Well thats another 3-4 million off the payroll, the Royals better look out the O's are shooting for 24th place!

Pete,

You are right about the fans. If Cabrera 'finds himself' while w/ another organization, we will blame MacPhail and our pitching coaches of years past for not 'fixing him.' That is baseball for you. I am totally with MacPhail on this one, and honestly feel Cabrera can be very solid with a change of scenery. We can use that money we saved on a guy like Looper + a Japanese pitcher who hopefully turns out to be the next Kuroda or even Matsuzaka (ok that one is a stretch).

What are the odds the O's pursue a guy like Juan Cruz assuming they pass on re-signing Cormier? And what are the odds we go after Dunn if we miss out on Tex? My personal opinion is if we get Tex, Markakis and B-Rob are MUCH more likely to remain as they may actually sense we are serious about winning. Somehow I sense that signing guys like Moeller proves to the MLB that we are serious about mediocrity for a 12th straight season

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Pete's reply: If the O's swoop in on Tex, I agree that Roberts becomes more amenable to staying, but Markakis is a separate issue.

I think the odds of Cabrera being a 15-game winner are pretty slim, but when and if it happens, you can't really fault MacPhail or anybody else in the warehouse. Five or six years is a looong time to wait.

I'm a lifelong Oriole fan and remember the glory years of late 60's early 70's so I have a longer term perspective. I'm not disappointed in not signing Burnett or CC because 1 big name pitcher won't do it. I'd like to see us get Tex for the longterm, even 10 years, and then build around him with some midlevel pitchers while our talent develops at the minor league level. The Rays did not have any so called big name pitchers or even any so called big name position players. We could have had Pena for a little bit of nothing a few years ago. Even if we don't get Tex we should remain on the path to being competitive for the long haul. Remember Mike Mussina left to go to the yankees to win a world series and it did not happen. We can be the next Rays if we're patient and build a pipeline. This is coming from a 40 year Oriole fan who can remember 4 - 20 game winners in the same year. They primarily came from within. It will be worth the wait.

Pete, I would say that the odds are low that Cabrerra will develop a third pitch, learn to throw any of them consistently for strikes {except in the middle of the plate}, learn to field his position{he is just awful} and grow up. To fix all of these issues would take an epiphany of biblical proportions on his part.

My only concern is that he signs with an American League team and Oriole hitters have to dodge his pitches. Otherwise, it was another smart move my Macphail, and, as with Hernadez, addition by subtraction.

Pete, IF DC becomes a great pitcher some place else, well good for him. But I think he will be the same DC just in another city. I think some players are just happy to be a major leaguer, to them that is the ultimate.

You've said it for a year. I've said it for two to three.

If he becomes Randy Johnson and win a Cy Young somewhere else... good for him. It isn't worth this team waiting for that. The change might be what he needs to become better anyway.

Cabrera has single-handedly slowed the growth of this organization in my mind. Rid of him, we are now forced to pursue other options for the rotation - options that before were side stepped because, "We've got Danny." Still not sure why this team didn't trade him while the chance was there and his value was high enough.

Regardless, I will love to see the O's be the benefactors of 10 walk night by Cabrera. With our luck, though, we'll catch him on the no-hitter night.

While they're at it, can they get rid of Liz, Penn and Olson too?

Pete, if Cabrera becomes a 15-win pitcher, it will be because he leaves the Orioles. He wasn't going to do it here.

pete, whats the update on bedard i cannot not find anywhere saying he was tendered on not

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Pete's reply: Sorry, they did tender him a contract.

New direction, new faces. That doesn't always equate into new younger players. the older talent that we are going after is filler material. Don't read too much into this. The idea is to utilize our own farm system to supply us with the talent we need to compete. Whether that be to put those players on the field at OPACY or package them in a trade for an impact player.

A lot of folks here Peter seem to have forgotten the rebuild notion that most of us indicated we'd be willing to wait and see through. Chasing high dollar free agents is not going to improve us, because most will not consider Baltimore a desirable place to continue their careers at this point. Since we are in rebuild mode, you need hard nosed vets like Freel to contribute while we draft and develop our future.

People remember, it ain't about the players here now, it's about what we look like 2-3 years from now. I'm still on board with Andy.

After reading about Cabrera I began thinking about the Yankee's signings of the week. I think all baseball fans should boycott major league baseball until a salary cap is instituted.It works for the NFL and will work for baseball too.If the players object and refuse to participate perhaps they could get a job with GM if they are bailedout.

I would have kept him for another year. If anything, he eats up the innings and thats more than we can say about the rest of our young guns who are still a year or two or more away from being MLB pitchers.
Moving forward, lets sign 1-2 veterans to hold down the fort and hope that at least one of the kids comes through next year. That will give us a good 4 man rotation to go with a great bullpen. (and leave the bullpen guys where they belong, in the pen!)
We can do it.

I know the O's have been patient but I dont understand the move to be honest. Who is going to take all of those innings at a cheaper price and be more productive with more upside (albeit decreased for DC)?
And who is he in the way of? Does he really have to meet past expectations to be worth $3-$4 million in the major leagues today. The O's arent close to contending this season so i think you can definitely blame management if he pans out somewhere else. Im tired too as a fan but take out the emotion here. I hope McPhail did.

More money to make that 9 year $190 million offer to Tex right Pete?

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Pete's reply: Not going to make much of a dent, however.

IT WAS TIME FOR A CHANGE OF SCENERY FOR CABRERA. LIZ throws as hard and is younger you just can't have two like these on the same roster to tolerate.

Congratulations to the O's for the brave, risky decision to part with Daniel Cabrera, who could surely havepitched with control given his talent and te first-rate pitching coaches he had. At least the O's might be saying they do not want pitchers who will not do what they must to be successful. Indeed, they could have parted with Mr... Cabrera much sooner.

Pete... If Cabrera was a so-so pitcher, we wouldn't be having this conversation of sorts. Remember, being so-so on this staff is a definite plus.

I think Andy MacPhail is making some difficult but important decisions. He's been very consistent with his message and his actions. He realizes, as should fans, that our farm system needs to be worked on. He's doing that. It's going to take time for us to become a great organization in lieu of becoming just a great team. The Orioles can't operate like the Yankees and just buy the big talent.... not unless Baltimoreans want to pay through the nose for tickets!

Give MacPhail time, Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will the Orioles. They will be good again... eventually.

Trust MacPhail, he's going to deliver the goods.

This "Inning Eater" thing is a myth. Pitching innings 2-7, after giving up a half dozen runs in the first inning is not something to applaud.

Cabrera racked up innings only because he fell so far behind so quickly that his manager didn't want to waste another arm.

We should have kept him. One year, at $4M, is very similar to what we'll end up giving Steve Trachsel. At least with Cabrera, there's a chance he'll have a good game.

What does anyone have against Liz and Olson. Those two hardly have any major league experience, and they were rushed through the minors. Give those two a chance.

Goodbye. Five years is too long to wait for 'potential."

I would only say that Cabrera's first year or two on the mound as an Oriole should have been time spent in the minors where the pressure to develop would have been motivation for him to focus his attention on fine tuning his natural talent. Watching him I always felt like he assumed it was all going to magically fall into place - not unlike his spot in the rotation.

I guess it is going to be the year of the Penn in more ways than one.

It's just so frustrating. I wish we could have traded him when he had value. Early this past season when he was pitching well for 6 weeks, why couldn't they pull the trigger then on a deal? It seems like they always wait until they have no value left at all before they try to trade someone. I am now looking forward to non-tendering Olson in a year or two when he also has no value...