Why trade Roberts?

[turtlebowl]

Now that the trade speculation is dying off, I'm wondering why we were trying so hard to move him.

If you look at our team now, position by position, We are in pretty good shape except for middle infield depth. Unless you get a stud middle infield prospect for Brian I believe it would be a mistake to move him. You can't convince me that with the team, hopefully going in the right direction, if a good long term offer is made, locking him up for 5 years would not be a bad thing.

Brian should be a solid player for 5 more years. He may not steal as many bases but he should maintain a high OBP, and play good D.

Looking ahead, if you lock up Brian, hopefully sign Texiera next year and find a serviceable shortstop this thing could turn around quickly. We have minor league depth at 3rd, a great catching prospect and bigtime pitching prospects thruout the system.

So mark me down as one that thinks keeping Roberts is a very good thing.

[cindyluvsbrady]

Now that the trade speculation is dying off, I'm wondering why we were trying so hard to move him.

If you look at our team now, position by position, We are in pretty good shape except for middle infield depth. Unless you get a stud middle infield prospect for Brian I believe it would be a mistake to move him. You can't convince me that with the team, hopefully going in the right direction, if a good long term offer is made, locking him up for 5 years would not be a bad thing.

Brian should be a solid player for 5 more years. He may not steal as many bases but he should maintain a high OBP, and play good D.

Looking ahead, if you lock up Brian, hopefully sign Texiera next year and find a serviceable shortstop this thing could turn around quickly. We have minor league depth at 3rd, a great catching prospect and bigtime pitching prospects thruout the system.

So mark me down as one that thinks keeping Roberts is a very good thing.

I love you!

Of Course we should keep Brian!

[PoorMike]

1) He's probably at his peak value right now.

2) He wants to be on a winner. I don't think he'll resign.

Unfortunately, a prospective trade (in the opinion of AM) didn't give us any better chance of being good in the long run, so he wasn't dealt.

[waroriole]

I agree, if I was GM I would have to be floored before I move Roberts now. However, if it becomes more clear that he will not re-sign then we should attempt to move him, but I don't think there should be too big of a hurry b/c he still has 2 more years left here. Hopefully we do sign him and then sign Tex and our pitching progresses and who knows we could compete next year.

[turtlebowl]

I agree his vaue may be at its peak. That doesn't mean that he couldn't be a valuable part of a winner 3 or 4 yrs from now.

The Orioles need to sit down with Brian and sell the concept to him. I'm sure short term he would like to be with a winner. I just believe with the money being right he should be part of the touraround.

[RShack]

I agree his vaue may be at its peak. That doesn't mean that he couldn't be a valuable part of a winner 3 or 4 yrs from now.

The Orioles need to sit down with Brian and sell the concept to him.

Well, if they decide do that, I doubt if they can close the deal now. They'd just have to try to keep him upbeat until there's Actual Evidence of things getting better, and they've got a couple years to do that. In the meantime, the guy is definitely not a sorehead. He'd be as open-minded as anybody...

[Sports Guy]

1) As of now, his value is the highest it is ever LIKELY to be.

2) He will be getting into his 30s very soon...Decline of some sort seems likely. It won't take much of a decline from him to be just average at best. 30 or so point drop in OPS and a decrease in speed that will effect his steals and range will really hurt his value.

3) It would probably take some kind of 4-5 year extension(on top of what he has) at 10+ million a year to get him signed...That would be a bad contract.

4) Because he likely doesn't want to be here now or long term. Yes, this could change but holding onto him for a "just in case" seems foolish to me.

[CrimsonTribe]

Yay, another Brian Roberts thread.

[RShack]

Yay, another Brian Roberts thread.

Good point. But what else is there? ;-)

Let's see... we could rip DT... or AM... or LH... or Trax... or Gibbons... or MASN... or DCab... or etc., etc.

At least this one isn't about diss'ing somebody. What else you got?

[birrman54]

I'm all for keeping Brob. We can go out and spend the $20/mil or whatever it takes to get Tex, then I'd like to trade for Greene. Obviously we'd all hope that Wieters proves he's legit and Ramon gets traded.

Brob

Jones

Markakis

Teixeira

DH

Wieters/Ramon

LF

3B

SS

isn't a bad start.

[Pamjr8]

The announcers at the Fan Forum today said that Roberts asked to be traded.

[Joe'sO's]

I'm not convinced the deal is dead. McPhail has cleared a lot of roster space lately and several more going on the DL before opening day. He said again today during fanfest that he believes in using every minute before making a decision.

[Scrat1]

I love you!

Of Course we should keep Brian!

Ok...I know this is probably some form of OH blasphemy, but if you love BRob and he wants to leave, wouldn't you support that?

Anyways, I'd be for keeping Roberts if he wanted to stay, but it's pretty clear he wants to be with a contender so we should move him. I hope he's gone by the deadline and we have another building block in our back pocket.

[Jericho]

Maybe some people don't see it now, but if the O's resigned Roberts, they'd be looking to dump his bad contract in a few years just like Mora or Gibbons or Payton now. He should still be useful in five years, but whether he's really all that valuable is unlikely.

Having a medicore player in a few years has its uses, but paying a mediocre player ten million isn't too beneficial. And if Roberts can bring back young talent, he could be replaced in a few years by that young talent (at least ideally).

[olehippi]

Yay, another Brian Roberts thread.

Yup....it's deja vu all over again....and again....and again....and again....etc....etc...etc.