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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.
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Orioles By The Numbers
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Overall
69.5 – 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.
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103-116 – Manager Buck Showalter’s record with the Orioles.
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2-6 – Twins record against the Orioles last year.
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Pitching
30 – Where the Orioles whole pitching staff ranked in ERA last year, one spot behind the Twins.
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5.39 – The collective ERA of the Orioles starting rotation, worst in the major leagues.
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0.57 – How much worse that ERA was than the second worst team.
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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.
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13 – Combined number of wins the Opening Day starting pitching candidates, Jake Arrieta and Tommy Hunter, had last year. (Both are right-handers.)
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Offseason
$3.25M – Biggest contract the Orioles paid to a free agent from MLB this offseason. That’s not per year - that’s total.
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$19.5M – Amount Orioles spent on a pair of Japanese starting pitchers, Wei-Yin Chen and Tsuyoshi Wada.
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.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.
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Offense
14th – Where the Orioles offense ranked in runs scored last year in MLB.
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196 – Number of times Orioles third baseman Mark Reynolds struck out last season while hitting .221.
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.806 – The highest OPS of any Oriole regular last year. It belonged to Mark Reynolds.
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7/9 – The fraction of this year’s Orioles lineup that had an OPS of at least 750 last year. Â
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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.
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~~~
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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.
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