seeking a comment, but one club source said the owner is intent on giving Perlozzo every opportunity to get the team back on track. The Orioles entered last night’s game with the Oakland Athletics a season-high six games below .500.
I have no idea who those two club sources are. Flanagan and Duquette refused to discuss Perlozzo on the record. Did they speak off the record too? Once names like Davey Johnson and Joe Girardi are being discussed it’s not a good sign.
Perlozzo, certainly has his faults as manager. And as much as I wish that Davey Johnson hadn’t been shown the door, I don’t see what he can accomplish with the season underway. (He quit when Angelos refused to extend his contract.) Let Perlozzo finish out the season, then sort things out. Frankly, the Orioles have bigger problems than their on-field management.
The odds of such an occurrence seem insurmountable, yet Jay Gibbons pulled off the unimaginable feat: He hit a foul ball that injured his wife.
The scene occurred in the ninth inning of the Baltimore Orioles’ game against Minnesota on Saturday. Gibbons fouled a ball straight back over the screen and into the rib cage of his wife, Laura.
The Dallas Cowboys selected Isaiah Stanback, a 6’2-3/8″, 216 pound quarterback out of the University of Washington with their pick from Cleveland in the 4th round (#103 overall).
Both PoliBlog‘s Steven Taylor and I are scratching our heads.
So, basically, the Cowboys taken yet another outside linebacker, a backup offensive lineman, and a fifth quarterback with their first three picks in the 2007 draft.
The strange thing is that Jerry Jones and gang keep saying that the team doesn’t have any real holes. Why, then, did they finish 9-7, collapse at the end of the season, and lose in the first round of the playoffs?
I hope we’re not back in the mid-90s business of drafting backups. That turned a perennial Super Bowl team into a mediocre one. Somehow, I don’t think it’ll turn a mediocre one into perennial Super Bowl contenders.
As for Stanback, here’s what ESPN’s crew has to say:
Scouts Grade: 59
Strengths: Has good arm strength, puts good zip on downfield passes and can make all the throws. Possesses good size and it tall enough to see the entire field. Shows good patience when gets sound pass protection and has improved decision making. Possesses great mobility, throws fairly well on the run and is capable of making defenders miss. Has good lower body strength, shows great balance and flashes the ability to break tackles. Shows good ball skills and sells play action. Has good top-end speed, can change directions quickly and is capable of developing into a dangerous open field runner. Plays with confidence and is a leader on the field.
Weaknesses: Loses the strike zone too much, doesn’t have a great sense of timing and hasn’t shown the ability to lead receivers. Doesn’t put great touch on short-to-intermediate pass and puts too much zip on shorter passes. Throws off back foot at times, doesn’t always follow through and isn’t fundamentally sound. Lacks ideal awareness, doesn’t read defenses well and throws into coverage at times. Shows happy feet in the pocket and needs to show better poise. While has excellent athletic ability doesn’t have great pocket presence and isn’t as effective buying time in the pocket as natural ability would suggest. While has improved in this area, occasionally tries to do too much and gets into trouble when doesn’t take what defense gives him. Holds onto the ball too long and takes some big hits. Appears indecisive at times and isn’t as effective running the ball as someone with his natural ability should be. Suffered a season-ending broken foot injury vs. Oregon State (10/14) as a senior in 2006.
Overall: Stanback was redshirted in 2002. He appeared in 11 games during the 2003 season. While he primarily lined up at receiver, he connected on his only two passing attempts for 18 yards. Stanback also rushed for 27 yards on eight carries, caught ten passes for 143 yards, and returned eight kickoffs that year. He started one of the five games he played quarterback in during the 2004 season. Stanback threw for 389 yards, three interceptions, and three touchdowns while completing 33.8-percent of his passes. He also rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns on 41 carries. Stanback started all 11 games in 2005 throwing for 2,136 yards, nine touchdowns, and six interceptions while completing 54.2-percent of his throws. He also rushed for 353 yards and five touchdowns on 100 carries. The Baltimore Orioles selected him in the 45th round of the 2006 MLB draft. In 2006, he started the first seven games before suffering a Lisfranc foot injury against Oregon State, which required surgery. In those seven games Stanback threw for 1,325 yards, 10 touchdowns, and three interceptions while completing 53.4-percent of his passes. He also rushed 85 times for 350 yards and four touchdowns.
