Orioles #1028- Vidal Nuno

I'm pretty happy to be able to write this post today, as I'm now within one autograph of once again having a signature from every player who has appeared in a game for the O's. I had to skip around when catching up on the 2017 debuts, and now I can play catch-up!

Vidal Nuno came into the Orioles organization via a trade with the Dodgers on February 19. He pitched for Team Mexico during the World Baseball Classic so was away from Sarasota for a good chunk of the Spring. I saw him only at one game I attended, and he didn't sign for anyone so far as I could tell.

After making the Orioles Opening Day roster, he has been bouncing back and forth between Baltimore and AAA Norfolk as yet another member of the 2017 bullpen shuttle, so that has only further complicated my efforts at getting his autograph. But luckily, a friend in the Norfolk area was able to get this card signed for me recently, and I can happily scratch a name off of my need list.

Vidal was originally drafted by the Indians in the 48th round of the 2009 draft, and the Orioles are the sixth organization that he has spent time with over his professional career. He has appeared in the majors with the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Mariners, and now the Orioles.

So far this season, he has appeared in nine games for the Orioles and the results have not been good. He is 0-1, with a 6.75 ERA over twelve innings pitched. He's left-handed and breathing which are two characteristics that will keep him in the picture, but I would say he's behind Donny Hart, Richard Bleier, and Jayson Aquino on the Orioles lefty-reliever depth chart at this point. He might get called back up but only time will tell. He's currently 1-3 with a 5.06 ERA for the Tides, which doesn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence. But now that he's in my collection, I can rest easier. Thanks as always to my dad for producing yet another great Old Man Card that is heading for my collection!

Oriole #977- Preston Guilmet

In last night's Orioles loss, yet another player made their Orioles debut, and this was the first one of the year that really threw me for a loop. (Well, I guess the late spring trade for INF Steve Lombardozzi could qualify as well.)

Right-handed relief pitcher Preston Guilmet was called up from AAA Norfolk yesterday, and quickly made his Orioles debut last night. He was pretty impressive, and struck out two Tigers over 1.1 innings pitched to finish the game for the O's in a losing cause.

He was drafted by the Indians in the 9th round of the 2009 draft (the O's picked Ryan Berry, who seems to have already washed out of baseball), and made his MLB debut last year for the Indians; he pitched 5.1 innings over 4 games and gave up 6 earned runs for a 10.13 ERA. That might explain why they were willing to trade him to the Orioles on April 7th for infielder Torsten Boss, who was the O's 8th round pick in the 2012 draft.

The post Spring Training trade and subsequent assignment directly to the AAA Norfolk Tides, whom I almost never get to see or get autographs from are the reasons why I didn't have Preston's signature in my collection already. Since the O's added him to their 40-man roster after the trade, I knew that there was a chance he would eventually pitch in Baltimore, but he has very few minor league cards and he doesn't seem to sign TTM requests, so I was stuck.

Once it was announced that Preston was getting the call to Baltimore, I pulled the trigger on this signed card that I bought on ebay. I hope to get an opportunity to get a personalized OMC Orioles card of his signed soon, but this will hold a spot in my collection for the time being.

Preston's minor league numbers over the past five plus seasons have been very encouraging, as he has a 2.71 ERA, 94 saves, and has a strikeout rate of 9.8 over nine innings over 208 appearances, with all 193 of them since 2010 coming out of the bullpen.

It will be interesting to see how long Preston sticks with the Orioles, but with minor league success like he has had along with a strong debut, I wouldn't be surprised to see him settle into a bullpen role with the O's throughout the 2014 season.

Oriole #970- Ubaldo Jimenez

During Wednesday's Orioles game, three players made their Orioles debuts simultaneously as all were on the field in the top of the first inning. This is something that happens almost every season, typically in the first game of the season, but not generally as much afterwards. Since no one else likely pays attention to this kind of thing, I have created a tie-breaker system to determine how to order these simultaneous debuts using the 1-9 position numbers assigned to each position on the baseball field, going from pitcher (1), to right field (9). 

So obviously, that made the night's starting pitcher, Ubaldo Jimenez, the next Orioles debut, and locks him in as Oriole #970. 

During Spring Training, the O's signed Ubaldo to the largest free agent contract (4 years, $50 million) they have ever given to a free agent pitcher. So needless to say, the team has some high expectations for him.

