MFY readying Lee offer; Red Sox contact Werth

[Arthur_Bryant]

Thats been verified? All I have seen so far is that three teams, Seattle, Texas and Oakland placed bids and that Oakland won. I have not seen confirmation that any teams did not bid.

Not confirmed, and I don't know the process by which those bids were identified. But I assume that if the O's had been in on him, it would've been leaked to Roch or Zrebiec or somebody. I see no reason to withhold that information once the deadline has passed.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Great post. I agree completely.

BTW the bolded has already started to happen, since the O's didn't even submit a bid on Iawkuma.

Of course, neither did 26 other teams. Why?

[Mad Mark]

...If the top guys start getting scooped up and trades start going down without the Orioles involved, we'll know where this offseason is heading.

In year three of MacPhail, it should be clear to everyone here that we're not going to hear a whole lot of "we plan to do yada yada yada". In the end, we'll know who's here and who isn't, but we're not going to know much was offered to FA A, B or C.

Having said that, I'm not sure Lee and Werth are my primary targets, anyway.

[byrdz]

Stupid me, this must be what people mean when they say the Yankees are good for baseball, now I see.

[Roll Tide]

In year three of MacPhail, it should be clear to everyone here that we're not going to hear a whole lot of "we plan to do yada yada yada". In the end, we'll know who's here and who isn't, but we're not going to know much was offered to FA A, B or C.

Having said that, I'm not sure Lee and Werth are my primary targets, anyway.

The real test will be how quickly he gets something done. Sitting on his hands & waiting for the market to set itself is not the approach the O's need this offseason. And their major moves can't be stop gaps.

[theobird]

I still think the O's should make Martinez the #1 and only FA priority. The rest of the work this offseason should be accomplished in the trade market. If they sign Victor Martinez to play 1st base/backup Catcher, I am all in on that move. VMart would give us a solid #3 hitter, and a guy who rakes left handed pitching.

The bid question mark for me is what AM gets done in the trade market. I think he will have some opportunities through trades to really help the team.

[Tank]

I understand the frustration but its only day two of free agency. The only signing has been the Tigers re-signing Peralta. Lee and Werth probably aren't our real targets and nobody ever knows what MacPhail is doing. I'm nervous that we'll fail again this off season but I'm not going to freak out yet on stuff like this.

[BrunoCherrytown]

Not confirmed, and I don't know the process by which those bids were identified. But I assume that if the O's had been in on him, it would've been leaked to Roch or Zrebiec or somebody. I see no reason to withhold that information once the deadline has passed.

Orioles did not bid for Iwakuma

Major League Baseball announced Monday that the Oakland Athletics had submitted the winning posting bid for Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma and will have 30 days to negotiate exclusively with the 29-year-old right hander.

The Orioles were not among the teams to offer a bid for Iwakuma, who had a 2.82 ERA in Japan this season.

Bottom of the article here

[Sports Guy]

Yet again, a small market team shows that they will spend money on amateur talent in a big way.

Meanwhile, the Orioles did spend 100K on a player this year.

[El Gordo]

The Orioles have no reason at all not to be aggressive this winter.

1.) They've had their organizational meeting

2) They have their manager of the future

3) They've determined which young players are ready to come up and help in the few years and which ones are not

4) The Calvary has arrived

5) They know they need a 3B, 1B, SS, and power hitting LF.

6) They've tasted winning late in the year and should be ready to build off that

7) They have money to spend after being under budget for 3-4 years now (Remember, they never did spend that $20 million a year they were willing to give Teixeira)

8) They should know their strengths and should know their trading chips

Whether it's through trades or free agency (trades look to be a better avenue), MacPhail has to be aggressive this off season. If he waits to see how the market shakes out or waits for New York and Boston to take all the top tier guys, he's going to be left wanting.

This is the most important offseason he's had as the Orioles GM and either he needs to step up the plate or step off and let someone else try.

So I agree with Roch, the Orioles need to show everyone in baseball that they are serious about competing in the AL East. Lee would be a huge step in that direction but that's not MacPhail's style. He has to know the SF way is not going to work in the AL East. I agree that you have to grow the arms, but at some point you need some aces and Lee would provide that ace at the top of the rotation while taking some pressure off Matusz and gang.

If the top guys start getting scooped up and trades start going down without the Orioles involved, we'll know where this offseason is heading.

Listening to Bowden on XM today, he said he fully expected that Lee would be offered 6/150. Are you saying the O's should spend this kind of money on a SP who likely wont be giving you that level of production in 3 years? Do you think he is going to have enough of an impact the next two years to get us into the playoffs, and can we spend that kind of money and still fill the holes at 1B, 3B, SS and LF??

[Crazysilver03]

Bottom of the article here

Maybe the Orioles didn't bid because they figured he wouldn't sign a contract here.

From my understanding, the Japanese team can accept what ever bid they want, not necessarily the highest bid. The team is looking to make money off of the bid, but they only get that if the player signs a contract with the team.

I am surprised at how many people are surprised we didn't bid, considering MacPhail's mantra of "grow the arms."

Of course, the Athletics went after him with the intention of using one of their young starters as trade bait.

[Orioles Magic]

No biggie. These aren't guys the O's were targeting anyway. No need to waste our time making pseudo offers to guys who we all know have no chance of playing here.

Wake me when the hotstove for the Konerko, Lee, Beltre, V. Mart types starts burning.

[El Gordo]

My guess is we will be working on trades for 3B, SS, and possibly LF first, while we wait out the 1B market. If we can get VMart for 3 years, fine, Lee for one, fine, Konerko for two, OK, Dunn to DH for 4, great.

[Moose Milligan]

It's not so much that we should be in on Lee or Werth...it's that you see good teams and good organizations waste absolutely no time in going after what they want. Now of course it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the Yankees were going to go after Lee. I haven't been paying attention to the Sox, their needs and who people think they'll be targeting...but Werth makes sense for them.

Now granted we're not going after any of these guys...anyone who expects differently has their head in the sand, to borrow a phrase from a certain poster on here. But it's not like the Orioles didn't have access to a list of potential FA's that'd be available this winter a few months ago.

It just sucks to see our direct competitors one of which (Boston) who is routinely amongst the best run and most forward thinking teams in the game get out to a roaring start for the offseason...you get the feeling that these teams were preparing for this weeks, maybe months ago.

Year after year we just sit here and watch better run organizations make better moves than us, time and time again. And year after year the Orioles are slow to act...they "kick the tires" and they "wait for the market to set itself" while other franchises are busting their asses to get better as quick as they can.

My gripe here isn't that we're missing out on Lee and Werth...it's that we're probably going to be waiting till December until the Orioles start to move and refuse to think outside the box.

[mikezpen]

TONY, I like your reasons except for one-the so-called $20 they were going to give Tiexiera.They knew he wasn't signing here, so that $20 million wasn't a real offer.They were in no danger of ever having to spend it.

The reasons they always tell us they're "waiting for the market to set itself" are twofold. One, it's a way of deflecting criticism by giving the impression they're actually doing something. Two, they want to know what the market actually is so they can make a PR offer that is high enough to look good but is not enough to be seriously considered by the player or his agent.

Rather than sign Lee for a ridiculous amt. of money, I'd rather they trade for Grienke who KC wants to unload-and Butler too unless they can sign Victor Martinez for first (which I don't believe will ever happen. why would he leave Boston to come here).