Greivis Vasquez Makes 2nd Team All-American, Not Good Enough For Me

It was announced that now former Maryland star, Greivis Vasquez, made 2nd team All-American. I'm of course thrilled by this. However, I don't believe he's worthy of that 2nd team, he's worthy of that first team slot.

He beat Scottie Reynolds, of 'Nova. But if you take a look at the stats, there's no comparison, General Greivis was far superior. He averaged 20 points per game, Reynolds 18. Vasquez lead his team to a regular season conference title, Reynolds did not. Greivis was ACC POY, Reynolds was not. Greivis has 4.6 rebs. per game, Reynolds only had 2.7. I could go on for quite a while on how Greivis is superior to Reynolds, but I won't.

Greivis must be thrilled to have this honor, but he's better then what the honor gives him credit for. He's better then the 1st team All-American, but the voters, for some reason do not, and that's why I don't think it's right and that's why it's not good enough for me and for the way he played.

Matusz For ROY!

Let the campaign begin for Brain Matusz as AL Rookie of the Year. If he pitch as well as he been pitching during spring training, he should be a front-runner. And unlike our three canidates last year, Bergesen, Reimold and Wieters, he will will have a whole year to build his campaign and better his stats. I believe starting the season with the O's will benefit Brian greatly, there won't be any adjustments needing to be made. The majority of big prospects (Strasburg, Heyward, Posey and maybe even Chapman) reside in the NL. His main competition should come from the Rays' Desmond Jennings, their 5-tool outfielder. And possible closer, Neftali Feliz of Texas. There's an outside chance for Jesus Montero of the Yankees, however he will certainly not be rushed as long as Posada keeps playing solid ball.

Matusz is the front runner for me because he's already shown that he can pitch in the Majors, and if you look at his last few starts, he can pitch very well.

I'm back Blogging

After a long hiatus, I'm back blogging, I'll be able to post 3-5 times a week depending on my schedule and what's happening.

Man have I missed a lot!!

What's Wrong With The Ravens, Defense Edition

I've found that both the Pass and Run D have a similar main problem, they are passive. There's been an insane amount of rushes with only the D-Line going this season. That might have worked in the past but not anymore. Aside form Ngata, our D-line is mediocre at best. Gregg and Pryce have both "lost a step" and Bannan and Edwards just aren't very good.

So if you don't have that great of D-Line why don't you use 4 fantastic linebackers to help. They'd close up lanes and put more heat on the quarterback. But no! You use a mediocre line. That's what wrong with the Ravens' defense.

What's Wrong With the Ravens, Offense Edition

On Sunday the Ravens suffered a embrassing loss to Bengals, the 17 to 7 score didn't show how overmatched they were by the Bengals. Every facet of the team needs to improve if we want to have even the slightest chance of making it into the playoffs.

Pass Offense- It's getting over used. Joe Flacco is a good QB, don't get me wrong, but he's not ready for throwing 30-45 passes a game. We beat Denver because we were balanced, Flacco threw only 25 and completed 20 of them. You're not going to get beat when your QB has an 80% completion percentage. Reduce the load on Joe and give the three headed monster more work. Speaking of the three headed monster...

Run Offense- The three-headed monster isn't using two of it's heads. I love Ray Rice, he's so agile, so bouncy and just all around explosive, but he's no where near being a downhill runner. McGahee has been nothing more then a benchwarmer during 1-4 run, and McClain hasn't come in much at all. The part with McClain particularly bugs me, if McClain isn't in then that means the Ravens are running with no Fullback lead blacker is usally a bad idea. Rice has been getting hit more in the backfield then anytime before that. If you put McClain in there, he should give Rice way more lanes and more opportunities for him to do his thing in the open field. You can't be successful when you have three good running backs, and only one of them is being used often.

I'll share my thoughts on what's wrong with the Ravens defense tomorrow.

The Hunt For A Backup Catcher

Lots of things going on right now in the sports world, there's the World Series, there's some Division 2 school beating Syracuse but the present to you an issue far more important..THE HUNT FOR A BACKUP CATCHER.

The Orioles recently declined the option of Chad Moeller meaning that we don't have a back-up catcher. Not even a switch-hitting jesus can catch 162 games.

There are several possibilities for back-up catcher. We need someone who's low cost, a solid defensive catcher and a guy who should know how to help a young pitching staff. Right now I can only think of one guy who comes even close to the bill.

GREGORY OWEN ZAUN!

I think the re-return of Zaun would be a good decision. Wieters praised Zaun for giving him many useful tips relating to catching. Gregg has been in the league since King Kelly was playing so he knows a helluva lot about catching, and managing pitching staffs. He seems to be perfect to play once or twice a week, as mentioned above, he could be signed for dirt cheap, plays fundamental baseball and could be very useful as a mentor for the team.

Oh and he's also related to this guy.

Remember, It's Buy The Bats Not Trade For Them

I've heard plenty of talk about Adrian Gonzalez becoming an Oriole this offseason. Hell, I've heard Prince Fielder in a couple places.

However there is one problem, acquiring these names would require a trade, A trade that would most likely involve Brandon Snyder and/or Jake Arrieta, the current two jewels off the Orioles' farm system.

There really is no chance Andy would trade away any pitching prospect or the his team's future at first base. Andy has to much baseball smarts to trade his top prospect(s) for an over-priced star.

Now you may say, what about free agency? Jed Hoyer, the current GM would be a moron to trade away Gonzalez, he's the team's only star and Gonzalez goes so does the majority of their fans. Gonzalez single-handily puts fannies in the PETCO seats, get rid of him you're doomed.

As much as I would like to see Adrian Gonzalez or Prince Fielder, it won't happen. There's no way that Andy would trade away Synder/Arrieta for either one of them.