thundercleetz

Ewww now the transcript of the interview is released and it seems like the Ravens pressured Reed last season to play on the torn labrum. Reed doesn't seem too happy: Ed Reed says he's at 35 percent after playing with torn labrum If anything, for all those Ed Reed bashers who say he lost a step, try walking on a torn labrum, much less playing at an elite level level intercepting Peyton Manning twice. If he takes his time and comes back 100%, you have to like his ability to continue to play at a high level.

Wedge to me is no different than a Mike Hargrove. I don't think his style is what we need to get the most out of our young players. Here is a good piece from the NY Post stating why Showalter is perfect for the O's:

From Hensley's Twitter: This does not sound too good. Ed had the surgery sometime at the end of April. Four-to-six months puts him returning anytime from the end of August to the end of October. The season starts Monday, September 13 for us. That is probably Reed's target date. However, it has been a little under two months since the surgery and Reed is only at an estimated 35% recovery. That puts him on schedule to take the full six month recovery period. Add in the fact he has to get himself into football shape and that means he could easily miss up to the first six games of the season. Could Reed be a PUP list candidate? Good thing we signed Hamlin. Zibby played admirably last season filling in for Reed. Hopefully he has gotten better this offseason and the competition between between Zibby and Hamlin will make both players better giving us a solid short-term replacement for Reed.

Showalter is considered the front runner now. I think he would be the ideal guy for the job.

Kindle won't be a problem. Second picks are a lot more heavily slotted than first round picks.

Good move! The Ravens must have really liked what they saw to negotiate with Harris to get him signed as opposed to a take-it or -leave-it offer. The more quality bodies you get in there, the more competition, the better everyone gets.

I love this move. Bulger is a vet who has had a lot of success in this league. He gives Joe another set of eyes to scout the defense. Bulger instantly becomes one of the best backup QBs in the NFL. God forbid something happen to Joe, I would feel very comfortable with Bulger filling in for a few games. Much more so than Troy Smith or John Beck. The contract we gave Bulger (he is making more than Flacco this season according to the Sun) shoes the Bisciotti is serious about winning and will pay whatever it takes to put the best team together. Great move all around. Goodbye Troy Smith. I am getting tired of his immaturity and never thought he was that great of a QB in the first place. Goodluck trying to start somewhere else.

Have you ever thought that our scouts might just be twice as good as everyone else's?

Being we don't have a first round pick, there really shouldn't be any problems with any of the draft picks.

I agree, Bengals fans have to feel good about there team. John Clayton wrote a solid article (Bengals face tough road) on the Bengals offseason. They are pretty solid all around. They might not have any real studs on defense outside of Rivers, Hall, and Joseph, but they have a lot of solid players in Odom, Geathers, Peko, Maualuga, and Ndukwe. And I love the Gibril Wilson pick-up, he is very underrated. Dunlap and Ghee are also good fits for their defense. Then you add in the fast and talented Adam Jones, who supposedly has a renewed focus, and there is a lot of depth and talent. The defense was fourth in the league last year and has the potential to be even better. On offense as long as Carson Palmer is the QB the Bengals are going to be dangerous at the end of games if teams cannot put them away. Bryant is a perfect fit for the system. Gresham gives Carson a dynamic, pass catching TE he has never had before, and like papa I love the Shipley pickup. He is very quick, has good hands, is a good route runner, and has a very solid build. Put that all together and he could gain a lot of YAC out of that slot position as coverages are going to be shifted toward Bryant and Chad. Add in that physical run game and Carson and co. are going to be very difficult to stop. Even without that said, I like how we matchup. On offense Joe has a lot more weapons to work with as well. I don't think the Bengals will be able to web the underneath stuff leaving the intermediate-middle of the exposed. Pita, Dickson, and Boldin all have the ability to work over the middle. And if the Bengals start creeping up too much covering the short stuff, Stallworth will burn them deep. There were opportunities in both games last year for the big play, we just didn't have the weapons to make them pay. We bolstered out run defense, I do not think Benson is going to be as successful against us this season. However, it is all going to come down to our pass rush. If we can get a consistent rush on Carson, our secondary should be fine, they 8th in the league last season with a much worse pass rush. As long as Washington and Webb stay on schedule, we shouled be able to hold up. If there is a lack of pass rush, Carson will tear the secondary apart... I see our teams as very similar. Both have a solid run game, weapons in the pass game, strong armed QBs, and rock solid defenses. What it comes down to overall is whether Flacco can take that next step and start to make defenses pay in crunch time. If so, I like our chances a lot. But as is, the Bengals are the defending champs and have the better QB, you have to give the an edge in that Week 2 matchup, especially at home.

