The Maryland Sports Blog

Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter look to add even more depth to the organization as the Baltimore Orioles claimed 7-year veteran, Second Baseman Alexi Casilla off waivers this afternoon from the Minnesota Twins.

The switch-hitting Casilla has spent his entire career with Minnesota up to this point. In seven seasons with the Twins: 515 games, .250 Avg, 11 home runs, 72 doubles, 14 triples, and 147 RBI. But, perhaps his most impressive stat is stealing 71 bases in 80 attempts, including 21 of 22 in 2012.

This is part of what Alexi Casilla brings to the table, his speed.  According to Baltimore Sun beat writer, Eddie Encina, Alexi Casilla’s  88.75 stolen base percentage is 2nd all-time behind Phillies’ Chase Utley with 89.63%

The Orioles were dead last with 58 stolen bases last season. They only attempted 87 stolen bases, which is actually 5 more than the Detroit Tigers. The addition of Casilla, if he makes the starting roster, will provide more speed, not to mention defense.

Casilla has played the majority of his career at second base, but he also has played 77 games at shortstop and 10 at third base. This offers Buck Showalter another option to the infield as Brian Roberts, Ryan Flaherty, and Robert Andino are the other candidates waiting in line.

I think this is a great, under-the-radar move by Dan Duquette. Casilla may not be an every day player, but he has proved to be an above average defensive player with a serviceable bat at the bottom of the lineup, and can generate more runs with his ability to steal bases. It may not look like the greatest addition, but I do want to point out that he has a low strikeout rate as he has only struck out 225 times in 1,580 at-bats. For a team that ranked 3rd in strikeouts last season, this is a solid upgrade.

I wouldn’t question Dan Duquette’s methods of improving depth as he was the mastermind behind the crucial roles of Nate McLouth, Lew Ford, and Miguel Gonzalez.

As we can crown the San Francisco Giants the 2012 World Series Champions, baseball’s offseason has now began.  The first order of business for most teams is to handle the players that have options to be either exercised or declined.  The Orioles have two players who have options; pitcher, Luis Ayala and first baseman, Mark Reynolds.  In baseball contracts, there are certain stipulations that allow a team, player, or both to decide the fate of the player for the following year; whether they return to the team or not.  There are “player” options and “club” options.  Occasionally, a player’s contract can have a club AND player option; therefore the player has somewhat of a choice to come back to the team, even if the team declines their half.

Both kinds of options are either declined or exercised for the following season; in this case it would be 2013.  One factor that goes into that decision, is what kind of season the player had the previous year and if he would be worth it to retain him for the upcoming year. In some cases, a team can decline a player’s club option (since it’s too expensive), but bring the player back at a reduced salary if he is willing to return.

The Orioles have made their decisions regarding both Ayala and Reynolds.  Luis Ayala’s option was exercised while the O’s chose to decline the $11MM option on Reynolds.  For that type of money, Reynolds’ production did not justify being paid.  He started off VERY slowly, but came around and carried us for a few weeks during the year.  The strikeouts declined as did his home run output. On the other hand, Luis Ayala had an excellent season coming out of the Orioles pen, and his option was a pretty sure thing to be exercised. Brittany Ghiroli has an article up on the Orioles website that broke the story.

What could end up happening is that Reynolds may be brought back, but for less than $11MM.  Reynolds can remain an Oriole if the team decides to offer him arbitration where his salary could escalate from $7.5MM to $8-9MM.  Another option would be to just get a new contract signed to avoid the arbitration process completely.  I myself believe that Reynolds will be back next year.  He has too much power potential to be overlooked and made vast improvements defensively to offset his strikeouts and low batting average.  I was calling for his head early in 2012 but he sure proved me wrong.  He became an important cog in the Orioles run to the Division Series in 2012.  Hopefully, the team and Reynolds can come to an agreement because the Orioles need him.  The first base market otherwise doesn’t look to have many better options.  Mark Reynolds CAN help this team in 2013.  Hope to see him back in the orange and black!!  Keep it here for more Orioles news updates!

