Orioles Minor Moves

So far this off-season, the Orioles have signed a handful of minor league free agents and had a few of their former minor leaguers sign with other teams. I use BaseballAmerica's amazing minor league free agent tracker to keep up on all the O's transactions. Here's a quick rundown of those moves so far. I'll start with the players that the O's have signed and/or re-signed.

They inked outfielder Scott Beerer to a deal on November 13. Scott has an interesting back story; he pitched in the Rockies farm system from 2000-06 before walking away from the game in 2007-08 and then returned to the Rox system as an outfielder in 2009. He split the 2011 season between AA and AAA and hit .372 over 41 games in the first AAA action of his career.

On November 22, they signed right-handed relief pitcher Miguel Socolovich, who has spent the past four seasons in the White Sox farm system and also split the 2011 season between AA and AAA.

That same day, the team also signed shortstop Steve Tolleson. He played in the Twins farm system from 2005-09 and has spent the past two seasons in the Padres and A's systems. He played 25 games for the A's in 2010 and hit .286 with 1 homer and 4 RBI over 49 at-bats.

The O's re-signed right-handed starter Brandon Erbe on December 5th. He is a local kid and was the team's third round draft pick in 2005. Prior to the 2010 season, the O's placed Erbe on the 40 man roster to protect him for the Rule 5 draft, but he proceeded to go 0-10 at AAA Norfolk in 2010 and has faced multiple injuries as well so his stock has majorly dropped. He was removed from the 40-man late in 2011 but I hope Brandon can get his career back on track in 2012.

Now for the subtractions from the team...

Jake Fox signed with the Pirates

 Chris Jakubauskas signed with the Diamondbacks (and I finally learned how to spell his name)

Felix Pie signed with the Indians

Steve Lerud signed with the Phillies

Chorye Spoone (another local guy) signed with the Red Sox

I'm not sure who all is interested in hearing about these updates but I will probably write another update or two about the O's minor league transactions throughout this off-season.

Makin' Moves

While the Orioles are still trying to decide who their next General Manager/President of Baseball Operations will be, it hasn't stopped them from making a few small moves.

Here's what we know so far...

Bench Third Base Coach Willie Randolph will not be back next year. I don't really know why, but heard something about Willie wanting to be a manager again.

As suspected, both Vladimir Guerrero and Cesar Izturis declared free agency. I don't suspect that either will be back with the club in 2012 but their veteran leadership will be missed. I've heard rumblings that Izturis could become a coach or instructor for the team if he decides to hang up his spikes. And I'll miss having Vlad around since he's always been one of my favorite players, but realistically, he didn't make the 2011 Orioles much better than the 2010 squad.

Jeremy Accardo, Chris Jakubauskas, and Jake Fox were all outrighted to triple A, but all elected to test the free agent waters instead. Of the three, "Jak" is the only one who I think might come back into the fold, possibly signing another minor league deal with the O's, just as he did prior to last season.

And the Astros claimed Craig Tatum off of waivers which almost caused me to tear up. In actuality, I won't miss the extremely un-fan-friendly "Tater" at all. He was one of the toughest autographs on the team and never seemed like a very nice person.


I don't expect the O's to make any more moves before they hire their new GM/VP Baseball Ops, and I hope they make a decision soon. Many teams are already swinging trades, extending their own players, and/or making waiver claims, but I don't expect the Orioles to do any of those things without a new top dog in place. If they wait much longer to make a decision, they could fall even further behind to eight ball in the battle to rediscover relevance in 2012.

2011 Orioles Autograph Year in Review

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm going to do my review a bit differently this year. Here is the list of all fifty players who appeared in a game for the Orioles this year, and the number of times I either got their autograph or saw them signing at a game. I'll then give some thoughts and opinions on my observations.