Stanback’s marginal footwork has always led to poor accuracy as a passer. In order to compete for playing time as a quarterback his overall mechanics and decision-making skills must greatly improve. He also comes with durability baggage. However, he possesses good size, a powerful arm and outstanding mobility. If he doesn’t make it as a quarterback, Stanback is athletic enough to contribute at wide receiver, running back and/or in the return game. That potential versatility is the reason we grade him higher than many other more polished passers in this year’s class.
So, he’s a mediocre draft prospect. The Cowboys already have Tony Romo, Brad Johnson, Brock Berlin, and Matt Baker. Granted, Berlin and Baker are low-grade prospects. Then again, so is Stanback.
There wasn’t somebody available who might actually get some playing time?
UPDATE: Chuck Fairbacks, Norm Hitzges and the other guys on The Ticket say Stanback will likely be converted to wide receiver in the NFL. That makes a little more sense, although he 40 time is listed as 4.62. I don’t know when that was taken, though, so it might be slowed down by his injury.
Brian Grummell likes him and found some good evaluations.
WHAT NFL SCOUTS ARE SAYING
Pro Football Weekly: Is a truly outstanding athlete. Very fast with the ball in his hands. Better than expected throwing mechanics. Studies the game. Was very inconsistent throwing the ball with many streaks of inaccuracy. Has a great deal of innate ability buy may not be a quarterback at the professional level. As a passer he is far from a lost cause but will require a great deal of individual coaching, refinement and patience.
Street and Smith’s: Instinctive. Strong arm; able to make all the throws, including the deep outs and go routes. Able to create if the play breaks down. Shows the ability to lead and manage an offense. Will need to improve footwork and mechanics. Needs to avoid locking on to a primary receiver. Is a special athlete. Improved in accuracy throughout his career.
PROBABLY GETTING DRAFTED …
Well, the template of on-again/off-again passer athletes has been the fourth round (Michael Robinson, Brad Smith). I’m gonna be bold and say he’s a fourth rounder.
GUY WHO WATCHED HIM FOR FOUR YEARS IS SAYING
I like Stanbeck’s NFL potential. He’s a productive athlete with good size and is a late bloomer as a quarterback. For whatever reason projects like Stanbeck keep making it in the NFL and I think he’ll work his way into a solid career.
The question will be whether it’s at quarterback or as a returnman/receiver/special teamer. Most teams will probably give him a shot at quarterback but if they’re impatient and/or lack many quality athletes by necessity he may end up doing other things. I’d like to think he can stick it as a quarterback after some third string, practice squad or NFL Europe work, but I’m not a coach with a job on the line so I hunch he won’t be a quarterback for long. Humbug.
UPDATE: Ill give Stanback this much: He’s got an arm on him. Take a look at this YouTube video of him chucking it 70 yards or so to Craig Chambers in 2005:
via Tim McMahon. Granted, Stanback will be used as a WR/special teams guy by the Cowboys. But there’s always the option pass…
Oriole Magic (via Blogtimore) has the best rundown of what happened during the 5th inning of last night’s Orioles’ loss to the Bosox. During the game, MASN announcer Gary Thorne said that Red Sox player Doug Mirabelli had admitted that the now- famous bloody red sock of Curt Schilling’s from the 2004 ALCS was painted red and not actually Schilling’s blood.
The controversy that has now been stirred up was reported on by the Baltimore Sun. The Sun story reports that when asked about it after the game, Mirabelli told the Boston Globe that it was “a straight lie.” The Globe story points out that Mirabelli actually said, “What? Are you kidding me? He’s [expletive] lying. A straight lie.”
Thorne’s broadcast partner Jim Palmer stood by him and said that Thorne didn’t get such a great track record by making things up while also saying it didn’t detract from what Schilling did in 2004. MASN did not air the 5th inning during a later re-broadcast of the game, citing “time constraints.”
