Cliff Lee quartet no match for 1971 Orioles team

By Pete Kerzel
CSNbaltimore.com/PressBoxOnline.com

ORIOLES PAGE | ORIOLES VIDEO

Cliff Lee gets props for not taking the money and instead following his heart to Philadelphia where his addition takes an already star-studded Phillies rotation to a different level. No team in the majors in 2011 has a better starting four than Roy Halladay, Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. It’s an unmatched blend of power, guile and guts.
 
Impressive? Yes.
 
The best rotation of all time? Not by a long shot.
 
That acclaim belongs to the 1971 Orioles’ foursome of Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally and Pat Dobson, who combined to post 81 of the team’s 101 victories. All four won at least 20 games: McNally was 21-5, Palmer and Cuellar 20-8, and Dobson 20-9. That season was the last time in the majors one team boasted four 20-game winners. Given the move to five-man rotations, it will probably be the last.
 
Palmer was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1970, following a career that saw him win three Cy Young awards, win 20 games eight times and be named to six All-Star teams. Screwballing Cuellar won 18 or more games six times in eight seasons in Baltimore, and was a four-time 20-game winner. The four-time All-Star shared the 1969 Cy Young with Detroit’s Denny McLain and went to four All-Star games.

McNally won 181 games in 13 seasons with the Orioles, including four straight 20-win seasons beginning in 1968, and went to three All-Star games. Dobson was the only journeyman of the bunch, and 1971 was a career year for the 11-season major leaguer.
 
When the Phillies’ quartet can boast 20 wins apiece in the same season, we’ll talk about rethinking the best of all time. Until then, it’s no competition at all.

O's, Nats dueling for LaRoche, Lee

By Pete Kerzel
CSNBaltimore.com/PressBoxOnline.com

ORIOLES PAGE | ORIOLES VIDEO

Rather than wait to renew hostilities in May when the first round of interleague play pits the Orioles and their neighbors down south on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, the Nationals and O’s are quietly waging war to fill a gaping hole in their lineups that still exists after the winter meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., last week.

The Quarry: a first baseman, preferably someone with a little power.

The Candidates: Adam LaRoche, late of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Derrek Lee, who played last year with the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves.

The Skinny: Someone’s going to sign LaRoche, who is engaged in contract talks with the Orioles and Nats, while the unlucky party probably will make do for a season or two with Lee as a consolation prize.

Time Will Tell If Andy MacPhail Made Correct Calls

By Pete Kerzel
CSNbaltimore.com/PressBoxOnline.com

ORIOLES PAGE | ORIOLES VIDEO

In its annual ranking of the Orioles' top prospects, Baseball America selected right-hander Wynn Pelzer as the Birds' sixth-best farmhand, projecting the hard-throwing reliever as the team's closer in 2014.

You might not want to pre-order your Pelzer jersey, however. He might not make it past early December, much less 2014, after the Orioles left him off the 40-man roster, exposing Pelzer to the Rule 5 draft that concludes baseball's winter meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Dec. 9. Meaning any team in baseball willing to pay the Orioles $50,000 and keep Pelzer on their roster for the entire 2011 season can pluck him from the O's. Same with infielder Ryan Adams, who hit .265 and drove in 14 runs in 16 games for Arizona Fall League champion Scottsdale, and right-hander Steve Johnson, the son of ex-Orioles pitcher and current team broadcaster Dave Johnson.

It's never easy to set the 40 man roster. You have to balance long-term needs and goals with short-term worries like the Rule 5 draft. There's always going to be good players who aren't included. And up-and-coming organizations, or those who have drafted well and stockpiled prospects, are always at risk of losing someone. It's baseball's version of roulette, and anxious general managers will hold their breaths and hope for the best until the last pick is made in the Rule 5 draft.

Expect Showalter To Put Print On Orioles’ Offseason

By Pete Kerzel
CSNBaltimore.com/PressBoxOnline.com

ORIOLES PAGE | ORIOLES VIDEO

Buck Showalter is home in Houston recovering from the first of two offseason knee surgeries. Let’s hope the Orioles manager takes it easy. Because after he goes under the knife for a second time later this month, he’s going to have a pretty busy offseason.

Being such a hands-on guy, Showalter’s imprint is expected to be all over the team’s machinations this winter. This doesn’t rub president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail the wrong way. To the contrary, MacPhail welcomes Showalter’s input and expertise because his resume is different than most major league managers.

The traditional skipper is an on-the-field, in-the-clubhouse kind of guy who handles everything from constructing lineups to chewing out guys who make blatant mental mistakes to coordinating special side work between coaches and players. For most field bosses, that is enough to keep them plenty busy. Not Showalter, mind you -- because he isn’t most managers.