In Hindsight What Would Have Been Your Perfect Orioles' Offseason?

[HakunaSakata]

If we use the benefit of hindsight, and take into consideration the FA contracts that have already been signed, what would have been your perfect Orioles' offseason? Try to keep things realistic and let's assume the team wouldn't have signed a player for more than four years (just to create some parameters). With that in mind, what moves/additions would you have made? 

[Yardball85]

Good post/question.  Without giving it too much thought , I would have signed Bassitt for 3 years 63, Abreu for 3 years 58.5, and be trying to trade for another pitcher like Carrasco of Lopez.  I am fine with the Givens and McCann moves. 

[eddie83]

Bassitt. Even an arm slightly below him would have been better than this. That’s really the big deal for me.  
 

I don’t have the same issues with the lineup that others do. It’s not that I think the lineup doesn’t have concerns, it does. Unlike the pitching I can see the logic in taking the position player route they have taken. Add depth and see how the younger players look this year. I would have been and still would be ok if they had dealt a piece to get a good arm.  
 

The rotation although it performed better last year than anyone could have hoped is by far the biggest question mark on the team. The teams payroll should have allowed them to go after someone aggressively. 

Edited January 6, 2023 by eddie83

[Moose Milligan]

tHe OfFsEaSoN iSn'T oVeR yEt!!!!!!!111111 Come on, guys!  So many great free agents remain and Elias is always aggressive on trades in the offseason.  It's not over yet!!!!  

Sarcasm aside, I wanted Bassitt.  Abreu would have been good, too.  

[HakunaSakata]

A "perfect" offseason for me would have been either signing Verlander OR Bassitt / Manaea plus a high OBP OF like Brantley. I'm fine with the McCann and Givens moves, but I wouldn't have signed Frazier or Gibson. I think those moves would have pushed their payroll to the $125M range, which would still put them behind the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Red Sox (if you factor in the Devers deal) in terms of overall payroll. And if that payroll range isn't realistic, then I would have like to have seen them get creative and make a few trades to improve their pitching / take some of the pressure off of the young arms. 

 

 

[Orange]

Realistic take? We still need LHP's in the worst way. I'm okay with the moves they made because they raise the floor and fill gaps economically. I believe the Tyler Anderson deal on the Orioles would have helped and was doable financially... and I'd still like to see a Skubal trade. Wacha has reverse splits and his cost has to be coming down, so maybe Wacha? He's been super up-and-down in his career and is only good for ~125 IP but I'd be in favor of a signing.

 

[HakunaSakata]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

tHe OfFsEaSoN iSn'T oVeR yEt!!!!!!!111111 Come on, guys!  So many great free agents remain and Elias is always aggressive on trades in the offseason.  It's not over yet!!!!  

Sarcasm aside, I wanted Bassitt.  Abreu would have been good, too.  

Agree on Bassitt being the one that really stings the most. I thought about Abreu too, but I'm not sure I would have given him a three year deal. 

[LTO's]

The post said "realistic." There's no evidence that Elias is granted permission to sign anyone to contracts approaching the length and value of Bassit or Abreu. This should've been obvious from the start when Roch was talking about most of the increase in payroll coming from arbitration raises. 

Realistically, I would've been happy with Syndergaard and JD Martinez. Unfortunately, it seems both took less to play in LA.

[HakunaSakata]

18 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Bassitt. Even an arm slightly below him would have been better than this. That’s really the big deal for me.  
 

I don’t have the same issues with the lineup that others do. It’s not that I think the lineup doesn’t have concerns, it does. Unlike the pitching I can see the logic in taking the position player route they have taken. Add depth and see how the younger players look this year. I would have been and still would be ok if they had dealt a piece to get a good arm.  
 

The rotation although it performed better last year than anyone could have hoped is by far the biggest question mark on the team. The teams payroll should have allowed them to go after someone aggressively. 

I think one of the points about adding a quality arm to the rotation that isn't made enough is how much pressure it would have taken off of some of our young arms. As things stand we're basically going into the season expecting Grayson Rodriguez, a player who hasn't thrown a single MLB season, to be our ace. 

[HakunaSakata]

2 minutes ago, LTO's said:

The post said "realistic." There's no evidence that Elias is granted permission to sign anyone to contracts approaching the length and value of Bassit or Abreu. This should've been obvious from the start when Roch was talking about most of the increase in payroll coming from arbitration raises. 

Realistically, I would've been happy with Syndergaard and JD Martinez. Unfortunately, it seems both took less to play in LA.

