Somehow the Red Sox have a really odd tradition in recent times where someone would always show up really overweight for camps.

Used to be Josh Beckett as the resident fat guy when he was with the team. Got to the point it was possible to accurately predict if he'd have a good or bad season depending on how fat he was during the camps.

The Orioles are going to win the AL East. The only team that remotely scares me is Toronto and their pitching staff is worse than the Os..a 41 year old coming off knee surgery and their "ace" has thrown less than 180 innings total in the last 2 years. Ooooh I'm shaking in my shoes

I'll bet you the Yankees own their ass all year...PUT UP OR SHUT UP pansi,,,

Yankees rotation is rudiculous. Outside of Severino who was a rookie and only pitched 60 some innings not one guy is without injury concerns.

How are the Orioles going to win the East when they're fielding the same team as last year with maybe one moderate improvement and didn't make not one significant upgrade?

Just like 2014

Lots of offense, average pitching, great defense and bullpen

Your blind homerism knows no bounds.

But other teams HAVE improved since 2014.

mattingly enforcing no facial hair rule

i don't know anything about anything anymore

Can't even begin to express the stupidity of enforcing facial hair rules on a professional sports team

Ill bet you the Red Sox finish ahead of them.

Let's bet. $200.

Jimmy Rollins to the White Sox on a minor league deal

He'll probably make the club as a utility glove

I only used that pic because he called me a homer and only pic i could find with homer in OS gear

Ill take that as a no.

I might do an over under Win total bet

Boston is 85
Orioles are 80
Toronto is 87
NY is 85
Tampa is 78

Toronto is probably the only team beside the Os that will go over

Article on fangraphs sums up the Orioles offseason perfectly; "but the Orioles still managed to bid against themselves anyway, rather than taking advantage of a soft market for offense and loading up on multiple players at discounted rates who could have provided more value overall."

On the button, as they say.

Who were they going to sign? The only holes they had were SP, 1B (before Davis resigned ) Corner OF, DH.

They signed Trumbo who can play 1B/DH
They signed Kim for OF
They signed Gallardo for SP
They still will probably sign Fowler for OF.

All of these moves were done relatively cheap.

No one expected Wieters to take the QO so nothing they could do about that.

Im not going to complain about the Orioles spending money to keep Davis when for years before they never would spend big money to kerp guys or sign free agents. Everyone is expecting the Davis signing to blow up in their face, but it csnt be any worse than Albert Belle, vlad Guerrero, Sammy Sosa, NOT resigning nelson Cruz after 2014, etc..

The only potential worry any Os fan has is thst Davis contract might hinder them from being able to resign Machado who will get a bigger payday than anyone gotbthis offseason..

Joey Bats says there will be no negotiations on the extensions with the Blue Jays. He let them know the amount of money he's seeking on his deal and he said he will not budge from that number under any circumstances. There will be no hometown discount, as he feels he's given them a 5 year hometown discount already.

He's not wrong. $14 million a year for him on his current deal has been a fucking steal. He'll be 36 next year but if he keeps up the big production some team will pay him way more than $14 million a year, even if it's a one year deal or something.

I've already pointed out who they could've signed. Lol at you trying to justify the Davis deal by mentioning three guys who spent 2 years on the team at the most. You act like Belle was an albatross and he wasn't. He was actually a productive hitter.

It definitely is going to be worse because they're paying him boat loads of money for more years than any of those guys. What a daft comparison.

Like I said, Justin Upton, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmerman along with Kim, Trumbo if they'd like, and Gallardo and possibly Fowler would've all worked for the money they've blown thus far, and those first three would've made them better than they are now with bringing back 3 guys from the same team as last year. A brilliant strategy.

the Belle contract is specifically why for years the Orioles would not spend big moneybon free agents.

They had to pay him thev3 years he didnt plsy just to get some money back through insurance. The definition of an albatross

So you think, by comparison, Davis, who's getting paid more money, for more years, and well into his next contact or retirement, is better than a productive hitter who happened to get hurt? Can you explain how Davis' deal is in any way better rather than the same or worse?

Can you also please explain how blowing the about of money they did to essentially field the same team when they could've spent that money on countless other players who were actual significant upgrades instead of just carbon copying last year's team but with a higher payroll?

How is blowing your load on the same that wasn't a playoff team last year better than taking that money and signing two corner outfielders, one of which is an all-star, two top of the rotation starters, a #3 starter, a dh and and 4th of/dh for similar total dollars?

Could you please explain in what world that would be considered a good idea in. Instead of trying to get better, the Orioles just stayed the course, while everyone else in the division made a conscious effort to add.

Bautista on his last year? Unless the Blue Jays re-engage extension talks, he could be some serious trade bait come deadline time.

The new front office in Toronto is probably gonna let him walk. If Anthopolous were there, I'd firmly believe in their chances of retaining him. With the new regime, the recent offseason and lack of any real effort to build on last year tells me they're not giving any thought to keeping Bautista. At all.

Jays might be adding Jay Bruce, don't speak too soon.

Decent pickup assuming he's healthy but he's not a pricey player. I don't mean to say the new regime won't try to add or improve the club, which they're clearly trying to do. I just think the splashy, big name acquisitions of the Anthopolous era are now gone.

You will show Vladimir Guerrero some respect, droford

I like that Droford has championed such names as Mark Trumbo and Nate Mclouth, then complains about Vladimir Guerrero being a mediocre hitter to the tune of $7 million, which can't be any worse than paying Chris Davis over 3x as much.

Get rid of those sideburns Mattingly!

Nare had his 2nd best season in his career with the Os in 2013. 30 SBs were nice
Trumbo is an upgrade over what they had at DH last year.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/95...o9.gif.opt.gif

2011 seems so long ago

69-93 although they were 15-13 in Sept and elininated the red Sox in game 162. Which pretty much started the Orioles renaissance

Mclouth actually didn't have his best year in Baltimore but nice try.

I said 2nd best

good article on Gallardo

Don't know how anyone can say replacing Chen for Gallardo for 1/2 the cost wasn't an upgrade. Chen gave up 28 home runs last year. Gallardo plays right into the Orioles best strength (infield defense) with the ground balls. Don't really Care about the lower K rate if he's getting ground balls.

Because he's not. Gallardo just posted his best year ever. Unlikely he repeats. More likely he just replaces Chen in the rotation, rather than upgrades. That's the part you keep whiffing on. You can't upgrade if what you're adding only replaces what you lost. Had they kept Chen and signed Gallardo, it would've been an upgrade. As it stands it's more of a lateral move than anything else, and it cost them a draft pick.

I think he has better years when he was with the Brewers..most are saying his numbers are declining but it's only his k rate. Hrs getting more ground balls. Texas defense was shut last year they were 28th the os were 2nd. Ground ball pitcher in OPACY with that defense behind him will do well.

Wei Yin Chen had the 11th highest fly ball % in mlb last year. Gallardo had the 23rd highest ground ball %.

Chen is going from Camden Yards (222 hrs last year) to Marlins Park (111 hrs) he should pitch well for them.

Camden Yards was the top home run park last year and 4th over last 3years