Zrebiec: At impasse with LaRoche; turning attention to Lee

[wildcard]

Listening to Buck on XM today. He said, among other things, that the report about the 3/21 offer to LaRoche, was untrue. IMO if Lee signs with either Texas or the Pads, then LaRoche thinks he can play the Gnats against the O's and get his 3/30. Lee is hoping the Pads can up their offer to closer to the 8 MM he wants, or Texas desides against signing Vlad.

I wonder how close the Pads have to get?

Here is the lastest from MLBTR about the Pads 1st evaluation.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/12/padres-considering-russell-branyan.html#

Branyan made $1.5M last year with a 500K buyout on this coming year's option. Sounds like there is big gap between Branyan and what Lee would want.

It sounds like the Rangers are moving closer to signing Vlad. I think he is agreeing to sign a one year deal now.

What else did Buck say?

[El Gordo]

But wait, I thought Jen gets it? :scratchchinhmm:

I think it depends on what she's getting, and from whom.:laughlol:

[UMDTerrapins]

But wait, I thought Jen gets it? :scratchchinhmm:

Her? (sorry, can't resist an Arrested Development joke....speaking of which, that's a great summary for the O's offseason since Hardy )

[El Gordo]

I wonder how close the Pads have to get?

Here is the lastest from MLBTR about the Pads 1st evaluation.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/12/padres-considering-russell-branyan.html#

Branyan made $1.5M last year with a 500K buyout on this coming year's option. Sounds like there is big gap between Branyan and what Lee would want.

It sounds like the Rangers are moving closer to signing Vlad. I think he is agreeing to sign a one year deal now.

What else did Buck say?

He said you can make offers to guys like Lee and LaRoche, but you can't make them take the offers, if there are other more attractive destinations. He also said no matter what they say, it all comes down to the $$$$. He said to get better we need to get better players and the ones we have need to get better. He said he doesn't have any intention of messing with Reynolds' swing to cut down the K's, at least not right away. He said, regarding SP, right now we are 6 for 5 and he wants it to be 8-9 for 5. He said, of course the AL East is an uneven playing field. and the best example of it is not the FA market, but in international scouting where the MFY's offer double what any other team does to get players signed.

IMO, if the Rangers do sign Vlad, that will clear things up alot. I doubt the Pads come any where close to the 8 MM Lee wants, so he'll have to decide between the Gnats and the O's, and LaRoche will take the other's offer.

[hoosiers]

It's really hard to argue with Olney on this, although I can't imagine an Orioles team with Glaus, Giambi/Branyan, AND Scott on it.

You mean have three roster spots for the 1B position? Seems pretty easy to argue with Olney, IMO.

[clapdiddy]

You mean have three roster spots for the 1B position? Seems pretty easy to argue with Olney, IMO.

It seems hard to argue with the premise of saving some of the money and putting it toward draft picks or international signings. Although, there's no guarantee that any more money will go into those areas regardless of what happens with first base.

[Os84]

It appears that the Padres may be focusing on signing Brad Hawpe for 1B, according to Jon Heyman's latest tweets:

#padres are talking to brad hawpe, who hit 99 HRs from 2006-09. first rule of markets: always better to buy low

if the padres and hawpe can get deal done, hed likely play a lot of 1B for them but he can obviously play the OF as well

[RVAbird]

Embarrassing Twitterspeak aside, this is newsworthy:

@Britt_Ghiroli

Brittany Ghiroli

Explains y I couldnt confirm this alledged 3yr 21mill offer ppl reported laroche has on the table. Showalter said reports not true. #orioles

[Dipper9]

Embarrassing Twitterspeak aside, this is newsworthy:

Three things are becoming painfully obvious.

1. Jen Royle gets her information from WNST.

2. WNST's source is Jen Royle.

3. We have spent the last week discussing Adam Frickin LaRoche who will never wear an Orioles uniform (and I am starting to see SG's idea of why this isn't a bad thing!).

[scOtt]

He said you can make offers to guys like Lee and LaRoche, but you can't make them take the offers, if there are other more attractive destinations. He also said no matter what they say, it all comes down to the $$$$. He said to get better we need to get better players and the ones we have need to get better. He said he doesn't have any intention of messing with Reynolds' swing to cut down the K's, at least not right away. He said, regarding SP, right now we are 6 for 5 and he wants it to be 8-9 for 5. He said, of course the AL East is an uneven playing field. and the best example of it is not the FA market, but in international scouting where the MFY's offer double what any other team does to get players signed.

IMO, if the Rangers do sign Vlad, that will clear things up alot. I doubt the Pads come any where close to the 8 MM Lee wants, so he'll have to decide between the Gnats and the O's, and LaRoche will take the other's offer.

Interesting.

[Peace21]

Embarrassing Twitterspeak aside, this is newsworthy:

Looks like we may have a cat fight between our female reporters.

[BaltimoreTerp]

It appears that the Padres may be focusing on signing Brad Hawpe for 1B, according to Jon Heyman's latest tweets:

Everyone's overlooking him. He'd be a good choice in the "low-risk/high-reward" mode. Unfortunately after the Atkins fiasco (which was different, not that we can trust most people to see it that way) we won't think of him as a legitimate option.

[BrunoCherrytown]

Her? (sorry, can't resist an Arrested Development joke....speaking of which, that's a great summary for the O's offseason since Hardy )

Great analogy between Arrested Development and the O's...

I'll offer this one up.

Maybe the reason we can't get legit free agents to sign here isn't that MacPhail always has a lower opening offer, or he doesn't know how to "wine and dine," it's that he approaches his meetings with free agents like GOB handles Gary in the clip below...

(and there's an "Ann" sighting in the clip to go with the "Her?" reference)

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[olehippi]

It looks like neither LaRoche or Lee is interested in having a contract under their tree on Christmas morning.

[Os84]

In addition to Buck's comments on XM today, Keith Law had this to say about the reported 3-year offer to LaRoche during his chat:

They don't have 3/$21 out there to LaRoche. I think he wants that, but the Orioles haven't offered it.