Some Of My Favorite Past Their Prime Orioles

The Oriole Bird sez, "4th place rocks!"

I can laugh at this but the Orioles have made signing past their prime players job one. For this I had to say "some" of my favorites, there's plenty more. In the Orioles defense most of those folks don't make Baltimore their last stop. They make it their second to last stop.




Ozzie Guillen- I was especially emotional when looking for pictures of Mr. Guillen. I saw a life by way of a mindless Yahoo photo search. The smiles, the signing ceremonies, the celebrations. For the Orioles? 12 games and an .063 batting average.

Where's Ozzie?: While the Orioles 2005 season was the biggest failure since NBC's "Coupling," Guillen is now the manager of the White Sox, a team that actually wins games...


Doug Drabek-When pitching coach turned manager Ray Miller finally got the gig in Baltimore, he was reminded of the player who helped him during his barely remembered his successful early '90s run in Pittsburgh. That person was Doug Drabek. By 1998 time wasn't treating his whole deal any better, but Drabek fit right in with other players in the crappy pitchers era. This was a team who also employed players in their worst form like Norm Charlton, Heathcliff Slocumb, Kent Mercker and Mike Timlin. Drabek? He went 6-11 with a 7.29 era. What did Slocumb bring to the party for that 1998 Summer of Hurt? A 12.68 era. Ooh wee!

Was it his fault: Oh no. Sandy Koufax at his peak couldn't succeed with the 1998 Orioles



Joe Carter- I wasn't expecting a whole heck of a lot when the Orioles signed him. But keeping with the decline aesthetic, it was the first time he hit less than 20 homers in a season. You know I do have memories of Joe Carter dominating the game and being a hitting machine. For the Orioles? Big nothing.

Joe Carter: Uh oh, he's coming after me...



Will Clark- Will wasn't excatly "the Thrill" in Baltimore. Long story short. O's first baseman Rafael Palmeiro left in a snit because the Orioles signed Albert Belle. Clark and Palmeiro all but replaced one another on their respective new teams. At this point Clark and his game eating injuries were a package deal. During the 1999 season Clark was only in 77 games. Baltimore shipped in off in mid 2000. The end result? Not that thrilling--at all.

A note: Will Clark ended his career in St. Louis. That's enough about him, he's one intense dude.



Glenn Davis- Glenn Davis, the wave of the future. More like future destroyer. The Orioles sent a couple of kids to Houston for slugger Davis. Those kids? Pete Harnisch, Steve Finley and Curt Schilling. Davis had major damage. He "recovered" came back and still didn't produce. He was out of the majors by 1993. Harnisch recently ended his respectable career. Steve Finley's still playing and we all know the deal on Schilling. The Pop Culture Idiot lesson? Don't sacrifice promising pitchers for an injured slugger.

Great Fact: Davis is known for his work with at-risk kids. He reportedly has two homes for them, a third is on the way if not completed. There's no word what Davis is going to be doing for at-risk adults like me...