Grade the O's offseason

[Frobby]

With the Bourn addition today, I think our offseason's about done.   To recap:

Outfield:  Picked Tavarez and Santander in the Rule 5 draft, traded for Seth Smith, signed Gentry, Bourn, Choice and Washington to MiL deals.   Didn't re-sign Reimold.  

Pitching:  Traded Gallardo away, traded for Verret, Ynoa and Nuno.   Non-tendered Worley.   DFA'd McFarland, waiting to see if he clears waivers     

Catching:  Didn't QO Wieters, signed Castillo for 1/$6mm plus player option at $7 mm.   DFA'd Pena, who wasn't claimed and remains in the organization.  

DH:  Didn't re-sign Alvarez, instead signing Trumbo for 3/$37.5mm (he presumably will also play some OF).

IF: Signed Giovatella, Andino, Johnson and Francisco to MiL deals.    

I'm sure I've omitted some MiL deals, but these seem like the key transactions.

I don't think I can post a poll right now, but how do you see the offseason at this point?    I'd give Dan a solid B.     Not a ton of earth-shaking moves, but I think he's presented Buck with a lot of flexibility.     

[Spy Fox]

I agree with a B, maybe a B-. I think Dan missed some opportunities to get better OF and SP depth options, and may have overpayed for Trumbo given the prices received by other sluggers. And I still maintain that re-signing Pedro Alvarez to be the primary DH may have been a wiser move than signing Trumbo

That said, I think Trumbo will continue to be a good offensive contributor, adding Seth Smith helps, and little things like the recent Bourn and Nuno additions do help to address depth concerns. I think we'll be in the playoff race in September again. 

[Bahama O's Fan]

Do we believe Dan is done?

[oriole]

I'm gonna go with a B as well.

 

I can't say in thrilled with Mark Trumbo and his contract. There are some other glaring holes on this team that should have been addressed before a one dimensional DH. 

Gallardo gone is a positive even its for another player that isn't really moving the needle in an area of need. I'd have been happier if Smith and Mancini split DH (or possibly Kim/Mancini). 

Im sure it's no fault of Dan, but I would prefer Wieters over Castillo by a large margin. He's a known commodity so there is that aspect from my perspective but he knows the pitchers, he would be a terrific mentor for Sisco probably, and he is likely to be cheap. Of course, how would anyone know he's still be jobless at the end of Feb? Still, makes me wish Castillo wasn't on board.

I've got to agree with Adam, the OF needs some better defense and absolutely nothing (except the long shot that is Gentry) has done anything to improve this. 

I really think a trade from strength would have been a great route...Givens, Brach, or even Britton could have done wonders to help without severely weakening the team overall. It's great we have a solid bullpen to look forward to, especially with a below average rotation, but the corner OF is going to be a mess yet again. Our position player prospect most likely to help this year is completely blocked so he will either ride the bench or sit in Norfolk. We still won't be getting on base or stealing bases and we still have a good chance of having two of the worst starters in the league entrenched in the rotation...I will mention again the addition by subtraction of Gallardo so that certainly helps. 

 

I dunno...B, up from the C+ I originally wanted to give but after writing it out it doesn't seem all that bad. Just not great. Let's hope our regulars all do great because the new guys arent helping much.

[Orsulak4Prez]

I would say B. There have been some solid moves such as the Smith, Castillo and Bourn signings. Dan could have paid more for Trumbo, but patience paid off this time. There wasn't really a big name/sexy addition, but I believe it's been a solid offseason.

[El Gordo]

Bourn move the needle from C+ to B-.

[VeveJones007]

B.

The roster is better than it was last year without adding any albatross contracts or trading future value. 

 

Would have liked to see some extensions though.

[ChuckS]

C+.  I don't think we made any great improvements, but we didn't get any worse either (at least on paper). 

Trading Gallardo for Seth Smith is the highlight for me.  We got a decent corner outfielder who will likely start for us for 120 games for a pitcher who got hit hard last year and likely had no place in the rotation.  Also saved some money in the process.

Signing Trumbo for 3/40 when we could have added a first round draft pick and a similar player (Chris Carter/Brandon Moss) for a fraction of the cost jumps out to me as a potentially poor move.  

