Saito signs with the Sox

[TheLaw]

They are making alot of great moves this offseason. He has recovered from his injury and will be a great addition to their bullpen. The O's should have been in on him. Our team is young and we are relying on that way to much. We have three talented young pitchers in the system, however, the odds of all three panning out are against us. We cant expect all of our 1st and 2nd round picks to be long term players, it doesnt happen that way. If that were the case there every team should be competitive within 5-7 years....I can name a few teams that have been in a drought longer then that with top picks (i.e. O's)

[Lucky Jim]

They are making alot of great moves this offseason. He has recovered from his injury and will be a great addition to their bullpen. The O's should have been in on him. Our team is young and we are relying on that way to much. We have three talented young pitchers in the system, however, the odds of all three panning out are against us. We cant expect all of our 1st and 2nd round picks to be long term players, it doesnt happen that way. If that were the case there every team should be competitive within 5-7 years....I can name a few teams that have been in a drought longer then that with top picks (i.e. O's)

This makes (almost literally) no sense. How would a 39-year old reliever act as a hedge against our prospects not panning out?

Why would a 39 year old reliever pick us over the Sox, unless we offered guaranteed money? And why would we offer guaranteed money to a 39 year old reliever coming off an elbow injury?

[Osfan13]

They are making alot of great moves this offseason. He has recovered from his injury and will be a great addition to their bullpen. The O's should have been in on him. Our team is young and we are relying on that way to much. We have three talented young pitchers in the system, however, the odds of all three panning out are against us. We cant expect all of our 1st and 2nd round picks to be long term players, it doesnt happen that way. If that were the case there every team should be competitive within 5-7 years....I can name a few teams that have been in a drought longer then that with top picks (i.e. O's)

In all fairness, we have more than three talented pitchers in our system, it's just that they get all the press. This time next year there will be alot more names and some of the favorites will have changed. Gleason, Noel, and Drake are another couple of guys that should get more press this season.

[ugen64]

No. Rebuilding teams don't sign old free agent relievers to guaranteed money for *any* reason whatsoever. Worst case scenario, you pick up some journeyman starters off the waiver wire and stick them in long relief. That's why the Mariners' GM immediately traded away J.J. Putz and others in return for players who would actually be useful in a rebuilding team.

It's not just the injury concern, or the bad performance concern - it's just unnecessary. Ignoring the fact that we have a surprisingly decent bullpen, did you know that the replacement level for relievers is 4.50 ERA? In other words, the data suggest that your average AAAA pitcher can come into the majors and throw for a 4.50 ERA out of the bullpen. Why would a team with other priorities actually spend money to improve on that?

What about Sherrill, you ask? Well he's still under club control, but I would be very surprised if we didn't trade him by next offseason.

[Elon Os Fan]

He is a good signing.........for Boston.

[Fairfax Bird]

FB pet peeve ... post a signing from another team on the O's talk board. We were never interested and for us bullpen help is about the farthest thing on the FOs mind.