If you have wondered where O’s ex-GM Andy MacPhail might end up, you may not have a very long time left to wonder.

I have no real insights into this, but that gut is telling me that the job Joe Torre is stepping down from, would fit like a glove for  MacPhail.

Torre, after just one year on the job as Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations for MLB is leaving to pursue an ownership stake in the Dodgers.

Andy MacPhail resigned his job as GM of the Orioles this past October, after 4 years on the job. A certain segment of baseball insiders has felt MacPhail could be a successor to Commisioner Bud Selig.

For the time being MLB has said Joe Garagiola, Jr, Kim Ng and Peter Woodfork will replace Torre on an interim basis. It seems to this observer, a 3 for 1 trade for MacPhail may be in the offing.

According to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, the Orioles could be on the verge of signing free-agent OF Coco Crisp, who has played with Oakland the past 2 seasons.

Susan Slusher of the SF Chronicle has said that Crisp, through his agent, Steve Comte has decided where he wants to play next season:

Crisp’s agent, Steve Comte, confirmed that he has continued to talk to the A’s all along, and he said Monday that Crisp has decided where he will play next year: “Covelli has made up his mind,” said Comte, using Crisp’s given name. “Basically, we just have to let that team know.”

If the Orioles were to sign Crisp, it might be a further signal that the Orioles are resigned to the fact that lead-off hitter Brian Roberts may not be counted on moving forward.

The A’s, Cubs and Dodgers also have reportedly expressed serious interest in signing Crisp.

Greetings and salutations-hope you all had a Happy Holiday and here’s wishing everyone a great New Year.

Bittersweet news announced today, apparently former O’s 3b Melvin Mora, while visiting Venezuela has announced his intention to walk away from playing professional baseball.

Mora, who played for 10 years with the Orioles, was acquired in a deal for SS Mike Bordick, during Syd Thrift’s ill-conceived deconstruction of the Orioles. In fact, in trading Bordick, Will Clark and BJ Surhoff, Mora was the only player that became a contributor.

After leaving the Birds after the 2009 season, Mora played a one full-season with the Rockies. He signed with the Diamondbacks in 2011, and despite the team having a banner comeback season, Mora was released in June.

More twice drove in over 100 runs for the Orioles in a season. In 2004, his first breakthrough season, in addition to the plus 100 RBI’s, Mora hit .340. In his 14 year career in MLB, Mora earned just over $ 40 million dollars.

Off the field, Mora is also known for the fact that his wife Gisel gave birth to quintuplets at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Mora’s reside in Bel Air, Maryland.

Yesterday,  it was word that NE Patriot Tight End Rob Gronkowski had apologized for a photo-shoot with Ms Jones wearing his Patriots’ jersey.

So, of course what does any upstanding Porn Star do when met with the chance for publicity? She goes on talk-shows in the city where the story has legs. In this case Boston.

Apparently, football isn’t even her favorite sport. She says it’s baseball…but she may even be a bigger fan of a certain horizontal indoor sport. Take a look at the link below.

http://www.businessinsider.com/bibi-jones-agent-mlb-clients-2011-10

By Stan “The Fan” Charles

During the nearly six years leading up to a civic celebration for Brooks Robinson, namely the unveiling of the statue of No. 5 that took place Saturday, Oct. 22, Orioles owner Peter Angelos has had many a chance to do the right thing. His last real chance was at the actual ceremony — and all he had to do was simply show up. What could the owner of the Orioles have been so busy with on the day when a statue of his team’s greatest star and greatest ambassador was being unveiled?

Speeches | Robinson Emotional At Dedication | Henry Rosenberg on “Inside PressBox”

That would be like the president of the United States not showing up to award the Purple Heart to a war hero. Doesn’t he see how unseemly his lack of any acknowledgment of the event sits with those whose support is the lifeblood of the team he purchased? I remember when his group won the auction in a New York bankruptcy court, and Angelos cited the importance of putting the team back in the hands of local ownership.

Why, Angelos? So, those local hands could snub one of the greatest players and greatest men who has ever graced us in an Orioles uniform?

The good news is the lack of any tangible support by the team for this initiative did nothing to diminish the event. But, that is an aside, and it does nothing to take away from observing and listening to others’ responses to a slight of epic proportions. Could you imagine Jerry Hoffberger, Edward Bennett Williams or Larry Lucchino not being on hand for such an event, not to mention never offering the team’s stadium grounds to house the statue?

But, let me get back to the event itself. Normally at such civic sessions, the politicians are prone to self-serving puffery. That was not the case this time. Gov. Martin O’Malley and Sen. Barbara Mikulski were both properly deferential to No. 5, and more importantly, both struck the correct chord of heartfelt affection — the kind Robinson seems to engender in all he comes in contact with.

Henry Rosenberg; sculptor Joseph Sheppard; a city official representing Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; and Jeff Idelson, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, all did fine jobs with their comments as the moment neared when we would all finally get to see the statue of Brooks.

But, in the middle of it all came a Baltimore-born actor and sports enthusiast (who just happens to be my nephew), Josh Charles. He was asked to speak on behalf of the fans and, despite a generational gap, did a wonderful job talking about the mythic proportions of the man of the hour. Most of the information Josh garnered was from years of hearing the legends, and where he resonated most was when he shared personal recollections of a budding friendship with one of his heroes.

Then came Robinson, clearly weakened from the overwhelming emotions of the day. Earlier during the week, he was hospitalized for continuing treatments for a serious health situation. Brooks is making slow, but steady progress, but he is clearly weakened from the battle. Starting to try to speak, Brooks broke down sobbing.