 

[Norfolk orioles]

Solid B for me.

 

Dan kept a pretty good continuity to the team, made some good depth signings and improved the pen and long man positions.

 

Bourne improves the outfield defense and helps a little bit with speed and is a nice buy low candidate.

 

Smith also has potential coming from out west to play in Camden much like Trumbo did. Some definite potential for big numbers is there.

 

Also, Dan got rid of Gallardo while getting a valuable piece back and didn't break the bank splurging on overrated players.

Will this leave us enough to resign Manny in the future?

 

Doubtful. But it's not an offseason that hurt us very much either and we took on little to no risk so I give it a solid B.

[scOtt]

It's gotta be a B- at least. Trumbo and Beef Supreme make it that. Nothing big, nothing beyond what we had last year. But a dozen OFers and minor pitchers mean we could be better...

[scOtt]

You know, when you build a core like we have here now, this throw 6 pcs. of crap and see which sticks approach really starts to work!

[Camden_yardbird]

I think if the FO and coaching staff is happy with the bullpen depth you could still see a Brach trade to a team who has a big injury or is need of a shutdown arm.

[bobmc]

BP is (never say) NEVER deep enough but a Brach trade is def in the works since he beat us like a drum at arbitration.

[utvolzac]

I give it a C. I thought it was very average. We are pretty much fielding the same team as last season with the same potential ceiling at a higher price. Barring Bundy/Gausman turning into aces, I see this team as contending for a playoff spot but too many weaknesses to go deep in the playoffs.

We did not address the problems with OBP, speed and OF defense. Our offense is still too one dimensional and strike out heavy. Our starting rotation is still highly questionable, especially if Tillman misses time.

Seth Smith for Gallardo was a nice upgrade, but doesn't make up for the lost 1st round pick we used on Gallardo.

I was very against the Trumbo signing. Would have preferred 1/3 for Carter. Even though he adds to our SO totals, it's a far less risky investment than 30 mil for Trumbo, who could regress back to his career avgs. Plus we lost a potential comp pick which we could desperately use.

I was going to give it a C+ due to a weak FA classes and lack of prospects to make trades. But the reason for our lack of prospects is because Duquette gutted the farm system with poor trades and thrown away draft picks on bad signings.

The biggest concern I have is the long term direction of the team. A decision needs to be made on Manny/Britton. Every year we get closer to their walk year and diminishes their trade value. To me, I'd like to see a sense of urgency to either sign these guys long term or maximize their trade value. Our farm system is terrible right now, the only hope we have of re-stocking it is getting a windfall of prospects for Manny/Britton.

[FlipTheBird]

Firm C+.

Though I certainly think the O's are capable of being competitive again in 2017, I don't necessarily view them as much better than they were in 2016.

- Castillo is probably going to be very Wieters-like, both behind and at the plate.

- Seth Smith's bat will probably play a little bit less than Pedro Alvarez's did against righties... But he's a minor defensive upgrade in RF over Trumbo. So Smith/Trumbo vs. Alvarez/Trumbo is another virtual stalemate.

- The bullpen is more or less the same, except we'll (hopefully) get a full season of Darren O'Day. Asking Brach and Britton to repeat last year's numbers probably isn't fair, for the record. But no real change, here.

- The starting rotation is really precisely the same group of guys it was at the end of last season... which is troublesome, given how poorly it performed over the course of the year. I don't know if dealing Gallardo counts as addition by subtraction, since it means Ubaldo Jimenez is going to have a job out of the gate. If anyone gets banged up, our frontline replacements are Mike Wright and Gabriel Ynoa. This could get ugly, fast. No, there wasn't a great market for SP's this offseason, but this was a spot where Dan could have tried to get creative. And I'd have, at the very least, tried to get a few more vets on minor league deals just to see what might have stuck.

As usual, I think Buck will get a lot out of this club. But, in a lot of ways, we're going to be counting on a lot of things swinging their way if they're going to get any better. Davis rebounding now that his hand has healed. The bullpen staying healthy. Bundy and Gausman taking the next step. And so on.