All around the MLB fanbase, I have heard that the O's will finish lasy place in the AL East, that they will not win more than 50 games, and they will lose somewhere way over 100 games. I understand that some people believe the Bedard and Tejada trades were huge downgrades, but in reality, its not. Erik Bedard was a huge contributer to a 69 win Orioles team in 2007, but he was not fully there in April and missed all of September, ending the season of the Cy Young candidate. In the trade, the O's recieved two key pieces to this O's team in 2008, Adam Jones and George Sherrill. Jones stepped into the O's organization and was quickly granted a starting spot in center field over veteran Jay Payton. Jones has superstar potential, and will probably start slow, but should work out in a major way as the season progress'. Sherrill stepped in as the leading candidate for the closer role, vacant due to Tommy John surgery on Chris Ray. Not only will Sherrill be a key to the O's season, he will be a very good trade chip at the deadline, as well as the O's other two veteran relievers(Walker, Bradford). In that trade, the O's also reciever the M's Top Pitching Prospect, Chris Tillman(19) and one of the M's best pitching prospects, Tony Butler(20) and Ms relief prospect Kameron Mickolio(23). Mickolio could a be a helpful asset to this young O's team if any reliever get injured/traded.

~ O's new closer George Sherrill will be a big help for several reasons for the O's in 2008 while Erik Bedard trys to boost the Mariners to 1st in the AL West.

Now we go to the Tejada trade. The O's gave up a key component to there offense in 2007, but he was begining his slow down and was starting to be a cancer in the clubhouse. Orioles GM Andy MacPhail turned him around and found a good trade for him in the Astros, one day before his name was set to appear on the Mitchell Report. In the deal, he acquired 3 players that will help right off the bat. Those three are righty-starter Matt Albers, righty reliever Dennis Sarfate and outfielder Luke Scott. Albers has been compared to Curt Schilling and has talent to be a number 4 starter in this league. Sarfate, if Sherrill gets traded, would probably become the closer. He has a fastball that can reach 100 mph, and Luke Scott is a power bat the O's have needed for a while. Also in the deal, the O's recieved the 'Stros Top Pitching prospect in Troy Patton and power hitting third base prospect Mark Costanzo. Costanzo will get some time in at AAA before any moves up to the majors. He is currently blocked by Melvin Mora and third base prospect Scott Moore. Patton will miss the season with a torn labrum, and should come back by next year. The Astros will be getting a good shortstop who should return back to better power numbers in the small Minute Maid Park.

Both trades boosted the offense with a stud(Adam Jones, Luke Scott) and both gave the O's some young talent along with young pitchers. Out of the ten players acquired, 5 will be expected to be helpful to the O's in 2008. 2 of them are expected to see a call-up later in the season, one will miss the whole season. 7 of the 10 are 25 or young. 2 of the 10 are 20 or under. 2 of the 10 are Baseball America Top 100 prospects. Whatever happens in 2008, do not sleep on the O's to get 4th place. This team looks like a horrible team on paper, but are a unit of one, and together they stand, alone they fall. Let the game and the season, the sprited America's game, diside the outcome of the of the O's fatality.

Team 1:

MVP = Markakis

C - Victor Martinez

1B - Lance Berkman; Kevin Youkilis; Carlos Guillen

2B - Kelly Johnson

3B - Adrian Beltre; Ty Wigginton

SS - Khalil Greene

OF - Curtis Granderson; Nick Markakis; Jeff Francouer; Delmon Young; Pat Burrell

U - David Ortiz

SP - Aaron Harang; Chad Billingsley; Fausto Carmona; Ted Lilly; Adam Wainwright; Rich Harden

RP - Jonathan Papelbon; Eric Gagne

Transactions:

Traded Alex Rodriguez(3B) for David Wright(3B), Nomar Garciaparra(1B), Ty Wigginton(3B) and Pat Burrell(OF)

Dropped Jeremy Hermida(OF)

Dropped Nomar Garciaparra(1B)

Dropped Luke Scott(OF)

Added Kurt Suzuki(C)

Dropped Bengie Molina(C)

Traded Tim Hudson(SP) and David Wright(3B) for Aaron Harang(SP) and David Ortiz(DH)

Added Kevin Youkilis(1B)

Dropped Adam LaRoche(1B)

Added Rich Harden(SP)

Dropped Kurt Suzuki(C)

2007 Record - 69-93, 4th in AL East, 27.0 GB

Key Departures: Miguel Tejada/SS(HOU), Erik Bedard/LHSP(SEA), Corey Patterson/OF(CIN)

Key Acquisitions: Matt Albers/RHP(HOU), Adam Jones/OF(SEA), Dennis Sarfate/RHRP(HOU), Luke Scott/OF(HOU), George Sherrill/LHRP(SEA)

Into the off-season, GM Andy MacPhail made a statement by turning the franchise into a rebuilding state. Unfortunaltly, it will be a while before the O's climb back on the horse and become a contender. Peter Angelos did them in for the past ten years. Now, the O's lose one of the best southpaws in the game, Erik Bedard, but gain a new closer, a very talented center fielder in Adam Jones, and three young pitching prospects. Before that, macPhail dealt shortstop Miguel Tejada to the Houston Astros for outfielder Luke Scott, two young pitchers expected to step in immediatly in Matt Albers and Dennis Sarfate, a third base prospect expected to see some playing time and one of the best southpaw prospects in the game, Troy Patton. Even with the departures of Bedard and Tejada, I expect the O's to be better. Both Bedard and Tejada were bad clubhouse players. The O's tossed them out and started new. The 2008 Orioles have a good chemistry of young components along with some oldies to help the young guys out.

