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Maybe I'm being too hard on Willis McGahee, but I couldn't help but read his comments today and wonder if the lights are on and there's just nobody home.
Given the opportunity to back away from some statements on a recent radio show that made him look like a very selfish guy, he simply reinforced the notion that he's a very self-centered player. Take a look at Bill Ordine's story and draw your own conclusions.
The Chicago Cubs just traded second baseman Mark DeRosa to the Cleveland Indians, and you all know what that means.
Well, you don't really, but some of you are asking if this means that the on-again, off-again trade talks involving Brian Roberts and the Cubs might be on again. The Cubs just signed versatile infielder Aaron Miles to a two-year deal, and he can play second base, but it's fair to wonder if the big-payroll Cubs will try to recover more of the offensive production they just sent to Cleveland.
Keep in mind, however, that the Cubs are on the verge of dealing pitcher Jason Marquis to the Rockies to get some payroll relief and are thought to be close to signing outfielder Milton Bradley to a three-year, $30 million contract. That could mean they are trying to revive the Jake Peavy deal rather than the Brian Roberts trade that fell through a year ago.
Look at it this way. Mark Hendrickson is just Daniel Cabrera at about half the price. He has officially signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract, which means he'll make just a little more than half what DCab earned last year and $1.1 million less than the Nationals will pay Cabrera this year.
Though I believe Daniel has far more upside, I can't blame the Orioles for finally giving up on his vast, unmined potential. I officially gave up on him last spring, so I could have saved the club $2.8 million if somebody had just listened to me. Food for thought in the future.
Hendrickson told the Sun's Dan Connolly that he is thrilled to be joining the team that is closest to his York, Pa, home and is looking forward to enjoying a relatively normal home life for the first time in his career. If nothing else, it's good to know that somebody wants to play near home.
There are so many open head coaching positions in the NFL, I just got a call from the Lions. I'm flattered, of course, but it's really not the right situation for me and my family at the present time.
Brian Billick's name was being thrown around for a GM/coach role in Detroit six weeks ago, but I've got to believe he would rather do TV and enjoy his new home on the Eastern Shore than get involved in that mess. The Broncos or Jets, however, might be attractive if Billick (right) gets any traction in this year's coaching merry-go-round.
The Broncos job would be a plum for anybody. Good organization. Good ownership. Played for a division title just a few days ago. Those kinds of positions don't come open that often. Right now, however, the name on everybody's lips -- and in just about every situation -- seems to be Cowher.
I'd love to be able to throw out the ceremonial first Rex Ryan rumor, but me and Willis McGahee just want to keep the focus on the Dolphins right now.
The revelation that the Orioles might be considering free-agent first baseman Richie Sexson did, as I expected, evoke some strong responses on the message boards. The guy's stock has fallen faster than the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 combined, so bringing him here to fill the void at first base would be widely viewed as another low-budget insult to the bruised sensibilities of Orioles fans.
Personally, I don't feel strongly about it either way. If the O's want to sign the guy to a cheap, incentive-laden contract in hopes of catching some proverbial lightning in a bottle, it'll at least create some spring training intrigue. But the front office cannot expect a move like that to be well-received, especially when it would be so closely juxtaposed with the team's inability to sign the first baseman everybody around here wanted for Christmas.
Maybe Sexson has something left, but I recall thinking the same thing when the Orioles brought in Sammy Sosa. It's conceivable the O's would get more production from a 1B/DH combination of Aubrey Huff and Lou Montanez.
The Orioles still are trying to figure out what they'll do at first base this coming season, and they've given some consideration to attempting a salvage operation with former 45-homer guy Richie Sexson. Club officials apparently have had at least one conversation with Sexson's agent, Casey Close, though the depth of their interest is uncertain.
Sexson's offensive numbers have been in steep decline for the past couple of years, but he might be a worthwhile gamble if he's willing to take an incentive-laden contract. He turned 34 yesterday, so he would definitely be a temporary fix, but he has hit 30 or more homers six times in his career and hit 45 homers in 2001 and 2003. He split a very disappointing 2008 season between the Seattle Mariners and the Yankees.
No doubt, such a signing would be viewed as another sign of the apocalypse by a lot of Orioles fans who are tired of this kind of low-impact maneuver, but I'll take all the spring training subplots I can get at this point.
Just read my friend Roch Kubatko's blog entry about Orioles prospect Hayden Penn and thought I'd throw in one other consideration as he prepares to report early to the Orioles' minor league spring training facility.
Penn may be a classic case of arrested player development, but he is not just one of many candidates for the Orioles rotation. If healthy, he figures to be a leading contender for one of the four open spots because he is out of minor league options. I'd have to guess if he's breathing and his arm is still attached to his shoulder at the end of training camp, he'll make the major league staff, since you have to assume some other team would claim him if the O's tried to outright him back to Triple-A Norfolk.
Of course, the way Penn's luck has gone whenever he's been close to getting a real major league opportunity, he'll probably get hit by a meteor right before the O's break camp in Fort Lauderdale.
Just when you thought that everyone in the Ravens locker room had bought into the John Harbaugh era, running back Willis McGahee (left) went on Sporting News Radio yesterday and blamed his uneven performance this year on everyone but himself.
When he was asked on The Monty Show why he hasn't been able to replicate last year's performance, he explained that "I tried to be someone else's running back this year and it didn't work out."
Apparently, he reluctantly changed his style and his offseason weight regimen to conform to Harbaugh's program, and now feels that's the root of his injury issues and his inconsistency.
"I didn't want to change it,'' he said during the radio interview, "but when you have a new coach and they've got a perception of you, you've got to try and change to stay on the good side of them."
Sorry, but that opinion would carry a whole lot more weight with me if Willis had felt the same pressure to show up at more of the voluntary OTAs. Here's one more McGahee comment from that radio show that should tell you all you really need to know:
"I don't know what this offseason is going to bring. It's been a crazy year for me with the talks of me not being there next year but regardless, I'm just going to go out there and play for me ... I can't play for nobody else but me."
Associated Press photo
McGahee on the upcoming offseason
McGahee on changing his routine
McGahee says he changed for the team
Audio courtesy of The Monty Show on Sporting News Radio
When I referred to the apparent signing of pitcher Mark Hendrickson as a "warm body" acquisition, it was not meant as a particular criticism of the guy or the move. It was simply my way of characterizing a move that isn't important enough to warrant a great deal of debate about the relative merits of the player involved.
Hendrickson might end up filling a need for the Orioles. He might be a middle guy in the bullpen. He might be a spot starter. He might get on a roll and hold a place in the rotation for a while. He also might suddenly disappear the way Steve Trachsel did last season. He's a guy the O's added to the list of non-marquee players who will come to spring training to audition for a job.
I'm only bothering to make this distinction because of the number of e-mails and comments I've been getting today that link this potential acquisition to the failure of the Orioles to sign free agent Mark Teixeira ... which is silly.
If you're angry that the O's didn't get Tex, that's your perogative and you're certainly not the Lone Ranger, but it's no cause to ridicule the routine housekeeping moves that every major league team makes at this point in the offseason to assure there are enough "warm bodies" to fill all the practice mounds in training camp. Nobody is presenting Hendrickson as an elite free-agent starter who is going to save the rotation. He's a guy who has OK numbers as a reliever and might benefit from working with a new pitching coach. It's a low-impact, no-risk move. Nothing to get particularly excited about one way or the other.
Don't misunderstand. The cloud of fan skepticism that hovers over this team has been well-earned, and there are plenty of legitimate criticisms to level at this ownership. But nit-picking this kind of roster move is a waste of negative energy that would be better spent putting a hex on the Miami Dolphins.
The Orioles reportedly will sign pitcher Mark Hendrickson (right) by the end of the week, barring a physical that doesn't reveal he is really only 6 feet 8. The guy is going to look really good on the charity basketball team the O's are planning for next year, but I don't know if you pencil him into the No. 3 hole in the rotation with that 5.07 career ERA.
This, as my headline suggests, is what I like to call a "warm body" signing. The Orioles have four open slots in the rotation and they've got to have some veteran arms to compete for those jobs, especially if Jeremy Guthrie talks his way onto Team USA for the World Baseball Classic.
Hendrickson is 6-9 and 230 pounds. He's been around the block, playing for the Blue Jays, Rays, Dodgers and Marlins over seven major league seasons. He's had one winning season (for the Rays in 2005, and that year he gave up 49 more hits than innings and had a 5.90 ERA.) This would suggest that he might end up as a long guy in the bullpen (he is, after all, one of the longest guys in the history of the game), but that will depend on what else the Orioles do to flesh out the rotation.
I guess he qualifies as one of those "geographical" guys Andy MacPhail was talking about at the start of the winter, just not the one you had in mind. He lives in York, Pa., so if you thought you saw him at the Ravens game, who knows?
If you've been over to baseballreference.com, you've probably noticed that Hendrickson's career numbers are surprisingly similar to those of Daniel Cabrera, except that Hendrickson walks about half as many batters per inning.
Getty Images
Maybe it was a good thing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was in attendance today at M&T Bank Stadium, since the Ravens took the face-to-face opportunity to lobby for the Sunday game next week in Miami.
What a week-plus of football in the Miami area. The Orange Bowl between Cincinnati and Virginia Tech will be played on New Year's Day at Dolphin Stadium. The Ravens and Dolphins play at 1 p.m. on Sunday. And the BCS Championship Game will be played there between Oklahoma and Florida the following Thursday.
If you're looking for a hotel room at a decent price, good luck.
We're supposed to hear any time now exactly what day and time the Ravens will play the Miami Dolphins next week. It could be either Saturday or Sunday at Dolphin Stadium, but you'd have to believe the NFL would take into consideration that the Ravens lost their midseason bye week and give them the extra practice/recovery day.
Well, maybe you don't have to believe that, but I'm pretty sure it was brought up to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at some point today. In fact, I am sure, because I asked somebody who would know and was told that some lobbying took place while Goodell was here for the game. Guess we'll find out pretty quick how much good it did.
The Ravens weren't going to get ahead of themselves and reveal which team they want to play next week, but you can bet it isn't the New England Patriots in Foxborough. The Dolphins just took a seven-point lead over the Jets at the Meadowlands, and you can bet just about everyone in Baltimore would rather head south than north for the first round of the playoffs.
For one thing, the Ravens have already beaten the Dolphins on the road. For another, nobody wants to face a Bill Belichick team in the postseason, even one that's without star quarterback Tom Brady. The Pats are playing very well right now. Got to think everybody in the AFC would just as soon they don't get to play anymore this year.
There's still a quarter to go, but head coach John Harbaugh has got to consider getting his key starters out of the game now. Though it's theoretically possible for the Jaguars to score three times, it's more possible to get somebody hurt who might be sorely missed in the playoffs.
You can be sure there is some second-guessing going on in Pittsburgh right now after quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had to be carted off the field with his head immobilized in a relatively meaningless game against the Cleveland Browns.
No doubt, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin wanted the starting offense to get enough reps to stay in sync with a playoff bye next week -- which makes perfect sense -- but he's probably kicking himself right now for keeping Big Ben out there in the final two minutes of the first half.
Commissioner Roger Goodell didn't leave much doubt about the likelihood of an expanded regular season schedule when he was asked about the possibility of the NFL going from 16 to 18 games.
"I think most fans would tell you that they'd like to see more football,'' he said, "and that's what we find. It's not really just an extension. It's a reduction of the preseason and a potential increase of the regular season. I think people, if they had the opportunity to see more regular season and less preseason, they'd take that option."
Goodell, however, does not think it's very likely that the NFL will increase the number of playoff teams in the near future.
"There have been proposals from time to time,'' he said. "There's a great deal of resistance to that, also, so I don't see any great movement in that area."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is watching the game from owner Steve Bisciotti's suite. He was in town last night for the 50th anniversary celebration of "The Greatest Game Ever Played." If he gets bored, maybe in the second half he'll take over as the replay judge.
Goodell (right) obviously was reveling in the amount of playoff-related drama around the NFL today, and why not? There are do-or-die games all day long and into the night. What more could a commissioner want?
"We'll, it's a day of great drama,'' Goodell said. "The consequences are high, and teams are playing to get into the playoffs. I think that's great for our fans. It's good for the sport. We think this is one of those unique days where the whole country will be focused on football and what's going to happen to the NFL playoffs."
