Wesley Wright DFA (Released)

[InsideCoroner]

Markakis's contract by some sport reporters has been labeled the number #1 worse contract on the Brave's team.

And the scary part is that it's still in the positive fWAR honeymoon phase.

[Redskins Rick]

And the scary part is that it's still in the positive fWAR honeymoon phase.

Exactly!

CoF are in high demand, and not a ton of super talented players available.

[Bahama O's Fan]

Cruz/Markakis contracts are worth well more than 16 million dollars. 101 million to be exact. 16 < 101

So true; so many people are complaining about the above contracts and the arbitration to Hunter and Matusz as well, but they come off the books this year. It was no long term commitment. I personally think Dan decided he would rather spend the money next offseason than this past one. At least I hope so.

[TouchemAll]

Well, that certainly was money spent for nothing.

Yep... Oh well win some lose some.

Bargain Bin shopping works like that sometimes... I have no issue with it DD doing his best with the constrains he has to work with IMHO

[Redskins Rick]

You know, when panning for gold, not going to hit a gold mine on every strike.

To think one could, is unrealistic.

If this team was 10 games above .500 and in first place. I still think some posters won't find something to gripe and complain about.

[sportsfan8703]

You know, when panning for gold, not going to hit a gold mine on every strike.

To think one could, is unrealistic.

If this team was 10 games above .500 and in first place. I still think some posters won't find something to gripe and complain about.

You are being way too negative here.

Cabrera - It was actually good that Dan signed him. He was useful while Hardy, Schoop and Flaherty were on the DL. He was released on June 13th so the amount of his contract that was used was 1.5m

Young - If we follow your logic the player that sure never have been kept this off season is Paredes. He took the DH role away from Young. He was supposed to have his DH role expanded passed the 250 at bats he got last year. Delmon played a lot more right field than projected in the off season and throw out 8 runners. He had some value there. He was released on July 9th so the unused portion of his contract was 1.1m.

De Aza - He was supposed to be the O's leadoff hitter and starting left fielder. Dan could have used your crystal ball that would have told him that De Aza would under performed for the O's but overperformed for the Red Sox. Unfortunately, Dan actually has to do the GM job and not just second guess. So he traded an underperforming De Aza on June 3rd. Boston will pay 1M of his salary. The unused portion of De Aza's salary that O's are paying is about 2.4M.

W Wright - Was signed to try to replace Matusz. However, he got hurt and never played much for the O's. Injuries are part of the game. It is just like Hardy, Schoop, Flaherty and Wieters being out. Do you just DFA all those players because they are injured? Of course not. Injuries are part of doing business. The unused portion of his salary is about 765K.

The total unused portion is 5.765M. But 3 of these 4 players filled holes for the O's in the first half. When they no longer fit with the O's then Dan got rid of them. It is actually a very strong move by a GM to keep the good players and get rid of the ones he can't fit onto the roster.

Why are you singling out Hunter and Matusz as players that should not have been signed. Why not just say that all the underperforming players should not have been signed like Tillman, Norris, Pearce, etc. I don't see you complaining about keeping Paredes. He was the 41st man on the a 40 man roster that was kept this off season because Davis was suspended.

GMs don't have perfect vision in the off season. They build a team and take their chances. They make adjustments has the season passes. If Dan knew then what he knows now he might do thing differently. He might do some of the things that you point out. But his crystal ball is pretty cloudy in the off season. He has to do the best he can.

My post wasn't negative. Those were just the numbers I found. It's not fun to look at but it's not negative. We have a thread right now about how some sports reporter gave Matusz a "B+" for the 1st half. Kind of ironic. If you think I'm a negative poster then read the minors section. I'm one of the most active posters there. In the minors you can root for individual performances and have optimism about every prospect. However, at this level, it's all about winning. I'm not going to get into the grading last offseason stuff, but these bad contracts snowballed because of the moves not made then.

Let's just keep it easy with offseason and say we kept just our guys.

Nick Markakis- 11 million.

Nelson Cruz- 14.25 million. So 25.25 million total for the two. Perfect example of how the offseason snowballed. So we lose two COF's and our leadoff guy. Now because of this we tender De Aza(1/5million), sign Delmon Young(1/2.25 million), trade for Snider(1/2.1million). Then we go with Everth Cabrera over Paul Janish at the utilitiy guy because we need a leadoff type guy. Cabrera(1/2.4million). So we spent 11.65 million and prospects(Tarpley,Brault) to replace Cruz and Markakis. Markakis also had a 2 million dollar buy out. So by not signing Markakis and Cruz we actually spent 13.65 million. So 25.25 vs 13.65 million +Tarpley and Brault.

