Updated: Orioles acquire Taylor Teagarden

[Sports Guy]

Keith Law agrees with SG:

And Keith Law is right. Its a trade that makes no sense, no matter how the lollipoppers want to spin it.

[Nigel Tufnel]

To be fair, has Keith Law ever had anything positive to say about the Orioles?

No, but that means he's been right 99.9% of the time.

[clapdiddy]

And Keith Law is right. Its a trade that makes no sense, no matter how the lollipoppers want to spin it.

I'm with you on this. I'm not as ambivalent about it as you are, but trading for a position that you could have acquired in a money only transaction makes no sense whatsoever.

I don't care if Teagarden worked with some of these guys in the Rangers' system. A good glove/no hit catcher is not worth giving up a pitcher that, even with his injury history, could be a piece of a Major League bullpen in a couple of years.

[Frobby]

I guarantee by the end of the offseason, you will see some kind of a back up C acquired for less(either in trade or for little money) than what we gave up for TT.

I would prefer us to make smarter moves.

Of course, I have been complaining about this for years...Most of you think its nothing and now, we see Frobby start a thread about the importance of small moves.

To act as if they aren't important and don't show you bigger things is incredibly naive and that has been proven time and time again.

Put this another way...We just made a trade with a team that is far more intelligent that the Orioles. They gave up what some of you are calling such a valuable commodity and decided that the "dime a dozen" arm was better for them. Guess whose opinion I value more? Hint...its not the losing, pathetic franchise that shows no ability to build a pen.

Yet, the Rangers had to acquire two pitchers from our bullpen last summer because their was weak. And, they traded us Strop.

To me, this is a new regime, and to say the "franchise...shows no ability to build a pen" ignores that someone new is in charge. I'm not saying he will be good at building a pen, but you certainly can't lay past Oriole mistakes on Duquette. And while I am sure that Showalter is the one who pushed for Teagarden, I'm sure Duquette was involved in deciding who to give up for him.

I'm sure other teams will get a back-up C for less -- but will it be someone as good as Teagarden? I doubt it.

[Believer]

If Texas is our new Chicago Cubs (primary trading partner), perhaps Teagarden was "purchased" as a window into the minor league pitching prospects currently in the Rangers system.

Maybe we need to trust Buck a little here too. If it's all about pitching, it makes sense that some catchers have track records for making pitchers better. If Teagarden brings that, we could use it.

[ChaosLex]

And Keith Law is right. Its a trade that makes no sense, no matter how the lollipoppers want to spin it.

115+ of us (myself included) are lollipoppers!?

[Sports Guy]

Yet, the Rangers had to acquire two pitchers from our bullpen last summer because their was weak. And, they traded us Strop.

To me, this is a new regime, and to say the "franchise...shows no ability to build a pen" ignores that someone new is in charge. I'm not saying he will be good at building a pen, but you certainly can't lay past Oriole mistakes on Duquette. And while I am sure that Showalter is the one who pushed for Teagarden, I'm sure Duquette was involved in deciding who to give up for him.

I'm sure other teams will get a back-up C for less -- but will it be someone as good as Teagarden? I doubt it.

Duq has no idea who these MiL pitchers are.

This is a deal where he trusted those around him and those around him are terrible right now but still, DD should have been able to look at his stats and say no thanks.

But Buck is the real GM and this is the first move that indicates that...that's another reason this trade sucks.

But I know, I know...its REALLY going to be different this time!

[Bluerocksfan]

115+ of us (myself included) are lollipoppers!?

Atleast we get a lollipop

[Sports Guy]

I'm with you on this. I'm not as ambivalent about it as you are, but trading for a position that you could have acquired in a money only transaction makes no sense whatsoever.

I don't care if Teagarden worked with some of these guys in the Rangers' system. A good glove/no hit catcher is not worth giving up a pitcher that, even with his injury history, could be a piece of a Major League bullpen in a couple of years.

That's because people haven't responded to you with poor arguments that frustrate you, making you need to respond and sound more pissed off than you really are.

