A few tidbits.....

[DrungoHazewood]

Well I think this is why you float Sherrill out there and see if somebody will overpay for him. I think he is a good reliever, not great and has good value. If some team wants to give 3 future contributors or a stud and another project type you have to make the deal IMO. We do not have enough talent. Turning our league average guys into several league average guys is what rebuilding teams have to do. His underlying stats indicate he is not dominant at all and history shows relievers like him can fall into the abyiss at any time. See Walker et al.

I think Sherrill's value peaked the day after the All Star game, and nobody is going to give up much more than a #5-10 organizational prospect for him now.

Coming into the year he was a pretty good LOOGY, and during the second half he gave up 10 runs in 13 1/3 innings. Aren't too many folks who'd be fooled into giving up real value for 39 innings of a 4.08, just because it had 28 gaudy saves tacked on.

[bigbird]

$4.25 million

and this is the kind of deal I'm sure he was talking about....

[Skeletor]

I see JJ, sarfate, Sherill, and a whole bunch of question marks. Probability would say that we could find at least 4 more quality guys from that list, but we're talking about the O's here.

[JTrea81]

and this is the kind of deal I'm sure he was talking about....

Good luck trying to find anybody to sign for that...

That's probably what Cabrera would get in arbitration and he's horrible...

Pitching is going to be in demand this year and there aren't going to be big names like Santana, Bedard and Haren on the trade market so expect the cost for a Loshe type pitcher to be in the 7-10 million range. And if that's the case I'd rather spend 5 million more per season to get Burnett.

[bigbird]

Good luck trying to find anybody to sign for that...

That's probably what Cabrera would get in arbitration and he's horrible...

Then why did Lohse sign for that amount?

[Skeletor]

And that list of AAA pitchers is just ugly. None of them have impressed and most have been absolutely lit up. There's no magic wand that's going to make that group into anything worthwhile with the possible exception of Mickolio.

[JTrea81]

Then why did Lohse sign for that amount?

Bedard, Haren and Santana killed the FA market for pitchers. Everybody was waiting for them to be dealt to go to Loshe as a backup plan and by the time they all did, Boras had kept Loshe's price so high that he had to settle for a lesser amount just to get a job before the season started.

The only pitcher you are going to find for 4.25 million is a Steve Trachsel type such as Livan Hernandez, Kris Benson or Brett Tomko. And if that's the case we might as well put Bergesen and Berken or Hernandez into the rotation, because they couldn't do much worse. Brian Matusz could also probably outpitch those three.

[TonySoprano]

Then why did Lohse sign for that amount?

Because he signed for a comparable amount in 2007 and pitched to an ERA+ of 100 for two teams. The bigger question is how does a pitcher with a career ERA+ of 97 over eight seasons get a $41 million contract?

[Mackus]

Bedard, Haren and Santana killed the FA market for pitchers. Everybody was waiting for them to be dealt to go to Loshe as a backup plan and by the time they all did, Boras had kept Loshe's price so high that he had to settle for a lesser amount just to get a job before the season started.

The only pitcher you are going to find for 4.25 million is a Steve Trachsel type such as Livan Hernandez, Kris Benson or Brett Tomko...

You can find some decent stop gaps in that $3-6M range on a one-year deal. Especially if it is someone coming off a down year hoping to cash in on a big single season, like Lohse was last year. Thats all we need, a decent stop gap. And really, the stop gaps aren't that much worse than the second tier guys that are gonna get 4 year deals for 7 figures a year.

[Sports Guy]

Then why did Lohse sign for that amount?

BEcause he wanted too much money, got to ST with no team and had to sign for that money and hope to re-establish value...which he did.

[JTrea81]

You can find some decent stop gaps in that $3-6M range on a one-year deal. Especially if it is someone coming off a down year hoping to cash in on a big single season, like Lohse was last year. Thats all we need, a decent stop gap. And really, the stop gaps aren't that much worse than the second tier guys that are gonna get 4 year deals for 7 figures a year.

The stopgaps in that price range are worse than the pitchers we have in the minors if they were to be plugged into the rotation right away IMO.

[bigbird]

The stopgaps in that price range are worse than the pitchers we have in the minors if they were to be plugged into the rotation right away IMO.

Any you can say this without our minor leagur pitchers even throwing a pitch in Baltimore?

[DrungoHazewood]

The only pitcher you are going to find for 4.25 million is a Steve Trachsel type such as Livan Hernandez, Kris Benson or Brett Tomko. And if that's the case we might as well put Bergesen and Berken or Hernandez into the rotation, because they couldn't do much worse. Brian Matusz could also probably outpitch those three.

If Bergesen, Berken, Hernandez, and Tillman were all promoted to the majors next year and given 30 starts I'd swag their overall ERA at just shy of 6.00. Matusz' performance is anybody's guess.

[JTrea81]

If Bergesen, Berken, Hernandez, and Tillman were all promoted to the majors next year and given 30 starts I'd swag their overall ERA at just shy of 6.00. Matusz' performance is anybody's guess.

And what do you think the collective ERA of Tomko, Hernandez and Benson would be because that's the talent level we are talking about for that little $.

The price of starting pitching has skyrocketed. Even the legitimate #4 starters are getting 8-10 million a season now.

If you want a quality stopgap, somebody who can eat innings and have an ERA below 5.00, you will have to pay 8-10 million a season for them or more. And you'd be looking at a Moyer or a Mussina type, not Livan Hernandez. Because as we found out with Trachsel, the only thing a Hernandez type will do is wear out your bullpen.

[TakebackOPACY]

And why is no one bringing up the point that, if Cabrera is such a winner, why winning teams are so willing to let him walk? And how come his teams keep right on winning after they've let him go?

He wasn't going to stay in Montreal/Washington.

Boston got the 23rd pick and a sandwich pick for giving up Orlando Cabrera. They gave up the 28th pick for signing Renteria. They drafted and signed Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie with those two picks.

The Angels had Erick Aybar (and Brandon Woods) in their system.

I don't expect him to be a great player. But if he doesn't cost you draft picks, of course I'd be interested. I think a stopgap allows MacPhail to expand his target pool for future SS.