He has pitched in the Majors since last in the 2006 season and has played for the Rockies and Indians. He had an 82-75 record with an ERA just under 4.00 and has had some ups and downs in his career. In 2010 for the the Rockies, he made the All-Star team and finished third in Cy Young voting. Last season, he was one of the best pitchers in the game after the All-Star break. But once he was traded to the Indians, he posted an era over 5 over his first season and a half in the American League.

It is a bit of a mixed bag as far as his career has gone, but we can hope that the last half of no season was no fluke. In his first start for the O's, Ubaldo pitched six innings, gave up five hits, including two homers, three walks, and four earned runs while striking out six. Not exactly what you want from your $50 million man, but he still has plenty of time to turn things around. I wish him the best of luck, and I have a feeling the O's will need him to succeed to have a chance at the playoffs this season.

I was quite surprised at how good of a signed Ubaldo was during my Spring Training trip. Sadly enough, I just don't expect MLB veterans to be good signers at this point, and it was a pleasant surprise to see him signing as often as he did. He signed no fewer than three times that I saw, and possibly more. I can certainly say that I like that about him! Now if he can just succeed on the mound, things will be perfect!

I always love to get cards signed that depict the player signing autographs, so this OMC creation is perfect, and it even shows him in an orange uniform to boot!

My National Experience

I attended the National Card Show at the Baltimore Convention Center on Saturday and pretty much spent the entire day at the show. I easily could have spent at least another half day at the show, but I had other things to do since I recently got back from my trip. I was able to cover the entire show, but not as well as I would have liked. I also ran into fellow Orioles collector and blogger Ryan, and got a preview of his haul from the show.

For someone like myself who has such a limited collection focus, I knew going in that it would be pretty unlikely for me to find any autographs I need for my Orioles collection, but a show like this at least gave me some hope. I went in to the show with the realistic goal of knocking out the three recently-debuted Orioles that I needed; Jim Thome, Omar Quintanilla, and Lew Ford.

After looking through a few certified autograph boxes in search of the trio, I came across an in-person autograph dealer about halfway through the show. Visually, his autographs meshed well with other examples I have seen of the autographs I needed, so I pulled the trigger. It also helped that he happened to have all three of the players I needed.

Of course, as I mentioned in Monday's post, I later came across this signed Ford Tides card at one of the last booths I stopped at, so that Twins card is now available for trade.

In addition to those three guys, I came across this autograph of short-time Orioles infielder Eider Torres. The price was next to nothing and I like it much better than the autograph that was in my collection, so I made the upgrade.

So this SP certified autograph of Torres is now up for trade. 

I also found a large number of cards that I needed for my various Topps, Topps Heritage, and subset collections, but I was unable to scratch off any of the other Orioles autographs needs on my list. While I wasn't really surprised, I was still somewhat disappointed. I guess my collection is at the point where, even at a show the size of the National, no one has what I'm looking for. However, one of the dealers mentioned that he had sold a signed 1964 Lou Jackson Orioles on Thursday, so I guess that I know there is at least one out there!

Oriole #805- Jaret Wright

Jaret Wright pitched in the Major Leagues from 1997-2007 and is best remembered for the six seasons he spent in Cleveland at the start of his career. He made his MLB debut at only 21 years old with the '97 Indians and almost immediately appeared in the national spotlight due to the Indians postseason runs in '97-'98. After his time in Cleveland, he bounced from the Padres to the Braves and then to the Yankees. On November 12, 2006, the Yankees traded him to the Orioles for reliever Chris Britton.

Jaret made his Orioles debut on April 4, 2007 in a start against the Twins but his time in Baltimore was very short. He made only two more starts before being  shut down for the season with shoulder problems. And unfortunately, the Orioles lost all three of his starts, so Jaret's career line as an Oriole is 0-3 with a 6.97 ERA. He began a minor league rehab assignment towards the end of the season to attempt to work his way back to Baltimore but wasn't able to stay healthy.

Jaret's three games as an Orioles pitcher are commemorated by three cards that picture him as an Oriole. He was included in three 2007 sets as an O; Topps, Topps Heritage and Upper Deck series 2, but I have yet to track down a signed copy of any of the three. Can anyone out there help me out?

Until then, this 97 Fleer rookie card showing him with the Indians will stay in my collection.