Trade Jim Johnson to the Tigers

[crowmst3k!]

Missed in this thread is Andino. I want Andino back in Baltimore.

[weams]

I'd also see what the Phillies want for Cliff Lee and how much of that contract they'd be willing to eat.

I heard Rueben Amaro tell us that he was not trading Cliff Lee. Maybe he is lying. But that is what he said.

[sfosfan]

No way in hell do we land either of those 3 for JJ. Sanchez is signed through 2017 with a team option for 2018. Doug Fister is a free agent in 2016. Scherzer is a free agent in 2015 but pretty cheap and is a dominant pitcher.

Yep, the odds are definitely slim/none at best. But that's the price I'd certainly START at. You're the DET GM, you got 4 STUD starting pitchers, and one young kid who has potential. You have the top offense in the AL. You'd be running away with the best record in the AL if it weren't for your closer. YOU just might trade from your surplus to get a closer like JJ. JJ fills a huge glaring weakness. From a money standpoint, I'm not sure what the DET starters contracts are, but if one is coming up next year, that might be the guy you package out.

Realistically, of course you are correct! DET wants to keep the team as is and just give up prospects for a closer. The discussion then becomes, at what point to the O's bite if all they get for JJ are prospects? I'm not sure DD is going to trade JJ this year just for prospects, unless another deal is also made for a top starter. I think it's much more likely a third team gets involved: DET gets JJ, the O's get the starter, and the third team gets a mix of prospects from DET and Baltimore. Three way deals are rare though, but the DET/BAL trade possibilites are just screaming for a third team to join in.

[Roll Tide]

Can't believe no one wants to discuss how we use JJ to impove the team instead of either over paying for a closer or losing him to free agency.

How about Jim Johnson to the Tigers for Jose Alvarez, James McCann, and Danry Vasquez ???

This won't happen with the team 2-3 games back. The team should be adding a sp not trading away a player. It would be telling the rest of the team that you quit on them.

[weams]

This won't happen with the team 2-3 games back. The team should be adding a sp not trading away a player. It would be telling the rest of the team that you quit on them.

Agreed. This not a time to trade a closer if you are a contending team. Even if closers are over valued.

[Three Run Homer]

I doubt the Philles look to deal Lee, if they do at all, until the deadline. The Phils have a chance to make the playoffs. It would be a PR disaster to trade Lee now.

Schoop for Norris is a realistic start to a discussion. It's possible you could make a straight up trade like that but that's the kind of name (Schoop) that needs to be brought up in reality.

You may be right that we'd need to give up Schoop to get Norris. But if that's the case, I don't want to make that trade. We got Joe Saunders for Matt Lindstrom--I'd rather get a decent back end starter on the cheap.

[foxfield]

It's possible I'll win the lottery tomorrow and it's possible I won't; both are contained within the realm of possibilities. Which is the one more likely to happen for the O's v BOS. I take it back, you are drinking something stronger than Kool Ade. The O's will be lucky to avoid a sweep.

Well, like I said Gordo, come on in the waters fine...and since the sweep has been avoided early, you have no reason to not have a hell of a good weekend.

[BohKnowsBmore]

Certain sweep avoided

Playing extra loose now that we're on house money?

[DrungoHazewood]

Certain sweep avoided

Playing extra loose now that we're on house money?

Hey, don't totally discount the possibility of losing four of the next three!

[Frobby]

Gordo, Gordo, Gordo...

I'm sure that last year at this point you were also hopeful that the Orioles were going to be a playoff team, but at the time you were not so sure.

If you go back to late July-mid August of last year you will find a panoply of ultra-pessimistic posts by El Gordo saying we couldn't make a playoff run because we missed our opportunity to acquire a good starting pitcher or two at the trade deadline. He had to eat crow then, and I'm hoping he'll have to eat it again. (Nothing prsonal against El Gordo, I just always want the Orioles to prove their critics wrong.)

