It's time for the next step

[JTrea81]

He's an OBP machine, who is pretty good defensively. Lifetime .849 OPS.

When he is able to make it on the field. He's the new David Segui and better suited for the bench IMO.

[dhaze]

Honestly, I hope they just let Snyder and Bell sink or swim out there. I have absolutely no interest in signing anymore stopgaps or fill ins or whatever you want to call them.

[waroriole]

When he is able to make it on the field. He's the new David Segui and better suited for the bench IMO.

That's true, but he's no more of a risk than Glaus. I wouldn't give either more than 2/10.

[JTrea81]

I think we have a good shot at Glaus. Holliday will either resign with the Cardinals or will end up with the Yankees or Redsox. Lackey will be a Redsock IMO and I wouldn't count the Yankees out on him. Their rotation will be losing Pettitte and has Mitre in it.

I can agree with this. I think MacPhail will target Glaus from the beginning to play 1B.

Which means he'll sign him in January... :laughlol:

[Slappy]

I really dont see what the love affair is about with Johnson. He has hit more than 20 HR's once in his entire career and can't seem to make it an entire season without going on the DL.

No argument on him being injury prone, because he is.

He may not hit impressive HR numbers, and this year his power is way down, but he's an on-base guy like nobody we've had here in some time (.400 career), hits a fair amount of doubles, and gets you the occassional dinger. I think he slots in nicely at #2 behind Roberts and ahead of Markakis/Reimold/Jones. He's also well respected defensively.

Scott has a bit more power but Johnson has a better batting average, on-base pct., OPS, and defense, making him a better option at 1B. Not ideal, but better.

[JTrea81]

That's true, but he's no more of a risk than Glaus. I wouldn't give either more than 2/10.

Glaus has been relatively healthy up until this year. He missed some time in Anaheim due to a shoulder injury but came back, and while he's still having issues throwing across the diamond from 3B, he should be fine at 1B as his bat is still supposedly strong.

[waroriole]

Glaus has been relatively healthy up until this year. He missed some time in Anaheim due to a shoulder injury but came back, and while he's still having issues throwing across the diamond from 3B, he should be fine at 1B as his bat is still supposedly strong.

Their injury histories aren't the same, but Glaus is a former (hopefully former) steroid user coming off shoulder surgery that has caused him to miss all of 2009. I would say he offers more risk but a higher possible reward.

[QBsILLEST1]

I do agree for the most part, but phase 1 in my book still consists of getting Bell, Snyder and Arrieta up here. Phase 2 for me is allowing them all to settle in and seeing what we have. Phase 3 is then going and replacing the weak links with stronger links with FA's. What we need to compete right here right now is going to be different than what we are going to need to compete once Snyder, Bell and Arrieta are up here. Our pitching would look so much better with Bergy and Arrieta in the rotation instead of Berken and Guthrie. Same thing goes for the lineup and Snyder and Bell replacing Aubry and Mora.

[PitchingWins]

I see the first two (Reimold and Pie) but who is the 3rd? I seriously hope you aren't talking about Montanez... he's not young, and has just started to be able to hit AAA pitching. And at 27 (28 in Dec) he really doesn't have a whole lot of upside left.

I am talking about Montanez. 28 isn't all that old, its about peak for pro athletes. I'm not saying he is the next coming or even going to be great, but out of those 3 LF's we have what we could get from Jason Bay and Matt Holliday, maybe even more. People are thinking in the terms of 2002 here, lets just go out and sign the biggest names and not worry about where to put them. Luke Scott is playing first base because we need him to, and for no other reason. I'm sorry it seems like people just want to spend, like all the money we have saved is now burning a hole in their pocket. Lets just sign Jason bay and plug him into LF, we will move Reimold to DH, and move Scott to first. Now we have a guy in LF who is comparable to Reimold, as far as skill set goes. A below avg first baseman who is streaky and in all reality is suited better for a NL team that needs a platoon LF with a streaky bat. Also we have a young guy who is showing a ton of promise and was in the running for ROY moved to an old timers role. Plus we are out 90 million dollars, that we could use the following year to extend a player acquired via trade/sign a FA actual 1b the next year. Yeah that surely upgrades the team.

[Enjoy Terror]

Would the Orioles do something like this:

Adrian Gonzalez for Snyder + Bell + Scott/Reimold/Pie + 1?

Orioles sign Figgins

3B Figgins

2B Roberts

RF Markakis

1B Gonzalez

CF Jones

DH Pie/Reimold/Scott

C Wieters

LF Pie/Reimold/Scott

SS Izturis

The Oriole mantra is grow arms and buy bats, after all.

