According to Rich Gannon, Reed is concerned about his health and long term future.

After Reed’s comments hit . . . → Read More: Ed Reed Isn’t 100 Percent Committed To Returning In 2012]]> It’s May, which means it’s the time of year for Ed Reed to say something concerning about his future with the Ravens.  Today he told SiriusXM that he’s “not 100 percent committed right now to playing this year.”

According to Rich Gannon, Reed is concerned about his health and long term future.

After Reed’s comments hit air, the local Ravens beat writers quickly extinguished the fire.  ”Reed has also said this offseason that he’d like to play four or five more years,” The Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec tweeted.

Zrebiec also points out that Reed said nearly a month ago that he was not 100 percent committed to returning in 2012.

Not only is this story just Ed being Ed, but it’s something he’s already said.

Is it time to cut Kevin Gregg some slack and stop booing him?

In Gregg’s last six outings for the O’s he’s surrendered zero . . . → Read More: Kevin Gregg No Longer Deserves To Get Booed]]> Yesterday we determined that “yes, in fact it is still okay for Baltimore fans to boo Mark Teixeira.”  Today we pose another question to the boo birds of Camden Yards.

Is it time to cut Kevin Gregg some slack and stop booing him?

In Gregg’s last six outings for the O’s he’s surrendered zero runs on just three hits in 8 1/3 innings of work and has walked three and struckout eight.  Oh, and he recorded the win in the Orioles fifteen inning Marathon against the Royals last night.

Yet somehow, every time Gregg gets up in the pen, Baltimore breaks the internet with #KevinGreggSucks tweets.

Yes, I know he blew seven saves last season, lost the closer’s role and wasn’t happy with the demotion.  But that was 2011, a season in which the Orioles were 19-21 on May 17.  They’re 24-14 now, this is clearly a different team.

All I’m saying is, there are plenty of guys in pinstripes and red socks that deserve heckling.  Gregg has proven to be no longer deserving of the grief.

Join Zach, Patrick and Matt for this week’s edition of the best sports podcast . . . → Read More: BSR Podcast: Now In Color And Yes, Kristen Wiig Is Hot]]> The guys introduce a new wrinkle to the podcast, live streaming video.  Stupid bets return to the show, the gang discusses how the Orioles can remain atop the AL East and break down Will Ferrell’s return to Saturday Night Live.

Join Zach, Patrick and Matt for this week’s edition of the best sports podcast in Baltimore, the BSR Podcast.

Here are some of the topics discussed on this week’s show:

Video Killed The Radio Star

• In addition to providing audio downloads through BaltimoreSportsReport.com and iTunes, the BSR Podcast will now feature a live streaming video version of the show.
• Viewers can tune in live to the show right here on BaltimoreSportsReport.com.  Record dates and times will be announced via BSR’s social media outlets.
• Those who can’t watch live, can tune into the video version of the show every week. It will be featured in the show notes portion of each episode. Here’s this week’s:

Stupid Bets Return

• The gang brings back stupid bets, which will allow one of them to be featured at the beginning of each show doing something ridiculous for losing a bet.
• The BSR Podcast’s Fantasy Baseball Challenge is unveiled.  Zach, Matt and Patrick pick on player and are judged on total runs, home runs, RBI, stolen bases, on base percentage and extra base-hits between Thursday May 17-Tuesday May 22,
• Loser has to eat a jalapeño at the top of next week’s show.

Orioles Freaking Magic

• After Zach called out Orioles fans last week for their low attendance during the Texas series, they showed up in droves over the weekend.
• The guys analyze Evan Longoria’s confusing tweet.
• How can the Birds stay atop the AL East?

Fantasy Movie League Update

• The Avengers continues to dominate, but Lund gets on the board.
• The guys break down the films opening this weekend.

Lightning Round

Subscribe to the BSR Podcast on iTunes and YouTube or listen on Stitcher Radio.

Follow Zach Wilt, Matt Lund, and Patrick Guthrie on Twitter.

You can get in touch with the BSR Podcast by sending your emails to podcast@baltimoresportsreport.com or leaving a voicemail at 443-379-4BSR (4377).