He talked about how we were not just fans, but friends. He talked about the two best decisions he ever made — signing with the Baltimore Orioles and marrying the love of his life, Connie, 51 years ago. Connie stood by and made sure Brooks stayed strong enough to finish. He and Connie then walked down for the black sheets to be removed from the statue.

When the moment arrived, emcee Scott Garceau counted down from, you guessed it, No. 5. And as the countdown went 5-4-3-2-1, the confetti rained down on all of us who stood and applauded. Everyone there soaked up one of our great civic moments, a moment that was part celebration, part statue dedication and also, in part, the end of an era that began long ago.

And then it was over. The crowd began to disperse, as a new fixture was firmly rooted across from Camden Yards, in between where the Orioles of today play and where fans gather at Pickles Pub. It may seem only slightly odd that it does not sit on Camden Yards proper.

Nobody asked the question, nobody spoke of the ironically absentee local owner, a man who prides himself so much on his civic philanthropy. Angelos has now owned the Orioles since August 1993. Starting with the first full season of his tenure running the O’s, Angelos and his management have a record that is pretty dismal at 1,310-1,536. They have had just two winning seasons during all that time, 1996 and 1997.

That’s a pretty sad record, but that’s not what defines Peter Angelos. What’s even more sad is that he didn’t see fit to celebrate this great moment of his team’s history and the history of the city he professes to love so much. That is his loss, and it’s why he has become such an increasingly lonely and isolated figure.

Posted Oct. 23, 2011

Click on the link below, and please spread the word…so the real Orioles’ fans know and can turn out.

http://www.pressboxonline.com/story.cfm?id=8173

New Terps’ men’s basketball coach, Mark Turgeon paid a visit to a Sports Boosters of Maryland dinner held at The Suburban Country Club in Pikesville. More than 100 enthusiastic Terps fans showed up.

The Sports Boosters of Maryland is a 501C-3, which has been around for 60 years. The group uses sports events, such as this dinner to raise money that helps kids through sports.

Turgeon brought along his Director of Basketball Operations Dustin Clark, who offered up tickets to the Duke-Maryland game this season for a “live auction” that helped raise money for the group.

Turgeon spoke to the group for 15 minutes, was interviewed jointly by The Terp Talk Guy, Bruce Posner and yours truly Stan Charles. He also spent time answering a wide range of questions: recruiting at Maryland, to his new staff and how he hopes to pay homage to Lefty Dreisell for his 17 year career as head coach at CollegePark. The University announced last week, that the floor at The Comcast Center will be named in Gary Williams’ honor after a 22 year career at Maryland.

But, perhaps the best news is that with the approval of Dustin Clark, Turgeon told us that a game has been scheduled for the 2012-13 season at First Mariner Arena. No word yet on the opponent, although Turgeon hinted it well might be a local school and the game would most likely be played in December.

Just as O’s take the field in Oakland, we find out that a) Nolan Reimold makes 3rd start in lead-off position, 2) RHP Dan Klein, from UCLA, last seasons’ # 3 pick is going to have season ending surgery on his ailing right shoulder. Too bad, he was club’s best pitching prospect this year, pitching to a combined 1.11 ERA at Frederick and Bowie, before he suffered a slap-tear 3) O’s do sign Jason Esposito # 3 pick, #B out of Vanderbilt gets right around $600K

Hey, I get the rapid-fire pick-up of Jo-Jo Reyes on waivers, after the trade to acquire Tommy Hunter. Despite their best efforts, the O’s season, fell apart amidst a disastrous run of injuries and poor performances.

Justin Duchscherer’s season was like one of the Jeopardy contestants who Art Fleming used to say “And Justin hasn’t started to play just yet…”. Then there came the injury and mysterious collapse of Brian Matusz, followed by ineffectiveness and more injuries to Zach Britton and Jake Arrieta.

At this point, with Andy MacPhail’s philosophy of growing the arms proving almost fruitless, the questions are all about Andy’s return. Will he or won’t he? The decision it appears is up to him, and the owner, as always seems in no hurry to come to a conclusion.

So, regardless of that determination, Birdland will again feature lots of new faces. At this , time last season, Bergeson, Matusz and Arrieta were all stamping themselves as part of the next great Orioles rotation. Now, next years’ starting rotation is anyone’s guess.

Here’s my question-if you can’t sign free agent pitchers and your grown arms are either not ready for prime-time or just not that good, then how can one skin the cat of trying to compete?

Kevin Millwood would hardly have been my first choice to lead the Orioles to the promised land. I know his record last year was not very good, but you know what, somehow he fought and battled to within two innings of 200 innings pitched. Maybe, just maybe had he been around here this year, the bullpen of Birdland wouldn’t have been overused yet again.

Millwood is no ace, but in the Orioles plans who in the whole deck could be described as such? I for one, just feel like sitting and waiting for Dylan Bundy.

Two sources, 105.7 The Fan radio and The Baltimore Sun are reporting that Chris Carr is himself confirming that he is back with the Ravens.

Never much in doubt, but it was interesting that the club did issue his # 25 uniform number to a free-agent rookie safety Mana Silva, out of Hawaii.

Much of the conjecture as the end of the lock-out approached centered around the Ravens having room for either Josh Wilson or Chris Carr to return.

Wilson made it more or less a foregone conclusion, when he signed earlier in the week with the Washington Redskins.