Goodell couldn't get away without answering for that replay decision that gave the Pittsburgh Steelers a game-winning touchdown here two weeks ago.
"It's resolved on the field,'' he said. "The referee went through the right process. He goes back, and he looks at the replays. It was clear the head linesman was blocked on the live shot, to some extent. (The referee) took two different angles together and determined that the ball had broken the plane. I've seen those replays and I'm supportive of the decision."
Don't know about you, but I feel much better now. I guess the whole "indisputable visual evidence" thing was just a figment of my imagination.
Coming up on the blog: More pearls from the Commish.
Getty Images
Just some stuff that crossed my mind while I was waiting for someone to throw out the ceremonial first "Bring Back Sammy Sosa" post:
If you're a Ravens fan, today has to feel a lot like Christmas, and it's not like you have to strain your memory to make the comparison. Four months ago, you would have settled for seven wins and some noticeable growth in rookie (reserve) quarterback Joe Flacco. Instead, the Ravens are a few hours away from playing their Week 17 game with a playoff berth in the balance. Happy Holidays, indeed.
Let's start a rumor that Mark Teixeira will be sitting in Steve Bisciotti's suite today. Why not? He's got enough money now to invest in the team.
Sure, it would be nice if the Buffalo Bills suddenly rose up and trounced the Patriots, if only so we don't have to watch Derrick Mason (right) pop his shoulder back into place after each of his eight receptions today, but that's probably asking too much.
My wife hasn't touched her new Craftsman tool set since Christmas morning. Her engine is still knocking. I mean, what's the deal here?
After the Cowboys lose to the Eagles in Philly today, I think they ought to mike up Terrell Owens and Roy Williams and turn that trainwreck into an HBO reality series.
Frankly, I don't think I've ever seen a more poorly coached football game than last night's Emerald Bowl in San Francisco. Miami's clock management at the end of the first half and at the end of the game was beyond explanation and Cal's offensive playcalling was incomprehensible. Other than that, it was a pretty good game.
Went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Friday night. Just got back.
Baltimore Sun photo
Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail is in Florida for a few days of R&R, so there probably won't be much going on until after New Years Day, but I'm pretty sure he'll still be trading phone calls with the representatives of some of the remaining free agents.
Here's some info from relentless Baltimore Sun baseball writer Jeff Zrebiec, who managed to turn over some rocks while he was enjoying the holidays with his family in New Jersey:
Former Oriole Gregg Zaun remains the free-agent catcher most likely to end up in the Orioles lineup on Opening Day, but there have been conversations with agent Scott Boras about veteran Ivan Rodriguez (left). Whether he would be a good fit to mentor Matt Wieters and eventually step aside for the O's top minor league prospect has been a subject of some discussion in the O's front office.
My take: It strikes me as a better fit for the pitching staff, which is no small consideration, but I still doubt IRod ends up here. Unless the player development people secretly believe Wieters is farther away than they are saying, it would be bound to create an uncomfortable situation at some point in the season.
That doesn't mean I'm strongly opposed to the idea. The guy is a 14-time All-Star and a near-certain Hall of Famer, but he's not a great offensive player anymore.
Getty Images
Scratching my head a little over the number of comments about the Orioles and their incredible shrinking payroll. There are a lot of fans who believe that's a sign that Peter Angelos is just hoarding money and doesn't care about fielding a winning team, but I don't subscribe to that theory.
Frankly, I think the size of the payroll right now is irrelevant. If I had to choose between the Orioles winning 69 games next year with a $60 million payroll or winning 72 games with a $100 million payroll, I'd go with the lower one based on the hope that Andy MacPhail is conserving the budget for when it actually might make a difference. If that time comes and the O's still won't open their checkbook, then all the naysayers will be able to say they knew it all along -- and I'll tip my cap to them -- but a lot Andy's critics are way out over their skis right now.
I really get the feeling that some fans want the club to buy a bunch of free agents this year just to show them that the front office really cares. If you recall, Angelos did that a few years ago when the Orioles signed Miguel Tejada, Javy Lopez and a couple of other expensive players. Remember how well it worked out.
Before somebody chimes in that I've somehow fallen into the club's pocket, remember that the reason Mr. A does not return my calls is because I challenged him to open his books on a couple of occasions over the past few years when he has claimed financial hardship. I bring that up so that I don't have to listen to another wave of criticism from cynical readers who think I haven't been digging hard enough to get exact revenue figures to support their widely held belief that Angelos is rolling around in a giant vault full of $100 bills like Scrooge McDuck.
That said, everybody's entitled to an opinion, so I'd like to hear from the Andy bashers. Just who would you choose to start a new five-year plan when you run MacPhail out of town after just 18 months, and what would you do to turn the Orioles into an instant contender if you're not willing to wait through a player development cycle? I'm all ears.
Don't know that anyone in the warehouse is going to be listening, but I'm reminded of something Tommy Lasorda told me years ago when I mentioned that the fans in the stands probably disagreed with one of his managerial decisions. I'm guessing MacPhail would concur.
"If I listen to the people in the stands,'' Lasorda said, "it won't be long before I'm sitting up there with them."
Schmuck on the air: If you'd like to argue with me live, tune in from noon to 3 today for The Peter Schmuck Show on WBAL (1090AM). We'll be talking Orioles and previewing tomorrow's make-or-break game between the Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars. If your out of radio range, go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.
Orioles fans apparently aren't the only ones who are upset with an economic system that allows the New York Yankees to spend $423 million for three of the top players in the free agent market while major league teams continue to ask local taxpayers to help build them lavish new stadiums.
Some people in New York are starting to question how much public help the Yankees should get with the financing of the new Yankee Stadium, when they can spend as much on one player (Alex Rodriguez) as some teams have spent to build their new ballparks.
Here's a link to a column by New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica that actually was published before the Yankees added Teixeira to their payroll for an eight-year guarantee of $180 million.
NYC's Industrial Development Agency will hold hearings on Jan. 15 on the Yankees' request for an additional $259 million in tax-exempt bonds. The city already authorized $940 million. Shoudl be interesting.
Even though I'm a bit weary after wading through about 1,000 angry Mark Teixeira emails and posts over the past three days, I'll be in studio today at noon for The Week in Review with Clarence Mitchell IV and Kendel Erhlich on WBAL (1090 AM). We'll be talking current events, politics and maybe even some sports from noon to 3. If you're not in the listening area, you can got to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.
Since there have been several posts over the past few days questioning the logic of pursuing a thirtysomething Japanese pitcher during a rebuilding period, let me try to clarify the situation. The Orioles need to fill four slots in the starting rotation and -- if you were paying attention in August and September -- clearly need more pitching depth to get through the season than they presently have in development.
That is going to require some stop-gap players, who don't necessarily fit into the long-term schematic but might prevent the 2009 season from being a complete embarrassment.
There is an additional rationale for pursuing a pitcher such as Kenshin Kawakami. Though he might be no better than a No. 4 starter for two or three years, he fills one of those holes and also puts Baltimore on the map for future players coming from Asia. He's no Daisuke Matsuzaka, but the Orioles have to start somewhere and right now they are basically invisible in the Far East.
Listen, I'll jump right in with the rest of the naysayers if Andy MacPhail's plan still looks like this in a year or two, but I find it troubling that a lot of disgruntled O's fans are ready to call him a failure after just 18 months. Did you really think that a player development system could be overhauled in a year and a half?
Frankly, and I know I'm going to offend some of you, if you're calling him McFail after 18 months, then you deserve an organization that starts a new five-year plan every two years under pressure from its fans. I experienced this kind of mentality as a fan and then a baseball writer in Anaheim, and it only took the Angels 42 years to get to the World Series. Not sure I want to wait that long again.
...a new can of Easy Cheese. Somebody stuffed a can of pressurized cheddar into my Christmas stocking. Probably meant it as a joke, but I couldn't be more serious about my belief -- which I've stated here before -- that the ability to put cheese in an aerosol can is probably the ultimate proof that America is the greatest country in the world.
Okay, that wasn't really all I got, but we had a pretty low-key Christmas this year. My daughter, just home from four months of study in Russia, gets the prize for the most original gift. She went to an open air market in St. Petersburg and bought me two Olympic pins from the boycotted Moscow Games of 1980. They're already on eBay.
No, not really.
Give me credit for the most practical present. I got my wife a full set of Craftsman tools, which either proves that I'm not a sexist pig or that I'm tired of tuning up her car...or both. I also got her a new toaster oven, because I thought she deserved at least one romantic gift.
I'm sure most Baltimore baseball fans would have been fine with a copy of a Baltimore Sun sports section declaring that the Orioles signed free agent Mark Teixeira to an eight-year deal, but it was not to be. You might have to settle for a Kenshin Kawakami O's jersey on your next birthday.
Merry Christmas to all, and remember -- the next time you see me -- that it's better to give than to receive.
Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail hasn't just been sitting around the past week or so waiting for a callback from Scott Boras. He has been working on various other free-agent fronts and appears to be in serious contention to sign Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami.
The search for a stopgap starting catcher also continues. Former Oriole Gregg Zaun, the nephew of Rick Dempsey, remains under consideration. He's probably the best available player for the Orioles' purposes -- they want someone who will start for a couple of months and then help break in top prospect Matt Wieters -- but there is some question whether he would truly embrace that concept.
That's not a shot at Gregg, who would be fun to have around again, but he's a gamer and he wants to play, so he'd have to come to grips with the fact that he would be accepting a diminishing role.
The cards and letters keep coming, and very few of them have Santa Claus on them. I woke up to another 200 fan posts that continue to hammer at the same points -- the inability or unwillingness of the O's to show us the money, the galling ability of the Yankees to show everybody the money and the folly of an economic system that allows one team to spend more on four players than 17 other teams spent on their entire payrolls in 2008.
They are all good points, but I have to ask an impertinent question. If MLB's imbalanced economic system is so horrible, why did everyone wait until Tex signed elsewhere to complain about it. The Yankees signed CC Sabathia to a ridiculous contract earlier in the offseason and I didn't get three comments about the injustice of it all. Even the A.J. Burnett signing, which came more at the expense of the O's, only met with mild disgust.
Which leaves me to assume that if the Orioles had given Tex eight years for $180 million, there wouldn't have been a groundswell of sentiment in favor or totally throwing out the current MLB economic system and installing a new one. Everybody would have welcomed our boy back to the Baltimore area and all would have been right with the world.
The truth is, the system is broken, but you can't find anybody to complain about it in Tampa/St. Petersburg this year, or Denver last year or Detroit the year before. It only becomes an issue at times like these, when it's our ox that's being gored. The trouble is, our ox is starting to look like a big swiss cheese and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight.
AP file photo
Sorry, this isn't like that episode of Dallas where Victoria Principal awakens to see Bobby come out of a steamy shower and realizes it was all a dream. Mark Teixeira really did go over to the dark side yesterday, signing an eight-year contract with the Yankees and giving the Orioles a hometown diss instead of a hometown discount.
If you thought that interest in the Orioles had waned to the point where such an indignity would go unanswered, guess again. The news sparked a wave of Internet outrage from Orioles fans that included nearly 600 angry posts and e-mails to this blog alone. If I didn't personally answer yours, please accept my humblest apologies and my heartfelt wish that the holidays treat you better than Scott Boras.
Frankly, I was a little surprised at the percentage of those messages that included the promise never to attend another major league game.That level of frustration is understandable at a time like this, but if you're a baseball fan, you're not going to stop being a baseball fan because Boras acted like Boras, the Yankees acted like the Yankees and the Orioles acted like the Orioles. I expect you to take a couple of days to cool off and then be back here first thing Friday morning.
Tex is a nice player who could have helped rekindle some excitement at Camden Yards, but no one can be surprised that he chose a richer team with a brand new stadium and a much better chance to win than the Orioles will have for the foreseeable future.
The contract is pending a physical, of course, but I don't think anybody's too worried about that. I've heard if Tex can lift a suitcase containing $22.5 million in cash at least six inches off the ground, he passes with flying colors.
If you've suddenly -- and not coincidentally -- become a proponent of a baseball salary cap, this little bit of trivia isn't likely to change your opinion. The addition of Mark Teixeira at an average salary of $22.5 million gives the New York Yankees four of the five highest-paid players in baseball (pending Manny Ramirez's eventual signing).
