Salaries

I was looking at the Orioles salaries for their players this year and I got to thinking about who has been earning their money so far this year. They've been at it for a month and they've played 26 games. So who really earned their paychecks this month? Here's how the 10 highest paid Orioles have fared so far. Please note that the amount paid "per game" includes games in which the player does not make an appearance.

Nick Markakis
Salary - $10.6 million
Earned through 26 games - $1.7 million ($65,432 per game)
Stats - 26 games played, .206 average, 2 HR, 12 RBI, .586 OPS

Brian Roberts
Salary - $10 million
Earned through 26 games - $1.6 million ($61,728 per game)
Stats - 26 games played, .262 average, 3 HR, 19 RBI, .731 OPS

Vladimir Guerrero
Salary - $7.6 million
Earned through 26 games - $1.2 million ($46,913 per game)
Stats - 26 games played, .269 average, 4HR, 13 RBI, .667 OPS

Derrek Lee
Salary - $7.25 million
Earned through 26 games - $1.1 million ($44,753 per game)
Stats - 26 games played, .228 average, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .591 OPS

Luke Scott
Salary - $6.4 million
Earned through 26 games - $1 million and change ($39,506 per game)
Stats - 20 games played, .262 average, 5 HR, 10 RBI, .863 OPS

Mike Gonzalez
Salary - $6 million
Earned through 26 games - $962,962 ($37,037 per game)
Stats - 8 games played, 7.1 innings pitched, 9.82 ERA, 4 BB, 8 SO, 1.77 WHIP, 2 holds

Jeremy Guthrie
Salary - $5.75 million
Earned through 26 games - $922,839 ($35,493 per game)
Stats - 5 games played,  32 innings pitched, 2.53 ERA, 4 BB, 19 SO, 1.09 WHIP, 4 quality starts

Mark Reynolds
Salary - $5.33 million
Earned through 26 games - $855,967 ($32,921 per game)
Stats - 26 games played, .172 average, 3 HR, 15 RBI, .597 OPS

Kevin Gregg
Salary - $4.2 million
Earned through 26 games - $674,074 ($25,925 per game)
Stats - 10 games played, 10 innings pitched, 2.70 ERA, 6 BB, 10 SO, 1.50 WHIP, 5 saves

Adam Jones
Salary - $3.25 million
Earned through 26 games - $521,604 ($20,061 per game)
Stats - 25 games played, .207 average, 5 HR, 14 RBI, .591 OPS

More on Wieters

This morning, the Baltimore Sun ran a piece which asks the question, where in the lineup do you bat Matt Wieters? Let's hold on a minute, here folks.

Wieters had a good game last night. And yes, he's hitting well with runners in scoring position. But the Orioles coaching staff needs to focus on getting runners on base before they start shuffling the lineup. If Wieters is coming around, that's great. Maybe his hot streak will start catching on to guys batting before him (Brian Roberts and Vlad Guerrero both had 3 RBI nights last night) so that he'll have someone to hit home when he gets up to bat. But let's not get crazy and put him in the number 3 spot yet because Derrek Lee is having a slow start.

Wieters hasn't turned 25 yet. What's the use of moving him up in the lineup and adding more pressure on a young player just because he's had a recent hot streak? Let him stay in a comfortable slot and see if he can start to produce more than his .239 batting average suggests he can.

My lips to yours.

A Quick Note on Matt Wieters

Here is a rather frightening statistic on Matt Wieters so far this season. He is 5 for 5 with runners in scoring position (according to espn.com). In those at bats, he has 8 RBI, with 2 of those at bats and 4 of those RBI coming from tonight's 11-0 drubbing of the Minnesota Twins.

Why is that frightening? Because he usually hits between the 6th and 8th position, right after the supposed "heart" of the Orioles' lineup. And so far, he has only had 5 at bats with runners in scoring position. That means, tonight aside, the bulk of the lineup is not getting on base. Now granted, with his .239 average, Wieters hasn't been getting the job done for the most part either, but he is proving that he can hit when it counts.

Tonight was a good sign for the Orioles' offense (their pitching was fantastic too; anyone notice Gregg and Gonzalez not pitch tonight?). If they can keep giving Wieters a chance to hit when it counts, they can keep giving themselves a chance to win.

My lips to yours.

O No. Not Again.

