Add Luis Ayala to the stable

[DrungoHazewood]

People need to stop with this. He took the job like 3 weeks after Theo and Dipoto. The process was a mess but 3 weeks doesn't get him a mulligan.

Ayala is an expenditure of resources that almost certainly could have been better spent elsewhere.

It's like a lot of the moves this offseason. Even if it works out, it's not a wise investment for a 69 win season with little in the minors. All investments should be focused on being competitive in 2014 and beyond.

I'm not giving him a mulligan, I'm waiting to see what he's up to. If it's March 15th or March 30th and we still have 45 generic pitchers vying for 12 spots, I'll say Duquette has some problems. He traded Guthrie a few days ago, so maybe he has some other irons in the fire. We'll see.

[Sports Guy]

Whether they spend 1M, 2M or 5M...The contract itself isn't likely going to hinder them from making other moves.

Now, the higher the contract goes, the dumber the signing is of course.

But the point is that they brought him in to begin with...that they now need to cut someone from the 40 man and that they gave him a guaranteed contract WITH AN OPTION!

The salary is just icing on the cake.

This is just stupid.

Its another little move, in the long line of little moves, that just make no sense.....no matter who the GM is, they just can't help themselves from making these awful moves.

[ShaneDawg85]

I think I'd rather have had Mike Gonzalez back.

[El Gordo]

How do you say, "he's not blocking anyone" and then in the next sentence say it means Matusz, Britton, and others will be in the minors.

Defending every nonsensical move our new GM makes is swell but when he's signing (Ayala) or acquiring (Lindstrom) middle relievers for significant dollars it certainly begs the question: what the hell is he doing?

You really believe he is sending Britton to Norfolk to make room for Ayala? More likely he is trading one or more of Patton, Berken, Bergesen, Angle, Bell, Mahoney, for MiL, non 40 man types.

[DrungoHazewood]

...Britton starting the year in AAA.

There better be some good justification for that. I could come up with a better case for Britton starting on opening day in Baltimore than Norfolk.

[Sports Guy]

I'm not giving him a mulligan, I'm waiting to see what he's up to. If it's March 15th or March 30th and we still have 45 generic pitchers vying for 12 spots, I'll say Duquette has some problems. He traded Guthrie a few days ago, so maybe he has some other irons in the fire. We'll see.

You really think its justifiable to sign a dime a dozen reliever to a ML contract because he MIGHT have a trade being worked out?

Does it even matter? If you trade Johnson AND GRegg, do you not have guys coming in on MiL deals and guys already here that could fill in the spots?

[Sports Guy]

Who cares? They have money budgeted for the 25-man roster. Where should they be putting Ayala money? The O's aren't going to miss out on signing an international kid or giving a bonus to a draftee because of Luis Ayala.

PA's pocket.

And yes, I am serious...I would rather see Angelos make more money than make a pointless signing like this one.

[Frobby]

If we are paying him what he made last year or less, that's fine with me...depending on who is being released from the 40 man.

That is a big deal in all of this.

I am sure it will be $1mm or more, so you undoubtedly will be unhappy.

I have a reasonably high opinion of Ayala's stuff, based on what I saw of him last year. I do agree with you that we are getting to the point where the guys who remain on the 40-man roster aren't just trash. I don't hate this signing, but I can see why you wouldn't like it.

[Sports Guy]

That doesn't make any sense. The point of the signing is improving your bullpen. You take a guy like Berken and you say, last year you sucked. Go earn it again in AAA.

Well, chances are that didn't actually happen and if it did, it is so minimal that it won't matter.

And sure it makes sense...PA deserves to make money. I would rather see him make that money and piss it away on cars and houses than sign this guy.

[Singleton]

You really believe he is sending Britton to Norfolk to make room for Ayala? More likely he is trading one or more of Patton, Berken, Bergesen, Angle, Bell, Mahoney, for MiL, non 40 man types.

I don't believe Britton will be in AAA to start the year. I was responding to a post that suggested he might and suggested there was some connection to the strategy of signing Ayala types.

I don't think any of the guys you mention would bring back anything of interest. I also would hope that DD is not sitting there thinking, "Ah, I could trade Jason Berken for a future star but who would pitch the 6th inning for my 69 win team?"

[SammyBirdland]

I think I'd rather have had Mike Gonzalez back.

Whoa whoa whoa, watch your language.

[El Gordo]

I am sure it will be $1mm or more, so you undoubtedly will be unhappy.

I have a reasonably high opinion of Ayala's stuff, based on what I saw of him last year. I do agree with you that we are getting to the point where the guys who remain on the 40-man roster aren't just trash. I don't hate this signing, but I can see why you wouldn't like it.

Which makes it more likely that trades are in the works, IMO.

[LookinUp]

There might be trades in the works, but I think the more likely answer is that Buck thought the arms in his bullpen were terrible last year and he doesn't mind risking losing guys like Patton, Berken and Bergesen on waiver claims. Net a guy like Ayala's salary with a guy like Berken making around the minimum and it's like $500,000.

I really think this is a matter of Buck not wanting to rely on the guys he had to rely on last year.

For what it's worth, I am in favor of backing up our talent. Guys with options, minus the really good ones like Britton, should not be handed jobs.

[Singleton]

Who cares? They have money budgeted for the 25-man roster. Where should they be putting Ayala money? The O's aren't going to miss out on signing an international kid or giving a bonus to a draftee because of Luis Ayala.

And there's still plenty of room on the 40-man, despite what you heard. There will be trades and there will be cuts. A ton of dead weight has come off the 40-man this offseason. And while I understand Ayala could jeopardize losing a guy like Josh Bell or Jason Berken, I would argue those guys are easily replaced with moves down the road.

Well there's gotta be a short, fat 16 year old kid somewhere on whom we could dump a half mil and start an international incident.

How confident are you that Ayala will outperform Berken or whoever gets bumped from the MLB roster and the 40 man? Does it matter? Is it worth the investment.

My answers: not very, no, and no.

[El Gordo]

I don't believe Britton will be in AAA to start the year. I was responding to a post that suggested he might and suggested there was some connection to the strategy of signing Ayala types.

I don't think any of the guys you mention would bring back anything of interest. I also would hope that DD is not sitting there thinking, "Ah, I could trade Jason Berken for a future star but who would pitch the 6th inning for my 69 win team?"

I'm thinking some of these guys could be included in a Jones trade. I also think Ayala in the pen is preferable to Patton, Mahoney, or Berken on the 40 man.