Orioles sign Adam Frazier

[Sports Guy]

A completely indefensible signing. 

[Morgan423]

Did anyone figure out what's up with him? 4ish WAR 2021, and a 1ish WAR 2022 per his stats.

Was he over performing a couple of years ago?  Under performing last year?  A little of both?  I wonder what his story is.

[Slight Upward Arc]

Elias is punching above his weight class as a GM. Great player development guy, not so much as a GM. I think a pre-requisite of any executive at that level would be to want to win and then act accordingly. He’s essentially decided, yet again, that now is not the time. And he’s told us as much with his words, ever since the liftoff spin began at the beggining of the winter meetings. Every thing since then, actions and words, has aligned with a belief that he isn’t ready to go for it yet. That’s just terrible.

Yes, there’s still time. But if you are seriously buying any of this crap, I’ve got a great time share opportunity I’d love to talk to you about offline. 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Slight Upward Arc

[Camden_yardbird]

Resident (also) pirates fan here and I have to say that Frazier on a cheap 1 year deal is fantastic.  He reminds me of Vavra's ceiling could be.

He knows what he is doing with a bat. He knows how to hit situationally.  He brings great energy and he can play a decent 2B.  He also has experience in the OF so he can open up options for future personnel moves.

[Yardball85]

2 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

Resident (also) pirates fan here and I have to say that Frazier on a cheap 1 year deal is fantastic.  He reminds me of Vavra's ceiling could be.

He knows what he is doing with a bat. He knows how to hit situationally.  He brings great energy and he can play a decent 2B.  He also has experience in the OF so he can open up options for future personnel moves.

That's all well and good, but why spend $8M on a player when you have Henderson, Mateo, Urias, Westburg, Norby, and Vavra?

[Bemorewins]

I will give it to the Orioles. They don’t give a rat’s behind about their fans.

I guess they are trying to halve last year’s home attendance. And then used that as a rationale for being cheap next year and say, “We said we would spend when attendance increases”.

This is embarrassing yet goes perfectly with the self-inflected wound off-season from hell. 
 

I hope there is some grand, genius master plan in all of this because if not this could be a real disaster.

We went through the pain of 4 years of not trying only to do this??

[eddie83]

5 minutes ago, Yardball85 said:

That's all well and good, but why spend $8M on a player when you have Henderson, Mateo, Urias, Westburg, Norby, and Vavra?

Because they are all cheap and making the minimum, or not far from it.  

[Tony-OH]

35 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

Really doubt Elias has built the organization up to what it is just to negate the progress and throw it all away.

To me, it does reek a little bit of “let’s just make a move to make a move” kind of thing. The guy is left handed and has positional flexibility. It makes no sense to me though if the plan is play him at second base everyday with what we have coming down the pipeline. 

So you think a guy with 2 percentile EV at 31-years old is worth $8 million to be a super sub? If they signed Frazier to a minor league split contract that would pay him under $2 million if he made the team then I'd be ok.

When you are signed for $8 million by the Orioles, the expectation is you are going to be in the lineup pretty much everyday. With second base currently not spoken for, right now we have to expect that Elias sees him as his everyday 2B.

Well maybe it's his speed, right? Nope, 37th percentile spring speed means he slower than the average player so that means he's not going to cover a great amount of ground in the outfield, where the Orioles should have better options.

So here we are on December 15th and Elias has replaced Lyles with Gibson and Odor with Frazier. 

Not exactly making me feel like Elias has any clue how to take that next step with a team on the cusp. All he's doing is treading water and whoever is identifying talent like Odor, Aguilar and now Frazier needs to be sent packing.

Only the most Pro-Elias fan boy or sycophant could come up with a reason why spending $8 million on Frazier makes sense to an organization that has Urias, Westburg and most like Ortiz ready to play at the major league level. 

Guess we know Elias doesn't subscribe to  @Sports Guy thoughts that left-handers are hurt worse than right handers in Camden Yards. 

This literally looks like a move to just get a left-handed hitter, even if he's not good.

 

 

[Tony-OH]

2 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

I will give it to the Orioles. They don’t give a rat’s behind about their fans.

I guess they are trying to halve last year’s home attendance. And then used that as a rationale for being cheap next year and say, “We said we would spend when attendance increases”.

This is embarrassing yet goes perfectly with the self-inflected wound off-season from hell. 
 

I hope there is some grand, genius master plan in all of this because if not this could be a real disaster.

We went through the pain of 4 years of not trying only to do this??

Well when you have an owner who tells his fans "when you come, we will spend" you pretty much know what you have in an ownership group.

I'm sure the phones have been ringing off the hook after this Frazier signing. lol

 

[Yardball85]

4 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Because they are all cheap and making the minimum, or not far from it.  

I don't think you understood the point of my question.  Why sign a second baseman when you have significant depth at the position and the position is filled, especially when there are more glaring holes on the team and you (seemingly) have limited resources?

[Big Mac]

I have very much had a wait and see type of attitude for this offseason and have withheld judgment until we see how the entire offseason plays out.  That being said, I am scratching my head at this one.  If we were spending money like the Mets then sure, what's $8MM for a last guy on the bench?

Given the severe financial constraints we seem to be operating under, I don't know how this signing makes sense to fill what I don't view as much of a need.  @Can_of_corn described it best by calling this inefficient.  After this signing I can't see us spending more than another $15MM for 2023 payroll outside of arbitration increases. 

[Slight Upward Arc]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Well when you have an owner who tells his fans "when you come, we will spend" you pretty much know what you have in an ownership group.

I'm sure the phones have been ringing off the hook after this Frazier signing. lol

 

I did just receive a welcome to Birdland, Adam email - with a holiday gift guide link embedded within. 

[Frobby]

I’m not as down on this move as a lot of posters, though I don’t love it.  Frazier has had a solid career and was worth 4.1 rWAR just a year ago, 12.3 for his career. He’s a very solid defender who can play in multiple spots.  And perhaps the O’s feel they know why he slumped in 2022 and can help him get back on track.  It’s not like it’s been four years since his last good season.  He’s an upgrade over Odor both offensively and defensively, and more versatile.  

As to the $8 mm, that seems a little pricey, but what do I care?  It’s not going to stop the O’s from doing anything else they want to do.   

For me the big question is, why get him at all when you already have Urias and Vavra, with Westburg and Norby knocking on the door?   And here, I am thinking that a trade involving one or more of them could be in the works.  Then the move would make a lot more sense strategically.  But we’ll see if that happens.  

In the meantime I see it as an unexciting but mild upgrade from what we had last year, just as Gibson is compared to Lyles.  


 

[Tony-OH]

1 minute ago, Slight Upward Arc said:

I did just receive a welcome to Birdland, Adam email - with a holiday gift guide link embedded within. 

Well I'm sure you signed up for season tickets for the best seat in the house to see the new odor playing everyday at 2B. 

At least when Dan Duquette dumpster dived, he didn't overpay for the player.

[eddie83]

1 minute ago, Yardball85 said:

I don't think you understood the point of my question.  Why sign a second baseman when you have significant depth at the position and the position is filled, especially when there are more glaring holes on the team and you (seemingly) have limited resources?

I thought it was possible for Elias to make some moves and deal a position player or two and shake the lineup around some. He doesn’t appear to want to do that. That’s fine. Still more prospects on the way. 
 

I still think it’s possible he can deal a bat for an arm. That said this is a one year deal. That’s it. I don’t think making this move has any impact on much else financially. 

My guess is Elias thinks it makes the club deeper and they think Frazier will get on base plus can play all over.  
 

They still can use the depth later on to make deals.