Orioles Acquire Catcher

[foxfield]

3 minutes ago, Tx Oriole said:

I'll be glad when this inept GM leaves. I hope this is his last season. 

Whether you consider the Orioles GM, Dan Duquette, to be inept, outstanding, or in between...

this is without question his last season in Baltimore.

[sportsfan8703]

This move is nothing but a positive. We needed a C to replace Pena. Unlike Pena, this guy has an option. He has a career .695 OPS in MLB. Caleb Joseph has a career .637 OPS. 

We likely just acquired a guy that will out produce our “starting” C next year. The C position is pretty thin. We paid MW 15 million in 2016, and Castillo 8 million last year. This guy is making the mlb minimum.  

Susac is kind of like the Tim Beckham of C’s. Former top prospect, with defensive issues, that needs to settle in a role on an MLB roster. Hope Russel can coach him up. 

[Tx Oriole]

9 minutes ago, foxfield said:

Whether you consider the Orioles GM, Dan Duquette, to be inept, outstanding, or in between...

this is without question his last season in Baltimore.

I hope so. Now I know Angelos is the main problem. But we can't do anything about that. 

[joeyc]

This is all so sad I am extremely depressed over the orioles situation. It surely is not going to be a fun summer of baseball.

[spiritof66]

1 hour ago, weams said:

That and, I suppose, his age. 

Age, stubbornness, and selfishness -- an inability or unwillingness to do what's in the long-range interest of the team, as opposed to increasing his chances of getting to his first World Series from, say, .3% (in a rebuild) to 1%. The man cares not a whit about the Baltimore Orioles, only about Peter Angelos's Baltimore Orioles.

[Just Regular]

On a macro level, more than anything, this move in the last 24 hours has got me thinking about the catcher position and 2018 as a win-now year.  For the first time all offseason, I wondered is there a 1-year fit for Lucroy.

Susac's atrocious 2017 was perhaps not much worse than Joseph's 2016 and for most of this decade the industry's consensus was likely that Susac was better.  Neither of them are any great shakes, and I think Buck sees enough of Jake Fox in Sisco that my guess is he'll only go there if Duquette makes him.  I guess Moneyball-analogy wise, Joseph is Carlos Pena and Sisco is Hatteberg.

Good Lucroy, if he still walks the earth, could be every bit the impact player Good Cruz or Good Trumbo were on 1-year deals, and someone Buck and Dan would agree on.

If we have two $1/$10M contracts to hand out, I think there might be an argument C is competitive with SP4 as a spot to spend it for 2018 only.  I feel Lucroy has way more upside than whatever 2nd FA pitcher we could get.

[weams]

1 hour ago, spiritof66 said:

Age, stubbornness, and selfishness -- an inability or unwillingness to do what's in the long-range interest of the team, as opposed to increasing his chances of getting to his first World Series from, say, .3% (in a rebuild) to 1%. The man cares not a whit about the Baltimore Orioles, only about Peter Angelos's Baltimore Orioles.

Oh. I just meant as would any of us, if we were that near the known end of our lives, we would want to see winning. No matter how elegant. 

[Dark Helmet]

21 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Does anyone think they are done adding pitchers?

Bodies you mean? If they can actually pitch is another question.

[weams]

2 minutes ago, Dark Helmet said:

Bodies you mean? If they can actually pitch is another question.

I think that the Orioles will add two of the best 400 starters on the planet to their rotation. 

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, gtman55 said:

I totally agree the O's blew it on Machado and Britton. Maybe I'm in the minority but I want the Orioles to go into rebuild mode. I for one would embrace a new group of "baby birds" and a new coaching staff. This signing retread position players and bottom of the barrel starting pitching approach isn't really working.

When signing a AAA quality catcher is big news for your team something is inherently wrong with your organization. 

Who said signing Susack is big news?     Every roster move gets reported, whether it’s a big deal or not.

[Dark Helmet]

20 minutes ago, weams said:

I think that the Orioles will add two of the best 400 starters on the planet to their rotation. 

And I think that At least one of them will be Tillman. And again...the question of if he can pitch. At this point, I won' be shocked to see Ubaldo or Miley back...hell maybe both.

[weams]

Just now, Dark Helmet said:

And I think that At least one of them will be Tillman. And again...the question of if he can pitch. At this point, I won' be shocked to see Ubaldo or Miley back...hell maybe both.

Could be. The market seems to have shifted Dan's way though. 

[Dark Helmet]

22 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Who said signing Susack is big news?     Every roster move gets reported, whether it’s a big deal or not.

It's not the signing. It's the fact that this guy will be battling for a roster spot on the 25. I get depth signings. I' not sure depth is the intent here.

[Dark Helmet]

20 minutes ago, weams said:

Could be. The market seems to have shifted Dan's way though. 

It hasn't shifted enough to go after the Cobbs or Lynn's. The market for below average players will always be in Dan's favor.

[weams]

2 minutes ago, Dark Helmet said:

It hasn't shifted enough to go after the Cobbs or Lynn's. The market for below average players will always be in Dan's favor.

Every day that they don't lift a baseball brings them that much closer to looking at Zach Britton's Achilles. I assume all prices have declined.