Oriole Magic hypothesizes that there are 3 possibilities: the sock was fake, Mirabelli was cracking a joke that he later backed off on, or Thorne simply lost it. According to Oriole Magic, the first two options are the only ones most people are seriously considering.
I’ve never thought Sam Perlozzo to be a sabermetric manager like Earl Weaver or Davey Johnson. I went to a game last year where he twice followed up leadoff doubles with sacrifiec bunts, giving up unnecessary outs.
But tonight he went against the conventional wisdom and showed a bit of guts. With the Orioles down 5 – 1 and two outs in the eighth inning and Aubrey Huff due up, Bob Geren called for lefty Alan Embree. Perlozzo did not do the expected, and kept righty Kevin Millar on the bench and stuck with Huff.
 Radio guys, Joe Angel and Jim Hunter noted that Huff had 4 hits in 16 at bats against Embree, but that Millar had never faced him, and assumed it was that lack of experience that tipped Perlozzo’s hand.
Huff ripped the first pitch from Embree into the stands cutting Oakland’s lead to 5 – 4. (Each team would score once for a final 6 – 5 Oakland.)
Angel and Hunter started discussing that Perlozzo looked like a genius. Clearly he went against their expectations, but was the manager’s decision simply about experience with the pitcher?
                      2007 – .565
vs righties 2004 – 2006 – .832
                      2007 – .528
So it appears that if one went back to the previous three years, there was no distinct advantage in using Millar in place of Huff. Huff had the same platoon splits as Millar. True Millar’s doing better this year so far, but it doesn’t appear that the decision to stick with Huff was as unusual as the announcers thought.
Yes Orioles fans, your team is ahead of the Yankees, the Blue Jays and the Devil Rays, one game behind the front running Red Sox. Yet it is April and the season is a long hard slog. But when your squad has not found the postseason in a decade, you celebrate the little victories.
This comment reported in today’s Washington Post, though must terrify serious as well as casual O’s fans.
Payton’s presence gives the team more versatility. As the Orioles shopped around for another outfielder this offseason, Payton was, “exactly what we were looking for,” vice president Jim Duquette said. He can play anywhere in the outfield or bat anywhere in the lineup. As he showed Sunday, he can lead off, and last season in Oakland he batted behind Frank Thomas for protection.
The mere idea that Payton, with a career rate stat line of .285/.330/.439. OPS+ is a state that compares a players OPS to the league average. Payton on his career has an OPS+ of 99 – a tick below average. Which Jim Duquette says is “exactly what [they] were looking for.”
If Baltimore needed an outfielder to go alongside Corey Patterson and Nick Markakis, wouldn’t Carlos Lee, a big bopper to hit behind Miguel Tejada be a good fit, and exactly what the Orioles might need. At least Lee, with a 113 career OPS+ and only one season below 100, can be considered an above average hitter. An inexpensive alternative with less stick would be David Delucci. A speed guy like Dave Roberts was also on the market and could hit atop the lineup with Roberts, Markakis and Tejada behind him to drive him in.
The Orioles with their incessant band-aid responses to bigger problems have poised themselves for another year of mediocrity as an also ran in the American League. With the Yankees pitching scuffling an opportunity existed for a different team to claim the title in the East. Most experts would award that crown to Boston, the runner up for the last billion or so years. But why not the Orioles, who had held first place in the East with a vise like grip for the first half of 2005 before the wheels came off. The injury to Kris Benson gave Baltimore the opportunity to find a creative solution tot he roster hole, instead plugged with Steve Trachsel, last seen being run out of Queens.
Oh well, another pedestrian solution. Should the Orioles can continue to suffer along and not make any effort to put a real winning franchise on the field, the fans protests will continue to grow louder and teams like the Red Sox and Yankees with their large traveling contingents will enjoy a quasi home field cheering section when visiting Charm City.
Forbes has an article about the Business of Baseball. Given that Forbes is a business magazine not a sports magazine its list of baseball 10 best general managers will be the subject of some debate.
