T Minus 23 Hours Left to Enter the Contest & Minor Leaue Free Agents

Thanks to everyone that has entered my MLB Postseason Bracket Contest so far.  If you want to enter, you still have time, but the contest closes once the first pitch is thrown in the Rays-Rangers game tomorrow at 1:30pm Eastern.  Good luck everyone!


In Orioles news, four minor leaguers have elected to become free agents.  They all appeared with the Orioles at some point over the past two seasons, but none were considered a major part of the Birds' 2011 plans.

Goodbye for now to...

 

Scott Moore, a former Cubs prospect, who played in 62 games for the O's in 2007-08 & 2010.

Alberto Castillo, the 2nd Alberto Castillo to play for the O's, who pitched 62 games out of the 'pen from 2008-10.  He was good in '08 & '09 but not so much this season.  

Cla Meredith, who the O's acquired from the Padres in July 2009.  I was excited since he was a submariner, my favorite style of pitcher, but a 4.33 ERA over 50 games, especially his 5.40 ERA this season, just wasn't good enough.  

 

And Michael Aubrey who looked pretty decent over 31 games as a September call-up last year.  Injuries prevented him from making it back to Baltimore this season.  

Wrapping Up the Spring Training Autos

And it only took me a week and a half. Not bad considering I always seem to get behind with things; 10 days isn't half bad for me. Without further delay, here are the final autographs that I got in Spring Training.


Palmer was at both of the O's games that I went to. He was there to throw out the first pitch on Tuesday and looked like he just wanted to shoot the breeze on Monday. Luckily for me, he was in a signing mood too and signed this Crown card and also a ball for me. He included "HOF 90" on the ball without even being prompted.


Pena was the only Ray who signed for me, but since I was camped on the Orioles side of the field, I would say that I got lucky even getting him. Anytime you happen to be in the right place at the right time to get the reigning AL HR champ's autograph seems like a good place to be at.


Luke kept telling people at the game that he would sign as he was leaving the parking lot. I figured that we had all heard that one before so wasn't expecting much. But as Luke was leaving the lot, he pulled over and graciously signed and talked to everyone who was outside the lot. Granted there weren't more than 10 of us at that point but he was with his family and considering the number of players that drove by without acknowledging our existence, it was a nice change. Luke has always seemed like a very cool and down to earth person. I really hope he can stay hot at the plate for a full season this year. LUUUUUKKKEEE.


If you have been reading the blog for a while, you probably already know this, but I like sidewinding pitchers. Which makes Cla a pretty obvious choice to be my favorite reliever. You can't really see his pitching motion on the card, which I don't like, but it's a great card for an autograph and Cla did a nice job signing this, even adding his number.


This is probably the most illegible Guthrie autograph that I have, but he still seems to be a good signer. Now if he started having some success on the mound this spring...that would be nice.


Chris signed another card for me. This orange jersey beauty will go with my orange jersey mini collection.


Michael has had a "lost" spring training with various minor injuries and ailments robbing him of playing time and at-bats. I got his autograph when he was leaving the parking lot and really like the way this card looks now that it's signed.

Minor League Members of the O's 40 Man Roster-Rhyne Hughes

As you can see, this card is not autographed, which is the reason why I have waited to profile Rhyne until last in my posts about the Minor League members of the O's 40 man roster. I do not own an autograph of Mr. Hughes. He was at the Orioles FanFest but wasn't a priority for me since he hasn't (yet) played for the Birds and wasn't signing with anyone else who I was specifically targeting.

Rhyne came to the Orioles as the PTBNL (player-to-be-named-later) in the Gregg Zaun trade with the Rays last August. The Rays originally selected him in the 8th round of the 2004 draft and he played with five of their Minor League affiliates up through AAA Durham in his 4.5 years with the organization. After the trade to the O's, he played with the Norfolk Tides for the remainder of the season and appeared in 20 games. The first baseman is known mostly for his bat and has decent power but his defense and plate discipline have been questionable at times.

I'm not really sure how Hughes fits into the Orioles plans, but I figure that he is behind Brandon Snyder in the 1B prospect spot and trails Ty Wigginton and Michael Aubrey for the backup 1B spot. I hope that he has a good spring and expect that he will begin the year at Norfolk.

Orioles Autograph Year in Review: The Kinda Good Signers

These players all signed for me multiple times over the course of the season. They seemed to sign willingly, at least at times so they get bonus points for that.


I love this card. These Ginters really make the black sharpie pop. This is one of 3 Jonesy autos I got this season so he signs pretty well for a budding star. At least one of the times he signed, he came over on his own accord so that was really cool. He does seem to sign better on the road than at home as I got 2 of my 3 autographs in DC & Toronto.



Hail Cesar! This was the second Orioles card I got Cesar to sign but it looks really nice. He signed it on the white jersey so the signature really stands out. All in all I think I saw him sign six or seven times over the season. He was always the first player in the dugout so he normally had a few extra minutes to sign. I dropped the ball at least once when I forgot to put Cesar's card back in my team set when Zach from the excellent Autographed Cards blog was visiting Camden Yards. I think I ended up with 3 or 4 of his autographs so I'm not complaining.



Guts is a pretty good signer but he won't hesitate to mess with fans that continuously call his name even after he tells them that he will come over. He was especially bad with doing that in Toronto but he did eventually come over to sign for the fans. I'm pretty sure I got his autograph twice this season but I saw him sign a few other times but was too slow to get him.


Michael Aubrey spent most of the season at Norfolk before being called up in September and pretty much becoming the everyday first baseman. He contributed to the walkoff win at the last game of the season and is a pretty slick fielder. Not a bad signer either.