Why don't front offices (the twins in this instance) throw Zito's first year stats with the Giants in their face as an example of why they won't pay 126m...unless he agrees to give salary back if he stinks. At least with A-Rods deal, one would think that teams can say nobody is worth more than him and use that deal as a 'cap' on position player salaries. The Zambrano deal seems by todays standards.

As bad as some of the moves have been that the FO has made in recent years, I honestly don't think Gary Matthews was given any thought at all. That contract was one of the most ridiculous ones ever given in recent memory. The guy put up numbers in Texas, where I could hit .300/20/80. He is awesome with the glove, but I wouldn't give him any more money than I would CPat.
If we really want a center fielder, I have been preaching this from day 1, try to sign Aaron Rowand. One big money deal needs to be made, and if he will sign here we need to make it happen. Great things will come out of it, I promise.

Wasn't the deal the other year for Tejada and the Angels for Aybar and Ervin Santana? Looks like that might have been a good non-deal. The Roy Osawalt deal might have been a good deal, though???

What a coincedence Roch, I went 3-0 yesterday to. I agree we don't need to bring Matthews back especially if he has to sit out a suspension for his steroids act.
On a more personal note I wonder what really killed Joe Kennedy. But my prayers go out to his family. I never heard his name being mentioned in any drug related things. So maybe it was a heart attack. That's is not common at all for a man in his 20's to have some sort of heart problem. I was even hoping the Orioles would take a look in bringing him in this year.
I don't get these agents at all. Greenberg turned down a contract offer of $93 million. This guy must hang around Steve Boras. They are one of the main reasons why salaries are so ridiculously high. They must think us middle class families must work to bring our families to games so we can pay their clients salaries. They are crazy I already cancelled my plans to watch a below average team like the Orioles lose to all these average-above average teams. So screw these agents they aren't getting my money anymore.
letter k means I want to kick some agents butts like Matt Stover kicks field goals.

Scott Boras
Steve Boros

Roch. I'm 3-0 too right now, bet against my Lions..can only follow your heart so far!
Glad to see that you also don't see Gary Matthews as an Oriole.
The Twins made an offer to Johann Santanna that was more than fair. How much is enough? I mean if he can't get by on 93 mill...I guess it becomes all about the ego at that point. Barry Zito got 126 mill so I want 126.1 mill.
This is another case which serves to alienate fans. If I'm a Twins fan, I'm fuming because the owners can't win. Make a fair offer and then pretty well forced to trade him now, just to get anything back. They just lost Torii Hunter because another team ridiculously overpaid.
The Orioles will likely lose Bedard because I'm sure he'll turn down whatever they offer. Thus, the O's will trade him for a couple of ???
At least the Twins have been competitive, we've been losing for 10 years.
More than ever, MLB is becoming a 2 tiered league-the haves & Have nots. I'd classify the Haves as Yanks, RedSox, Angels, Dodgers, Mets, Braves and the rest as various degrees of have-nots.

Greed is going to be the ruin of many a ball club. As TerryP just wrote, the league is comprised of a few have's and the rest have-not's. I'm still convinced that there should be a salary structure for baseball. One consisting of a base salary and the rest being incentives. There would be positive as well as negative. Pitchers, for instance, would get positives for K's and negatives for BB's. Hitters, positive for hits and negative for K's. Incentives for plateaus reached perhaps. That way your salary is predicated on you actually helping the team win this year rather on what you did last year. If you don't participate due to injury, too bad. You're not helping the team from the bench or your living room either. If you have an off year, then you get paid for what you do rather than what you could've or should've done. If you have a "career year", then those incentives will pay you what you're worth. Not an ideal situation but perhaps one that would do away with the "highest bidder" syndrome plaguing baseball now. Just a rambling thought from someone who can't afford to change my mind much less go to MLB games on a regular basis.