The salaries of Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million), Tex, CC Sabathia ($23 million) and Derek Jeter ($18.9 million) add up to $91.9 million. That would have been the 14th highest payroll in baseball last season. In other words, there were 17 entire teams with payrolls lower than the current total salary of those four players.
If you were wondering, those four players will make nearly $25 million more than last year's O's payroll of $67 million.
This is a bitter pill for Orioles fans, who have been waiting for Mark Teixeira to become eligible for free agency ever since he was drafted by the Texas Rangers, but a late bid by the Yankees always was among the possibilities.
When this signing is finalized, however, it will be an indication that all the efforts of major league owners over the past 15 years to get a handle on the inequity of baseball's economic system have been to little effect. The Yankees have spent about $425 million over the past month or so to sign three of the four top players in the free agent market, turning baseball's long-running quest for parity into a parody of itself.
Now, O's fans are doomed to suffer the added indignity of watching their hometown kid show up at Camden Yards in a Yankees uniform for three series every year. It would have been almost as bad if he had signed with the Red Sox, which is why the Nationals were actually the most palatable suitor if the Orioles were left at the curb.
So, it appears the New York Yankees were laying in the weeds all along. SI.com's John Heyman is reporting that the Yankees have agreed to terms with free agent Mark Teixeira on an eight-year deal worth $180 million. ESPN's Buster Olney is up on ESPN.com with a similar report, though only characterizing the total value of the deal as more than $170 million.
Let the teeth-gnashing begin in Baltimore, where the Orioles supposedly never raised their original bid, which was reported to be a seven-year offer worth between $140 million and $150 million.
Before anyone totally indicts the O's for fiddling while the the other bidders played real music, I'm continuing to hear that there was little interest on the Teixeira side in playing for the Orioles. That might sound strange, since he grew up in Severna Park, but some players do not want the responsibility that comes with being a hometown superstar. You can also surmise that he didn't see the opportunity to play on a winner anytime soon.
Still, it probably would have looked a lot better if the O's had been more openly aggressive like the Nationals, who reportedly increased their offer over the past few days. Of course, as I said recently, there was no good PR to be realized from the Orioles failing to sign Teixeira, no matter how much or how little they bid.
So far, there are no Orioles confirmed to play for the United States in the World Baseball Classic. Brian Roberts would seem like an obvious choice, but Dustin Pedroia is even more obvious after his MVP season and Chicago Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa has received an invitation to join the team, which seems to leave Roberts on the outside looking in.
The other Orioles position player who might seem like a perfect choice is right fielder Nick Markakis, but he told The Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec today that he turned down an offer because he and his wife are expecting their first child at about that time.
Orioles pitcher Jeremy Guthrie has expressed the desire to be on the WBC pitching staff. He hasn't heard anything, but he probably still has a chance because pitching spots will open up between now and then due to injuries and other circumstances.
Just got a raft of comments about ESPN "reporting" that a Teixeira deal is imminent and that the Orioles are "dormant." If you want to read the entire story, it's right here, and you'll be shocked to find that it doesn't really say a deal is imminent or anything else that hasn't already been written on ESPN.com and a lot of other sites.
Everybody is ready for this thing to be over, and everybody is assuming that Christmas is the deadline for a deal. It's obvious that things are coming to a head -- especially after the Angels pulled out of the bidding over the weekend -- but (with all due respect to ESPN and everybody else, including me) saying that it's probably down to the Nationals and Red Sox isn't advancing the story. It's filling space at a time when people want updates and there isn't anything new.
This isn't a shot at ESPN.com. I've written plenty of blog entries on this subject that are more speculation than substance. It's a warning to all you Tex-watchers about the folly of letting your emotions run wild every time one of us starts talking about what might eventually happen. It'll be over soon enough.
Since agent Scott Boras was nice enough put out a prepared statement yesterday responding to the decision by the Angels to withdraw their offer for free agent Mark Teixeira, I thought the least I could do was translate it for you. Here's a between-the-lines look at what Scott (left) was really trying to say:
"Mark Teixeira enjoyed his time with the Angels and was an integral part of their success last season. His interest in returning to the club has been sincere, real and continues to be one of his earnest priorities throughout this offseason."
Translation: "Everyone knows that Mark wants to play on the East Coast, but he has an earnest and sincere desire to return to Anaheim for a three-game series in each of his 10 seasons with the Red Sox or Yankees."
"Clubs are very aware — in particular the Angels — participation in the free agent process does not signal lack of interest in signing with the club."
Translation: "The Angels have been around long enough to understand that a lack of interest from the player should not be interpreted as a lack of interest in them helping us drive up the price on other teams."
"Case in point, the Angels signed two great free-agent players who engaged in the mechanism, receiving and exchanging offers with multiple clubs, while negotiating with the Angels."
Translation: "C'mon. How many other agents use words like "mechanism" to describe this ridiculous process. I'm just totally in another league from all those other rubes."
"Therefore, we are assuming that reasons, other than Teixeira's interest in returning to the Angels, were the driving factor."
Translation: "In case anybody is interested, I have three mystery teams that will give Mark 12 years for $240 million right now. I just have to pick up the phone."
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While the Orioles front office waits around to find out if Mark Teixeira has any real interest in playing in Baltimore, club president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail continues to go about the business of trying to put together a balanced roster by the opening of training camp.
Along with the ongoing negotiations for pitchers Braden Looper, Tim Redding and Kenshin Kawakami, the Orioles have made overtures to non-tendered Cardinals utilityman Aaron Miles and veteran pitcher Mark Hendrickson (right).
"There certainly is some interest,'' Hendrickson's agent, Joe Urbon, told Baltimore Sun baseball writer Jeff Zrebiec. "We’ve talked to the Orioles. I talked to Andy [MacPhail] directly at the winter meetings and we’ve had subsequent conversations. We’re just trying to find out if that is the right fit for him. They are definitely on the list."
Hendrickson wouldn't mind playing near his York, Pa., home, but he's more interested in getting back into a major league starting rotation, which should make the Orioles more attractive.
"Mark feels like he had a great start to the season last year,'' Urbon said. "He had a mediocre to poor middle part of the season and he started to get back on track and the Marlins went in a different direction. He’s got a lot to prove [as a starter], but he also knows that he can be successful coming out of the pen in a lot of roles."
The 4th District Court of Appeals in my hometown of Santa Ana, Calif., has upheld a lower court ruling against Michael Cohn, who sued the Los Angeles Angels and one of their sponsors claiming the team's Mother's Day tote bag promotion in 2005 was discriminatory towards adult males and juveniles.
Wow, a legal ruling that made headlines and actually makes sense. Cohn is a local character who has made a habit of filing these kinds of suits, something the court took into consideration in its ruling.
"We are not convinced the Angels' tote bag giveaway was in anyway unreasonable, arbitrary, or invidious discrimination," the court wrote. "Cohn's complaint gathers further suspicion because Cohn, his friends, and his counsel have been involved in numerous of what have been characterized as 'shake down' lawsuits."
Here's the news story from the Orange County Register.
I wrote about this at the time the suit was filed, blasting Cohn for making a mockery of a legitimate anti-discrimination statute in California and showing disrespect to all of the real victims of racial and gender discrimination.
Personally, I think something has to be done to stop people from clogging up the court system with frivolous lawsuits, especially those that are little more than a form of legal extortion. There should be a stiff civil penalty levied by the courts on both plaintiffs and lawyers who file cases like this.
Oops, never mind. I just spilled some hot coffee on my own lap on my way out of McDonalds. Somebody's going to pay for this!
The Ravens' final game of the regular season has been moved into the 4:15 time slot Sunday opposite the Cowboys/Eagles game. The NFL also announced that the AFC West decider between the Broncos and Chargers will be the final Sunday Night Football matchup.
Lest anyone complain, remember how you would have felt if I had told you in August that the league would have to push back the Ravens a few hours in Week 17 because they'll be playing a climactic game that might put them in the playoffs. Think you would have said that's just fine...and it is.
Last night -- actually 1:30 this morning -- I was channel surfing and stumbled upon the opening credits of a movie called The Last Seduction. You might be familiar with it. It's a sexy, very R-rated thriller starring Linda Fiorentino and it was on cable, but I displayed tremendous self-discipline and hit the sack without watching a single steamy bedroom scene, knowing that today might be a very busy day.
I've got to believe the Mark Teixeira thing has got to pop any minute. He supposedly wanted to get signed by Christmas and the two teams that seemed most likely to sign him have backed out of the bidding. This would seem to be that point in a multi-team negotiation that somebody swoops in and tries to make something happen.
That's why I chuckled when the title of that movie flashed on the screen, because it seemed so appropriate. The Orioles and Nationals appear to be the last two teams standing in the Teixeira hunt, and a lot of O's fans are going to feel seduced and abandoned if the Yankees or Red Sox sneak back in and sign him.
It's probably fair to assume that not everything is as it seems. There's a report that the Yankees are getting ready to drop a three-year offer on Manny Ramirez, which would seem to preclude them from making a surprise offer for Teixeira. There also has been speculation the Red Sox were just posturing when owner John Henry announced Thursday they were not "a factor" in the Tex auction. We'll find out soon enough.
We'll also find out if the Orioles really want to sign the guy, because they aren't going to get a better opportunity than the one that has presented itself over the past few days.
Just got off the phone with Los Angeles Angels spokesman Tim Mead, who has confirmed reports by FoxSports guy (and former Sun colleague) Ken Rosenthal and Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports that the Angels are out of the bidding for free agent Mark Teixeira.
The Angels were believed to be offering an eight-year deal worth between $160 million and $165 million, but have decided to move in another direction. The decision was characterized as "final," so it differs slightly with the announcement by the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night that they are not "a factor" in the negotiations.
Does this mean Tex (right) is going to end up in the Baltimore/Washington area? Not necessarily, but the chances have improved considerably. If agent Scott Boras overplayed his hand with the Red Sox and Angels -- and nothing changes -- he may be forced into face-saving mode, which would point to the hometown O's, since Boras can always say that he was maneuvering toward that all along.
Of course, the Red Sox may not really be out of it and the Yankees could rear their ugly heads at any moment, but if this thing has come down to the Orioles and the Nats, then it also comes down to a choice that could create an image problem for Teixeira. He either goes for the most money and is viewed as another Boras mercenary or goes to the team he rooted for as a kid.
There's more intrigue to come, but the Orioles clearly are not out of the picture here.
Why did the Angels get out? That isn't quite as clear, but it wouldn't surprise me if owner Arte Moreno came to believe that Teixeira was focused entirely on playing for an East Coast franchise and that his offer was only being used to fuel the market. Either that or the Angels just got tired of this extended game of dominoes and decided to get on with their other offseason priorities.
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I mentioned this yesterday, but I'm getting more messages from Orioles gameday employees confirming that the club has notified them it is cutting staff for next season. We're not exactly talking layoffs -- since these are not full-time employees -- but it is a sign of the times (and the team) that the O's need to reduce gameday staff, apparently by about 100 employees.
With attendance in decline, it's probably logical that the Orioles peg more of their staffing to the projected size of the crowds, but that's no consolation to the people who depend heavily on that extra income. No doubt, this is partly a response to the declining economy, but it probably wouldn't be necessary if a decade of competitive decline had not cut overall attendance almost in half.
There were a number of playoff scenarios in which the Ravens didn't necessarily have to win both of their last two games, but all you have to do is turn on the television to see how important it was to keep their fate totally in their own hands.
The New England Patriots are hammering the Arizona Cardinals right now in snowy Foxborough, and it's pretty obvious the Cards -- who are already in the playoffs -- just want to get out of the cold.
The Pats are gathering momentum, so Ravens fans did not want to be in the position of hoping for the fading Buffalo Bills to keep hope alive in Baltimore next week. The Ravens still have a game to win, but if they take care of business, they might do double duty by cementing their postseason berth and keeping the dangerous Patriots out of the playoffs.
If you're waiting for me to bash Daniel Cabrera, you're going to be disappointed. I think he'll be fine with the Nats, who reportedly signed him to a one-year contract this weekend. You can lop a half-run off his ERA with the move to the National League and he suddenly looks a lot like Tim Redding, except with a Curt Schilling's-worth of untappable talent.