Adam Jones should get used to hitting bombs at Kauffman Stadium.  The American League is going to need that power when he’s starting in centerfield during the All-Star Game.

After going 0-for-6 with two strikeouts during the . . . → Read More: Adam Jones Has Quickly Turned Into One Of Baseball’s Most Clutch Hitters]]>

Adam Jones and Bill Hall strangely celebrate AJ's go-ahead homer in the top of the 15th.

Adam Jones should get used to hitting bombs at Kauffman Stadium.  The American League is going to need that power when he’s starting in centerfield during the All-Star Game.

After going 0-for-6 with two strikeouts during the first fourteen innings of play, Adam Jones came up big again for the Orioles with a solo homer in the fifteenth that ultimately secured the Orioles 4-3 victory over the Royals.

This is nothing new for Jones though.  Just ten days ago he smashed a three run blast over the monster seats in Fenway in the seventeenth inning.  According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Jones is the first player with two game-winning home runs in the 15th inning or later in the same season since Mark McGwire in 1988.

MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko tweeted that nine of Jones’ 12 home runs this season have tied the game or given the Orioles the lead.

That’s clutch hitting.

Time for a payday.  And it’s going to be a big one.  Hopefully the Orioles get it done soon.

While DC has ignited their Natitude initiative to clean their ballpark of Phillies fans, Baltimore is still working on their own evil scheme.

Last night a Yankees fan spoiled a shutout for Wei-Yin Chen by interfering with a ball in play at the wall . . . → Read More: Yankee Fan Interferes, Then Taunts Xavier Avery In Baltimore]]>

Try to argue against fan interference on this one...

While DC has ignited their Natitude initiative to clean their ballpark of Phillies fans, Baltimore is still working on their own evil scheme.

Last night a Yankees fan spoiled a shutout for Wei-Yin Chen by interfering with a ball in play at the wall in left field.  As rookie Xavier Avery leaped to make the catch on a Curtis Granderson fly ball, a fan snatched it from him.  ”Hell yeah I had a shot,” Avery told reporters after the game.  ”But they had that tenth man out there helping them out.”

Avery was clearly upset with the fan.  ”I think (the fan) raised up his beer can or something to taunt me a little bit and I just turned around, went back to playing,” Avery said.

The Twitterverse exploded with Jeffrey Maier memories and many questioned why Buck Showalter didn’t argue the home run or request a review.

“I knew what the answer was going to be,” Showalter said according to MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko.  ”I don’t know if it was somebody in midnight blue or black and orange there. I’ve got an educated guess, so our goal was to play well enough so they can’t get a ticket.”

The performance was not only enough to make Chen the AT&T Player of the Game (take that to arbitration), but it . . . → Read More: Wei-Yin Chen’s Shaving Cream Pie In Pictures]]> The Orioles finally cracked CC Sabathia.  Last night Baltimore put up four runs on the Yankees ace and cruised to victory behind a dominant seven inning performance by 26-year-old Taiwanese stud Wei-Yin Chen.

The performance was not only enough to make Chen the AT&T Player of the Game (take that to arbitration), but it earned him a shaving cream pie from his teammates.

A "pie" is baked...

Jim Johnson watches as his teammates torture Chen

My eyes burn just looking at this picture

Chen shows the damage

IT BURNS

Jim Johnson earns an honorary pie for his 12th save

How freaking fun is this team right now?

I know, I know. The guy betrayed Baltimore. He said he wanted to play closer to his home, and was allegedly offered a fairly . . . → Read More: Is It Time To Stop Booing Mark Teixeira?]]> Last night, while listening to the radio broadcast, play by play announcer, Fred Manfra, made reference to the Orioles fans booing Mark Teixeira every time he made a plate appearance.

I know, I know. The guy betrayed Baltimore. He said he wanted to play closer to his home, and was allegedly offered a fairly lucrative deal to play for the Birds. He ended up taking the money ($30 million more)  and the winning tradition in New York and betrayed his childhood team. We know it was  a business decision, but then he had the nerve to talk about his love for the Yankees as a kid.