Joe Saunders the unlikely veteran with a 3-3 record (1 ND) and a 3.63ERA will take the mound tonight for the Baltimore Orioles as they attempt to win the Elimination game against the Texas Rangers. The Rangers will counter with Yu Darvish 16-9 has a 3.90ERA and 221 strikeouts on the year.

Buck has hinted towards rotating out pitchers, and I personally don’t see any pitcher seeing the entire Texas lineup more than once. The bullpen has been a big strength this year and the contributions of them and Brian Matusz could be the turning point in winning this game.

For many Orioles this game will be somewhat of a homecoming, Quintilla, Davis, Strop, and Teagarden to name a few will all be returning to the place they got their start. Hopefully they will all be able to channel their inner Tillman and make them pay for releasing them.

This could be the perfect storm for Baltimore as Texas has struggled to end the season, surrendering the Divisional lead to Oakland. The bats have gone somewhat cold the end of the season but they are still the most potent offense in the American League. The Orioles will need to keep this game close and get a big performance from Saunders to set the tone, I think that Showalter has set up this team all year for this game, and I believe the Orioles will rise to the occasion.

Does the fact that I bleed black and orange give me a slight bias on who will win this game, and my assertions, sure. But I believe that the Orioles have had something all year that has meant more then statistics, Swagger. Most will call it confidence, or just describe it as an unrelenting determination to win, to prove the analysts, the critics, and everyone else wrong. Something has been brewing in Baltimore, we’ve seen flashes of it before this year but this year it all came together.

I think the Orioles come out strong and do what they need to do to get on the board, Showalter lives for these situations, he knows this is his chance to be the one in the dugout for the World Series not in the Broadcast Booth.

My Prediction: Orioles 4 Rangers 2

Tommy Hunter, affectionately known as ‘Deep-ball Tommy’ or ‘The Home-run King’ has been optioned to Double-A affiliate Bowie Baysox. What is mainly being seen as an opportunity for him to give up home-run’s to double-A players for a change, could also provide an opportunity for Steve Johnson to showcase his talent. Johnson has a 3.27era in four game appearances with the Orioles this year. His lone start against Seattle he had a line of  6.0IP, 5H, 2R, 2BB, 9SO, and earned the win thanks to a five RBI day by Wieters.

Hunter’s best pitch would could be called a ‘meatball’ , and is usually served up to admiring fans in the stands, as he leads the major in one pitching category; home-runs allowed (32). As I wrote in an earlier post the Orioles had hoped Hunter would return to form this year, but with his 4-8 record in 23 games this year it appears the Orioles are ready for a break.

With Hammel set to return shortly, and Johnson making his second start the Orioles have continued to overcome adversity, they have also showed something we haven’t seen much of in recent years, the willingness to put down a dead horse. If the O’s are going to make a playoff run they will hope to ride Chen, Hammel, Gonzalez, Britton and Johnson into October. With a number of series against AL East opponents the Orioles could do what they’ve been doing all year, continue to win and prove everyone wrong.

Chris Tillman came into this season largely considered a bust or an underachiever for the Baltimore Orioles. He started the season with the Norfolk Tides and did not start well with the Tides.

Last season, Tillman finished the year with a 5.52 era and his velocity seemed to come and go. He would pitch with a fastball around 87-89 mph and his delivery was always moving around.

Tillman worked hard though, learning new pitches and even changed his deliver and looks like the prospect that the Orioles got from the Seattle Mariners. Tillman changed his deliver to make it more compact and it has brought his velocity back to 92-96 mph.

Now Tillman is going strong with a career high four-game winning streak and a 2.38 era. Tillman is 5-1 and has earned a decision in each of his starts. It took Tillman part of three seasons to record his first five wins. He only recorded two wins in each of his first two seasons with the Orioles.

Tillman was very young when he made it to the big leagues, he was 21 years old. He earned his way to the big leagues, he was lights out at every level in the minors but he rarely had his good stuff in the majors.

The Orioles have to be pleased with how he has preformed, last night was another outstanding game from Tillman. Last night, Tillman went 7 1/3rd innings and allowed only one run against the Mariners, his former team. Tillman looks like the one member of the “Calvary” that has had the light bulb turn on.

At the very least Tillman has provided a spark for the Orioles as they continue to end their long losing season streak.

Watch the highlights from this gem Tillman threw.