[Frobby]

Duq has no idea who these MiL pitchers are.

This is a deal where he trusted those around him and those around him are terrible right now but still, DD should have been able to look at his stats and say no thanks.

But Buck is the real GM and this is the first move that indicates that...that's another reason this trade sucks.

But I know, I know...its REALLY going to be different this time!

I don't know if it will be different or not. It remains to be seen. But if you are so sure that it won't be, then why bother following the team at all?

As to Buck being the "real GM," we will see about that, too. I'm sure he'll have more input than most managers, and as I said, I have no doubt he targetted Teagarden. That doesn't particularly bother me. How the relationship will work over the long run is an important issue, but Duquette's been on the job a month after a long layoff, and if he values Buck's judgment while he familiarizes himself with the organization, fine with me.

[Tony-OH]

I can see both sides of the argument but the bottom line to me is this, Dan Duquette is not afraid to make moves. It doesn't have to be the perfect deal in order to make it. Personally, I look at K numbers with minor league pitchers and especially relievers. Henry's was not great at Delmarva or Frederick. In a SSS at Frederick he actually gave up more hits than IP, another pet peeve of mine with relievers. There's a chance Texas develops him but I can't see it biting us in the rear too much. We just drafted Wright and Simon last year who probably project to be as good or better as relievers. No big deal, no pun intended. My impression is that DD going to be better at making the smaller moves than AM was.

Whole heartily agree. You can make an argument over the value of a back up catcher, but I like the idea of a guy with some upside back there who can allow Buck to DH Wieters on more occasions. Also, if Wieters goes down, you got a guy with some possible upside.

As you said, this shows Duquette is not afraid to move his C level prospects for major league talent. that's a good thing in my opinion. Henry has upside, but his injury history makes diminishes his chances of succeeding.

[Stotle]

Loved Teagarden back in 2007/2008 or so. Maybe he can stay healthy with limited playing time and serve as a solid back-up.

Henry isn't a high probability prospect, so I don't see the issue with losing him. I question Teagarden as a target, considering his medical history, but I don't see any reason to get overly excited on either side of this deal.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Whole heartily agree. You can make an argument over the value of a back up catcher, but I like the idea of a guy with some upside back there who can allow Buck to DH Wieters on more occasions. Also, if Wieters goes down, you got a guy with some possible upside.

As you said, this shows Duquette is not afraid to move his C level prospects for major league talent. that's a good thing in my opinion. Henry has upside, but his injury history makes diminishes his chances of succeeding.

Well OK, but you still have to get in line with the rest of us for your lollipop.

[jtschrei]

I've never seen such an outpouring of time and energy over a possible... POSSIBLE middle reliever!! Can we all agree with Sportsguy that this was a somewhat puzzling move b/c it's unwise to give up even a mediocre prospect to get a backup catcher who's good defensively? He won't rest until we all agree with him.

The O's have much bigger worries. This is just one of those deals that got done for whatever reason-- Buck likes TT; DD like TT. Who knows? Who cares?

I'm not ready to pronounce the DD regime a failure. If he makes it a trend to trade 5away young prospects for mediocre major leaguers, then I'll worry a little. Our farm system is not good. It doesn't hurt to lose Henry. Geesh. All of the backup catchers are the same.

Let's say DD takes the 2 mill. he would have spent on a backup catcher and puts it towards signing 10 young Venezuelans, would that make up for this trade? How do we know that's not DD's plan?

[CA-ORIOLE]

Loved Teagarden back in 2007/2008 or so. Maybe he can stay healthy with limited playing time and serve as a solid back-up.

Henry isn't a high probability prospect, so I don't see the issue with losing him. I question Teagarden as a target, considering his medical history, but I don't see any reason to get overly excited on either side of this deal.

What's TT's medical/injury history? Does he have long term concerns? I noted in his interview that he mentioned that was healthy for the last couple years and was frustrated about not getting more ML time with Texas.