Which scenario do you prefer?

[ChaosLex]

It's no secret that Victor Martinez was the top free agent on the O's board this past offseason. However, he signed with the Tigers for a few million more. Seeing as how we were able to keep our 2nd round pick, we drafted 1B Jason Esposito out of Vanderbilt.

So, what would you rather have?

[Crazysilver03]

In retrospect, I actually prefer Victor Martinez. The money isn't beautiful, but his bat would look good on the Orioles. We wouldn't have had the whole Jake Fox dilemma as Martinez could be the back-up. We probably wouldn't have signed Vlad either.

While Esposito could be something bright, he has a lot of question marks.

[JTrea81]

VMart would have been a better choice. Wieters and him could have split time behind the plate.

Jordan doesn't seem to do so great when he has a 2nd round pick.

[Sports Guy]

The other option could have been Jon Knott starting and Xavier Avery part 2 as the pick and I would take that option.

The VMArt contract isn't going to be worth it to us.

It was a good signing for Detroit though.

[allstar1579]

It's no secret that Victor Martinez was the top free agent on the O's board this past offseason. However, he signed with the Tigers for a few million more. Seeing as how we were able to keep our 2nd round pick, we drafted 1B Jason Esposito out of Vanderbilt.

So, what would you rather have?

I'll go a little more foresight than that and say I'd rather have Esposito and the money spent on Martinez for the next 3 years to go towards someone else.

[Sports Guy]

BTW, Esposito is a third baseman, not first baseman and this thread assumes we get VMart for the deal the Tigers got..which is obviously not true.

[carolinaoriole]

I think it is to early to decide until we know if Esposito is signed or not and then what kind of player he turns out to be.

[crissfan172]

Hmm...it really depends who the O's have at first the next 3 years, doesn't it?

[JTrea81]

Hmm...it really depends who the O's have at first the next 3 years, doesn't it?

Yeah, if they plan on signing Cuddyer, then VMart would have been a better choice.

[LookitsPuck]

Before this season I thought VMart would have been great for year 1 and 2 of that contract, good on year 3, and average on year 4. It's a lot of money, but I would have been fine with it.

This is a guy who's had over his last 5 years:

2008: 701 OPS
2009: 832 OPS
2010: 912 OPS
2011: 844 OPS

Career: 840 OPS

I think our offer of $48/4 was on the higher side of what he should get, but not necessarily awful for a guy who can play some 1B, DH and catch.

That said, I'll say that I'd rather have Lee, the money we save over VMart and Esposito. But I wouldn't be unhappy with either.

[tilgaham]

Vmart is a player that falls somewhere between good and great. I'm not crazy about Esposito, but Id rather we keep the 48 million and allocate it elsewhere.