Filling holes this Winter

[Jonesy10]

RF:

Nick

SS:

Hardy

Lowrie

If we could get a pick from Hardy and sign Lowrie without surrendering one, that might have to be looked at.

DH:

Cruz

Fill through trade

Once again, if you can get a pick for Cruz and trade for a good replacement, it would have to be looked at pretty closely.

[wildcard]

Hardy and Markakis are both resigned because they want to be Orioles and Buck wants them.

If they can resign Andrew Miller for 3/12M they will do it.

Christian Walker will be the DH replacing Cruz. Cruz will get a ton from some team as a free agent and the O's make a quality offer and get a draft choice.

Jimenez, Hunter and Matusz will all be traded. They will not get much for Jimenez but some team will want him come Jan or Feb and the O's get the contract off the books.

The O's will add a starter with options.

I don't know at 2B. I hope the O's promote De Jesus and he gets a look in Sept but I don't know if it will happen.

Catchers next year are Wieters and Joseph. Hundley's option not be picked up.

[tntoriole]

So you would have Nick in RF and Alverez/Pearce/Henry in LF, Delmon/ Henry/Wieters at DH, Davis at 3B, Walker at 1B, and Manny at SS? Boy the left side of the IF is taking a big hit on defense.

Well, it is a calculated risk. Clearly Davis won't be Manny, nobody is, but I predict Manny will be much better than an aging JJ.

[Bahama O's Fan]

If it's me, it depends which one I am. If I'm Angelos, I say screw it, spend like the Yankees, resign Miller, Markakis, Cruz, Hardy and anyone else cause ain't no way I spend all my money before I die. If I'm Dan and given a budget by Angelos, then it's really different. First thing, Marakakis, Hardy and Cruz get a QO. If either is the first in history to take is, so be it, I can live with either one of them for one year at 15 million. If they reject it, I think Hardy is first priority for me. I don't want to move Manny from 3B and I think he is the best SS (sans Ramirez) in the FA class. NY will get Ramirez and JJ can come back here. If I can't get JJ, we have some flexibility as Manny can play SS and 3B and Schoop has played 2B, SS and 3B in the minors. I know he didn't look good earlier this year at 3B, but if he has all spring training to work on it, I think he can be good. With out JJ, I search for the best available SS, 3B or 2B on the market. Markakis comes next. I see no reason he will not take a team-friendly deal to stay here. I'm really not sure what the market for him would be. Miller is dealt with third, and I probably can't afford to keep him. Cruz seems like a luxury for me. If Joseph continues to play the way he is playing now, Weiters can DH alot and Pearce/Young/Lough can play LF. I know Cruz carried us at the beginning of the season, but I have become weary of his dropoff and if he picks it up again, he might be too expensive for us.

[wildcard]

If it's me' date=' it depends which one I am. If I'm Angelos, I say screw it, spend like the Yankees, resign Miller, Markakis, Cruz, Hardy and anyone else cause ain't no way I spend all my money before I die. If I'm Dan and given a budget by Angelos, then it's really different. First thing, Marakakis, Hardy and Cruz get a QO. If either is the first in history to take is, so be it, I can live with either one of them for one year at 15 million. If they reject it, I think Hardy is first priority for me. I don't want to move Manny from 3B and I think he is the best SS (sans Ramirez) in the FA class. NY will get Ramirez and JJ can come back here. If I can't get JJ, we have some flexibility as Manny can play SS and 3B and Schoop has played 2B, SS and 3B in the minors. I know he didn't look good earlier this year at 3B, but if he has all spring training to work on it, I think he can be good. With out JJ, I search for the best available SS, 3B or 2B on the market. Markakis comes next. I see no reason he will not take a team-friendly deal to stay here. I'm really not sure what the market for him would be. Miller is dealt with third, and I probably can't afford to keep him. Cruz seems like a luxury for me. If Joseph continues to play the way he is playing now, Weiters can DH alot and Pearce/Young/Lough can play LF. I know Cruz carried us at the beginning of the season, but I have become weary of his dropoff and if he picks it up again, he might be too expensive for us.[/quote']

If the O's offer Markakis and Hardy a QO at 15M, they both take it. The O's will never make that offer.

[tntoriole]

Fine. If we just want to spend Potter's money out the wazoo, then we can resign Nick, JJ, Cruz, Miller, etc. I don't really see how that happens, but that would be fine, of course. We will then be also buying the down years of Nick, JJ and Cruz. Manny will not ever go to short. And it certainly leaves no more dollars for Wieters or Davis deals so they too will be gone after 2015 (which would be really unfortunate if Davis rebounds next year).

