Dontrelle Willis Situation: Another black eye for the Orioles



Last time you'll see Willis in an O's uniform

For fifteen years the Orioles have been what many consider as the laughing stock of baseball.  Being an Orioles fan as much as I want to dispute it I cant.  Whether it be horrible free agent signings, terrible draft picks or god awful trades the O's have been tough to love.  This off season in my opinion was not any different.  First Dan Duquette gets hired a guy who hasn't worked in baseball in 10 years, and there is probably a reason for that.  Then for a time the Orioles were rumored to be interested in Manny Ramirez, someone who is currently serving a 50 game suspension.  Now for the icing on the cake Dontrelle Willis was signed to a minor league deal.  This seemed harmless until this week.
First of all let me start by saying Dontrelle Willis is lucky to have any sort of contract in baseball.  In the early 2000s Willis looked to be the next great lefty in the game.  However since 2006 Willis hasn't had an ERA lower than 5.00 and has only won 14 games in that same time.  Willis signed with the Phillies early in the spring and didn't last too long and was quickly released.  That's when the Orioles swooped in and signed the well traveled lefty.  Much wasn't thought of the deal and it looked to be a low risk move, that was until this week.

Apparently Willis thinks hes better than the Orioles think he is.  Willis wants to be a starter, whereas the O's see him as a situational lefty, hes actually neither but that's another discussion.  Willis isn't exactly lighting the world on fire either at Norfolk, hes 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA in just 3.2 innings pitched.  With those numbers how can you not make him a starter.  So after a disagreement Willis just left.  That's right got up and left the Tides without any explanation.  Oddly enough that is not the worst part of this whole debacle.  In his infinite wisdom Orioles GM said he would welcome Willis back if he decided to return.  ARE YOU F#%&!$^ KIDDING ME!?!?!  Why in the world would you welcome someone back who walked out on your team.  What kind of message does that send to not only your team but the entire organization.  Willis is a selfish player who is only worried about himself and could care less about the good of the team.

Now to makes matters even better Willis has filed a grievance against the Orioles for putting him on the restricted list.  This seems like an awful lot of trouble for a mediocre player at best.  The reason this is a black eye for the Orioles is because they refuse to cut ties with him.  Would the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies (obviously not they already cut him)or any other good team put up with this crap? I doubt it.  In fact knowing the way the Orioles do things they will probably promote him to starter, call him up to the majors and put him in the rotation.  Look I'm no genius and I'm not saying that i could run a ball team but this one seems easy to me.  Willis is washed up and is not worth the trouble just cut him now before this gets any uglier or more embarrassing.

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Baseball is Back!!!

This by far is my favorite time of year, the start of baseball season. The only problem is being where I am from its difficult to get overly excited about the upcoming season. However this post will be mostly positive. Tonight the Marlins introduce their new stadium to the baseball world and hopefully tonight will be the start of another unforgettable baseball season. So now its time for the predictions that will be way off come October.

AL EAST (*Wild Card Teams)
1. Yankees
2. Rays*
3. Red Sox
4. Blue Jays
5. Orioles

The Yankees offense is just too strong and though their pitching is not great but its good enough. Tampa will edge out Boston again this year only this time no epic comeback is needed. Toronto should keep the race close in what is quickly becoming not just the toughest but most competitive division in baseball. As for the Orioles.....I got nothing.

AL CENTRAL
1. Tigers
2. Royals
3. Twins
4. White Sox
5. Indians

This may turn out as the least competitive of all the divisions. Barring major injuries its hard to see any team other than Detroit winning this division. Really you can put those other 4 teams any order you want none of them will be within 10 games of the Tigers when its all said and done.

AL WEST
1. Rangers
2. Angels*
3. Athletics
4. Mariners

The American League West did its best to steal all the off season headlines, with the Angels getting Pujols and CJ Wilson and the Rangers getting Yu Darvish. This race should be one of the most entertaining of the entire season. I give the slight edge to the Rangers because of their recent run of success but both teams will make the postseason.

NL EAST
1. Marlins
2. Phillies
3. Nationals
4. Braves
5. Mets

I have hopped on the Marlins bandwagon, with the additions of Reyes, Bell, Buehrle and Guillen at the helm the Marlins are primed to take the East. The Phillies are hard to go against with Lee and Halladay but early season injuries to Howard and Utley could be too much for Philly to overcome. Also don't sleep on the Nats they should make some huge strides in 2012.

NL CENTRAL
1. Reds
2. Cardinals*
3. Brewers
4. Pirates
5. Cubs
6. Astros

Cincinnati got dealt a huge blow by losing Ryan Madson for the season but I still feel they are the best in the Central. St. Louis will obviously take a step back losing Pujols but are still good enough to make the postseason. Milwaukee will hang around but losing Fielder will be too much. Pittsburgh, Chicago and Houston will be battling for fourth place.

NL WEST
1. Diamondbacks
2. Giants*
3. Dodgers
4. Padres
5. Rockies

Arizona came out of nowhere last season to win the West and I expect more of the same this season. San Francisco was plagued with injuries last season, but healthy they should be back in the postseason. LA's biggest headline was being purchased by a group that included Magic Johnson, it will probably be its only one this season. Not much excitement coming from either San Diego or Colorado, other than Jamie Moyer being the number 2 guy in Denver at age 49, yikes.

AL Champ: Detroit Tigers
NL Champ: Arizona Diamondbacks

World Series Champ: Arizona Diamondbacks

Probably not a team most people have winning it all but I hate going with the trend. Arizona has an exciting up and coming team and they are looking top build on last years amazing run. Detroit signed a Prince and have a pitcher coming off maybe the most dominating performance by a pitcher ever. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter I'm just happy baseball is back.