The thing that I'm happiest about, however, is the fact that we'll get to see him all spring. I'm guessing he pitches against the Orioles once or twice during the exhibition season, which should be entertaining. The O's and Nationals play each other six times during the preseason, including back-to-back games in Norfolk and Washington, D.C. the weekend before Opening Day.
Mark Teixeira might want to get his contract done by Christmas to get the negotiations out of the way so he can enjoy the holidays with his family, but Scott Boras should want to get it out of the way for an even more important reason than that.
The global economic crisis really hasn't hit baseball all that hard yet, not when MLB just reported that gross revenues have risen to $6.5 billion (or an average of almost $202 million per team), but the harsh reality of a customer base with far less spending power will soon become apparent as season-ticket renewals come due in January and teams start finalizing next season's sponsorship agreements.
I don't know if any other teams are going to be pulling out of the bidding, but the bad economy might be the reason that Boras hasn't seen the kind of offers he was counting on. The best offer out there is thought to be from the Washington Nationals, though nobody seems to have a clue what it is. The Orioles are believed to have offered a seven-year deal worth up to $150 million, and the Angels have announced that they've made an eight-year offer. The Angels have not revealed their bid, but a baseball exec I talked to earlier today thinks that -- at best -- the total value is only slightly more than $160 million.
Local bad economic news: If you doubt that baseball teams are going to feel the effects of the economic downturn, I'm hearing that the Orioles recently notified game-day employees that they are downsizing their stadium staff for the upcoming season and will need many of them only for the higher-attendance games.
You've got to give agent Scott Boras some credit. He has done a great job of keeping a lid on any real information on the bids for Mark Teixeira, which probably is an indication that they are nowhere near where he had hoped they would be at this point.
There have been some wild numbers thrown around, but the Red Sox tempered the imaginary Tex salary spiral by walking away from the bargaining table on Thursday night. The only number anybody feels good about -- from the standpoint of being close to accurate -- is the seven-year offer from the Orioles that has been reported to be worth up to $150 million.
No one thinks that's the highest bid, but the notion that the Orioles might be as much as $40 million behind isn't supported by any known facts. If I was forced to guess at the leading team right now, it would be the Angels, but they obviously aren't close to the 10-year, $200 million deal that looked like the Boras target when this bidding war began.
Once again, the silence is deafening, but I'm sure something will surface this weekend to get us all up in arms again.
If you're planning on tuning into the fabulous Peter Schmuck Show today on WBAL, you'll have to wait until after the EagleBank Bowl. My show will start at about 2 pm and run right up to the Ravens pre-game show at 5 and you all know what we'll be talking about.
We'll hammer away at the Mark Teixeira situation and then preview tonight's huge game between the Ravens and Cowboys at Texas Stadium. If you're out of listening range, you can go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.
Go ahead and admit it. There came a point in this surprising Ravens season when you just got greedy.
Never mind that you predicted the Ravens would win no more than seven games. Some of you said four. Never mind that you thought Joe Flacco (left) was a huge first-round gamble and that Troy Smith should be the starting quarterback. Never mind that the offensive line was such a patchwork quilt in training camp that you figured you'd end up with young Joe soon enough anyway.
So, how come you woke up this morning worried that the Dallas Cowboys might ruin the season tonight? There's absolutely no way to ruin this season because it is already an unqualified success ... from Flacco's quick development to John Harbaugh's equally impressive rookie season to another great season for Rex Ryan's defense. The only thing the Cowboys can do tonight is steal the gravy.
And they probably will. The 'Boys are playing great right now in spite of Terrell Owens and his latest quarterback controversy, and they have the added emotional incentive of playing the final NFL game at historic Texas Stadium. The fact that it's a Saturday night game also works in their favor since the Ravens were pretty banged up after last Sunday's slugfest with the Steelers.
Nobody's giving up on the Ravens. Flacco has played pretty well on the road and the Ravens have risen to the challenge of their grueling schedule. If they can do that one more time, they'll have the inside track to the second AFC wild-card berth.
Either way, however, you can't be disappointed in this season.
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Can't help but laugh at the way the Mark Teixeira situation continues to beguile even the most seasoned reporters and the most good-looking bloggers. I'm taking some heat for not generating much inside O's information on the subject, and I'll accept the criticism because it's true, but I have to point out that a lot of that "inside" information that has come out the past couple days turned out to be little more than blind speculation.
The latest news flash on ESPN, by the way, has the Red Sox not necessarily out of the Teixeira hunt, even though owner John Henry said late Thursday they were no longer "a factor" because of the size of the competing offers.
In essence, Henry was telling Boras that if he really had offers that big, he might as well take one of them because the Red Sox aren't going to go that high. He also was sending a message to the other bidders to beware of any implication that the Red Sox are the big dog in this hunt.
The Orioles aren't saying exactly where they are in the process, but Henry's bombshell e-mail last night did indicate that they probably aren't as far out of the picture as they have been portrayed in the national media. I guess that should create hope that Teixeira might end up in an Orioles uniform, but I no longer think it's healthy to get your hopes up. There's just too much conflicting information out there right now.
Don't know about you, but I'm still trying to figure out how the Mark Teixeira saga -- and the baseball world -- will turn after last night's flurry of news from Boston (and Texas) left the whole situation up in the air.
Though agent Scott Boras seemed to eliminate the Red Sox from the picture after club owner John Henry said they would not be "a factor" in the bidding, I don't believe they are completely out of it. I asked here yesterday morning if Henry was in the process of calling Boras' bluff, and I believe he did, but it could all be so much posturing.
Everyone here hopes that it means the Orioles are right in the middle of it. I don't know if that's the case, but the scuttlebutt I heard late last night indicated that they are -- at least -- still alive in the process. Guess we'll find out soon enough.
Radio Free Schmuck: If you can't go a week without listening to me talk politics and current events, tune in to WBAL (1090 AM) from noon to three for The Week in Review with me and Clarence Mitchell IV. If you're out of listening range, you can go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.
Once again, the Mark Teixeira saga has taken all of us on an emotional roller coaster ride right back to where we started. Four hours ago, it looked like the Red Sox were about to wrap Tex up for Christmas, but owner John Henry just e-mailed several Boston media outlets a few minutes ago and basically said they are "not a factor."
That could signal any number of possibilities, including a late, giant bid from the Yankees or a ridiculous offer from the Nationals that Tex and Boras will not be able pass up, or -- gasp -- even a much more competitive bid from the Orioles. Or, perhaps that eight-year offer from the Angels last week was a lot bigger than anyone suspected.
Frankly, I'm starting to feel used, but this thing has reached such a frenzy that I'm sure we haven't taken our last wild ride on the Teixeira Express.
That's probably what it is going to take to get Mark Teixeira into an Orioles uniform now that the Red Sox reportedly are somewhere putting the full-court press on Tex and Scott Boras. The reports out of Boston stop short of saying that the talks will be "conclusive,'' but if Red Sox owner John Henry and general manager Theo Epstein are sitting down with Boras and the other bidders are sitting home unaware of it, it's probably fair to put two and two together.
In this case, two plus two is going to add up to somewhere between $180 and $190 million for Teixeira, who probably will reenact the scene at right if the deal is finalized. I'd be interested to know whether Boras will make one more call-back to the other teams involved to try and push that number higher. If he doesn't give the O's an opportunity to make a counter offer, then you'll know the whole hometown thing was way overblown and that Tex wasn't all that interested in playing here.
No one should be surprised if it goes down this way. The Red Sox have been in the driver's seat from the start. Of the four teams that emerged as finalists, they are the only competitive team on the East Coast and they were under extreme pressure to do something dynamic after the Yankees signed free agent pitchers C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett -- who, coincidently, were officially introduced today at Yankee Stadium.
The Orioles' best hope has been Teixeira's supposed desire to play for his hometown team, but there was never any strong indication that was a major priority.
One thing is certain: If the Red Sox hold a news conference tomorrow, there are going to be a lot of virulently unhappy Orioles fans who are certain their team didn't do nearly enough to sign the one player who might have pumped some excitement into the 2009 season. They might be right, but I'm not sure enough would have been enough in this situation.
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Maybe, as one poster on the blog just put it, I spoke too soon when I said all was eerily quiet on the Mark Teixeira front. Minutes after that post, BostonChannel.com -- the website for Boston TV station WCVB -- reported that Red Sox owners John Henry and his management team is in Texas negotiating with Scott Boras. The station is claiming that the deal would be eight years for $184 million.
I have no clue about the credibility of the report, but if it's true (and it doesn't sound all that illogical) it would be quite a get for local TV guy Mike Lynch, considering the number of high quality reporters that have been hammering away at this story for the past few weeks. ESPN's Buster Olney and Peter Gammons followed minutes later citing sources claiming Red Sox officials "may have" a face-to-face meeting with Boras tonight, but did not pinpoint a location and speculated on a slightly lower average salary.
It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out over the course of the night.
It's been nearly 24 hours since the last media revelation about the possible destination of free agent Mark Teixeira, and I know we all needed the rest. But I'm also starting to get paranoid about the deafening silence, especially with agent Scott Boras reportedly "traveling" on Wednesday.
Maybe things are starting to heat up somewhere. Maybe not. I'm just waiting for someone to report that Teixeira and Boras will be guests of Peter Angelos at the Ravens/Cowboys game on Saturday night. I don't think Peter has a suite at Texas Stadium, but I'm not ruling anything out at this point.
What is it about the Orioles and spring training? They've been trying unsuccessfully to get a decent spring training arrangement for nearly 20 years, while just about every other major league team has been lavished with a luxurious new site -- and, in some cases, are already on to another new facility.
The latest setback came on Wednesday when the Sarasota County Commissioners voted against increasing a local tourist development tax to pay for a new stadium for the Orioles. They want instead to take the much cheaper route of upgrading the existing downtown ballpark and training complex.
Sarasota would have anted up to get the Red Sox, but the Orioles obviously don't have the same cache. Now, they're caught between two localities that seem to be backing away from them. Vero Beach officials cut off negotiations the other day and have imposed a 30-day cooling off period to consider offers from non-MLB entities for the use of the Dodgertown complex.
Once again, it appears the O's have overplayed their hand, assuming they had enough leverage to squeeze whatever they wanted out of one of the cities that recently lost its major league tenant. They may be able to go back to Vero Beach next month and resume negotiations, but it appears they may be doomed to a lesser deal than they could have gotten if they were more decisive.
Remember, this is the same organization that passed over the two-team facility in Jupiter that now houses the Cardinals and Marlins. The O's also had a shot at the Disney complex that houses the Braves and even a site near Fort Myers that pre-dates the Angelos ownership.
It would be funny if it wasn't such a sad statement on the chronic inability of the Orioles upper management team to make a deal that is agreeable to all parties. Not that it should be much of a surprise after all these years.
If you think the Boston Red Sox are just laying in the weeds, waiting to spring that giant 10-year offer on free agent Mark Teixeira, you might want to read the comments owner John Henry (right) e-mailed to the Boston media yesterday.
Here's the report in the Boston Herald, in which Henry cites the global economic downturn as one of the reasons the Red Sox are unlikely to guarantee more than eight years to any player -- though he didn't specifically mention Teixeira.
“We’re in a challenging economic environment,” Henry wrote, “because we just don’t know to what extent our long-term revenues will be hurt by the global financial crisis. A lot of businesses are in the same position. There will also be impact on player compensation, but no one at this point knows the degree.”
Sounds to me like he is sending a message to agent Scott Boras that if he and Teixeira want a 10-year guarantee, they'll have to get it from the Nationals, who might be desperate enough after last year's 102-loss collapse to give Boras the decade-long deal he hasn't been able to pry out of the Red Sox, Angels or Orioles. I'm guessing Henry is not too worried that Tex will go that route.
This might be a very smooth move by the Sox, since Teixeira is believed to want to stay on the East Coast and they might be offering the only chance to jump on board a contending team. There are whispers about the Yankees getting more involved, but they introduced almost a quarter billion dollars worth of free-agent pitching (CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett) at a news conference today ... and they already have a position player who makes nearly $30 million per year.
