Who are you willing to trade for real improvement?

[theobird]

No team is gonna over pay for Davis. Maybe they will if he has another monster year.

So you think Kevin Gausman brings back more in a trade today than Chris Davis?

[atomic]

Yup let's trade all the good players we have. Plus no team is gonna give up that much for Davis folks.

Here's a crazy idea and i know it's crazy. Just take the payroll to 115m

Yeah I like your idea. They want us to trade everyone two years before free agency. They wanted us to trade Jones for nothing a couple of seasons ago. Trading all your good players year after year is a good way to lose 100 games.

[Guest]

So you think Kevin Gausman brings back more in a trade today than Chris Davis?

No Gausman brings nothing back. Gausman the guy you trade to get players.

[Samatwing]

Well the logical thing to do would be to go for it now. Davis and Wieters in last yr of contract. They really are an ace and a bat away from really contending. But no, instead we stay in the middle. So fickle. Vicious cycle of the orioles.

[theobird]

Allrighty then. I will just sit back and wait for them to push the payroll to 115 million.

[Elbren]

Yeah I like your idea. They want us to trade everyone two years before free agency. They wanted us to trade Jones for nothing a couple of seasons ago. Trading all your good players year after year is a good way to lose 100 games.

Trading Jones WAS a good idea at the time; especially with this teams track record of paying market value for players. To say something like this would be clearly taking his current contract for granted. He signed a very team-friendly deal. Something few players are willing to do; especially when the O's are concerned.

If Jones rode out arbitration and hit FA, he'd be looking at Choo/Ellsbury money. Something this team isn't willing to pay.

[Ommaculate]

Trading Jones WAS a good idea at the time; especially with this teams track record of paying market value for players. To say something like this would be clearly taking his current contract for granted. He signed a very team-friendly deal. Something few players are willing to do; especially when the O's are concerned.

If Jones rode out arbitration and hit FA, he'd be looking at Choo/Ellsbury money. Something this team isn't willing to pay.

Jones wanted that money immediately. Imagine if something happened and he had a career ending injury before he got a contract? That must be scary to some players. I would take the first big contract at the soonest possible time. How many millions do you really need?

[SerenityNow]

How many millions do you really need?

Depends on how many islands you want to buy.

[Elbren]

Jones wanted that money immediately. Imagine if something happened and he had a career ending injury before he got a contract? That must be scary to some players. I would take the first big contract at the soonest possible time. How many millions do you really need?

These are athletes we're talking about. It's never enough.

It's the same reason we see so many players bail on teams that drafted and developed them. It's the same reason we see someone like Jim Thome leave Cleveland despite clearly wanting to stay there. It's why we see guys like ARod opt out of a contract and look for a new one despite already being one of the highest paid athletes in the world.

[Elbren]

Jones wanted that money immediately. Imagine if something happened and he had a career ending injury before he got a contract? That must be scary to some players. I would take the first big contract at the soonest possible time. How many millions do you really need?

You could say that about any athlete in any sport. It's just something that comes with the territory ... and something that most/all of them have no problem testing.

[atomic]

Trading Jones WAS a good idea at the time; especially with this teams track record of paying market value for players. To say something like this would be clearly taking his current contract for granted. He signed a very team-friendly deal. Something few players are willing to do; especially when the O's are concerned.

If Jones rode out arbitration and hit FA, he'd be looking at Choo/Ellsbury money. Something this team isn't willing to pay.

Your whole strategy is bound for failure. If you trade Chris Davis now it is going to be to a team that wants to win now. Davis will make a lot of money the next two seasons and then will become a free agent. You aren't going to get players that help you now. You will get prospects and if you got players that happen to pan out it will probably 3 years before they started really providing real value. At that time you will have to trade Machado as he will be 2 years from free agency.

There is no reason to think the team won't sign Davis to a big extension if he has a big year next year. The team has done one thing and that is to sign their best players to long term contracts. They won't do it with pitchers but field players they don't mind to pay for the best ones.

If Davis isn't a superstar the next two years he will be easy to sign. If he is a superstar the next two years we will be missing out on seeing him destroy opposing pitching. I can see no real benefit to trading him.

[oriole]

I think you're over shooting in the scenarios, most specifically the Seattle one. Walker is the real deal, he seems untouchable.

What about......drum roll please......

A straight trade of Davis for Price? No one gets the prospects they want but both teams take from areas of strength to fill areas of weakness for the next two years.

[atomic]

I think you're over shooting in the scenarios, most specifically the Seattle one. Walker is the real deal, he seems untouchable.

What about......drum roll please......

A straight trade of Davis for Price? No one gets the prospects they want but both teams take from areas of strength to fill areas of weakness for the next two years.

I don't see Tampa making that deal. The reason to trade Price is to save money. I don't see them saving any money.

[Elbren]

Your whole strategy is bound for failure. If you trade Chris Davis now it is going to be to a team that wants to win now. Davis will make a lot of money the next two seasons and then will become a free agent. You aren't going to get players that help you now. You will get prospects and if you got players that happen to pan out it will probably 3 years before they started really providing real value. At that time you will have to trade Machado as he will be 2 years from free agency.

Teams like Oakland and Tampa live and die by this strategy.

The only difference is that their MiL systems are worlds ahead of ours, both in quality players and in player development, so they can replace the guys the deal away much faster.

There is no reason to think the team won't sign Davis to a big extension if he has a big year next year. The team has done one thing and that is to sign their best players to long term contracts. They won't do it with pitchers but field players they don't mind to pay for the best ones.

His agent says differently. Scott Boras always takes his clients to FA.

[SteveO]

I would take any of those 3 deals in a heartbeat but I dont think there is a snowballs chance in Hades that any of those deals would be offered. You would not even get Walker for Davis straight up. No way Seattle is trading a stud pitching prospect for the difference in production between Smoak and Davis.

The O's need to decide if they want to compete or if they want to rebuild. This sitting in the middle is one sure way to return to losing 100 games again.

I get people not wanting to trade Davis, Hardy, Wieters....I really dont want to either. If this owner however will not pony up the resources to complement them with a cast that can compete for a playoff birth then your really just spinning your wheels again waiting to suck when they all walk.

The right move would have been to invest in the team, the city and the fans by increasing payroll for a couple years and bringing proven quality guys to round out this team. Had they done that I would have tipped my cap to them even if it did not work out. Least they tried.