Baltimore

The Baltimore Orioles have been busy this offseason. Since the winter began, the O's have been making under-the-radar moves, quietly upgrading several areas of the club.

They finished revamping their infield with the signing of first baseman Derek Lee on New Year's Eve, and on Tuesday, solidified their bullpen even further after agreeing to terms with free agent right-hander Kevin Gregg.

As my previous article about the Oakland A’s described the recent activity of these traditionally small-market and to some extent '80s-competitive “super” power teams, because I discussed the A’s in that article I will omit them from this one, their moves notwithstanding.

Even though last night's Orioles game against the Detroit Tigers was washed out by the blanketing rain that flooded much of the Mid-Atlantic, the sun was still shining at Camden Yards. That sun stands for the feeling that the Orioles have created around Baltimore.

This season marks the 13th consecutive losing season for the O's, but the team's recent resurgence under manager Buck Showalter has the city feeling that it might not have to endure a 14th.

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.

The Yankees were happy to leave Toronto after their first visit with the Blue Jays over the weekend.

This series provided a lot to think about in regards to what the Yankees are dealing with regarding strengths and issues.

Losing the first two games was making the Yankees look like has-beens. Thanks to Javier Vazquez’s impressive performance the Yankees avoided getting swept on Sunday.

Watching Saturday’s 14 innings proved that the Yankee pitching is pretty sturdy and continued to add more worries about the Yankee bats.

The Oriole Way

Peter Angelos, the Baltimore Orioles owner, has no idea what that means. It is a term every baseball fan in Charm City is well aware of, and a methodology that Angelos has seemed bent on destroying since he bought the ball club in 1993.

The Oriole Way had been very successful before he bought the club. For over three decades, from the 1960's to the 1980's, the Orioles had the highest winning percentage in all of sports, and the winningest team in all of baseball. They won six American League Pennants and three World Series over that time.

The Baltimore Orioles are looking to make a run in the AL East or at least trying to improve on their past seasons. Last year the Orioles finished dead last in the AL East with a 64-98 record, worse than their 2008 season. Already this season they started off losers by not signing Matt Holliday and letting go long-time third baseman Melvin Mora.

On Monday, I profiled some of the potential landing spots for Garrett Atkins, who was non-tendered by the Rockies.

I expected the Orioles to be one of the main suitors for Atkins' services given their need for a third baseman and a power hitter. As I wrote at the time:

What place will the Baltimore Orioles fall in 2010?  More than 80 wins could be a start. 

Of course there is room for optimism.  Every fan has that in the offseason.  Hoping there club can make the right moves to drive his or her home team to the playoffs.

The reality of the situation is that the Orioles haven’t had a winning record since the late '90s.  This discourages top tier free agents from coming to Baltimore. 

Baseball begins this weekend, and I am in a fantasy league.

Played fantasy baseball for the first time last year, and think I finished last..or pretty darn near it.

I expect to keep that going this year.

MY fantasy team :

SP: Brandon Webb - Dude has been solid...one of my top players probably.
SP: Clayton Kershaw - Kid is a stud. Future ace...hoping he's ready now.
SP: Hiroki Kuroda - I have no idea what to expect from him.