[BaltimoreFan]

We're still a year away from really being a threat.

In 2011, Bell/Snyder/Arrieta will have some actual ML time under their belts, Matusz/Tillman/Wieters will pretty much be seasoned, and Jones/Markakis will be entering their primes.

Wait to buy FAs until the winter of 2010. . .

[QBsILLEST1]

Would the Orioles do something like this:

Adrian Gonzalez for Snyder/Bell + someone like Scott, Reimold or Pie?

Orioles sign Figgins

3B Figgins

2B Roberts

RF Markakis

1B Gonzalez

CF Jones

DH Pie/Reimold/Scott

C Wieters

LF Pie/Reimold/Scott

SS Izturis

The Oriole mantra is grow arms and buy bats, after all.

No way we get him for that package. It would take something like Arrieta, Erbe, Waring and Adams.

We cannot afford to lose prospects like that, this is why AM said to buy thats bats, not trade for them.

[QBsILLEST1]

We're still a year away from really being a threat.

In 2011, Bell/Snyder/Arrieta will have some actual ML time under their belts, Matusz/Tillman/Wieters will pretty much be seasoned, and Jones/Markakis will be entering their primes.

Wait to buy FAs until the winter of 2010. . .

I agree and hope that the FA class of that year is stronger than the last 2 year's classes. We do need a big bat, possibly 2 depending on how well Bell and Snyder do up here. Im beginning to think Bell is going to be better than Snyder....

[JTrea81]

No way we get him for that package. It would take something like Arrieta, Erbe, Waring and Adams.

We cannot afford to lose prospects like that, this is why AM said to buy thats bats, not trade for them.

If that's all it takes to get him MacPhail would have done the deal yesterday.

Tillman/Matusz, Snyder/Reimold, Erbe/Britton and one more player like Berken is what it would take IMO and there's a possibilty they'd want more.

Waring and Adams are C prospects at best.

Don't forget, the Padres do not have to trade Gonzalez. They will only do it if they get a substantial return.

[Sports Guy]

The Orioles aren't going to sign Figgins...Bell will be the third baseman, barring injury, by July...They may look for a Glaus, Crede or Beltre type for one year but that's about it.

AM seems to like Snyder but he doesn't appear to be ready yet...Send him to Arizona and ST and then see where he stands....He probably will also be up relatively early but not start the year here.

So, the Orioles have some decisions to make...What do they do with Scott? Pie?

If Scott shows he can handle first, my guess is they keep him around until at least the deadline next July.

This is why I think things pretty much stand where they are for the offseason...we have 3 holes long term...1st, 3rd and SS...We potentially have first and third figured out...I do not think AM will do anything to block those guys especially if Scott can handle first.

So, this is how I see things playing out.....

C- Wieters

1st- Scott

2nd- BRob

SS- Izzy

3rd- Wiggy...or a stop gap guy

LF- Pie

CF- Jones

RF- Nick

DH- Reimold

Pie sits vs many of the lefties...Reimold goes to the OF and someone like Lou is the DH...Reimold should get plenty of OF time this way, so he won't really be a full time DH.

If Bell performs well in Arizona, it may cause the Orioles to just go with Wiggy thinking that Bell will be up quickly.

Snyder coming up forces a trade of Scott.

It is possible that Scott is used to help get a SS and then we bring in a stop gap for first.

Pitching wise, Matusz, Tillman and BB are definitely going to be in the rotation..barring injury of course.

Arrieta will be but I would guess that since he is a Boras client and because of the service time with Matusz and Tillman, that they will hold off on him...If they do, I would think he is up pretty quickly.

I would like to see us sign Lackey.

The guy I am not sure about is Guthrie...Guthrie for Hardy makes so much sense IMO but I don't see AM going that route.

Then that leaves DH, who I think should go to the pen....A pen of power arms like DH, JJ, Ray and Kam would be nice, with Koji being a big time contributor as well.

By June, I look for Arrieta, Snyder and Bell to all be up.....and perhaps Jacobson as well...May not take long for him to move up once he gets to AA.

Now, this would be a team relying on a lot of homegrown and young players..That's tough but I think it is the direction AM will take and then after 2010 and 2011, he can really see what he has.

The Orioles are going to need Wieters to take a big step forward and need Jones, Pie and Reimold to continue to improve..BRob needs to be a similar player.

This offseason, as EJF pointed out, AM may look for his long term SS replacement...I do not believe he will replace Izzy though...i think Izzy will be the SS on OD. Maybe Guthrie can be used in a package here or something.

I would like to see us make the Guthrie/Hardy deal but again, I don't see AM replacing Izzy.