With the usual apologies to former Baltimore Sun Columnist John Eisenberg, here is another submission of my version of ‘Fact & Opinion.’

Fact:
Derrick Mason announced his retirement from the NFL this week.

Opinion:
I do believe that retirement sounded appealing after losing his friend, dealing with the shoulder-surgery, and the training-camp of Coach Harbaugh looming. I also believe that if Mason was actually set on being retired, he would not agree to meet with the Ravens, and would have already turned in his retirement paperwork to the league. If the Ravens extend his contract 1 year, I believe he will be back.

Fact:
Many Raven fans are irritated at Mason for the timing of his announcement.

Opinion:
Two weeks prior to the start of training-camp, is not great-timing. That said, instead of announcing his retirement, the news easily could have been he blew out his ACL training. The bigger issue is that the Ravens were left in a precarious position because they had not improved the WR core.

Fact:
The Ravens were able to extend Terrell Suggs long-term.

Opinion:
I wonder if the Organization will be able to now turn their attention to similar extensions for Ngata, Gaither, Clayton, and Washington; or if the organization’s attention will solely be on adding to the WR’s.

Fact:
The Baltimore Orioles have gone 24-23 overall, in their last 47 games, winning 6 of their last 9 series.

Opinion:
47 games is 29% of a 162 game season, and a viable sample-size. For the O’s to have played just over .500 ball in this stretch, with minimal contributions from Roberts, Jones, and Markakis, Wieters just getting his feet-wet, and the pitching not of the caliber of what should be expected in 2010; is very encouraging.

Fact:
I recently argued that Brandon Snyder should be the Oriole 3rd-baseman to start 2010.

http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2009/07/snyder-back-to-3rd.html

Opinion:
There is a very minimal, almost nil chance of the O’s choosing this option. The O’s will continue to have Reimold in LF, Scott at DH, Pie on the bench or gone, with Wigginton at 3rd.

Fact:
Miguel Tejada will be a Free Agent this coming off-season.

Opinion:
Tejada got the inaccurate reputation of being a horrible defensive player for the O’s, when he attempted to play SS with one leg. He has a great arm, and makes the routine play. He is not a statue, but has limited range. At age 35 it is probably even less than we remember. If he put up an OPS of .750 in 2010, that would be an upgrade over Izutris or Andino. Izturis has had 3,300 Major League at-bats, with a career on-base% under .300. He is a .620 career OPS player. The difference in his glove, is not worth that .130 point drop in OPS. If you had Tejada for one year, with Izturis or Andino on the bench as a defensive-replacement, that seems like win-win to me. Tejada bats 6th or 7th for you in 2010 as the O’s continue to look for a long-term answer.

Fact:
The Orioles head to NY, and Boston after their series with the White-Sox.

Opinion:
Chris Tillman will make his Major League Debut at home against Kansas City in the July 27th – 30th four-game series.

Fact:
Between AA Bowie, and AAA Norfolk, Troy Patton has pitched 89.2 innings in 2009.

Opinion:
Patton should be shut-down for the year after another 20-25 innings. He has been roughed up a bit in Norfolk, but I do not believe that matters all that much. The goal for Patton in 2009 was to regularly take the ball every 5th day. He has done that with his 16 starts. Him being consistently excellent at Bowie was a bonus, and bodes well for what he will be able to provide in 2010. After not pitching at all in 2008, I think you would want to limit the total innings he pitches in 2009.

Fact:
Terp Soph forward Jin-Soo Kim has changed his name to Jin-Soo Choi.

Opinion:
Choi’s Freshman season at College Park, should have been his Senior season in HS. He had started to appear on a couple of Top 100 lists as part of the 2009 class. He was able to come to MD, and begin to acclimate himself to College. Even though Choi did not play in any of the Terps last 7 games, I believe he can help MD in 2009-10. Bowie, Hayes, Vasquez, and Tucker are going to dominate minutes in the back-court, but there are minutes available at the 3 behind Mosley, especially if Gregory has to spend time in the front-court helping the bigs. I expect Choi to be a bit bigger, and stronger this year, and start to resemble the former Duke Blue Devil Mike Dunleavy, Jr. more and more. Choi needs to show an improved 3pt shot this year.


Fact:

ESPN’s Heather Dinich (formerly of the Baltimore Sun) ranked the Terps as having the 7th best RB unit in the ACC.
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/acc/0-6-311/Ranking-the-ACC-units–Running-backs.html

Opinion:

It will be settled on the field, but that seems very-low. Scott is not the best RB in the conference, but he is returning from a 1st-team All-ACC season. Meggett, and Green give great depth. Frankly, the Terps have 3 more RB’s that will not get much (any) time in 2009 that would contribute if opportunity was presented.

Mr. Phil Steele recently told me that he ranked MD’s RB unit 5th in the ACC:

“Right now I have Maryland my #5 set of RB’s in the ACC and they could easily move up in those rankings as the talent is there.“

http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2009/07/few-questions-with-mr-phil-steele.html

Mr. Todd Helmick ranked MD’s RB unit 2nd in the ACC:

http://baltimoresportsandlife.blogspot.com/2009/04/terp-football-q-with-todd-helmick-of.html

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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