Andrew Miller- 9 million. Another example of the offseason snowballing. Andrew Miller was too much money for this franchise. It was not the best use of resources. Instead we allocated those resources to W.Wright(1/1.7million), then tendered Hunter(4.65million) and Matusz(1/3.2million). So we spent 9.45 million to sure up the pen. Funny thing about not wanting to spend that much on one reliever. What's O'day going to get in FA?

So for about 10 million more we could have this team right now. Plus still have Brault and Tarpley.

Ubaldo, Chen, Gonzo, Tillman, Gausman

Britton, O'day, Miller, after that who really cares. But I'll just go with the norfolk shuttle of Wright, Wilson, Drake, Roe, Givens, Cabral, Macfarland, Garcia, Steve Johnson, Bowden, C.Jones, Beato, Rondon. Bud Norris.

Markakis RF

Machado 3B

Jones CF

Cruz DH

Davis 1B

MW C

Hardy SS

Pearce LF

Schoop 2B

Joseph C

Flaherty Util IF

Lough OF

Parm/Reimold/Parades/Janish, whoever won the job in ST.

http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/baltimore-orioles/yearly/payroll

[Ohfan67]

DD wasted a significant amount of money this year. The investment in Matusz, De Aza, etc., was highly unlikely to pan out IMO. It's not a ton of money, but it's definitely not insignificant and I think these contracts were particularly poor when the organization is crying poor...and doing things like selling international picks. I like DD and appreciate what he has done for the organization, but many of these contracts were rightfully criticized when the deals were made and they are worthy of criticism now. They also seem very, very out-of-character for DD. Parades, Parmalee, etc., seem like "regular" DD moves. Matusz, De Aza, etc., seemed like outlier moves for DD. Wright's contract was more like a DD move, but Unfortunately the "higher" dollar pieces DD signed from the bargain bin didn't pan out and the money adds up.

[sportsfan8703]

DD wasted a significant amount of money this year. The investment in Matusz, De Aza, etc., was highly unlikely to pan out IMO. It's not a ton of money, but it's definitely not insignificant and I think these contracts were particularly poor when the organization is crying poor...and doing things like selling international picks. I like DD and appreciate what he has done for the organization, but many of these contracts were rightfully criticized when the deals were made and they are worthy of criticism now. They also seem very, very out-of-character for DD. Parades, Parmalee, etc., seem like "regular" DD moves. Matusz, De Aza, etc., seemed like outlier moves for DD. Wright's contract was more like a DD move, but Unfortunately the "higher" dollar pieces DD signed from the bargain bin didn't pan out and the money adds up.

You're right. Why it was out of character was because it wasn't him making the moves. He chose not to re sign our FA's. Which is cool if you have a plan. Which I know he did. But boom Toronto happens. The team goes on auto pilot and tenders everyone. Toronto situation gets resolved. DD is then stuck with the tenders and no financial flexibility. Then has to take the resources he has left and field a team. Trades for Snider, then signs Young, Cabrera and Wright. I highly doubt this was his plan when he chose not to resign those players. Like we all feared at the time of the Toronto fiasco, this season was lost in the offseason. I'm not blaming DD. I'm blaming the O's ownership. We should have let DD take the promotion. Got reasonable compensation. Resolved the situation quickly, and named Brady interim GM and have interviews at the end of the season.

[Tx Oriole]

But how do you know that before he is signed. He was brought in as a cheap replacement for Matusz but he got hurt and never pitched well. DD did similar signing with Paredes and Roe and about 20 other guys. Some work out and some don't.

That is a good point.

[Tx Oriole]

IF he were healthy and pitching like last year I'd prefer him over Norris in the BP.

I would too.

[WEAVERMAN]

Not a big surprise given his performance.

He does not appear to be much of loss, even before he was hurt.

[mdbdotcom]

My post wasn't negative. Those were just the numbers I found. It's not fun to look at but it's not negative. We have a thread right now about how some sports reporter gave Matusz a "B+" for the 1st half. Kind of ironic. If you think I'm a negative poster then read the minors section. I'm one of the most active posters there. In the minors you can root for individual performances and have optimism about every prospect. However, at this level, it's all about winning. I'm not going to get into the grading last offseason stuff, but these bad contracts snowballed because of the moves not made then.

