The Loop could be closing..

[Birds08]

Exactly. Seems like alot of people are getting there hopes up. Close can be 1 mile or 1000 miles in a case to sign a ballplayer.

I'd actually prefer we didn't. I'd prefer we see what the younger guys can do.

Anyone else really regretting the Hendrickson signing now. There is zero reason he should be on this team. We have plenty of other swing candidates IMO.

[LookinUp]

The O's will have a roster crunch with pitchers.

GOOD!

[Anonymous]

The O's will have a roster crunch with pitchers.

GOOD!

But if you can go a good job of forecasting which ones will be turfed out and can get value for some of them before being forced simply to DFA them at the end of Spring training ... BETTER!!

[Pruke]

But if you can go a good job of forecasting which ones will be turfed out and can get value for some of them before being forced simply to DFA them at the end of Spring training ... BETTER!!

Might as well pile on, 'or we'll have so much talent that we'll cut and run on some 'prospects' that still have value but likely no future here and trade them while we still can'. (sorry could not resist)

BEST

[Say O!]

Short-term deal for not a lot of money = not too bad of an insurance policy for allowing young pitchers to develop in the minors.

Now, there is virtually no possibility of calling up Bergesen's, Hernandez's, Berken's, Tillman's, Arrietta's, etc, out of necessity. If they are summoned, it will be out of merit, no more minor league development opportunities, and a strong belief in immediate success.

It's called, "protecting your investment." Well played, AM. Well played.

[Orioles West]

I'd actually prefer we didn't. I'd prefer we see what the younger guys can do.

Anyone else really regretting the Hendrickson signing now. There is zero reason he should be on this team. We have plenty of other swing candidates IMO.

I understand the concern, but I don't think very many of our younger pitchers are MLB ready. And as much as I like the Koji Uehara signing, we're talking about an aging pitcher who was more bullpen than starter the last couple of years.

Depth doesn't hurt us if we get Looper, in my estimation. I think there is plenty of room on the back end of the rotation to work into, and now the organization doesn't have to rush anyone in or throw a body in the rotation just to fill a spot.

-Don

[SteveA]

I feel like we have such an overload of mediocre/unproven pitching talent that it's going to be nearly impossible to give everyone a fair evaluation in spring training. Not enough innings.

Maybe we should start intrasquad games on the second day of spring training just to give ample time to evaluate all these pitchers!

Don't forget that this is the longest spring training on ML history. An extra week was added due tot he WBC.

[NCRaven]

Then where do you put Arrieta, Spoone, Erbe, Britton and Clark?

The Orioles have a serious logjam and that's not a bad problem to have, but they shouldn't keep guys down a level to stockpile Waters and Simon type players. That's hurting the development and timeline of the arrival of your top pitching prospects...

Hopefully we jettison all three of Pauley, Waters and Simon as we no longer need them if we get Looper and Hill pitches back to form...

I don't disagree with you, I'm just not sure they'll cut guys loose unless they're forced to to create roster room. But they can cut marginal relievers like Jim Miller and Alfredo Simon; or put a player in the 60 day DL, like Baez if he's not completely healthy and Spoone; or finally, marginal position players like Moore and Montanez.

AM seems to be in a stockpile the pitchers mode. If Pauley, Penn, Hill and Waters show anything, I doubt they'll be release any of them, especially the first three as I don't believe they'll make it through waivers.

How the FO slots the minor league pitching will be one of the most interesting results of spring training. And, is suspect one of the most debated and questioned here on the Hangout.

[Bradysburns]

Folks who didn't give a second thought to the idea that $200 mil may have been excessive for Tex are getting massively bent out of shape about a 2/10 contract for Looper. This was a reasonable price to pay for a very large short-term need.

Bravo to that. For years, I've been telling my friends that the O's are wildly overestimating - or at least over-projecting their farm pitching. Guys like Loewen were NEVER major league pitchers. Mike Paridis anyone? How about Richard Stahl?

