Rosenthal: O's pushing hard for Looper, Redding

[REDMAN]

My take on the ORIOLES pitching situation is this,taking in account they willnot be contender until 2011.Sign the japanese pitchers and get your foot into the market,as over the next several years thirty or more mlb ready players become posted or free agents.I would also look into Igawa from the Yankees,4 mil for 3 more years,because some pitchers just cannot pitch in New York.

[eb45]

You do realize that's not exactly an exclusive club.

ETA: Cabrera was 2nd on the staff with an ERA+ of 86 and 15 more starts. Here are all the pitchers better than Cabrera.

Player GS ERA+

Sheets 31 139

Lowe 34 131

Johnson 30 116

Looper 33 102

Perez 30 101

Pettitte 33 98

Byrd 30 98

Wolf 33 93

Redding 33 89

Garland 32 89

Ponson 24 88

Now, narrow it down to just the unsigned free agents.

Wait, I just did that. Of the eleven unsigned FA pitchers better than Daniel Cabrera, Looper had the fourth best 2008 ERA+, after Ben Sheets, Derek Lowe, and Randy Johnson. Looper would be significantly cheaper than any of them. Redding was just as good as Jon Garland, who will probably demand 7M per. Redding could be signed for about 800K. Nobody above him on the list would cost less. My point? Looper would be a good sign under the circumstances, Redding wouldn't be great, but it's not like there's a ton of better, similarly priced options out there.

[rjslomo]

Exactly. We should be looking at Sheets and Kawakami. In fact, sign them tonight. It may even entice Tex a little more to come here.

Sheets

Guthrie

Kawakami

Olson

Penn

is satisfying enough to me. With Liz, Albers, Patton and Tillman to also draw from I would be very ok with that starting 5.

You make it sound like it would be so easy just to sign these guys. I understand the Kawakami and the other Japanese pitchers' negotiations are still in the early stages but I know we heard (maybe at the winter meetings?) that the O's spoke with Sheets reps. Maybe he told them at the time that he has zero interest in coming to the O's? He's going to have other suitors out there. Additionally, if he ends up signing some sort of short-term contract to show he's healthy for a bigger payday, he's not going to choose the O's where he'll struggle to get good numbers. He'll choose a team that will be more of a contender.

[Frobby]

Of the eleven unsigned FA pitchers better than Daniel Cabrera, Looper had the fourth best 2008 ERA+, after Ben Sheets, Derek Lowe, and Randy Johnson. Looper would be significantly cheaper than any of them. Redding was just as good as Jon Garland, who will probably demand 7M per. Redding could be signed for about 800K. Nobody above him on the list would cost less. My point? Looper would be a good sign under the circumstances, Redding wouldn't be great, but it's not like there's a ton of better, similarly priced options out there.

I seriously doubt Redding is going to be that cheap. He'll be in the same range as DCab IMO.

[ChesterPeake]

Even when a couple of the young guns are brought up we're going to need a #1 starter to compete in our division. I would go for Sheets, regardless of his injury history (I'm a big Sheets fan). AM should tell Angelos to just forget about injuries and sign off on the deal. Angelos can always fire AM later if it doesn't work out.

We already have a solid #2 in Guthrie. I wouldn't count on Olson as a #3 starter, so we would need either Looper or Wolf, short term. The fourth and fifth starters could come from among the people we already have.

I would not be inclined to spend a lot of money on either of the Japanese guys because they are older and they haven't pitched in the majors.

[lebowski]

Yep...the lazy way out.

Lazy would be adding a 6th year to the DCab experiment when the previous 5 did not work. While these names don't get me excited to buy a season ticket plan, we have to get more pitching depth for 2009 & 2010. This will allow us to not rush our top prospects. I think allowing time for Tillman, Matusz etc.. to develop is worth the investment in these mid to back end of the rotation starters.

