O's, Mora To Announce Three-Year Contract

[EvilJellyBeans]

Markakis??

I assumed he would be in Cf.

[ChrisRayRules]

Who else would we use?

Someone called LF a "gaping hole".

[ChrisRayRules]

I assumed he would be in Cf.

Ok, though so.

[ronster486]

Someone called LF a "gaping hole".

I figure if we could get ahold of Adam Dunn or Miguel Cabrera [if he wanted to go to LF, which is unlikely].

[4thebirds]

We probably paid too much, but at least we paid the man.

Considering Mora came at a discount during his last contract, enjoys Baltimore and the O's were going to sign Burnitz for 6 mil per year, makes this deal (3/26) a decent one.

[Sports Guy]

Did we give him a NTC?

What about some up front money in the form of a signing bonus?

Those are 2 important pieces of info for this contract.

[ronster486]

Considering Mora came at a discount during his last contract, enjoys Baltimore and the O's were going to sign Burnitz for 6 mil per year, makes this deal (3/26) a decent one.

I see where you're going with this, but remember he'll be old at the end of this contract. Don't get me wrong, Melvin's a great guy...but I see him declining in the last year of this new contract, maybe in the second year of it.

[DrungoHazewood]

That's a good point. I have no idea what the parameters are on the contract since it hasn't been officially announced, but if we're going to overpay, we might as well overpay a guy like Mora who wants to be an Oriole and loves Baltimore. Mora is a first class guy who I'm glad will be in the orange and black for three more years.

That's well said. I don't necessarily agree with the deal (if the rumored amounts are close) on baseball terms, but if you're going to overpay it might as well be for a good guy like Mora. Even if it is overpaying it probably won't be a millstone around the franchise's neck, he'll still probably be a .750-ish OPS guy at 38. You can live with that at third if they get some upgrades elsewhere.

[HeyPenny]

I hope they didn't backload the contract as they've been prone to do. Pay him a lot now while our payroll is low so we don't have to worry about the payroll getting pumped up later and PA crying that we can't sign anybody else.

If I remember correctly, Ponson and Lopez' contracts were heavily backloaded, possibly Tejada's too, which just makes the payroll climb with the same players...

[Ruzious]

That's good... just enough time to wait for Ensberg or someone like that to become a FA.

If push comes to shove, the O's can always move Melvin to the OF. I pretty much agree with the ronster. The O's probably overpaid, but if they're going to overpay someone - I'm glad it's Melvin. And I'm not convinced that whatever they paid is going to effect how much money they'd spend on other free agents. This is a good PR move, and the O's and Angelos need good PR.

[MurphDogg]

I hope they didn't backload the contract as they've been prone to do. Pay him a lot now while our payroll is low so we don't have to worry about the payroll getting pumped up later and PA crying that we can't sign anybody else.

If I remember correctly, Ponson and Lopez' contracts were heavily backloaded, possibly Tejada's too, which just makes the payroll climb with the same players...

Economically it makes sense to backload, with inflation 9 million dollars is worth more now than it will be three years down the road. That said if PA is going to point to Mora's $10 million dollar contract in three years as a reason we can't raise the payroll while conveniently ignoring that he was paid less in the first couple seasons then I agree with you.

[ronster486]

Every team "overpays" when they sign FA's.

We needed to get Melvin locked up and we did that.

We now have 4/5 of our infield locked up through at least 2008.

If only we had a solid 1st basemen. Like, I don't know...cough...Paul Konerko...cough.

[eric0668]

That's a good point. I have no idea what the parameters are on the contract since it hasn't been officially announced, but if we're going to overpay, we might as well overpay a guy like Mora who wants to be an Oriole and loves Baltimore. Mora is a first class guy who I'm glad will be in the orange and black for three more years.

Great point Tony. Overpay the people who deserve it. What he doesn't deserve on the field, he deserves via the clubhouse or the city of Baltimore or Fallston.

[WEAVERMAN]

That's a good point. I have no idea what the parameters are on the contract since it hasn't been officially announced, but if we're going to overpay, we might as well overpay a guy like Mora who wants to be an Oriole and loves Baltimore. Mora is a first class guy who I'm glad will be in the orange and black for three more years.

That's well said

[FellsPointOsFan]

Huzzah!

No matter how much we overpay, we would have overpaid more for Mora or some other free agent 3rd baseman in the offseason.