A few things

[Sports Guy]

Offer it now.

But how much? Gotta think you have to put a 5/75 offer on the table.

[Sports Guy]

Jason Bay and Brian Roberts are EXACTLY the kind of players we need to build around. Both will still be solid players 4 yrs from now, and if we can't rebuild within 4 yrs...pretty pathetic.

How do you know???

[66-70-83-??]

Jason Bay and Brian Roberts are EXACTLY the kind of players we need to build around. Both will still be solid players 4 yrs from now, and if we can't rebuild within 14 yrs...pretty pathetic.

Fixed that for you.

Both will still be solid players in 4 years ? Thanks for the scoop. Can you also tell me which 6 numbers to play in the next powerball drawing ? Thanks.

[Pickles]

I just want to make sure that the next time someone says that so and so is 29 years old and is certain to decline it is okay if we ridicule him and call him Nostradamus? Because that is a popular opinion around here and pretty silly. Almost as silly as doubting that two AS positional players who are 29 and 30 won't still be solid in four years.

[Mackus]

I just want to make sure that the next time someone says that so and so is 29 years old and is certain to decline it is okay if we ridicule him and call him Nostradamus? Because that is a popular opinion around here and pretty silly. Almost as silly as doubting that two AS positional players who are 29 and 30 won't still be solid in four years.

There are a lot of AS quality 29-30 y/o players who within 4 years are out of baseball or no better than average players. Its not a guarantee, but if you are banking on your 30 y/o players to maintain or even improve their performance in the future, you are gonna be disappointed more often than you are pleased.

[Mackus]

But how much? Gotta think you have to put a 5/75 offer on the table.

I think thats reasonable. $15M per year to extend Bay is reasonable, IMO. You save some years and money if you do it now coming off the lesser season. Sure its a risk, but I don't think Bay is gonna struggle for very long, he's one of the more reliable guys in the game, IMO.

Trading for and extending Bay also sends a great message to Bedard and Roberts. Adding someone like Bay makes keeping those guys a much more viable choice.

[66-70-83-??]

I think thats reasonable. $15M per year to extend Bay is reasonable, IMO. You save some years and money if you do it now coming off the lesser season. Sure its a risk, but I don't think Bay is gonna struggle for very long, he's one of the more reliable guys in the game, IMO.

Trading for and extending Bay also sends a great message to Bedard and Roberts. Adding someone like Bay makes keeping those guys a much more viable choice.

You mean like adding Tejada was.....or Javy ? or Raffy ? or Ramon ?

Bedard and Roberts may look at it as a wash (SS Tejada goes, LF Bay arrives).

Or they may say "too little, too late".

It is also wishful thinking that we are going to get Bay without it hurting (prospects) and even more so to think he is going to come here wanting to sign an extension (with our track record) and forgo his big payday (FA).

So the cost of Bay will likely be at least two top prospects AND a huge overpayment to keep him at a place that has been spinning their wheels in 4th place for 10 years (and in NY,BOS div to boot) and to skip testing the FA waters.

Reimold, Loewen, 5 yrs 100 mill ?????

[PlumOriole]

Anyone believe that trading for Bay increases our chances of signing Bedard to a long term extension. I think Bay is from Canada and could click with Bedard. Maybe they both sign extensions. Not a bad core to build around for years 2009-2015.

I think we sign Bay if Bedard is signed by us. I would prefer to go younger than Bay but this only makes sense to me if Bedard is here long-term. This would definitely be going the slower rebuild route.

Tejada for Pie and Cedeno and then DC and Reimold for Bay would give us a nice defense with a little more pop but this wouldn't be my first choice.

[Camden_yardbird]

Some of my thoughts on this info pertaining the pirates. I watch pretty much every pirates game a year.

If you want a good relative comparison on Jason Bay just look to Nolan Reimold. Both look to be super streaky, and when hot put up serious numbers. I would rather see if Reimold can cut it this september than give up the prospects for Bay. I think Reimold if he hits his ceiling will be a very similar player to Bay.

I would not mind seeing Bay here but his D is suspect, and he is an extremely streaky player. He can go from single handly beating the other team one week to disappearing from the lineup.

Marte is a solid set up man IF he doesn't get worked to much. This past year he had some really good stretches when he was used sparingly.

If I were to go after anyone in the organization, major league ready, it would be Nady, Doumit, or Pearce (who they will not give up). Some of their young bullpen arms they brought up last year were fairly solid as well. Romulo Sanchez comes to mind.

[Scribo]

I am of two minds about this.

Bay until this year was a great player, and would have been beyond the O's reach. There's a very good chance that he returns to form, and if so he should put up 4-5 excellent years. Obviously if that's the case the O's would want him under contract for those seasons. I don't think they should do the deal without an agreement from Bay's agent that he is open to negotiating during the '08 season, after the O's have seen him for a couple of months. If they wait until this time next year, he will probably test the waters, especially if he has a good 2008 season.

I have argued forcefully that Bedard should be traded for the right package of prospects. Doing this deal would obviously be going in a different direction. But it's not really shuffling the deck chairs if MacPhail believes that what comes back is more valuable that what goes out. In the end, that's what he is here for. If he does it well, he ends up with a better team.

The O's and Pittsburgh are not in the same situation. The O's do have the means to pay expensive players when the right one comes along. Bay is probably the right one to throw money at if they can get him without giving up too much.

[Mackus]

Reimold, Loewen, 5 yrs 100 mill ?????

No way the O's move Loewen. Reimold, Liz, and Cabrera would be my offer for Bay, and I'd offer him a contract extension of about $15M per year beyond FA (and market-fair amounts for his last two arb years).

[Sports Guy]

Do we even want to committ 38-50 million a year with Bedard, BRob and Bay into their early to mid 30s??

[Mackus]

Do we even want to committ 38-50 million a year with Bedard, BRob and Bay into their early to mid 30s??

I'm fine with paying these guys for their 29-34 seasons. They'll probably slip a bit by the last year or so of that contract, but I don't think they'll be bad or even just average.

[CrimsonTribe]

Do we even want to committ 38-50 million a year with Bedard, BRob and Bay into their early to mid 30s??

I'm not really stoked about committing a bunch of money to them, especially since we're not going to be able to compete for a few more years. Like I said before, I think we trade for Bay if we feel like the Pirates are undervaluing him and we think we could get more for him later. I don't think it's a good idea to trade for him and extend him when he's not going to put us over the top and will be 32-33 when we're finally going to compete.

[RShack]

Nah, you didn't offend me, so sorry if I overreacted. It's just that we've heard the Randy Johnson comparison a bit too often here. I think we both agree that Cabrera could still devleop into a very good pitcher. Let's hope Kranitz can do for him what Mazzone could not.

It's just that Randy is the poster boy for super-tall LH's who throw hard and who are late bloomers. As long as anybody thinks DCab might amount to something more than what he is, the RJ comparison's are inevitable.

If nobody else was making them, you probably would be ;-)