The addition of Jones, a 22-year-old five-tool player, gives Baltimore one of the game's most exciting young outfields. Heinz Kluetmeier/SI
	FAST FACTS MANAGER DAVE TREMBLEY second season with Baltimore Team Page | 2008 Schedule THE NUMBERS LIE | DON'T LIE .320 On-base percentage of Orioles outfielders last season; only the Diamondbacks' outfield had a lower figure. With the acquisition of centerfielder Adam Jones (.350 career OBP in the minors) and leftfielder Luke Scott (.366 career OBP in the majors) from Seattle and Houston, respectively, to play alongside budding star Nick Markakis (.362 OBP in '07), Baltimore should put more pressure on opposing pitchers this year. CONSIDER THIS Baltimore has three bright pieces of its future in centerfielder Adam Jones, rightfielder Nick Markakis and catcher Matt Wieters, its top pick in last year's draft, who will start the season in the minors. Having unloaded shortstop Miguel Tejada and put second baseman Brian Roberts on the block, the Orioles might as well pull the plug on 36-year-old third baseman Melvin Mora and hand the job to rookie Scott Moore. Acquired from the Cubs for Steve Trachsel last August, Moore, 24, showed good power in the minors, a big plus considering Mora's power has virtually disappeared. Despite getting eight hits in his first 12 spring at bats before an abdominal strain slowed him, Moore is ticketed for a utility role -- an odd move for a team that says it is fully committed to rebuilding. BATTING ORDER POS. PLAYER B-T PVR BA HR RBI SB 2B BRIAN ROBERTS S-R 29 .290 12 57 50 3B MELVIN MORA R 117 .274 14 58 9 RF NICK MARKAKIS L 54 .300 23 112 18 1B KEVIN MILLAR R 174 .254 17 63 1 DH AUBREY HUFF L-R 125 .280 15 72 1 LF LUKE SCOTT L-R 165 .255 18 64 3 C RAMON HERNANDEZ R 158 .258 9 62 1 CF ADAM JONES R 121 .246 2 4 2 SS LUIS HERNANDEZ (R) S-R 343 .290 1 7 2 BENCH POS. PLAYER B-T PVR BA HR RBI SB IF SCOTT MOORE (R) L-R 272 .231 1 11 0 OF JAY PAYTON R 262 .256 7 58 5 ROTATION PITCHER PVR W L K/9 WHIP ERA RH JEREMY GUTHRIE 87 7 5 6.3 1.21 3.70 LH ADAM LOEWEN 191 2 0 6.5 1.75 3.56 RH DANIEL CABRERA 162 9 18 7.3 1.54 5.55 RH STEVE TRACHSEL 165 7 11 3.2 1.60 4.90 LH BRIAN BURRES 212 6 8 7.1 1.70 5.95 BULLPEN PITCHER PVR W L S WHIP ERA LH GEORGE SHERRILL 64 2 3 11.0 0.99 2.36 LH JAMIE WALKER 173 3 7 6.0 1.21 3.23 RH CHAD BRADFORD 187 4 2 4.0 1.44 3.34

"If you have trouble recognizing the Birds, that's exactly how the club wants it."

"Hey, George," a front-row fan at Fort Lauderdale Stadium called to a Baltimore pitcher before an intrasquad game this spring. The player didn't respond.

"George!" the fan persisted. Still no response.

"George, are you pitching today?"

Finally, the pitcher turned around.

"It's Garrett," said the minor league lefthander, Garrett Olson.

Meanwhile, the Orioles' website listed the team's manager as Mike Trembley (it's Dave), and team president Andy MacPhail kept referencing a numerical roster to figure out who was who among his own players in the intrasquad game.

If you have trouble recognizing the Birds, that's exactly how the ball club wants it. With 39 newcomers in camp and a fresh mission statement -- which is to say that they actually have one -- the Orioles are trying their damnedest to bear no resemblance to the teams of the last 10 years, the most fallow decade in franchise history. The 93-loss outfit from last season was particularly gruesome: It walked the most batters in the majors, set a league record for most runs allowed in one game (30) and had the seventh-worst record in one-run games (13-31) in AL history.

After the latest debacle MacPhail, who was hired last June, cried uncle and launched an honest-to-goodness rebuilding plan, with pitching, defense and fundamentals as its foundation. "To think that if everything breaks right, you might win 85 games and have a shot at the playoffs is the thinking that had to change," says MacPhail, who had previously turned the Twins and the Cubs into playoff teams. "That's not going to cut it in the AL East. You're up against two of the most well-financed and well-operated franchises in the game. The only way to trump that is through solid pitching from one through 11. This is the only path available to us -- better than being stuck in neutral."

MacPhail invested $6 million on his top draft pick alone last year (catcher Matt Wieters), commissioned a training academy in the Dominican Republic, established the position of international scouting director and spent $250,000 on a state-of-the-art video system. His most visible moves, however, were trades with Seattle and Houston that turned two of the club's most valuable assets, pitcher Erik Bedard and shortstop Miguel Tejada, into 10 new players -- seven of them pitchers and only two of them older than 28. The best of the pitchers are prospect Chris Tillman, 19, who was the Mariners' minor league pitcher of the year last season; Dennis Sarfate, 26, a power righthanded setup reliever; and Matt Albers, 25, who could start or provide help for what was a ghastly bullpen last season (5.71 ERA).

Baltimore's most important newcomer is centerfielder Adam Jones, a .291 minor league hitter. The Orioles believe they have two lineup fixtures for at least the next five years in Jones, 22, and rightfielder Nick Markakis, 24, whose 112 RBIs last year were the third most by a 25-and-under player, behind Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder (119 apiece in 2007). "[Jones] is not a finished product by any means," Trembley says. "He's going to get better. He's enough of an athlete that, when it comes, it's going to come in a hurry."

Trembley, 56, ran a training camp that reflected the organization's commitment to fundamentals. In particular, he emphasized holding base runners ("Our pitchers were abysmal [at it] last year," he says), situational hitting ("We start every batting practice with it. Last year we had no program") and working the count ("The top five teams at seeing the most pitches went to the playoffs").

Baltimore still doesn't have a bona fide shortstop or closer, and second baseman Brian Roberts figures to be the next veteran asset traded for inexperienced players. In the short term the Orioles may be risking a last-place finish for the first time since the infamous 1988 team that started 0-21. This year won't be pretty, but they're trying. -- Tom Verducci.

Issue date: March 31, 2008