Giants just took Steve Johnson whom the Orioles got for George Sherill. I don't know if he is Major League ready (the Giants will have to keep on the 25 man roster all season) but it puts a lot more pressure on Bell to make that trade worth anything.

If Snyder doesn't stick on the Rangers roster all season, does he get offered back to us or the Giants?

Giants just took Steve Johnson whom the Orioles got for George Sherill. I don't know if he is Major League ready (the Giants will have to keep on the 25 man roster all season) but it puts a lot more pressure on Bell to make that trade worth anything.

Posted by: joe | December 10, 2009 9:43 AM
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Dodgers have been trying to trade Sherrill since he imploded in the playoffs and still haven't received any takers. There's no pressure on Bell at all.

why would the orioles take a player in the rule 5 draft and trade him away. i would think a team would pick a player that might be some benefit to them. that just sounds like a bummer trading away your rule 5 draftee especially when it is a pitcher.

Leonard, the reason the Orioles traded their Rule 5 draftee is because Rule 5 guys very, very rarely become good major league players. Of recent memory, Dan Uggla of the Marlins is probably the best Rule 5 guy in a while, most become career minor leaguers or journeymen at best (like Jay Gibbons).

Once in a while a gem comes along, but the vast majority of the time the Rule 5 draft tends to be a waste of time, hence why 1/3 of the ML teams out there don't participate every year.

and furthermore leonard & matthew, it's obvious that a condition of the millword trade was that the o's draft snyder as the PTBNL for the rangers.

Really not a fan of the moves we've made over the past few days. On Rule 5, I would much rather have left a guy like Spoone or Patton off the 40 man roster than Johnson. Johnson had a pretty remarkable year last year and had just turned 22 late in the year. I really think he's a solid 4 starter on a good team for years to come.

The Millwood deal really rubs me the wrong way considering the Rangers were able to get Harden, who is MUCH better, for a cheaper 1 year deal. Despite the record and ERA, Millwood regressed considerably when you look at his K rate, BB rate and HR's allowed. He's 36 and now in the AL East, so I expect the decline to continue. I bet Guthrie will be a better pitcher in 10' at a fraction of the cost.

Some like the Millwood move b/c it sends a PR message that we will at least have some small chance to compete next year. I don't get that. There is zero upside to Millwood at age 36. If we were looking to send the PR message that we are looking to compete, the Harden is the guy 10 times out of 10. When healthy, and that's admittedly a big condition, he is at least a top 20 pitcher in baseball. Millwood isn't close.

News flash, the Rangers got Harden on the cheap for a reason. He is injury prone and from Texas. They also have a better shot at contending then the O's out in the AL West. Harden wasn't going to sign with the Orioles, and how much could he offered our young pitchers as far as mentorship.

I'll take Millwood over Harden thanks. Guy is known for mentoring younger players, is an innings eater, and is takes some pressure of Guthrie. We didn't need another injury prone starter Hill/Koji are enough atm and we weren't serious contenders for Lackey.

I don't see the concern over money. It is only a one year deal and its not like the O's are a small market team strapped for cash. Angelos has plenty of money sitting around from MASN among other endevours he can spend on the team when they are ready to contend.

Lets roll with Millwood for a season and let him help develop our young pitchers and then spend next offseason when hopefully the free agent class avialable to the O's will be a bit better and less injury prone.

Front Page of Baltimore Sun Sports.

The Schmuck Stops Here: Don't get attached too O's Rule 5 pick...ATTACHED TOO?!?!?

Really?!?!?

I think everyone is aware of why Harden was available on the cheap. That being said, if player A's best case scenario is 200 average innings and player B's best case is 150 all-star caliber innings, give me player B. If the other 4 in our rotation are Guthrie, Matusz, Tillman and Bergesen, that means we'd have Arrieta, Hernandez, Patton and others waiting in the wings in case of injury. Harden gives you the better chance to win, bottom line. Isn't the idea to play to win, and not for a .500 records?

And the mentoring thing is just stupid, baseball cliche talk. I didn't realize that Millwood's Mentor to Innings Pitched ratio was that much better than Harden's.