My understanding of our direction...

[geschinger]

The other things people tend to forget is that premium players tend to decline slower after those "peak years" so there's no reason to think they won't be productive hitters into their mid 30s or more.

Productive maybe, but productive enough that their production per dollar of salary is a net positive and not a net negative is a completely different issue. I haven't put together or seen a list of big FA signings in over the last decade or so but it seems to me that it would be a safe bet that at least half are for players those teams are would love to dump by about the halfway point in their contracts.

[mweb]

Just picking older 1B/DH that were still in the league. If you don't want to pay them much frontload the contract so when their production declines so does their pay.

Just saying we are talking about guys that are 29, not 33.

Frontloading is not going to happen, plus it doesn't make sense to do so financially.

Yes, in their first year, they'll be 29, but they'll be signed until their 35 or so. Tex and Dunn aren't worth 18-22M now, which are the numbers being thrown around, so they are obviously unlikely to be worth that 4-7 years from now.

[Goop]

Who's going to be our answer at 3B? I didn't think Mora was part of the rebuilding process?

[Sports Guy]

Who's going to be our answer at 3B? I didn't think Mora was part of the rebuilding process?

Beyond 2009, assuming we keep Huff, third base is as big a question mark as SS right now since Rowell is doing nothing to assert himself as the future there(although that could quickly change).

[Goop]

Beyond 2009, assuming we keep Huff, third base is as big a question mark as SS right now since Rowell is doing nothing to assert himself as the future there(although that could quickly change).

Damn that sucks. Although some of these moves I like, I feel like it still might not be enough.

[BRob51]

For our veteran starter, why not go after Derek Lowe? He's a bit older than some of the other options, but he hasn't been injured like Sheets or Burnett have. He's preforming pretty well and has a good sinker, a pitch that would be great for the O's. We've got a pretty good defense behind him, especially if we get a good SS and Tex.