According to Ken Rosenthal.

Proefrock, the Orioles' director of baseball administration, will join the Phillies as an assistant GM, according to major-league sources. An announcement is expected Monday.

The Phillies selected Proefrock over Jim Duquette, a former GM with the Mets and Orioles; Wayne Krivsky, a former GM with the Reds; and Muzzy Jackson, a former assistant GM with the Royals.

Proefrock will play a major role in contract negotiations and other administrative duties. Prior to joining the Orioles in Oct. 2005, he spent 10 1/2 years in a similar capacity with the Rays.

I don't really know much about what Proefrock did with the O's, but best of luck to him in Philly. I'm sure it's a better gig than here.

This morning on Baseball This AM on XM they were discussing the NL Cy Young winner TIm Lincecum and Mark Patrick says that he's surprised it was such a landslide seeing as how Brandon Webb had so many more wins to which Buck Martinez replies, "When you're evaluating a pitcher the first thing you look at is wins." WHY is he so stupid? Then some guy calls in and gives Buck the what for about how that's the most ridiculous thing you can say and I'm laughing because it's the same sort of thing I want to say to stupid baseball announcers all the time. Buck's response? "Say what you want about ERA and other stats, but ask any pitcher if he'd rather have a low ERA or a win and he'll say win every time." Which, DUH, Buck, but that doesn't make the guy with more wins a better pitcher.

Free Agents can begin talking to other teams this Friday, and Yahoo has a nifty list of Free Agents that will be updated as the off season progresses. I'll be glad when Teixeira is signed somewhere and we can stop pretending he'll end up in Baltimore.

Trades! Reports are the Matt Holliday has been traded to the Oakland A's. In return for Holliday, the A's will send the Rockies Carlos Gonzalez, Greg Smith, and Huston Street. This trade perplexes me just a bit as it seems to be the opposite of Billy Beane's MO, although if he in turn flips Holliday before the deadline I'll feel better about my understanding of the world. Beane is regarded as being brilliant, and I'll give him that his trades do make sense generally, but he is perpetually rebuilding which will never let the A's catch the Angels. Maybe Billy Beane is realizing that.

In the "who cares" category, the Nationals traded Emilio Bonafacio plus minor leaguers to the Marlins for Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen. The Nats were just god awful last year so they can use any pitching they can get, even if it is Scott Olsen.

No news on the Orioles front yet, although that's hardly surprising. If Andy doesn't pick up his snail pace this off season I might go insane. In looking for any information on the O's, I found mlb.com's Orioles Hot Stove Blog. Nothing much going on over there except for the Khalil Greene rumor and Danyz Baez's desire to be a starter, but it might be a good place to keep an eye on.

Tomorrow is the big Orioles rally at the Gallery to reveal their new uniforms. Some info on the uniforms from Roch's blog. It seems that Nick Markakis, Jeremy Guthrie, and George Sherrill will be there for the big reveal. A co-worker and I are planning on taking a long lunch to check it out, so hopefully I'll get some good pictures for you.

As I mentioned in a comment elsewhere, and as Andy MacPhail has stated, the Orioles need to sign some starting pitching this off season. The pitching prospects in the minors look good, but they're not ready yet and some of them probably never will be. Aside from Jeremy Guthrie the team has no legitimate starters. So here is a list of all free agent pitchers this year, and I've included if they are a type A.

• Kris Benson
  
• A.J. Burnett (A)
  
• Paul Byrd
  
• Shawn Chacon
• Matt Clement
• Bartolo Colon
• Ryan Dempster (A)
  
• Shawn Estes
• Josh Fogg
• Freddy Garcia
• Jon Garland
  
• Tom Glavine
• Mike Hampton
• Mark Hendrickson
• Livan Hernandez
• Orlando Hernandez
• Jason Jennings
• Randy Johnson
• Byun-Hyun Kim
• Jon Lieber
• Esteban Loaiza
• Braden Looper
  
• Derek Lowe (A)
  
• Greg Maddux
• Pedro Martinez
• Jamie Moyer (A)
• Mark Mulder
• Mike Mussina (A)
  
• Russ Ortiz
• John Patterson
• Carl Pavano
• Andy Pettitte (A)
• Brad Penny
• Odalis Perez
• Oliver Perez (A)
  
• Sidney Ponson
• Mark Prior
• C.C. Sabathia (A)
  
• Curt Schilling
• Ben Sheets (A)
  
• John Smoltz
• Steve Traschel
• Kip Wells
• Randy Wolf
• Jamey Wright

I know some on that list are probably retiring (Schilling, Maddux) or really should retire (Traschel) but that is the entire FA list from here and here

So whaddya think? Who should we go after? Who should we avoid?

