Outside the Box

Yahoo! Sports: MLB - Orioles' youth movement stalls

``There are some familiar faces and great players here,'' he said. ``It's a new look, and it's exciting in that regard. The fact of the matter is that a lot of people are counting the Orioles out. But in baseball nothing is guaranteed. Young teams have a certain fire in their eyes.''

Bordick must be talking about the opposition. I've been saving all of my Orioles moves for one day, so here goes.

Mike Bordick - He should be better than Melvin Mora, who is now being talked about as a center fielder?! Bordick looks like fast dropper to me. I think the end will come pretty quickly and be particularly unpleasant in his case. Not that he ever was any great shakes.

David Segui - A neat study would be to see if players with later peaks (30-32) are more productive from 35-40 than earlier peakers. Logic would dictate yes, but there is only one way to find out. Segui will be 34 next year and has never been a particularly good hitter for a first baseman, so I would expect some pretty brutal years out of him in the next four. He has to bat .330 just to be an average first baseman.

Pat Hentgen - He's a league average pitcher and is unlikely to ever be much more than that since his surgery. Someone commented that he was as good of a pickup as Appier and I would agree with that, but he isn't likely to be on the next Orioles championship team. He will however help considerably in their drive for 70 wins. I've never seen a rebuilding team get older like this.

Johnson (29) for Fordyce (31)
Hentgen (32) for Mussina (32)
Bordick for Bordick.

I don't see much of a light at the end of this tunnel.

On another note, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas (from my Christian-centric background). I will be visting the in-laws in North Carolina and won't be around till the middle of next week.