The Orioles’ Fanfest is the one time of the year that the barrier between the team and its fans are broken outside of Camden yards. Inside the Baltimore Convention Center, it has everything a fan could ask for, merchandise, food, autograph signings, games, and the media’s meal ticket, the fan forums. During the forums, fans get to ask a multitude of players and front office personnel any questions they want. This offers the chance for anything to come to the surface, including moves the organization is making, development of players, and everyone’s sense of humor. So, here are 8 things you missed at the Fanfest fan forums!
Dan Duquette lets it slip that the Orioles have made a long time offer to slugger Chris Davis
This came as a surprise to most, including the first baseman himself, that during a very quiet offseason, the Orioles actually put an offer on the table for Davis. Even though Davis has said multiple times that he loves Baltimore, his extremely hands-off approach with his contract worries me about his future tenure with the Orioles. I believe his future with the Orioles will come down to two things; Davis’ 2014 season and how much compassion Scott Boras has in his heart.
Skipper Buck Showalter feels he can manage the team better in 2014
Hold the phone. You mean to tell me that ‘The Buck Truck’ was running with a few problems last year? Inconceivable! Of course I kid, but Showalter did express his interest to balance out how many games the everyday starters get to play in (Out of the Orioles everyday starters last year, Nate McLouth had the lowest amount with 146.). He believes the O’s have solved the depth problem that plagued their bench last year and it will make it easier on him to make decisions about sitting players for a day. This was a guaranteed issue that needed to be addressed during the offseason as the Orioles normally finish the season strong under Showalter, but went quietly into the night in 2013.
Manny, well, being Manny
Manny Machado’s maturity is something that will blindside you like a car if you’re not watching. Reports broke just before Fanfest about Machado being cleared for ‘some’ baseball activities and Dan Duquette has already said they expect Manny to be ready for opening day. Do you know what he said about his injury in front of a crowd of fan? Not “I’ll be ready”, not “I’m expecting to be ready”, not “I should be ready”, no nothing like that. He said, quote for quote, “I’ll be ready when I’m ready.” Stunning, is how I would describe that statement. He didn’t take the easy route, in front of a large number excited fans he didn’t try and hype them for the sake of it. The man has a goal and he hasn’t put a time frame on himself, pretty impressive for a guy four years older than me.
Your “Most Useless Fact of the Orioles 2014 Offseason” goes to Darren O’Day
O’Day was happy to let the fans know that his solowheel, the weird scooter thing that they pranked him for in 2012, reaches up to 12 MPH, 14 when going down hills.
Orioles didn’t look at Nick Markakis till the week of the draft
Very surprised about this story longtime Orioles Scout Dean Albany told fans at Fanfest, the Orioles didn’t look at Markakis as a hitter till the week of the draft. Most organizations saw Nick as a pitcher and so did the Orioles, but one of the scouts saw him hit during one game, and he told the director and the top scouts to come down and see him hit. They were so impressed, and then they brought him in for a pre-draft workout, and he showed them what he does best; bat control. He worked the ball wherever they asked him to, then decided that if he fell to them, they were taking him as a hitter. I found the story very interesting, and I think it depicts how quickly things can change before the draft.
Buck expressed that he wants to try in-house options for everything first
When this was brought up, I think Buck was mainly talking about how the fifth starting job is up for grabs at the moment. Kevin Gausman, Zach Britton, and Brian Matusz are really the only in-house options for that and while I’d love to see them take it, I’m not exactly confident that they can. But that’s not what I want to the focus on, it’s the fact that this statement conflict exactly what Duquette is trying to do now, sign a veteran starter to bolster the rotation. I feel like I’m nit-picking here, but as a fan I don’t want to put a large sum of money towards something that we might not even use. I’m taking the wait-and-see approach with this, considering we haven’t even signed a veteran starter yet.
Fred Ferreira
I didn’t really know about Ferreira until Fanfest and he’s surprisingly getting a lot of recognition, and it’s well deserved too. Ferreira is a long time international scout and is now the Executive Director of International Scouting for the Orioles, and he has a resume a mile long. He has signed 66 international players that have made it to the big leagues, the biggest name probably being Vladimir Guerrero, and he’s also the one that signed Wei-Yin Chen and pulled Miguel Gonzalez out of the Mexican league. He had ties with Duquette when Duquette was the General Manager of the Montreal Expos, and now he’s responsible for 2/5ths of the current starting rotation. Two thumbs up.
Nick Markakis’ bear beard
I’m pretty sure Nick crawled under a rock once the offseason began and hasn’t touched anything sharp all season. He looks like a tennis player that plays a villain in an Owen Wilson/Will Ferrell comedy movie set during the 1980s. I honestly think he didn’t it because he was tired of the whole weird beard fetish around the Red Sox playoff run last year, and was like, “I can do way better than that.” I wish he play with the afro-beard combo during the regular season, if not just Spring Training. Although, I’m pretty sure having one of your best players look like homeless person does not impress free agents. Oh wait, this is the Orioles, we don’t sign free agents.
Vladimir Guerrero, Hall of Fame.