Quick Hits: The Draft and Oriole Stuffage...

Well, the Baltimore Orioles had a well need day off from baseball, as they had a road trip that started ever so well in Kansas City, and then flat lined on the West Coast.

The boys in black and orange hope to right the ship tonight as the Colorado Rockies, who are in last place in the NL West, come into the Yard for a three game series.

Yesterday, the Baltimore Orioles had the 5th pick in the 2007 draft, and they chose highly touted Georgia tech catcher, Matt Weiters as their first pick. To read more info on him, the Orioles MLB site has a full article.

As well, the Orioles had two other picks on the first day; they are Timothy Bascom from the University of Central Florida and Jake Arrieta from Texas Christian University who are both pitchers.

The Baltimore Sun’s Roch Kubtako has more on the Sun’s first round draft choice and has more notes on it via his blog.

As well, the Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore has more on the events from yesterday as does Matt Palmer from the Baltimore Examiner and Press Box Online.

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Ray Frager has an interesting article on effect of the new affiliates for the Orioles this year as he looks at what MASN, WHFS and ESPN 1300 have done; thus, so far the numbers have looked encouraging.

I think moving the radio broadcasts to WHFS was a brilliant move, as the clarity and sound is so much better – at least compared to AM radio. However, many in the DC area and the outlying areas have problems getting WHFS, but there are other AM affiliates that do the job just fine.

I love the duo of Fed Manfra and Joe Angel on the radio and as well the duo of Tom Davis and Dave Johnson in the pre and post-game shows.

However, I have very, very mixed reviews of ESPN 1300 and MASN.

In terms of MASN, I love the opening montage before the game and the commercials promoting the broadcasts. As well, I think getting Gary Thorne for the play by play was brilliant and such a great move, and he and Jim Palmer no doubt have wonderful chemistry.

On the road trips, I think Thorne and Buck Martinez, do a competent, solid job; however, you just don’t feel the same rapport that Thorne has was with Palmer when he does a game with Martinez.

The pre-and-post game shows do not compare with the broadcasts.

While O’s Xtra has gotten better, it’s kind of rough to watch at times due to perhaps the inexperience of Rick Dempsey in front of the camera – however, he has improved a lot and I guess it’s now just the matter of him getting time under his belt.

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Orioles’ legend and Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson is hosting his annual high school All-Star game at Camden Yards this Sunday after the Rockies-Orioles game.

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I wanted to continue part two of Quick Hits yesterday by highlighting some article I saw on Press Box Online yesterday.

First off, we all known Sam Perlozzo has been in precarious position as manager of the Baltimore Orioles, considering the team’s start and games lost by the bullpen or questionable moves he made.

Well, Craig Heist of WBAL has a commentary up on the Press Box website about the status of Sam Perlozzo based on the game versus the Angels last week where Guthrie was yanked after 88 pitches.

On that day, that was the right move. During the Mother’s Day Massacre where the team had a meltdown, it was not.

A lot of the blame towards Sam Perlozzo basically stems from the fact that his guys on the field seem not to be able to finish a job. If Sam Perllozzo is fired as the manager of the Orioles this season or perhaps at the end of it, a lot of the guys who suit up on the diamond may be to blame more than Sam himself.

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Amber Theoharis also has a piece in Press Box titled, “O’s Must Work With What They Have”. In a funny opening, she compares the situation with the Orioles like going into Victoria’s secret (which is probably a first).

However, the gist of the article is that the Orioles should be able to field a team and compete with the players they have, based on the track records of many of the individuals who suit up and play.

With all due respect to Ms. Theoharis, I disagree. The pitching is outstanding, and while the bullpen has been struggling, the offense has been putrid.

The Orioles SHOULD NOT have spent $42 million on the bullpen, in my honest opinion. We could have been more economical and gotten the same or better production for less. I’d rather have had the money spent on a bigger bat or two, and signing second and third tier players are not helping things. We should be at least .500 or above, but the fact of the matter is we are not.

Considering the division we play in, we have two choices to make – rebuild or contend. Simply, it’s been a decade of losing, and the arrow should be going in the up position, not stagnant or pointing down.

The Miracle Bra is not coming, but the customer could have made a much, much better choice when it came to the purchase.