2001-? Orioles

[SCO'sFan]

This will serve as a thread that documents my varying success for the Baltimore Orioles, starting in 2001.

[SCO'sFan]

The Orioles in real life had an abysmal record of 63-98 in 2001, so it's up to me to turn things around. Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. is in his final years in the majors, being 40 years old at the start of this sim.

Top 20 Batters at the start of 2001:
1. Barry Bonds OF SF
2. Jason Giambi 1B OAK
3. Manny Ramirez OF BOS
4. Phil Nevin 3B SD
5. Jim Edmonds OF STL
6. Sammy Sosa OF CHC
7. Alex Rodriguez SS TEX
8. Todd Helton 1B COL
9. Ivan Rodriguez C TEX
10. Jeff Kent 2B SF
11. Nomar Garciaparra SS BOS
12. Mike Piazza C NYY
13. Larry Walker OF COL
14. Gary Sheffield OF LAD
15. Luis Gonzalez OF ARI
16. Vladimir Guerrero OF MON (Expos)
17. Brian Giles OF PIT
18. Richardo Hidalgo OF HOU
19. Cliff Floyd OF FLO (Marlins)
20. Carlos Delgado 1B TOR


Top 20 Pitchers at the start of 2001:
1. Pedro Martinez SP BOS
2. Randy Johnson SP ARI
3. Mike Mussina SP NYY
4. Curt Schilling SP ARI
5. Greg Maddux SP ATL
6. Roger Clemens SP BOS
7. Kevin Brown SP LAD
8. Javier Vasquez SP MON
9. Andy Pettitte SP NYY
10. Chan Ho Park SP LAD
11. David Wells SP CWS
12. Matt Morris SP STL
13. John Burkett SP ATL
14. Al Leiter SP NYM
15. Barry Zito SP OAK
16. Dave Burba SP CLE
17. Bartolo Colon SP CLE
18. Chuck Finley SP CLE
19. Jason Schmidt SP PIT
20. Tim Hudson SP OAK


The top 10 prospects are as follows:
1. Albert Pujols
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Mike Napoli
4. Matt Holliday
5. Joe Mauer
6. Josh Hamilton
7. Jake Peavy
8. Josh Beckett
9. Cliff P Lee
10. Dan Haren


The top 10 prospects for the upcoming draft are:
1. Hanley Ramirez
2. Joey Votto
3. Prince Fielder
4. Brian McCann
5. Howie Kendrick
6. Russell Martin
7. Nick Swisher
8. Mark Teixeira
9. Matt Cain
10. Jeff Francouer

More information to follow

[SCO'sFan]

To put it simply, our team is not very good.

My sample starting lineup would look like this:
1. 2B Jerry Hairston Jr.
2. LF Chris Richard
3. 1B Jeff Conine
4. DH David Segui
5. C Mike Kinkade
6. RF Brady Anderson
7. CF Melvin Mora
8. 3B Cal Ripken Jr.
9. SS Mike Bordick


Rotation:
1. Sidney Ponson
2. Pat Hentgen
3. Jose Mercedes
4. Erik Bedard
5. D.J. Jones

Bold denotes rookie on the team


Another concern is that most of my team is comprised of old players, with former stars Cal Ripken Jr. being 40 years old and Brady Anderson being 37. Mike Bordick is also 35, while Jeff Conine and David Segui are both 34. I better hit the draft hard this year...

Speaking of which: the Orioles have the 10th pick in the 2001 Draft, which takes place in June. The mock draft has us selecting Jeff Francouer in the first round, who would project to be the replacement for Brady Anderson. I may draft a pitcher, however.

In terms of my farm system, I have two top 100 prospects: SP Erik Bedard (#34) and 2B Brian Roberts (#35). My farm system ranks 19th overall.

[SCO'sFan]

Well, it hasn't gotten any easier for the Orioles. Although I'm 3-0 so far in Spring Training (and Cal Ripken Jr. has already hit a home run), I got bad injury news.

February 28, 2001: SP Sidney Ponson goes down with forearm inflammation and will be out for four months.

This is a huge blow so far, primarily because he was expected to be my Opening Day starter. Now, an already weak rotation just became weaker. I've been looking to sign another starter by the name of Kris Benson (who actually pitched for Baltimore in 2006), but my owner will not allow me to make offers that exceed the budget. For now, I better hope to sign a decent enough pitcher to a minor league contract that can potentially fill the back end of the rotation. It's going to be a long season. I have called up Fredy Deza from Single A Delmarva to counteract the IL placement.

The Orioles have a projected record of 78-84, good enough for 3rd in the division.

[SCO'sFan]

I am now 4-0 in Spring Training play after beating the White Sox 6-1. My top prospect Erik Bedard had his Spring Training debut, and pitched pretty well. He overcame a difficult first inning where he allowed a home run to Jose Canseco and proceeded to pitch 5 solid innings with six hits allows, one earned run, two walks and seven strikeouts. Bedard struck out the side in the fourth inning as well. One concern, however, is that it took Bedard 101 pitches to get through the five innings, that will be something to watch later on. He also only generated eight swinging strikes in his 101 pitches.

[SCO'sFan]

My prayers in terms of finding a replacement for the injured Sydney Ponson have been answered.

March 3, 2001: Salamon Torres has agreed to a minor league deal.

Salamon Torres seems to fit in as our fourth or fifth starter if he performs well in Spring Training. He doesn't have overwhelming numbers in any category, but they still are better than some of our other pitchers'. In real life, he pitched for fifteen years for various teams, so I'm hoping he has similar success in 2001. One of Torres' biggest downsides is that he's also injury-prone, but always it's better to have one other pitcher to fill a hole/weakness.

