FanHouse LeoMazzone

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* Former Orioles skipper Leo Mazzone on his old employer: "Once I got there and saw how they operated compared to the Braves, I knew I made a mistake the first week of spring training," he said, before chuckling and adding, "I said to myself, 'You know what? I done messed up.' The lack of organization. The lack of discipline. The lack of overall professionalism. I was shocked, and I couldn't believe it."

We always talk in fantasy baseball about upside, potential, selling high, blahblahblah. Even more time is spent discussing these things than the hours we spend each preseason yapping about how Daniel Cabrera is finally going to turn things around and become a fantasy ace and freakish strikeout monster.

Until this season, when, after Leo Mazzone's inability to help D-Cab cut down on his walks, people were relatively quiet. We gave up. And why not? There was no need to burn an early-mid round pick on a guy that would shatter your WHIP and consistently befuddle your lineup with his, um, inconsistency.

But is this season any different? And am I required by fantasy writer law to address him this week? "Yes, kind of" on both counts.

Note that his BB/9 of 3.21 is substantially down from his previous best season in the majors (4.76 last year), but his K/9 has also seen a dip, although not as steep, down to it's lowest point in his career at 5.48. This means he is pitching much more to contact than he has in the past.

And this has led to, in conjunction with a 57.5 GB%, Cabs averaging over 6 and two thirds innings pitched per start.

On the positive side of things, there is the obvious decrease in walks, as well as increase in HR/FB, up to 14.5%. That is "positive", only because it should, in theory, come back down. But if D-Cab is pitching to more contact, as he appears to be, we really have to readjust what we think we know about how many yardballs he's going to give up.

The Baltimore Orioles have a ton of strong, young pitchers. For whatever reason, Leo Mazzone wasn't able to nurture them into stable major leaguers. Mazzone's failure led to his firing with a year still remaining on his contract in Baltimore. That opened the door for Rick Kranitz, who apparently chose the O's over a couple of other teams that were interested.

Kranitz spent 22 years in the Cubs organization before taking on the role of pitching coach in Florida. He quickly made his mark, particularly working with young arms as The Baltimore Sun reports:

"What he brings to us is a level of expertise in mechanics, the ability to adapt to different styles of pitching and a real good communicator, which is something I think is going to be real important because I'd expect that we would basically have a very young pitching staff," Trembley said.

In 2006, Kranitz was named Baseball America's Major League Coach of the Year after four rookies on the Marlins' staff each won 10 games. Their rotation that year posted a 4.22 ERA, third-lowest in the National League. The 2007 bullpen had a 4.02 ERA that ranked as the third-best mark in team history.

So why leave? You tell me...

Kranitz resigned from the Marlins in September after rejecting a $5,000 raise. He was believed to be the lowest-paid pitching coach in the majors.

With the dust not yet settled from the 2007 season, Baltimore is already building for 2008, a good sign for the fans. They are still searching for a first base coach and a bench coach to round out Dave Trembley's staff.