Quick Hits: Lot's of O's News - MLB Stuffage

Expect a Cincinnati Reds review tonight. Life has gotten in the way, and I am woefully behind with stuff.

Orioles News:

It is cold in Florida, and the Sun’s Jeff Zrebeic wants us to know about it, and he along with Roch Kubatko have more on Steve Trachsel. There’s also talk of Hayden Penn’s new mustache along with his outlook on 2007, and as well Peter Schmuck believes the Orioles should not discount him. The paper also has a Q&A with Jamie Walker.

The Washington Post also looks at the Hayden Penn and Steve Trachsel situation. Also, the newspaper profiles Sam Perlozzo and his game plan for 2007. To finish off Jorge Arangure has a writeup of James Hoey.

The Orioles announcers have a bright outlook for 2007 with the changes made to the team.

The Examiner has more on Steve Trachsel and Leo Mazzone going into this second year.

More on and Old Friend – Frank Robinson:

Well, for all baseball fans including I, who wished for a happy reunion between Frank Robinson and the Washington Nationals – it’s not going to happen, at least for now.

According to an article in the Washington Post, Frank Robinson has declined to take part in a celebration that would have honored him for his work with team. The celebration was supposed to take place before the Opening Day of the Orioles series in May at RFK Stadium.

As we all know, there has been friction between him and organization over both his firing and an offer by the team for him to be an unpaid instructor during spring training. From the looks of things, Robinson in a way feels disrespected that the club has not offered him a front office position or one with any significant power.

I’m not sure how I feel about this, as a longtime baseball fan, I have a lot of affinity towards Frank Robinson; however, baseball is a business and the Nationals don’t see him in their long term plans. I, more than anyone hoped there could have been a happy medium between the team and Frank, but sometimes things don’t end smoothly.

Frank Robinson managed the Montreal Expos, under the control of Major League Baseball at the time, and they in turn became the Washington Nationals once they relocated.

In the end, we have a proud man who feels one way, versus the needs of Nationals organization which is rebuilding for the future. Hopefully in the future, the team and Frank can re-unite and perhaps celebrate his role in the ushering baseball back to the nation’s capitol.

Keith Foulke: It looks like reliever Keith Foulke is done with baseball. He recently experienced pain in his elbow in recent days and decided to retire rather than struggle through a third consecutive injury-plagued year. Happy trails, Keith.

Kerry Wood: Once again, Kerry Wood is injured. This time, he was getting out of his hot tub at home like usual, and slipped and fell. He should be fine as he said, "It was just a little spill” ... "I didn't think anything of it. Nothing's wrong. It's just going to be a few extra days. My arm feels great. My body feels good."

Cool.

Dice-K, The Most Covered Man in Baseball… Armed with a mythic pitch, a huge contract, fans on two continents watching his every move, Daisuke Matsuzaka made quite an impression of his first day of camp with media and curious onlookers watching his every move. He had a press conference later on and impressed the heck out of observers, while still remaining guarded.

I can only wait until April to see him. It should be an event.