But really? That was over 3 years ago. Aren’t we bigger than this? Can’t we enjoy the Birds success without the hate? Can we just choose to move on?

NO FREAKING WAY! If he can live off the riches of his business decisions, he can face the consequences of being hated by another subset of fans. Keep it up O’s fans!

They were a team that played for two head coaches, three starting goaltenders, and were without two of their stars for long stretches of the campaign. And yet, they not only . . . → Read More: Putting The 2011-12 Caps To Rest, And 20 Questions For 2012-13]]> The 2011-12 Capitals were as frustrating as a hockey team can be. From night to night they vacillated between inspiring play and sheer disorganized chaos.

They were a team that played for two head coaches, three starting goaltenders, and were without two of their stars for long stretches of the campaign. And yet, they not only made the playoffs, but made enough noise in them to take the number one-seeded Rangers within a few minutes of an Eastern Conference final.

Yet, there are few who’d call the season successful by the measures set out in September. It was supposed to be cruise control until the playoffs, where things were supposed to go much differently than they had in the team’s four previous attempts to break through to a Stanley Cup final. Instead, we got the manic collection of talent that reached its apex for brief stretches and its nadir for much longer ones.

To a certain extent, every year in the modern NHL is a reset of sorts. But for Washington, 2012-13 will absolutely look more different than any Caps team has in five seasons. Here are twenty burning questions we have about next year’s team, and a few futile stabs at some answers.

20. Who coaches the team?
With Dale Hunter returning to London to be with his family and manage his junior hockey juggernaut London Knights, the Caps will have their third head coach within six months. Former head coach Ron Wilson was just fired in Toronto in March, while current assistant coach Dean Evason and Hershey head coach Mark French all could make a case for a shot at the job. The real question here is whether George McPhee is looking for someone who will play the same defensive brand of hockey as Hunter, which will inform so many other decisions about next year.

19. What did the team learn from this season?
If nothing else, 2011-12 was the year that proved a team can be adaptable and still succeed. Hunter hockey’s installation wasn’t an easy process, but it did lead to 14 playoff games played, which is more than could be said of the last two seasons of Bruce Boudreau’s firewagon style of play. It also learned that you can never have too much depth at goaltender, with Braden Holtby’s unlikely moment in the sun after Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth went down at the end of the season.

18. Will the two “fringe RFAs” be Capitals next season?
Forwards Jay Beagle and Mathieu Perreault made a name for themselves in the playoffs and regular season, respectively. Beagle’s hard work on the checking line and in the face-off circle were noticeably absent when he missed the final two games due to injury. Despite his diminutive size, Perreault acquitted himself as a viable secondary scoring option during the regular season, posting 33 points in 64 games, making the most of every shot by scoring on 26.7% of them. Both are players developed through the Capitals organization through the years and the team would love to retain them. Although, the may get a sniff by other teams, given that their cap numbers are low enough that there would be no compensation due to the Caps for losing them. Again, it could all depend on if and when a coaching decision is made. Beagle rarely saw ice under Boudreau but thrived under Hunter, while Perreault was a known Boudreau favorite.

17. Does John Carlson deserve a long-term deal?
Carlson’s season was more up-and-down than his partner Karl Alzner’s and the young blue-liner is an RFA this year. Like Mike Green’s early years, Carlson needs to be more consistent as a two-way player if the Caps are to lock him up as a top-4 defenseman for the long haul.

16. Will the Capitals sign a difference-making free agent?
This year is an especially weak free agent class, with many of the players near the top of the list being veterans looking to sign their last or second-to-last deal. Especially lacking flair is the pool of centers, which the Caps need desperately. Probably the best winger in the pool is the Caps own Alex Semin. Whether Semin stays or goes, the team needs to get at least one more top-6 forward, a center and possibly an eighth NHL-level defensemen.

15. What will Alex Ovechkin be accused of this offseason?
Weight gain, partying, playing for his country, not spending enough time working out, not spending enough time in the U.S.? Pick your poison.

