| 31 March 2009
We're less than one week away from opening day so it's time to take one last look at the teams we'll be seeing the most of over the next six months - the AL East.
Anthony from Orioles Magic wrote a preview for us back in February and Fire Brand of the AL is running their annual Know They Enemy previews this week, but we're going to keep things simple this week and give you Three Things you should know about the 2009 Orioles.
Click these links to get Three Things about the Yankees, Blue Jays and Rays.
Three Things you should know about the Baltimore Orioles:
1. Catching phenom Matt Wieters is the real deal. Wieters is probably the most hyped rookie in all of baseball right now and he's lived up to the hype so far this spring. In 39 spring at-bats Wieters is hitting .333 with 4 doubles, a home run and 5 RBI. Bill James projects him to hit above .300 and hit 20+ home runs in his rookie season... he's likely to slow down in the second half, but Wieters could be the best catcher in the AL East this year when all is said and done.
2. The "O" stands for outfield. The Orioles pitching staff is down right scary, but the offense will be one of the best in the AL - lead by a young and impressive group of outfielders. Oriole Magic said to keep an eye on Felix Pie, who came to Baltimore in trade with the Cubs. Pie has proven he can play in AAA posting a .310 BA in 1123 at-bats, but it's never transalted into major league success. It's been more of the same so far this spring for Pie who is hitting just .231, but he's only 24... with enough at-bats he could develop into a 20/20 player.
Nick Marakakis and Adam Jones are the other big names in the Baltimore outfield. Markakis has been one of the O's most consistent players since his arrival in 2006. He hits around .300, can steal 15+ bases and has 20 HR power... all while playing Gold Glove caliber defense in right. Adam Jones could be just as good. He had a decent year in 2008 hitting .270 with 9 homers, but he looks set to break out in 2009 with .382 BA this spring and 3 ding dongs... he's also just 24 years old.
Luke Scott and Ryan Freel will also be in the mix. Scott's power enables him to play OF and DH... he's got 4 homers and 13 RBI already this spring. The O's are giving Freel a long look (64 ABs), but he's hitting just .234 with a whopping 17 strikeouts.
3. Who's the closer? George Sherrill saved 31 games for the O's in 2008, but he did it in dramatic fashion, posting a 4.72 ERA along the way. The starts to his 2009 campaign has not been much better - 5.68 ERA, 7 G, 6.1 IP, 4 SO, 4 BB.
Chris Ray saved 33 games in 2007, but lost his job due to injury and ineffectiveness in 2008. But now he's back with a vengeance, throwing 11.1 scoreless inning this spring with nine strikeouts.
The O's haven't announced their closer yet, but if these trends continue, Ray should be back in the closer's role sooner rather than later.
Whoever ends up closing in Baltimore will have a tough time surpassing the 30 save mark thanks to a pretty awful pitching staff, but the offense will keep them in some games and Ray could emerge as one of the best closers in the AL this year.
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