I was basing "realistic" off of the veiled statement Elias made about no longer term contracts. In this day and age I really don't consider a two, three or even four year contract to be long term. This is all hypothetical though so I think it's perfectly fine for everyone to have some fun with the exercise. 

I am curious though about your comment about Martinez and Syndergaard taking less money. Was it reported that the Orioles' offered them more money (or even any money)? I'm only asking because I don't remember seeing that news. 

[LTO's]

5 minutes ago, HakunaSakata said:

I was basing "realistic" off of the veiled statement Elias made about no longer term contracts. In this day and age I really don't consider a two, three or even four year contract to be long term. This is all hypothetical though so I think it's perfectly fine for everyone to have some fun with the exercise. 

I am curious though about your comment about Martinez and Syndergaard taking less money. Was it reported that the Orioles' offered them more money (or even any money)? I'm only asking because I don't remember seeing that news. 

Fair. I mean, I would like those players and it should be considered realistic in a perfect world but unfortunately we don't live in that world. 

It's just speculation with Martinez because his contract came in pretty low and was only for 1 year.  Syndergaard admitted that he had multi-year offers from other teams (O's were rumored here) but wanted to take a one year deal with LA because of the team's track record with pitchers. I also wanted Brantley but I don't think anyone really believed he was interested in leaving Houston. 

[btdart20]

An odd exercise, but I'll play along...

C - Adley and McCann seems ideal.

1B - Mounty and plan B (fine with the games they are playing short of Abreu or Bell) 

2B - prospects/Urias

SS - Mateo/Henderson

3B - Henderson/Urias

OF - Hays, Mullins, Cowser

DH - Santander, Conforto/Abreu

SP - Verlander, Gibson, Grayson, Bradish, Kremer (Means, Wells, Voth, Hall)

RP - fine with Givens and Hall as a swing man

[btdart20]

Forgot to add:  No mentioning "liftoff" would have been ideal as well!

[jamalshw]

This is hard to answer in retrospect. At the time of the deal, I thought the Jose Abreu deal was a bit too high for me, but hindsight being what it is, I would have made that deal. 

For me, I probably would have gone with Curt Casali over McCann. I'm fine with Givens. I figured a veteran reliever would be helpful but wouldn't have wanted them to sign anyone as a reliever for too much given the volatility of the position. I don't know if I would have done Givens over someone else, but have no problem with it being Givens. 

In the end, an ideal (realistic) offseason would have been signing Bassitt, Manaea, Abreu and Casali. That would have given us a rotation of: Bassitt, Manaea, Rodriguez, Kremer and Bradish with Means slated for midseason and Voth and Wells in the pen with Hall next man up at AAA.  While Manaea didn't have a great year, he's shown potential and would give a LHP in the rotation. With Wells and Voth in the pen, it strengthens the pen as well. Casali would be a fine back up catcher (I don't mind McCann instead). 

As for the lineup, adding Abreu would have given a nice leadership guy along with an extra bat that can hit LHP. While his power numbers are down and being right-handed doesn't help with the LF wall, he still had a .378 OBP last year and was a 4.2 rWAR player. You could then break up some of the lefty/switch hitters at the top of the order and lengthen that order while also providing insurance in case Mountcastle fails to take a step forward. 

 

[Sports Guy]

I wanted Abreu but I think it would have cost a number I wouldn’t have gone to.  Would needed to have added a bat somewhere though. A trade or another signing. That can still happen but I doubt it wil.

I would have signed Eovaldi to a 3/50 deal.

I wouldn’t have considered Frazier or any other MIer.

I would have traded at least 3 of Mateo, Urias, Mountcastle, Santander, Hays and Mullins.  Since some of that can still happen, I won’t say “they missed out” on that yet.  The replacements for them would depend on who is dealt.

I would still try to acquire another good starter, likely in a trade.

I’m fine with the Givens and McCann, as long as he is just a back up C and not getting 60-80 total starts.  One of the most over the top topics of the offseason has been the back up C.  I’m fine with any MiL deals you give out and see if they can fill bench spots.

My goal for this year would have been to have Ortiz and Westburg starting from day 1.  Cowser up within 6-8 weeks of the season.

Play the kids but supplement them with 2 new, higher upside starters(not including GRod) and at least one better bat.

Likely would end up with a payroll the same or even less than they will have in 2023 but a team with more upside and more guaranteed at bats for the young kids.

Edited January 6, 2023 by Sports Guy