Oriole # 1008- Yovani Gallardo

This past off-season saw the Orioles embroiled in a few strange controversies, which I wish I could say was surprising, but for those of us who have followed the team over the years, some of these odd occurrences seem all too common in Baltimore. It was originally reported that the Orioles and Yovani had agreed to a three year deal, but then the O's, who seem to have the most rigorous physical process in baseball, had some concerns about what they saw in the physical. The purported deal languished, and it seemed like both sides might go their separate ways, before the pact was restructured and they agreed to a contract of two years with an option for a third. Shortly after this time, it was announced that the Orioles had signed Dexter Fowler to a three year deal before he showed up at the Cubs Spring Training facility to announce that he had signed a one year deal with them. Such is life in Birdland. 

At least the team ended up with one of the two free agents, and Yovani Gallardo made his Orioles debut as the starting pitcher in the team's second game of the season to officially cement his place as the 1008th player to appear in a game for the Orioles. He pitched five innings in his debut against the Twins, gave up just a single run, and earned the win for his efforts. His second game against the Red Sox in Boston didn't go as well, as he again pitched five innings, but this time game up five earned runs, but was bailed out by the O's bats to earn a no decision.

Who knows what this season will bring, and I wasn't totally on board about giving up one of the team's first round picks to sign him, but there is no doubt that the Orioles needed starting pitching help, and Yovani has been a consistent MLB starter for almost a decade.

Yovani was drafted by the Brewers in the second round of the 2004 draft and he pitched for the Brewers from 2007-14 with a 89-64 record. (The O's picked Wade Townsend who never signed in the first round, and lost their second rounder to the A's in return for signing Miguel Tejada to a free agent deal). The Brewers traded him to the Rangers prior to the 2015 season and he went 13-11 in his lone season in Texas. One of the main selling points for Yovani is the fact that he has made at least 30 starts each season since 2009, a consistency that has been lacking for many of the Orioles starters during that time.

Yovani signed these cards for me on my trip to Spring Training this past March. He had only signed with the team a few days before we left, so it was a quick turnaround for my dad to make these cards, but not surprisingly, he came through! And I only saw Yovani sign the one time that I got him, so I'm happy that it worked out that he signed for me!

Oriole #1007- Pedro Alvarez

As I've mentioned while writing my last two debut posts highlighting Joey Rickard and Mark Trumbo, any time there are multiple debuts in the same game, I use fielding position numbers (1-9) as a tiebreaker. And although Pedro also made his Orioles debut on Opening Day, he served as the designated hitter in that game, so is the last of the three players to have officially made his debut in the O's first game of 2016. 

Pedro didn't officially sign with the Orioles until the day after I came back home from Sarasota, but I actually saw him at the Orioles complex on the last day of my trip; presumably he was there to take his physical. So that makes sense given that the Orioles physical/signing process generally seems to take something like 2-3 days to complete. They are certainly known for their "thorough" process, just ask Grant Balfour or Yovani Gallardo.

Thankfully, I've made a connection with a few fellow Orioles autograph collectors in Sarasota, and Alan was kind enough to help me out with Pedro (and Hyun Soo Kim), neither of whom signed for me on my trip (more about Kim in his post that will be up in a few days). Some of you might remember Alan for his winning a contest and being included in the Topps Heritage Minors set a couple years back. I've heard that Pedro isn't the best signer, so I was extremely happy that Alan was able to not only get my Old Man Card signed, but also personalized for me!

Pedro was the Pirates first round draft pick in the 2008 draft (the Orioles selected Brian Matusz two picks later), and he had a bit of an up and down career during his six seasons in Pittsburgh. He struggled defensively at third and later first base, and while he did make the 2013 All-Star team and hit 131 homeruns, including 30+ two times, he also struck out 813 times and struggled to hit for average.

Between being a Scott Boras client, and some salary demands, it was not too surprising to see that he was still unsigned in early March. After the Orioles deal for Dexter Fowler fell apart, they turned their attention to Pedro and signed him to a one year $5.75 million deal.

He has struggled a bit for the Orioles so far, and has just one hit over fifteen at-bats in five games. He has walked three times and only struck our four times, so it could be worse. But I'm hoping that his power potential shows up sometime soon.

Spring Training Autos Heading For the Collection

As I mentioned the other day, I don't really have a game plan for exactly how I'm going to post about the autographs I got on my Spring Training trip, but rather, I'm going to scan them as I have time and post what I've scanned. 

Today's post is featuring some personalized autographs that are heading straight for my collection.

Yovani was signed about a week before our trip, and it was a quick turnaround to get his Old Man Cards made, but my dad pulled it off and I was thrilled to get these signed. I only saw Yovani sign one time on the trip, and thankfully he was nice enough to sign and personalize his first Orioles card for me. The card will head directly to the collection once he makes his O's debut. 

Tyler Wilson was finally featured on his first Orioles card when 2015 Topps Update came out last year. He only made his MLB debut last season, but he was a 10th round pick by the Orioles in the 2011 draft and had slowly and steadily been working his way to Baltimore since then. I always find it interesting how certain players/prospects are heavily represented as minor leaguers in Bowman and other representative sets, whereas a guy like Tyler hadn't been featured on a single mass release card since being drafted. At least the minor league team sets are out there to give him some cardboard representation! Also, I need to give Tyler a shout out for seeming like a really great guy, who shows it at least in part by a willingness to sign for fans with a great attitude. 

Ubaldo is another player who seems like a really nice guy. And it never hurts when he shows it by stopping most days to sign for the fans! I even heard that after a bad spring start, he STILL stopped to sign  for people; most pitchers would never do that!

Parker Bridwell is a good example of the opposite of Tyler Wilson's situation I was talking about up there. Parker was 9th round pick in 2010 who has been featured in at least these two Bowman sets, as well as no fewer than three Topps & Heritage Minor League sets and has yet to even make his O's debut. The big differences between the two players is that Bridwell has been considered the better prospect over the years. But I find it interesting that he was drafted one round higher one year earlier than Wilson but is still working on making it to Baltimore.

At some point last season, the Orioles brought Ramon Martinez into the fold as some sort of special assignment coach/instructor. I had never seen him around until this Spring Training, but my dad made sure we were prepared with an OMC for him to sign!

Dale Thayer signed a minor league contract with the O's about a week before our trip and was another one of the guys who needed a quick turnaround for this OMC, but once again, my old man pulled it off! Dale was a pretty consistent signer in Sarasota, and even though I'm pretty sure he will start the season in Norfolk, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make an appearance in Baltimore during the season.