But we would just ink them into the rotation year after year. On the other hand, Uehara and Looper - they are big-league-proven pitchers. They've eaten up innings against the world's best hitters and they're just solid vets... and better than Steve Trachsel. Not to pick on Tracks, but come on.

You cannot count on guys like Patton, Albers and company to fill out your rotation. That would just be a bonus. My question is: Why isn't anybody talking about David Hernandez? That dude seems to be a monster, yet all you hear is Albers, Penn, etc.

[TheOtherRipken]

Bravo to that. For years, I've been telling my friends that the O's are wildly overestimating - or at least over-projecting their farm pitching. Guys like Loewen were NEVER major league pitchers. Mike Paridis anyone? How about Richard Stahl?

But we would just ink them into the rotation year after year. On the other hand, Uehara and Looper - they are big-league-proven pitchers. They've eaten up innings against the world's best hitters and they're just solid vets... and better than Steve Trachsel. Not to pick on Tracks, but come on.

You cannot count on guys like Patton, Albers and company to fill out your rotation. That would just be a bonus. My question is: Why isn't anybody talking about David Hernandez? That dude seems to be a monster, yet all you hear is Albers, Penn, etc.

You don't know anything about Loewen clearly. He was brimming with talent and potential. You can have Paridis and Stahl, but don't group Loewen in there.

Also I don't think you are exactly right that they are better than Trax. It's a wait and see. Trax two seasons ago wasn't bad for us. Right now Uehura and Looper could both turn out to be busts for us. Looper had (off the top of my head) like a .280 BAA last season and now he comes to the AL East (if this goes through). I would hope they are better than him last season.

[mark_beckens]

This actually makes sense if you think about it...To me, the Wigginton and Looper signings are kind of tied together.

With Looper in the fold, you can now feel good about a 12 man staff, which means you carry a normal 4 man bench...thus the signing of Wigginton.

I remember when it was normal to have a 6 man bench. Does that make me old?

[mark_beckens]

Hill is no guarentee to start.

The only one who is is Guthrie.

[mark_beckens]

5 mil is CaBBrera money if we had arbitrated him. I think that we can get at least that type of production here.

hopefully not the same

[Old Beta]

Bravo to that. For years, I've been telling my friends that the O's are wildly overestimating - or at least over-projecting their farm pitching. Guys like Loewen were NEVER major league pitchers. Mike Paridis anyone? How about Richard Stahl? But we would just ink them into the rotation year after year.

I don't understand what you're trying to say. We had to give Loewen a ML contract to get him signed to begin with, and that dictated his promotions. The complaints for not signing him would have been much louder.

Paradis and Stahl were never inked to any Orioles major league rotation, ever. They were put in the minor leagues, and as first round picks, given every opportunity to succeed. They didn't. I can't see any reason to complain about having them pitch in the minor leagues.

You might complain about picking them in the first round, but those two pitchers would have been taken in the first round by someone else had we not done so.

The only pitchers I can think of that were rushed to the ML rotation were put there because of need at the ML level, not because of management philosophy. Perhaps the one exception was Matt Riley, and that was partly due to pressure from his agent.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand what you're trying to say. We had to give Loewen a ML contract to get him signed to begin with, and that dictated his promotions. The complaints for not signing him would have been much louder.

Paradis and Stahl were never inked to any Orioles major league rotation, ever. They were put in the minor leagues, and as first round picks, given every opportunity to succeed. They didn't. I can't see any reason to complain about having them pitch in the minor leagues.

You might complain about picking them in the first round, but those two pitchers would have been taken in the first round by someone else had we not done so.

The only pitchers I can think of that were rushed to the ML rotation were put there because of need at the ML level, not because of management philosophy. Perhaps the one exception was Matt Riley, and that was partly due to pressure from his agent.

We chose to give Loewen a major league contract rather than improve upon our offer in dollar terms. Forgetting about Hayden Penn????????????