By Zach Wilt, on May 28th, 2010 Following the Blue Jays shut out of the Orioles in game one of the series, the Baltimore Orioles made a roster move to call up Chris Tillman for his start on Saturday, optioning reliever Cla Meredith.
When talking to reporters, Meredith appeared to be caught off guard by the move. “It’s kind of been a weird year for me,” he said. “Until last week — I was getting to talk about good stuff.”
“If you’re a hitter and you have a bad week, so what? When your a relief pitcher [it's] a little more magnified,” said Meredith.
Amber Theoharis asked Meredith if he had learned to be in control of what he can, Meredith responded saying “Yeah, especially around here,” with a sigh after his response. Clearly the 26 year old Richmond native was upset with the news, but what do his comments say about the state of the Orioles confidence?
I was surprised to see Meredith take the ax over relievers Matt Albers and Alberto Castillo, what did you think?
By Zach Wilt, on March 3rd, 2010 I hope you’re feeling warmer already because today the Orioles took the field for the first Spring Training game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Sarasota, Florida.
It was homerun derby for the O’s. They ended up with six, but here’s how the game played out.
Baltimore took an early 1-0 lead in the third when Josh Bell drove a solo homer over the right-center field fence off Matt Garza. It’s fitting that the prospect got the Orioles first run of the spring with such a shot. Andy MacPhail was in the radio booth with Joe Angel and Fred Manfra and his excitement for Bell’s at bat was heard over the airwaves. Bell hit another homer in the sixth inning, there was no question about his second one.
In the fourth inning the Orioles increased their lead to 3-0 after Nick Markakis led off with a double, followed by a Miguel Tejada single. After a Matt Wieters‘ fielder’s choice, Luke Scott drove in Tejada and Josh Bell got his second RBI on a sacrifice fly.
Cla Meredith recorded a one, two, three inning when he retired three straight on ground ball outs. Then in the sixth David Hernandez sat three down in a row as well, but he gave up a solo homer in the seventh.
The Rays put one on the board in the fifth inning when Dennis Sarfate gave up two hits and a walk.
Then the airhorn sounded again in the fifth inning when Nick Markakis hit a solo homerun to center field giving the Orioles a 4-1 lead.
Rhyne Hughes got the Orioles third homerun of the day in the sixth inning, giving Baltimore a 5-1 lead, he hit another one in the seventh to secure an 11-2 lead.
Baltimore finished the day with 12 runs scored, topping the Rays 12-2. Their next scheduled broadcast is March 5th at 7 PM against the Pirates.
By Zach Wilt, on July 26th, 2009 Yesterday, I read Drew Forrester’s blog on WNST.net in which he stated that the his Orioles’ source told him that Chris Tillman will not be called up for the start.
Forrester bashed Andy MacPhail, saying that he’s not even trying to win with the team here in Baltimore and I believe that simply isn’t true.
Image Courtesy of the Baltimore Sun
Look at what MacPhail has done. He’s turned a whiny injury prone pitcher (Erik Bedard) into an All Star center fielder (Adam Jones), All Star closer (George Sherrill), and that top prospect pitcher Forrester wants to see (Chris Tillman). By the way, that deal got Seattle’s general manager, Bill Bavasi, fired.
He’s turned a steroid using shortstop who is past his prime (Miguel Tejada) into a left handed hitting machine (Luke Scott) and four arms (Troy Patton, Matt Albers, Dennis Sarfate, and Mike Costanzo).
Recently, he traded a 31 year old career minor leaguer (Oscar Salazar) into a young submarine ground ball reliever (Cla Meredith).
MacPhail also secured the Orioles’ center pieces, Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis, to long term deals, and he’s got the O’s out of their garbage spring training facility in Fort Lauderdale and into a start of the art complex in Sarasota.
I commented on Forrester’s blog and all he had to say in response was negative things about Adam Eaton, Felix Pie, Ryan Freel, and Rich Hill.
Eaton helped eat up time before the young arms got called up, Felix Pie still is a highly touted young talent that wouldn’t clear waivers, Ryan Freel was admittedly a bust, and Rich Hill is a fastball away from being a decent starter in the toughest division in baseball.
You want to complain about Andy MacPhail? Come back in a few years and tell me how bad he’s done.
By Zach Wilt, on July 22nd, 2009 
The Orioles tried to salvage one in New York with Jason Berken on the hill, but left the city that never sleeps with another disappointing loss.
Berken put the O’s in a 4-0 hole after the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded and two outs Brian Roberts bobbled a ground ball that allowed the inning to continue.
The Birds put two exciting runs on the board in the 7th innings. Nick Markakis drove in one on a sac fly and Aubrey Huff struck out on a wild pitch that scored Adam Jones from third.
Jason Berken was out after six innings and five earned runs, at least it wasn’t as bad as Hill’s outing.
Cla Meredith made his debut in the orange and black in the seventh inning. Meredith hit his first batter, but then struck out Derek Jeter and got Mark Teixeira to line into a double play.
In the top of the 9th the O’s bats finally started going. Adam Jones and Nick Markakis hit back to back homeruns, but it wasn’t enough.
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By Zach Wilt, on July 20th, 2009 Last night the Orioles traded utility player Oscar Salazar to the San Diego Padres for submarine relief pitcher Cla Meredith.
Image Courtesy of the Baltimore Sun
“He gets a lot of ground balls and can pitch every other day,” Andy MacPhail said last evening. “The ground ball ratio becomes more important later in the summer in our ballpark.”
Meredith was was 4-2 with a 4.17 ERA with 20 strike outs, 13 walks in 36.2 innings for the Padres.
Before it was made official, I discussed this move last evening with Ben Nicholson-Smith of MLBTradeRumors.com.
I think Andy Mac has proven yet again that the O’s are making moves only to help out the future of the Orioles.
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