[ACE]

Roch chimes in on Redding.

http://masnsports.com/2008/12/redding-or-not.html

[Dannyboy]

Even when a couple of the young guns are brought up we're going to need a #1 starter to compete in our division. I would go for Sheets, regardless of his injury history (I'm a big Sheets fan). AM should tell Angelos to just forget about injuries and sign off on the deal. Angelos can always fire AM later if it doesn't work out.

We already have a solid #2 in Guthrie. I wouldn't count on Olson as a #3 starter, so we would need either Looper or Wolf, short term. The fourth and fifth starters could come from among the people we already have.

I would not be inclined to spend a lot of money on either of the Japanese guys because they are older and they haven't pitched in the majors.

Depending on how well he bounces back, and wheter or he would be available I wouldn't mind bringing back back Bedard next year.

[ChesterPeake]

Depending on how well he bounces back, and wheter or he would be available I wouldn't mind bringing back back Bedard next year.

Wouldn't that complete the deal with Seattle if Bedard came back and pitched well? Man, poor Bavasi really got toasted by AM!

[ACE]

from Nick Cafardo...

Braden Looper, P, free agent - Not offered arbitration by the Cardinals, he's close to signing with the Brewers. Milwaukee has holes to fill with the loss of CC Sabathia and the likely loss of Ben Sheets, so Looper, 12-14 with a 4.16 ERA in 33 starts in 2008, will get a chance to start.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2008/12/21/its_the_offseason_of_hope/?page=4

[section36]

I don't like Redding at all, but I don't mind Looper. Two things I like about Looper:

1.) He's only been a starter for 2 years, and he improved quite a bit from the first year to the second: better ERA (4.94 - 4.16), more K's, less walks, and more innings.

2.) He's been a useful reliever in the past, and even has significant closing experience. So, if he fails as a starter or if the kids are ready, we can also move him back to the bullpen where he should still have some value.

[OrioleWay27]

I don't like Redding at all, but I don't mind Looper. Two things I like about Looper:

1.) He's only been a starter for 2 years, and he improved quite a bit from the first year to the second: better ERA (4.94 - 4.16), more K's, less walks, and more innings.

2.) He's been a useful reliever in the past, and even has significant closing experience. So, if he fails as a starter or if the kids are ready, we can also move him back to the bullpen where he should still have some value.

Both excellent points, and the second is probably a big reason I would prefer to get him as long as it's a one or two year deal.

Redding would be serviceable, but he was frequently injured last season. Given how a big reason for our last two seasons' collapses was attributable to pitchers going down with injuries (aside from simple awful starting pitching performance) and both the starting rotation and bullpen being taxed and tired as a result, I think going after durable talent should be the priority.

[Sports Guy]

from Nick Cafardo...

Braden Looper, P, free agent - Not offered arbitration by the Cardinals, he's close to signing with the Brewers. Milwaukee has holes to fill with the loss of CC Sabathia and the likely loss of Ben Sheets, so Looper, 12-14 with a 4.16 ERA in 33 starts in 2008, will get a chance to start.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2008/12/21/its_the_offseason_of_hope/?page=4

Please close the deal Milwaukee!!!

[eb45]

SG,

Who would you rather have in the rotation this year than Braden Looper? Please list four pitchers, in or out of the organization, but if they are out of the organization, please explain how they could be obtained without compromising the team in any other areas.

[Sports Guy]

SG,

Who would you rather have in the rotation this year than Braden Looper? Please list four pitchers, in or out of the organization, but if they are out of the organization, please explain how they could be obtained without compromising the team in any other areas.

There are plenty of other guys but that isn't the point.

I don't want any pitcher signed for more than one year unless it is Sheets or Kawakami...Signing any of these other pitchers for more than 1 year is an awful decision.

Everyone keeps saying that this mid tier FAs are the ones who are going to be effected by the economy..The guys who normally would get 3/18-21 type contracts are going to get 1/4 type deals.

I don't care who we have in the rotation...If we don't get Sheets or Kawakami, whoever we get will likely not be much better than DCab was last year....they are just placeholders.