Don't know how this ultimately affects the Orioles, but it supports Andy MacPhail's contention in today's edition of The Baltimore Sun that they aren't entirely out of the picture yet.
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I realize I've already featured a reader comment today, but Tony asked a good question about why clubs cannot offer contract incentives for home runs, RBI and other qualitative statistics:
Tony's query: In regards to contracts, can you please define quantitative stats further? Why are the number of HR's or number of RBI's not considered a quantitative number? Thanks.
Pete's reply: Well, they are in the purely semantic sense, but baseball's labor agreement separates those that are qualitative -- meaning those that determine if a player had a good season or a bad one rather than those that reflect the number of at-bats, starts or innings pitched.
So, if a guy gets a bonus for 500 at-bats, it is a measure of how much he plays, not how well. He gets the money whether he hits .100 or .300. The labor agreement is written that way to avoid integrity issues. For example, if a player were at 49 homers and got $1 million for his 50th, he could -- theoretically -- pay a pitcher $100,000 to groove him a fastball. Probably wouldn't happen, but that's the reason they make the distinction.
Today's featured comment comes from Nik, who is none to pleased with the ESPN report that the Orioles might be falling out of the Mark Teixeira derby:
Nik's take: Well it appears that we (the O's) are about to be the first of the final teams to drop out of the running. An article on ESPN is reporting that the O's are not willing to up their offer and as a result appear to be the first team out... Typical O's.
Pete's reply: Okay, let me spell this out one more time. The Orioles said at the beginning of the process that they would only be in play for Tex and A.J. Burnett if there was a "geographical" advantage, which means that they were always looking for a hometown discount. That said, the bidding isn't over and they have not said unequivocably that they won't improve their offer at the end of the process.
I don't think they are going to sign him. I've been saying that all along. But everyone needs to calm down. In the past 24 hours, Karl Ravech of ESPN has said that Tex has "an enormous attraction to the Orioles, Peter Gammons of ESPN has reported that it's down to the Red Sox and Nationals, and now Buster Olney of ESPN is saying that the Orioles are holding firm on their offer, which supposedly is well below everybody else's bid.
Last time I looked, there was no confirmed bid that is all that much higher than what the O's are believed to have offered. I'm not optimistic, but I'm willing to wait and see how the thing plays out before deciding that the O's have -- to paraphrase about 50 comments over the past two hours -- screwed up again or made a low offer because they were never really interested in signing the guy. There'll be plenty of time for those recriminations when he finally signs with somebody.
Former Baltimore Sun baseball writer Buster Olney is reporting on ESPN.com that the Orioles are not in the same ballpark as the other teams bidding for free agent Mark Teixeira, and -- according to sources -- are hoping he accepts their standing offer because he wants to play for his hometown team.
This is no great shock. Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said at the outset that the Orioles would be interested in certain big-money players because they might have a "geographical advantage," which is another way of saying they would make a play for Teixeira and A.J. Burnett (who has since signed with the Yankees) but would not be likely to sign them without a hometown discount.
The O's have made a legitimate long-term offer, believed to be for seven years at somewhere between $140 million and $150 million. The other bidders -- the Angels, Nationals and Red Sox -- are thought to be offering at least an eighth year, but no exact money figures have been confirmed.
Orioles officials indicated last week that they were willing to sit on their offer and not bid up the price, though MacPhail did not rule out making another proposal later in the process. This probably won't sit well with O's fans, but I don't think anybody believed the Orioles were likely to outbid the Red Sox and Angels. Teixeira will have to really want to play for the Orioles for this to work out.
Minor league note: Catcher Guillermo Quiroz has accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk, so he will remain in the organization. His decision probably won't have a major impact on the team's attempt to sign one more veteran catcher.
The Mark Teixeira negotiations have reached that point where everybody in the media is trying to look smart and nobody -- not even me -- knows what's really going on.
What's the highest offer on the table right now? I've heard anywhere from $180 million to $200 million for eight years, but nobody has confirmed anything. ESPN's Karl Ravech said yesterday that the range would be $22 million to $28 million per year. Way to narrow the thing down. He also said his source told him Teixeira wants to go to a winner but still has an "enormous attraction to the Orioles." That pretty much covers all the possibilities.
And, trust me, Scott Boras is the man behind the curtain, pushing all the right buttons and pulling all the right strings to make sure the media becomes the message.
This is the period in the negotiations where everything hits the wall and somebody will guess right and look like a genius. So, since I know from those lottery commercials that you can't win if you don't play, here's my official guess:
Teixeira will sign with the Red Sox for eight years and $192 million guaranteed, with a couple of option years at the end worth $30 million each. Remember, this is only a guess, no matter what I tell you if I turn out to be right.
Though the Orioles have spoken to agent Tom O'Connell, who represents Tim Redding and Carl Pavano, the interest is in Redding. Dan Connolly is reporting today that Pavano came up in the conversation, but he is not someone who figures in their pitching search.
Redding (right) was 10-11 with a 4.95 ERA for the Washington Nationals last season before being non-tendered on Friday. He has a 34-51 career record and a 4.92 ERA in parts of eight major league seasons with four teams.
The Orioles also retain interest in free agent Braden Looper and are believed to have extended an offer to Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami.
Though I don't normally put much stock in self-imposed deadlines, I do believe the Mark Teixeira situation will be resolved in the next week. Not only does he reportedly want to get a deal done by the holidays, it is in his agent's best interests to bring this thing to a close over the next several days.
Tex is really the last big free-agent domino, and he needs to sign with somebody before Scott Boras will be able to fully assess the slowly developing market for Manny Ramirez. Boras also has some other significant free-agent clients who don't want to wait until late January to figure out where they're going to play.
Since he doesn't have a chance to set any records with Teixeira's contract, I have to think he's motivated to get it done pretty soon.
Just my opinion, of course.
Funny how things work in baseball. The Orioles non-tendered underachieving pitcher Daniel Cabrera and agent Mike Powers already claims to have gotten overtures from 11 teams. One of those teams is the Washington Nationals.
The Nationals non-tendered pitcher Tim Redding on Friday, and agent Tom O'Connell confirmed in an e-mail to Baltimore Sun baseball writer Dan Connolly today that the Orioles have expressed interest in signing him.
Probably won't end up going down that way, but it shows how each team sees each player through a unique prism of its own interests.
The Mark Teixeira rumor mill is ramping up, as evidenced by the report this morning by ESPN's Karl Ravech that Tex might be leaning back toward his hometown team. Everybody around here hopes that is true, of course, but I'm not going to take you on another emotional roller coaster ride like last week.
The same dynamic remains at work. Teixeira reportedly wants to make a decision by Christmas, so you're going to see speculation increase by the day until he does, but remember one thing: Until he signs, any of the four or five teams believed to be involved can step in and up the ante.
I would never impugn ESPN's credibility. The World Wide Leader does a great job and I'm a big fan, but I found it interesting that Ravech's report was promoted prominently on the ESPN.com baseball page, but I couldn't find a word written by any of ESPN's great reporters (Buster Olney, Peter Gammons, Jayson Stark, Keith Law) backing the headline.
Though I still think the odds of Teixeira coming home are long, it's important to remember that he and agent Scott Boras are the only ones who really know how he has ordered his priorities. If playing here is the most important thing, the O's are probably close enough to get something done. If it's more about winning and money, forget it. If it's only about money, then Mark's supposed Christmas deadline doesn't really mean a thing, but I'll be on high alert Thursday and Friday nonetheless.
Keep your fingers crossed.
Now that shortstop Cesar Izturis has passed his physical, the O's can officially announce that he signed a two-year contract worth $5 million -- almost a week after agreeing to terms while club officials were at the winter meetings in Las Vegas. Even though he was in town for the medical examination, the team chose not to introduce him face-to-face to the media, reportedly opting instead for a conference call today.
Maybe the PR department was afraid somebody might throw a shoe at him.
The deadline imposed on the Orioles by Vero Beach officials passed late yesterday without incident, but with a few recriminations. The mayor of the city that is trying to bring the O's to the abandoned Dodgertown facility, Sabe Abell, is quoted today's edition of the Vero Beach Press Journal as saying that the O's haven't been "negotiating in an honorable fashion."
Geez, never heard that before.
The Orioles actually have switched their focus to Sarasota and negotiations for an upgraded complex that would be within a few miles of their existing minor league training complex at Twin Lakes Park. It would be a very convenient situation and a throwback to the early 1990s, when the Orioles played briefly at Ed Smith Stadium in downtown Sarasota. Club officials are believed to be there right now.
Even the budding relationship in Sarasota has already hit some speed bumps. County commissioner Joe Barbetta, who was disappointed that the area was passed over by the Red Sox, insisted on a much lesser deal for the Orioles because, he said, the Red Sox are the "gold standard" and the O's are the "tin standard." And in a comparison between the Red Sox' NESN regional sports network and MASN, referred to MASN as "basically worthless."
Frankly, the Orioles have been insulted in better places than that, but it still might be the right place at the right time. I mean, they've only been looking for a new spring training home for the past 19 years.
Baltimore Sun baseball guy Dan Connolly just got off the phone with Mike Powers, the agent for just-released pitcher Daniel Cabrera, and Powers says he's been on the phone a lot since the Orioles chose to non-tender D-Cab on Friday night.
Powers says that 11 teams have expressed interest and one has offered a multi-year deal. Of course, the devil is in the details, but I'm not surprised that some teams are making a play. There are probably 20 pitching coaches out there who think they can make Daniel into a right-handed Randy Johnson. There were almost that many who tried to do that here.
Apparently, about half of those teams are National League teams that were willing to overlook the fact that Daniel is 14-for-14 at the plate during this career. That's 14 strikeouts in 14 at-bats.
By the way, I'd like to make a shout out to President George Bush for the deft way he dodged those shoes that were thrown at him by a reporter in Iraq. The incident got me wondering if I could have been a Secret Service agent. I'm not a real brave guy, but I think I would be willing to take a shoe for the president.
The Orioles have brought shortstop Cesar Izturis here for a physical, and probably will announce his two-year, $5 million contract tomorrow. Izturis was playing in his native Venezuela when he agreed to terms with the club during the winter meetings, so the deal has been pending the medical report.
I guess it's not a foregone conclusion that the guy will pass -- just ask Xavier Hernandez and Aaron Sele -- but this one is all but done. The club is not expected to hold a news conference for the announcement.
Hate to admit it, but I can't disagree with some of the Steelers fans who are popping in to dispute the notion that the Ravens got robbed yesterday, since it would be pretty hard to make that case in favor of a team that scored just nine points in a game with major playoff implications.
But I never said they got robbed. I said that the replay system is flawed and something needs to be done about it, though I don't quite know what.
I also can't disagree with those who say that no replay system will save you from incompetent officials making bad interpretations of what they see on replay, but there has to be a re-emphasis on the rule that says a call is not to be overturned unless there is conclusive evidence that it was incorrect. When three camera angles show the ball not conclusively crossing the plane of the goal line and one camera angle seems to show the tip of the ball slightly touching the front of it, that doesn't strike me as compelling and conclusive evidence.
This is a case where the no-call would have been the best call. The Steelers still have the ball at the one-inch line and can either go for the game-winning TD or kick the game-tying field goal. They probably would have kicked the slam dunk field goal to tie the game since the Ravens' offense was having little success moving the ball. The game likely would have gone into overtime and it could have been decided on the field instead of by a group of obviously confused officials.
Maybe the decision was ultimately correct, but that's not really the point. The officials -- both on the ground and in the booth overhead -- have long been overturning calls on replay based on what they think is probably the right call when there is not supposed be a reversal unless they are sure that is the right call. Big difference. No chance they had that kind of certainty in this case.
All that said, I don't think the NFL has it out for the Ravens. I just think the officials -- league-wide -- are having a very bad year and the Ravens are one of several teams that have a legitimate gripe about it.
Okay, before I begin whining about the NFL's ridiculous instant replay system, let's stipulate that the Pittsburgh Steelers drove 92 yards to score the winning touchdown in final minutes of a hard-fought game. The Ravens left that door wide open by settling for field goals in a couple of promising situations and by leaving the defense on the field way too much in the second half. No excuses for that and -- to their credit -- the Ravens didn't make any.
