Question to anyone with knowledge:

What type of free agent is Texiera? Is he one that, if signed, will require a forfeit of a pick to the Angels? I can't remember what determines all of that stuff? If so, MacPhail, and all of us, would have to consider that cost, especially with all of the other possible free agent signings that may or may not happen.

I don't think Roberts would have made that much of a difference for the Cubs. They're offense was pretty good, and if they bat him at the top of the lineup, I'm not sure how much his switch hitting would have benefitted them, as lineup strategy usually focuses on the 3-7 hitters. The guys at 1 and 2 should have good OBP, and the guys at the bottom usually don't. It's the guys in the middle that matter with that stuff.

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Pete's reply: Teixeira would certainly be a Type A free agent, so the O's would lose a second or third-round pick if they signed him.

Roberts presence on the bases changes the approach of every pitcher in baseball. The Cubs certainly would have benefited greatly from his presence.

I was thinking the same thing when I saw DeRosa making error after error in the playoffs. BRob would have made a huge difference on that team. The Cubs should have met our demands. The Cubs still probably have enough talent to pry him away. We should certainly look into this. We hold the cards now, the Cubs will probably be a bit desperate this offseason.

Chuck -

Good thought about Teixeira. Can the Orioles afford to devote 20-25% of their payroll to one guy while giving up a high draft pick to sign him?

Another thought about Tex: He's represented by Scott Boras. That means he's getting a ten year deal worth at least $18M per. The guy is a perennial 30 homer / 100 rbi / Gold Glove threat. $18M per might be a low estimation. I wouldn't be surprised if Teixeira got $20M+, especially if you consider that fact that Alex Rodriguez is making $32M per year. You've got to figure that Boras is gunning hard to convince some half-wit GM with high expectations and money burning a hole in his pocket (in other words: Hank Steinbrenner) that Teixeira's almost as good as A-Rod, so he should make almost as much as A-Rod makes.

So sometime in December, the O's will offer something like eight years, $140M, Boras will say "Thanks, but no thanks. Maybe he'll come play for you guys when he's a washed up 40-year-old. But hey, congrats on getting 'Baltimore' back on the road jerseys", and we'll all move on.

And in 2018, when the Yanks are in the AL East basement, paying Teixeira (38), A-Rod (42), Hanley Ramirez (34) and CC Sabathia (37) $100 million combined, we'll be celebrating a World Series win, Chris Tillman's third Cy Young and Matt Wieters' second MVP Award. And we'll be saying, "Man, it's a good thing MacPhail didn't shell out the big bucks for Teixeira back in winter of '08."

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

The O's player the Cubs really could have used in the playoffs was Millar. I'm serious. That team was soooooo stiff, feeling the weight of a hundred losing teams before them. A little Millar levity was needed in that clubhouse. That "idiot-cowboy-up" thing sure worked for the Red Sox when they couldn't get over the hump.

Imagine what the Cubs are gonna offer now if they are that desperate of getting Brian Roberts. It is gonna be a interesting offseason for the O's in my opinion.

The O's need to trade Roberts. He is not going to sign on for another 3 year rebuilding project and lets face it - 3 years is being optimistic. Its either that or you get him for 1 year on another 65 win team.

This team needs to stockpile pitching, and sign Nick to a long term deal. He will remember the goodwill when he's a free agent. Texiera is not the answer. This is not the year to make big free agent splashings when you have absolutely no chance to compete. If the team wants to draw fans, keep the salaries low while you grow the farm and pass it on to the fans as lower ticket costs.

This is not rocket science.

While I think it would be great to have Teixeira in the middle of our lineup, I don't think that Orioles will sign him unless his price drops to $14-$15m per season. The Orioles need to focus on making a couple more big trades, and continue to stockpile young arms and young position players. That is how you can accelerate the rebuilding the process. The Rays built their team through shrewd trades (can we get a future Kazmir for Daniel Cabrera? Anyone? Bueller?) and draft picks. The Orioles are starting to do that same thing. I'm looking forward to seeing who the Orioles can get for Brian Roberts, Aubrey Huff, Ramon Hernandez, D-Cab, George Sherrill, Melvin Mora (if he agrees to a trade), and any other players we might trade. The trades obviously have to make sense to us, but it would be really nice if we could pick up a young 1B, a young SS, and a young 2B (to replace Roberts). Roberts is 31 years old, and may start declining quickly in the next year or two. We need to get all we can right now for him. The same goes for Aubrey Huff, though he was a really nice surprise this year.

The rebuilding won't begin in earnest until we truly have a younger player at every position. We DO need to re-sign Nick Markakis however, as he will be the one key veteran that will remain through the rebuilding. His price tag goes up every year.

If I'm Andy MacPhail, I'm looking really hard at that 9 year, $44 million deal that Tampa signed with Evan Longoria, too. I'd like to see the Orioles do something similar for Matt Wieters when he comes up to the majors.

Good luck with all the moves, Andy!

