This Week's Orioles Minor League Moves

My intent was to show off my FanFest pictures today but I ran out of time to scan everything yesterday. Hopefully, I will be displaying my haul tomorrow.

Every few weeks this offseason, I have been trying to list the O's minor league transactions. From what I can tell, here is what the O's have done since I last wrote about these moves.


They once again re-signed a few of their own minor league free agents, re-inking catcher Zach Booker, and pitcher, Will Startup.

I was happy to see they are bringing back Startup who was a fan favorite in Frederick. He also has a very comical, karate-like, leg kick during his delivery (which he was not using at the time the above picture was taken) which makes him one of the more entertaining pitchers to watch in the organization.

The team also re-signed one-time Oriole reliever, Winston Abreu, who appeared in 7 games for the 2006 Birds;

Ross Wolf, who the O's sent to the A's in early 2010 in the infamous (Jake) Fox-Wolf trade;

and Francis Beltran, a member of the 2007 Tides.

They signed a bevy of minor league free agents from other organizations. I know nothing about these guys, but will pass along what I've read. They inked 2B Travis Adair (Rangers), C Allen De San Miguel (Twins), 2B Tom DiBenedetto (Independent), 2B Peter Fatse (Independent), and OF Edgardo Baez (Nationals).

A few better known pitchers also signed with the organization. Armando Galarraga, who nearly threw a perfect game in 2010 for the Tigers, longtime journeyman reliever Dennys Reyes, and sometime Major Leaguer Oscar Villarreal all signed deals.


And as will be the case every year, some of the O's free agents signed with other teams. This week's highlight (or lowlight if you will) was Miguel Abreu's signing a deal with the Phillies.

Miggy has been a favorite of Kalina and mine over our past few years of going to various Orioles' affiliates minor league games. He has spent the majority of the past four years with the hi-A Frederick Keys and AA Bowie Baysox, which are the affiliates whose games we attend the most. He always seemed like a nice guy and never turned down an autograph request. Good luck next year, Miguel!

Jeremy Accardo split the 2011 season between Baltimore and AAA Norfolk, so this only half counts as minor league news, but he signed with the Indians. 

Frederick Keys Playoff Pictures & Manny Machado

I apologize for the crappy cell phone pictures, but I accidentally left the normal camera behind.
These were taken after the Keys' walkoff victory, and although they are fuzzy, you can clearly see the players' excitement. 

 

When writing my Adios Baysox post last Wednesday, I somehow neglected to mention that the Orioles hi-A affiliate, the Frederick Keys, were in the Carolina League playoffs.  I swear that I mentioned it in there, but I couldn't find anything about it today.  Anyway, on Wednesday night Kalina and I went to the first game of their best of five series against the Nationals' affiliate, the Potomac Nationals.  Most of you would've figured out on your own that the P-Nats are in the Nationals' farm system, but I just wanted to clarify, because Minor League baseball doesn't always make sense. 

It was a great game, specifically a great Minor League kind of game.  Neither of the starting pitchers made it into the second inning; the Keys' starter gave up 8 runs while only getting 2 outs while the Keys were able to squeeze 7 runs out of the P-Nats starter while getting a whole 3 outs.  Both the Keys and P-Nats hit grand slams in the first inning. Miguel Abreu (below w/ Kalina on his right) won the game in the bottom of the ninth on what was essentially a walk-off bunt double.  We have rooted for Miggy for the past three seasons so it was great to see him come through in the clutch like that.  It was the only game that the Keys won in the series and their season is over now, but it was great to see them win at least one game. 

Kalina had Miggy sign the scorecard that we used for the game

The Orioles 2010 First Round Draft Pick, Manny Machado was also with the Keys as part of the taxi squad from Aberdeen/Delmarva.  I somehow missed him when he came out before the game but I caught up with him as he was walking from the dugout to the clubhouse after the game.  He signed this Baltimore Sun sports section for me.  We also saw him in Aberdeen the previous week, but that's a post for another day. 

4/10 Baysox Game Autographs

I have shown off a few of the autographs that I got at this Baysox game but here are the rest of them.