I agree, dc. At first I did not like it, but now I like how little effort it takes. One major plus is that it gets rid of the starting pitching win and K spamming. Especially in rotisserie-style leagues, teams that have little to loses in the ERA of WHIP categories will resort to this.

And coaches and players saw enough from him in 2007 to vote him into the Pro Bowl. He has started since coming into the league in 2003, and he played well enough to earn a six-year, $38 million contract. That experience of starting over 90 games in the NFL will definitely help us at some point. All I am saying is that I would much rather have Ken Hamlin back at safety than Will Demps. We have done very well in the past with a lot worse, and if Hamlin has to start a few games, he will not kill us. I certainly do not think Landry is much better, if any.

Well, you can't judge a player off of one play. Hamlin has always been known as a guy who goes for the big hit, but is not a sure tackler. He gives us size in the secondary and has very good ball skills at free safety. In other words, he will give us solid depth and we could do a lot worse at safety. I like the move. He is probably a guy who's play will be elevated playing in a Ravens defense.

I was never a fan of bulletin board material. If you are not fired up already to play in the NFL, much less in a game against a division rival, even more so with Ray Lewis on your sideline, you probably shouldn't be playing, much less the Ravens. If you ask me, Chad has every right to be confident playing against us. The swept us last year beating us at our own game, and there was nothing our #3 defense could do to stop their offense in the fourth quarter. Now, should he be cocky? No way. Chad knows more than anyone else the nature of the AFC North. They swept us last year, but we swept them the year before. This division seemingly shifts in power each year. I think Chad is just being Chad talking out of his ass. But when it comes down to it, he will be prepared and probably have a big game one way or another. Did the Bengals "get better" then us? I don't think so. But did we get better than them? I don't think so either. The Bengals had a lot of high draft picks this year (a first, second, and two thirds to go along with two fourth round selections). The additions of Gresham and Bryant on offense are going to be hard to stop, and don't underestimate Jordan Shipley out of the slot. With Chad and Bryant as do-it-all threats, and Gresham with the ability to stretch the middle of the field, Carson has never really had that quick, slot receiver to dump the ball off to as a check down. This offense has the potential to be dangerous with that run game. And if Andre Smith can play up to his potential at RT, that run game is going to be that much more potent. We play the Bengals Week 2, will Ladarius Webb be ready? How healthy is Fabian Washington going to be? These could be big questions for us heading into Cincy for that first matchup as the Bengals once again have lots of weapons on offense. Right now I see our two teams as very even. It will come down to Flacco and the offense taking that next step. Flacco could have put away that first game if the pass to Clayton on the deep ball was a couple of yards shorter. Or maybe someone with speed like Stallworth is able to catch up to that ball? Either way, Joe needs to start putting games away in the fourth quarter like Carson can. If Joe takes that next step, you have to like our chances against the Bengals. As much as it pains me to say, that Bengals defense is for real. Geathers and Odom do a good job of rushing off the ends limiting the need for blitzes, then they added Carlos Dunlap through the draft. There is a lot of talent at LB with Rey Maualuga and Keith Rivers, and they have two very good corners in Joseph and Hall. I like the moves we made this offseason to put us in a better position to play the Bengals. Boldin, Stallworth, Pita, and Dickson will give Joe a lot more options to expose that Cover 2 web underneath that the Bengals give us fits with. Basically, they are challenging us to attack the intermediate middle of the field. Boldin, Pita, and Dickson have the ability to make them pay. On defense, Cody should shore up that middle against Benson and that running attack while Kindle (and hopefully the emergence of Barnes and Kruger) should be able to take some pressure off of Suggs giving us a formible pass rush on Carson. In short, I see two very hard-fought games.

