Spring Training 2013

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Pitcher Jair Jurrjens solid in debut as Orioles edge Blue Jays | orioles.com: News

Right-hander Jair Jurrjens got the start for Baltimore and pitched a three-up, three-down first before getting into a jam in the second. Jurrjens allowed a pair of runners to reach base and then proceeded to allow a two-out RBI single to utility man Mark DeRosa.

Jurrjens hit 93 mph on the radar gun and was charged with the one run on two hits over the two frames. He threw 19 of his 29 pitches for strikes in his first appearance since signing with Baltimore during the offseason.

"I felt good. My timing's coming back," said Jurrjens, who is trying to overcome a right knee issue this spring to earn a spot in Baltimore's rotation. "I still need to work on the slider. The timing's a little bit off on that. But I felt really good. The ball's coming out like I want it to. I'm keeping the ball down. That's the main thing."


The pitching field is pretty steep, but atleast we signed Jurrjens to a one year minor league contract. No big risk here. Let's see what he can do. Steve Pearce hit a hr scoring Lew Ford off of Mark Buehrle. Trayvon Robinson, who was acquired in the Robert Andino trade, got a double and scored a run. He had homered in saturday's matchup with the Twins.

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Kevin Gausman also reached 98 mph on the radar gun in a 1 2/3 inning relief outing, according to the site. "Gausman's fastball touched 98 mph and sat around 96-97, and his sinking changeup clocked in around 82-85 mph"

He'll be monitored carefully and have an innings cap no matter what he does this year (as will Dylan Bundy).

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

A little bit about Russ Canzler. He's a Hazleton Pennsylvania native, as is skipper Joe Madden for the Rays. He's been claimed off of waivers by the Jays, Indians, Yanks and, finally, the O's this offseason. He's good enough to merit a look, as the aforementioned teams snapped him but then later acquired other bats (Yanks - Travis Hafner, Tribe - Mark Reynolds, Jays - Everything except the kitchen sink) that made him expendable. We'll have to see if he gets a shot. He was contemplating an offer to play in Japan before the O's snapped him up.

Know Your 40: Russ Canzler - Pinstriped Bible

The right-handed hitter was a late-round draft pick out of Hazleton High School in Pennsylvania by the Chicago Cubs in 2004, selected in a 30th round that included luminaries like Issael Gonzalez and Jonathan Lindenberger (also St. Louis Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia, who did not sign with his drafting team, the Baltimore Orioles). It took Canzler a pair of seasons to get out of Rookie Ball. In his first year, he struggled both at the plate (.248/.310/.352) and in the field (11 errors in 55 chances at his original position of third base), but he moved across the diamond to first and played much better there while improving to a .299/.387/.427 triple slash.

Canzler blew past short-season A-ball with Boise in ’06 thanks to a .383 wOBA and 138 wRC+, and after an off-year in ’07 at Low-A, he spent awhile further developing within the Cubs’ system. It took him a pair of seasons to master Double-A pitching, but when he did, he ran roughshod over the league with a .287/.372/.566 batting line with 21 homers, a. 414 wOBA, and a 152 wRC+. Canzler also returned to third for the majority of his playing time and even though he was no Brooks Robinson, he was better than he had been in Rookie Ball. According to FanGraphs, he did benefit from a great park for right-handed hitters, but they were good enough to impress the Tampa Bay Rays and fellow Hazleton native Joe Maddon.

When Canzler and the Cubs parted ways after the season, the Rays picked him up and he had a monster 2011 with Triple-A Durham. He went on to win the International League MVP by hitting .314/.401/.530 with 40 doubles, 18 homers, a .410 wOBA, and a 157 wRC+. Canzler also added "outfielder" to his repertoire (somewhat), as he divided his time up in the field fairly evenly—41 games in right, 40 at third, 33 in left, and 17 at first. The performance was enough to earn him his major-league debut, and he actually got his first hit in "The Show" at Yankee Stadium during a 15-8 blowout.