14. Will Cody Eakin and Dmitry Orlov make the opening night roster?
Orlov did well in 60 games as an NHL rookie but did not get a sweater during the playoffs. Eakin had limited impact in 30 games but didn’t do anything to make the Caps worry that he’s not the prospect they thought he was. Both should be on the roster, but it’s probably not a good sign if Eakin is in the 12 forwards dressed when the Caps open up next season. Orlov absolutely needs to play himself into a top-6 defensive role every single night. If that doesn’t happen, either a) the Caps signed a major defensemen in free agency or b) Orlov regresses considerably this offseason.

13. Can the ice stay cool enough for 60 minutes of the Baltimore Hockey Classic?
I sincerely hope so. As a Baltimorean and a Caps fan, I have mixed feelings about the two intertwining so closely.

12. What do the Capitals do with their two first-round draft picks?
The Semyon Varlamov trade, which netted the Caps Colorado’s first-round pick, is looking better with every save Braden Holtby makes. Cashing in on the excessive depth at goalie was the wisest thing McPhee did last offseason, and now the Caps have two first-rounders to play with. With 2010 top pick Evgeny Kuznetsov’s NHL future in doubt, the team needs to build some serious goodwill toward the future. If there’s a buyer, the team theoretically could leverage the two picks to leap up and grab an elite talent like a Ryan Murray or Filip Forsberg. Or, as we saw in last year’s draft, the team could use one of the picks to grab a player (as they did with Troy Brouwer, who was a phenomenal addition). More likely, the team will grab two mid-high level prospects with at least one of them being a defenseman.

11. Will Joel Ward and Roman Hamrlik’s contracts limit the Caps ability to change in the offseason?
Joel Ward was signed for his big playoff performances in Nashville, and boy did he deliver on that in Game 7 of the Boston series. He also wiped that out with a costly penalty in Game 5 of the Rangers series, so karmically he’s more or less even. Given the lackluster regular season he had, it’s tough to look at the roster spot he’s occupying until 2014-15 at a $3m cap hit. The team probably also thought Roman Hamrlik, now a 20-year veteran, had a little more in the tank when they signed him to a two-year deal. Hamrlik is as crafty a veteran as they come, but definitely looked physically outskated at times this season. At $3.5 million, he’s also not a bargain. The Caps may not be able to do much except ride out these deals.

10. Is there any chance of seeing Evgeny Kuznetsov in a Caps uniform this year or ever?
The Russian wunderkind is not going to be a Cap in 2012-13.  Whether he joins the team the following year seems very up in the air at this point. The scoring and playmaking winger turns 20 this week, so there is still time for him to develop into a good NHL player with a long tenure as a Capital. Just don’t pin the franchise’s hopes on it.

9. Will Tom Poti play hockey again, and will it be for the Caps?
Poti is still under contract for another season, but given how long it’s been since he’s seen the ice (January 12, 2011), it seems like the oft-injured defenseman and one-time Caps alternate captain may need to call it a career at age 35.

8. Who is playing center other than Nick Backstrom and Brooks Laich?
Marcus Johansson? Didn’t exactly challenge for the second-line center role as the team had hoped, and has looked more comfortable on the wing of late. Keith Aucoin? A career AHLer who served admirably late in the season as a playmaker, but lacks size and is a free agent. Jeff Halpern is 36 and a free agent as well. What’s left in potential centers behind Backstrom and Laich (who could easily be called a natural winger) is RFAs Beagle and Perreault, and the scrappy Matt Hendricks. Yeah, the Caps need help here.

7. What will it take (and should the team) keep Mike Green?
Mike Green’s an RFA, and the Caps would be due a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick from a team if they let him go. As the “Young Guns” begin to break up the band with Semin’s departure, Green would be the next likely candidate to depart Washington. Always a tough guy to read, it’s unclear just how happy Green is in DC with his dip in offensive production and time missed due to injury. It pains me to say it, because I really like how he’s evolved as a player, but this may be Green’s last year as a Cap.