Now, upon further review, the officials covered their rear ends by changing their explanation of the decisive play after the game. The original announcement was that receiver Santonio Holmes (right) had both feet in the end zone and possession of the ball, which supposedly made it a touchdown whether the ball broke the plane of the goal line or not.
Of course, the rule is that the ball must break the plane, so referee Walt Coleman told pool reporter Jamison Hensley that he misspoke originally and the ruling was that the ball did, in fact, break the plane, even though there wasn't a single replay that showed that conclusively. Remember, the ball was not ruled a touchdown on the field, so the replay is supposed to show overwhelming evidence that the call was incorrect.
Funny, but when the Ravens challenged a first down call in the second quarter on a one-yard run by Gary Russell, the replay looked to everyone like the ball was stopped more than a yard short of the first down. It seemed pretty conclusive, but the same officials ruled that it was not conclusive enough to overturn the original call. If you watched the game, you know that there was no way anyone could say for sure whether the ball broke the plane on the Holmes catch, but the officials had to come back after the game and claim it was conclusive because they announced an incorrect ruling on the field.
Maybe the Steelers run a quarterback sneak on the next play and win the game. Maybe they kick a field goal and win in overtime, since the Ravens couldn't move the ball against them anyway. Give them credit for being a good team that found a way to win a big game on the road. But please, please, commissioner Goodell, tweak this replay system so that this kind of thing doesn't happen any more.
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Is it just me, or does every big game that the Ravens play end with some kind of strange play or official's call. The only touchdown of the game comes with 46 seconds left and there was no conclusive proof that the ball ever broke the plane of the end zone.
The officials called it like a catch out of bounds, where if you have two feet in bounds and have control, then the ball doesn't have to be in. We'll be getting a clarification in a few minutes,but I doubt that's going to be any consolation to Ravens fans, who may have seen the team's shot to make the playoffs slip away in the replay booth.
We've done some checking to see if there's anything to the rumors that Mark Teixeira is here at M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens' stadium operations personnel are aware of the rumors, but told a Baltimore Sun employee that no one had requested any special accommodation. Loosely translated: If Teixeira's here, he's in the stands as a fan.
That wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination, since his parents still live in Severna Park and it's the holiday season, but Orioles sources are saying that if he is at the game, it is not in conjunction with anything connected to the team and there is no truth to the rumor he is going to undergo a physical here tomorrow.
The Ravens are a 2 1/2-point favorite for today's showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium, though I hear the line will increase if Mark Teixeira shows up for the game. The over-under line when I left Las Vegas was 34 points, which means that the oddsmakers are saying the final score will be something like 19-16.
It was just a coincidence that my predicted score in The Sun on Friday was 20-16, because I sent in my pick much earlier in the week. Since about three points of the line is based on home-field advantage, the oddsmakers are pretty much saying that the game would be a tossup on a neutral field.
The trouble with a game like this, however, is that it's well within the range of one bad bounce of the oblong ball, so you can bet it will come down to which team -- and quarterback -- does a better job of taking care of the rock.
There's a rumor flying around that Mark Teixeira is in the Baltimore area and will attend the Ravens game today as a guest of Peter Angelos. This would be very nice if it was true, but I can't confirm it and I have serious doubts.
The first I heard of it was on my radio show yesterday afternoon on WBAL (1090 AM), when a guy called in claiming to live in Tex's old neighborhood in Severna Park and said that Tex was in town and would be going to the Ravens game. Since it is a call-in radio show, there really was no way to confirm whether the guy was on the up-and-up, but the comment went out over the air on a big radio station and I started getting questions posted on the blog asking if it was true.
This morning, there are more comments claiming that the rumor had hit ESPN's SportsCenter. Again, I didn't watch the show, so I don't know what -- if anything -- was reported. But the rumor had grown to include the nugget that Peter would make his final offer for Teixeira during this meeting.
It's all pretty shaky. If Buster Olney reported it, I'd believe it because he could have gotten it directly from Angelos. If he didn't report it and it was floated as a rumor, I'm very skeptical since, again, Buster probably could call Peter and find out for sure.
The rumor heated up late last night when broadcaster/O's fan Roy Firestone posted something on Orioles Hangout at about midnight, more than 10 hours after the thing was floated on my show. Again, he could have heard something independently -- since he added that Tex would be taking a physical in Baltimore on Monday -- but the buzz had already started and there were several comments about it on my blog by then.
Some of the comments that showed up after I wrote about the Chad Moeller signing make me wonder just how fair it is to nitpick the Orioles front office about their minor moves with two months left in the offseason.
There is understandable frustration that the Orioles don't appear likely to sign free agent superstar Mark Teixeria, but that is totally unrelated to the everyday housekeeping moves that ever team makes while assembling their rosters for spring training.
The Orioles were looking for some veteran catching depth, so they signed Moeller to a minor league contract. He's not expected to be the starter on Opening Day. Club president Andy MacPhail confirmed to me last night that the team still is looking at several other veteran catchers. Don't be surprised if Gregg Zaun or Matt Treanor gets signed in the next few days.
None of the moves that were made during the winter meetings were major moves, but they were necessary and MacPhail proved again to be pretty adept of getting what he wants and fitting it into his plan. In essense, the Orioles got speedy Ryan Freel and two prospects for Ramon Hernandez (who had worn out his welcome in Baltimore) and saved enough money (about $3.5 million) to cover the first year's salary of free agent shortstop Cesar Izturis.
So, in effect, he traded Hernandez for all those guys. Pretty smooth.
The big-money free agent market is an entirely different arena, and is affected by entirely different factors. I'd certainly be impressed if Andy finds a way to sign Teixeira, but blaming him if Tex shies away from a team with 11 straight losing seasons -- when he's only halfway into the second year of his rebuilding plan -- just isn't fair or logical.
Of course, if the O's don't do anything else by the opening of spring training, that would be a different story.
Today's featured comment is from John, who is one of many who wrote to ask the same question.
John's question: Pete, whats the update on bedard i cannot not find anywhere saying he was tendered on not.
My take: Thanks for an easy question for a change. The Seattle Mariners did tender Bedard a contract so he's eligible for salary arbitration and will be in their rotation as soon as he's completely healed from shoulder surgery.
There was talk that if he was non-tendered, he might re-sign with the O's. He seems to have gotten nostalgic for Baltimore, and I think the O's would have been interested, but that ship has now sailed.
Though I believe the possibility of the Orioles signing free agent slugger Mark Teixeira (right) is very low, Andy MacPhail is correct when he says "it's not over until it's over." No one knows for sure what Teixeira's personal priorities are, so you can't rule anything completely out until agent Scott Boras throws out the first mystery bidder to jack up the price on the Red Sox.
That said, there's probably only one scenario that puts Teixeira in an Orioles uniform, and that is something akin to the scenario that put Vladimir Guerrero in an Angels uniform the year the O's signed Miguel Tejada. The Angels were not thought to be a serious player for Guerrero until the very end, when they jumped in at the end with an overbid and signed him.
I suppose there's always the possibility that the Orioles could do that, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope because, frankly, Peter Angelos isn't made that way. It's not the money. He's spent big money on occasion and the O's probably can afford to jump in at nine years and $190 million. He just doesn't make quick decisions.
How many times have you seen the Yankees storm in and sign somebody in a matter of hours, and how many times have you seen the O's dither over a medical report while a player goes elsewhere? There's nothing wrong with being careful, and Angelos has been smart to stay out of some deals because of sketchy physicals, but there are times when you have to throw caution to the wind if you're ever going to compete with the Yankees and Red Sox.
This just might be one of those times.
Shameless plug No. 2: We'll be talking a lot about this today on The Peter Schmuck Show on WBAL (1090AM). Listen from afar at WBAL.com. Just click on the "Listen Live" icon.
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Just a few days ago, I wondered aloud how the Orioles could non-tender Daniel Cabrera while a raft of so-so free agent pitchers were demanding $10 million to $13 million per year, but that doesn't mean I'm surprised that the club gave up on him.
If you recall, I officially gave up on him last spring after spending a couple of years arguing that he was one of those late developers whose raw talent would eventually express itself. I even compared him with Randy Johnson -- another lanky giant who took quite awhile to become mechanically sound.
That's still not out of the question. The talent is still there. The Orioles just don't have the time or patience to deal with Cabera's inconsistency any more. The estimated $4 million or more he would have gotten in arbitration wll pay a big chunk of the salary of a more predictable free agent.
Of course, when he suddenly blooms into a 15-game winner, we'll all act like we were totally against this decision and blame Andy MacPhail for being short-sighted and cheap. That's baseball.
Back on the air: If you want to berate me in person, I'll be taking calls on The Peter Schmuck Show from noon to 3 on WBAL (1090 AM). If you're out of listening range, go to WBAL.com and click on the "Listen Live" icon.
The deadline for tendering contracts to arbitration-eligible players is four hours away, and it seems fairly obvious -- from the whispers around the Warehouse -- that Daniel Cabera's career with the Orioles is about to come to an end. Barring an against-all-odds, Hail Mary trade before midnight, he'll be nontendered and become a free agent.
The O's attempted to generate interest in a deal at the winter meetings but apparently found other teams unwilling to take the risk of going to salary arbitration with Cabrera, who made $2.85 million last year and stood to get a significant raise in spite of his 8-10 record and 5.25 ERA.
Apparently, the O's did not make an attempt to re-sign Cabrera for a more reasonable salary, something they still are trying to do tonight with reliever Lance Cormier. The team finally has given up on Cabrera and will leave it to some other club to try and tap his raw talent and unfulfilled potential.
MacPhail's new special assistant, Wayne Krivsky, is trying to negotiate the deal with Cormier, but Cormier also is expected to be non-tendered if an agreement can't be reached by the deadline.
This doesn't qualify as blockbuster news, but we're hearing that one of the catchers the Orioles will bring to camp this spring is 33-year-old journeyman Chad Moeller, who appeared in 41 games for the Yankees last season. According to a club source, he has agreed to terms on a minor league contract.
Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said at the winter meetings that he's looking for a couple of veteran catchers to add to the list of catching prospects that will be in major league camp.
The O's also have talked to the agent for Gregg Zaun and are believed to be interested in just-released Florida Marlins catcher Matt Treanor. Moeller has played for seven teams -- the Twins, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Dodgers, Reds and Yankees.
So, A.J. Burnett reportedly has agreed to terms on a five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Yankees, giving them two of the top free-agent pitchers in this year's market for a combined price of $243.5 million.
The combined annual salary of CC and A.J. will be about $40 million, which probably sounds like a lot of money unless you're one of those corporate CEOs asking Congress for a bailout ... or you've got seemingly limitless revenues from your regional sports network and your brand new Yankee Stadium.
Of course, it is a lot of money and there is a great deal of risk involved even for the Yankees, though they have quite a bit of room on their outrageous payroll because of the departure of several big-money players (Bobby Abreu, Mike Mussina and Jason Giambi, to name a few). Sabathia has had weight issues and Burnett's medical history is well-known, so their newly revamped starting rotation appears to be more vulnerable than you would like for the price.
The Orioles' dalliance with Burnett was serious enough, but it was based on the notion that he wanted badly to play near his Monkton home. Andy MacPhail was never close to offering a comparable contract to the one he's expected to sign with the Yankees. The Orioles were stuck on three years and, based on the questions about A.J.'s durability, Andy's caution in this case was probably justified.
The Orioles have not announced a final decision on whether to tender a contract to pitcher Daniel Cabrera, but there will be resolution in the next few hours and it could take a couple of forms.
Orioles president Andy MacPhail, according to a source, is working to deal Cabrera by the tender deadline and, failing that, probably will not tender him a contract by tonight's midnight deadline.
Either way, it appears that Daniel will take his amazing but unrealized raw talent to another organization and -- as so often happens in cases such as this -- will turn into Cliff Lee and win 22 games next year
Long-running trade talks about a possible three-team or four-team deal that would send Jake Peavy from the Padres to the Cubs have been called off, which apparently ends the Orioles' pursuit of Cubs outfield prospect Felix Pie.
The Orioles were revealed last month as one of the teams targeted by the Cubs and Pads to facilitate the deal, but Orioles officials indicated then that the proposal that would send pitcher Garrett Olson to the Padres to receive Pie from the Cubs would not be pursued as a stand-alone deal. Wouldn't make sense anyway, since it wasn't the Cubs who were interested in Olson.
