Official offseason thread

[rkelly7]

What about taking a flier on Jair Jurrjens? I have been intrigued with him, even though he has no real fastball, strikeout rate is low and is injured. Would you guys sign him for a 4th -5th starter and hope for more?

Ok, I forgot to add him to my list, I have kept him in mind though. I think it would be a great acquistion. Low risk, medium reward. If he shows he can gwet back to #2 starter form, we keep him. If he ends up being a #3 or 4, we can trade him in July for a prospect. I see no real downside in that.

[bal_ravens]

Thats the way I see it. Why not pick up some high reward players and if need be, package them for a strong bat we can use in the future.

And if Saunders doesn't want to come back, what about Pavano? He would be an innings eater.

As much as people bash our ownership(Which i do a lot as well), I just feel this year was a good year to search for bargains instead of going out and spending a ton of money on 1 or 2 free agents. Wait for BRob's contract to come off, then spend that money towards a big bat or #1 starter

Edited

[rkelly7]

I tend to bash our ownership as well.. perhaps for good reason. I don't want to go out and carelessly spend money, but at the same time, this was our first playoff appearance in 15 years. Free agents have never wanted to touch Baltimore since 1997. Until this year.

We had a chance at Greinke and Hamilton. I think Greinke gor overpaid, but I think we could have paid 5 year $130 mill for Hamilton.

Problem is, if we got out and only win 70 games next year, Baltimore becomes the crap hole it was before this offseason.

I'm not trying to say we are going to regress that much, but if we do, the cream of the crop free agents will only use us to drive up their eventual pricetag, like usual.

Maybe, if we overspent by 40 million on a free agent (like the Nats did with Werth) we would have a chnace at the best.

Onto a new subject, if Buny and Gausman come up in the next year and half and show promise, Hammel, Arrieta, Matusz etc. are expendable. I think by the beginning of the 2014 season, our rotation will be:

1. Bundy
2. Chen
3. Tillman
4. Gausman
5. Arrieta/Matusz/Steve Johnson

I think we will trade Hammel or let him walk after next year.

I don't want to give Joe Saunders a 2 year deal now, we have too much promise in iour rotation to lock up a spot for two years. I'd rather give him 1 year 10 mill than 2 years and 16 mill.

I think we need to look into trading Jim Johnson at the All Star break. I love him, but he is going to get a huge arbitration raise, and we can't and shouldn't give him an extension for $10 + mill a year. We need to swallow the fact that he will probably not be our closer for much longer. We could get a prettu good haul for him IMO. Maybe we could work out a 3 team deal next year that would net us a good hitter from a non contending team, prospects to the non contending team and Johnson to a contending team.

I ate standing pat now, but perhaps that is our best move. Hopefully, Wieters will take a stp ahead offensively. I really want him to turn into our #3/#5 hitter that cann park 25 homers and drive in 100+ runs. Hopefully, Jones can learn some plate dicipline, as this would turn him into one of the top CF in baseball instead of being around top 5.

Davis needs to repeat, and show he can be valuable defensively.

Machado needs to advance.

We are still lacking an ace and a legit #4 hitter. So bad.

I love this team, but we still have work and a lot of progression to do.

Last season was a dream come true for me, but we aren't out of the murky water yet. Go O's.

[bal_ravens]

I agree with everything you said. I do wish we could keep Matusz in the bullpen. How do you think he would do as a closer? The dude was as close to lights out as you could be last season out of the bullpen.

[mikeydady]

I'd love both Juir and Porcello. If we can't sign a top line FA without giving up a first round pick, the next best thing is to find young players with lots of upside. Both these guys fit the bill. Although, Smoak worries me and I'm not sure about him, he fits that bill too. I'd also love for us to look at young talent in the foreign market. What about the Dee Gordon? He'd be good even with JJ Hardy. I would have loved Borgesse too but the Angels aren't trading him now.

[sager729]

The O's are supposedly in on Gavin Floyd. What is your take?

[mikeydady]

Not interested at all. The Sox think he's Sandy Koufax. What he is, old and overrated. How many seasons are going to try to trade for this guy.

[mikeydady]

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/ml...ursue-jj-hardy

What do you guys think about this? Porcello would not be enough who else do you think we could get for Hardy? Nick Castellanos? B. Boesch? Smyly?

[mikeydady]

Just saw that the Dbacks are asking about Alexei Ramirez for an outfielder. Could they be interested in Hardy? Not they have a ton of talent. Someone say, Upton- for Hardy, and prospects as long as its not Manny I'm way in.

[mikeydady]

Now for reality. I say Hardy for Porcello and Boesch. Then we move Schoop to SS.

[BrosB4Hos]

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/ml...ursue-jj-hardy

What do you guys think about this? Porcello would not be enough who else do you think we could get for Hardy? Nick Castellanos? B. Boesch? Smyly?

Porcello plus Castellanos? Are we getting Adam Jones in that deal? Nicky C just alone would be enough for Hardy. I could see Porcello/Peralta or Boesch for Hardy and a decent bullpen arm in return.

[mikeydady]

What? Why don't you look at Hardy's numbers, the fact that he play SS and the fact that he is the best defensive SS in the game, then explain to me why he's worth a OF prospect straight up? Then remember that Porcello has been one of the most inconsistent pitchers in the game. Same can be said for Boesch. I wasn't saying Hardy is worth all those guys but Porcello and Nick C for Hardy would be fair. Or Porcello, Boesch and a prospect for Hardy and a bullpen arm. He none of these guys are worth Hardy straight up. If that's what the tigers think of their prospects "No deal ever"

[BrosB4Hos]

I know what his numbers are but you might be undervaluing Porcello. Yes he can be inconsistent but he's only 23 years old and he turns 24 on the 27th. He is still very young and he is getting better. His fastball has improved an he gets up 95 now and he stays in games longer usally 6 to 7. As a Tiger I want to keep him but sadly he's not a lefty so smyly gets the 5th spot.

[mikeydady]

I know he's young. If he wasn't we would need to be talking about him, we'd just wait for the Tigers to cut him or non-tender him and pick him up on the cheap.

[mikeydady]

By the way, thanks for visiting. I love when fans of other teams post. Give us O's fan information about other teams. Makes the page better. Aside, from JJ would the tigers be interested in another area, say bullpen like Ayala, a bullpen/ spot starter like Hunter or OF like Rienold?