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2009... Adding Two Monster FA's


Greg Pappas

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An alternative look from my typical 'rebuilding' one...

Look at the 2009 team with Teixeira & Sabathia added as FA's...

LINEUP

1B #MARK TEIXEIRA (29)

2B #BRIAN ROBERTS (31)

SS ALCIDES ESCOBAR? (22)

3B *AUBREY HUFF (32)

CA #MATT WIETERS (23)

LF NOLAN REIMOLD (25)

CF ADAM JONES (23)

RF *NICK MARKAKIS (25)

DH *LUKE SCOTT (30)

BATTING ORDER

2B #BRIAN ROBERTS (31)

SS ALCIDES ESCOBAR (22)

RF *NICK MARKAKIS (25)

1B #MARK TEIXEIRA (29)

3B *AUBREY HUFF (32)

CA #MATT WIETERS (23)

DH *LUKE SCOTT (30)

LF NOLAN REIMOLD (25)

CF ADAM JONES (23)

Mora platoons at third w/Huff and spot starts at DH.

Millar is offered arbitration IF he qualifies as a Type B... we inform him that we haven't a place to play him and can't guarantee at bats, so he'll sign elsewhere. If he signs, he'll be a great bench player and depth.

Ramon H. & Payton should be dealt before no later than this off-season.

SP1 *C.C. SABATHIA (28)

SP2 JEREMY GUTHRIE (30)

SP3 *ADAM LOEWEN (25)

SP4 DANIEL CABRERA (27)

SP5 *GARRETT OLSON (25)

RP RADHAMES LIZ (25)

RP RANDOR BEIRD (25)

RP *BRIAN BURRES (28)

RP DENNIS SARFATE (28)

SU CHRIS RAY (27)

SU JIM JOHNSON (25)

CL *GEORGE SHERRILL (31)

AAA Depth/On the way...

CHRIS TILLMAN (21)

DAVID HERNANDEZ (23)

CHORYE SPOONE (23)

*TROY PATTON (23)

BRAD BERGESEN (23)

HAYDEN PENN (24)

///

MATT ALBERS (26)

JAMES HOEY (26)

BOB MCCRORY (26)

AA...

JAKE ARRIETA (23)

BRANDON ERBE (21)

TIM BASCOM (24)

JAKE RENSHAW (23)

///

*CHAD THALL (23)

A+...

*BRIAN MATUSZ (22)

PEDRO BEATO (22)

*TONY BUTLER (21)

LUIS NOEL (21)

*ZACH BRITTON (21)

///

BRIAN PARKER (23)

*NICK HAUGHIAN (22)

*RICHARD ZAGONE (22)

By trading for someone for SS, with the outside chance of signing Furcal to add to Sabathia and Teixeira, this is a very competitive team indeed.

Perhaps this isn't as outrageous as first seemed. If we do attain Teixeira, Sabathia can front the rotation of a very dangerous team. Would losing draft picks be worth it?

Thoughts?

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The O's are in a position with an abundance of pitching in the system and a lack of hitters to not have to sign a FA pitcher for the next 5+ years if all goes well. There are much more FA pitcher busts than hitting busts so that's a very good plan to have IMO.

Tex will definitely be a target though IMO.

But would Tex sign here without feeling he has a chance to win? Sabathia legitimizes the rotation.

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Hasn't Machphail said that he won't target big name free-agent pitchers? I'm not sure if I just made this up, but I feel like I remember him saying this.

I don't recall... could be. Sabathia could be an exception... but assuming we could get both, would you want to?

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Hasn't Machphail said that he won't target big name free-agent pitchers? I'm not sure if I just made this up, but I feel like I remember him saying this.

Yep. He said you spend $ on FA's for bats, not arms.

Nobody made him say it, he just offered it up...

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If we're going to splurge this offseason, I'd rather throw the bank to get both Tex and Dunn, leave Scott in left and have Dunn DH. Then trade Reimold and some of our excess pitching prospects for a legit shortstop. Hell, if Angelos wants to speed things up, sign Sabathia too.

Waking up in 3....2....1

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An alternative look from my typical 'rebuilding' one...

Look at the 2009 team with Teixeira & Sabathia added as FA's...

LINEUP

1B #MARK TEIXEIRA (29)

2B #BRIAN ROBERTS (31)

SS ALCIDES ESCOBAR? (22)

3B *AUBREY HUFF (32)

CA #MATT WIETERS (23)

LF NOLAN REIMOLD (25)

CF ADAM JONES (23)

RF *NICK MARKAKIS (25)

DH *LUKE SCOTT (30)

BATTING ORDER

2B #BRIAN ROBERTS (31)

SS ALCIDES ESCOBAR (22)

RF *NICK MARKAKIS (25)

1B #MARK TEIXEIRA (29)

3B *AUBREY HUFF (32)

CA #MATT WIETERS (23)

DH *LUKE SCOTT (30)

LF NOLAN REIMOLD (25)

CF ADAM JONES (23)

Mora platoons at third w/Huff and spot starts at DH.