This is my first autographed card of Eddie, who blew through the O's Minor League system last year. He started the season with lo-A Delmarva, was promoted to hi-A Frederick midway through the year and ended up in AA Bowie by the end of the season. The amazing part is that his ERA went DOWN with each promotion, from 1.86, to 0.55 to 0.00. I didn't have this Shorebirds team set until the end of the year and didn't see the Baysox play again after I bought it, so this was my first shot to get Eddie to sign it. Eddie was very personable and seems like a good signer.



Pat followed a similar, if slightly less successful, path as Eddie's last year. He also played for Delmarva, Frederick and Bowie. And he is extremely tall; listed at 6'8". I think the O's like tall pitchers IE Mickolio, Hendrickson, Egan...

Miggy signed his 09 Baysox team set card. I've said it before and will say it again, I really dig the orange border on these cards.

Now, the 09 Keys team set, I don't like so much. Never have the players wear black uniforms on picture day and then shoot close-ups of them! They have to squeeze in their signature or sign over the black!

Bascom's last name stretched into his face to avoid the black.

The Carolina League Top Prospects set also used the Keys' team set pictures.



You see what I mean about these signatures fading into the black. They look even worse in person; the scanner actually brightens them up a bit. There's barely any light space on the cards.


Whereas the Keys' giveaway team set utilized white uniforms and action shots. Major upgrade! That's how a Minor League team set should look, or at least more-so like this.

Tyler was nice enough to also sign his 07 Ironbirds card for me.

Hawaii Winter League Autographs

Here are all of the cards that I have signed from the Hawaii Winter League/Honolulu Sharks team set. My boy Matt Wieters is also in the set, and was part of the reason that I bought it, but I don't know if I will get that one signed or not.

This is Ryohei's only card that I am aware of, and his inclusion was the other reason why I bought the set. Teams in the Hawaiian Winter League are mainly made up of American and Asian players, and Tanaka was a member of the Sharks on behalf of the Chiba Lotte Marines, his team in Japan's Pacific League. He just happened to be placed on the team with the Orioles prospects, with no way of knowing that they would be his future teammates. Pretty cool stuff.


It looks like Ouellette also had the "honor" to wear the lei and the accompanying unsure look on his face for picture day.


I like Chad Thall's card because it features the Shark's purple uniform. It's something different, and I guess that's why I like it. I'm not really sure.


Miggy Abreu's card isn't a different color, I just edited it incorrectly. He got a little wild with his autograph, as his M leapt off the bottom edge of the card. I like to think that he was just excited to see this card and couldn't contain his autograph excitement. I'm probably wrong.


Brett Bordes is the only member of the O's organization in this set that is still with hi-A Frederick. Everyone else is in Bowie, Norfolk, or Baltimore.


I've shown this B-Snyd card before, back when I was previewing the Minor League member's of the O's 40-man roster, but here it is again. He signed this for me in Spring Training.


And I just posted this card last week, but I promised to display all my autographs from this set, so here it is again. Phillip Britton was VERY excited to see this card and talked to me about it for a few minutes.

The Caribbean World Series Starts Today

Right now, I am very excited to be watching some live baseball on the MLB Network; the Caribbean World Series starts today and the first game starts at 2:30PM Eastern. Puerto Rico plays the Dominican Republic in the opener and Orioles Minor Leaguer Miguel Abreu is representing Ponce, PR and playing left field. Former Oriole Raul Casanova is the Puerto Rican DH.



Across the diamond playing for the Dominicans is another former Oriole at DH, Willis Otanez: Freddy Guzman, a 2009 member of the Norfolk Tides, is playing centerfield. Check out my entry on Otanez; he was a member of the 2009 Newark Bears and there's an interesting story about how that card was signed.

If you're not familiar with the Caribbean World Series, it is a yearly round-robin tournament that showcases the Winter League Champions from PR, the DR, Venezuela and Mexico. The Series continues for 6 days and it looks like 2 games are played most days, so each team gets to play once a day. It is one of the reasons why I like MLB Network so much. This isn't something that ESPN ever had time to show, they had to air those extra three hours of SportsCenter every day, and for a baseball junkie like myself, it represents the first live baseball action I've seen since the World Series. Even if I only recognize one or two players, I still enjoy watching it because it's baseball!

Everybody enjoy the Caribbean World Series for now and soon enough, pitchers and catchers will be reporting!

A Sunday game in Bowie-my first time seeing Josh Bell & Steve Johnson

This past Sunday was the first time that I got to see the two players that the O's got in return for my boy, George Sherrill.

