It looks like Opening Day 2008 is going to be a gray, drizzly, and cool affair today. Nonetheless, I will be there to partake in my (anticipated) lone baseball game of the year. Barring other circumstances, I am keeping to my rather harsh self-imposed exile from Camden Yards. Why should I spend my money on tickets when the product on the field is not worth the price of my admission?
Giving the rebuilding journey the team is embarking on, I fully expect this team to lose 100 games. They have very little offensive firepower for the AL East, and they are relying on a lot of untested youngsters in the starting rotation. Even worse, Daniel “Nuke LaLoosh” Cabrera gets trotted out every fifth day.
Still, there is a tiny ray of hope that this team is headed in the right direction. They finally cut Jay Gibbons, owing him nearly $12 million over the next two years on his contract. Peter Angelos is actually eating a contract for the long-term health of his franchise. Given the last ten years of ineptitude on his part, I am surprised to see this decision. Now, if only that same roster decision can be made for others–Jay Payton and Aubrey Huff being two names that immediately come to mind.
So, maybe, just maybe, there is a small bit of light at the end of this long and very dark tunnel my hometown team has been stuck in. Maybe.
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Both Huff and Payton could have some nominal value at the trade deadline, so I wouldn’t expect them to be cut.
I hope you decide to see some more games this year. The Orioles have a lot of exciting young players right now, more than in any of the recent years I’ve been following them. In the last year or so, they’ve made some really good moves (not only cutting Payton, but the Bedard and Tejada trades both look to be landslide deals for the O’s, and even that little Steve Trachsel move they made last September was a great little trade), and it’ll all pay off soon…
I’m such a baseball optimist… even when not talking about the Tigers, I guess.
Both Huff and Payton could have some nominal value at the trade deadline, so I wouldn’t expect them to be cut.
I hope you decide to see some more games this year. The Orioles have a lot of exciting young players right now, more than in any of the recent years I’ve been following them. In the last year or so, they’ve made some really good moves (not only cutting Payton, but the Bedard and Tejada trades both look to be landslide deals for the O’s, and even that little Steve Trachsel move they made last September was a great little trade), and it’ll all pay off soon…
I’m such a baseball optimist… even when not talking about the Tigers, I guess.
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