The Baltimore Orioles were busy in the off season and that’s a good thing considering how unsuccessful last online baseball betting season’s team was.
This team is still light years away from competing for the division title. But, to place a winning baseball bet is tough, since when you’re the Orioles, you have to compete against the deep pocketed and always successful online baseball betting teams of New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
It’s tough competing against these online baseball betting teams’ resources and talent, but the Orioles are no small market team scrapping for pennies and there’s no real excuse for how bad this online baseball betting franchise has traditionally been. It has some talent on the roster and it can certainly afford to bring in free agents, however, management of prospects in the farm system has played a big roll in this online baseball betting team’s culture of losing.
In 2007 online baseball betting season the team hopes to break the cycle of losing and improve upon its awful 70-92 online baseball betting record. The good thing about last online baseball betting season’s record is that they didn’t finish last in the division. The bad news, besides the obvious, is that the only team they beat was the league-worst Tampa Bay Devil Rays. This online baseball betting year there is nowhere to go but up and the team pulled some nice off season moves to try get back to .500 ball.
The online baseball betting team spent wildly trying to shore up the bull pen. Chris Ray is a very fine closer and perhaps the most underrated in the game but he was thrown into a lot of impossible situations last online baseball betting year where the middle inning relief had let games get out of control and there was nothing really left for Ray to mop up. So, in the off-season the team brought in free agents Danys Baez from Atlanta as well as Chad Bradford from the Mets, Scott Williamson from the Cubs, and Jamie Walker from Detroit. Perhaps overkill but you can never have too many pitching arms and at least it shows to the online baseball betting fans that this team is serious about winning. Look for Williamson and Baez to be the go-to set up men in this mix.
The starting rotation was decent last online baseball betting year and it should be even better this year with the young armed studs of this club getting even more experience under their belts. A fan looking to place a baseball bet may never have heard of Erik Bedard or Daniel Cabrera but these guys have very bright futures. They will have to rack up a lot of online baseball betting wins between the two of them because the rotation drops off a bit the lower in the rotation you go.
Kris Benson will be lucky to finish the online baseball betting season but free agent signee Jaret Wright could be pleasant surprise in the rotation. But expect each pitcher to the most out of his game under the tutelage of pitching legend Leo Mazzone.
The infield this online baseball betting season will have some holes and there’s a reason why this club lost 92 games last online baseball betting year. The shining start here of course is Migual Tejada one of the best shortstops in the game. However, placing a good baseball bet is difficult, since there isn’t a lot of support here in the batting line up for him. Kevin Millar at first is a great guy to have on your team, in terms of character and bat, but his glove work is suspect. The rest of bunch plays pretty good defense and at best are average at the plate. A baseball bet on this team will not set any scoring records in 2007 online baseball betting season.
Free agent Aubrey Huff signed in the off season and instantly adds some help at the plate for this offensively challenged club. This should offer some protection to Tejada and result in a few more runs, necessary to place a winning baseball bet The DH Jay Gibbons is also a great hitter and if the top of the line up can get on base the Orioles now have a group of hitters that can bring them home.
A fan that wants to place a baseball bet knows that this team has absolutely no shot at winning the division. The Blue Jays, Yankees and Red Sox are all simply much better teams. But the Orioles should be a much better team than last online baseball betting year and could even improve their record by ten games or more. A baseball bet fan knows that this team is a work in progress but it is definitely headed in the right direction. Look out for the young pitching at the top of the order to make a name for them this online baseball betting year.