The acquisition of speedy outfielder Ryan Freel didn't preclude a deal for Pie, but I have to believe there's no longer any sense of urgency to acquire another left-handed hitting outfielder. It's not inconceivable that the O's make another offer for Pie, but they've got more important things on their to-do list.
I've been reading a lot of comments here lately about how embarrassing it would be to the Orioles if the Washington Nationals were to outbid them for free agent homeboy Mark Teixeira, and I agree to a certain extent.
But if you want to look at the situation dispassionately, Orioles fans should be rooting for the Nats to sign Teixeira if the Orioles don't. The alternative is for him to end up in Boston, Anaheim or even pinstripes (though the Yankees can't get everybody, can they?). The Nationals do play the Orioles six times in interleague play every year, but they aren't a divisional rival or a team that might knock you out in the first round of the playoffs five years from now.
Not that the Orioles are completely out of the picture just yet. My gut says that Teixeira and Scott Boras go for the highest price and it won't come from the O's, but until they actually do, there's still a possibility of a Christmas surprise.
I'm heading for McCarran International Airport and my trip home to Baltimore a little later today. If I see Mark Teixeira on my flight to BWI, I'll let you know.
The Orioles haven't officially given up on signing Mark Teixeira, but I've got to believe that Andy MacPhail has already begun to refocus on the equally daunting task of rebuilding the starting rotation.
Now that CC Sabathia has signed with the Yankees and A.J. Burnett is no longer a serious possibility, the market should begin to pick up. That said, MacPhail has sought to temper the expectation that he'll be able to sign a couple of decent veterans to stack behind Jeremy Guthrie.
When he was asked Wednesday whether he was confident there would be adequate pitchers available who fit the club's needs and financial parameters, he speculated that the supply-and-demand dynamic when it comes to starting pitchers might not work in the club's favor. Asked again today, he said something similar.
"I don't think you ever feel confident that there's enough starting pitching to go around,'' he said.
That's why I've changed my opinion and now believe the Orioles will tender a contract to Daniel Cabrera (left) tomorrow, though I've heard they have been leaning the other way. Considering the numbers that are being thrown around for the second-tier free agent pitchers on the market this year, maybe Daniel is worth the $4.5 million he might get in arbitration.
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Orioles president Andy MacPhail held a casual press briefing just after the Rule 5 draft before heading home from Las Vegas, where he completed a deal to send Ramon Hernandez to the Reds and came to terms with free agent shortstop Cesar Izturis.
The big fish probably got away, however. The word around the Bellagio Hotel is that the O's offer is well behind the other contenders in the Mark Teixeira derby, though MacPhail was not conceding anything.
"You don't really know,'' he said. "You really don't know all the information, so you don't know. We don't know exactly where the process stands, but I suspect it's not over until it's over. Until we're told otherwise, we believe we are part of the process."
The Orioles didn't set the world on fire over the past week, but MacPhail seemed satisfied to be going home with Ryan Freel and Izturis and not going home to a team that features Hernandez behind the plate.
"We're pleased with the trade, obviously, or we wouldn't have made it,'' MacPhail said. "We're happy with where we are as far as shortstop.. That's a good outcome for us. What happens with Mark Teixeira we'll see over time."
When asked if he was concerned that there might be negative fan reaction if the Orioles make no dynamic acquisitions, he waxed philosophical.
"You can only do what you can do,'' he said "We tried to make good baseball decisions on what made sense for us."
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The Orioles selected catcher Lou Palmisano from the Nashville Sounds roster with the fifth choice in today's Rule 5 draft. Palmisano, 26, was a third-round pick in the 2003 draft who had a decent season at Double-A Huntsville in 2007, batting .256 with 11 home runs and 63 RBI, but played very little at the rookie ball and Class-A level last year because of a knee injury.
Don't look for him in spring training, because the Orioles intend to sell his rights to the Houston Astros. With the sudden infusion of cash, I wonder if the Orioles will up their offer for Mark Teixeira to $140,050,000.
For a team that started out not planning to select anyone, the Orioles were one of the most active teams in the draft, also choosing RHP Josh Perrault from the Nationals' Double-A Harrisburg roster in the second round, 23-year-old Birmingham Barons (White Sox) shortstop Robert Valido in the Triple-A phase of the draft and right-handed pitcher Andrew Barb (Seattle Mariners) in the Double-A phase.
Perrault was 4-2 with a 4.48 ERA at Harrisburg and pitched well in three appearances with Triple-A Columbus. Valido hit .222 with three home runs and 27 RBI in 112 games for the Barons last year. He also had a tasteless cup of coffee at Triple-A Charlotte, where he had one hit in 24 at-bats. Barb is a 24-year-old right-hander who was 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA in 38 games at Class-A Wisconsin.
The Orioles also lost pitcher Rocky Cherry to the New York Mets in the major league phase.
One of the names that surfaced recently in the hunt for a veteran catcher was Matt Treanor of the Florida Marlins, who was being shopped around the league the past few weeks. Now, the O's probably can get him cheap.
Treanor, the husband of Olympic beach volleyball star Misty May-Treanor, was unexpectedly released by the Marlins late yesterday to open a place on the 40-man roster for a possible Rule 5 draftee.
O's president Andy MacPhail said during yesterday's press briefing that he likely will add more than one catcher from outside the organization. The Orioles also have had at least one conversation with agent Dan Evans about Gregg Zaun at the winter meetings.
The Rule 5 draft takes place at 9 a.m. (PST) and I couldn't be more excited. This is the day when teams get to outsmart each other by drafting each other's overlooked minor league players.
Here's how it works. Teams have submitted protected lists to MLB, which include the players on the 40-man roster and certain younger players who are exempt from the draft. Anyone else can be taken in the draft for just a $50,000 claiming fee, but that player must be kept on the major league roster all year or offered back to the original team for half the claiming price. There's some other fine print, but it's too early in the morning to get all front office on you.
Some fine players have been taken in the Rule 5 draft over the years. Kelly Gruber, for instance, turned out to be a two-time All-Star for the Toronto Blue Jays after being rescued from the Indians organization in 1983. Of course, the vast majority do not pan out.
The Orioles are not expected to take anyone, but could derive a benefit from the fifth choice in the draft (which is based on reverse order of finish the previous year). Technically, it is against the rules to trade draft choices in baseball, but the Orioles could draft a player coveted by another team and trade him for another prospect or cash. Might happen.
Super agent Scott Boras held court today for the media, though he wasn't particularly forthcoming with any details about the offers that he has received for Mark Teixeira. One of those offers came from the Orioles, but he wouldn't characterize it or handicap the chances of the four teams (O's, Nats, Angels and Red Sox) believed to remain in contention to sign the Severna Park native.
“Tex has been going through a number of offers and evaluating things and we’re looking for an evaluation from him,'' Boras said. "It’s not something I can say is imminent, but it’s something where he has got enough information from me. … We’ve received a number of offers and we’ve gone back and forth with teams and we’re moving in various directions, but I can’t tell you a time frame.
"The considerations are his family, the economics and winning, obviously they all go into the evaluation of what he wants to do."
The big question for the fans of both the Orioles and Washington Nationals is how much emphasis Tex will put on his chances of winning right away and how much he might put on playing close to home.
“Certainly, part of Mark’s decision is complex,'' he said. "Regional ties and family things are part of his consideration. Obviously, there’s the club, the club’s ability to win and win long term, commitment by the owners to the franchise being successful, where they play, the city they’re in, those kinds of things. He’s played in both leagues so he’s had an opportunity to make an analysis of what’s best for he and his family and, of course, the economics, too.
“I think for any player when you go to look at your hometown and you evaluate things, you’re going to look at it a little bit differently,'' Boras said. "Whether it’s outcome-determinative or not, I know situations where it has been and others where it hasn’t.”
Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail briefed the local media a little while ago and made it clear that the O's are serious about trying to put free agent slugger Mark Teixeira at the heart of their lineup, but he would not reveal any specifics about the offer that is currently on the table.
If there is some doubt on the part of Orioles fans about the true desire of the Orioles to sign Teixeira, consider MacPhail's response when somebody asked him if he will head home tomorrow feeling like his trip to these winter meetings -- which produced the Ramon Hernandez/Ryan Freel trade and an agreement in principle with free agent Cesar Izturis -- was a success.
"If Tex signed with somebody else tomorrow,'' MacPhail said, "it would be hard to walk out of here feeling liike it's been a success. I'm not saying that it wouldn't be a success unless he signed with us, but it sure would be a lot more fun (if he did)."
Coming up next: Teixeira's agent, Scott Boras, also met with the media late this afternoon. He didn't reveal a whole lot, but I'll include some of the highlights in my next post.
Though former Orioles prospect Gregg Zaun might seem like a logical stopgap catcher, club officials are still sorting through a list of candidates who might start the season in the O's lineup and then gradually give way to top prospect Matt Wieters.
The perfect player would be a veteran who can handle a pitching staff, but recognizes that he is accepting a diminishing role and would be content helping to mentor his preordained replacement. Chances are, nobody is going to fit that exact description, because you don't get to the major leagues by not wanting to be in the starting lineup, but the Orioles have identified several players who probably are close enough.
Zaun is one of them. I've also heard the name of journeyman free agent Henry Blanco and Florida Marlins backup Matt Treanor (left) as a trade possibility. Treanor might be better known as the husband of Olympic beach volleyball star Misty May-Treanor.
No one should be surprised that speculation about Mark Teixeira (right) has heated up considerably in the wake of the news that the Yankees have agreed to terms on a seven-year, $161 million with free agent pitcher C.C. Sabathia, but I think it is taking on a life of its own.
Here's what we think we know. Orioles beat writer Jeff Zrebiec was told by a source that the Orioles did meet with agent Scott Boras last night and it appears that the club made a proposal for Teixeira. But an latimes.com report that the Orioles are "apparently willing" to offer nine years for $180 million has been met with incredulity from O's officials. Maybe they will get to that point, but I'm hearing they aren't close to that yet.
We're guessing that they are closer to seven years at about $20 million per year, though that doesn't figure to get it done.
Keep in mind that it is in the interest of the player and the agent to have a giant number on the street, especially after Sabathia got an average of $23 million per year from the Yankees. Boras is a competitive guy, so you can bet he's going to try to beat that average salary, which probably doesn't bode well for Tex coming to Baltimore.
I guess it's appropriate that we're in Las Vegas, because the price of poker seems to have gone up.
Coming up on the program...maybe: There's some talk that Boras will make himself available to the media at 4 p.m. PST today, but that is unconfirmed.
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The announcement of the Cesar Izturis deal will take awhile, since he is playing winter ball in his native Venezuela and has to come into Baltimore to be examined by the Orioles medical staff.
Got an inquiry yesterday about free agent Braden Looper, a pitcher who Sun baseball reporter Jeff Zrebiec mentioned a while back as a possibility for the Orioles, so I guess an update is in order. The Orioles have met with his agent here at the winter meetings, though it's difficult to gauge the level of their interest at this point in a developing market. Stay tuned.
Looper was 12-14 with a 4.16 ERA last year for the St. Louis Cardinals and has a 58-58 career record and 3.93 career ERA.
Major League Baseball released the voting for the 2008 Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award and -- drum roll please -- it went to Orioles DH Aubrey Huff.
Huff won in a close vote over likely Hall of Famer Jim Thome, breaking a string of six straight awards for Red Sox star David Ortiz.
This has been quite a different offseason for Huff (at right celebrating a home run) than last year, when his comments critical of Baltimore on a shock jock radio show had fans calling for his head. He said in the spring that he would have to win back the loyalty of the fans by performing on the field, and he did just that, batting .303 as a DH with 23 homers and 77 RBI. Overall, he batted .304 with 32 homers and 108 RBI.
The New York Post is reporting that Yankees GM Brian Cashman has reeled in free agent pitcher CC Sabathia (right) with the six-year, $140 million offer the Yankees made weeks ago, which would be both good news and bad news for the Orioles.
The bad news, of course, is that the Yankees just got a lot better, which will make the upper reaches of the American League East that much harder to crack for the rebuilding Orioles over the next few years.
