This year the O's struggled, winning 68 games and losing 93. They had one good pitcher in Jeremy Guthrie, and obviously need pitching.
The majority of the Orioles population wants Mark Teixeira back home, in Baltimore. Last year with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels, Teixeira had 33 home runs, 121 RBI and a .308 batting mark
O's fans also want AJ Burnett. Burnett has family in Baltimore. The O's have been looking at him for years. Last year with Toronto, Burnett had 18 wins, 10 losses and a 4.10 earned run average.
I don't think they want him here.
Why? The O's have boatloads of pitching talent.
Not only do they have Guthrie, they have guys in the minors such as Chris Tillman, David Hernandez, Radhames Liz (who showed glimpses of the future at times this year), now Brian Matusz, Jason Berken, and Brad Bergesen.
As for Mark Teixeira, I'd certainly welcome a guy who could consistently put up 30-120-.300, but he'd be a big blow to our payroll. With the Angels this year, Teixeira made $12.5 million. As a team, the O's made a little under $67 million.
Also, Burnett is good, but it's high risk and high reward. Right now, the O's need high reward. He has had tons of injury troubles and that isn't worth his $13.5 million salary.
If Andy MacPhail is true to his word, and the team is actually rebuilding, they need to stay young. If that means get rid of Aubrey Huff, Ramon Hernandez, and all the other vets, so be it. The team needs to get Matt Wieters up to Baltimore, as well as Chris Tillman and others.
I've also heard from ESPN that the O's are a likely suitor to pursue Manny Ramirez. I am 50/50 on this trade. While I saw what Manny could do with the Dodgers, the Dodgers are in the National League West. The worst division of the past few seasons.
Also, the Dodgers were already a semi competitive team when Manny arrived. They had a potent lineup with Russell Martin, James Loney, Matt Kemp, Jeff Kent, and Andre Ethier.
They also had a rotation about 30 times better then the O's with Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley, Greg Maddux, and Hiroki Kuroda. So when people say Manny carried them to the playoffs alone, they're crazy. It's not like the Dodgers were down 20 games when he got there to a team of the Cubs caliber.
They were down to an Arizona Diamondbacks team, the worst division leader at that point. They are a terrible offensive team. Besides Brandon Webb and Danny Haren, their rotation is iffy, at best.
When Manny played his first game in a Dodger uniform on August 1, the Dodgers were just three games behind Arizona. So think twice before saying Manny took them to the playoffs himself. He was definitely a huge help, but they needed the help of every one.
My advice to the O's: stay young. The O's should be plenty busy this off season. They'll have to resign Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, and Jeremy Guthrie. They'll have to again decide on what to do with Brian Roberts. They'll have to decide what their rotation will look like next year.
The O's need not spend millions and millions of dollars. The last time we used that technique was when we got Jamie Walker and Chad Bradford.
Let's not go there again.
14 comments Last one added 8 months ago — Leave a Comment
Rory Davis 8 months ago
Isaac-
Very nice article. I agree with you on all fronts. The O's are a couple years away...No need to rush by signing high price free agents.
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Isaac Barrow 8 months ago
Yeah that's my point. Hey I wanna start a roundtable with LJ Burgess and Zachary Ball if he's interested. Is this ok?
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Timmy Shea 8 months ago
I'm a Rays fan, and I love having Chad Bradford. He really helped our organization. When Aubrey Huff played in Tampa Bay, he was my favorite player. Nice article Issac. I love writing on Bleacher Report. Playing and watching sports is fun. I used to live near Baltimore, but I hate the O's.
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Zachary Ball 8 months ago
There's a big difference between Chad Bradford/Jamie Walker and AJ Burnett or any other free agent pitcher. Relief pitchers are notoriously hard to predict season in and season out. Burnett has been a dependable starter when healthy and can save our bullpen from having to see our relievers thrown out there everday getting burnt out. And, come one, AJ walks TONS of guys...he's a picture perfect fit in B-More. Good article though! I too was glad to see Bradford helping the Rays out. He really had a good year this year.
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Isaac Barrow 8 months ago
Yeah I guess I sort of agree with you, but I think it's even harder to predict an SP. He either wins 18 games or wins three before getting hurt
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Zachary Ball 8 months ago
And you can't forget the worst of the free agent signings that year...Scott Williamson.
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Isaac Barrow 8 months ago
Oh God
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Lawrence Barreca 8 months ago
Lol. I remember Williamson. I recall that being the "rebuilt bullpen" year, and it was terrible.
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J.C. Ayvazi 8 months ago
In 2006 and 2007, the National League West has provided with wild card participant. This flies in the face of your statement of the NL West being the worst division of the past few seasons.
Manny Ramirez is a free agent. Technically, you can not trade for a free agent, they are signed and, depending on their ranking, draft picks may be awarded to the team whom the free agent played for last.
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Isaac Barrow 8 months ago
Yeah, a Wild Card participant. But not a Wild Card Participant to be reckoned with, really. What you said is pretty biased because ur a Dodger fan
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J.C. Ayvazi 8 months ago
That is, of course, one opinion.
Another would be in two of the last three seasons, the second best NL West team was superior to the second best teams in the Central and East. One needs to be a contortionist to twist that into being shabby.
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Shane Carroll 8 months ago
I think the O's should sign Burnett and Teixiera. They need to get rid of Jay Payton i think his overall production wasn't worth the money spent. I also think bad move releasing Lowen I still think he's going to be a good pitcher dispite the injury.
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Dan McGrain 8 months ago
Couldn't disagree more about Tex.
Certainly Burnett is questionable... he's injury prone, erratic, and just isn't a great pitcher. He's a power pitcher, but that doesn't make him great.
But Tex? Tex is young. Tex is good. Tex is the kind of guy that will be getting a 8-10 year deal anyway... So if you want a guy like Tex, you need to get him now. He won't be available again in a few years. e may not ever be available again. And he is the kind of bat we need to put between Markakis and Huff (assuming Huff comes back, but even that I'm iffy on) to really advance this team.
Really... this team should be pursuing Tex, Matt Holliday in a trade, and even Jake Peavy. Trust MacPhail to know the right prices on all of the above... but there you are talking about 3 young, very very very good players that you can build a franchise around.
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W. N. Moon 8 months ago
I'm an Orioles fan - and you're right on all fronts. But, hey, can't help to dream!
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