Let me see if I understand our strategy correctly....

[Crazysilver03]

I can't believe they opened up the bank account after 20 years and spent it all on useless crap.

Yeah this. I am not overly impressed with the money that is being spent. A year or two too late.

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[DrungoHazewood]

Yeah this. I am not overly impressed with the money that is being spent. A year or two too late.

I didn't necessarily mean that. Just saying the crowd with the pitchforks will stop chanting "cheap!" and start chanting "stupid moves!" when the payroll hits $130-140M.

[Frobby]

I stand by my comment. Going out and signing an MVP middle of the order bat is NOT what we always do. Laughable.

There are reasons he was available at 1/$8 mm -- mostly, the PED suspension and the fear that his numbers would be way down without the aid of the PED's. Fortunately for us, Cruz not only hit up to his career standards, he exceeded them and stayed healthy all season, which is something he hadn't always been able to do. By the way, Cruz had never gotten a single MVP vote until the season he played for the Orioles, so saying we signed an "MVP" middle of the order bat is misleading. We signed a middle of the order bat who carried a lot of risk, for not very much money. For one year, we paid him about what we used to pay Aubrey Huff annually when we signed him for three seasons.

[Crazysilver03]

I didn't necessarily mean that. Just saying the crowd with the pitchforks will stop chanting "cheap!" and start chanting "stupid moves!" when the payroll hits $130-140M.

Perhaps. Or there will be still be some yelling cheap at $140M.

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[Can_of_corn]

Perhaps. Or there will be still be some yelling cheap at $140M.

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It's the owner's civic duty to operate the team at a 0 profit level.

[Crazysilver03]

It's the owner's civic duty to operate the team at a 0 profit level.

Pfft. He is almost a billionaire. He can afford to lose tens of millions of dollars.

And dont forget MASN money. He could clone 4 Greinkes and pay them all $30M a year. If only he would open up the pocketbook.

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[Going Underground]

It's the owner's civic duty to operate the team at a 0 profit level.

Agree. Bernie Sanders,all the way.

[DrungoHazewood]

It's the owner's civic duty to operate the team at a 0 profit level.

Break even? This isn't a non-profit, it's the owner's civic duty to win championships to make the city feel good - no matter the cost. If you won't put in all your money you should have invested in something else.

[DocJJ]

There are reasons he was available at 1/$8 mm -- mostly, the PED suspension and the fear that his numbers would be way down without the aid of the PED's. Fortunately for us, Cruz not only hit up to his career standards, he exceeded them and stayed healthy all season, which is something he hadn't always been able to do. By the way, Cruz had never gotten a single MVP vote until the season he played for the Orioles, so saying we signed an "MVP" middle of the order bat is misleading. We signed a middle of the order bat who carried a lot of risk, for not very much money. For one year, we paid him about what we used to pay Aubrey Huff annually when we signed him for three seasons.

Did Cruz come with risk? Sure.

Did we look to sign a bargain? Sure.

Was he a proven middle of the order bat with significant power potential? Yes. Not the type of player we typically sign, other than that he was affordable and a potential bargain.

[DocJJ]

BTW I'm not upset that the O's are being "cheap". I just don't think they are necessarily spending wisely. I'd rather try to sign Vlad Guerrero Jr or Yoan Moncada or Masahiro Tanaka then throw $16 million at Wieters, Trumbo for $9 million, $12 million for Hardy, $12 million for Jimenez. That's almost $50 million for Wieters, Trumbo, Hardy, Jimenez. YuCK!

[Frobby]

Did Cruz come with risk? Sure.

Did we look to sign a bargain? Sure.

Was he a proven middle of the order bat with significant power potential? Yes. Not the type of player we typically sign, other than that he was affordable and a potential bargain.

Honestly, I don't think there is a huge difference between paying $8 mm and a draft pick for Cruz, vs. trading Clevenger and paying ~$9 mm for Trumbo and a reliever. Trumbo has spent most of his career hitting 4th or 5th, and has hit 29+ homers three times. Cruz had only hit 29+ twice when he signed with the Orioles. Trumbo has a career OPS+ of 110, Cruz was at 114 when he joined the O's. Trumbo has been worth 7.9 rWAR in his career, Cruz had been worth 11.8 in a slightly longer career. Cruz was 33 years old when he played for us, Trumbo is 30. I'd say both players carried some significant risks, and some significant upside. Cruz pretty much has maxed out his upside since then, but at the time we got him, he was a pretty similar gamble to Trumbo. Let's hope this one works out the way the Cruz acquisition did, or at least, close enough.

[canonfaz]

Honestly, I don't think there is a huge difference between paying $8 mm and a draft pick for Cruz, vs. trading Clevenger and paying ~$9 mm for Trumbo and a reliever. Trumbo has spent most of his career hitting 4th or 5th, and has hit 29+ homers three times. Cruz had only hit 29+ twice when he signed with the Orioles. Trumbo has a career OPS+ of 110, Cruz was at 114 when he joined the O's. Trumbo has been worth 7.9 rWAR in his career, Cruz had been worth 11.8 in a slightly longer career. Cruz was 33 years old when he played for us, Trumbo is 30. I'd say both players carried some significant risks, and some significant upside. Cruz pretty much has maxed out his upside since then, but at the time we got him, he was a pretty similar gamble to Trumbo. Let's hope this one works out the way the Cruz acquisition did, or at least, close enough.

Good stuff Frobby. I really hope that playing in a hitter friendly park most of the time will really help boost Trumbo's confidence (and numbers).

[DrungoHazewood]

Honestly, I don't think there is a huge difference between paying $8 mm and a draft pick for Cruz, vs. trading Clevenger and paying ~$9 mm for Trumbo and a reliever. Trumbo has spent most of his career hitting 4th or 5th, and has hit 29+ homers three times. Cruz had only hit 29+ twice when he signed with the Orioles. Trumbo has a career OPS+ of 110, Cruz was at 114 when he joined the O's. Trumbo has been worth 7.9 rWAR in his career, Cruz had been worth 11.8 in a slightly longer career. Cruz was 33 years old when he played for us, Trumbo is 30. I'd say both players carried some significant risks, and some significant upside. Cruz pretty much has maxed out his upside since then, but at the time we got him, he was a pretty similar gamble to Trumbo. Let's hope this one works out the way the Cruz acquisition did, or at least, close enough.

Cruz was worth eight wins from 29-32, then about 10 from 33-34. The odds of a player being twice as valuable per year at 33/34 than he was previously have to be vanishingly small. If Trumbo is a little more valuable than his current, modest baseline I'll be happy.

[osfan83]

We signed a top middle of the order power threat in Cruz. He rewarded us nicely.

Ha-ha-ha...."just like we always do".... That had me in stitches.

Nice try.

He was a left over FA that nobody wanted...we didn't win a bidding war to sign Cruz

[osfan83]

I stand by my comment. Going out and signing an MVP middle of the order bat is NOT what we always do. Laughable.

How was the Vlad signing any different from the Cruz signing other than results (which you don't know about until after the season is over)