The good news is that the free-agent logjam might finally have been broken. Many teams and players had been waiting for the big dominoes to start falling before proceeding with their offseason improvements. Now, the spotlight will be on Mark Teixeira, who is being courted by the Red Sox, Angels, Nationals and Orioles and hopes to make a decision by Christmas.
In the meantime, look for an increase in activity among the next tier of free-agent starting pitchers. A.J. Burnett is believed to be close to settling on a new team, though almost certainly not the Orioles. It's not out of the question that he also lands in the Bronx.
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During the news conference yesterday to announce the deal between the Cincinnati Reds and Orioles, Reds GM Walt Jocketty used the terms "good leadership" and "good defense" to describe Ramon Hernandez, which made me wonder if he was talking about the same Ramon Hernandez that we've been watching the past couple of years.
Our Ramon lacked intensity and forgot how to block pitches in the dirt. Our Ramon fell into bad habits handling the young Orioles pitching staff and didn't hustle on the basepaths. Our Ramon didn't seem like a leader or a particularly good catcher at the end of his brief Orioles career. And, believe it or not, Jocketty acknowledged all that.
"Yeah, that was part of our report that we got from our scouts, and not from just one,'' he said. "We did notice that -- they had seen him in the past and saw him again this year and felt that there was probably some level of frustration that he was experiencing, and we talked about it. I did some research on it with other people that I know that have had him and got great reports, so we do think that a change of scenery will help him immensely."
I'm skeptical, but Andy MacPhail did not argue with that assessment during his media briefing later in the day and said Hernandez is still a quality offensive player at a position where the value of offensive production is at a premium.
"If you rank him offensively, you're going to see Ramon is in the top half,'' he said. "It's hard to make the case the Reds didn't improve their offense with Ramon."
The Orioles have all but finalized a two-year contract with free agent shortstop Cesar Izturis (right) that is believed to be worth about $6 million -- according to a pair of sources close to the situation -- but may have to wait until after the winter meetings to announce the deal because he almost certainly will be required to undergo a physical.
Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail would only say that he has been making solid progress in the negotiations with Izturis's agent, but his upbeat response to inquiries about the negotiations seem to point to the situation being very advanced.
The range of possibilities has narrowed over the past few days, but after Adam Everett signed with the Detroit Tigers, MacPhail said he was still happy with the way the shortstop situation was playing out. He seemed to indicate that the team is about to clear its offseason schedule to the point where it can focus entirely on the more complicated matter of adding a couple of veteran pitchers to the starting rotation.
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Orioles president Andy MacPhail confirmed that he met with the agents for Japanese pitchers Kenshin Kawakami and Koji Uehara today, though he described the meetings as very preliminary and speculated the process of gauging interest and determining value will take quite a while.
Both MacPhail and Kawakami's agent characterized their meeting as a "fact-finding mission" and said no offers or proposals were exchanged.
"We just had a preliminary meeting,'' said agent Dan Evans. "We're trying to meet with as many clubs as we possibly can. We're just getting started. Our company just [began representing] him three weeks ago. I don't want to characterize their interest, but there is definite interest on their part."
Evans said he was impressed with the Orioles grasp of the "infrastructure" necessary for a Asian pitcher to make a successful entry into the major leagues.
"They are aware of the things you have to do on and off the field," Evans said, "which is great to see for a team that has not been involved in this area before. I can't say enough about what Andy MacPhail and John Stockstill have done."
The Orioles remain focused on signing free agent shortstop Cesar Izturis, and a source told O's beat reporter Jeff Zrebiec that the club is getting closer to getting the deal done that would fill one of its biggest offseason needs.
Izturis played in 114 games for the St. Louis Cardinals last year, batting .263 with 24 stolen bases. The O's continue to put a big emphasis on team speed this winter. The deal they are about to announce with the Reds brings them a player (Ryan Freel) who has stolen more than 35 bases three times in his career.
The official announcement of the deal that will send Ramon Hernandez and cash to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Ryan Freel and two minor league prospects has been scheduled for 3:30 PST (6:30 EST).
The Orioles have scheduled meetings later today with the agents for Japanese pitchers Kenshin Kawakami and Koji Uehara. Former baseball executive Dan Evans represents Kawakami and Mark Pieper represents Uehara.
Both pitchers are 33 years old and are coming off solid careers in Japan, but are considered by scouts to be likely No. 4 or No. 5 starters in the American major leagues.
Just yesterday, there was talk that the O's were one of three legitimate suitors for free agent pitcher Jon Garland, but that trail has gone cold in a hurry. The reason: Garland is believed to be seeking a multi-year contract worth $13 million per year and the Orioles are not willing to spend that kind of money on him.
Garland is a solid right-hander who has had two 18-win seasons in his career. But he was 10-13 for the White Sox in 2007 and his 14-8 record with the Angels this past year was tempered by a 4.90 ERA and the worst WHIP (1.505) of his seven full seasons as a major league starting pitcher.
Credit where it's due: Much of the information and breaking news that is showing up here during these winter meetings is acquired in collaboration with Sun Orioles beat writer Jeff Zrebiec, who's working the hallways at the Bellagio about 25 hours a day.
Apparently, the Ramon Hernandez deal is slightly sweeter for the Orioles than previously reported. The O's are believed to be getting two mid-level prospects and fourth outfielder Ryan Freel for Ramon.
Just waiting for an announcement. Gotta believe it will be soon, since I saw a club official (won't say which club) carrying around a stack of Ramon Hernandez stat and bio sheets.
According to a source here, the Orioles have made substantial progress over the past 24 hours on the prospective deal that would send Ramon Hernandez to the Cincinnati Reds for fourth outfielder Ryan Freel and a mid-level prospect.
There is a general manager's meeting going on right now, but it's possible the deal could be announced very soon. If there is any holdup, it could be because the Commissioner's Office will have to approve the deal, since more than $1 million in cash will also change hands to subsidize Ramon's salary.
O's president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said yesterday that he hoped to get something done at these winter meetings, and this deal would probably be it. The O's don't appear to be close enough with any free agents to get a deal done in the next two days.
Hernandez became expendable for a couple of reasons -- the first, of course, being the quick progress of top catching prospect Matt Wieters. But the Orioles had become increasingly disenchanted with his lack of intensity behind the plate. The club still is reluctant to turn the starting job over to Wieters on Opening Day, but will likely sign a moderately priced free agent veteran to share the job with him.
Normally, a potential player move is met with at least a modicum of mixed feelings from baseball fans, since there are usually two sides to every story. So I'm a little surprised at how few of the fans commenting here have come to the defense of catcher Ramon Hernandez.
Don't misunderstand. I said "a little surprised." Ramon, who could soon be headed for Cincinnati in exchange for fourth outfielder Ryan Freel, wore out his welcome in Baltimore with his listless play this past season. He wore his disinterest on his sleeve as the season deteriorated and left fans willing to rush top prospect Matt Wieters to be rid of him.
Still, every player generally has his defenders. Ramon is a good-hitting catcher when he wants to play, and he was supposed to be a pretty good catch-and-throw guy when he got here. Now he's just what baseball people call a "change of scenery" guy, which explains why the Reds are interested in spite of his lackluster performance at times last year.
The deal's not done, but -- judging from the comments of Andy MacPhail and Dave Trembley on Monday -- the O's are acting like they've already moved on.
My take: He'll do better somewhere else because he'll have something to prove in 2009, but he will be a problem if he stays here because Wieters is coming either way.
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With George Sherrill coming off a breakout season and Chris Ray coming back from Tommy John surgery, you'd think that there would be no question which of the Orioles' two short relievers would be the primary closer in 2009. And you would probably be right, but manager Dave Trembley is keeping his options open.
"I don't think there will be competition,'' Trembley said during yesterday's news conference. "I think I'm going to be afforded the luxury of having two guys that have done it. You know, Sherrill is the guy who's probably got a leg up on that role simply because he did it all last year and Chris missed the year. You know, with George doing it for the first time last year and then for a month there missing some time because he got a little tired, I don't think it's inconceivable that we could somehow share that role."
There also might be a decision to make behind the plate. The apparent effort to trade Ramon Hernandez could mean the early arrival of top prospect Matt Wieters, a problem Trembley doesn't seem to concerned about.
"Well, I'm looking forward to seeing Wieters,'' he said. "I think everybody is. I think Wieters is probably (ready), like I said about [Adam] Jones last year when we got Jones. You know, I've been playing with guys in the minor leagues for a long time, and those guys don't come around very often, and when they do, you'd better make sure they get better, and that's how I feel about Wieters. He's got a chance to be very good, and if you're a coach or a manager or instructor, your job is to make sure they get better."
Each major league manager at the winter meetings holds a news conference, and Dave Trembley's was on the first day. He covered a number of subjects, so I'll give you a few of the highlights:
On the club's situation here: "Well, I feel that Andy MacPhail and the rest of the people in the organization, we did our homework when we went to the organizational meetings in Sarasota the week after the major league season was over. I thought we gathered a lot of information. Obviously, I think it's pretty clear what our needs are. You know, Andy took that information to the general managers' meeting, now we're here, and I think we're getting closer to doing what we have to do to improve the club."
On whether Brian Roberts will be back: : Well, I would say Brian Roberts is my leadoff hitter until someone tells me he isn't. I think he's a darned good one, and I think he's one of the better second basemen in baseball. I think he means a lot to our city and to our fan base. That being said, I didn't just fall off a truck. I know that things change. But no one has told me or no one has led me to believe that Brian Roberts is not going to be the everyday starting second baseman for me in Baltimore.
On his expectations for prospect Nolan Reimold: "Well, he's going to get his first look in major league camp. This is his first time. He put up some power numbers last year. I've spoke to Andy about him, and we're going to have to take a look at him in spring training and make a decision on where we see him in the big picture. Is it as a regular, everyday player, or is it as an extra player? And I think that will help us make a decision on what he does and where he goes."
First thing in the morning: Dave on the closer and catching situations.
The Orioles announced tonight that they have outrighted catcher Guillermo Quiroz and pitcher Freddie Deza to the Triple-A Norfolk roster, clearing two spaces on the 40-man major league roster.
The roster now stands at 38, which clears room for a variety of possibilities. The Orioles now have room to acquire a couple of major league players by trade or free agency. They could also use one or both of the spaces to take players in the Rule 5 draft.
Quiroz, since he has been outrighted before, has eight days to accept the assignment, but both players have signed 2009 contracts.
Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail has met face-to-face with free agent slugger Mark Teixeira and agent Scott Boras. The meeting took place in Washington D.C. at about the same time as similar meetings involving the Yankees and Nationals.
MacPhail has been hesitant to give up any information on the Teixeira situation, but when asked directly at his winter meetings media conference if he had met with Teixeira in person, he smiled and nodded. He basically confirmed the meeting, but would not characterize the negotiations or speculate on the Orioles' chances of signing the top free agent position player in this year's market.
MacPhail also would not deny trade negotiations have taken place with the Cincinnati Reds involving Ramon Hernandez. He did indicate, however, a reluctance to turn the job over to top prospect Matt Wieters immediately.
"You've got to remember,'' MacPhail said. "Matt's only had 200 at-bats at Double-A,"
That probably means the O's will sign or deal for a stopgap veteran. The name that keeps coming up is former O's backup Gregg Zaun, the nephew of Rick Dempsey and a popular young player when he was here the first time.
If the Orioles are going to sign a free-agent shortstop, it's most likely Cesar Izturis. The club has had recent conversations with his agent and the field narrowed with yesterday's news that the Detroit Tigers have agreed to terms with Adam Everett, another option the O's had considered.
Since the O's do not appear interested in Orlando Cabrera and the agent for Rafael Furcal (Paul Kinzer) told Sun beat reporter Jeff Zrebiec today that he hasn't heard from them, that pretty much leaves Izturis. Nick Punto also is available and I suppose they could pursue a trade for Jack Wilson or Bobby Crosby, but Izturis still seems to be the logical first choice.
The Orioles were thought to have some interest in free agent pitcher Jon Garland, and the word floating around today is that they are one of three teams making a serious attempt to sign him. Garland was offered arbitration and is a Type-B free agent, which means the Angels get a sandwich draft pick if he signs elsewhere.
If the Orioles make him a priority, it might be an indication that they have given up on any realistic chance of signing A.J. Burnett, since it seems unlikely they would commit the money to sign both.