Millar is offered arbitration IF he qualifies as a Type B... we inform him that we haven't a place to play him and can't guarantee at bats, so he'll sign elsewhere. If he signs, he'll be a great bench player and depth.

Ramon H. & Payton should be dealt before no later than this off-season.

SP1 *C.C. SABATHIA (28)

SP2 JEREMY GUTHRIE (30)

SP3 *ADAM LOEWEN (25)

SP4 DANIEL CABRERA (27)

SP5 *GARRETT OLSON (25)

RP RADHAMES LIZ (25)

RP RANDOR BEIRD (25)

RP *BRIAN BURRES (28)

RP DENNIS SARFATE (28)

SU CHRIS RAY (27)

SU JIM JOHNSON (25)

CL *GEORGE SHERRILL (31)

AAA Depth/On the way...

CHRIS TILLMAN (21)

DAVID HERNANDEZ (23)

CHORYE SPOONE (23)

*TROY PATTON (23)

BRAD BERGESEN (23)

HAYDEN PENN (24)

///

MATT ALBERS (26)

JAMES HOEY (26)

BOB MCCRORY (26)

AA...

JAKE ARRIETA (23)

BRANDON ERBE (21)

TIM BASCOM (24)

JAKE RENSHAW (23)

///

*CHAD THALL (23)

A+...

*BRIAN MATUSZ (22)

PEDRO BEATO (22)

*TONY BUTLER (21)

LUIS NOEL (21)

*ZACH BRITTON (21)

///

BRIAN PARKER (23)

*NICK HAUGHIAN (22)

*RICHARD ZAGONE (22)

By trading for someone for SS, with the outside chance of signing Furcal to add to Sabathia and Teixeira, this is a very competitive team indeed.

Perhaps this isn't as outrageous as first seemed. If we do attain Teixeira, Sabathia can front the rotation of a very dangerous team. Would losing draft picks be worth it?

Thoughts?

How did we get Escobar w/o trading Roberts or Sherrill?

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Olson, Liz, Penn, Cabrera, Guthrie, Burress, JJ, Loewen...All those guys are ready to start next year if need be..Plus Tillman, Arrietta, Bergeson, Hernandez all these guys coming up...No need to tie up 100 million in a rotation spot.

With the O's starting pitching ERA among the worst in the league, those starters alone probably won't cut it. I think the O's need to improve their starting rotation with a trade or a free agent. Of those guys above, only Olson and Guthrie look like top of the rotation starters for 2009, though even Olson may be a bottom of the rotation guy the way he nibbles the plate. Cabrera more and more looks like a number 4 or 5. It's much too early to tell if Liz is reliable. Jim Johnson and Burress may have a better future in the bullpen. And we can't yet, if ever, rely on Loewen or Penn as starters.

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I think the premise of this thread is exactly what we should fear will happen.... abandoning a total rebuild in a futile hope that a big FA or two will immediately lift us into the ranks of the Red Sox and Yankees.

But IMO, here is the reality at the moment:

- so far this year we are playing above our heads

- with only a few exceptions, we are a team of aging position players

- we are one DL'd starting pitcher away from disaster

- we are 1 or 2 more DL'd relief pitchers away from disaster

- it will likely take at least another two years before the majority of the talent we have in the minors will be ready to help at the ML level

Perhaps this scenerio can be achieved if MacPhail somehow pulls off another miraculous trade or two to fill some of the other obvious holes in the line-up, but I think this is an unrealistic expectation.

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It's a hypothetical pick up... take out whomever you feel would be realistic.

This is is the question I was going to ask too: how do we get Escobar?

I'd probably just leave him out of the picture. It's really a non-starter to examine an organization with everyone in it and at the same time assume that someone we are looking at will be gone. I'm not sure how constructive that would be.

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I think the premise of this thread is exactly what we should fear will happen.... abandoning a total rebuild in a futile hope that a big FA or two will immediately lift us into the ranks of the Red Sox and Yankees.

But IMO, here is the reality at the moment:

- so far this year we are playing above our heads

- with only a few exceptions, we are a team of aging position players

- we are one DL'd starting pitcher away from disaster

- we are 1 or 2 more DL'd relief pitchers away from disaster

- it will likely take at least another two years before the majority of the talent we have in the minors will be ready to help at the ML level

Perhaps this scenerio can be achieved if MacPhail somehow pulls off another miraculous trade or two to fill some of the other obvious holes in the line-up, but I think this is an unrealistic expectation.

Your post is pretty much dead-on to what I think... I created this thread to gauge how the Hangout would view this plan, hence why I stated it was an 'alternate' view.

With Bigbird stating that Huff isn't being dealt, then Huff must be included in AM's '09 plans.

How are we going to legitimately compete in '09 without a staff capable of leading the team to the playoffs? We don't. So... why keep Huff, especially while his value will likely never get higher? Aren't we rebuilding? Shouldn't players like Huff be whom we deal for younger talent?

Perhaps MacPhail is thinking that if Angelos will go all-out to get Teixeira for '09, that we are not as far away from contending as he initially thought.

I'd love to have a frank conversation with Andy and get to the bottom of it all. Who wouldn't? ;)

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