The Last of the Spring Training Autographs

While I had an absolute blast on my trip to Spring Training, it's hard to believe that I still haven't gotten around to posting all the scans of the cards I got autographed yet. I know that I can be a bit of a procrastinator, but this is bad. So without any further delay, here are the rest of 'em. (Aren't you glad this isn't a news site or something? I would just now be celebrating St. Patrick's Day or something.)

This post pretty much consists of autographs of coaches, and a few other cards that got skipped along the way.

Anytime you get an autograph of a Hall of Famer, it should probably lead off the post. Palmer is pretty accessible around O's games since he works on the TV broadcasts for MASN, but it's still always exciting to get his autograph. 

I'm not sure how I missed this Tillman autograph in my post featuring the other current O's but I did. And it looks like Chris was only signing one card per person this year, so I chose this nice orange uni Tides card over some other cards.

I can't honestly say when I got this card signed by Miguel. I didn't think it was on my trip but since I'm not sure, here it is!

I don't know how many different signed cards I now have that show Brady on various cards in an orange uniform, but it's more than a few.

Dave Anderson is the O's new infield instructor, and he was kind enough to sign these cards for me at minor league camp one morning. 

Scott was actually in the Orioles big league camp (I believe in 2012) trying to make the team, but faced some injuries and had to retire. He is now a coach for the short season Aberdeen Ironbirds. 

Like Palmer, Mike Bordick works for MASN and is around the team throughout the season. 

Former Oriole Butch Davis has been a minor league instructor for the O's for quite a few years now. He is currently the hitting coach for AA Bowie. 

 The Orioles sure do love to have their former players come back as instructors. Todd is a scout for the team and came into camp for a few days to work with fellow side-arm pitcher Darren O'Day on their shared unique throwing style.

Another former Oriole. Another current Orioles coach. As you can see, Mike is the pitching coach for AAA Norfolk.

You know the drill by now. Scotty pitched for the O's, and is now in the fold as an instructor in their farm system. He made a funny comment about disliking this picture of himself. Mid-80's Fleer sets seem to be full of these awkward shots.

Spring Training Autographs- Roster Long Shots

Today's autograph all feature guys who are/were with the Orioles in Major League camp but are long-shots to make the trip north with the Orioles at the end of the month. 

Oscar's had a very up and down Spring, with some very good games and a few ugly appearances. 

Tolleson and Antonelli have both been solid for most of the spring but are likely left out due to Ryan Flaherty's advantage of being a Rule 5 guy. 

O'Day has been struggling with a groin injury which could earn him a ticket to the DL. 

The next four guys were extreme long-shots to make the team and would have needed to do something ridiculous to start the season with the Orioles. They should all provide depth at AA & AAA and a few could make their way to Baltimore at some point during the season. 

 

Getting Excited for FanFest- Updated

Image borrowed from Orioles.com

I know that I haven't said too much about it this year, but Orioles FanFest is this Saturday and I'm poised to add autographs of potential future Orioles like Darren O'Day, Dana Eveland, Matt Antonelli, Taylor Teagarden, and Jai Miller to my collection. I know that most fans and collectors would be uninspired by that list, but since I need autographs of everyone who plays for the O's, I prefer to make a preemptive strike while I have the chance. I have no idea what the new guy's signing habits will be like, so I like to get their signatures when I know that I can. Of course to get the autographs of the new players, I'm also in line to get autographs of a few guys named Palmer, Markakis, Hardy, and Wieters, whoever they are (zing).

In the meantime, I've been trying to swing some trades on SportsCollectors.net to add new Orioles players to my collection. So far, I've added signed cards of Teagarden and minor league free agent, Scott Beerer, but I neglected to scan the autographs. I will say that I was very unimpressed by their penmanship, and struggled to make out a single letter in either "signature".

Update- See what I'm saying about these autographs?!? C'mon guys.

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.