Fat Sid comes back to B-more

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Just reported on the Dan Patrick Show that Ponson signed with the O's. That helps the staff some!

[jaxskins]

OH Yippie..... another high ERA pitcher good thing the O's got some bats this year were gonna need the 3 run homer more than ever.

[Smooty]

Sidney was a must sign, but with the staff right now 500 ball is what the O's are looking at. Unless a youngster steps up Bigtime with 16+ wins :rolleyes:

[bulldog]

Ponson's overall 3.71 compares favorably with the solid pitchers in the AL. So does his penchant for eating up innings.

Flanagan said this was going to be a 2 year process and adding 43-38-27 producers in Lopez, Palmeiro and Tejada in Year 1 was a reflection of where the balance of talent was in the 2004 free agent class.

There were no great pitchers out there that the Orioles could have added to the one move they did make for the staff in Ponson.

Schilling is 37 and wanted to go to an immediate contender.

Maddux, also 37, is headed down the slope. This is a move the O's under Thrift would have made :(

And Pettite was either going to stay in NY or go home to Texas.

In terms of a young pitcher winning 15 or 16 games, who knows? :)

What does Ainsworth and DuBose really have to offer?

Maybe a lot, maybe a little.

But you can take Flanagan at his word. 2 years.

I don't think his resume is in doubt when we are talking about judging pitching talent.

With the expiration of the Cordova and Segui contracts in 2005 the Orioles will be able to sign 2 frontline pitchers.

And that together with what they have on the field and in the system should be enough to get the team back into legitimate contention.

[TheDoyler23]

Ponson is a solid innings eater, and gives up suprisingly few hr in a hitters ballpark.

[BG]

yaaaaaaaaay..........................

he was awesome this past year. :(

:rolleyes:

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I agree with bulldog, I think you'll see the O's get just as aggressive next year and try to get a big-name starter in here along with some more offense.

This year we'll get better, but it won't be until the following year that we can realistically hope to contend for a wildcard IMO.

[AJWatson3]

Ponson is a good pickup for us. Hell, we traded him, picked up Ainsworth and Moss (think he's gone now), in what was described by Gammons and others as a great trade on our part, and we've got him back for the same contract we offered him last year! Sweet!

While he isn't one of the top pitchers in the game he is not half bad. He'll eat up 200+ innings and give you 15 or so wins. Now if you think about the added run support our staff will have this year I would argue he can hit 20 wins in 2004...

after next season FA aquisitions we will truly have a contender.

[December90]

At least B-More is trying to look like a decent 3rd or 4th place team instead of the joke that they have put on the field since angelos bought the team.

[Funkyalligator]

The sydney ponson trade was awesome...we got some great pitching prospects and we were still able to resign him....I also was really happy when we were able to sign Adam Loewen right before the draft...he is an awesome pitching prospect....ala Randy Johnson....tall and left handed throws 90+ .

[AJWatson3]

wait till you see Loewen and a couple of the other young guys (Denny Bautista, John Maine, Eric Bedard, and Matt Riley) in a few years. we are building to contend in three seasons!

orioleshangout.com is a good site to get up-to-date info about the O's....

here is a list of our top prospects from that site: http://www.orioleshangout.com/Wilt/Top10.htm

[bulldog]

December90, I would agree that Angelos did little the past 4 seasons to improve the club. Part of that was depending on senile Syd Thrift to make personnel moves. The other part was probably Angelos laying low and trying to appear vulnerable so as to avoid having the Expos dropped 40 miles to the south in DC :laugh:

BUT, after Angelos bought the team the Orioles did put together playoff seasons in 1996 and 1997, going on to the ALCS both years. In 1997 the team went wire to wire in first place.

The disappointment was clearly the failure to capitalize in 1997 against what I felt was clearly an inferior team in the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS.

Davey Johnson made some poor decisions in the playoffs that year, none greater than sticking to his season long practice of using Armando Benitez to set up Randy Myers despite the fact that Benitez had shown a penchant for being wild in the series against the Mariners.

If Johnson had brought Myers in to pitch the 8th as well as the 9th inning of that last game at Camden Yards, the O's would have been in the Series.

His mistake was as pronounced as the one made by Grady Little in sticking with an obviously fatigured Pedro Martinez against the Yankees.

[TheDoyler23]

The orioles are banking on buying enough offense that they can be a high run scoring team, while the young pithing staff matures(not to mention 7 of 10 top prospects are pitchers). in 3 years, the orioles strength will be pitching!