Which dominant pitcher are the Orioles going to acquire?

[El Gordo]

It won't be a SP who has more than 3 years on his contract, costs a pick, or more than 15 M per.

[mcgraw238]

Paul Maholm

[CaptainRedbeard]

If we could get Lee or Hamels without giving up Gausman, Bundy, or some major core piece of the 2014 team, we'd be all over that. Unfortunately Amaro is koo-koo for cocoa puffs so nobody as any idea what's going on with him. He seems to still think the Phillies are contenders, and would surely ask for the moon for either of those players.

Hamels is good and young enough that you could actually defend trading one of Gausman or Bundy for him, but definitely not much beyond that. He's under control for his ages 30-34 seasons for $22.5 million a season, which isn't a bargain price but is pretty good for a pitcher of his caliber over those seasons. Unfortunately, we know that is too tough of a pill for the O's to swallow.

Lee is an excellent pitcher but is quite old and owed alot of money. The Phillies absolutely should trade him, but I think they'll demand far more than the Orioles should be willing to give up for him.

[Bahama O's Fan]

If we are trading for Lee, Markakis has to go to Philly to help even out the salary exchange. No way Angelos is taking on a 25 million per year player.

[crawjo]

There is no dominant starting pitcher available through free agency, except maybe for Tanaka. Jimenez has the potential to be dominant but is a risk. I don't think Garza is worth it.

[spiritof66]

Also, add Chris Davis to the list of people pining for a SP:

But, for us, starting pitching obviously is going to be the issue again for us. We have some young guys who can still improve this year, but we still lack that really experienced starter, a guy that has gone through the fire and really knows what to expect, because he?s been around for a while.

An honest response from the Orioles to Davis (and the rest of us):

Chris, we would prefer to develop our starters from within the organization. But we agree that it would be a big help to add an experienced starter to lead the staff, and we've made it our highest priority.

There are a few ways in which we might add a starter from outside:

1. Sign a free agent. Unfortunately, the kind of starter we would all like to bring in to anchor our rotation will be asking for too much money over too long a period. As a matter of principle, we don't go after those top-flight free agent pitchers.

2. Sign a quality starter from the Japanese league who is a free agent. We won't try to do that because of the posting fee.

3. Trade for an experienced, high-quality starter. We don't have much redundancy at the ML level to offer in a trade, and most teams who might be willing to trade one of these starters are looking for top prospects who will be under team control for a while. We have very few of them, and most are potential starters we want to keep to escape this problem over time. (We hope to develop more of these attractive prospects in 4-5 years.)

4. Trade for or sign a starter with experience and a record of success, but whose value has fallen because of recent performance drop-off or injury. We're certainly not going to do that -- too risky.

We're left looking to fleece someone in a trade, maybe by picking up salary that team wants to shed, or sign an experienced free agent without a record of great accomplishment. You've met Mr. Hammel, Mr. Norris and Mr. Feldman, haven't you?

By the way, when you're thinking about whether to sign a long-term contract with the Orioles or pursue free agency, don't pay attention to any of this.

[mdbdotcom]

Why is the question. It determines what the Phillies want for him. Is it a salary dump? or are they rebuilding?

I don't really care why, as long as we can afford him.

[atomic]

We aren't going to sign a dominant free-agent pitcher as long as Angelos is the owner.

[Guest]

Answer- None

[Big O]

Any links to these comments from Brady or Davis or the press? Not saying they are not real i just haven't seen them. Where do they say we're getting a dominant pitcher? If so how about shark... Does he count as dominant? He's my guess

[El Gordo]

I don't really care why, as long as we can afford him.

If the Phillies are dumping his salary then you won't have to give up as much in trade. If they are eating some of his salary then he will cost a boatload of our top prospects. You don't care which of these is the case?

[mdbdotcom]

If the Phillies are dumping his salary then you won't have to give up as much in trade. If they are eating some of his salary then he will cost a boatload of our top prospects. You don't care which of these is the case?

It's Duquette's job, not mine, and I don't have to know.

[Jon]

Over in Weam's "JJ" thread, Backwardsk and mcgraw238 were able to figure out that the O's and Pirates are the only teams to have never signed a pitcher for 10 mm+ in the game.

The Pirates have Wandi, who although they are not paying 10 mm+ to, does make over 10mm. Burnett also made over 10 mm, but the Pirates only were on the hook for a fracion of that.

That leaves the O's as the only team without a pitcher making 10 mm+

So... What dominant starter can be had by free agency or trade that won't cost this team over 10 mm+?

Or are we to believe that this 10 mm figure is just a coincidence over all these years and this year we will sign a top starter for big money?

[El Gordo]

Over in Weam's "JJ" thread, Backwardsk and mcgraw238 were able to figure out that the O's and Pirates are the only teams to have never signed a pitcher for 10 mm+ in the game.

The Pirates have Wandi, who although they are not paying 10 mm+ to, does make over 10mm. Burnett also made over 10 mm, but the Pirates only were on the hook for a fracion of that.

That leaves the O's as the only team without a pitcher making 10 mm+

So... What dominant starter can be had by free agency or trade that won't cost this team over 10 mm+?

Or are we to believe that this 10 mm figure is just a coincidence over all these years and this year we will sign a top starter for big money?

Trade Manny for Lee plus 16M per.

[weams]

Over in Weam's "JJ" thread, Backwardsk and mcgraw238 were able to figure out that the O's and Pirates are the only teams to have never signed a pitcher for 10 mm+ in the game.

The Pirates have Wandi, who although they are not paying 10 mm+ to, does make over 10mm. Burnett also made over 10 mm, but the Pirates only were on the hook for a fracion of that.

That leaves the O's as the only team without a pitcher making 10 mm+

So... What dominant starter can be had by free agency or trade that won't cost this team over 10 mm+?

Or are we to believe that this 10 mm figure is just a coincidence over all these years and this year we will sign a top starter for big money?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MsJnxlXepsY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Maybe this is the time?