Baltimore Orioles

We're only one day away from the Major League Baseball draft signing deadline, and so far, it's looking like the Orioles draft is shaping up to be one of the most impressive of any team, and, by the way, one of the more expensive.

As of today, the O's have signed seven of their top ten picks, with the lone exceptions being number three overall pick Manny Machado, sixth-round pick Dixon Anderson, and seventh-rounder Matthew Bywater.

In the month of August, the Orioles, under new manager Buck Showalter, have become one of the hottest teams in the league.

MASN is getting its best rating all year, and fans are already starting to tune back in. However, the recent buzz in the big leagues has masked the success of a familiar name in AAA Norfolk: Nolan Reimold. 

All right, who else is confused?

Over the past week, the Orioles’ team that we have seen show up hasn’t been what we have become accustomed too. Granted, I’m not complaining, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not intrigued by the change.

The top half of this week's "who's hot and who's not" has a rather familiar feel to it, with five of the first seven players occupying spots in my preseason Top 30 rankings, including an old familiar face who hasn't seen this much attention in a few years.

The bottom half is a who's-who of new faces, including a few recent draftees, and a ton of late-round fliers, including 30th, 34th, and 43rd round picks, in addition to a few undrafted players.

Get used to these names, because a lot of them will be occupying spots on my postseason All-Organization team, with maybe one of them receiving top

What happened to Orioles Magic? A once respectable franchise has turned into a complete joke, to put it frankly.

The Orioles are on their way to their 13th consecutive losing season. They haven’t had a winning season since 1997, when they went 98-64, and they have changed managers eight times in that 13-year span, with names like Lee Mazzilli, Dave Trembley, and Sam Perlozzo.

For those fans still holding on in Baltimore, tonight will be the beginning of yet another “new era” for the organization, as the team plays its first game under manager Buck Showalter. 

While the looming hire of Showalter was perhaps the worst kept secret in all of sports over the last month, the fact that the deal is finally done now means that the (re)rebuilding process can begin now rather than come spring training.

The Orioles completed a trade, sending Miguel Tejada out West once again.

In case you don't remember, this is the second time the O's have traded the third-baseman. The first time came in December 2007.

The team shipped Tejada to Houston for a whole host of players, including Luke Scott, Mike Costanzo, Troy Patton, Matt Albers, and Dennis Sarfate. Costanzo is the only player who is no longer in the Orioles system.

by Matt Webb

At this point in my life, I'm rarely overwhelmed by anything in sports anymore.

Sure, every once in awhile there are some pleasant surprises like Landon Donovan's goal against Algeria, Stephen Strasburg's start against the Pirates, even seeing Danica Patrick in a bathing suit for the first time. But for the most part, sports are an endless conveyor belt of 7-2  baseball games, two touchdown football blowouts and Louis Oosthuzien's 32 stroke British Open victory. In other words, everything kind of runs together. Nothing sticks out.

I recently had the opportunity to pose a few questions to Jordan Tuwiner of www.oriolesprospects.com about some of the young players in the Orioles system.   

Who has potential to make an impact in 2011? 

Who appears primed to be their top prospect heading into 2011? 

Let’s take a look at what he had to say.