Rasmus to Astros... our offseason is horrible

[MurphDogg]

Why are we visiting players if we aren't going to offer even 4 million?

Matusz makes that, did he get a visit?

I love that $8 million is $4 million when it belongs to a guy that the Orioles didn't sign, and $3.2 million is $4 million when it comes to a guy that the Orioles did sign. Just the best.

When people heard that Rasmus had signed for $4 million did it make sense? Perhaps you should use reason to think that the dollar figure may be wrong.

[FanAddict]

Our offseason has been terribly boring to follow' date=' but it doesn't mean we still don't have a great team ready to go for this season.[/quote']

This.

The "sky is falling" attitude exhibited by a sizable portion of the OH community is pretty absurd IMHO.

To summarize in as few words as possible why I have no issue with how this offseason has played out (ignoring the Duqette stuff) goes a little something like this:

Full seasons of Manny, CD, Wieters >>> loss of Cruz + Markakis. And on the pitching side, I find the predictions of regression amongst our SP's, considering their youth and the defense surrounding them, to be wholly unrealistic. The loss of 20 some odd innings of Miller are being overrated by many. Our BP will be fine.

[scOtt]

I love that $8 million is $4 million when it belongs to a guy that the Orioles didn't sign, and $3.2 million is $4 million when it comes to a guy that the Orioles did sign. Just the best.

When people heard that Rasmus had signed for $4 million did it make sense? Perhaps you should use reason to think that the dollar figure may be wrong.

37.9% of all stats are completely made up.

[TonySoprano]

The only Ryan Howard I'm interested in is Ryan "Fire Guy" Howard. The Phillies can keep the other one.

Still a better option than Ron "Opey" Howard

[Number5]

37.9% of all stats are completely made up.

Can I quote you on that?

[Larry18]

Ryan Howard is still in the dumpster

At 25M it's the double wide of dumpsters.

[TheDirtyBird]

So when are we trading for Mike Trout and moving Adam over to RF?

[weams]

So when are we trading for Mike Trout and moving Adam over to RF?

Trout is the one who can't handle center anymore.

[wildbillhiccup]

It's not just the Rasmus signing. It's the inactivity. There have been a TON of trades this offseason and quite a few for OFs in particular. Heyward. Upton, Myers, Cespedes, etc, would have all been good players to gamble on as replacements for Nick/Cruz. But it's pretty clear that Duquette was distracted. Or maybe it was Angelos? When he found out that Duquette wanted to leave, he stop trusting him and vetoed any trade ideas he brought to the table. We'll never know, but only a na?ve person would think that it didn't play a part in our offseason.

What I think we should have been doing is shopping Tillman for a bat and trying to sell high. I expect a regression, and Tillman seems like he would have been enough to land us someone like Heyward. He's comparable to Shelby Miller and I think Heyward would have been a nice gamble.

[TonySoprano]

It's not just the Rasmus signing. It's the inactivity. There have been a TON of trades this offseason and quite a few for OFs in particular. Heyward. Upton, Myers, Cespedes, etc, would have all been good players to gamble on as replacements for Nick/Cruz. But it's pretty clear that Duquette was distracted. Or maybe it was Angelos? When he found out that Duquette wanted to leave, he stop trusting him and vetoed any trade ideas he brought to the table. We'll never know, but only a na?ve person would think that it didn't play a part in our offseason.

What I think we should have been doing is shopping Tillman for a bat and trying to sell high. I expect a regression, and Tillman seems like he would have been enough to land us someone like Heyward. He's comparable to Shelby Miller and I think Heyward would have been a nice gamble.

Or Dan is up against a tight budget after all the arbitration figures are settled.

[wildbillhiccup]

Or Dan is up against a tight budget after all the arbitration figures are settled.

A tight budget has never stopped Billy Beane from trying to improve? Get creative. Dump the expensive overachievers (Norris) and trade or underachievers.

[SteveO]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Colby Rasmus' deal is one year at $8 million, source says. No club or player options included.</p>— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) <a href="

">January 20, 2015</a></blockquote>

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

OK, so I guess it's actually $8 million, not $4 million. That makes it quite a bit different, IMO.

It certainly does.

I am not convinced that Rasmus was the right guy at 4 million. At best at that price he was guy that perhaps you take a flyer on and hope for the best so long as you feel he would fit into the climate of the clubhouse. Your likely even if he scuffles to get enough production at that price to make the deal seem bad but not overly obscene.

8 million is a lot of money, its not chump change and the Orioles do not have infinite resources. That is 8 million less in resources to invest in extending a player we can feel confident will give better return on investment. Someone like Tillman, Machado, Britton etc. Unless you believe we live in a fantasy world were the Orioles can just print money, 8 million is a meaningful sum of resources for a guy who your not convinced can give you that much production.

Sometimes I think people forget that this is real money here folks. Every opportunity taken means another lost on the backend. It is not a zero sum game. Just my take on it. Rasmus was not worth that much IMO

[neveradoubt]

Of course he was.

[JohnD]

Rasmus had an awful year last year, I mean seriously bad, and we're upset we didn't waste $8m on him?

I know not everyone agrees, but a De Aza/Alvarez platoon is cheaper and just as good if not better as far as I'm concerned.

My biggest worry is we lack a lead off hitter, which Rasmus didn't solve. Honestly our best bet may be Pearce, but really, we don't have one. We haven't developed one anytime recently, either. That's discouraging.

[SilentJames]

Rasmus is not good. I would rather see what Alvarez can do than waste money on him. I would rather trade someone for. Blackmon

, nothing very significant, than spend money on Rasmus.

I would rather try to somehow get. McLouth back.