Baltimore Orioles

The list of struggling Orioles in 2010 is nearly as lengthy as their 25-man roster, but few are more noticeable than Adam Jones, the club’s starting center fielder and one of the faces of the franchise.

Jones is a key cog in the Oriole’s rebuilding process and after winning his first Gold Glove and appearing in his first All-Star game in 2009, he appeared to be on the path to stardom.

However, prior to the month of June, Jones has struggled to recapture the success of last season.

I came across this earlier in the day and thought it was worth sharing. It’s Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez back in 1998 when A-Rod was still with Seattle and the two were still close friends. Funny thing about this video, the two are talking about being shortstops, and Jeter said he’s the Yankees shortstop and there can only be one. Oh how true that is.

(click on the headline to watch this video).

If you had said before the season started that a New York Yankees pitcher would be having a Cy Young caliber season in June, you would have thought it would be CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, or maybe even Javier Vazquez.

You might have even thought it was Mariano Rivera.

But on June 9, it’s none of those Yankee pitchers. The pitcher that is having a Cy Young caliber season is Phil Hughes.

As a franchise, firing your manager signals two things to your fan base:

1)       This season marks the beginning of our quest to rebuild frantically in order to use it as an excuse for our inevitable suckdom.

"Grow the arms and buy the bats."

That's the philosophy Andy MacPhail said he was going to try to rebuild the once great Baltimore franchise with.

So here we are, three years later. The arms have been grown: Brian Matusz, the fourth overall pick in the 2008 draft; Chris Tillman, stolen from the Seattle Mariners in the one-sided Erik Bedard trade; Jake Arrieta, Triple-A superstar, and on the verge of joining the big league rotation any week now; and, Zach Britton, one of the more promising, underrated arms in the minors.

Now, how 'bout those bats?

So, we're officially one-third of the way through the minor league season.

It's time to review who's tearing it up among Orioles minor leaguers (non-prospects too!), and get to know the guys who are raking.

On the mound, Jake Arrieta is making himself a runaway candidate for O's pitcher of the year. He already has six wins, and leads the IL in batting average against. He's top five in strikeouts, innings pitched, and ERA.

At the plate, you'd have to delve way into the lower levels to find players having remarkable seasons.

If there is one thing that the 2010 season has shown the city of Baltimore, it is that the rebuilding process is far from over.

The Orioles need help in just about every facet of the game and since they can't dump money on veterans like the Red Sox or Yankees, the draft is where they can add talent.

While baseball prospects take a few years to grow (this is why the minors are called 'farm systems'), the products can be just as effective.

Just look at the Tampa Bay Rays and all they accomplish.

Jake Arrieta leads a stellar class of "who's hot," for the last week and a half, while Kam Mickolio leads the other half, the "who's not-ers."

So let's get right to it...

The bi-weekly edition of "Who's Hot, Who's Not."

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YANKEES (31-20)

If anyone needed more proof to why Canada shouldn't be a country, Baltimore Orioles' Adam Jones can probably convince you.

This is because Jones was detained by Canadian immigration while on the trip to Toronto for last night's game despite having no criminal record at all.

I honestly wish this was another one of my satire articles, but this is the God's-honest-truth.