yea as i have said other teams are doiing what needs to done and andy macphail is out to lunch. i can't wait to see where adam laroche has signed with another team and andy will be wondering what he could have done to sign him.

Good one. I was actually hopeful the Nats had signed LaRoche because (a) I think Lee for one year is the better option and (b) I like it when people complain, especially when they don't punctuate well and use caps lock.

Every time the Orioles drag out negotiations (as they are doing with Laroche and Gregg) they never get the player. Can anyone say Vlad Guerrero?

Hey Dan,

What, are you a little short on your "hit" quota this month? I know things are little slow on the oriole front but c'mon man.. Talk about bait and switch.

--

Just having a little fun. It's getting lonely here on the LaRoche watch.

Vince,

The Orioles wouldn't have to "drag out" negotiations if they were a good team.

Reports say that the O's have offered three years and somewhere between $15 and $21 million. That's an offer LaRoche would be crazy to say no to, in terms of the financials. But you've got to think about what he's signing up for (and what Vlad would have been signing up for). Three years would be a huge coup for LaRoche, who got just one guaranteed year last winter. But does he want to sign up to lose for three years?

I love how the organization gets trashed for dragging out negotiations with free agents. Sure, it's their fault and there's a lot of blame to throw at a lot of people, but it's not like they're not trying to sign LaRoche. And the funniest thing is if LaRoche ends up signing for three years, $21 million, the same people who have been complaining about "dragged out negotiations" will complain about how we paid too much for LaRoche.

So Leonard I am guessing that if/when the orioles sign LaRoche that you will come here and say you were wrong and that McPhail made the signing that everyone wanted. Im sure im right that you the faceless nothing will do the right thing and say you were wrong. But what am i saying they will sign LaRoche and it will be how McPhail didnt land Greinke.

What will it take, for you and the rest of the so called "fans" of the orioles who clearly enjoy rooting for them to fail, to be happy with anything the orioles do? Do they need to spend 500 million in an offseason, trade for every number 1 in the league.

Get a grip as has been detailed, the orioles arent attractive to premier free agents, they dont have the trade chips to acquire the top line talent everyone wants.

So Leonard, please detail for me the top 5 movese that you would make now if you were GM, and the 5 moves you would have made at the start of the Winter meetings.

Put your money where your mouth is blowhard because im sick of you and the rest of your ilk around here

I too am getting a bad feeling about Gregg and Laroche. I don;t blame Andy at this point, I think Laroche is using the orioles offer waiting for a better team to match it.. The more players sign the more leverage he gets.. AS for Gregg I think the holdup is he wants a guarantee as a closer AS that will be Bucks decision and Andy doesn't want to promise it over his manager, let us go get balfour and fuentes or ohmam then come back to Gregg.. Then it will hurt a lot less when he goes somewhere else.

I guess the real question is, which team is LaRoche going to jilt us for?

I hope Michael Aubrey starts for the Nationals. He is a good defensive 1st baseman who showed in late 2009 that he can hit. I believe that Andy made a mistake on Aubrey. Best wishes to Michael for a better 2011.

That's just cold, man.

Lame Dan Lame.

The Nationals will have Derek Lee and the Padres will have Adam LaRoche.

The Os will have LF Marcus Thames on first base.

The real fans are not rooting for the team to fail, as someone suggested. Real fans know the game on and off the field and understand that McPhail's priorities are profit for shareholders first, wins second.

i laughed my butt off. Don't youse guys know how tough it is to keep the masses entertained and up-to-date when there is no news to report. jeff and Dan would like nothing better than to have a real story to write about. it'll happen this week, I Betcha. and merry christmas everybody.

dspedden,

you clearly do not know the game on and off the field. the padres have made it abundantly clear that they do not even have the money to pay Derek Lee for one year at 8 million. that being the case, there is no way that they have the money to match our 3 year 21 million dollar offer to LaRoche.

based on the logic of your comment, if you do not know the game on and off the field, then you are not a real fan.

anyone in need of a mirror?

•The Orioles' first choice to fill their vacancy at first base remains free agent Adam LaRoche, writes Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. Baltimore and LaRoche have been "heavily involved" in talks, and LaRoche is "waiting for a few things" before deciding on a team. The Nationals and Padres are also pursuing him.

I liked Aubrey. I hope he gets the first base job in Wash.

Dan,

I agree with you the Orioles don't have that many blue chip players to trade, right now. But that could change by mid-season. Tillman, Arieta, Berken, Patton, Vandenhurk, Reimold, Fox and Pie have a very good chance of making the team out of Spring Training. With more playing time at the major league level they could become blue chip players. Bell and Synder seem destined to start the season at the AAA level. With the exception of Arieta and Berken, the acquisition of high priced FAs will lessen the major league playing time of the others. LaRche and Lee are now being offered $7 million or more a year. Signing one will definitely lessen the MLB playing time of Reimold, Fox and/or Pie for this season and maybe longer. It's a decision(and a tradeoff) that Oriole management has to make. I think that the signing of either will not increase the Oriole win total more than 4 or 5 games in the coming season. Nolan Reimold or Joe Mahoney are probably the Oriole first basemen of the future.

Happy Hoildays to you and yours!

If and when the O's do sign Laroche, people will come on here proclaiming he is the next Aubrey Huff, ect. ect. Fans are fickle that way

Anyway, Laroche could be a good signing and hopefully AM will get it done. As for the "wait 'til something better comes along" camp, ever heard of Trade Bait in the event that ever happens??

It gets tiresome to read comments by not-so-knowledgeable fans who propose impossible trades, complain without adequate info, etc.
But one thing even more tiresome is the all-knowing expert fan whose attitude of infinite superiority oozes from his every comment, and who seems to live for opportunities to put down those perceived to be more naive.
I've been a fan of this game for sixty years and still remain relatively uninformed about the fine points. I have opinions, but they're not all that sophisticated.
Should I leave it all to the experts, or is
this a public forum?