Offense: The Offense of the O's will be a torture to watch at the beginning, but expect it to get a fire lit underneath after a bad April. Expect to see Ramon Hernandez to bounce back to somewhat of his 2006 form, where he hit .275 with 23 home runs and 91 rbi's. Kevin Millar will start the season at first base. Millar is a good team player, but he is not at all a starter. Hopefully Mike Costanzo or Scott Moore can take over at some point. Brian Roberts comes back to the Orioles after dodging a spew of trade rumors this off-season. Roberts may very well be the best player on the trade block, and will be a hot commodity at the trade deadline. Unfortunatly, shortstop is a horrible position of the O's as well. Luis Hernandez is currently the starter, but is absolutley horrible in Spring Training. Brandon Fahey may very well be a better option and with Hernandez's play, could be the starter at shortstop on opening day. Melvin Mora is doing very well in spring training , but probably will not bring it over to the regular season. He could be a trade chip, but I don't think too many teams will be interested. Maybe either Costanzo or Moore will take over eventually. Here is where the O's are best, the outfield. Nick Markakis is just one of the few top 20, under 25 outfielders. He will get help from Luke Scott, who becomes the new starter at left field. Stuck in the middle of these two is youngster Adam Jones. Expect good seasons from all three of these players.

Pitching: Last year proved that just because you have one of the top 10 pitchers in the game dosn't mean you pitching is good. Adam Loewen and Jeremy Guthrie are in a tight battle for the ace of the staff, while Daniel Cabrera and Steve Trachsel basically sit calm in the 3-4 spots. The other battle is between Matt Albers and Lance Cormier for the 5th rotation spot. The bullpen was where the team was a blow up last season. The had two non-closer's under 4 ERA(Chad Bradford and Jaime Walker). Both Bradford and Walker along with closer george Sherrill will be on the trade block come deadline time. Other than that, the bullpen becomes a toss-up. There are two others who will probably make it, they are Dennis Sarfate and Randor Bierd, who was a Rule-5 pick this off-season. There is also Garrett Olson, Radhames Liz, Brian Burres, Greg Aquino and other battling for the last one or two spots.

Strengths: The O's have a few bright spots. There strong at catcher(Hernandez), second base(Roberts) and outfield(Markakis, Scott, Jones). It will not be a pretty year to be a Birds fan, but it will be fun watching the new guys and the young guys form the team and try there hardest. Probably there best strength is that they have around $30-$40M to spend in free agency next year on young but talented guys like Mark Teixeiria

Weakness: Man, was it easier to just name the strengths. The O's need a first baseman, shortstop, third baseman, and a lot of good youth pitching to become a contender. The good news, they have a potential prospect at just about every position. The offense is half and half, kind of like they have been in spring training. They will be great one day, then come out and fiddle around for 3 hours the next day. If they can become a team that wants to win, who says they can't.

Line-up

1. Brian Roberts/2B

2. Melvin Mora/3B

3. Nick Markakis/RF

4. Aubrey Huff/DH

5. Ramon Hernandez/C

6. Luke Scott/LF

7. Adam Jones/CF

8. Kevin Millar/1B

9. Luis A. Hernandez/SS

*Editors Note: The Projected Line-up is what I believe the O's opening day line-up should look like.

Team 1 I was not around to draft, but here is my Team

E-Town O's

C- Jarrod Saltalamacchia; Carlos Ruiz

1B - Adrian Gonzalez; Derrick Lee

2B - Brian Roberts

SS - Khalil Greene

3B - Chone Figgins; Evan Longoria

OF - Grady Sizemore; Adam Dunn; Nick Swisher; Ken Griffey Jr.; Luke Scott

SP- Johan Santana; Dan Haren; Bronson Arroyo; A.J. Burnett; Oliver Perez; Jeremy Guthrie; Gil Meche;

RP- Mariano Rivera; Chad Cordero

Team 2 I did draft, It took place last night at 5:30

MVP = Markakis

C - Victor Martinez; Bengie Molina

1B - Lance Berkman; Adam A. LaRoche

2B - Kelly Johnson

SS - Khalil Greene

3B - Alex Rodriguez; Adrian Beltre

OF - Curtis Granderson; Nick Markakis; Jeff Francouer; Delmon Young; Jeremy Hermida; Luke Scott

SP - Chad Billingsley; Fausto Carmona; Tim Hudson; Ted Lilly; Adam Wainwright

RP - Jonathan Papelbon; Eric Gagne

I would like to know everybodies thoughts on my 2 Fantasy teams. My next draft I must wait 1 month for.