Being an Orioles’ fan, I hardly think that Mike Flanagan (#10 according to Forbes) deserves to be anywhere near the top of this list (yet.) He works for a difficult owner and as a fan I haven’t seen a good product for an entire year during his tenure. If this year turns out well, as it appears it might right now, there’s still little hope for long term success here. The Orioles have one of the weaker farm systems in MLB and the team isn’t especially young. (Overall that is. There’s Markakis, Cabrera, Loewen and Ray, but most everyone else of significance is 28 and up.) Success this year isn’t likely to extend more than two years unless the team’s scouting improves drastically.
I realize that this ranking is primarily from a business not a baseball standpoint, that’s why stathead favorite GM’s without much success (so far) like Mark Shapiro and Doug Melvin don’t rank. (Forbes does have metrics for evaluating them, but success on the field isn’t necessarily one of them.) Still how can Mike Flanagan make the list but not the likes of Kenny Williams, Brian Cashman, Bill Stoneman or even Tim Purpura whose teams have been in the World Series in recent years. Or Kevin Towers and Terry Ryan whose teams have made the playoffs?
And how does John Schuerholz rank below Brian Sabean or Pat Gillick?
Honestly, I don’t know how a baseball team “sends a message” but apparently the Orioles aren’t intending to send any as they swept the Blue Jays. At least not yet.
The Orioles, almost to a man, insist that they’re not trying to send any messages. Not to opponents, not to the rest of the league, not to all of baseball. If they beat a division rival, the only significance is that they’ve won another game. Each one counts the same. Leave it to everyone else to find special meaning in a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays, which they completed with today’s 7-3 victory before 27,285 at Camden Yards. Or the five wins in six tries against the Blue Jays and New York Yankees. And let’s not forget their hold on second place in the American League East. “We’re just going out and trying to play good baseball,” manager Sam Perlozzo said. “It’s April. When it’s August and we’re still whipping up on somebody, then we can talk about sending a message. We’ve got a long way to go.”
In 2004, the Orioles had two good months (including a number of odd Thursday comebacks). In 2005 they were good until the end of June. But the result both years was the same. They collapsed and ended up in the purgatory of 4th place. In 2005, they were one of the best teams. Second to the White Sox during those months. The offense led by Tejada and Roberts was tremendous and the pitching was also excellent.
 A quick look at the current stats shows that the Orioles have the 7th best offense in the AL (by OPS). (#1 for what it’s worth are the Yankees. Think they miss Sheffield?) In pitching the team is #5 in the AL in pitching according to ERA and #4 by OPS allowed.
My guess is that the O’s offense is probably where I’d expect it to be, but offense seems down across the AL. The average OPS last year was .776 and in 2005 it was .754, right now it’s .728.
 My guess is that sooner or later the offense will return to a somewhat higher level and that O’s pitching will decline a bit and the offense will remain where it is. Right now my hopes for a .500 season seem good if premature.
This was simply a case of a guy who had been good before finding health and returning to previous levels—sort of like Soriano, but with more of a record of success. Ironically, while his team gave Soriano away this past winter, Bradford cashed in with a long-term deal from the Orioles, who spent most of the off-season pursuing expensive bullpen options. If you want a primer on how not to build a bullpen, just look at Baltimore’s moves over the past several months.
However yesterday Baseball Musings noticed that the spending might have been high but so far, it’s been working out very well.
The relievers struck out four and walked one, giving them 51 K and 18 walks in 53 1/3 innings. I’ll take that from any bullpen.
While it’s still too soon to make a definitive judgment, things are looking up for the Orioles’ bullpen. It has a 3.35 ERA after last night’s game in St. Petersburg, Fla., as opposed to last season’s 5.25 figure. Throw out the April 7 fiasco in New York and this year’s number is really low.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Ray, who has allowed one base runner in six appearances since surrendering the walk-off grand slam to New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez on April 7. “My job is a heck of a lot easier when you have all those guys before me going in there, setting the tempo, and keeping the momentum on our side and keeping the score the same when it gets to me. I’m throwing just one inning instead of an inning plus. The guys behind me are getting guys out left and right.”
Going back to the original article it’s pretty clear that the Orioles overpaid for their relief help, however as John Eisenberg observed
As I said, it’s still early and there are going to be hiccups, but protecting a larger percentage of their leads could propel the Orioles close to .500. The fact that they had to overpay doesn’t matter. After years of botching patches, the sight of a solid bullpen is priceless.