Nope, the only one that I am definitely re-signing is Nick. I predict JJ will get a much larger deal than we home fans believe and loyalty only goes so far. Same with Cruz. And likely the same with Miller. But the key is whether we trade Wieters sometime before the deadline and whether we risk extending Davis this winter on a very team friendly deal (betting that this year is an aberration).

If we resign only Nick, and move Manny, keep Davis to play either first or third, trade Wieters (for good value), QO Cruz, QO JJ, we might very well be able to sign Miller and a FA third baseman like Headley or Sandoval (although you could move Davis to third and have Walker at first if he is raking and ready and use those dollars to upgrade somewhere else).

[EagleOriole]

I would really try to re-sign:

SS Hardy

RF Markakis

LF Cruz

I would non-tender:

RH Hunter

LH Matusz

I don't think they can re-sign Miller. I think they need to fill bullpen holes internally. I also think they need to try to trade Bud Norris (prefer to trade him over M. Gonzalez). I would prefer to get prospects back for him.

I think next year's team looking like this would look great:

1. Tillman 2. Gausman 3. Chen 4. Jimenez 5. M. Gonzalez

Brach, Webb, Wright, McFarland, Berry or C. Jones, O'Day, Britton

Lineup:

RF Markakis, 3B Machado, CF Jones, LF Cruz, 1B Davis, C Wieters, SS Hardy, DH Walker, 2B Schoop

C Joseph, 4th OF Lough, CI/CO Pearce, UTIL Flaherty

I guess we still need more LH hitting, so letting Cruz go and getting a better LH hiting LF would be ideal.

[tntoriole]

If the O's offer Markakis and Hardy a QO at 15M, they both take it. The O's will never make that offer.

I think DD's budget can live with either or both for a year at that number. But I think the Os will offer the extension to Markakis and the QO to Hardy. Markakis is an Angelos favorite. Potter will pay him.

[wildcard]

I would really try to re-sign:

SS Hardy

RF Markakis

LF Cruz

I would non-tender:

RH Hunter

LH Matusz

I don't think they can re-sign Miller. I think they need to fill bullpen holes internally. I also think they need to try to trade Bud Norris (prefer to trade him over M. Gonzalez). I would prefer to get prospects back for him.

I think next year's team looking like this would look great:

1. Tillman 2. Gausman 3. Chen 4. Jimenez 5. M. Gonzalez

Brach, Webb, Wright, McFarland, Berry or C. Jones, O'Day, Britton

Lineup:

RF Markakis, 3B Machado, CF Jones, LF Cruz, 1B Davis, C Wieters, SS Hardy, DH Walker, 2B Schoop

C Joseph, 4th OF Lough, CI/CO Pearce, UTIL Flaherty

I guess we still need more LH hitting, so letting Cruz go and getting a better LH hiting LF would be ideal.

I don't think Wright, Tim Berry or Chris Jones are ready to start next year in the O's pen.

[wildcard]

I think DD's budget can live with either or both for a year at that number. But I think the Os will offer the extension to Markakis and the QO to Hardy. Markakis is an Angelos favorite. Potter will pay him.

I hope both get extensions but I don't think the O's would pay 15M a year for either one. Not even for a year.

[EagleOriole]

I don't think Wright, Tim Berry or Chris Jones are ready to start next year in the O's pen.

Wright is getting better and would be well-positioned to be the long man/swing man. Webb takes over 7th inning duty. Berry and Jones each hold lefties to a .212 average in the minors, maybe Joe Saunders becomes the lefty primary or loogy next year. But I think Jones in particular would be capable of pitching at the ML level next year.

[tntoriole]

I hope both get extensions but I don't think the O's would pay 15M a year for either one. Not even for a year.

We can agree to disagree. Particularly if they go to the Series. Letting both JJ and Nick just walk without even QOs will not happen, imho.

[tntoriole]

I hope both get extensions but I don't think the O's would pay 15M a year for either one. Not even for a year.

You wonder if the QO ends up being leverage for teams this winter. Namely after seeing the albatross that it was around some guys necks last winter, maybe Hardy, for example, thinks more favorably of taking a lesser deal with the Orioles rather than risk a QO that would risk him get fewer or lesser offers or maybe even no offers somewhere else.

[Bahama O's Fan]

If the O's offer Markakis and Hardy a QO at 15M, they both take it. The O's will never make that offer.

Then I would take both of them back at that price for only one year. They would giving up job security since they could decline and hit the open market the next year and receive less. The other thing is I can sign them to the QO and still work out a long term deal afterwards.

[Bahama O's Fan]

You could also DFA Matusz and use his money on Miller.