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Offseason Praise for the FO

FanSince88

By FanSince88
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FanSince88 Veteran All-Star

FanSince88

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Much more needs to be done this offseason to be successful in 2016.

But that is more a consequence of previous decisions by the FO, than their decisions so far. That doesn't let them off the hook if they fail to secure another bat and a legitimate starter. But there are some moves that have impressed me.

1) Signing Kim. Classic DD move (in a good, clever way). Nice way to think outside the box and get someone who has just as much potential as much more expensive options, with less commitment. Sure, he could get injured or be ineffective, but so could Heyward or Gordon. At least if that happens, we aren't stuck with the guy.

2) QOing Wieters. I didn't think the FO had the guts to do this, but they did it. Yes, he called them on it and took the QO but at least they took the risk for the sake of getting an extra pick. And really, having Wieters for another year isn't the worst way to spend $16 mil, believe it or not. Especially when he's going to be healthier and motivated to succeed.

3) Signing O'Day. Pretty good signing to retain some of the strength the team already has without breaking the bank. But a SP signing would be better.

4) The offer to CD, whether it came from Angelos or DD, was actually pretty clever. They have put the O's AL rivals in a very uncomfortable position. Anyone who wants to sign him will now have to beat that deal or come very close to it, which will force them to make a much longer commitment to him than they should. Sure, Boston or Toronto may end up with him, but odds are it will be a bad contract that they'll regret before the end of the decade. Or, if nobody takes the plunge, the O's might be able to renegotiate the deal for considerably less commitment.

5) Signing Trumbo to a one-year deal was a nice safety valve that gave the team less urgency to sign Davis, and a bit more flexibility. At least you know you have a dude who can field the position at first base and offer some of what a traditional first baseman is supposed offer at the plate. It means you can confidently sign a corner outfielder instead of Davis, without having to worry about forcing Wieters to play first in 2016.

I'd still give this offseason a B- so far. We'll see what happens and whether they can improve on that. But they've already done better than they did last year given the constraints they were facing.

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MDtransplant757 Hangout Grand Counsel

MDtransplant757

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A very positive spin.

1. Despite my posts in the Kim thread, I'm not against the move. I'm skeptical but there is some upside there.

2. I'm in the minority but I think offering Wieters the QO was a bad move. I'd love to have that 15.8M to spend for this season. There are plenty of scenarios where the Orioles still don't get the pick next year.

3. Signing O'Day was a safe move and a good PR move. However, we have Givens ready to assume a more important role and should be looking or cheap bullpen options in house to provide depth in the bullpen. Again, that's another 7-8M (using AAV) to spend on something else.

4. Very positve spin on this contract. Everyone knows what the Orioles offer is. They can beat it if they want. If not, Boras will still extract that overpay from the Orioles. Meanwhile, the Orioles are in limbo, because other moves (like getting a DH) depend on the Davis situation. The Orioles aren't playing Boras. Boras is playing the Orioles. They tried to pressure him into making a decision. He didn't bite. No one believes that the Orioles are seriously in the mix for Gordon, Upton, or Cespedes. Bluff called.

5. Trumbo is not a bad deal UNLESS Davis resigns with the Orioles. Then we get the double whammy. We both overpay for a 1B and overpay for a DH. Even worse, we might see Trumbo get some time in the outfield. If Davis does resign with the O's, we would have been better off with someone like Jaso/Alvarez/Carter as a cheaper option at DH

6. I'd give the offseason a F but I could see people who like the moves giving it a C. I'm not sure how you can go higher than that considering the holes still present on this team.

I'm with you on 2, but on 5, what if we started Trumbo at 1st and put Davis at DH?

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

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If the purpose of a big offer to Davis was to sign him quickly, it failed. Otherwise, , either we overbid and will pay him more than we could have if we'd started lower, or someone will beat our offer. Mainly I just wish we were more interested in the other top hitters, some of whom are likely to be better than Davis in the long run.

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FanSince88 Veteran All-Star

FanSince88

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That would never happen but why would you even do it? That would piss Davis off to no end. That's no way to start off a 7/154M contract.

I suspect they'd flip-flop Davis and Trumbo between 1b and DH. Davis would get more playing time at first but I'm sure he'll see some DH in 2016 too no matter where he goes in the AL.

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FanSince88 Veteran All-Star

FanSince88

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If the purpose of a big offer to Davis was to sign him quickly, it failed. Otherwise, , either we overbid and will pay him more than we could have if we'd started lower, or someone will beat our offer. Mainly I just wish we were more interested in the other top hitters, some of whom are likely to be better than Davis in the long run.

I am bitterly disappointed that the organization is unwilling to offer anyone besides Davis 100 mil plus. They can still have a successful offseason without doing that, but leaking that information to the press was a horrible blunder, and even if it hadn't been leaked it's still a stupid policy. Davis is probably the least valuable of any of the $100mil+ FAs out there, it is completely irrational to be biased in favor of him. If they fail to do anything else notworthy, it will definitely go down as their biggest mistake this offseason.

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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Davis's defense seems to be getting underrated here. He's a borderline gold glover at first base in my opinion, and has the ability to play other positions. Sure he may DH occasionally, but he needs to be in the field 150 games.

The stats don't back you up. To my eye, he's perfectly fine but nothing special.

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Number5 Hangout Grand Counsel

Number5

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OP makes some good points. One correction, though. Trumbo was not a free agent signing. We acquired Trumbo and Riefenhauser in exchange for our third catcher. It was an very good trade.

Overall, thus far, things have gone pretty well. The singular issue I have had thus far is the apparent refusal to consider replacing Davis with similar talent, should a deal not be reached with Davis.

It is still early in the off-season, and most of the potential targets for the Orioles remain available. Replacing Chen in the rotation and Davis in the batting order are pretty much all that remain undone, though both are big holes. One additional lesser left-handed bat would be nice, though not really essential. A big bat (Davis, Upton, Gordon, Despedes) and a good SP (Kazmir, perhaps) would top off a very good off-season, IMO. Considering where we are on this date, I would have to agree with the OP that this has been a good off-season thus far.

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Aristotelian Hangout Grand Counsel

Aristotelian

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The thing that scares me about Trumbo is that no other team tried to trade for him.Many teams need a power hitter but no one else seemed to want him.

We don't know that, and they were up against the tender deadline so it's not surprising that the Mariners took the best available deal. Clevenger is not a bad get for them. Also as we have seen for Davis there is not a big market for 1B. We have holes at 1B and DH, and Trumbo is an established hitter who can play 1B if we don't sign Davis.

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