So Buster Olney says the Orioles are looking to re-sign Saunders

[MurphDogg]

Pretty sure CA-ORIOLE was being sarcastic. He's usually a voice of reason, not a reactionary free agent agitator.

Haha, flew right over my head. I remember when the off-season was the most exciting time to be an O's fan and I hung on every post in threads like these. I am glad that is no longer the case .

[CA-ORIOLE]

Haha, flew right over my head. I remember when the off-season was the most exciting time to be an O's fan and I hung on every post in threads like these. I am glad that is no longer the case .

Yeah, it was sarcasm.

[Frobby]

In any case, while Greinke isn't an ace, he is a 3-ish win player. And the going rate for a 3-win player in free agency is about $15M a year. If you're not willing to go that high you're going to have to find non-free agent pitchers to supplement the staff.

I'm guessing Greinke will earn considerably more than $15 mm/yr in his next deal. That's just a gut feeling about how this year's market is going to play out. He's young enough so that he could sign a 5-6 year deal and still be pretty effective at the end of it. I'll predict $17.5 mm/yr for Greinke. And it won't be from the Orioles.

[CA-ORIOLE]

I'm guessing Greinke will earn considerably more than $15 mm/yr in his next deal. That's just a gut feeling about how this year's market is going to play out. He's young enough so that he could sign a 5-6 year deal and still be pretty effective at the end of it. I'll predict $17.5 mm/yr for Greinke. And it won't be from the Orioles.

Since he turned down 5/112 from the Brewers that would be a tough pill to swallow.

[clapdiddy]

I'm guessing Greinke will earn considerably more than $15 mm/yr in his next deal. That's just a gut feeling about how this year's market is going to play out. He's young enough so that he could sign a 5-6 year deal and still be pretty effective at the end of it. I'll predict $17.5 mm/yr for Greinke. And it won't be from the Orioles.

I'll bet that Greinke's contract will average over 20M/yr.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm guessing Greinke will earn considerably more than $15 mm/yr in his next deal. That's just a gut feeling about how this year's market is going to play out. He's young enough so that he could sign a 5-6 year deal and still be pretty effective at the end of it. I'll predict $17.5 mm/yr for Greinke. And it won't be from the Orioles.

Since he turned down 5/112 from the Brewers that would be a tough pill to swallow.

I'll bet that Greinke's contract will average over 20M/yr.

It'll be interesting to see what the TV money does. We may see the average value of a win in free agency pushed up to $6M, $7M or more. If the going rate is $7M a win then maybe Greinke gets $20M+. We'll see starker contrasts between teams with new TV deals and without, and between pre-free agency players and free agents.

[El Gordo]

There's been talk of Greinke getting CC money or better. Ridiculous. 5/75M would be reasonable. Pretty sure he winds up with the LAD's.

[hallmt18]

I'd prefer a 1 year deal, but 2/$12-14M wouldn't be the end of the world. Isn't there new TV revenue kicking in in 2014 for all teams? That should boost player salaries over what we're used to.

Guthrie's and Saunders' stats from 2009-2012 are almost identical: Saunders 4.20 ERA, 2.7 BB/9, 5.0 K/9; Guthrie 4.47 ERA, 2.5 BB/9, 5.2 K/9. Guthrie did it mostly with Baltimore and Saunders did it with Arizona and the Angels. I'd say the league correction gives Guthrie the edge, but it's a small one.

[video=youtube;i2nuPVTU4Z4]

[LibertyTerp]

We don't need Saunders. He just pushes Steve Johnson out of the rotation, who performed better last year than Saunders has in his entire career. If we're going to sign a starting pitcher it should be a #1-2 starter that will actually upgrade the team.

[DrungoHazewood]

We don't need Saunders. He just pushes Steve Johnson out of the rotation, who performed better last year than Saunders has in his entire career. If we're going to sign a starting pitcher it should be a #1-2 starter that will actually upgrade the team.

Last year the O's used 12 starters. The year before 12. The year before that 9, and before that 12. There's more than enough room for both Johnson and Saunders.

[weams]

Haha, flew right over my head. I remember when the off-season was the most exciting time to be an O's fan and I hung on every post in threads like these. I am glad that is no longer the case .

AMEN. Danny Valencia works fine for me

[LibertyTerp]

Last year the O's used 12 starters. The year before 12. The year before that 9, and before that 12. There's more than enough room for both Johnson and Saunders.

My hope is that our starting pitching will be high enough quality that we aren't forced to upend the rotation due to terrible pitching. But I do highly value depth. Putting all your eggs in one basket is always a bad idea, in business and sports. I suppose Saunders is fine as a backup in case someone regresses. But we do have Britton waiting in the wings as well.