NumerOlogy

To the left is Garrett Olson, one of a group of O’s who have been on the move in the past week. It started when #29 Adam Loewen went on the disabled list last Friday with elbow pain. He was replaced on the roster by infielder #14 Eider Torres, who made his major league debut over the weekend and became the twenty-third Birds player to wear one-four. The most recent had been another infielder (Chris Gomez).

Considering the lousy weather in Chicago, and the resultant strain on the pitching staff, it’s no surprise that the team went back to carrying thirteen pitchers yesterday. Shortstop #12 Brandon Fahey drew the short straw, returning to Norfolk for the time being. He was replaced by #18 Garrett Olson, who took Loewen’s turn in the rotation and pitched a strong game, escaping from a few jams along the way. Olson debuted in Baltimore last year in #57, but now he’s the twenty-third Oriole to wear #18.

I documented the use of #18 as a fill-in jersey in Spring Training this year; it was worn at various times by Ramon Hernandez, Mike Costanzo, and Adam Stern in a pinch. Olson becomes the first O’s pitcher to sport the number since Bob Milacki in 1992.

There was another casualty of Tuesday’s roster shuffle, as #35 Greg Aquino was designated for assignment. The designated mop-up guy had no one to blame but himself, as a 14.21 ERA did nothing to inspire confidence in him. He was replaced by another brand-new bird, reliever #31 Bob McCrory. Bob’s choice of jersey number makes you wonder…what is Jay Gibbons up to these days? He becomes just the ninth Oriole player with this number, which was traditionally issued to pitching coaches in Charm City.

I’ve caught up to the personnel carousel, and updated the All-Time Roster, the Odds and Ends page (most and least issued numbers), and the Tens and Thirties biography pages.

Before I go, I want to share a great link. Steve has an amazing collection of photos of baseball players, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s. They are beautiful pictures, and he posts a few more each day along with some interesting facts about the players. Go take a look, and pass it along if you like what you see.

Well, ‘dem O’s  just dropped an 8-1 yawner to the Rays, but a 15-12 April (one game out of first place) for a rebuilding team is a nice surprise!

That’s right, it’s finally here! I’m realistic about the Orioles’ chances this year (as in, they have a chance to win 65-70 games), but they’re starting out even with everyone else at 0-0. There’s something refreshing about the feeling, however small, that anything is possible.

The final roster spot was claimed by Scott Moore, who will see time as a backup at the corners of the infield, and maybe even some second base. This meant that the O’s took another mildly surprising step in the rebuilding process by releasing #31 Jay Gibbons and treating the two years and $11.9 million they owed him as a sunk cost. The move isn’t surprising based on merit: as I stated last week, Gibbons has been chronically injured, has declined as a player in recent years, and is limited defensively. But it is surprising that Peter Angelos gave Andy MacPhail the green light to dump him and to eat all of that money. Although I (and most Baltimore fans) have been rough on Jay recently, this is still a bittersweet moment. He had been the second-longest tenured Oriole behind Melvin Mora, having spent his entire seven-year MLB career in orange and black. He seemed like a nice guy and a good teammate, and he was once a productive power hitter. But there’s just no room for him on this team any more, especially not at his current level of play. Best of luck to Jay wherever he goes from here.

I’ve been eager to update the site for the 2008 season ever since new players and new numbers started trickling into Fort Lauderdale nearly two months ago, and now that the roster is official, that’s just what I’ve done! There are updates to all of the number countdown pages where applicable, and of course the All-Time Roster. Let’s summarize the new guys, as well as a few number switches:

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One refreshing story out of Orioles camp involves several former Birds who accepted invitations to come impart their wisdom (and their stories of better times in Baltimore) to the current crop of players. Those on hand this Spring have included former pitchers Mike Cuellar and Scott McGregor, former catcher Rick Dempsey and former outfielder/third baseman B. J. Surhoff. Although the numbers that each of these men made famous are now worn by others (#35 Greg Aquino, #16 Jay Payton, #24 Guillermo Quiroz, and #17 Aubrey Huff, respectively), it appears that the ex-O’s were allowed to wear their familiar digits anyway. The sight of Cuellar in orange and black again (and the promise of Boog Powell and others in the future) is a positive sign that Andy MacPhail has what it takes to undo a lot of the damage that has been done over the past decade.

Meanwhile, Opening Day is right around the corner and the pitchers are dropping like flies. In the past few days, the following players were sent to minor league camp: #57 Garrett Olson, #59 Craig Anderson, #60 Ryan Bukvich, #62 Radhames Liz, and #63 Roberto Novoa. I think the O’s are still looking for a fifth starting pitcher, if anyone wants to grab a glove and head for Fort Lauderdale.

It seems like only yesterday that pitchers and catchers reported to Fort Lauderdale for the Orioles. That’s probably because it was yesterday. As soon as I see more pictures and everyone gets to camp, I’ll try to roll out a Spring Training Roster, so we can keep ourselves occupied with numerical comings and goings from now until the games start to count. We already have one confirmed number change for 2008; Roch Kubatko reports that Daniel Cabrera has switched from #35 to #40. Hopefully we’ll find out why, but considering his recent performance, it couldn’t hurt to change things up. Glancing over the Baltimore Sun’s roster, there are some other items of interest:

• Greg Aquino is listed as #35; he would replace Cabrera in that number.
• Fernando Cabrera might supplant Kris Benson as #34; he wore #23 late in 2007.
• Speaking of #23, that now seems to reside with Rocky Cherry, who was last seen in #38.
• Jon Leicester still claims #52, so it appears that George Sherrill will make do with #51.
• Radhames Liz jumps up to #64, with nonroster invitee Matt Wieters taking Liz’s old #58.
• Steve Trachsel is back in #41, which briefly resided with Victor Zambrano after Trachsel’s trade to the Cubs.
• Among other pitchers who have a good shot at making the team, Troy Patton is assigned #43 and Dennis Sarfate looks to have jumped on Erik Bedard’s new available #45.
• Guillermo Quiroz, the early favorite to back up Ramon Hernandez at catcher, sports a number familiar to O’s backstops - #24.
• Only notable digits among infielders go to Scott Moore, who swaps #43 for #9 (formerly the property of Paul Bako).
• In the outfield, new Orioles Adam Jones (#10) and Luke Scott (#30) will likely keep the numbers they’d most recently worn in Seattle and Houston, respectively.
• Has Aubrey Huff turned over a new leaf? He may have given up #19 in favor of #17.  Aubrey has worn #19 for his entire major league career except for the second half of 2006, when he wore #9 with the Astros.

Of course, for now these numbers should all be taken with a grain of salt. After all, that same roster currently lists Chris Tillman’s age as -1, and several numbers have changed just today.