Fact & Opinion 7

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

Fact:
Mychal Parker gave a verbal commitment to the University of Maryland this week. Parker becomes the 3rd member of the 2010 class, joining PG Terrell Stoglin, and SG Terrence Ross.

Opinion:
It is already an outstanding recruiting class, that can become obscene if the Terps add a big.
Ross’s former high-school teammate Terrence Jones would be ideal, if he could be sold on playing inside. However, Jones looks at himself as a wing like Parker.

New names have a way of emerging, but Jeff Errman of Inside MD Sports has done an excellent job of breaking down the Terp’s recruiting prospects:

http://www.insidemdsports.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=77

In my opinion, the player to now aggressively pursue is Jon Graham, the son of former MD player Ernest Graham. Jon Graham is a 6’8 220 PF, ranked as a Top 60 player by ESPN, and a Top 125 player by Rivals. As the son of a former Terp, you have a built in recruiting tool. As a member of Calvert Hall in Baltimore, he fills the need of wanting to add local talent. If you added Graham, the 2010-11 roster would look like:

1) Bowie, Stoglin
2) Tucker, Ross
3) Mosley, Parker, JSC
4) Padgett, Graham
5) Williams, Goins, Burney

Fact:
Cal is a 21.5 point favorite over Maryland in the September 5th season-opener.

Opinion:
Cal should be favored, but the line is too much. MD has played a bunch of cup-cakes in season openers since 2003, and looked poor numerous times. People have used to that to point-fingers at the MD coaching staff, and say that the team was under-prepared in camp. Maybe, but I think it is probably hard to get the attention of college-kids, and get the motivated to play 1AA powers Delaware, Villanova, William & Mary, or even lower 1A teams like Navy, and No. Illinois.

You can bet that Cal has Maryland’s full-attention. Between this line, and being picked to finish 5th in the ACC Atlantic, the Terps have had plenty of sand kicked in their faces this Summer. Maryland may not pull the upset like they did in College Park last year, but I fully expect them to be in the game late.

Fact:
After having 3 hits last-night, Felix Pie is now batting .259. He has an OPS of .706.

Opinion:
I think I feel better for Pie, than anyone else on the O’s. He worked extremely hard this year to improve. Even after 158 at-bats this year, Pie has a total of 418 at-bats in the Majors. The abuse he took earlier this year, was ridiculous. Based on his age (24), and the level of production he had shown in the Pacific Coast League (AAA) there was plenty of reason to believe Pie could develop with regular and consistent playing-time.

Fact:
Brian Matusz, and Chris Tillman are a combined 3-3 in their first 9 Major League starts, with 32 earned runs in 48.2 innings of work.

Opinion:
If you are not watching every pitch these two make, you are missing something. Their talent is clear, even through their early struggles. Tillman has been tagged for 9 homers in 30 innings, but still has an era under 5. He will work on keeping his fast-ball down, and improve on being less predictable with throwing the fastball in fastball counts. His pure-stuff is just excellent. Matusz has an era near 7, and has not yet had a start where he allowed less hits than IP. He also has had 7 k’s in back-to-back starts, and is making hitters look silly with his ability to work backwards.

At the absolute minimum, these two will give the O’s 300 combined innings, at a 4.50 era in 2010. My honest expectation is much higher.

Fact:
Luke Scott has taken over 1st-base with the trade of Aubrey Huff.

Opinion:
This is an excellent decision, which many of us called for through-out this season. It will allow the O’s to spend the next 40 games or so watching Pie everyday in LF, and Reimold at DH. Reimold has been battling injuries, so this can only help him. Further to that, it provides options for the O’s if they decide to send Brandon Snyder back to AAA to start 2010.

Fact:
John Rhyne Hughes was the player to be named in the Greg Zaun to Tampa deal.

Opinion:
Hughes and Michael Aubrey provide good internal depth for the O’s at 1st-base. Depending on the configuration of the roster, both could represent decent options off the bench in 2010.

Fact:
Jake Arrieta has made 3 straight starts at AAA Norfolk, where he has pitched at-least 6 innings, and allowed 2er or less. In those 19 innings, he has allowed 18 hits, 4 walks, with 15 k’s.

Opinion:
With Scott Boras as his Agent, Arrieta might not get the opportunity to make the O’s out of Spring Training, but I expect he will be an Oriole by the end of April.

Fact:
Troy Smith signed a 3 year contract with the Ravens that expires after this season.

Opinion:
I think Smith will get an opportunity to play somewhere else after this season. Assuming the latest reports are correct about John Beck being healthy, I expect Smith to be used often this season in the Wildcat. The Ravens will be more apt to use Smith, knowing that they have Beck behind him if necessary.

Fact:
The Sun’s Mike Preston speculated on a rumor he had heard about the Ravens attempting to trade Smith or D. Williams with a 2nd round pick for Denver WR Brandon Marshall.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/blog/2009/08/rumors_from_ravens_training_camp.html

Opinion:
Interesting, but I would think with Marshall lowering his value everyday in Denver, Smith and a 4th rounder would be more likely.

While I think this is unlikely, I do think there is sincere interest from the Ravens. Mason, Clayton, and Williams are all FA’s in 2010. Obtaining an All-Pro talent that would be under-contract, would make sense, even when factoring in the cost, and the risks associated with Marshall’s character.

Fact:
I only made it to Ravens camp once this summer.

Opinion:
The players that stood out that day were Peerman, Harper, and Webb. In the 1st-preseason game, Foster and Lawrence had big efforts. Do not see either one making the team, but Foster looked like he could help someone in their return game, and Lawrence was a pretty straight line banger, that also showed he could catch the ball out of the backfield.

I read up on Lawrence, and saw that he started his career at UConn, but transferred to UMass. Had a leg injury, got healthy, and had a huge senior season. He teminded me of the RB’s that Denver found year after year.

I am looking forward to watching the bubble guys in the 2nd-preseason game.