Why does everyone blame the agents? They're only doing what they get paid to do - get the most attractive offer for their client. That's the way the system works. The problem is, it only takes one owner (in this case, Peter McGowan and his ridiculous $126m contract for Zito) to screw everything up. Now, $18m a year for 7 years is the base rate for a guy like Barry Zito. Santana is much better than him, so it would be foolhardy of the agent if he didn't start the bidding at that number.

the baseball system of unlimited cap room sucks! enough said.
(see: yankees)

every other sport in the usa has the salary cap (i.e. socialist) structure!

the yankees and red sox will gladly pay over the limit because to them that's like a corporation getting fined 100,000 when they make 4 million dollars.

baseball needs a salary cap. look how the NFL has become (minus the pat's this year). excitement every week.

Craig's right, it's not the agent's fault. The owners are the ones to blame for the two-tiered system. One or two bad/overpriced contracts causes a ripple effect. eliminating most of the league when bona-fide stars hit free agency.
Ironically, I can remember the days when rival owners were ready to tar and feather Angelos when he handed out large contracts like candy to guys like Alomar, Raffy...
The only solution may be a salary cap. It seems to be working in the NHL.

Orioles must not give Tejada away for cheap. his numbaZ don't lie.

more about aubrey & joe kennedy, please. I'm intrigued...

Final report from Honolulu. Abreu, Bordes, Thall and Wieters did OK. Ouellette, poor. Snyder was great.

Paul in Sti: Amen! A salary cap is definately needed. So is a salary floor, if you want teams to be competitive. Every team should be required to have a payroll between, say, $90 million and $100 million per season. That range should also include the total that each team spends on managers, coaches, scouts, draft picks, video replay rooms, and baseball academies abroad.

Why is Andruw Jones never mentioned in free agent news - not just O's news - but any MLB FA news? I know he had a crap season last year, but he still has a pretty good glove, is only 30 years old and, if I'm not mistaken, hit 50 homeruns a year or two ago. I've never heard of any connection to steroids, so absent that, why is he not a hot commodity?

Salary cap's never happening as long as there's revenue sharing and that baseball can point to 7 champions in the last 8 years (I think). Plus, the union won't let it happen. Don't mind the Os waiting to make deals...once the Cabrera thing shakes out, things will happen (or not) fast. Mac stared down Boras in the Wieters talks...maybe the patience will pay off again? Tejada's trade value will continue to go up as his 2yrs/26 mill look better as more outrageous deals get signed. Oh yeah, stop acting like having Guthrie as the #1 without Bedard around is a good thing. The only pitcher the Os truly know what they're getting is DCabrera (scary). Guthrie, Loewen, etc are enticing, but still big ?

Heather's gone so Schmuck is the best looking sports guy. Roch is moving up. He's 4th and climbing. Since my lady friend took my WalMart card and said " be back tonight " I'll repeat what I bloged in Peter"s blog. Bedard for Adam Jones? He's a pure thumper and only 22. Question - would the Mariners make this deal if proposed ? MMMMM!

Yea cause the same teams keep winning right? Oh wait the same teams don't keep winning...cept in the AL East.

2000 New York Mets New York Yankees (w)

2001 Arizona Diamondbacks New York Yankees (w)

2002 San Francisco Giants Anaheim Angels (w)

2003 Florida Marlins (w) New York Yankees

2004 St. Louis Cardinals Boston Red Sox (w)

2005 Houston Astros Chicago White Sox (w)

2006 St. Louis Cardinals (w) Detroit Tigers

2007 Colorado Rockies Boston Red Sox (w)

Seven different winners in last eight years. You will also notice a nice ratio between small, medium, and large market teams in the NL.

Some sort of min and max spending might be in order but lets not get carried away. Something on the lines of 60 mil to 160 mil.

I myself and not hugly fond of what the cap has done to football and basketball. Baseball is different from the other sports, lets try and keep it that way.

Why has Torii Hunter been signed for so much money? Seems to me this 32-year-old outfielder who is generally average at the plate although outstanding in the field is incredibly overpaid. Paul Blair was easily the equal of Hunter.

