A few tidbits.....

[bigbird]

Had a late lunch with my guy today. As usual read into this as little or as much as you want.

Starting pitching - The organization feels pretty good about a future rotation which will include Guthrie, Arrieta, Matsuz and Tillman. That being said they know we need to find a couple stop gaps for 2009. We will not be pursuing major pitching talents with big contracts. We'll be looking at 2 year deals and may target players similar to Lohse in 2008. Guys looking for major deals and getting no action. We will add 2 starting pitchers.

Bullpen - This became a concern the last 2 months. Most of the power arms we have in the system proved they were not ready to handle MLB talent. We'll try to acquire a reliever or two via trade.

Catcher - Ramon will be shopped and shopped hard. Most believe Wieters will be the opening day starter but who knows. IF he is we'll sign a upgraded backup catcher.

Shortstop - We'll spend here. Nothing in the pipe line so we'll look for a 2-3 year stop gap. A lot depends if arbitration is offered as we don't want to give up a draft pick. The top two free agent name he's heard are Furcal and Cabrera. He's also heard Peralta as a possible trade target.

Firstbase - Tex will be pursued but the parameters will be in the 5-6 year at $15 million per season if that high. Huff is the fall back option. Looking for a run producer in this spot. I asked if a Giambi was an option ans was told no.

Some like Hank Blalock here but are pretty sure his option will be picked up by Texas.

BRob and Nick - Both will be offered extensions this offseason. No mention of money or years.

Depth - More effort will be put in to secure better quality depth at AAA.

DCab - He thinks DCab is on the 2009 roster. Pretty sure he'll lose arbitraton if it goes that far.

Young pitching - We will not be trading our young pitching. If anything 2008 proved the depth and quality was not as good as first thought.

That's it for now... organizational meeting start need week in Florida.

[OsandBohs11]

don't love some of the news, but thanks as always BB!

Wow, I was the first comment over an hour after his post? Is everyone sick?

[o'sman458202233]

Thanks as always bigbird. Kinda disappointed we won't at least test the waters with Burnett.

Anything on Mora?

[Guest rochester]

Starting pitching - The organization feels pretty good about a future rotation which will include Guthrie, Arrieta, Matsuz and Tillman. That being said they know we need to find a couple stop gaps for 2009. We will not be pursuing major pitching talents with big contracts. We'll be looking at 2 year deals and may target players similar to Lohse in 2008. Guys looking for major deals and getting no action. We will add 2 starting pitchers.

* not sure about this.. I'd still like to see AJ here.

Bullpen - This became a concern the last 2 months. Most of the power arms we have in the system proved they were not ready to handle MLB talent. We'll try to acquire a reliever or two via trade.

* makes sense.

Catcher - Ramon will be shopped and shopped hard. Most believe Weiters will be the opening day starter but who knows. IF he is we'll sign a upgraded backup catcher.

* I hope they will take anything decent for Ramon.

Shortstop - We'll spend here. Nothing in the pipe line so we'll look for a 2-3 year stop gap. A lot depends if arbitration is offered as we don't want to give up a draft pick. The top two free agent name he's heard are Furcal and Cabrera. He's also heard Peralta as a possible trade target.

*seems ok.

Firstbase - Tex will be pursued but the parameters will be in the 5-6 year at $15 million per season if that high. Huff is the fall back option. Looking for a run producer in this spot. I asked if a Giambi was an option ans was told no.

Some like Hank Blalock here but are pretty sure his option will be picked up by Texas.

* Uh oh... the board is gonna crash. If they are serious about offering Tex that $$ they would be better off not even trying - it will just P-off Boras at a future time we may need a "decent" relationship with him

BRob and Nick - Both will be offered extensions this offseason. No mention of money or years.

* Nick - YES. BRob still needs to be shopped but have no problem if he extends.

Depth - More effort will be put in to secure better quality depth at AAA.

* Been awhile since that has been considered

DCab - He thinks DCab is on the 2009 roster. Pretty sure he'll lose arbitraton if it goes that far.

* Groundhog Day

Young pitching - We will not be trading our young pitching. If anything 2008 proved the depth and quality was not as good as first thought.

* The best news!

[Sports Guy]

If that is all they will offer for Tex, they should just not offer anything...What a complete joke of an offer.

OCab or Furcal would be pretty bad unless you can get Furcal for 3 years or less.

[allstar1579]

Thanks for kicking off rumor season with some fun tidbits!

Any word on who they are sending to the winter meetings besides McP?

[Moose Milligan]

DCab - He thinks DCab is on the 2009 roster. Pretty sure he'll lose arbitraton if it goes that far.

Ugh. Seriously...ugh.

Thanks for the info, nothing shocking there though. I figured they'd make a token run at Tex.

I'd really love to see Ramon and Cabrera off the opening day roster.

[YardBirds13]

Had a late lunch with my guy today. As usual read into this as little or as much as you want.

Starting pitching - The organization feels pretty good about a future rotation which will include Guthrie, Arrieta, Matsuz and Tillman. That being said they know we need to find a couple stop gaps for 2009. We will not be pursuing major pitching talents with big contracts. We'll be looking at 2 year deals and may target players similar to Lohse in 2008. Guys looking for major deals and getting no action. We will add 2 starting pitchers.

