Orioles Sign Hennessey

He's the one guy the Giants designated that I thought should've stuck. He had some big problems early last year keeping on weight; something was wrong with him medically. Then he got it figured out, put up some good numbers in AAA, and threw some nice innings for the Giants at the end of the year. Former 1st round pick. He could be a surprise. Then too, he could continue to under-achieve and disappoint. I'm leaning toward thinking he'll do the former.

Loewen was ona Major League contract. To put him in the minors to work on becoming a hitter they had to release him. He is of course hitting barely over .200 so far.

Also the O's have no interest in Manny.

But RP Day on MLBTR is not as interesting as I'd hope.

Also 3 quality starts out of his 4 starts in September isn't bad.

bye bye brad.

How is sigining a bum with a ERA of 8 to a minor league deal even a story.

There has been only one Ankiel in recent memory. The odds were extremely extremely long that Ankiel would be able to make the switch to hitting. It's more likely that Loewen has made his last productive contribution in the majors already. The last time he hit was as a Canadian highschooler. It's expecting a lot to imagine he'd make the same kind of transition. At least with Ankiel as a pitcher for an NL team, he never completely had to give up hitting. In the AL, Loewen hasn't even taken BP consistently. His Interleague appearances usually looked decent all things considering, but, he looked like a pitcher who hasn't hit in a long time.

Oh yes, as far as the Brad Hennessey signing, I think it's a solid signing. No risk at all. Maybe he catches lightning in a bottle. Maybe not. The kid has a good fastball. Most good RPs are failed starters, and, they start making that switch about age 25-28 when they have had enough chances, and their clubs have given them enough auditions. Today Affeldt was signed and noted as the 2nd best RP in Free Agency behind KROD, and Affeldt is a good example of a failed starter-turned-reliever when he was in KC.

I just should mention that I don't expect Hennessey to make that much a difference other than in pragmatic terms. Due to an inability to attract veteran SPs, the Orioles have been forced to rely heavily on young pitching, which breaksdown towards August and needs find anyone to fill the gaps, which invariably makes the bullpen over-worked and less effective with their other starters who are actually good. This viscious cycle repeats over and over and it's a classic thing with rebuilding teams. To stem the tide, a smart man collects these kinds of arms, and stows them away at AAA, and uses them in August. At worst, you have some bad games but you save the bullpen 50 or so innings, and, you leave your other good pitchers less exposed and overloaded.

#1O's Fan ... if you think I am trying to jump on and Orioles bandwagon (as if one exists), you obviously have no grasp of sarcasm
Here's what I know about the Orioles: Huff, Markakis, and Roberts (while excellent players) aren't enough. Good luck trying to reach 63 wins next year!