Andy MacPhail

While things may be quiet in terms of Mets activity, the Orioles are wasting no time in building their club up for the 2010 campaign and beyond.

Jeff Zrebiec and Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun are reporting that the Orioles have inked former Colorado Rockie, Garrett Atkins , to a one year deal.

What place will the Baltimore Orioles fall in 2010?  More than 80 wins could be a start. 

Of course there is room for optimism.  Every fan has that in the offseason.  Hoping there club can make the right moves to drive his or her home team to the playoffs.

The reality of the situation is that the Orioles haven’t had a winning record since the late '90s.  This discourages top tier free agents from coming to Baltimore. 

The Baltimore Orioles have been one of the most disappointing organizations in baseball.

With eleven striaght losing seasons, the O's have been at the bottom of the cellar of the AL East for over a decade, facing beatdowns to the Yankees and Red Sox.

There hasn't been much to talk about in this decade beside these long woes.

All the hearts broke when Cal Ripken retired, who was virtually the last piece to Baltimore's success.

Peter Angelos, current Orioles owner, has been one of the more unpredictable ones in the years.

As I watch the New York Yankees erupt for another night of offensive fireworks against the Baltimore Orioles under-whelming pitching staff, I’m tempted to pound out a column imploring team president Andy MacPhail to forget about his plan and go find some pitching NOW.

Then, after I take a few deep breaths and let the blood flow back to my brain, I realize that this is one of the rare cases in professional sports where you can’t dwell on the current win-loss record.

Toronto Blue Jays:

Don't look now but the Toronto Blue Jays are 6-2 and leading the revamped American League Eastern division. My first Bleacher Report article outlined this possibility when upon the re-hiring of former manager Cito Gaston on June 20, 2008 the team proceeded to finish last season on a 51-37 clip.