Buster Olney's offseason plan for the O's

[Sports Guy]

First off I can't believe you dissed Ripken on a O's Hangout board. Very bad form.

What? I didn't diss him. Just stated a fact. Guillen got to more balls than Ripken did.

Second, Buster is saying the O's can compete with the Yankees next year with a few moves. Then he says you trade your MVP candidate for a guy that has 22 errors in 77 games at AAA. That is 46 errors in 162 games. How the heck does that help anyone compete with the Yankees next year.

You need to read the rest of his plan.

Third, Aybar runs himself into outs all the time. He has 17 caught stealing and 31 steals. That means he is out 1/3 for the time. Weaver would tell him to keep his a** put on first base and stop giving up outs. This is a trend with him. He was caught 36 times in 2004 and 23 times in 2004. I am not trading an All-Star for that.

Yes, this i a concern but again, more experience and better coaching will help this.

Fourth, he has a .764 OPS in a hitters league at AAA. Why do you like this guy anyway?

His OPS has been well over 800 for most of the year. He shows good power, great speed and good defense. I guess he is slumping now and that could be because the Angels keep bringing him up and sending him down.

BTW, i love how you keep focusing on him but don't even mention Santana, who has accomplished more than any pitcher on the team.

And, Tejada's offense is easily replaced by Burrell, Kotchman, Aybar and ARam.

You need to open your eyes to the fact that there are other ways to build this team, other than trusting the so called plan by the Orioles.

[davearm]

Well IMO, one thing is absolutely plain-as-day obvious in all of this:

The O's would be infinitely better if, for roughly similar $$$, they could swap Tejada for Santana, Aybar, and Soriano/Lee. Soriano would be my choice, even for a few extra $$$, but mainly because I see him as the lesser of two evils inasmuch that both will be overpaid.

Your OF's set (Soriano - CPat - Markakis).

Your defense up the middle is terrific (Hernandez - Aybar - Roberts - CPat).

Your cleanup hitter is in place.

Your rotation is now six deep (Santana, Bedard, Benson, Loewen, DCab, Penn) -- and IMO you need at least 6 legit guys these days.

At that point you could go in any number of different directions with 1B, DH, and the bullpen, and honestly many would work just fine. The core would be set, and vastly improved (IMO).

If the first two moves the O's make are to do the Angels deal, and bowl over Soriano with an offer he can't refuse, you guys should be thrilled.

[Sports Guy]

Well IMO, one thing is absolutely plain-as-day obvious in all of this:

The O's would be infinitely better if, for roughly similar $$$, they could swap Tejada for Santana, Aybar, and Soriano/Lee. Soriano would be my choice, even for a few extra $$$, but mainly because I see him as the lesser of two evils inasmuch that both will be overpaid.

Your OF's set (Soriano - CPat - Markakis).

Your defense up the middle is terrific (Hernandez - Aybar - Roberts - CPat).

Your cleanup hitter is in place.

Your rotation is now six deep (Santana, Bedard, Benson, Loewen, DCab, Penn) -- and IMO you need at least 6 legit guys these days.

At that point you could go in any number of different directions with 1B, DH, and the bullpen, and honestly many would work just fine. The core would be set, and vastly improved (IMO).

If the first two moves the O's make are to do the Angels deal, and bowl over Soriano with an offer he can't refuse, you guys should be thrilled.

If he would waive his NTC, i would much rather get Burrell than these guys but i do agree with you here.

[Baltoravensrule]

Buster Olney (Mr. Insider) did a half ass job with this. I could easily said all of this, except wouldn't of because a bunch of stuff is wrong/stupid. Markakis is our RF Buster. I know you are so "inside" the league that you know everything anyone does, but how bout you learn what positions players play. Also, he doesn't even mention Markakis in whole article. UMMM shouldn't he be a big big piece of the rebuilding process? He just mentions two position players, Roberts and Hernandez. I think Mora is just as solid a player as Hernandez is, and has he seen the HUGE slump Hernandez has gone through the past couple of months. Anyways is this actually on insider? I couldn't even find it.

[Sports Guy]

Buster Olney (Mr. Insider) did a half ass job with this. I could easily said all of this, except wouldn't of because a bunch of stuff is wrong/stupid. Markakis is our RF Buster. I know you are so "inside" the league that you know everything anyone does, but how bout you learn what positions players play. Also, he doesn't even mention Markakis in whole article. UMMM shouldn't he be a big big piece of the rebuilding process? He just mentions two position players, Roberts and Hernandez. I think Mora is just as solid a player as Hernandez is, and has he seen the HUGE slump Hernandez has gone through the past couple of months. Anyways is this actually on insider? I couldn't even find it.

Hernandez is slumping because Perlozzo did a piss poor job of getting him rest early in the year.

[wildcard]

What? I didn't diss him. Just stated a fact. Guillen got to more balls than Ripken did.

You need to read the rest of his plan.

Yes, this i a concern but again, more experience and better coaching will help this.

His OPS has been well over 800 for most of the year. He shows good power, great speed and good defense. I guess he is slumping now and that could be because the Angels keep bringing him up and sending him down.

BTW, i love how you keep focusing on him but don't even mention Santana, who has accomplished more than any pitcher on the team.

And, Tejada's offense is easily replaced by Burrell, Kotchman, Aybar and ARam.

You need to open your eyes to the fact that there are other ways to build this team, other than trusting the so called plan by the Orioles.

You need to wake up to the facts that:

1) Burrell is not coming to O's,

2) Kotchman has no power at a power position in a division that requires power.

3) Aybar is a error prone SS with good range that can't even hit in a a hitter league and runs himself into too many outs.

4) You don't even know if A Ram is going to be an FA.