It's the bottom of the 6th, game tied 2-2. Grant Balfour is still on the mound for the Rays and Geoff Jenkins is the PH for Cole Hamels. It seems like it's been forever since we saw some WS baseball for some reason.

Timothy Bascom (RHP): He had a very mediocre year in Frederick in 2008 but so far he's been decent in the HWL. He's had four appearances (all starts). In three of them he has pitched a total of 11 innings with 0 ER, 7 H, 9 K, and 2 BB. In the 4th he only pitched 1.1 inning giving up 7 ER.

Clifford Flagello (RHP):  I've never heard of this dude, but I haven't heard of too many Delmarva Shorebirds. As a reliever he's pitched in 6 games for a total of 8 innings. He's allowed 9 hits and 4 walks in 8 innings, but has somehow only allowed 1 run. He has allowed at least one hit in each of his outings, usually just 1 inning at a time.

Sean Gleason (RHP): Another Shorebird in 2008, Sean has made 4 starts in the HWL. In 18 innings he's given up 15 hits, 10 BB, 4 HR, and 14 ER. Ouch.

Brian Parker (RHP): Brian split time between Delmarva and Frederick this year, pitching as a reliever. In 6 relief appearances in the HWL, Brian has pitched 10.2 innings allowing 9 hits, 6 BB, and 4 ER. He has struck out 8. In 4 of his 6 appearances he allowed 0 runs and, like Tim Bascom, really had one outing that sort of ruins his stats in such a small time frame.

Chris Salberg (LHP): Chris is a left handed starting pitcher who split 2008 with the Ironbirds and Shorebirds. He was a starter for both of those teams but in Hawaii only one of his 8 appearances has been a start. Over 14 innings Chris has allowed 11 hits and 8 walks while striking out 13. He's allowed just one home run and his OBA is .212.

Wally Crancer (C): Wally Crancer is a funny name. Wally spent all of the 2008 season in Delmarva. In Hawaii, Wally pretty much sucks. He's 7 for 37 with an OBP of .268. Ouch! Luckily we don't need to care about some sucky catcher in Delmarva, even if he does have a funny name, because we have WIETERS.

Tyler Henson (3B): Tyler Henson and Tim Bascom are the only players on this list whose names I recognize. Tyler was also in Delmarva this year where he played 127 games and wasn't all that great.  He's doing pretty well in Hawaii, though. His batting average is just .246 (in 65 AB) but thanks to 18 BB and 9 2B his OPS is a decent .820. He only walked 25 times in 127 games in Delmarva and has walked 18 times in 19 games in Hawaii, so who knows what's going on there.

Hawaiian Winter Baseball runs through 15 November, and the players from the O's system are on the West Oahu Cane Fires.

I can't remember who was doing the AFL updates last year (jq maybe?) but I was reading the stats and thought I'd share them with y'all.

Brian Matusz (LHP):  Brian has made two starts so far. His first, on 11 Oct, he pitched three innings allowing 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 BB and 1K. In his second on 17 Oct, he pitched four innings with 3 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB and 8 Ks. No, that's not a typo. He had 8 Ks in 4 innings. Pretty exciting, yes? 

Ryan Keefer (RHP): Ryan came into a game on 15 October, immediately allowed a HR, and then left the game with an elbow strain. He hasn't pitched since but is expected to throw again next week. No offense to Ryan, but he's hardly a prospect beating down the door, so no reason to be alarmed.

Bob McCrory (RHP): Bob, who we all remember fondly stinking it up for the O's in September, has pitched 1.2 innings without allowing an earned run (2 unearned), with an OBA of .222, walking 1 and striking out 1. He missed a few days with a sore elbow but is currently back in action.

Chad Thall (LHP): Chad, who split time this season between Frederick and Delmarva, is having a rough go so far this fall. In 6.1 innings he's allowed 13 hits and 5 runs. Opponents are batting a lovely .433 against him.

Matt Wieters (C): Wieters Watch! So far in the AFL, Matt is 10 for 29 with 2 2B and 1 3B. He's taken 7 BB and is sporting an OPS of .969.

Blake Davis (SS): Blake has gotten off to a slow start. He's 1 for 13 with 1 BB. I don't know much about this kid but his OPS was only .714 in Bowie last year so he doesn't seem like great shakes. Someone please let me know if I'm wrong.

Brandon Snyder (1B): Brandon is having a great time in the AFL so far. He's 9 for 21 with a home run and four doubles. Only one walk, but so far so good.

Nolan Reimold (OF): Nolan has gotten off to a slow start, going just 5 for 32. He does have 2 HR, 1 2B and 1 BB.

That's it! Hopefully Reimold can pick it up and gain some attention as I think he'd be a good addition to the big club next year. The Arizona Fall League runs through 20 November.