(The very random selection of autographs are scans of my 2011 O's autos that hadn't yet been on the blog)

Jeremy Accardo 1
Ryan Adams 2
Robert Andino 2
Matt Angle 0
Jake Arrieta 2

 

Mitch Atkins (3 in minors)
Josh Bell 2

 

 Brad Bergesen 1
Jason Berken
Zach Britton 4 (1 additional at minor rehab)
Blake Davis
Chris Davis (1 at minor rehab)
Willie Eyre 1
Pedro Florimon (3 at minors)
Jake Fox 4

 

Mike Gonzalez 2
Kevin Gregg 1
Vladimir Guerrero 3
Jeremy Guthrie 3
JJ Hardy 3
Mark Hendrickson 0
Kyle Hudson (1 at minors)
Tommy Hunter 1
Cesar Izturis 0

 

Chris Jakubauskas 3
Jim Johnson 1
Adam Jones 3
Derrek Lee 2
Nick Markakis 0

Brian Matusz 1
Troy Patton 1

 

Zach Phillips 1
Felix Pie 0
Clay Rapada 1
Nolan Reimold 1
Jo-Jo Reyes 0
Mark Reynolds 2
Brian Roberts 1

 

Josh Rupe 1

 

Luke Scott 2 (1 at minor rehab)

 

Alfredo Simon 2
Brandon Snyder 2
Pedro Strop 2
Craig Tatum 0
Chris Tillman 3
Koji Uehara 1
Rick Vanden Hurk 0

Pedro Viola (5 at minors)
Matt Wieters 2

 

Mark Worrell 1


There are some things to keep in mind while looking at this list. For example, Izturis has been a great signer in past seasons, but was only with the team for a few weeks this year, so I had very few chances to get his autograph. The small sample size also applies for the late season call-ups, spot starters and others who only spent a few games on the roster. 

However, here are a few observations I am comfortable making after tracking all of my successes for the season.

Nick Markakis and Craig Tatum are the worst signers on the team. They both spent the entire season with the O's and I never saw either sign a single card. Of course, they theoretically could have signed at every single game I did not attend, but based on their track records, I highly doubt it. It seemed as though Jo-Jo Reyes wasn't a huge fan of signing, but I had a smaller sample size to form that opinion.

The best signers seem to be Zach Britton and Jake Fox, who were consistent signers throughout the year. Jeremy Guthrie, JJ Hardy, Chris Jakubauskas, Adam Jones, and Chris Tillman were also good signers. From what I understand from talking to other graphers, I must have been at the only three games that Vlad signed at, so I'm hesitant to call him a good signer, but I will say the future hall-of-famer signed more than I thought he would.

If any of you would like me to give additional thoughts/opinions about the signing habits of the 2011 O's, leave a comment and I'll try to answer everything by tomorrow.

Orioles Autograph Year in Review

For the third consecutive season, I will be reviewing the signing habits of this season's Orioles team. I'm going to consolidate my review this year, as last year's wrap-up stretched out over two weeks and I'm pretty sure that it became a little too long for everyone, including myself.

 Early nominee for "Best Signer"

I tried something a bit different this year by recording every autograph I got over the course of the season from spring training until the end of the regular season. I also noted any time I saw an Orioles  player signing, even when I wasn't able to get their autograph, so I will have some specific signing figures for the thirty or so games I attended over the season.

Fifty(!) different players appeared in at least one game for the Orioles this year, and I realistically had at least a chance to get an autograph from all of them. I obtained autographs from a few of those players when they were still in the minor leagues, and I will make note of that, but can't really count that along with the autographs I got at O's games.

I hope that everyone is ready for the breakdown, which will probably take place over the next two days. It's gonna be fun as always!

Auto(matic) Auto(graph) Sunday

Like I said yesterday, I typically find that Sunday's are the best day to get Orioles' autographs, at least in my experience. So Kalina coined the term, Auto Auto Sunday, and I liked it, and I'm using it for the title of this post.

Here are the autographs I got at the game on Sunday; some of these correspond with the pictures from yesterday.

I'll start with the autographs you are probably expecting to see...

Now I have both the action and posed versions of Zach's 2011 Orioles postcards signed. 

Jaku has one of the less exciting cards from the OPC set. The picture looks like it was taken in deep space. But at least we know he's a ROOKIE.

 

This is the second time I've gotten this card signed, but since it's Gonzo's only Orioles card that uses a picture of him that wasn't photoshopped, maybe somebody else needs a copy.