[Roll Tide]

If you go back to late July-mid August of last year you will find a panoply of ultra-pessimistic posts by El Gordo saying we couldn't make a playoff run because we missed our opportunity to acquire a good starting pitcher or two at the trade deadline. He had to eat crow then, and I'm hoping he'll have to eat it again. (Nothing prsonal against El Gordo, I just always want the Orioles to prove their critics wrong.)

We can't all be positive Right? How fun would the board be if we all thought the same way.

[OFFNY]

Certain sweep avoided

Playing extra loose now that we're on house money?

Hey, don't totally discount the possibility of losing four of the next three!

Turn back the clock, replay last night's game, and the possibilities are endless.

O

[Frobby]

We can't all be positive Right? How fun would the board be if we all thought the same way.

Yep, and El Gordo's not wrong that our starting pitching needs to be better. I just think we're a pretty good team despite the poor starting pitching, and I think our existing pitchers can do better than they've done to date.

[Flosman]

It's possible I'll win the lottery tomorrow and it's possible I won't; both are contained within the realm of possibilities. Which is the one more likely to happen for the O's v BOS. I take it back, you are drinking something stronger than Kool Ade. The O's will be lucky to avoid a sweep.

I hate to do this for risk of effecting the outcome of the rest of the games , you do understand that the O's have taken 21 of the last 31 from the Red Sox. Maybe they don't match up with us well anymore? But with those numbers I wouldn't mind playing them more often. Heck in an entire season against them we would win 110 games. I agree the pitching is not something I feel great about but we keep winning our share and remain on a 92 win pace in spite of our suspect pitching.

[foxfield]

If you go back to late July-mid August of last year you will find a panoply of ultra-pessimistic posts by El Gordo saying we couldn't make a playoff run because we missed our opportunity to acquire a good starting pitcher or two at the trade deadline. He had to eat crow then, and I'm hoping he'll have to eat it again. (Nothing prsonal against El Gordo, I just always want the Orioles to prove their critics wrong.)

I hate to do this for risk of effecting the outcome of the rest of the games , you do understand that the O's have taken 21 of the last 31 from the Red Sox. Maybe they don't match up with us well anymore? But with those numbers I wouldn't mind playing them more often. Heck in an entire season against them we would win 110 games. I agree the pitching is not something I feel great about but we keep winning our share and remain on a 92 win pace in spite of our suspect pitching.

These two points are why I posted the info that I did. Our team is not perfect and the Orioles do need to improve in regards to our starting pitching to meet our goals, but our goals are not that of a team mired in a 14 season span of ineptitude. Our goals are based in the present, and based on a base of talent that is one of the best in baseball. I have pushed back on Gordo and also Roy Firestone for the simple reason that they are both very knowledgeable and respected posters but posters who seem afraid of what the Orioles are out of the recent memory of what they have been. Reverse jinx activity notwithstanding, I don't want to hide, I want to stand up and say. The Orioles are one of the best teams in baseball and if you want to be in the playoffs you have to beat us.

I mean that is why we hate Boston and NY whether we want to admit it or not. We hate that they are expected to win, and that their fans can come to Baltimore and treat our house like it's theirs. Well, they can because we let them. And I think Buck and DD are having success in large part because they have instilled a mentality that says we believe we are better than you and will not concede anything to you. If you want it come and get it.

I think as a fan it is interesting to see the negative focus and it is important to recognize that at the heart of the argument is a great deal of accurate logic. But I guess my perspective, is I am choosing to embrace my Orioles as being better than "them" in spite of their flaws. And I thought the idea that the Orioles would be lucky to get one win against a team they have manhandled for more than 15 months now was a perfect time to point that out. I don't care if the Orioles lose the next three...the idea that the Sox should get all four, here, this week, is the definition of luck. And it would have been lucky for them to pull that off.

So lets keep making our own luck and let others continue to explain away why it happens. It's not the luck of a record in one run games. It's not the record of games led after the 7th inning. It's not that the Sox have had so many injuries. The specific lucky reason and un repeatable stat continues to change. The simple fact that has not changed even as the roster has, is that for 15+ months, few teams have played as well as the Baltimore Orioles.

Remember its never too early for our next sweep!