Pretty much right after stopping talks with Yankees brass and turning down any Yanks offers, it looks like Leo Mazzone has come to terms with the Orioles. This should certainly make for an interesting storyline throughout the season, especially if the Yankees staff struggles and Baltimore starts pitching well to go along with their hitting. Sabernomics author J.C. Bradbury wrote a pretty in-depth article over at the Baseball Analysts about how much effect that Mazzone has had on pitchers during his tenure with the Braves.

His bottom line: "Starters and relievers pitched worse both before and after playing for Mazzone. Something good was clearly happening when pitchers played for the Braves." Looking at the stats, this certainly seems true as pitchers under Mazzone shaved 0.625 off their ERAs when pitching for him. It would have been nice to have him... it would have been almost as nice if he had stayed out of the AL East though. Now, let's hope that he doesn't help Daniel Cabrera harness his stuff or make Erik Bedard into a more effective pitcher than he is (or convince B.J. Ryan to stick around). If he does that... well, the Orioles just got a whole lot more interesting.