Heyman gives the O's an A- for the off season

[wildcard]

When was the last time a national baseball writer gave the O's an A- for the off season?

http://www.fanragsports.com/mlb/inside-baseball-jon-heyman-final-offseason-grades/

[Frobby]

I have a hard time justifying that grade.   In the thread I did last week, I don't think anyone gave Duquette better than a B, and a lot of folks were lower than that.

[Can_of_corn]

14 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I have a hard time justifying that grade.   In the thread I did last week, I don't think anyone gave Duquette better than a B, and a lot of folks were lower than that.

I figured you would have to sign at least two Boras clients during the offseason for Heyman to give you an A.

[wildcard]

27 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I figured you would have to sign at least two Boras clients during the offseason for Heyman to give you an A.

Instead the O's left two go - Wieters and Pedro.

[Tony-OH]

39 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I have a hard time justifying that grade.   In the thread I did last week, I don't think anyone gave Duquette better than a B, and a lot of folks were lower than that.

The only opportunity I feel he missed on, and I don't know whether he missed on it or the Mets didn't want to make the trade, but i still felt the Brach for Granderson trade would have helped this team a lot. You can present an argument that he overpaid for Trumbo considering what the market bore out for one-dimensional players this offseason, but if he hits 40+ bombs again this year and can stay out of the outfield he won't be overpaid.

Getting rid of Gallardo was addition by subtraction and I was fine with the Castillo-Wieters swap, especially with how this offseason shook out. Can't wait all winter for Wieters to make a decision and if Sisco can prove he can catch effectively he's at worse the platoon starter next year.

[crissfan172]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

When was the last time a national baseball writer gave the O's an A- for the off season?

http://www.fanragsports.com/mlb/inside-baseball-jon-heyman-final-offseason-grades/

I think the Orioles got some pretty good grades in 2013-2014 offseason after they added Cruz and Jimenez before ST. 

A- seems a little generous for this offseason, though. I do think the team is better today than a year ago, but I think Gausman, Bundy, and Miley are going to have a bigger impact in improving the team's record than having Smith instead of Alvarez. I think B seems like a fair grade. 

[weams]

49 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

The only opportunity I feel he missed on, and I don't know whether he missed on it or the Mets didn't want to make the trade, but i still felt the Brach for Granderson trade would have helped this team a lot. You can present an argument that he overpaid for Trumbo considering what the market bore out for one-dimensional players this offseason, but if he hits 40+ bombs again this year and can stay out of the outfield he won't be overpaid.

Getting rid of Gallardo was addition by subtraction and I was fine with the Castillo-Wieters swap, especially with how this offseason shook out. Can't wait all winter for Wieters to make a decision and if Sisco can prove he can catch effectively he's at worse the platoon starter next year.

I agree. I do not think that the Mets wanted to send Granderson. I think they were desperately trying to move Bruce. I remember when they turned down Britton for Ike Davis supposedly. 

[esmd]

I'd give them a solid B, maybe a B+.  I would've like to see a better solution to the corner OF situation, either a player that could play everyday, or better RH platoon options.  Right now you've got Smith and Kim from the left side, but the right side is iffy with Rickard, the maybe the guy that used to play for the Rangers, etc. 

[NCRaven]

Can't give this off season an A without a Machado extension.  Letting him walk with no real compensation after 2018 is a non-starter.  We're in between again.  We haven't extend him.  And, if we wait til after this season's trade deadline, his value goes down substantially due to the lack of control an acquiring team receives.  Not to mention that his value would have been higher if we'd been playing him at shortstop instead of 3rd.

[Camden_yardbird]

The Orioles didn't seemingly make any bad moves.  They also didn't make any plus moves.  And the sum of that is returning a team that has been a playoff team.  In that way I could see that methodology returning an A-.

[Ripken]

42 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

The only opportunity I feel he missed on, and I don't know whether he missed on it or the Mets didn't want to make the trade, but i still felt the Brach for Granderson trade would have helped this team a lot. You can present an argument that he overpaid for Trumbo considering what the market bore out for one-dimensional players this offseason, but if he hits 40+ bombs again this year and can stay out of the outfield he won't be overpaid.

Getting rid of Gallardo was addition by subtraction and I was fine with the Castillo-Wieters swap, especially with how this offseason shook out. Can't wait all winter for Wieters to make a decision and if Sisco can prove he can catch effectively he's at worse the platoon starter next year.

Yeah, one more quality starter and a better COF option than what we've collected and I'd have been happy.  I still like this team better than the last couple.  Also, I liked last year's draft a lot and if we can do that again I'll feel better about the farm.  

[terps19]

59 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Can't give this off season an A without a Machado extension.  Letting him walk with no real compensation after 2018 is a non-starter.  We're in between again.  We haven't extend him.  And, if we wait til after this season's trade deadline, his value goes down substantially due to the lack of control an acquiring team receives.  Not to mention that his value would have been higher if we'd been playing him at shortstop instead of 3rd.

Tell that to the Yankees who got a huge haul for Chapman who was a rental for a few months... Teams know Machado can play ss.  Sorry but I am not in agreement here.  

[mskrulz]

I feel like we needed to add pitching depth and aside from unproven Ynoa we missed on that. Hard to justify much more than a B. 

[Number5]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

The only opportunity I feel he missed on, and I don't know whether he missed on it or the Mets didn't want to make the trade, but i still felt the Brach for Granderson trade would have helped this team a lot. You can present an argument that he overpaid for Trumbo considering what the market bore out for one-dimensional players this offseason, but if he hits 40+ bombs again this year and can stay out of the outfield he won't be overpaid.

Getting rid of Gallardo was addition by subtraction and I was fine with the Castillo-Wieters swap, especially with how this offseason shook out. Can't wait all winter for Wieters to make a decision and if Sisco can prove he can catch effectively he's at worse the platoon starter next year.

Yeah, Granderson was a good fit, but from what I've read, the Mets weren't interested in trading him.  Like you say, I'm not sure I would call that a miss for DD if Granderson wasn't actually available for Brach.

[Number5]

1 hour ago, Camden_yardbird said:

The Orioles didn't seemingly make any bad moves.  They also didn't make any plus moves.  And the sum of that is returning a team that has been a playoff team.  In that way I could see that methodology returning an A-.

I'd call Smith for Gallardo a plus move. 

Who knows?  Santander just may end up being a plus move, too.  Too soon to say, though.