Steve Johnson, former Orioles pitcher & current broadcaster Dave Johnson's son, did not start but was nice enough to sign autographs and even posed for a picture with me. He seemed like a very cool guy and is excited to be pitching in the O's organization and hopefully one day for his hometown team.




Josh Bell started at third base and did not disappoint; he hit a HR in his second at bat of the game.

This is him coming back to the dugout and greeting his new teammates after his no-doubter.


Josh was really good about signing, and took time with the fans both before and after the game.


Here is a another picture of Josh on the left, warming up with Miguel Abreu on the right.



Tim Bascom was finally not starting a game that I went to, so I was able to get him to sign. For some reason my luck with silver sharpies isn't great. Does anyone have any advice for me?



Zach Clark always alludes me too. It's not that he doesn't sign, I just always seem to miss out. He was just sent down to Frederick today, but had a solid relief outing for Bowie on Sunday.



Brandon Erbe is pitching in Bowie again, after injuring himself earlier this season.



I always have to have to get one of the Figueroa brothers to sign for me. This time it was Danny. And a funny note: I saw him & Paco taking pictures of each other and they then had the trainer take pictures of them together near the clubhouse before warm-ups. I don't really know why, but wanted to share my observation.



John Mariotti's hand was in a cast, and he is on the DL. I don't have anything else on that point either but again, what I see is what you will read about.


Ryan Oullette signed before the game and got the save to finish things off for the Baysox win.


Chad Thall was brought in after Clark and before Ouellette and added some uncomfortable outs for the Baysox fans.


Jason White has been around Frederick and Bowie the past few seasons but I don't recall seeing him play before Sunday. He was the Baysox starting shortstop and had some slick fielding plays. But he should probably do something about his hairstyle.

Can you find Jason White?


Brad Komminsk signed for a few fans as he typically does, but I got Larry McCall for the first time all season. I thought that he might have something to say about my throwback Keys card but he doesn't interact too much with the fans.

I do have to give McCall major points on his autograph though. You can clearly see every single letter of his name. It's like the anti-Komminsk!

Baysox Autographs

Somehow the autographs I got at the last Bowie game I attended, some Friday 2-3 weeks ago, slipped through the cracks and didn't get scanned until last night. So I will share them with you now. The orange bordered cards are from the 09 team sets that seem to have just been released in time for that game.

Miggy has always been a great signer, well he was at least good last year at Frederick and this season in Bowie. He is typically the first position player out of the clubhouse and seems to know a lot of the fans; he has a good personality and I hope he can continue to progress through the O's system. I got another one of my favorite 06 Ironbirds cards signed!


Mike Costanzo came to the O's from the Astros as part of the Miguel Tejada trade before the 08 season. He started this season in Norfolk but was sent to Bowie about a month into the season and has underperformed for most of the year. A possible reason recently surfaced, as he has a torn meniscus and needs season ending surgery.



Eric Crozier was signed to the Baysox towards the end of June and I was able to track down these cards before I went to Bowie. He seemed like a really cool guy and signed for everyone.
Kalina also made the astute observation that he has Popeye-like arms.



Fredy Deza has bounced back in forth between Bowie and Norfolk for most of the season. I saw him in Frederick last year; it's only a matter of time before he is sent to the Bluefield!


Adam has become the Baysox everyday catcher. He was surprised to see that I had the 08 NW Arkansas Naturals card and I told him that I recently had visited family in Springdale. He asked me about a few of the guys on the Nats, so that was cool.



Paco still has one of my favorite autographs. I really like the loopiness of it. Unfortunately, he has been off and on the DL for most of the season.



Moe is the field coach for the Baysox and is another guy who seems to have a lot of fans in the stands that talk to him and know him.



Jim pitched for the O's in the 2006 & 2007 seasons. He relied heavily on his heater at the time but is trying to develop a curveball to get back to the Majors.



Dave has been the Baysox leadoff batter and resident funny-man this season.



Oh Radhames; last time we saw ye, you were at least in Norfolk, albeit in the stands tracking pitches.
But now you have slid from AAA to AA, but at least you still sign for the fans. Even if you were the last one out of the clubhouse and only signed for me and one other fan. I hope that you can get your delivery fixed and take that electric arm back to Baltimore. At least no-hit Harrisburg again, please.