6. Is there a reason to bring back Dennis Wideman?
Nope. Sorry D-Wides, but the All-Star play that he turned in during the first half of the season evaporated into being part of the goals-against monster known as Wideman/Schultz by the end of the season. Unless a player like Wideman is firing on all cylinders offensively, he’s become too much of a defensive liability to re-sign.

5. Is Mike Knuble done?
According to NHL Trade Report, Mike Knuble is interested in playing hockey at age 40 this season. Knuble underwent a publicly difficult stretch of being scratched under Hunter before emerging again in the playoffs. Again, who the coach is could make all the difference in the world, but it’s highly likely the Caps will be without the unrestricted free agent’s leadership and net presence in 2012-13.

4. Who is going to be in net in Washington and in Hershey?
If nothing changes, in that Tomas Vokoun’s time as a Cap is over and the team doesn’t sign anyone new, it looks like this: Neuvirth and Holtby in DC, and prospect Philipp Grubauer coming into Chocolatetown. Veteran minor-leaguer Danny Sabourin, who briefly served as the Caps backup in the playoffs, is a free agent. While it would seem silly to potentially push Neuvirth and Holtby down again by signing a veteran NHL netminder, the Caps learned how vital goalie depth can be. One has to think that if no new goalies are added, Neuvirth and Holtby will be in a 1a and 1b situation to start the year.

3. How does the team replace Alexander Semin if they don’t resign him?
The Alexander Semin Era is almost assuredly over in DC. It’s sad to see Ovechkin’s running buddy go, but the fact is that Semin has been lackluster in the playoffs despite his offensive outbursts during his regular season hotstreaks. The team absolutely needs to sign a top-six winger that is offensively inclined. Promoting Marcus Johansson or asking Jason Chimera to fill that role simply isn’t enough firepower, even in a defensive-minded system.

2. Will there be a 2012-13 NHL season, and if not, how bad is it for the Caps?
The elephant in the room that nobody seems to want to discuss is the NHL/NHLPA’s lack of a collective bargaining agreement for the upcoming season. The current deal expires in September, and the relationship between the sides seems to be icy after the NHLPA unceremoniously dismissed the NHL’s conference realignment plans this year. We’ve been down this road before with the NHL, and after the resurgence the league has made post-2005 lockout, it would be incredibly stupid to allow it to happen again. Particularly for the Capitals, who are riding a home sellout streak and are making a pretty penny off the team’s new-found popularity during the Ovechkin era. Losing a year from a lot of the key players in their mid-late 20s is bad hockey and bad business. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

1. What is the team’s identity, and what are their expectations?
The new coach, whoever it is, will largely contribute to the team’s identity. The odds are that McPhee will want someone to build on what Hunter did with playing a balanced (or “boring,” if you prefer) style of hockey. Alexander Semin is in some ways a paragon of the old system, and with his seemingly imminent departure, it seems like grinding out wins is here to stay. Whatever the identity or system, it’s not going to be clear in September and it’s not immune to change during the season. That much we’ve learned.  It feels like about 20 minutes have gone by, but in reality it’s been five consecutive years of playoff hockey in D.C., a streak most NHL cities would kill for. Still, anything short of an Eastern Conference final is still going to feel like a letdown, regardless of off-season moves or coaching.

Last night Curtis Granderson became the fourth player to hit a home run to Eutaw Street in 2012.  Of those four homers, only one has been hit by an Oriole.

Chris Davis’ 418 foot blast on April 28 is the O’s lone Eutaw Street slam of . . . → Read More: Granderson Becomes Third Orioles Opponent To Reach Eutaw Street This Season]]>

Even Wieters knew it was a rocket.

Last night Curtis Granderson became the fourth player to hit a home run to Eutaw Street in 2012.  Of those four homers, only one has been hit by an Oriole.

Chris Davis’ 418 foot blast on April 28 is the O’s lone Eutaw Street slam of 2012.

Granderson’s homer in the 61st to reach Eutaw Street and he’s the first Yankee to hit one since Nick Swisher in August of 2010.

Shockingly, the Orioles lead all of baseball in home runs with 57, but they have hit 29 of them on the away from Camden Yards.