I completely agree, dc. Just when you are about to give up on this team Arrieta comes out and pitches his second gem in a row. You have to love Arrieta. He has a bulldog mentality on the mound, a great pitcher's body, and an excellent fastball he can attack hitters with. The guy was criticized for not going deep into games in the minors, but he goes 7 innings last night which is a very encouraging sign. It seems like the guy used his time well in AAA making the neccessary adjustments that would help him in the majors. Is there any reason why this guy won't be able to lead a staff? Sure, he might not have the complete arsenel of an ace, but he has the swagger and an attacking fastball to lead the staff in the form of an AJ Burnett or Matt Garza. I am not worried about Matusz. I think he will put it together and be a solid pitcher for us. I do not think he is the ace as advertised, but his offspeed stuff and physical makeup is definitely enough to be a very solid #2 pitcher for us. And there is nothing wrong about that. Tillman I am much more worried about. I cannot help but think Hayden Penn when I see Tillman. Both guys shot through the minors with no problem and dominated the highest competition at AAA. However, Tillman seems to be having the same problems Penn did. The mental make up is not there and Tillman is having trouble keeping the ball down in the zone. Tillman is still only 21, 22-years old, so there is a lot of time. Maybe some time in the pen will do him good. One more guy to point out: David Hernandez. Anyone else see this guy as our future closer? He seems to be thriving in short spurts as a reliever. His fastball is consistently in the upper 90's, and he is attacking hitters in a way he was not doing as a starter. It seems like he has found his niche as a pitcher and could be extremely effective for us as a closer. Don't look now, but Adam Jones is starting to heat up. His strike out numbers are still way too high, but that average is starting to pick back up, he is driving the ball for power and knocking in runs. In the past week he is hitting .385/.429/.538/.967 with a homerun and six RBIs. Lets see if he can put together a solid second half of the season. Yes, there is a little light at the end of the tunnel. If the pitching can continue to improve, and Jones and Wieters start to pick it up you have to feel a little better than what our record says. Also, keep an eye on our top prospect Zachary Britton down in AA Bowie. He is putting together a very solid season going with 6-3 with an 2.84 ERA (55 SO-24 BBs and an outstanding 3.18 GO-AO average). Even more importantly, the guy is working on the things that will make him successful in the majors. Instead of overrelying on his excellent, downward-moving fastball, he is making a concious effort to use his sinker and change-up. The fact that he is putting together a solid season while working on aspects of his game that need improvement is very encouraging. Don't be surprised to see Britton up at AAA by midseason and possibly earn a spot in the rotation in 2011.

I thought he would have been a good fit, but it is not the end of the world. It hurts a lot less than when Girardi turned the job down. Now that I think about it, if we are going to have a complete overhaul of the coaching staff, we might as well wait to the end of the season and just start fresh next year. Let the young pitchers (Arrieta, Tillman, Matusz, and Bergesen) take their hits and get their experience now and hopefully they can hit the ground running next season.

Ray Bourque was the ultimate feel good story. The guy played 20 seasons for the Boston Bruins and never won a Cup. Then when he does request a trade knowing he did not have much time left, he requested one to the Flyers. The cool part is that former Bruins' GM Harry Sinden had Bourque's best interests in mind and told him "This may not be your first choice, but this is the team I feel is best," right before trading him to the Avalanche. The rest worked out like a happily ending movie.

I am fed up with Gaither and his attitude. The guy sounds like a lazy POS. And I would not put much weight into that Preston comment on Cousins, it sounded like a fact-less, one line, opinionated claim. Cousins might have been bad last season, but I heard he has been working hard this offseason. If he can be average at RT for us, we should be fine. Remember, we won the Super Bowl with Harry Swayne as our RT.

I do feel good for Hossa. It just came out that he was playing on a sprained MCL for the Cup finals as well.

I heard somewhere that the O's now have the exact same record after 62 games as the 1962 New York Mets. You think we can 'beat' their record? Everyone knows that any press is good press! The positive side to being the worst team in the league is that Rice 3B Anthony Rendon is considered an elite prospect in the mold of an Evan Longoria. Jim Callis from Baseball America went as far as saying he would have drafted Rendon over Harper if Rendon were in this year's draft.

And now there are reports that Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State are about to join the Pac-10.

I have a buddy who is from Chicago and he went to the parade. Said about two million people were there... wow! Hockey is really starting to catch on. Lets hope Ovi, Nicky, and co. can bring us a parade next year.

If Suggs doesn't want to work out we should just let him get fat and move him to DT (3-4 DE).

I think more than anything was how Griffey revolutionized the way young people looked at baseball. Not only did the guy have the sweetest swing ever, but his highlight reel, Gold Glove play in center made every kid want to play centerfield much in the same way Cal made every kid want to play shortstop. Griffey tracked an amazing amount of ground in the outfield and he made a habit of robbing homeruns look easy. In my opinion, the guy marketized baseball in a way it had not been before. He had his own shoe with Nike, had his own personalized glove, he was on the cover of video games, he was in commercials, and of course, the excitement he brought to the homerun derby that fans here in Baltimore could definitely attest to. He had a swagger both at the plate and in the field that very few baseball players could actually backup. The guy was simply electic to watch with all the things he could do on the baseball field.

Because the two managers (three if you count Samuel) since Mazzilli have all been in-house. Essentially these are the same guys since Mazzilli was hired back in 2004. And before that Mazzilli kept a lot of the same guys from Hargove's staff, probably because Mazzilli was a first-time manager. Getting an experienced guy like Valentine who has a lot of connections around the league will probably bring in a large turnover of coaches.