In an earlier post you said the O's had spoken with the agent for Zaun, I thought that Zaun did not have an agent and negeotiated his contracts by himself. so the O's had spoken directly with Zaun I assume.

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Zaun has an agent. It's Dan Evans, who used to be a baseball exec. He also represents one of the Japanese pitchers the O's are interested in.

Amen. Cabrera demoralizes the entire team and the fans too, everytime he takes the mound. Enough is enough.

Bad move.

I don't like it at all. I certainly don't care about Cormier signing any contract. He was marginal at best.

I am surprised to see Cabrera go. I didn't think they could afford to lose a good arm, when they don't have any ready for this year.

Cabrera: "This is a business," he said. "It would not surprise me if one day they do not need my work anymore. That's how this game goes."

Me: "That is correct, Daniel. It is a business, and you did poorly at your job considering your potential. The O's have no further desire to employ you to work so far beneath your ability. It is merely a business decision."

Was
Eric Bedard tendered by Seattle?

...............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Yes, they did, so he won't be available.

Daniel Cabrera started the season on fire in 2007 and finished with a 3-0 record versus the Yankees. So much is said of Daniel's failure to follow coaching and improve, his wildness, his inconsistency.

I know all the bad. Very much so. But I still believe the Orioles were wrong to give up on Cabrera.

I will support this decision only if the Birds know that his arm has serious physical problems.

Otherwise, with a rebuilding team, there was no reason to give up on a guy who has the raw ability to be lights-out on any given night.

He was like a baby on the mound defensively, the glove seeming like a foreign object to him. Cabrera never even wore a glove until he was 17, and the first time he put one on and tried to field a ball he smothered it like a young child.

That he never showed much improvement defensively was a big disappointment to me. That's a hard one to understand, knowing a commitment to practice, repetition, determination should get that done.

But I think Cabrera should have been given another season with Kranitz.

Again, if the Orioles know he is damaged goods, that is one thing.

If not, giving up on Daniel is a mistake.

This is reminding me of the movie Major League where the owner tries to make the team so bad, they can't win so she move the team to Florida. I think Peter is making this team so bad, he wants to sell it. Hopefully he does. His time is up. Its hard to believe he is actually a Baltimore resident. He seems to hate this club and wants to keep tearing it apart. He must had been a nerd in gradeschool and highschool and some athlete kick his butt and that athlete was an oriole fan. Either that or he came to a game when he was young and got beat up by a fan so he wants to make all us fans pay for it.

We need pitching. Now we have even less arms. Letting go of Cormier made no sense to me. I also saw that the Nats let go of pitcher Tim Redding, he might be a good filler for the rotation or bullpen.

Pete, I don't know what Daniel is like off the field, but I've heard he is a nice kid and that he works hard so I do wish the best for him, but this is without doubt, the right decision in letting him go. Daniel had some very respected pitching coaches and one of the all time great pitchers to help him out, but it didn't work. Besides the money, the time spent on continuing to develop Daniel would take way from some of the other young guys we have so I wish him luck, but this was a good call by the F.O.

Pete, I have family in FL and they have season tix to the Marlins (put in your own joke) and they say Treanor is a solid guy on and off the field, but his best attribute, is his meticulous dealings the pitching staff and looking at the young arms they have in Miami, I think he would be a nice addition to our club in mentoring Matt and helping the young pitchers out.

...............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Yes, Daniel is a nice kid and I wish him well.

I certainly not going to shed a tear over Cabreras departure but without much else in the form of major league ready pitching would it really have been such a bad idea to pay Cabrera 3.5 to 4 million to eat innings for 1 more year? Who is going to fill the 4 rotations spots we now have open?

Maybe Cormier was marginal, but a 4.02 era? I'm glad you wrote that the O's tried to negotiate with him. I thought they just didn't try. I like Lance, but if he was offered a job here and he didn't like Angelos's money, then he needed to go.
I can't believe why players think they are worth so much.
If one person is worth $20 million, that would be Cal Ripken Jr. He's good for the game, great for Maryland and baseball and he'll fill these empty seats. Can you imagine Cal Ripken and Mark Teixeira on the 2009 team.
That would be awesome. Besides, Cal should be playing, not traveling the world promoting baseball.
There's your shortstop right there.
"ONE MORE YEAR!"

I, for one, advocated on this blog last season for DCab as a long-term solution as a number 4 or 5 starter (which is all I thought he could ever be, but I thought he could be serviceable there). I then sat in a largely empty Camden Yards one night last summer and watched him walk most of Oakland's lineup and then serve up bombs to Jack Cust and others in a thorough beating. It was too much to take, even from a bottom-of-the-rotation guy. Much as I thought DCab would eventually work out, I think it was time to move on.

That said, apart from Guthrie, our rotation is nothing but question marks. Will Liz and Olson become legitimate starters? Will Penn become a major league starter? Can Albers and Patton come back from injury? Does Jim Johnson go back to being a starter given the return of Chris Ray? Can a younger guy like Bergeson or Hernandez emerge? I know I haven't mentioned Waters or Burress, but I sure hope we can do better than junkballers (the honest term for a "control pitcher") with losing records and plus 5 ERAs.