Would this team get you excited heading into 2009?

[bluedog]

Paying that kind of $$$ for Greene and the prospects we'll have to give to get him does not excite me much. The pen also does not make me feel too warm and fuzzy.

Totally agree. I'm strangely happy with Castro IF we can upgrade our starting pitching.

I still think the O's should go after KRod. Adding him to the back of the pen gives the O's an absolute stranglehold on the 7th - 9th innings.

With the exception of chasing Tex, I'd like to spend all our FA cash on pitching. We're at least 2 and probably 3 years away from getting enough of our young starters to the bigs. Adding offense makes no sense to me if we can't get through the 5th inning with our starters in 4 out of every 5 starts.

[DrungoHazewood]

Totally agree. I'm strangely happy with Castro IF we can upgrade our starting pitching.

Strange is a good word for the happy feeling you get when thinking about a 37-year-old shortstop who hasn't cleared a .550 OPS(!) since 2006. I'm not sure how any team outside of a 2-bit indy league could be happy with that.

[Eight]

Count me in as one who isn't very excited by Greene. He's been awful this year, the type of awful you can't easily dismiss as a blip on the radar. There's no real upside there. Either this year is real and he's done, meaning we've wasted 6M and anything else we might give up, or he returns to being a bit above average performer, but he's only under contract for a season meaning we're back to square one in a 52 weeks.

Garland would not be a great move, either, IMO. Buying into the middle of the FA pitching market seems like a recipe for flushing money down the drain. I'd much rather find a Lohse or Mussina than a Silva, Washburn, Meche, etc.

[Ruzious]

Totally agree. I'm strangely happy with Castro IF we can upgrade our starting pitching.

I'd think the O's would have to upgrade their offense to be happy with Castro starting. And while he has been a major defensive upgrade, I've noticed the last couple of games, he has not shown outstanding range. He's very good defensively - but he's not GG quality.