Cubs might be desperate for Roberts, however Pete's correct. The Hardin deal took away some depth from their farm system, and players like Murton, Gallagher, & Patterson, that were part of the deal. All three players would have been attractive pieces for the O's. Milwaukee might be a possible trade partner since they have an attractive SS prospect and could also send Weeks back in the deal. Colorado could also provide some interesting returns, as the Rockies play in a winnable division.

And finally, let's put the Texeira rumors to rest. We should not be entertaining such thoughts, as we have a viable bat in Aubry at first, and he's still under contract. He may not be the threat Tex is, but he had comparable numbers this season. We need pitching and more pitching, as well as a SS prospect.

I don't want to trade Roberts because we go as he goes. He set the table for our team offensively and if you think he wouldn't have been a major asset to the Cubs in the playoffs, than you don't know baseball because Soriano was 0 for everything and Roberts would have been a game changer. Not to mention far superior defense over DeRosa. As to trading him though, it only creates another gaping hole in our infield that we would then need to fill. No thank you.

Teixeira will get paid for sure, but how much depends on the market and whether Boras can get two teams to bid against each other.

Bring Teixeira home to roost! Ink Roberts for 3 more years, and hope that the Cavalry comes soon!
(Arrieta, Matusz, Tillman, Patton).

thanks for the answer.

you never know how much Tex might go for the way this market is going. Are teams actually going to have that kind of money ever again? I sure hope not.

Lower ticket prices to combat the recession and then players can't be signed for as much.

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Pete's reply: The O's have plenty of low-priced tickets these days, and they still don't seem to be able to sell them.

I have to trust MacPhail. He made the right moves last winter - great payoffs for Tejada and Bedard, and the players offered in the Roberts deal weren't enough. I'd hate to see Roberts go, since he really does drive the offense and his performance leads me to believe he'll keep it up for a few more years. I'm surprised there hasn't been more interest in Huff, since I'd think his salary and bat would be very attractive.

If the O's are still rebuilding 3 years from now then they have the wrong guy running things. Andy should be able to get them on track in a couple of seasons as all they need is a couple of key bats and a couple of strong arms to get it together. Tex and AJ would go a long way to putting them in contention and oh yea, another manager.

Haven't read anything on where Matusz is playing and how is he doing? Same thing on Adam Loewen. Can you bring us up to date?

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Pete's reply: Loewen got off to a good start at instructional ball. Matusz has yet to pitch at the AFL.

Pete:
Torn labrums are not something that a lot of pitchers come back from to pitch effectively. Isn't Kris Benson a classic example? As such, is it realistic for the O's to count on Albers and Patton for next year, or in your mind, is their return a big question mark? I keep reading where everyone is indicating that Albers, is not only coming back but is being counted on to be a starter. That sounds like a real long shot to me. Also, didn't Johnson have a lesser labrum problem at the end of the year? When you evaluate the injured pitchers, Ray, Sarfate and Miller sound like they should be OK, but we had something like 10 pitchers on the disabled list this year, and some of them like Walker and Bierd, etc., have to remain question marks as we head into next year. Are we being overly optimistic in assuming that all of them will return to pitch effectively in 2009, as many think, especially the guys that had labrum issues? I always thought that only a small % of pitchers that had labrum injuries, every came back to pitch again, much less, to pitch effectively.

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Pete's reply: I don't think that's true. I think the results of labrum surgery are pretty good, but the guys still have to be good enough to win at the major league level, so I'm sure a lot of them wash out.

Aubrey at 1st? Come on? Seriously? Sure he can play there. But he had more games at 3B then 1st this year. How about trading Mora. But sadly I think Huff won't even be an Oriole next season. He will be dealt this offseason.

Also Huff's career year is a normal year for Teixeira.

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Pete's reply: It's going to be tough to move Mora with a no-trade clause and a big salary.

Adam,

"I don't want to trade Roberts because we go as he goes." Well, we have finished in 4th place for the last decade, and last this year. Roberts has been here for most of that run. What are we going to do if we trade him? Lose more? We obviously need to rebuild, and the best way to do that is to trade your 30+ most expensive players for some young early 20s guys with potential (more than 1). Good drafts, smart trades, and key free agent acquisitions are how you build a team - in any sport. If you look at almost every winning team, they all had guys that came up through their system. They all had solid GM's, and they all signed key free agents. They didn't overpay for guys. Keeping Roberts for one year just to win 10 more games is just not smart. Even if we re-sign him, he'll be a 32 year old 2B in 2009 and on the decline soon thereafter.

I agree with TX O's Fan in that let's forget about Texeira. He is a great player, but Huff played very well in the field so let's see if can repeat his 2008 numbers and if he does, he wouldn't cost 2/3rds of what it would take to get Tex to Baltimore. Too many holes that need to be filled and 1B isn't in the top 10.

Pete, I don't think we will have the Brian Roberts drama from last year. I think that Andy will either offer him a 3-4 yr. deal or just trade him since he is the only player we have that will net the top prospects that the FO is after.

I think Dave, Andy and Brian are all saying the right things, but what it comes down to it, money isn't the issue, it's does Brain want to be a part of the rebuilding? I don't think he does. I believe if that's the case, go out and try to get a haul similar to what we got from the M's for Bedard.

