Who cares? This has nothing to do with the Yankees or Red Sox or Halladay.

Who cares? This has nothing to do with the Yankees or Red Sox or Halladay.

i tried.

What happened to the Orioles contingent on BBTF? Was it one of the mega-threads that I avoid like the plague that ran them off? As a longtime lurker and sort of occasional commenter, I really miss seeing that permutation of the site. The Orioles actually are running out lots of new and exciting players now, instead of simply saying they are. There is something exciting to talk about with these pitching options, so what say ye? Wasn't Bergeson given an award by JoePo recently for being the worst pitcher in the AL last year? Aren't one of you guys really tapped into the minor league system for the Orioles? The Baltimore version Mike Emeigh (or the real one would do too)? How do you think Tillman and Matusz might fare this year? I'm also sick of the 7 threads about the Red Sox getting Halladay (even if they are pretty damned informative), so why not do something about it.

I'm more an Oriole fan lurker, but to take a stab at the Matusz/Tillman question...Matusz definitely seemed ready to go at times, and has essentially come as advertised (polished, quick ascent to majors). It'll be interesting to see how he does as he gets more acclimated to the bigs...it wasn't too surprising to see some of the jitters as he came up. I'm pretty optimistic that he'll be able to throw 175 innings next year with an era of 4.5. Tillman's a bit more interesting...he did give up 15 homers in his 65 innings last year, though it was only 65 innings and he turned 21 on tax day of 2009. In his 230 minor league innings covering 2008 and 2009 in AA and AAA, he allowed 15 homers, so there is hope he'll be able to improve significantly in that area. It would be nice if he could also throw 175 innings to the tune of 4.50 ERA. I'm pretty intrigued to see how Bergeson will do next year. His FIP was above his regular ERA (4.20 v. 3.43), but still not too shabby.

As for the larger Oriole status, I do wonder how they are going to screw up all this young talent (Glenn Davis trade redux!). They are set in the OF (even with one to spare), behind the plate, 2B and they have a couple interesting prospects at the corners who should see Camden Yards in 2010, though both have their warts (Snyder and Bell obviously). SS is a black hole still. They have their fair share of minor league arms, so seeing guys like Adam Eaton and lesser prospects like Jason Berken should soon be a thing of the past. It is unfortunate that they have all that money and nobody to pay, because who would want to play for the Orioles? Hopefully they won't have that problem two years from now.

MacPhail & Co have restocked the farm system to the point that they're now being forced to expose a more interesting class of player. Steve Johnson will be available in the Rule 5 draft (I imagine he'll be selected and eventually returned to the O's). The Padres picked up Rad Liz on waivers the other day; he could still turn into a useful reliever if his arm is OK (his strikeouts went down this year and he ended up on the DL, but I don't remember what the diagnosis was.)

I like the idea of buying a lottery ticket on Bedard/Sheets/Harden, but I wonder if the O's wouldn't prefer somebody with a higher floor, even at the price of a lower ceiling. I certainly hope they can find four reliable starters from among Bergesen (0 Os in his name, by the way), Matusz, Tillman, Hernandez, Patton, Arrietta, and Erbe, but if they can't it would be nice to have one of them veteran innings-eaters around. Garland would be nice, but I wonder if he'll sign another one year contract...

"Wasn't Bergeson given an award by JoePo recently for being the worst pitcher in the AL last year?"

No - that might have been Jason Berken. Bergesen was a Rookie of the Year candidate before taking a line drive to the shin and missing the last two months of the season.

What happened to the Orioles contingent on BBTF?

It's all about critical mass. No one's going to type up long posts on the Orioles if they don't think they'll get a dialogue going. That was a sure thing when the Orioles front office were reliably stupid and entertaining, but now that MacPhail has brought relative competence to the Orioles, I think people are taking a wait-and-see approach.

MacPhail & Co have restocked the farm system to the point that they're now being forced to expose a more interesting class of player.

There is more talent on the 40-man than there has been in the past, but I don't think MacPhail was forced to expose Johnson or Liz given that Alberto Castillo, Armando Gabillo, Chris Tatum, and Rhyne Hughes have 40-man spots right now.

Leaving Johnson unprotected and trying to sneak Liz through waivers were calculated risks that hopefully won't bite them in the ass.

As for this offseason, all signs point to the O's finding average stopgaps at 1B and 3B, and two veteran pitchers - an innings-eater and a lottery ticket.

That's probably the right approach, although they should also be shopping around a few of the older assets that are starting to get expensive, although the list isn't particularly impressive. Scott and Guthrie might fetch a prospect or two, and Ray, Meredith, Uehara, and Wigginton could have value as part of a larger deal.

Basically, the Oriole contingent is just holding their collective breath. MacPhail seems to be heading in the right direction, and some of it is coming together. But, we play in the toughest division in MLB, and even a very good team can fall short of the playoffs there. There's a long road and a lot of luck between where they are now and what they would have to be to be truly competitive for the long haul. While there's certainly reason to be more optimistic than at any other time in the past decade, it's premature to be thinking they've crossed many of the hurdles to being back.