Regretting Not Signing Andrew Miller?

[DrungoHazewood]

It wasn't mathematically feasible to keep Cruz. He cost too much. Miller cost too much. Winning doesn't matter if it costs money.

There's no better time to second guess extremely questionable signings of long-term risks (or avoiding said risks) than seven games into year one. In April of '91 Glenn Davis was still a fearsome middle of the order slugger and Steve Finley a skinny kid with a .630 OPS.

[DrungoHazewood]

The Orioles are paying almost 10m between three guys (Hunter, Wright, Matusz ) that Id take Andrew Miller over. Oh well.

You'd rather have Miller, his 3+ year salary commitment, and the equivalent of two random rookies/Rule 5ers, than Hunter, Wright, and Matusz?

[DrungoHazewood]

Still, it would have been tough to sign him with the Yankees involved in the bidding.

It's very much an open question what his final contract numbers would have been had other teams been willing to go toe-to-toe with the Yanks. Probably a lot higher than what he's getting now. I'm sure teams set a reasonable valuation, and when the Yanks approach that other bow out knowing that they have infinite resources and will get their guy if they really want him.

[DrungoHazewood]

I actually felt almost depressed after he signed with NY. I really would like to know whose decision it was not to pursue signing him. I can't imagine Buck would not have wanted him back... End of my Miller fan club comments. If I owned this team and sat in my suite watching him last year I would have insisted DD sign him. Dump Hunter and Matusz to help pay his salary. That's what I would have done. We all know the salaries have gotten totally out of hand.

I'm sure the decision was made to not risk about $10M a year for 3-4 years on a pitcher who you need to be an 80-inning reliever, but who has had a total of 130 innings over the prior three years combined. And getting into a bidding war with the Yanks was certainly a consideration. If the O's matched the contract they gave him they'd have just bumped the offer up. It's frustrating to see players like him leave, but I'm sure the plan was never to resign him at market rates.

[Oriolesfan4life]

I completely agree with this entire post. I would rather have Matusz than Hunter at the same salary and Hunter makes more. Hunter has value, but he is also going to have nights like this one. He doesn't have a cerebral approach to pitching at all.

I'm just the opposite. Matusz has shown time and time again that he struggles in pressure situations.

Hunter got Ellsbury to hit a weak groundball that should have ended the inning...

[Crazysilver03]

Just keep it simple and assume that what we spent is what DD had to work with for his payroll. Who would you have traded or cut so that we could keep Miller and/or Cruz? Your comments are easy to make if you assume our budget is infinite, but it isn't.

Well DeAza probably gets nontendered and Lough is a starter. Save $6M between DeAza and Snider. Cut Matusz, Hunter, Webb. There is $10M. Maybe Cabrera doesn't get signed. So I can pay for one of Miller or Cruz but not both of them.

Either way, it is hard to come up with the money and there would be major roster changes.

[Babypowder]

Ask me after the 2018 season. You know, when his contract is actually up. Lots of long term commitments look great when they're a week old. The problem is, they go on for much longer.

I remember when half this board wanted to throw Cano money at Davis during 2013. That would have been working out great. If the team operated with fans overreactions and knee jerk opinions in mind this would be a much worse run team. The team is 12th in MLB in payroll, it's not going to get higher than that most likely. This means they can't win bidding wars for every single player people think will help.

[Russsnyder]

I posted this winter that Miller had the best stuff of any reliever in my 50 years watching the O's. Several posters disagreed with my assessment naming a litany of relievers who they thought had better stuff than Miller. Some posters said Tommy Hunter could fill that void. The question remains does ownership want to win a championship, or just have a competitive team that will draw enough fans to bring in revenue? If we have Miller we are probably 5-2 right now. It is a long season but we gave up a top prospect for Miller. Right now the bullpen is a major concern. DD spent the winter trying to leave town while the owner spent his time trying to prevent him from leaving. It is so frustrating being an O's fan and season ticket holder. I know some Angelo?s apologist will respond saying that we have the 11th payroll in baseball. But we were next to last on international spending, with the Yankees and Red Sox cleaning up on prospects. That is coupled with losing Cruz and Miller. I said all winter on here losing Miller was a killer. We had a small window to put a championship team on the field. Did ownership do everything they could to set us up to win a championship? I say no!!!!

[Redskins Rick]

I posted this winter that Miller had the best stuff of any reliever in my 50 years watching the O's. Several posters disagreed with my assessment naming a litany of relievers who they thought had better stuff than Miller. Some posters said Tommy Hunter could fill that void. The question remains does ownership want to win a championship, or just have a competitive team that will draw enough fans to bring in revenue? If we have Miller we are probably 5-2 right now. It is a long season but we gave up a top prospect for Miller. Right now the bullpen is a major concern. DD spent the winter trying to leave town while the owner spent his time trying to prevent him from leaving. It is so frustrating being an O's fan and season ticket holder. I know some Angelo?s apologist will respond saying that we have the 11th payroll in baseball. But we were next to last on international spending, with the Yankees and Red Sox cleaning up on prospects. That is coupled with losing Cruz and Miller. I said all winter on here losing Miller was a killer. We had a small window to put a championship team on the field. Did ownership do everything they could to set us up to win a championship? I say no!!!!

I firmly believe DD dancing with Toronto had nothing to do with DD desire to spend big money to lock up Miller, when he is already trying to lock up other key core players.

Don't blame the owner, he doesn't meddle with this team anymore. Roster decisions are made at the FO level.

They went after Cruz and he got more money from Seattle.

So apparently, you want this team to have infinite resources and sign everybody and have 189 million dollar payroll?

[brooksfrankjim]

I thought keeping Miller was critically important and said so at the time. Much more important than Cruz or Nick. I think of Miller this way. We are collectively paying Hunter, Matusz, and Wright about the same as Miller would have cost.

Would you trade those 3 for Miller.....every day of the week and twice on Sunday. DD blew it not keeping Miller.

[Reboulet'sStache]

I'd rather go back and not trade for him, then go back and extend him. Letting Miller walk was the right move for this team.

[Phantom]

When you get a chance to lock up a 29 year old reliever, after his career season, for 4 years at 10 million a year, you just gotta do it.

You guys are the best.

[StottyByNature]

One thing the O's have done really well these past 3 years is to have a plan and stick with it. That means no risky contracts and investing money wisely. It also means developing talent, having depth of pitching and a valuing defense. It will be interesting to see how the next few years play out.

Miller was a casualty of this. I don't think anyone would argue that he would be a huge addition to this team. However, relievers are notoriously unreliable so handing out a 4-year deal is just not smart, even though it stings in the short term. I trust that DD and Buck will continue with their plan, although this year's draft and next year's free agency are going to tell us a lot about the direction of the team.

[Malike]

When you get a chance to lock up a 29 year old reliever, after his career season, for 4 years at 10 million a year, you just gotta do it.

You guys are the best.

Hey man, those 60 or so innings a year are SO worth 10M dollars. That money couldn't be spent any better!

[Redskins Rick]

Hey man, those 60 or so innings a year are SO worth 10M dollars. That money couldn't be spent any better!

Relievers are fragile and fickle, they sometimes flame pretty quick and hard to depend on them for more than a couple of years.

Look at Johnson and the down year last year was pretty bad.

But he got his mojo back with the Braves and back to what he was.