 

 This is my umpteenth Ryan Adams autograph, but first since he's actually been an Oriole.

OK, that's it for what you might have expected to see. Here's the rest...

For you fellow 'graphers out there, whenever you set out to get signatures at a game or event, do you have a top priority in mind? I almost always do and my top two for Sunday were Clay Rapada and Jeremy Accardo, since I had never got their autographs in person.

 

 

 

 Problem Solved.

I got Rapada almost immediately as I walked in (he had been throwing with Jaku) and added Accardo not long afterwards. Rapada's autograph looks almost nothing like the pre-printed version on his card, though in all fairness, I didn't expect him to sign "Clayton Anthony Rapada". 

And while it's hard to read his name in the signature, I'm a fan of Accardo's stylized autograph, especially the first (two?) J's.

This was the first time I've seen Buck sign since Spring Training and I was thrilled to finally get this epic card signed. If you don't know, Buck seems very professional and business-like, so I can only imagine the conversation that took place to get him to pose like this near that giant cactus.
 

Wayne Kirby always seems like a personable guy, and he is normally joking around with the fans.

Finally, I more or less ran into Boog Powell out on Eutaw Street near his BBQ stand, and he kindly signed my Crown card. He's around for most Orioles home games, but I've got his autograph enough times over the years that I generally don't make the trek out to centerfield to see if he's around.

So I got 10 autographs in under 2 hours inside the stadium. Pretty solid day considering my average is generally more like 1 or 2.

Sunday Pictures

As you may know if you've been following my blog over the years, I feel like Sunday's are the best day for Orioles autographs. If you get in early enough, you have the best access to players with the least amount of competition for autographs. And the relievers, who are generally the toughest guys to come across, typically warm up down the line, so you at least have a chance to get their autographs. Most evening games, the relievers shag fly balls during BP, disappear into the clubhouse and then go directly to the bullpen through a "secret" passage.

Tomorrow, I'll post the autographs I got but  for now, here are some pictures that I took yesterday.

Immediately when I got down on the field, there was Chris Jakubauskas, throwing with Clay Rapada. Jaku is one of my favorite guys on the club since he always seems to enjoy interacting with the fans. I called him over to sign, and then about 10 kids got him to sign as well, so he jokingly said to me "See what you started?"

Zach Britton was also warming up and came over to sign after he was done. 

If you were wondering what Zach looks like from the other side, wonder no more.

Mike Gonzalez was the next guy to come over, and I think he literally signed for everyone down the line

 

 

Although he continues to struggle on the mound, Gonzo continues to be a good signer 

 

 

Ryan Adams was signing at the end of the dugout, so I moved down there to get him

 

 

This was the first time I saw Adams signing in Baltimore; which was nice to see because he didn't seem to enjoy it at times in the minors. 
 

 

Luke Scott came out to talk with some what-I'm-guessing-are veterans. LUUUKE is a big military supporter, and it looked like he had the camo Scott shirts made himself.

Nick Markakis even made a brief appearance. 

Orioles Debut #894- Zach Britton

In yesterday's post listing all of the 2011 Orioles debuts so far, I somehow missed the most obvious debut of the season, that of top pitching prospect Zach Britton, who is Oriole #894 (which moves Josh Rupe to 895 and Chris Jakubauskas to 896). Long-time reader and friend of the blog, Russell, pointed out my error, and I'm glad he did.

One might think that I would remember to include the best pitcher in all of baseball so far in this young season in my count, yet I neglected him. Zach has started two games so far this year and is 2-0 with a 0.66 ERA. He's a lefty with a 95 MPH fastball that darts away from righties and is pretty much the only pitcher who has shut down the Texas Rangers so far this year.

I've had the pleasure to watch Zach pitch with the single A Frederick Keys and AA Bowie Baysox over parts of the past few seasons and he realies on his sinking fastball to get most of his outs. I hope that he continues to fool opposing batters for years to come.

Zach actually just signed this card for me prior to Sunday's game, so it's good to see that he's still taking time for fans, even after his early success. While prepping this scan for the post, I noticed that his 2010 Norfolk Tides team set card incorrectly spells his first name as Zack. C'mon Tides staffers, know your top prospects!

