Orioles to be more active in International Free Agent Market

[ScGO's]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

If they traded for this money with no intention of spending it,  it might be the stupidest move the Orioles have ever made and that's saying a lot.  

If the Orioles are somehow sold, it'll be a miracle.  

I agree, but maybe the Angelos' weren't showing their hand at the time, and DD thought he was making brilliant moves, but once he helped cut payroll they let him go and now that slot money isn't relevant.    As far as being sold, all the signs seem to suggest similar patterns a team would have if they were getting ready to be sold.  No rush to hire FO people, gutting the franchise, shedding money, lack of communication to fanbase (nothing outside the ordinary, but I wouldn't release a lot of info if I was trying to sell either), reluctance to spend money moving forward, etc.

[Moose Milligan]

11 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’ll be radical and say no.   It depends how good they think the Mesa brothers are.    But the market value of many international players is far below their actual value due to the artificial spending limits.    

Well 3 months ago, they were all in.  They traded for slot money and wanted to get in on VVM and VMJ.  They must have liked them enough at some point to stockpile enough money to be able to outspend everyone else.  

[Dark Helmet]

1 hour ago, ScGO's said:

I am starting to wonder if they were going to spend this money at all. I wonder if the plan all along was to cut the budget as low as possible to get the team ready to sell.

Getting Mesa would have been nice, but its 6 mil they would have had to spend, and the goal might be to not spend another dime until this team is gutted and sold.

My guess is that Givens, Bundy, Cashner, and Cobb will be pushed hard this offseason in trade talks.  We might not even get much back, it could all be salary dumps at this point.  I also wonder if they are in talks with Davis on a buyout already.  

If this is the case, then I can't be too bummed on all these non-moves because we could be free from the Angelos' by the start of next season.

My only hope left is the Angelos family sells the team to someone local who wants to bring a championship to Baltimore.

[Bradysburns]

I guess I won't have to change my prior Gausman-trade score. It was an interim "D" until word on Mesa came through. Now it's an official D. 

[esmd]

I was one that said that money talks, and I don't think I was wrong.  The Marlins went out and got more money to be able to match or exceed the Orioles.  And all things being equal, yeah, they were going to choose Miami.  Our only shot was to have a bigger wallet than everyone else and throw it all at them - which was rendered moot by the Marlins' maneuvers.

They better at least get Gaston.  If they don't, the Gausman deal is an absolute fleecing by Atlanta.

[Can_of_corn]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

How do I know?   But the narrative that the trade was dictated by ownership isn’t very plausible IMO and there’s been no reporting that this was the reason — so I don’t want people reading these posts to get the impression that it’s a reported fact.   It often happens here that theories get repeated a few times here and then readers start assuming that we’re discussing something that’s established as a fact, when it’s not.    

What a second.

There is a bit of a misunderstanding here.

What I said, and what other have also said, is that we think that International spending was capped at a lower level than the total slots Dan traded for plus the slots the O's already had.

That is a far cry from saying Dan was ordered to trade slot money away.

My personal belief is Dan traded away the excess like he has every other year.

I think that theory is plausible given the prior actions of both Dan and ownership.

[Moose Milligan]

36 minutes ago, esmd said:

I was one that said that money talks, and I don't think I was wrong.  The Marlins went out and got more money to be able to match or exceed the Orioles.  And all things being equal, yeah, they were going to choose Miami.  Our only shot was to have a bigger wallet than everyone else and throw it all at them - which was rendered moot by the Marlins' maneuvers.

They better at least get Gaston.  If they don't, the Gausman deal is an absolute fleecing by Atlanta.

Yeah, all things equal.  

But the Mesas had to have preferred Miami over Baltimore in the first place to say "Hey, we want to play here, we just want more money.  Do what you need to do to make some trades and get more and we'll sign here."

[Mitch Connor]

Is there any other talent available to get? Just wondering if the international money that we acquired thru trades is now wasted.

[Thato'sfan]

9 minutes ago, Mitch Connor said:

Is there any other talent available to get? Just wondering if the international money that we acquired thru trades is now wasted.

power pitcher Sandy Gaston. Sky high ceiling. 16 years old. A good arm to add to the system. second highest rated prospect available behind VVM.

Touches high 90s and has developing secondaries.

[Larry18]

The old proverb says you reap what you sow. Years of neglecting the international market isn't always going to be overcome by offering slightly more money. Especially when Victor Mesa Sr. was in the Miami camp. I hope they are able to learn from this and be more active going forward. Rebuilds are hard and frustrating with more defeats than victories. I'm buying multiple orange tinted shades to help through the next few (hopefully) years.

[mdbdotcom]

All we did was increase the amount of money the Marlins end up paying. 

I'm still glad we unloaded O'Day. Wish they'd have taken Trumbo, too.

[Chavez Ravine]

14 minutes ago, Mitch Connor said:

Is there any other talent available to get? Just wondering if the international money that we acquired thru trades is now wasted.

Beyond Gaston, It is difficult to say from a fan’s distance. The conventional wisdom is that all the top talent this year was snapped up soon after Jul 2, with the exception of course of the Cubans defecting out of season or in Sandy's case failing a PED test. But these talent evaluations are being made on 16-17 year olds (and in most cases younger when the “deal” was actually unofficially made).  So there is always the case of “late” bloomers showing up. Also, this year MLB banned teams from signing players from the Mexican League, which had become a back door way of signing young talent that bypassed some of the restrictions. So there might be some promising talent locked up there that could free itself up in various ways.

[Can_of_corn]

9 minutes ago, Thato'sfan said:

power pitcher Sandy Gaston. Sky high ceiling. 16 years old. A good arm to add to the system. second highest rated prospect available behind VVM.

Touches high 90s and has developing secondaries.

You mean out of what was left on Oct 20th.

Gaston was rated 14th on a list without VVM back in July.

https://www.mlb.com/news/july-2-international-prospects-signing-tracker/c-283495622

Baseball America had him at 24 on a list that included VVM.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/where-the-top-50-mlb-international-prospects-have-agreed-to-sign/

[Can_of_corn]

I've noticed that once VVM looked to be going to the Marlins folks really started hyping up Gaston.

Maybe he turns into something but he isn't that highly touted.

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, Chavez Ravine said:

Beyond Gaston, It is difficult to say from a fan’s distance. The conventional wisdom is that all the top talent this year was snapped up soon after Jul 2, with the exception of course of the Cubans defecting out of season or in Sandy's case failing a PED test. But these talent evaluations are being made on 16-17 year olds (and in most cases younger when the “deal” was actually unofficially made).  So there is always the case of “late” bloomers showing up. Also, this year MLB banned teams from signing players from the Mexican League, which had become a back door way of signing young talent that bypassed some of the restrictions. So there might be some promising talent locked up there that could free itself up in various ways.

 

Fernando Villalobos is a top 50 name.  Can't have too many catchers.