The Orioles just lost their 8th consecutive game after starting 6-1. Chris Tillman gave the O's a quality start, giving up 3 runs in 6 2/3 innings, but the offense continued to fail to earn its paycheck until the 7th inning with solo home runs from Adam Jones and Matt Wieters.  "Anemic" doesn't begin to describe the Orioles' bats. I'm not sure what word to use to describe an offense in which your best hitter is batting .266.

But the most frustrating thing to watch is Buck Showalter calling on Kevin Gregg and Michael Gonzalez to close out games in close situations. Gregg's 2.00 WHIP (before tonight's game) is the highest the Orioles have to offer, yet he is still called upon to keep close games within reach. But why? He threw 34 pitches (less than half for strikes) in the ninth inning alone, giving up two runs, a fact that became exacerbated by Luke Scott's solo home run in the bottom of the ninth. Take away his poor performance tonight (one of many throughout the season), and the Orioles have a good shot to win tonight's game. Even in situations when he's gotten out of tight spots, it's taken near miracles by the Orioles' defense to ensure he does.

The same thing goes for Michael Gonzalez, the pitcher I'm now convinced has THE WORST MECHANICS IN BASEBALL. He practically falls off the mound after every pitch and sports an ERA (10.38) to match. Yet instead of warming up a reliable reliever (Jim Johnson, Jason Berken, Koji Uehara), Buck Showalter's only other bullpen option for the ninth inning was Captain Mechanics. I'm choosing to believe he wasn't warming up to come into the game, but rather to work on his fundamentals.

Buck, you're great. I love you. But you need to ignore Journey's admonishments, and STOP BELIEVING IN THESE WORTHLESS PITCHERS!

Anyway...

My lips to yours.

More Matches from Plentyoffish.com

This time I decided not to be a shallow pig and make fun of other people's pictures (though it's really fun, you should give it a try); instead I'll take aim at the self-descriptions my "matches" have left for me to peruse.


Puppylove874 lists her interests as follows: "dating, hugging, doggies, entertaining, hair." She goes on to note, "I love eating, drinking, partying and my two dogs." Gee thanks, plentyoffish.com! It sounds like we'd have a great time together discussing her hair, her dogs, what parties she likes to go to, her dogs, what the best kind of hugging is, and her dogs, too!


Mdblueyez is an interesting character. She sports many tattoos that look like they were drawn during a kindergarten finger-painting lesson and she is morbidly obese. The first line of her "About Me" section reads, "NOT LOOKING FOR JUST SEX OR CASUAL ENCOUNTERS... Does nobody get to know someone else before jumping in bed with them? I mean seriously, wtf?" Well, Mdblueyez, I hope you're happy. You've ruined my day. When I saw the tattoos, I immediately took you for the type who would let me come to your house, and after introducing myself, let me make violent love to one or more of your chins. Congratulations. You've won this round.


Funshiner chose a profile name that implies that she enjoys getting black eyes. But what's in a name? Let's see who she thinks she really is. She claims to be "a 29 year old professional female who enjoys getting down!" I seriously cannot wait to see what her definition of "getting down" is. Let's find out. She continues, "... watching the science/history/military channels, catching up on my sci-fi stories..." Ah yes, there it is! Get DOWN, Funshiner! She also goes on to note that she likes knitting fleece hats and that "the biggest thing about me right now... is that I'm very overweight." (That was her ellipses, not mine.) Funshiner, if you aren't just a big ol' tub o' Man Bait, then you can call me Peggy Sue! 
[Editor's note: the author of this blog will now respond to the name Peggy Sue during any future correspondence.]


Lilbitren gets right to the point. "I am awesome and fun and great in bed. I listen to awesome music and I kick ass." She forgot to mention that she is not so awesome at describing herself and the things she likes. She awesomely fails to elaborate on what makes her so awesome so I'll just have to take her at her awesome word for it. Unfortunately for me she prefers "tall, manly men who build things and fix things." I am nowhere near that awesome. 


Pookey1615 is a mother of two and considers herself quite the comedian. "I don't know how I do it, but I come up with some funny shit, its a mix of dry humor, to dumb stuff that still gets people to laugh." Yes, I'm sure you're basically the female version of Ricky Gervais from Middle River. Your teased bangs could be a good sight gag, too! She may also be out of my league being that she wants potential suitors to know that she "don't do stupid, jerks, conceited or jealous types." Pookey1615, you'll always be the one that got away.


To all of the beautiful, intelligent women from the Baltimore area on Plentyoffish.com...


My lips to yours!