I agree, the salary structure in baseball is out of hand but I think 7 of the 8 teams in the playoffs this year weren't in the playoffs last year. That's pretty good considering everyone says that you can't win unless you spend the most money.
If I had to ever side with either side and trust me it's hard to side with greedy people but the owners have all of the responsibility and the players have non. Guaranteed contracts are ultimately the problem.

You should read about what the Owners used to do to the players before free agency. Some teams charged the players to clean their uniforms among other things.

I don't see anything wrong with getting paid what you are worth. I'm sure everyone here has turned down raises and bonuses.

The problem is the Owners. No one is holding a gun to their head to sign those paychecks. They just have a bad habit of trying to keep up with the Jones'.

Another interesting point is that as a percentage of revenue, the players salaries are low right now. Usually salaries are in the 50 to 55% range. Right now they are at 41%.

I know what owners used to do. I'm no fan of them either but when push comes to shove, they are responsible. They sign a guy for $300 Million and he gets hurt, they still pay. What responsibility does the player have? None
And I have a problem with players saying that the money is there so why not have their share? The money is not there. They sign these ridiculous contracts then the owners find ways to pay for it. Raising ticket prices, cable fees, whatever. I agree that the owners fight with each other to sign these players and escalate the salaries but if they ever got together like they have in the past, they are accused of collusion. It's a no win situation. Well it is win win for the players and mostly for the owners. The fans ultimately lose.

Ummm... Jeff, that's only 6 different winners in the past 8 years. For the AL, only three years of the past eight has it been somebody other than the Yankees or Red Sox in the Series. In the NL it's been a little better, with only the Cardinals being a repeating representative.

A more telling statistic might be how many teams have NOT been in the postseason in the past 8 years. I have not checked, but I suspect it's a high percentage.

I say the O's should go after A Jones
About a 3 year 18 million deal should do. If not bump it up to 20, it will be worth it in CF. Good glove, did slump off in '07 but is still 30 and can put up between 25-35 HR. He hit 41 in '06.
Someone tell me why not?
Dont be afraid to hurt my feelings if I'm wrong

Salary Cap- a crazy artificial spending limit instituted by the owners to protect themselves from each other's capitalistic habits; yes, the same one's they've used in all of their other business ventures to amass the fortunes required to own a professional sports team.Usually perpetrated on the rubes who manage the NFL NBA and NHL players association who think they're getting a good deal The ultimate result is a giant WIN for the owners, and a giant LOSS for the players and fans.
Just another fallacy to think the end result is a better product for all concerned, and I don't care how its instituted or managed. The NFL is a league chock full of mediocrity. And David Stern must be the best commissioner-marketer of any pro sport to keep that inferior product going as well as it does.

Go read The Business of Baseball or any article about instituting salary caps in a free market economy before all you economists get off once again proposing one for baseball just because some guy gets a bunch of the money he helps make. How about this for a change: try managing your team and your business differently and efficiently so you have the resources to compete.
No amount of money can overcome the litany of management errors-commission and omission both- your beloved O's ownership/FO crew has been guilty of thru the years. So limiting someone else's money supply is going to help you out exactly how if you don't know what the hell you are doing in the first place? Does it help you be a better run ballclub, or maybe you just luck into some talent every once in a while? Yes, that's a plan!!

And one more thing: don't be a crybaby and tell me it can't be done.

Well Jack keep in mind I messed it up and the Yankees lost that series to AZ....so its 7 in 8 years (oops)

Also keep in mind that even 6 in the last 8 is still very very good historicaly for any of the major sports.

I did also say that, other then the AL East. That would be why I suggested a much more liberal min and max on a cap.

Teams like the Rays and the Marlins should not be able to spend less on thier major league talent then they get from revenue sharing and I think 160 mil should be high enough as a cap, teams that work harder for income deserve to reap rewards for that work.