CBSSports: Hardy & Harris for Hoey & Jacobson a done deal

[Sanfran327]

He is no doubt good at trades but has not impressed me with free agents as of yet.

FAs are great, but they cost money and draft picks. We've gotten two starting, everyday position players for four bullpen arms, only one of which I feel bad about losing.

He's trading players away that aren't likely to succeed in this division to teams that can actually use them, and he's doing it in spectacular fashion.

AM's speed (or lack thereof) frustrates me too, but this has turned into a nice little offseason already, and we're not done.

Kudos to MacPhail for proving me wrong.

[Hank Scorpio]

Nice way to kickoff the day.

[JohnD]

I think we need to have a bit of perspective.

MacPhail did two excellent trades in relation to what we received.

Reynolds against weaker pitching hits tons of homers and strikes out a million times. I think we won the trade but he's not a game changer for us.

We got Hardy for nothing. This is great. He could be brittle and a modest performer and still be an upgrade over Izzy.

But we didn't just change the AL East dynamics here.

The Red Sox got massively better. Sure they lost Beltre and VMart but they went and got two players that are much better than both of them.

You think the Yankees will now let Cliff Lee go anywhere else. Just adding him is a better offseason than we'll have.

So MacPhail pulled off two winning trades and the team got better. But these weren't leaps and bounds. We need that. We won 66 games last year.

Derrek Lee isn't doing that for us. Prince Fielder does.

We get him plus extension for a Britton led package and this is an offseason where we have a shot at making waves in the actual season.

Agree with most of this. Pretty much all of it until you get down to the Prince Fielder stuff. That's a separate sitaution though.

The team is better. It HAD to get better. But there's still a long way to go.

[Dipper9]

Went to bed with the news that we signed Koji back into the fold.

Wake up with a brand new shortstop.

Did I sleep through a time warp and last night was Christmas Eve?

Is there still a chance that before Santa returns to Baltimore he brings a Derrek Lee with him?????

Great moves from MacPhail. These moves won't make us contenders next season, but with Tampa shedding a lot of players, I actually feel like we have a shot at third in the division if the pitching stays strong and the young core improves from last year!

[waroriole]

Awesome. AM is getting it done this week. Good job.

[wildcard]

I think we need to have a bit of perspective.

MacPhail did two excellent trades in relation to what we received.

Reynolds against weaker pitching hits tons of homers and strikes out a million times. I think we won the trade but he's not a game changer for us.

We got Hardy for nothing. This is great. He could be brittle and a modest performer and still be an upgrade over Izzy.

But we didn't just change the AL East dynamics here.

The Red Sox got massively better. Sure they lost Beltre and VMart but they went and got two players that are much better than both of them.

You think the Yankees will now let Cliff Lee go anywhere else. Just adding him is a better offseason than we'll have.

So MacPhail pulled off two winning trades and the team got better. But these weren't leaps and bounds. We need that. We won 66 games last year.

Derrek Lee isn't doing that for us. Prince Fielder does.

We get him plus extension for a Britton led package and this is an offseason where we have a shot at making waves in the actual season.

Let's go a step further.

Tampa has taken a big hit. Losing Crawford, Pena, and Soriano is probably gone. The still have good starting pitching but are discussing trade Garza.

Toronto has not done much to move themselves ahead. Trading away Marcum may be the biggest thing they have done.

We the O's have not gained on the the Yankees and the Red Sox but they have a chance to move up on the other two teams in the division.

[Remember The Alomar]

Went to bed with the news that we signed Koji back into the fold.

Wake up with a brand new shortstop.

Did I sleep through a time warp and last night was Christmas Eve?

Is there still a chance that before Santa returns to Baltimore he brings a Derrek Lee with him?????

Great moves from MacPhail. These moves won't make us contenders next season, but with Tampa shedding a lot of players, I actually feel like we have a shot at third in the division if the pitching stays strong and the young core improves from last year!

I just finished a massive final paper for one of my classes and I'm about to head to bed. I hope I get as much good news as you did upon waking.

[4TheO's]

shaping up to be a nice winter meeting thus far for AM and the O's....and even more exciting is there are more moves to be made......Hardy is a nice addition with far more power then Bartlett....and once again looks like (at least on paper) that AM has gotten the better half of a trade

[BrunoCherrytown]

Let's go a step further.

