i believe it was me who suggested Redding a few days ago. dont worry, I patted myself on the back

this may be totally off topic, but do the reporters at ESPN that are former
Sun reporters view the O's based on their own personal dealings with Angelos. would you say that there may be some personal animus?

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Pete's reply: The only former Sun reporter on ESPN who covered tthe O's during the Angelos era is Buster Olney, and I believe he has a good relationship with Angelos.

If Pavano is healthy then he can be as good as Burnett. Orioles should take a chance on him. Also, he won't cost them a draft pick.

Glad to hear that the O's will make an offer to Kawakami and that they still are interested in Looper, but any news on Paul Byrd? He certainly wont have fans lining up to buy the new road jerseys with his name on the back, but other than Jeremy, he is better than anyone we had last year.

The O's have always been interested in Pat Burrell, so now that he is available, is there a legitimate chance that the O's would go after him? What an OF the O's would have if they could add Burrell with Jones and Markakis.

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Pete's reply: I have no update on Byrd and haven't heard Burrell mentioned lately. Sorry.

pete regardless of his injury history why arent the orioles interested in ben sheets seems to me a good candidate to take a flyer on. Also i am new to the sports blogging world and would like to know how strong you consider your sources within the organzation versus that of your competitors.Would it stand to reason given the orioles stake in masn they would have dibs on the best info?

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Pete's reply: There are times when the Orioles feed stuff to MASN, and there's nothing wrong with that. They are part of the same organization. But I get my share of news and our beat guys are really good at digging stuff up. I'll let you decide which best meets your needs.

Hey Pete,

What's the story on Kawakami? Should we be excited by this? I know alot of the "bigger" teams, such as the Braves and Red Sox are interested in him, but does that mean he's any good? Obviously, anyone who can pitch more than 4 2/3 innings is an improvement on what we saw last July, but is there any consensus on whether he'd be able to do that for us?

Thanks for the updates Pete.

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Pete's reply: No one really knows how good the guy will be. He's projected in the major leagues as a No. 4-type starter. The O's are in the hunt, but so are quite a few other teams.

I saw it on another post - can the Orioles and Nats trade non-tendered players?

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Pete's reply: No, that was just meant to be a clever headline, indicating that it would seem like a trade if each team signed the other's castoff.

Braden Looper would be a mistake as a starter. He had serious shoulder surgery in 2005 and was let go by the Mets. Last year, for the Cardinals, the team which drafted him originally in 1996, he starts for the first time and pitches 175 innings.

He is a lifetime .500 pitcher. Want to sign him to set up? Maybe. He's coming off a season where for a guy who never started before he pitched a lot of innings.

Beware.

Tim Redding? Redding has half the talent of Daniel Cabrera. "Ship has sailed," or "won't do it" I keep hearing said about the possibility that the Orioles would decide to re-sign Cabrera. To that I say, "Bring the ship back," and "Do it."

why would anyone expect this guy to be anything other than worse than Cabrera? He's not even durable, last year is the first time in four years he even made his starts, and at least you could count on Daniel to head out there every five days, though it was mostly guesswork from there. I still don't understand nontendering Cabrera, and that's the reason for this post. It seems like we walked away from an asset. We're not the only team interested in this guy, and apparently Cabrera has multiple interested suitors already, so why didn't we just trade him late next spring after one of the young guys (Bergeson, Hernandez, even Penn) had made a few starts in Norfolk. I don't understand saving the money on Daniel so we could give it to this guy. MacPhail saw the teams we play last year, nothing this man has done suggests in any way that he will have success here. That is Cabrera's beauty, and something that he doesn't share with anyone except for maybe Ben Sheets that we could still sign, it doesn't matter that much who he faces, he's usually good and occasionally bad. Redding, even guys like Looper and Byrd aren't ever going to be effective against the Red Sox in Fenway. Redding doesn't seem like he'll be able to get out the Blue Jays, what is our attraction in this guy?

Pavano? Redding? Let's focus on my man Tex!!!!

Hey Pete
have you heard anything about the o's and the D. Lowe sweepstakes?

