O's Acquire Valencia, Mahoney Designated

Today, in a bit of a head-scratching move, the Orioles acquired third baseman Danny Valencia from the Red Sox in a cash transaction. To make room for Valencia on the 40-man roster, the Orioles had to designate first baseman, Joe Mahoney for assignment.

Now, I'm not particularly a believer that Mahoney was going to be an everyday Major League starter at first base, but with the impending decision on the future of Mark Reynolds with the O's also coming this week (and it's sounding like the two sides might not work out a deal), it's possible that the team won't have a legitimate first baseman on their team by the weekend. I know that Chris Davis, Wilson Betemit, and (it sounds like) Valencia can all play first base, but at least in regards to Davis & Betemit, I can say with some certainty that the team would prefer to not have them play there.

So with the impending possibility that the O's are cutting ties with their 2012 starting first baseman, they have released the only other true 1B on the roster, and added another guy who can man the hot corner. Is anyone else confused by the move?

Ultimately though, I know the team probably has feelers out on corresponding moves, or maybe they do intend to bring back Mark Reynolds, which would really limit this to a discussion about possible bench players for the 2013 campaign. After last season, it's hard to not trust what's going on with the team right now.

Some Recent Upgrades

Between doing some in-person graphing at games and picking up some signed cards via consignment, I've been able to upgrade a number of autographs in my collection recently, mainly of the current players on the team. 

I was able to get a few players to sign their first Orioles cards, including

Wei-Yin Chen,

 Wilson Betemit,

and Tommy Hunter.

I also "upgraded" a few of the autographs in my collection to include personalizations from the players.

Thanks to JJ,

Ryan Flaherty,

Darren O'Day, 

and Steve Johnson for personalizing their autographs.

Also, I just noticed that Steve's picture on his Bowman Dodgers card was taken at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD, home of the Orioles' short season Aberdeen Ironbirds. The only connection I can make is related to Steve being from the Baltimore area, but that still doesn't really place him at the stadium. Oh well.

I was able to finally get an "in-person" signature of DeMarlo Hale via consignment. He has handily ignored me each time I've called out to him this season.

Miguel Socolovich signed this team card for me. I only had one single minor league card of his prior to the season, which he signed for me during spring training, and couldn't pass up the opportunity at an autograph, so this works for now. At least until I receive my 2012 Norfolk Tides team sets.

Finally, Al Bumbry made an appearance at a AA Bowie Baysox game a few weeks back to celebrate his bobblehead night  (pictures coming at some point), and he was signing for everyone.

I gladly scooped up an orange uni autograph and his York Revolution coaches card.

2012 Orioles Postcard Autographs

As is typical, many of the new Orioles' players have team issued postcards produced of them in an Orioles uniform before they receive any cardboard love from Topps. The only notable exception this year is Endy Chavez, who made his way into 2012 Topps Heritage as an Oriole before I saw one of his postcards.

Anyway, here are some of the Orioles postcards that I have obtained so far, either in-person or purchased online.

I'll start with my favorite autograph, Wei-Yin Chen. It's my favorite for two reasons: 1) it was a gift from Kalina, & 2) I'm still not used to the Kanji (I think that's right) signature. It's very cool.

I'm pretty sure that Chen will have his fair share of Orioles cards released in the coming years, but it's nice to have his autograph on an O's postcard for now.

These two are my only in-person postcard successes thus far. I'm surprised to see that both of these guys seem to be solid signers thus far. Many times with veterans, that is not the case. Johnson obviously was nice enough to personalize while Betemit cited the language/alphabet barrier when he opted to not inscribe the autograph to me. 

Since Betemit is signed for two years, I'm betting that he gets an Orioles card or two, but Johnson will need to start hitting soon to stick around long enough to be included in a set as an Oriole. For my collecting purposes, the worst thing is when a player receives an Orioles card after they've left town. 

Hammel has been lights out so far this season, and has been a very nice addition to the club. He will certainly get some cards as an Oriole.

Since Flaherty is a Rule V guy and probably the 25th man on the roster, I doubt that he will be included in any sets as an O. The only factor that might help his inclusion is his rookie status, because we all know that Topps loves rookies!

These four have been claimed by Kalina and include some of her current favorite Orioles, with the notable exception of Nick Markakis.

Here's another Hammel, Strop (with his crazy cockeyed hat), Patton, the team's only lefty reliever, and O'Day who has been excellent so far. And as someone who enjoys wacky pitching motions, I hope to see a lot more of O'Day this season.

And here's the Paulino that I featured yesterday, Endy's second "card" as an Oriole, and another Johnson and Betemit.

Oh, and heres' one more Flaherty.

Obviously there are some duplicates here, as well as a few players whom I don't currently need for the collection, so some of these will be up for trade once I get my act together.

The Orioles Are 3-0! 2012 Debuts So Far...

And I'm back; the trip went a little longer than expected and then I got swept up in the excitement of Opening Day, so I was away longer than I had planned. But now I'm back and don't plan on going anywhere for awhile.