Overspending can be forgiven if you’re winning. Last year the Orioles had 20 blown saves. They had a clear problem and so they addressed it.
I’m no fan of the team’s management, but so far the relief upgrade seems to be working. The biggest caveat is that they’re throwing a lot of innings right now. If the starters don’t start going longer the relievers could find themselves wearing out too soon. At the best I don’t expect the Orioles to do better than .500. But given the past 9 years, that would be something.
Alex Rodriguez jokes that one way or another, he always seems to wind up in the middle of something.
He didn’t seem to mind on Saturday, grinning from the center of a pile at home plate, his Yankees teammates alternating between slapping his head, offering high-fives or embracing the third baseman’s body in appreciative hugs.
Rodriguez hit a game-winning grand slam off Chris Ray in the bottom of the ninth inning to sink the Baltimore Orioles, 10-7, and set off a raucous celebration at Yankee Stadium.
“It felt awesome,” Rodriguez said. “I was so excited, I felt like a fool running around the bases, like it was Little League. I just remember I almost knocked [coach Larry] Bowa over at third. I saw the fans rocking behind him. That was kind of cool.”
Arod’s defining moment as a Yankee? Probably not, but it’s close. I came into the game in the 6th inning, Yanks trailing 7-3. They squandered several opportunities with men on base until the 8th inning when Giambi hit a 3-run shot to bring the Yanks ‘to within 7-6′ (as Michael Kay said, somehow thinking that was correct grammar). Mo pitched a scoreless top of the 9th, and Dmint led off the bottom half with a line drive right into the first-baseman’s glove (I was cursing the poor luck), then Melky struck out. Robbie Cano came through with a 2-strike single, followed by a close 3-2 pitch that walked Jeter. Up came Abreu, and I knew he’d get on base somehow without tying the game (walk, infield single, hbp), therefore putting the onus on Arod. Lo and behold, he’s hit in the leg on the first pitch. Up comes Arod, 2 outs, bases loaded, down by 1 – he falls behind 1-2 swinging through a 95 mph fastball. Considering Ray couldn’t throw his off-speed stuff for strikes (and Arod’s miss on the previous pitch), he had to come back with another heater. Arod had it timed perfectly and launched it (seemingly hit well, but I couldn’t tell how well until I saw CF Corey Patterson sprinting toward the fence) just to the right of dead center, into the first row of the black seats. Game over. Yankees win 10-7.
I’ll admit, I did not think Arod would come through. I didn’t even want to watch but forced myself. Am I ever glad I did.
Arod has shown a renewed talent for hitting mid-90s (and inside) fastballs that he lacked for much of 2006. I’ll assume it’s due to the 15 pounds he intentionally lost during the winter to regain (his formerly excellent) bat speed. No reason to think the ability won’t go away, unless of course he falls victim to the Sidney Ponson/Chris Britton diet.
Another splendid job by the bullpen: 4 ip, 0 r. One inning each from Bruney, Myers, Vizcaino and Rivera. They deserve almost as much credit for the win as Arod.
I can’t comment on Igawa because of the tardiness of my watching (starting in the 6th after a 5-hour drive upstate). My thoughts on him will be here early next week after I return home to see the DVR’ed version of the game. Apparently he had no control of his breaking pitches, but at least went 5 innings – more than any other starter can say so far.
In other bad (and Japanese related) news, Hideki Matsui left the game after one at-bat with a strained hamstring. However, Damon was able to pinch-hit and even take over in CF after Matsui left, so he’s clearly on the mend. And Melky had his first hit of the season – he’s looking better at the plate every day, and still playing solid defense. Matsui’s return – who knows? Hopefully it will be just a few days.
10-7 Yanks (a much needed win)
4*: Arod, 3-4, bb, 2b, HR, 3 r, 6 rbi
2: Bullpen, 4 ip, 1 h, 1 bb, 5 k (3 for Bruney), 0 r
2: Giambi, 1-3, bb, HR, 3 rbi
1: Abreu, 0-2, 2 bb, 3 r