[SCO'sFan]

On an extreme whim, I've decided to delete the league I've been working on. My new league will be nothing different, I've just decided to be a general manager instead of both a manager and GM. 2001 Orioles still apply... I will catch up on news and various things...

[SCO'sFan]

As I said before, I am now the GM ONLY for the 2001 and onward Orioles. Here are some reports:

Top 10 Prospects:
1. Albert Pujols
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Mike Napoli
4. David Wright
5. Joe Mauer
6. Josh Hamilton
7. Josh Beckett
8. Adam Wainwright
9. Francisco Liriano
10. Jake Peavy

The Orioles currently have the 19th best farm system in the majors, with our two Top 100 prospects being Erik Bedard (25th) and Brian Roberts (42nd).

Owner Goals are as follows:

Achieve a Winning Record
Upgrade at Left Field this season
Sign Buddy Groom (a closer)
Acquire a nationally popular player
Reach playoffs in next two seasons

Once again, this team faces the same hardships it did in my previous save, with most of my players being very old. My average roster age is nearly 30 years old.

EDIT:
Here are some notable players age 34 and above
- Cal Ripken Jr. (2.0, 2.0) 40 years old
- Brady Anderson (2.0, 2.0) 37 years old
- Mike Bordick (2.5, 2.5) 35 years old
- Buddy Groom (4.0, 4.0) 35 years old
- Jeff Conine (2.5, 2.5) 34 years old
- David Segui (3.0, 3.0) 34 years old

[SCO'sFan]

Spring Training is now underway, as Baltimore sports a 1-0 record after beating the Anaheim Angels 6-2. The news:

- Baltimore has signed 1B Coach Ryan Arcaro to a 3 year, $140,000 per year contract. His best strengths are in handling aging (which is good seeing as we have an old team) and outfield defense.

Our third base coach spot is still vacant, but there are negotiations underway.

Here's more news and general information:

My owner, Hugo Javalera, is described as very interfering, which is not good considering as he's already set certain budgets like the scouting budget.

Projected Division Leaders and Playoffs:

AL EAST: New York Yankees
AL CENTRAL: Cleveland Guardians
AL WEST: Oakland Athletics
Wildcard: Seattle Mariners

NL EAST: Atlanta Braves
NL CENTRAL: St. Louis Cardinals
NL WEST: San Francisco Giants
Wildcard: Arizona Diamondbacks

The Orioles have a projected record of 70-92, good enough for 4th in the AL East.

[SCO'sFan]

The top 10 prospects for the upcoming draft are:
1. Prince Fielder
2. Hanley Ramirez
3. David DeJesus
4. Howie Kendrick
5. Brian McCann
6. Russell Martin
7. Joey Votto
8. Mark Prior
9. Nick Swisher
10. Alberto Callaspo

Just like before, the Orioles have the 10th selection in this year's draft, so we are projected to draft Alberto Callaspo, a second baseman. He turned out not being so good in real life, posting a 2.8 WAR across 10 seasons. He doesn't really address my team need for pitching or a better outfield. This being said, I may target a player like Charlie Morton or Curtis Granderson if either of them are available.

In other news, my starting pitcher Sydney Ponson got injured AGAIN, though he'll only be out of action for two days due to hamstring soreness.

[SCO'sFan]

The Orioles have made several transactions. Here they are:

- Signed LF Junior Felix (2.5, 2.5) to a minor league contract. He was a very affordable pickup, only asking for $555,000 once promoted. This completes one of my owner's goals to upgrade in Left Field. This isn't a huge improvement, but my current starting left fielder Chris Richard (2.0, 2.5) is rated as 2nd worst in the league.

- Signed SP Edwin Hurtado (2.0, 2.0) to a minor league contract. He will likely only serve as a depth piece and probably won't make the Opening Day roster, but he will be there if one or two of my starters gets hurt. His ratings aren't good, but his stamina is rated 70/80 so he can eat innings if he holds his own.

Neither of these pickups are flashy, but they both represent an improvement from what I currently have in my Spring Training roster (a few 0.5 stars).

RP Fredy Deza (0.5, 1.5) and LF Brian Rust (1.5, 1.5) have been demoted to Rookie League Bluefield and AA Bowie, respectively, to accommodate for the roster changes.

The Orioles currently holds a 1-2 record in Spring Training.

[SCO'sFan]

- Baltimore has signed 3B Coach Mike Jackson to a 3 year, $85,000 per year contract. He has no outstanding strengths, but he does favor veterans as a coach, which will benefit us in the short term. He will likely only serve the duration of his contract and then be let go. With our signing of Mike Jackson, the Baltimore Orioles staff is officially complete and ready to take on the year.

In other news, the Atlanta Braves have signed CF Andruw Jones (4.5, 5.0) to an 8 year extension.

Baltimore currently sports a record of 4-2 in Spring Training.

[SCO'sFan]

Oh no!!!

- Baltimore SP and 1996 Cy Young Winner Pat Hentgen (2.5, 2.5) has been diagnosed with a partially torn UCL and will miss 9 months (out until December). He has been placed on the 60-day IL and will miss the season. This only makes the signing of Edwin Hurtado (2.0, 2.0) a wiser move, as he will likely slot into the rotation in Hentgen's place. In a corresponding move, Jay Spurgeon (1.5, 1.5) has been invited to the Orioles Spring Training roster.

In other news, the New York Mets have signed Mike Piazza (4.5, 4.5) to a 5 year extension.

Baltimore currently sports a record of 7-3 in Spring Training.