Even after big Jimenez signing, Orioles have remained in contact with Ervin Santana.

[fearthenoodle]

That is true if you believe the Angelos family will actually put that all back into the payroll.

Well, OD payroll went up roughly 10% from $84MM in 2012 to $92MM in 2013, and with one more signing would go up around another 10% to over $100MM in 2014.

[Floater]

I don't know why they'd wanna give a lot of money to a pitcher who gives up a ton of homers. Put him in Camden and the AL East, and he might break his career high HRs given up in a season, 39.

Give me Morales.

[LayzieDES]

I'd rather go all Atlanta like & start locking up our own.

[fearthenoodle]

I don't know why they'd wanna give a lot of money to a pitcher who gives up a ton of homers. Put him in Camden and the AL East, and he might break his career high HRs given up in a season, 39.

Give me Morales.

Of the last 4 seasons, HRs were a problem just once. In the last 3 years, he added a sinker to his repertoire, and significantly improved his GB rates.

[MurphDogg]

A little to Bobby Bonilla, a little to Vlad Guerrero...

There is a difference between deferring with and without interest. Bobby Bonilla was a lesson in the danger of deferring contracts with interest.

[crawjo]

Roch has said all off-season the Orioles would never go past 3 years on a pitcher.

Wasn't he also saying a couple weeks ago that the Orioles were more interested in Santana than Jimenez?

[fearthenoodle]

Update II: I've now talked to three people familiar with the Orioles' negotiations who say the club isn't in on Santana.

http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roch/2014/02/hardy-on-jimenez.html

[justice98]

I'm curious how it'd turn out if they went all in. Jimenez, Santana, Morales, the whole nine yards.

[clapdiddy]

Yeah I mean, another big multi-year deal on the books would have me worried that they are really punting on Chris Davis.

Not necessarily. Remember, Nick is off the books next season.

I still expect them to either deal Wieters or just let him play his contract out.

Of the last 4 seasons, HRs were a problem just once. In the last 3 years, he added a sinker to his repertoire, and significantly improved his GB rates.

Perfect fit for our defense. I would love the depth this move would bring.

[fearthenoodle]

Who do you believe, Roch's sources or Encina's?

If you look closely, Encina explicitly cites an "industry" source, while Roch seems to imply organizational sources... you decide.

[clapdiddy]

Who do you believe, Roch's sources or Encina's?

I tend to believe Rosenthal. He seems to have pretty accurate sources.

[Slade-OH]

I'd rather go all Atlanta like & start locking up our own.

If only we didn't have Scott Bora$$ to deal with. Tsk Tsk

[Slade-OH]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Have heard a bunch of no's in regards to Santana and the Os. Rumors could be a product of a limited market.</p>— Brittany Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) <a href="

">February 21, 2014</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ervin and company probably trying to get the Blue Jays to pony up the dough if that's the case

[Spy Fox]

The gap between Morales and the rest of our DH candidates is much much larger than the gap between Santana and Norris. Plus, it doesn't seem like a good idea to commit to two $10M+ per year pitchers for the next 3/4 years when we already have Tillman and Gonzalez locked up for the next four years, Chen and Norris locked up for the next two years if we want them, and Gausman/Bundy/Rodriguez and more hopefully involved in the mix very soon. Even if this were the prelude to a trade, I don't think I would like it. And the same would have been true if we signed Santana last week instead of Jimenez, and were now talking about possibly adding Jimenez.

Anyway, despite saying all that, I really doubt this comes true. Only way I can see it happening is if we whiff on Cruz and Morales and DD thinks there's a very good opportunity in the trade market using some of our pitchers. But I still think the odds look good for us landing Morales.

[LookinUp]

Intriguing possibility, but I'm not going to even entertain it based on Roch's posts. Here's what happened...

Santana's people are telling others that the O's are still in on him.

Another team (possibly the Jays), decided to smoke them out. They leaked that the O's are in on him in order to get a reaction from the O's.

The O's obliged, and Santana's negotiating position is now weakened.

The industry source isn't Santana's agent, it's the team he'll end up going to.