Opening Day

Opening Day is tommorow for the O's and the Nats, and its still strange to have 2 teams in the area. It will be an adjustment trying to catch the O's on MASN, but atleast the Nats will consistently be on TV now as well. I don't get the chance to make it out to the games as much as I'd like, but by following the games on TV it is possible to really get a feel for the players. I've never really gotten into the Nats yet because they were never really on TV. It will be interesting to see if people start to connect to the team a little more now that they have a good TV deal in place.

I'm not quite sure how to feel about the Orioles this season. They made some improvements since last season by adding Bradford, Williamson, Baez, and Walker to the bullpen. They also added some talent to the lineup with Jay Payton and Aubrey Huff. (Note to self...Don't name your next son Aubrey.) However, when you look at the team as a whole its hard to see them being much better than last year. Will the bullpen help really lead to more wins? Its hard to judge that.
I think the most important thing for the Orioles will be how Adam Loewen and Daniel Cabrera will perform. Each had great outings last year that really made them look like potential difference makers. However, both of them could also be counted on for some off days, especially Cabrera. I think Loewen will do very well after making his debut last year. Hopefully he got a taste of what to expect, and can be trusted to go deeper into games.
Jarret Wright and Steve Trachsel are veteran newcomers, that have looked shaky in spring training. However, I have faith that they can't do worse than Rodrigo Lopez and Bruce Chen pitched last year. Hell...if either of them wins a game he will have done better than Chen!

So...the pitching looks to have improved. Huff and Payton came in to bolster the lineup, while you didn't lose much production from last year with your core guys coming back. I think a full year of Nick Markakis in RF is extremely exciting. He could challenge Miguel Tejada as the best hitter on the club in 2007. Overall the O's should be a better team. The question in my mind is how much better can they be. Will they be a more respectable 4th place club in the AL East, or can they possibly catch NY, Boston, or Toronto? I really can't tell at this point, but I'm definitely excited for the season to get started on Monday night.