Outside of that great plan. I'll keep Miggy and the young starters. You can have Santana and the others.

[TyCobb]

Well IMO, one thing is absolutely plain-as-day obvious in all of this:

The O's would be infinitely better if, for roughly similar $$$, they could swap Tejada for Santana, Aybar, and Soriano/Lee. Soriano would be my choice, even for a few extra $$$, but mainly because I see him as the lesser of two evils inasmuch that both will be overpaid.

Your OF's set (Soriano - CPat - Markakis).

Your defense up the middle is terrific (Hernandez - Aybar - Roberts - CPat).

Your cleanup hitter is in place.

Your rotation is now six deep (Santana, Bedard, Benson, Loewen, DCab, Penn) -- and IMO you need at least 6 legit guys these days.

At that point you could go in any number of different directions with 1B, DH, and the bullpen, and honestly many would work just fine. The core would be set, and vastly improved (IMO).

If the first two moves the O's make are to do the Angels deal, and bowl over Soriano with an offer he can't refuse, you guys should be thrilled.

I would rather have Carlos Lee, but I think our offense would be bad without Tejada. Now if we could get Pat Burrell to DH/LF with Carlos Lee, than I think we would be a better team. IMO we need Tejada more than we need Santana. I think Loewen, Cabrera, and Bedard are going to be rock solid pitchers. I am leaving Penn out because I haven't seen him pitch this year. I am down for what ever the FO wants to do, long-term or short-term.

[Sports Guy]

1) Burrell is not coming to O's,

This is likely true but not 100%

2) Kotchman has no power at a power position in a division that requires power.

He has shown alot more power than Adrian Gonzalez did and Gonzo is havign a huge year in a pitchers park.

3) Aybar is a error prone SS with good range that can't even hit in a a hitter league and runs himself into too many outs.

HArd to talk to you about Aybar when you don't want to listen to facts about the kid or pay attention to scouting reports. Why is he making the errors? Judging a defensive player on errors is like judging a pitcher on wins...I guess you think Hernandez is a terrible defensive catcher, right?

Outside of that great plan. I'll keep Miggy and the young starters. You can have Santana and the others.

If the Orioles can put together the team i constructed, i would take that over any team you could put out there and i would put them up against anyone in the league.

BTW, we still keep the young pitching in this scenario.

[davearm]

I would rather have Carlos Lee, but I think our offense would be bad without Tejada. Now if we could get Pat Burrell to DH/LF with Carlos Lee, than I think we would be a better team. IMO we need Tejada more than we need Santana. I think Loewen, Cabrera, and Bedard are going to be rock solid pitchers. I am leaving Penn out because I haven't seen him pitch this year. I am down for what ever the FO wants to do, long-term or short-term.

Going from Tejada to Carlos Lee is a lateral move in terms of offense.

Meanwhile you upgrade at SS defensively, oh, and get a cheap, young top-of-the-rotation starter too.

What's not to like?

[GIVE ME AN O]

You need to wake up to the facts that:

1) Burrell is not coming to O's,

2) Kotchman has no power at a power position in a division that requires power.

3) Aybar is a error prone SS with good range that can't even hit in a a hitter league and runs himself into too many outs.

4) You don't even know if A Ram is going to be an FA.

Outside of that great plan. I'll keep Miggy and the young starters. You can have Santana and the others.

AWESOMMMMMEEEE!! Finnally someone agrees. The only things we absolutely need is to fill LF and/or 1B with a good bat. I'm not even asking for both just one. And we need to find some quality relief pitching somewhere (Rlopez would be part of the answer). Give me that and I will be happy. i don't want to see this huge influx of players. Just a big bat to fill a hole and some relief pitching......I'm on my knees begging.

[BigSteve]

BTW, i love how you keep focusing on him but don't even mention Santana, who has accomplished more than any pitcher on the team.

Bedard has done more than Santana has. Working on his second straight season with an ERA 4.00 or under, to go along with significantly higher K/9 and K/BB ratios.

[Baltoravensrule]

With Bedard, Loewen, Cabrera and then Penn coming and many others behind him, i feel like we don't need more young pitchers (in Santana). Now I understand Ervin is already there while guys like Loewen, Cabrera, and Penn have a while to go but if we keep Tejada sign one big bat (Lee, Soriano) and those 4 youngin pitchers we have develop then we should be atleast competing. Now if all 4 develop or atleast show good signs, I would start to shop around some of the young pitchers behind them. I know its always good to have a lot of young arms but if we have 4 that are young and doing atleast decently in the big leagues then trading acouple away that our waiting, for another good bat (maybe a first baseman, I don't know who would be available) would be a very good move IMO.

[Sports Guy]

Bedard has done more than Santana has. Working on his second straight season with an ERA 4.00 or under, to go along with significantly higher K/9 and K/BB ratios.

Little bit of an age difference. THat is what i meant. Sorry for not being clear.

[Mackus]

I would still be open to moving Tejada, but not for just Santana and Aybar. I like Santana a lot, but Aybar is not impressive to me at all. He's below average offensively, is a hazard on the bases, and, at the very least, makes a lot of errors in the field.

I'd try very hard to get Kendrick in the deal, even if it means giving up a lot more talent. Something like Tejada, Benson, and Olson for Santana and Kendrick might work, but even that probably isn't enough.

[GIVE ME AN O]

This is likely true but not 100%

Judging a defensive player on errors is like judging a pitcher on wins...I guess you think Hernandez is a terrible defensive catcher, right?

I am honestly asking for my own knowledge, how is this true? A pitcher isn't in control of wins because he relies on a load of things outside of his own performance. Errors are given directly to a player because they errored......not because of some extenuating circumstance similar to run support or poor defense. I can't even think of a good analogy.