Somehow the Orioles are 3-0 and swept the Twins out of town. I was lucky to attend Opening Day on Friday and game #2 on Saturday, but couldn't make it to Jason Hammel's near no-hitter yesterday. All told the O's outscored the Twins 15-5 in the series and the O's three starting pitchers, Jake Arrieta, Tommy Hunter, and Hammel, allowed only one earned run over 22 innings pitched. Nick Markakis hit a homer run in each of the first two games and Matt Wieters, JJ Hardy, and Adam Jones all went deep as well. Freakin' Ronny Paulino went 4-4 in his Orioles debut on Sunday. Who knew? Maybe this team will be alright. Or maybe the Twins are pitiful.

On to the debuts...of which there were eight over the first three games.

There were two debuts on Opening Day, which is a relatively small number for the first game of the season.


Wilson Betemit was the first Orioles debut of the season and will forever be Oriole #911. He went 1-3 as the Opening Day designated hitter.

Matt Lindstrom gave up two hits but no runs in the eighth inning and is now Oriole #912.

Game #2 on Saturday had four debuts. 

Nick Johnson started the game at first base, but went 0-4 at the plate. He is Oriole #913. 

The previously mentioned Ronny Paulino was the designated hitter on Saturday and scored two runs along with his four hits, including a double. It was an impressive start. Unfortunately, I don't yet have Ronny's autograph and he turned down a request when I had him 1 on 1 earlier on Saturday. Luckily, he has a number of certified autographs out there, and backup catchers don't normally get too much cardboard love. So I might go ahead and buy one of his autographs out there. I hate adding guys to my need list, which is now populated solely by Ronny. He is Oriole #914.

Luis Ayala, Oriole #915, came to pitch a clean ninth inning in the O's 8-2 victory. While he did have a six run lead, I wouldn't expect him to be the mop-up guy out of the bullpen, I think he just needed the work. My guess for the current mop-up guy is the one who began last season as the team's closer, but rarely had a clean outing.

Ryan Flaherty also made his Orioles, and MLB, debut in the ninth inning of Saturday's game. He came in as a defensive replacement for Mark Reynolds, who had fouled a ball off of his calf muscle earlier in the game. Reynolds also made a a few suspect plays in the field and recorded his first error of the season earlier in the game. Flaherty made a slick play in the top of the ninth that I'm not convinced Reynolds would have made if he was still in there. Flaherty is Oriole #916.

Sunday's game saw two more Baltimore debuts. 

Jason Hammel was the starting pitcher and tossed a gem in his first Oriole outing. He didn't allow his first hit until the top of the eighth inning and went on to allow just two hits and one run over 8. Pretty great for a third starter. Jason is Oriole #917. 

Endy Chavez started in left field and went 1-4 at the plate. He is the 918th player to appear in a game for the O's. Unfortunately, he has already been pictured as an Oriole in the 2012 Topps Heritage set, as well as the Topps Orioles team set, so I already need an upgrade for my collection.

 At this point, Wei Yin Chen and Darren O'Day are the only two players on the 25 man roster to have not made their Orioles debut yet, but I know Chen is scheduled to start on Tuesday and I would imagine we see O'Day matched up against a member of the Yankees over the next three nights.

Good luck to all of the 2012 Orioles, keep up your winning ways!

Orioles Spring Training Autographs- Extras For Trade

Many of the Orioles players were kind enough to sign multiple cards for me during my trip to Spring Training and some of the extras are available for trade. Let me know if anyone out there is interested in these bad boys. I'd be happy to swing a deal to help other O's collectors with their collections. 

Spring Training Autographs- The Likely Orioles

Up today are some more of the autographs I got on my Spring Training trip. This group of players have not yet played for the Orioles but I anticipate their doing so at some point this season. I'll start with the players who I feel are most likely to make the team and work my way down. 

I heard stories that Tsuyoshi was a tough signer, but he seemed pretty nice when I asked him to sign. The O's inked him from Japan to a two year deal, so he seems like a near lock to play in Baltimore this summer

Betemit also signed a two year deal, so he's very likely to play for the O's as well. In fact, I predicted that he would be the first player to debut as an Oriole this season. 

Lindstrom has been having a nice Spring, and I think he will be one of the main power arms out of the 'pen this year. (In person, I would say that Lindstrom doesn't look much like a baseball player)

Endy's been having a nice Spring and is pretty much a lock to break camp as the fourth outfielder. 

I would have Luis a little higher, except he's been having some mild allergy problems in Florida. I doubt that it changes the likelihood he makes the team, but it could.

 Ryan Flaherty is likely to spend the entire season as the team's utility infielder, and has a clear leg up on the other guys competing for that position due to his Rule 5 pick status, but he's not guaranteed anything at this point.

If Nick stays healthy, I'm pretty sure he will be heading north to Baltimore, but that's a pretty large if, considering his lengthy injury history. 

Pat's been having a nice Spring so far, and I'm certainly pulling for him on personal level, since he's the rare active player who is a card collector too. And look at that awesome signature, with the sweet seams in the P. That's great stuff.