Let's just keep it easy with offseason and say we kept just our guys.

Nick Markakis- 11 million.

Nelson Cruz- 14.25 million. So 25.25 million total for the two. Perfect example of how the offseason snowballed. So we lose two COF's and our leadoff guy. Now because of this we tender De Aza(1/5million), sign Delmon Young(1/2.25 million), trade for Snider(1/2.1million). Then we go with Everth Cabrera over Paul Janish at the utilitiy guy because we need a leadoff type guy. Cabrera(1/2.4million). So we spent 11.65 million and prospects(Tarpley,Brault) to replace Cruz and Markakis. Markakis also had a 2 million dollar buy out. So by not signing Markakis and Cruz we actually spent 13.65 million. So 25.25 vs 13.65 million +Tarpley and Brault.

Andrew Miller- 9 million. Another example of the offseason snowballing. Andrew Miller was too much money for this franchise. It was not the best use of resources. Instead we allocated those resources to W.Wright(1/1.7million), then tendered Hunter(4.65million) and Matusz(1/3.2million). So we spent 9.45 million to sure up the pen. Funny thing about not wanting to spend that much on one reliever. What's O'day going to get in FA?

So for about 10 million more we could have this team right now. Plus still have Brault and Tarpley.

Ubaldo, Chen, Gonzo, Tillman, Gausman

Britton, O'day, Miller, after that who really cares. But I'll just go with the norfolk shuttle of Wright, Wilson, Drake, Roe, Givens, Cabral, Macfarland, Garcia, Steve Johnson, Bowden, C.Jones, Beato, Rondon. Bud Norris.

Markakis RF

Machado 3B

Jones CF

Cruz DH

Davis 1B

MW C

Hardy SS

Pearce LF

Schoop 2B

Joseph C

Flaherty Util IF

Lough OF

Parm/Reimold/Parades/Janish, whoever won the job in ST.

http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/baltimore-orioles/yearly/payroll

1. Having re-signed all of Markakis, Cruz, and Miller would have had no effect on the fact that Tillman, Gonzalez, Norris, and Gausman have not pitched consistently well. And, as we all know, it all starts with starting pitching.

2. You have no idea how much it would have cost to retain Miller. He took $9 million from the Yankees over $10 million from the Astros because he wanted to pitch for the Yankees.

3. We've only lost 1 game when leading after the 7th inning, so keeping Miller may not have meant much.

4. You ignore the fact that these contracts are not just for this season. Re-signing those guys would have crippled this team in the future.

[wildcard]

My post wasn't negative. Those were just the numbers I found. It's not fun to look at but it's not negative.

The bargain shopping is fine on minor league deals. But this year we have a ton of dead money.

Everth Cabrera 2.4 million

Delmon Young 2.3

De Aza 1.6

W.Wright 1.7

That's 8 million just in dead money. Now factor in that we had to sell a draft pick to the dodgers to get them to take Webb's 2.75 million. Combine that with Hunter's 4.7 and Matusz's 3.2 and that's a ton of money not spent well. That's 16 million dollars. That's enough to have re signed Cruz/Markakis and a good chunk of the way to Andrew Miller. Horrible offseason.

So you say that is not a negative post. There is no way to read that but as a negative post IMO.

[sportsfan8703]

1. Having re-signed all of Markakis, Cruz, and Miller would have had no effect on the fact that Tillman, Gonzalez, Norris, and Gausman have not pitched consistently well. And, as we all know, it all starts with starting pitching.

2. You have no idea how much it would have cost to retain Miller. He took $9 million from the Yankees over $10 million from the Astros because he wanted to pitch for the Yankees.

3. We've only lost 1 game when leading after the 7th inning, so keeping Miller may not have meant much.

4. You ignore the fact that these contracts are not just for this season. Re-signing those guys would have crippled this team in the future.

I didn't realize that this was 100% fact.

So you say that is not a negative post. There is no way to read that but anything but a negative post IMO.

Sometimes in life you got to deal with hearing bad results. Doesn't make it negative. Believe me, I want to see the team right the ship and DD to pull off some moves at the deadline to get us into the playoffs. An excuse many of us made for DD was that he always leaves himself wiggle room to make moves in season. I just hope that happens. Because all the terrible decisions in the offseason has given him little margin for error.

[mdbdotcom]

I didn't realize that this was 100% fact.

...

That much is apparent.