Orioles "Appear to be the Leading team of interest" to Get Samardzija

[GoldGlove21]

This deal would be Bundy/Gausman/Harvey, ERod, plus one next tier prospect IMO. There is no chance in hell I would give up two of Bundy/Gausman/Harvey unless I new I was extending the guy I was getting back prior to the deal going down. These are the types of deals that can take teams back a decade if they do not go in your favor.

[Malike]

Stinks horribly of a desperation move to keep him out of Toronto. Let them further gut their farm system. Big pass.

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[Can_of_corn]

This deal would be Bundy/Gausman/Harvey, ERod, plus one next tier prospect IMO. There is no chance in hell I would give up two of Bundy/Gausman/Harvey unless I new I was extending the guy I was getting back prior to the deal going down. These are the types of deals that can take teams back a decade if they do not go in your favor.

Extending the guy (at market value I am sure) is not a reason to give more in trade.

[Il BuonO]

There is definitely something to the idea that you need to keep momentum with the fan base, but Baltimore (in my opinion) is doing it in a clumsy way.

This year they punted on the draft in exchange for the team CURRENTLY on the field, which we are now saying may need a big piece (in exchange for prospects) just to stay relevant in the playoff push. That's not leveraging opportunities, it's holding things together with chewing gum and toothpicks.

Anyway, it's all above my pay grade. Hopefully the FO is on the right track.

Wouldn't you say they decidely took a clumsy path when they signed Jimenez for four years and gave up a pick? I'd prefer a reasonable move involving Samardzija more than what we did.

That being said, I don't see Theo being reasonable.

[Stotle]

Wouldn't you say they decidely took a clumsy path when they signed Jimenez for four years and gave up a pick? I'd prefer a reasonable move involving Samardzija more than what we did.

That being said, I don't see Theo being reasonable.

I thought the Jimenez signing was very bad, and was a pretty clear indication there was not a clear plan for the direction this organization is supposed to be heading. Maybe that's an overreaction, but I don't think so. I don't think a Samardzija trade makes sense given what we have seen from the organization in the offseason. That is, I don't believe the org will do what it needs to do to make the Samardzija trade work into a long term strategy.

[pdiddy]

Still walking slightly more than three batters per nine in the minors, which I'm not fond of. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't his pitch counts been fairly high for the number of innings he's thrown each start (IIRC, it took 93 pitches for him to get through his 6.1 inning, high water mark start).

I haven't seen his starts, so I don't know what to make of his numbers, exactly. He's limiting MiL hits, but is that a product of solid command and advancing secondaries, or is he simply overmatching MiL hitters with stuff that's mostly plateaued? Is he wild in the strike zone, or is he locating for the most part? I'm glad to see that his recent starts have been better, but those numbers alone don't really tell the story, IMO, that spells the difference between "future O's starter" and "trade bait."

Great points. That's really the question. Tillman dominated in the minors long before he was any good at the MLB level.

[pdiddy]

Wouldn't you say they decidely took a clumsy path when they signed Jimenez for four years and gave up a pick? I'd prefer a reasonable move involving Samardzija more than what we did.

That being said, I don't see Theo being reasonable.

I think that remains to be seen depending on if his pitching improves. If year four is what it took then so be it. They weren't aggressive enough with E Santana and lost him. I'd rather spend the money and a second rounder than trade the recent number one prospect in the game.

[Stotle]

Great points. That's really the question. Tillman dominated in the minors long before he was any good at the MLB level.

Tillman had to bounce back and forth between MLB and MiLB for four seasons before he completed a full season with Baltimore. He also got over, what, 450 minor league innings before being first promoted?

[MrOrange82]

I thought the Jimenez signing was very bad, and was a pretty clear indication there was not a clear plan for the direction this organization is supposed to be heading. Maybe that's an overreaction, but I don't think so. I don't think a Samardzija trade makes sense given what we have seen from the organization in the offseason. That is, I don't believe the org will do what it needs to do to make the Samardzija trade work into a long term strategy.

I wanted them to sign Jimenez. I don't think it's a contract that'll yield surplus value, but I do think he'll be a stable presence eventually. Regardless, I raised a similar concern over the winter. While I was happy that they eventually signed Jimenez, the fact that they bounced around between FA options (and watched what was, IMO, a bad contract for Balfour fall apart) seemed to indicate that they didn't have a coherent plan going into the offseason. They were willing to pay too much for Arroyo and/or Burnett, they almost overpaid for Balfour, they talked to Rodney and Santana, they were in discussions with Morales along with Cruz, and they even agreed to a deal with Tyler Colvin. They were all over the place, and they only wound up with Jimenez and Cruz because their Plan A's seemed to fall by the wayside.

[The Wedge]

This hardly thrills me. I generally don't get bad feelings and/or hackles at rumors like this, but this sure gave me them for some reason.

[Stotle]

I'll go so far as to say if Chicago could get Gausman straight up for Samardzija they would seriously consider it.

[xian4]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Buck just said on MASNs Mid Atl. Sports Report that he and Duquette have not even discussed Samardzija.</p>— Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) <a href="

">May 28, 2014</a></blockquote>

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

[weams]

I'll go so far as to say if Chicago could get Gausman straight up for Samardzija they would seriously consider it.

Isn't Gausman Samardzija?

[MrOrange82]

I'll go so far as to say if Chicago could get Gausman straight up for Samardzija they would seriously consider it.

As long as the O's kept their other prospects on relative lockdown afterwards, I think I'd have to agree to that. I'd be shocked if the Cubs went for a 1-for-1, though.

[Stotle]

Isn't Gausman Samardzija?

Gausman is Samardzija if Samardzija had focused on baseball and figured things out three years earlier.