The Indians decided they liked Canzler, so they purchased him from the Rays prior to the 2012 season. However, instead of getting a shot with the Indians ahead of unimpressive competition like Jack Hannahan, Shelley Duncan, a disappointing Casey Kotchman, and the AARP edition of Johnny Damon, Canzler spent almost the whole year with Triple-A Columbus. Although his statistics weren’t quite up to snuff with his previous season, they were still good for that level and got him a September call-up to Cleveland. Given the opportunity to start most of the games with the Indians far out of the race, Canzler was only okay, but he appeared to be quite the platoon man. In albeit a small sample size, Canzler hit .215/.250/.277 against righties in 68 plate appearances, and .393/.414/.679 against lefties in 29 plate appearances. Even a Cy Young-contending southpaw like Chris Sale fell victim to Canzler on one particularly good swing:

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Brian Roberts got his first hits of spring training.. two doubles.. in the win over the Yanks. Nick Markakis singled him in and Adam Jones doubled him in for two runs scored on the day. Brian Matusz pitched two scoreless innings. Looks like they're still considering Matusz in the starting pitching mix. Nate McLouth doubled in two runs (glad we resigned him) and Russ Canzler drove in Trayvon Robinson to round out the final score, 5 - 1

 

[HammerDown]

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Gausman seems to be a big ice-cream fan from what I see of his tweets.

Adam Jones and some other vets got wind of his superstition of eating one powdered donut before his first pitch and FOUR powdered doughnuts between each additional inning he pitches and welcomed him to the club this way..

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Chris Davis got his 2nd homerun of ST against the Red Sox on wednesday, Chris Tillman gave up one hit in 1 2/3 inning against a fair share of Sox regulars. Jair Jurrgens fared not so well in the O's first loss of ST, giving up 3 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks in one inning. 13 of his 34 pitches were for strikes.

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Brian Roberts goes 3-for-3 with a homer and Jason Hammel pitches two scorless innings, allowing one hit and striking out 3, as the O's beat the Pirates 6-5. Roberts is now 6-for-11 for ST.. encouraging that he seems to have his swing. Best thing for him confidence-wise.

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Markakis scratched from O's lineup with neck spasms | orioles.com: News

SARASOTA, Fla.-- Right-hander Dylan Bundy was originally scheduled to pitch in Sunday's Orioles game, but according to manager Buck Showalter, he had a groin spasm and was pushed back to be safe.

Bundy will now take a workday on Tuesday, when he will take will take part in biomechanical analysis testing, following the team's off-day on Monday.

The organization's top pitching prospect, Bundy last pitched on Wednesday, and he has appeared in two games, throwing three scoreless innings.

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Ruzz Canzler gets 2 homeruns and 6 rbi against..... team Spain!

Okay, I don't know how much that really tells us about his ability to help from the bench on the major league roster. But.... if he continues to show some flashes against MLB-caliber pitching in the next few weeks, I hope he gets a chance to make the big league club. We'll just have to see..

Looked at his Twitter feed for the first time. It says "Follower of Christ. Journeyman Baseball Player... Luke 12:22-34 Ecclesiastes 12:13-14"

Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? 25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?

29 “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. 30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things[a] shall be added to you.

32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.




I hope he gets a fair shot. We'll see..

 

[jeffro151]

Team seems to be playing really well. Loving the fact that the skanks' big bats seem to be dropping like flies.

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Ha! Yes, filthy dogs get what they deserve.

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

Arrieta and Matusz are showcasing the O's pitching depth (four scoreless innings a piece). Gonzo had a subpar outing the other day and Tillman is still suffering from abdominal soreness, but the thing I love about our fleet of #3 pitchers is that there is always someone to plug in when someone else is either injured or not playing up to snuff. This year could be more of the same as 2012 as far as starting pitching goes and, frankly, I'm not too worried about it at all. This is a rare treat for us bird fans. We've got arms. I'm liking it.

Yeah, it's only ST, but we're 11-4 now. If nothing else, we know we've got options in the minors when things aren't going swimmingly in the majors.

Nick the stick (does he still go by that anymore?) has a disk herniation and the prognosis for recovery is 7-14 days. This is one injury where I hope the O's brass just says 'screw it' and let's him get all the healing time he needs.. even if he misses Opening Day. Or Opening Week, for that matter. I don't want to see him get rushed back. Remember Brian Roberts in '10? I don't want to see a repeat of that.

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

I'm thinking Brian Matusz is assured of a spot in the starting rotation. Leading all pitchers on the staff with 15 innings pitched with a WHIP of 1.00 to go along with it.

 

[ThruTheEyesOfRuby]

With Zach being optioned to Norfolk, it looks like our starting corps will consist of Hammel, Chen (who had a rough outing against the Phillies), Gonzo, Tillman and Arrieta. Matusz is still in the mix. He could be back.. we'll see. I think a lot of that depends on whether Chen and Gonzalez can pitch the way they did last year. I still like Steve Johnson as an option.