Around the Beat: Ken Rosenthal talks Britton, Machado, trade market and O’s second-half chances

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When it comes to baseball reporting — the combination of institutional knowledge, mining sources, ability to write and doing it all with integrity – for my money, no one beats Fox Sports’ and MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal.

Fresh off conducting dugout interviews at the All Star Game in San Diego, Rosenthal joins me on this week’s “Around the Beat” podcast to talk baseball as the second half begins Friday night.

Rosenthal looks at the available starting pitching market (this was recorded hours before Boston acquired Drew Pomeranz) and what some of the contenders need to make a pennant push. He breaks down which teams in the AL can make a run and how the races may shake out.

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As a former Baltimore Sun baseball writer and columnist, Rosenthal knows plenty about the Orioles organization. He refers to what’s going on now in Baltimore as “quite refreshing.” And so most of the podcast is spent talking about the Orioles, their strengths and their weaknesses.

We talk Zach Britton’s emergence, Ubaldo Jimenez’s disaster, the offense’s fear-inducing lineup and the need for rotation help.

He also takes a look at the strengths of Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter, gives his pick to win the AL and whom he’d select as his first-half AL MVP (it’s not Manny Machado, though Rosenthal said he’d be close).

As always with Ken, it’s fascinating stuff. So check it out.

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Dan Connolly

Dan Connolly has spent more than two decades as a print journalist in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Baltimore native and Calvert Hall graduate first covered the Orioles as a beat writer for the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record in 2001 before becoming The Baltimore Sun’s national baseball writer/Orioles reporter in 2005. He has won multiple state and national writing awards, including several from the Associated Press Sports Editors. In 2013 he was named Maryland Co-Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. And in 2015, he authored his first book, "100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." He lives in York, with his wife, Karen, and three children, Alex, Annie, and Grace.

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  • That was a good podcast. Ken made some good points. I like the idea of throwing Bundy's name out there at the trade deadline. Package him with Mancini and Reyes and ask Atlanta for Teheren. Would that get it done? Probably not, Braves GM said he would not trade Teheran.

    • I doubt that would be enough. Atlanta is supposedly looking for a package even better than what they received for Shelby Miller. I can't see the O's trading Bundy anyway, so it's probably moot.

  • Hey Steve,
    Got to trust Buck and let's see if Bundy can stay healthy. If so, next year looks promising. He can heave it! Go from 98 and in the vicinity to 96 on the black and he's lights out!

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