Well the Orioles were busy today. They announced that Buck Showalter will be taking over managerial duties on Tuesday. The former manager and ESPN analyst signed a deal that will keep him in Baltimore until 2014. Showalter has a history of turning around struggling organizations and no organization is struggling more than the Baltimore Orioles. 
Showlater brings instant credibility with him to the dug out and everyone in baseball feels this is the best possible move for the Orioles.
Speaking of moves, Miguel Tejada was a last second scratch from tonight’s lineup because he was traded to the San Diego Padres for right-handed prospect Wynn Pelzer. Pelzer is rated the fifth highest prospect in the Padres organization. He is a fire-baller with a solid slider but sometimes has control issues. He projects out to be a ML closer.
Honestly, I am a little bummed that the Orioles didn’t get a position prospect back for Miggy, but you can never have enough pitching.
Josh Bell will be at third for the remainder, and that is good I am very excited to see Bell up here and playing on a regular basis if he is to be the future of the hot corner in Baltimore then now is the time to see what he can do.
Big thanks to one of the best orioles sites on the web oriolesprospects.com for the information on Pelzer. He seems like a solid pick up for Miggy who was greatly under-performing here in Baltimore his second time around. Some fans may have expected more for Tejada but any time you can get a top-ten prospect for an aging star putting up a sub-700 OPS well, you take it.
A big day for MacPhail and his critics as well. There are a lot of people who genuinely think MacPhail can’t walk and chew gum at the same time mistaking his deliberate nature as inaction. MacPhail took his time on both these fronts but the right moves were made. There are reports that MacPhail wanted Eric Wedge and it was owner Peter Angelos who pushed for Buck Showalter’s hiring. Now this may well be true, but some are interpreting this to mean there is some sort of massive rift between MacPhail and Angelos and I think that is a little dramatic. Hopefully the press confrence Monday will address some of these issues and calm down the tin-foil hat set.