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Pete's reply: Haven't heard a word on Lowe.

100 loss season

The interest in Redding doesn't make much sense to me. Why cut Cabrera loose just to sign another player just like him?

give Tex 200 mil and start with that. If we are going to play younger players then do that. Forget signing other teams dump offs. Redding, Why? They should have kept DC. They say that they want to win, but thats a bunch of crap. I'm tired of seeing this team lose so I'm going down to DC to watch some new losers.

Yeah, go McPhail and Angelos, just what the O's need another sub .Japanese pitcher, we are saved!

Is it just me or do Reddings numbers look alot like the recently non-tendered Cabrera's? Losing record, ERA around 5? Just rearranging deck chairs.

I'm with Ben. Why go after Redding when you already had D-Cab? Their records and ERA's were about equal, but Danny at least had age and durability on his side. His price tag wouldn't have been THAT high. Now, if the Orioles are going to sign Kawakami and Wolf, that's a different story. I don't see that happening, though. The Orioles had better sign a couple of good SP's this year, though, if they want to have any chance of even making it to September (let alone pitching well that month). Otherwise it could be a whole lot of Chris Waters and Danys Baez, and I don't think anyone wants to see that!

Ben..I think you have it reversed..Cabrera is usually bad and occasionally good..
I'm luke warm on Redding but at least he can get the ball over the plate once in while..

Great a National league pitcher w/ an ERA at 5...what am I missing here???

I say why not take a flyer on a guy like Pavano. If it doesn't pan out, no loss. If it does, you could have one of the best arms out there. When Pavano was good, he was really good. These are the kind of chances this team needs to take.

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Pete's reply: That might be a fine idea if he wanted to sign a really cheap deal, but somebody will pay him millions on spec.

the orioles are boring. we probably need more players than any other team out there and we have the balls of being patient. i feel that they dont want to go after the pretty good players in fear of over spending but the players they are going after nobody wants and they are going after them slowly. i hope these minor league player that are on our rosters really pay dividends in the near future cause the o's may be in danger of loosing some true baseball fans including me. i repeat that this team is boring.

Are you kidding me? Spend some money on a quality pitcher! A 4.95 e.r.a. in the Minor (Narional) League equals a 5.5 e.r.a in the Amercian League. Why do we want that? Why?

Better sign him for less than 4 million a year. He has a worse career win loss record than DCab and his era is only .25 better...

I do not think anyone will pay him millions. I think he will get a minimal deal, with incentives. No one in their right mind would take him for millions. I really liked him before his injuries, but face it he had one big year and then injury after injury. Redding I like though. Anything on Looper?

I agree with the nay sayers. Redding, Looper? What's the difference from what we put out there last year. Redding will get rocked in the AL East. Some big hitters from the right side in that division and I believe DCab was better than Redding with rightys. The way the pitching staff is perceived to look like for '09 with these types of names mentioned to take the mound for us, I have to agree with Mr. Graves above and say 100 loss season. Why would Tex come here when we're pursuing this kind of pitching?

Why does it have to be a cheap deal for Pavano? The Os need to start throwing some money away and taking some chances. Being fiscally sound is not what they need to be preaching now. Throw some money at him with some club options in case he does work out. If he doesn't you've taken a two year chance and not blocked any of the young pitchers.

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Pete's reply: WIth all due respect, that sounds like the philosophy they've been employing the last 11 years.

Please, Santa, bring the Orioles a player that another team might actually be interested in.

Pete;

I have followed the Japanese pitchers on the market this off season very closely and heard about the interest they had in Uehara and Kawakami pretty early on.

I can't find anything out of Japan that they actually made an offer to Kawakami. Any details on the terms of the contract and who has the best offer on the table?

I heard saw a rumor that an offer exists at least in principle of 3/$21mil. But again, I couldn't back that up with any actual information.

I know Andy plays things real close to the vest, but I am liking the news that the Orioles are seriously interested in the supposed better of the two guys from Japan.

Should have kept Cabrera he'll probably throw a no hitter for his next team.