The Orioles and their PTBNL
Still hearing buzz about the player to be named later in the Chad Bradford deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, which means that there are a lot of fans thinking with their hearts instead of their heads.
The Orioles moved Bradford to save his 2009 salary, mistakenly assuming they could cover his innings with some of the club's up-and-coming minor league pitching prospects. Didn't turn out that way, but that was the theory.
The PTBNL will almost certainly be a marginal prospect that isn't familiar to your average fan. It's always possible for a team to steal somebody who is underappreciated in his own organization, but there's no way the O's are getting one of the Rays' top infield prospects, even if that prospect is blocked at the major league level by a player who is going to be around for awhile.
If the Orioles want that caliber of young player, they'll have to make a separate deal with the Rays, and probably will have to give up a decent minor league pitcher in return. Either way, nothing is going to happen until November.
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Comments
He's a setup man. Unless they traded off George Sherill, I can't imagine getting much. Hopefully we can give away Walker for a bag of peanuts.
Posted by: david | October 5, 2008 10:36 AM
Darn, now I'm in a bad mood. Reid Brignac would have looked nice in Baltimore. :(
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Pete's reply: They can deal for him if they really want him.
Posted by: Mike | October 5, 2008 11:14 AM
Forget Bradford. We have a much bigger problem in that our best player has one year left on his contract. Do you honestly think the O's can sign BROB without him shopping around? Do you think the O's will make a deal and when? The longer they wait, the cheaper the return.
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Pete's reply: I think we'll know about BRob by Nov. 1 as far as a contract extension. I think the Orioles will make two significant trades in December.
Posted by: NORM | October 5, 2008 11:40 AM
Tampa Bay may be the place to trade Brian Roberts. They're okay at second with Iwamura, but Roberts would be a significant upgrade, offensively and defensively. Something like Brignac, a pitcher, and Iwamura for Roberts might be worth exploring.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 5, 2008 11:53 AM
Pete:
I never understood why saving a team $3 million on a $100 million payroll was worth giving up a solid major league reliever like Bradford, to get a rinkey dink Tampa Bay minor leaguer who probably, has 1 chance in 1,000 of making the club and ever being as productive as a Bradford? Based on the Relief Staff's 5.99 ERA during the second half of the season, the move probably cost the O's a few wins, and they will have nothing to show for the move in terms of future talent. If you told me the $3 million savings might buy them something, I might change my attitude.
Posted by: Deke | October 5, 2008 4:27 PM
Schmucker:
On the trade front you obviously seem to sense something, with one of the trades involving Roberts. But, who do you suppose the second one would center around?
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Pete's reply: A No. 3 starting pitcher.
Posted by: Deke | October 5, 2008 4:30 PM
Peter, you replied to Deke that the second trade would involve a # 3 starting pitcher. I am assuming you meant that we would be trading our # 3 starting pticher. If that is what you meant, who would that # 3 pitcher be and what would we possibly be getting in return?
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Pete's reply: I meant that the O's would try to trade for a No. 3 (or No. 4) starter.
Posted by: Russ in Sarasota | October 5, 2008 5:32 PM
Can Tampa TAKE Cabrera as the player to named later?
Posted by: EC | October 5, 2008 6:51 PM
Pete's reply: A No. 3 starting pitcher
You're assuming we have a #2 starter....
Posted by: BIll on da Shore | October 5, 2008 7:42 PM
Don't we need to get a No. 2 starting pitcher first??? On the other hand, if we're giving up one of our "number 3 starting pitchers," i.e., Burres, Olson, Liz, Waters, Cabrera, Bass, et al., I'm all for getting whatever the O's can for them.
Posted by: Terp'nTexas | October 5, 2008 8:48 PM
A #3? Who would you suggest they go after, and exactly who is our #2?
Posted by: Chris | October 5, 2008 10:39 PM
I still think that the Rays regret giving so much money so soon to Longoria and they are trying to offload him to the Orioles as the PTBNL, but of course he didn't clear waivers. The O's have two major concerns with accepting him though: 1) all that guaranteed money he's getting; and 2) they are already set at 3B with Mora. So I heard that Angelos is trying to get TB to pick up some of the guaranteed money in Longoria's contract to take him off their hands.
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Pete's reply: I think you're right. The guy is totally overrated.
Posted by: Jack | October 6, 2008 3:40 PM
hey Pete,
is there a possibility we wind up in the running for Prince Fielder because of the hype of Tex ?...do we just keep Millar and Huff ? what would be a good shortstop fit for the O's ? Rafael Furcal ? Felipe Lopez ? do we go with a trade for a SS prospect ? (i think Reid Brignac would be good but I'm sure the Rays would try and hose us on that one) And pitching, ohhh pitching...nightmare on eutaw street...Josh Fogg, Jon Garland, Oliver Perez ? any interest in these guys on the homefront ?
we need to let Cabrera go...he's chasing more fans out of CamYds than if we called a city-wide fire drill....
mykal d.
7 days torn
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Pete's reply: I haven't heard Fielder's name anywhere around this team, but it's an intriguing thought.
Posted by: mykal drexler | October 8, 2008 1:59 PM