 

Here's a slightly out of focus picture I took of Zach on Saturday as he's about to throw his first pitch at Camden Yards.

Oriole Debuts #888-893, 895-96 UPDATED

Over the first eight games of the Orioles' 2011 season, eight new O's have made their debuts in the black and orange. Luckily, I have autographs of all eight, so I don't need to add anyone to my need list.

Here's a quick rundown of my autographs of the eight newest Orioles.

#888- Derrek Lee

 

I've had this card for about 18 years. D-Lee was included in the the 2011 Topps Heritage set in an O's uniform so I need an upgrade.

#889- Mark Reynolds (this really could have been Reynolds or JJ Hardy since they both debuted in the field in the bottom of the first inning of the O's first game in 2011, but I chose Reynolds as 889 because he plays third base, position #5, and Hardy is a SS, position #6. Essentially, I don't think anyone is going to fight with me on this, because I'm likely the only one counting.)

Reynolds' card was in the O's 2011 Topps team set; a very similar card is in the 2011 Topps Opening Day set, and he is also pictured as an Oriole in the 2011 Topps Heritage set. I'm pretty jacked to already have his Orioles card signed though. 

#890- JJ Hardy

I got this card signed at Fanfest, but JJ was also included in the 2011 Topps Heritage set as an O, so I'm in need of another upgrade.  

#891- Vladdy Guerrero

This is another card that's been in my collection since the mid '90s since Vlad was a member of the AA Harrisburg Senators. Although I'm sure he will, Vlad doesn't yet have any cards that picture him as an Oriole, so this stays in the collection for the time being.

#892- Jeremy Accardo

 

Since he's a middle reliever, this might be the closest thing to an Orioles card that Accardo will ever get, so I'm happy to have it in my collection. I also like to have a card, so I'm keeping this too. 

#893- Kevin Gregg

 

Kevin has an O's card in the '11 Topps team set, so I'm looking for an upgrade from this postcard. 

#895- Josh Rupe

Rupe and Jakubauskas signed for me at the same time and Jak thought this picture of Rupe was pretty hilarious. Honestly, if this picture was all I had to go by, I don't think I'd recognize him.

#896- Chris Jakubauskas

Jak made his rather unsuccessful O's debut last night. He was one of the autographs that I got at Spring Training so he passes go, collects $200, and jumps right to my have list.

Continuing with My Spring Training Successes

Wow, what a start to the 2011 Orioles season. The home opener was a bunch of fun and the O's are only the 4th team ever to start a season 4-0 while allowing no more than 1 run per game. Crazy! 

Before I get too wrapped up in the regular season, I want to finish showing off my autographs from Spring Training. 

 

I was happy to get Nolan's Tides orange uniform card signed. Since poor Nolan got demoted to Norfolk yet again, it looks like a road trip is in the books for this summer.

  

Jim Presley is the O's new hitting coach. Here he is pretending to hit off a tee for a craptastic Fleer card. I chose this card to get signed because it's so awesomely bad. 

The next two guys have a chance to appear in a game for the O's at some point this season.

 

While Ballard has a pretty cool and stylized autograph (I especially like the k)...

Jakubauskas relegates his last name to a flying bird shaped squiggle. But I guess I might too with a last name that long.

 

I've been lucky to get Tillman's autograph a few times over the years, but this card looks really nice with the signature and I might have to stash it in the collection.

 

 

I got Adams & Snyder's autographs at Friday's game (actually all of these are from that game) which is good because they were both sent to Minor League camp on Saturday morning. 

This is Snyder's first card showing him playing in a game for the O's and it's probably ticketed for the collection too. 

 

I got this card signed for a fellow SCN member. From what I remember, Guts signs all his non-Orioles cards this way. Pretty cool. I would actually like if he signed his O's cards like this too. 

 

Fox tore up Grapefruit League pitching by smashing ten round-trippers. It's good to see that he still had some time for the fans too. 

 

Josh was nice enough to sign next to the dugout after the game. 

Friday was definitely the better of my two autograph days in Sarasota. I'll wrap everything up tomorrow.