Orioles have agreed to terms, pending physical, with INF Wilson Betemit

[mweb]

Can anyone answer why we gave a 30 year old journeyman 2 years guaranteed!?

Was it the only way he would sign?

Because the salary is still journeyman money, he's actually hit very well the last two years, especially against righties, and he has more value if he DH's, which is what the O's plan to do with him.

If the O's think he can continue to hit righties like he has, then this makes a lot of sense imo.

[El Gordo]

Crawford will bounce back. Dunn is done.

I am not bashing the deal at all...I am glad we didn't get a player like Abreu or Damon... It's a relatively low risk/high reward deal and he's very flexible.

Just curious why they guarantee him a roster spot next year that's all

Who is likely to beat him out in ST? The idea is to have a guy to take 300-400 PA against RHSP. Who is better suited to do that, who is currently on the team. Who has better splits?

[atomic]

He hasn't traditionally. In some was he has been better than Jayson Werth as a National. Certainly Better than Carl Crawford.

Is that some sort of joke? This guy hasn't even scored 50 runs in a season. Not even the year he hit 18 home runs. Not even in the year he hit 18 homers. In 2010 Crawford scored 110 runs and 90m rbis and he steals baes like a mad man. He needs to be a lead off hitter. The orioles should trade for him. I am sure the Red Sox would love to get rid of him and would throw some cash our way.

[TakebackOPACY]

He hasn't traditionally. In some was he has been better than Jayson Werth as a National. Certainly Better than Carl Crawford.

Is that some sort of joke? This guy hasn't even scored 50 runs in a season. Not even the year he hit 18 home runs. Not even in the year he hit 18 homers. In 2010 Crawford scored 110 runs and 90m rbis and he steals baes like a mad man. He needs to be a lead off hitter. The orioles should trade for him. I am sure the Red Sox would love to get rid of him and would throw some cash our way.

Come on now, let's look at context. Jaysen Werth is to the Nationals as Carl Crawford is to the ____ ____ ?

Weams was clearly referring to Crawford's 2011 as he was referring to Werth's 2011. You know, the year Crawford posted an on base percentage of .289.

So he was saying that in some ways, Betemit has recently been better than Crawford has been so far for the Red Sox. And by, "in some ways" he concedes not in other ways.

[AgentOrange]

Come on now, let's look at context. Jaysen Werth is to the Nationals as Carl Crawford is to the ____ ____ ?

Weams was clearly referring to Crawford's 2011 as he was referring to Werth's 2011. You know, the year Crawford posted an on base percentage of .289.

So he was saying that in some ways, Betemit has recently been better than Crawford has been so far for the Red Sox. And by, "in some ways" he concedes not in other ways.

If you take into consideration the price, he may have a good point.

[Sports Guy]

betemit gets $1M in '12, $1.75M in '13, 500 grand bonus, plus $3.2M '14 vesting option. $3.25M guaranteed, $6.45M possible

From Heyman.

[weams]

He was statistically much better last year than Vlad Guerrero and the Orioles got him for a fraction of Guerrero's $8 million salary.

Betemit has a career OPS of .784 and that easily tops J.J Hardy and Adam Jones, both at .756, and Matt Wieters at .743. Jones has averaged a homer every 29.8 at-bats in his career and Betemit has hit one every 27.7 at-bats.

His career on-base percentage of .336 tops the percentage that any Oriole regular had last year, save for Nick Markakis, who was at .351. Dan Duquette said he wanted better OBP and this guy is an upgrade in that regard.

With batting stats so much better against right-handed pitching for the switch-hitting Betemit, you have to wonder if a DH platoon is coming for the Orioles. His career batting average is .277 with an on-base of .348 and OPS of .817 against right-handers while those numbers are .246/.299/.684 in his career against the lefties.

Over the last two years, Betemit has hit .298 with an OPS of .868 as a lefty batter with 54 extra-base hits in 433 at-bats.