I know people will go crazy if he is traded, but you have to believe in the new regime and not compare them to the ones of the past until they prove otherwise. Andy has done wonders in the short time he has been here so he has my vote.

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Pete's reply: I'm inclined to agree that Andy will put something on the table early and then deal him if he can't work out an extension. But there will still be drama because Andy does not do things like that quickly.

Funny, i was thinking the same thing about the Cubbies & Roberts. Soriano showed once again that he isn't a lead-off man and he's pathetic in the postseason. However, he didn't look as bad as that last World Series with the Yankees in 2003 when he looked like he was swinging a broom.

Derrek Lee was forced to lead off far too many innings against the Dodgers because the #1 & 2 hitters were not getting on base.

I am really amazed at all of these people on here that are saying that we should save the money that we would use for Texeira, and use it elsewhere. Who else would want to sign with the O's (that is a good, young player) with their recent track record. There is a slight draw to the O's for Texeira since he lived here. Wouldn't it make it easier to sign other good FA's by signing one of the best that is available this year. And the notion that we should save money is ridiculous. How many years now has Angelos been saving money and getting more out of MASN. Money is not the issue, evaluating talent and getting talent to play here is.

What T-Mac said @ 11:17 plus an organization must manage its resources carefully as we did last winter with Bedard & Tejada. We don't have any to & can't afford to waste the few resources that we have in order to improve this franchise.

Can people please stop pointing out the loss of draft picks as a reason to not sign FA's ? Gimme a break. I don't know the stats but THE OVERWHELMING # OF DRAFTED PLAYER NEVER PLAY A DAY IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES.If you wanna argue that he's not worth it, its one thing, but a lost draft pick? LMMFAO

lst time comment - long time O's fan (60 yrs+). Notice Omar Vizquel will be available this winter. Great defense - hitting adequate. Could be a stopgap until youngster comes along.

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Pete's reply: Thanks for jumping in the pool. That's an interesting idea, though I wish the O's had a young shortstop close enough that a stopgap would make sense.

So, to sum up: We won't sign Teixeira for the same reason we didn't sign Mussina--because we can't match the dollars of the New Yorks and Californias of the world and even if we did, do you want to invest that much money into one guy, dollars that could be spent building your farm system which is where everyone seems to agree the future lies? Number two: there won't be an interest in Aubrey Huff because the consensus around the league is the guy had a career-read-fluke year, that whole "a light bulb always burns brightest just before it burns out" scenario, so he's not going anywhere. Three, Mora, no trade clause, you're an Oriole, pal. Four, Roberts, we were dead last with him, so being without him isn't going to make a big difference. Trade him while he has value. Yes, he's a great guy, team leader, yadayadayada, but again, WE WERE DEAD LAST WITH HIM and what part of that sentence do you fail to understand? Finally, it all comes down to pitching and defense. Continue to recruit top pitching talent. If you do trade Roberts, get a 2nd baseman in the deal, we should learn that from the Tejada deal (whither Rick Burleson?). That's all...

Kind of silly when you think about it. Any team could have used Roberts, he's an above average second baseman. Plus DeRosa, the guy they were supposed to get rid of to make room for Roberts, had himself a pretty good season. As with all speculating, there's no gurantee that anything would have been different, good or bad.

The question becomes, do we still entertain offers for Roberts, or do we try to lock him up?

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Pete's reply: Both.

I hope the O's haven't waited too long to unload BRob. It seems logical that his agent will shop him around and it doesn't matter who we trade him to, so they have to trade him.......NOW. By the way, this guy is my favorite player and the best the O's have. Still logic has to take over in this situation.

I am just throwing this out there, but the team that I honestly believe will go hard after Teixeira isn't the Yanks, but the Jays. The Jays have a great pitching staff (starters and BP), but other than Wells and Rios, they have no pop so if you put Tex in that line up, you have a very balanced line up from 1-9.

I don't know the MASN figures, but it takes quite some time for it to be the money making station that will make a difference in the payroll. It's not even in the same leagues as NESN (Sox) or YES (Yanks) so I don't think the O's have the money that some people think they do to throw around. There is a lot of silly deals that the FO still has to deal with from the mess by Flanny and friends such as Baez, Walker, Ramon, etc.

Lastly, one of the reason we are in the mess we are in, is because the FO has thrown money around instead of developing the farm system. The Sox have a lot of money, but they also have a deep farm system that they can use to fill gaps and make trades. This is something we don't have as evident by the debacle in the second half when injuries shook up the team.

Someone earlier mentioned Milwaukee as a trade destination for Roberts. I like it, but not for Rickie Weeks, I think he ends up in the OF, JJ Hardy (26 years old) or Alcides Escobar (21 years old) their stud minor leaguer would be great fits.

Thank goodness we didn't make that Cubs' trade. All the players suggested--Pie, Murton, Patterson, Cedeno, Veal, Ceda, Gallagher--have dimmed as players or prospects. All seven for Roberts would've been a bad deal for the O's.