(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
TwinsCentric: Preview The Orioles By The Numbers
Let's Look Ahead To Opening Day And The Orioles
By John Bonnes
April 2, 2012 at 11:34AM
I know the Twins still have five days until they get to play the Orioles, but I can't wait. The roster is set. There are a couple more meaningless games against the Rays, because you can't play enough meaningless games against the Rays. And then a game versus the Miracle? Really? I'll be damned if I'm not going to look forward to Friday.
Orioles By The Numbers Overall69.5 – The over/under Vegas set for Orioles wins this year. Which means if they go 70-92, they would still exceed expectations. That's the worst over/under in the American League. 103-116 – Manager Buck Showalter's record with the Orioles. 2-6 – Twins record against the Orioles last year. Pitching30 – Where the Orioles whole pitching staff ranked in ERA last year, one spot behind the Twins. 5.39 – The collective ERA of the Orioles starting rotation, worst in the major leagues. 0.57 – How much worse that ERA was than the second worst team. 3 – Days before the season opener that Showalter will be announcing his Opening Day starting pitcher and the rest of the Orioles rotation. That's Tuesday. 13 – Combined number of wins the Opening Day starting pitching candidates, Jake Arrieta and Tommy Hunter, had last year. (Both are right-handers.) Offseason$3.25M – Biggest contract the Orioles paid to a free agent from MLB this offseason. That's not per year - that's total. $19.5M – Amount Orioles spent on a pair of Japanese starting pitchers, Wei-Yin Chen and Tsuyoshi Wada. .290 – The highest batting average of an Orioles everyday player last year. It belonged to Vladimir Guerrero, who was not signed during the offseason and is considering playing in Japan. Offense14th – Where the Orioles offense ranked in runs scored last year in MLB. 196 – Number of times Orioles third baseman Mark Reynolds struck out last season while hitting .221. .806 – The highest OPS of any Oriole regular last year. It belonged to Mark Reynolds. 7/9 – The fraction of this year's Orioles lineup that had an OPS of at least 750 last year. 0 - Percent chance JJ Hardy will not be ready for Opening Day, according to JJ Hardy. He's been out for a week with discomfort in his right shoulder and received a cortisone shot for it on Thursday. ~~~ All those roster moves made for a busy weekend at TwinsDaily.
- Nick breaks down the biggest decisions, including the decision not to carry three catchers.
- The community had a lot of thoughts as the final decisions were made yesterday.
- If you missed the season premiere of the Ron Gardenhire show, Seth has the Cliff Notes version.
- And spring training isn't just winding down for the major leaguers. Minor league pitcher Tim Shibuya wrote about how spring training ends, both for better and for worse.
about the writer
John Bonnes
Evidence exists that some recent Grand Turkeys changed their behavior after receiving the prestigious honor. Inspired, The Chairman declares this the Make the Turkeys Great Again era.