During Orioles FanFest, shortstop J.J. Hardy spoke with the media for a couple of minutes. Hardy answered questions about the additions to the roster for Spring Training, his life this offseason versus what happened to him last year, outlook for the season and several other items. Here are some quotes and notes I was able to pick up from him. About the moves and acquisitions...

During Orioles FanFest, shortstop J.J. Hardy spoke with the media for a couple of minutes. Hardy answered questions about the additions to the roster for Spring Training, his life this offseason versus what happened to him last year, outlook for the season and several other items. Here are some quotes and notes I was able to pick up from him. About the moves and acquisitions...

After two down seasons, J.J. Hardy was left for dead after many drafts last year. I’m sure he took offense to that and that is why he had one of his best seasons of his career. His 30 home runs weren’t only a career high, but they were also tied for the lead among shortstops (Troy Tulowitzki) in 2011. Power is the name of Hardy’s game and it seems like he likes hitting in...

Karl de Vries is a reporter and web producer for The Star-Ledger of Newark, NJ. He’s a lifelong Mets fan and fantasy fanatic who operates RotoDiamond, a fantasy baseball blog. If you’ve never heard of RotoDiamond, I highly suggest adding it to your fantasy repertoire. Due to the high quality of Karl’s work, I’ve asked him to contribute posts to Baseball Professor. It took...

The Orioles have plenty of holes to fill this offseason and seemingly every offseason. But there is one critical position that they do not have to fill. Shortstop.You could make the argument that the rarest commodity in the free agent market this season is a shortstop who can hit and field his position well. (OK, good all-around catchers and starting pitching is probably a rarer...

Key Stats: No shortstop had more home runs than J.J. Hardy's 30 last season. Troy Tulowitzki had as many home runs, but also had 39 more plate appearances. The way Hardy got to 30 was impressive as he was consistent in the months of June, July, and August with 7 or more home runs in each month. He missed most of April, but finished healthy which means last year could have actually...

The Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Rays are an interesting study of two teams that went in the opposite direction of where they were supposed to go this year. Prior to the season I, along with many other people, predicted that the O’s would take a step forward in 2011, with Tampa taking a step back. In the off season Tampa lost Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, and Rafael Soriano to...

At the end of 2009, JJ Hardy was an offensive mess. His overall numbers were bad but his power production had almost evaporated. He had gone from a hitter who had hit 50 home runs from 2007-2008 to one who hit 11. Unable to figure neither his problem out nor willing to pay his escalating salary, the Brewers shipped in to Minnesota...

Unless Hardy goes into a late season slide, he will hit 25 homers. At the beginning of the year, we at Fantasy Baseball Dugout named J.J. Hardy of the Orioles as the 2011 Surprise Player of the Year in the American League. Hardy is having a fine season in 2011 just as we predicted.  The Orioles shortstop has belted 20 homeruns with 52 RBI and sports a .270 batting average. We knew...

Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy, who signed a long-term contract with the team during his terrific first season in Baltimore, said he signed a multi-year deal because he sees a lot of promise in the young players on the Orioles' roster. 

Current Depth ChartC – M. Weiters: 1 yr/$452,250 (11)+Arb12-151 – C. Davis2 – B. Roberts: 4 yr/$40M (10-13)3 – M. Reynolds: 3 yr/$14.5M (10-12)+13 cl optSS – JJ Hardy: 3years/$20milLF – N. Reimold: Rookie ContractCF – A. Jones: 1 yr/$3.25M (11)+Arb.12-13RF – N. Markakis: 6 yr/$66.1M (09-14)DH – Vlad Guerrero: 1 yr/$8M (11)*All contract info. courtesy of Cot’s...

Your fantasy baseball draft(s) are right around the corner.  Here’s my attempt at separating 25 shortstops into six tiers. Tiers are very subjective and one player could easily be considered just good enough or just bad enough to be in the next higher or lower tier. Let me know what you think.  Also check out my: first basemen tiers and second basemen tiers. Tier 1: Troy Tulowitzki...

J.J. Hardy said he never expected to be traded by the Twins until reporters brought it up to him as he was cleaning out his locker at the end of last year.

Baltimore Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy will sit out Friday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays with an ailing left ankle. Hardy, who is listed as day-to-day, left Thursday's game with discomfort in the ankle. He is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam on Saturday. Hardy is batting .265 with 19 home runs and 48 RBIs.

Thursday night was supposed to be a celebration for the Detroit Tigers. J.J. Hardy stole the show. Hardy homered, scored twice and had 10 assists at shortstop as the Baltimore Orioles ruined the Tigers' homecoming with a 6-5 victory. ''J.J. Hardy put on a clinic tonight,'' Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. ''It is hard to imagine a shortstop playing...

J.J. Hardy continued to steady an uneven Orioles club Friday night in delivering a two-out, two-run seventh-inning single to give Baltimore a 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay.

With Spring Training around the corner, and the 2012 starting as the winter season ends, the question is this? How does one market the Baltimore Orioles? We know that the 20th anniversary of Camden Yards is this year and the organization will be having several things going on with that. That being said, it’s a great marketing tool, but at the end of the day – I care about...

Before the off-season started, we asked you guys to project how much the primary free agents would sign for this winter. The FanGraphs Crowd tabbed Jose Reyes for a six year, $101 million contract. Tonight, he signed with the Marlins for six years and $106 million, so you guys can count this as a feather in your cap – the crowd figured out what the market for Reyes would be quite...

Baltimore shortstop J.J. Hardy was recognized for a productive period in a standout season on Monday, when he was named the American League's Player of the Week.

Top 1: J.J. Hardy struck out swinging against Ricky Romero Top 3: Hardy called out on strikes against Romero Top 5: Hardy struck out swinging against Top 8: Hardy struck out swinging against Final Line: 0-for-4, 4 K Notes: Hardy’s golden sombrero came a night after hitting a pair of home runs.  He is also the first player to notch a sombrero against the same pitcher. Total 2011 Sombreros: 81

HOT J.J. Hardy (BAL) – The Baltimore shortstop has been able to avoid major injury this season and has been riding some serious hot streaks. He has gone 10-for-26 with 6 R, 4 HR, 10 RBI over the past week. His 23 HR in 2011 leave him just 3 shy of his career high from 2007. Jose Constanza (ATL) – The upstart rookie continues to rob former phenom Jason Heyward�...

It’s getting closer to draft day, and that means it’s important to separate last years breakout candidates into legitimate stars and pretenders. Today we’re going to look at 6 players that will be overvalued based on their performances last year. Some of them are still quality players who deserve a spot on your roster – but won’t be worth it based on...

The shortstop market took a considerable hit when J.J. Hardy re-upped with the Baltimore Orioles around midseason. Arguably the second-best option at a position rarely flooded with elite available talents, Hardy inked a lucrative multi-year deal which made sense for a guy who’s battled injuries and inconsistency the past couple seasons. As a result, this offseason’s free agent...

J.J. Hardy just wants to get out of New York and forget this series.

On Tuesday, the Orioles finally broke out in a big way, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays, 12-4. They are now 41-58 on the season, and 21 games out of first place. For a change, instead of the Orioles being whipped, they got to inflict pain to a pitching staff. J.J. Hardy hit a pair of home runs, and Derrek Lee – who also drove in five runs – along with Nolan Reimold went deep...