Daily Archives: July 30, 2009

Sherrill Traded To Dodgers

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The Orioles have traded LHP George Sherrill to the Los Angeles Dodgers for 3B Josh Bell and RHP Steve Johnson.

Grade: B+

This was another great trade by Andy MacPhail and made his previous trade of Erik Bedard even better. Josh Bell is our ‘third baseman of the future’ as long as he has the defense to be able to stay at third. Our scouts must think he can for him to be the headline of the trade. Bell is a switch hitter with a big build. Scouts say he has big power potential. He hits alot of doubles now, but hes playing in a pitcher friendly league in AA and they should translate into homeruns eventually. Hes 22 years old and should start out at AA Bowie for the O’s. With AA Chattanooga he was batting .296/.386/.497 with 30 doubles, 2 triples, and 11 homeruns. Hes also shown an ability to take a walk with a 50:70 walk to strikeout ratio. I would say if he keeps developing he’ll be the Orioles starting third baseman by the middle of next season.

Steve Johnson is the son of former Oriole and current radio announcer Dave Johnson. He has 4 average to slightly above average pitches (fastball, slider, curveball, changeup), his fast ball is in the high 80′s to low 90′s, but he strikes out alot of batters so he must know how to pitch. This season hes spent most of his time in high A ball, just recently getting promoted to AA and starting 2 games there. In high A, he was 8-4 with a 3.82 ERA. He struck out 102 batters in 96.2 innings and walked 42. In AA he was 1-1 with a 1.69 ERA. He struck out 15 batters in 10.2 innings and walked 3. He should also start out at AA Bowie with the Orioles. I would slot him behind Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta, Matt Hobgood, and Zach Britton as far as our starting pitching prospects go. He’d probably be in the Brandon Erbe, Troy Patton, David Hernandez range. Overall, I think it was a deal the Orioles couldn’t pass up to add a potential third baseman of the future and another arm to the ‘cavalry’. Sherrill was great as an Oriole but closers are continuously overrated in the trade market and unpredictable from year to year. His main asset is as a left handed specialist and he should help the Dodgers out in the late innings.

O’s Win In Tillman’s Debut 7-3

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Mat Albers gets the win, his 2nd.

The big story was Chris Tillman making his major league debut. He gave up three homeruns and was hit hard a little bit, but he showed he definitely has the stuff of a top of the rotation starter. His fastball ranged from 92-96 with some good movement at times, he couldn’t get his curveball over for a strike but you could see how it will be effective once he can, and his changeup might’ve been his most impressive pitch even though he apparently just learned it not too long ago. He ended up going 4.2 innings in the game, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits and a walk to go along with 2 strikeouts. He had to have been nervous despite not looking like it. Give him the rest of the season and I’m sure we’ll be happy with how he turns out. Matt Albers did a great job finishing off the 5th and going 2 more innings without giving up a run while striking out 2. Jim Johnson finished off the game by throwing 2 scoreless innings, striking out 4 batters.

Adam Jones loves the 1st inning. After Brian Roberts singled to lead it off, Jones hit his 3rd straight 1st inning homerun to give the Orioles a 2-0 lead. That would be all we could get off of Zack Greinke who went 6 innings. Our hitters must’ve been thrilled to see him go because we scored 3 runs in the 7th to take a lead we would never relinquish. Cesar Izturis and Roberts started it off with back to back walks. Jones doubled to right field, just missing another homerun, to tie the game. Then Nick Markakis ripped a single into right center field to score Roberts and Jones. Markakis would single in another run in the 8th, as would Aubrey Huff right behind him to give us our 7 runs. It was an exciting night at the yard, culminating in an Orioles victory.

Player of the game: Adam Jones (2-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, double (19), HR (17) (.298 AVG))

Brad Bergesen (6-5, 3.56) starts an early afternoon game today in our last game before the trade deadline. Speculation is George Sherrill to the Dodgers, but we’ll see. Luke Hochevar (6-3, 4.84) pitches for the Royals.

Down On The Farm: July 29th

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AAA Norfolk 6, Indianapolis 5

RHP Jake Arrieta: 6 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, BB, 6 K (4.70 ERA)
RF Jeff Fiorentino: 4-4, R, 2 RBI, BB (.326 AVG)
SS Justin Turner: 2-3, R, RBI, BB, double (21) (.309 AVG)

AA Bowie 6, Connecticut 2

RHP Ryohei Tanaka: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, 7 K, W (1-1) (1.80 ERA)
DH Paco Figeuroa: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, double (12) (.310 AVG)
CF Danny Figueroa: 1-3, R, RBI, BB, double (6) (.338 AVG)
1B Eric Crozier: 2-4, R, RBI (.262 AVG)

High A Frederick 1, Salem 0

RHP Pedro Beato: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 6 K (4.53 ERA) – Minor league player of the night
CF Matt Angle: 2-4, RBI (.287 AVG)
3B Matt Tucker: 1-2, BB (.321 AVG)

A Delmarva 4, Asheville 5

LHP Nathan Moreau: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K (3.92 ERA)
3B Tyler Kolodny: 3-5, 2 R, 3 doubles (19) (.244 AVG)
DH Xavier Avery: 3-5, RBI, double (11) (.261 AVG)

Short A Aberdeen 0, Hudson Valley 2

LHP Tyler Sexton: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, L (2-4) (3.14 ERA)
2B Michael Mooney: 2-3, double (5) (.253 AVG)

Rookie Bluefield 6, Princeton 7

RHP Justin Moore: 4.1 IP, H, ER, 3 BB, 6 K (3.28 ERA)
2B Gary Helmick: 3-5, 2 R, RBI, BB, double (4), HR (3) (.306 AVG)
1B Mike Flacco: 2-6, R, 2 RBI, double (8), HR (1) (.235 AVG)
RF Luis Ramirez: 2-5, R, triple (3) (.200 AVG)
C Joel Polanco: 2-4, R, 2 RBI (.302 AVG)

GCL Orioles 0, Twins 4

RHP Daurin Tavarez: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 K, L (1-1) (1.73 ERA)
LHP Tony Butler: IP, 0 ER (0.00 ERA) – Butler was the 5th and final piece to the Erik Bedard trade. He hurt his arm last year and now hes finally starting his comeback. He was highly regarded by some before the injury.