Maybe Nolan Reimold, Mark Reynolds, Matt Antonelli, Wieters and others could get some DH at-bats against the southpaws as the Orioles try to dramatically increase production with a platoon from the DH spot.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve_melewski/2012/01/taking-a-closer-look-at-the-wilson-betemit-signing.html

[RVAbird]

I officially like this deal. I don't love it, but I like it. I also like that the front office seems to view Betemit as the LH part of a DH platoon, where his value is maximized. As long as he doesn't hit the PA mark to vest the option, I'm cool with it.

[Frobby]

He was statistically much better last year than Vlad Guerrero and the Orioles got him for a fraction of Guerrero's $8 million salary.

Betemit has a career OPS of .784 and that easily tops J.J Hardy and Adam Jones, both at .756, and Matt Wieters at .743. Jones has averaged a homer every 29.8 at-bats in his career and Betemit has hit one every 27.7 at-bats.

His career on-base percentage of .336 tops the percentage that any Oriole regular had last year, save for Nick Markakis, who was at .351. Dan Duquette said he wanted better OBP and this guy is an upgrade in that regard.

With batting stats so much better against right-handed pitching for the switch-hitting Betemit, you have to wonder if a DH platoon is coming for the Orioles. His career batting average is .277 with an on-base of .348 and OPS of .817 against right-handers while those numbers are .246/.299/.684 in his career against the lefties.

Over the last two years, Betemit has hit .298 with an OPS of .868 as a lefty batter with 54 extra-base hits in 433 at-bats.

Maybe Nolan Reimold, Mark Reynolds, Matt Antonelli, Wieters and others could get some DH at-bats against the southpaws as the Orioles try to dramatically increase production with a platoon from the DH spot.

http://www.masnsports.com/steve_melewski/2012/01/taking-a-closer-look-at-the-wilson-betemit-signing.html

Pretty good analysis by Melewski here. He's right that the way this team is built, it ought to be possible to have Betemit batting almost exclusively against RHP if they choose to do that.

[SrMeowMeow]

For under 2M a season, it's hard to believe we won't come out with surplus value on this deal.

[El Gordo]

Pretty good analysis by Melewski here. He's right that the way this team is built, it ought to be possible to have Betemit batting almost exclusively against RHP if they choose to do that.

I think it's pretty clear that's the choice they've made.

"His value to us is as a hitter on the left side. His best position is batting. From the left side, he presents capabilities to hit for average and power." Duq per Roch. http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roch/2012/01/duquette-on-betemit-and-fielder.html

[erb8472]

I think it's pretty clear that's the choice they've made.

"His value to us is as a hitter on the left side. His best position is batting. From the left side, he presents capabilities to hit for average and power." Duq per Roch. http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roch/2012/01/duquette-on-betemit-and-fielder.html

I have absolutely no problem with this deal. Betemit will be valuable at that contract as a DH vs RHP.

[Frobby]

I think it's pretty clear that's the choice they've made.

"His value to us is as a hitter on the left side. His best position is batting. From the left side, he presents capabilities to hit for average and power." Duq per Roch. http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roch/2012/01/duquette-on-betemit-and-fielder.html

Words are fine, actions are better. The O's have a long history of bringing in guys we thought would have a part-time role, and then using them full-time as a result of choice or necessity. Conine, Surhoff (2nd time), Millar, Wigginton for example. Hopefully it doesn't happen this time, but a lot can happen.

[Frobby]

Roch has a brief interview of Betemit up: http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roch/2012/01/betemit-i-just-want-to-go-out-there-and-play.html

[Can_of_corn]

Is that some sort of joke? This guy hasn't even scored 50 runs in a season. Not even the year he hit 18 home runs. Not even in the year he hit 18 homers. In 2010 Crawford scored 110 runs and 90m rbis and he steals baes like a mad man. He needs to be a lead off hitter. The orioles should trade for him. I am sure the Red Sox would love to get rid of him and would throw some cash our way.

I am starting to think you are messing with us.

You could have made a compelling case that Crawford is a much better player and instead you use metrics like runs scored, RBIS and stolen base totals.

I am on to you.