Tampa has taken a big hit. Losing Crawford, Pena, and Soriano is probably gone. The still have good starting pitching but are discussing trade Garza.

Toronto has not done much to move themselves ahead. Trading away Marcum may be the biggest thing they have done.

We the O's have not gained on the the Yankees and the Red Sox but they have a chance to move up on the other two teams in the division.

So you have a one year bump. Toronto I dont think is stepping backwards but maybe they do next season. Their GM is running circles around MacPhail in 'building from within'. MacPhail wouldn't know how to 'build from within' if his life depended on it.

Toronto has the scouting, player development, and international program in place for sustained competitiveness. They're stockpiling draft picks.

The Rays are in the same boat as Toronto.

So maybe we get third best case scenario next year. That's the closest we'll get anytime soon.

Next offseason we'll get outbid for Fielder we'll have ancient and decrepit Derrek Lee manning first. And we'll be having reruns of this year's debates. Just like this year's debates are reruns of last year.

[GoldGlove21]

And we still have Tillman to ship for 1B or LF.

Pie in LF is fine for 2011, but I think you may see Reimold in the fold at some point as well. A first baseman is clearly the new priority and signing Lee or LaRoche would fix the problem without selling low on a young starter. I think we keep Tillman and I think we should keep Tillman.

[GoldGlove21]

shaping up to be a nice winter meeting thus far for AM and the O's....and even more exciting is there are more moves to be made......Hardy is a nice addition with far more power then Bartlett....and once again looks like (at least on paper) that AM has gotten the better half of a trade

I think Jacobson is going to be good, but this comes back to the same point for me. If you get a chance to trade a young unproven reliever for a proven infielder, you do it! It is easier to find a reliever on the open market than it is to find a shortstop.

For me, the Orioles just traded Hernandez and Jacobson for Reynolds and Hardy. No offense to Hoes or Mickolio, but I never thought those two were going to be stars. They may be adequate, but Hernandez was the real star in the group IMO.

Now get us a first baseman Andy, lock up Gregg, and see what we can add if the opportunity presents itself.

[Moose Milligan]

I didn't even know Hoey was still in the system.

[GoldGlove21]

So you have a one year bump. Toronto I dont think is stepping backwards but maybe they do next season. Their GM is running circles around MacPhail in 'building from within'. MacPhail wouldn't know how to 'build from within' if his life depended on it.

Toronto has the scouting, player development, and international program in place for sustained competitiveness. They're stockpiling draft picks.

The Rays are in the same boat as Toronto.

So maybe we get third best case scenario next year. That's the closest we'll get anytime soon.

Next offseason we'll get outbid for Fielder we'll have ancient and decrepit Derrek Lee manning first. And we'll be having reruns of this year's debates. Just like this year's debates are reruns of last year.

So MacPhail has a good offseason by most experts accounts, we just traded relievers for our left side of the infield, we have a good nucleus of young players who AM's people drafted and developed, and yet you are still upset?

We will not get outbid for Fielder, because he will NEVER hit the free agent market. Good first baseman are not making it to the market anymore, at least not in their prime. Fielder will get traded for a nice package of players, I am sure the Brewers would prefer to deal for known prospects instead of risking that the team that signs Fielder has its 2012 pick protected and they get a sandwhich pick and a second rounder.

[murrayfan420]

I think we need to have a bit of perspective.

MacPhail did two excellent trades in relation to what we received.

Reynolds against weaker pitching hits tons of homers and strikes out a million times. I think we won the trade but he's not a game changer for us.

We got Hardy for nothing. This is great. He could be brittle and a modest performer and still be an upgrade over Izzy.

But we didn't just change the AL East dynamics here.

The Red Sox got massively better. Sure they lost Beltre and VMart but they went and got two players that are much better than both of them.

You think the Yankees will now let Cliff Lee go anywhere else. Just adding him is a better offseason than we'll have.

So MacPhail pulled off two winning trades and the team got better. But these weren't leaps and bounds. We need that. We won 66 games last year.

Derrek Lee isn't doing that for us. Prince Fielder does.

We get him plus extension for a Britton led package and this is an offseason where we have a shot at making waves in the actual season.

Weaker pitching? Have you scanned the rosters of the NL west?

[Brendan25]

Waking up to see Koji resigned and Hardy traded for. What a beautiful morning.

Still need our 1B/DH and more bullpen help.