Bullpen - This became a concern the last 2 months. Most of the power arms we have in the system proved they were not ready to handle MLB talent. We'll try to acquire a reliever or two via trade.

Catcher - Ramon will be shopped and shopped hard. Most believe Weiters will be the opening day starter but who knows. IF he is we'll sign a upgraded backup catcher.

Shortstop - We'll spend here. Nothing in the pipe line so we'll look for a 2-3 year stop gap. A lot depends if arbitration is offered as we don't want to give up a draft pick. The top two free agent name he's heard are Furcal and Cabrera. He's also heard Peralta as a possible trade target.

Firstbase - Tex will be pursued but the parameters will be in the 5-6 year at $15 million per season if that high. Huff is the fall back option. Looking for a run producer in this spot. I asked if a Giambi was an option ans was told no.

Some like Hank Blalock here but are pretty sure his option will be picked up by Texas.

BRob and Nick - Both will be offered extensions this offseason. No mention of money or years.

Depth - More effort will be put in to secure better quality depth at AAA.

DCab - He thinks DCab is on the 2009 roster. Pretty sure he'll lose arbitraton if it goes that far.

Young pitching - We will not be trading our young pitching. If anything 2008 proved the depth and quality was not as good as first thought.

That's it for now... organizational meeting start need week in Florida.

1- That would probably mean no Burnett.

2- Reliever or two via trade? With Ray coming back, and Sherrill and Johnson and hopefully Albers as well, I would think bullpen wouldn't be much of a concern.

3- Sounds pretty good. Love to get something for Ramon.

4- That sounds awful. Absolutely awful. Hopefully those guys are offered arbitration so we would have to give up a pick, and then we won't do it.

5- Well, if that is their parameters for Tex, then we might as well move along. No chance in hell that gets it done for him.

6- Good to hear that they will be offered. Let's hope they are reasonable and are accepted.

7- Depth can't hurt.

8- Ugh. I'm over Cabrera at this point.

9- Best news of your post. We should be holding on to these young arms.

Gotta say I'll be disappointed if thats all they offer Tex, and I really think they should look at a higher profile guy like Burnett for the rotation. Also, going after a FA shortstop would be a huge mistake in my opinion, especially Orlando Cabrera.

As always bb, thanks for the info!

[YardBirds13]

If that is all they will offer for Tex, they should just not offer anything...What a complete joke of an offer.

OCab or Furcal would be pretty bad unless you can get Furcal for 3 years or less.

Yeah, looking at Furcal's numbers, I could handle him for 2 or 3 years. Wouldn't he cost us a pick though?

If they sign Orlando Cabrera I'll be pissed.

[clarence]

If 5/$15 per for Tex is the offer, I hope they don't embarrass themselves and even act interested.

Signing a couple of Trachsels excites the heck out of me.

If we are trading for a couple of relief pitchers it is going to be really interesting to see who they dump off the 40 man. You would think with the number of arms on there we could come up with a decent bullpen. Also, who is it that we plan to trade for any arms better than what we have. Not like our 40-man is loaded with tradeable talent.

Anything at shortstop is better than what we have. I'd draft about 10 shortstops in the next draft.

Ramon isn't bringing anything of substance. Giving him away would be difficult enough.

If all the things in BB's post are true, we won't win 60 games next season.

[bigbird]

Yeah, looking at Furcal's numbers, I could handle him for 2 or 3 years. Wouldn't he cost us a pick though?

If they sign Orlando Cabrera I'll be pissed.

I thought the same about Cabrera but where ever he goes he wins.

[health55]

DCab - He thinks DCab is on the 2009 roster. Pretty sure he'll lose arbitraton if it goes that far.

Of course, it depends on who submits what figure.

In 1982, Baltimore pitcher Mike Flanagan submitted a salary figure lower than the figure submitted by the Orioles.

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070115&content_id=1779274&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

I'd keep Flanagan away from the arbitration table.

[thundercleetz]

Considering we offered more money to Carlos Lee, I hope we offer a little more for Tex.

[YardBirds13]

I thought the same about Cabrera but where ever he goes he wins.

C'mon bb, you don't fall for that stuff do you? He has played on really good teams. He got traded to the Red Sox mid-2004 and they won the WS with a ton of other great players.

Then he signed with the Angels, who had a ton of other great players.

Then this year he went to the White Sox, who had a bunch of other guys who had great years.

Look, at one point and time, I loved Orlando Cabrera. I thought he was one of the best defensive shortstops I'd ever seen and thought he was incredibly underrated.

However, at this point, I just can't see how it would benefit the O's to give him a 2 or 3 year deal, probably lose a pick, and watch him hit well-below average and regress back to being an average shortstop.

[caljr]

Thanks for the info BB.

IMO, we really need to go after at least one of the top free agent starting pitchers. If they truly believe that we are in good shape going forward with Guthrie, Matusz, Tillman, and Arieta; all they need to do is look at the position we were in last offseason. I guarantee they were thinking we were in good shape going forward with Guthrie, Loewen, Penn, and Olson. Well guess what, young pitching doesn't always pan out. I know the same can be said for veteran pitchers because of injury risk, but I would feel much safer with a proven pitcher.