Oriole Post - A Baltimore Orioles Blog
Victor Martinez became a member of the Detroit Tigers this afternoon. The deal is for four years, $50 million.
With Martinez off the market, the Orioles are out another first base option and will probably go after Carlos Pena. Martinez prefers to catch; however, with Wieters in the fold, Martinez would have been a DH, or played first and caught only on occasion.
From the looks of it, the Orioles were right there in the bidding with a 4-year, $48 million dolllar offer. We're not privy to the discussions or the facts of the missed deal with the hitter, but could it have simply come down to a guy wanting to play a particular position? Could the man simply have wanted to go to a winning organization? Or a just a competitive one?
Who knows.
Sadly, Martinez has one hell of a bat and the Orioles missed it. Victor doesn't mash homers like Adam Dunn, but he's consistent. You know that Martinez, year after year, will put up quality numbers and be a professional.
Life goes on and let's hope the Orioles get one of the other free agents out there. My gut says that the Orioles get Carlos Pena on an affordable, one-year pact, and hope he can reproduce his more successful years in Tampa Bay.
I think Baltimore misses out on Dunn because he wants to play first base and does not think of himself as a glorified designated hitter. As for Paul Kornerko, I think he stays with the White Sox.
Some fans will be upset. I'm a little frustrated too. However, Victor Martinez is not like missing out on a Mark Teixiera or an Albert Pujols.
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The Tigers have plenty of money to burn thanks to numerous contracts that have come off their books.
From Ken Rosenthal:
From the Boston Globe:The first major free agent is about to fall.
Catcher Victor Martinez is close to signing with the Tigers, a source confirms.
Ignacio Serrano, a reporter for Venezuela’s El Nacional, reported that Martinez will receive a four-year, $50 million contract.
The Tigers outbid the Red Sox, White Sox and Orioles, Serrano said.
There has yet to be any independent confirmation of this.
Serrano also reports that Martinez was offered four years and $48 million from the Orioles and three years and $48 million from the White Sox. Why he would take $12.5 million a year from Detroit and pass up $16 million a year from Chicago isn't clear.
If the deal goes through and assuming the Red Sox offer Martinez arbitration later today, the Red Sox would receive Detroit's first-round draft pick, No. 19, for Martinez.
Martinez turns 32 next month and is coming off a season that saw him hit .302/.351/.493 for the Red Sox.
UPDATE, 10:25 p.m.: Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is now confirming the report out of Venezuela.no comments
If you'll be at home tonight and are feeling nostalgic about the good ol' days of Orioles baseball...
Former Baltimore Orioles Mark Belanger & Bobby Grich will be featured in a new episode of MLB Network’s Prime 9: Double Play Combinations tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. ET. The Belanger-Grich duo will be ranked alongside other combinations, including the Indians’ Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar, the Reds’ Joe Morgan and Dave Concepcion, and the Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski and Gene Alley. New episodes of Prime 9 will air every Tuesday in November beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET
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It looks like the spots on the coaching staff will finally be resolved within the week for the Baltimore Orioles.
The Baltimore Sun and Orioles.com are reporting that the former manager of the New York Mets, Willie Randolph may be the newest coach
. It’s not clear what position he’d take, but it would be more likely be a choice between coaching third or serving as the bench coach.
The two sides are still working on a deal.
The Orioles are negotiating with Randolph, who spent last season as the Milwaukee Brewers' bench coach, for the final spot on Showalter's staff, according to team sources. As the Juan Samuel situation proved this month, it's not a given that the two sides will reach an agreement.
If a deal is finalized, Randolph would work with the Orioles' infielders and either coach third or serve as Showalter's bench coach. Randolph was Showalter's third base coach with the New York Yankees in 1994 and 1995.
Former Pittsburgh Pirates manager John Russell would fill whichever role Randolph doesn't between third base and bench coach.
Well, Buck and Willie have a relationship from their days with the Yankees in the mid-90’s – so that’s a good thing. In addition, Randolph is a former MLB manager and his knowledge may served the organization very well, assuming he takes the job.
It’s pretty apparent now that Buck has a fairly solid brain trust and is confident with it. While that may not make the Orioles instant contenders, at least they’ll have one of the most experienced and robust coaching staffs in the game. no comments
I have a friend who’s an eye doctor (a guy with a few years on me) we talk time to time talk about baseball.
He describes himself as an Orioles fan who feels that since Peter Angelos has “ruined the Orioles”, he won’t give him a money nor attend games at Camden Yards. I’ve tried to get him to attend a game with me – even with a free ticket.
His answer has always been a very polite, ‘no’.
His reasoning is that Angelos has ruined the product in Baltimore, there are no marquee names, and frankly the team has not been good for a long time. The guy wants to see someone like Paul Konerko at first, Adrian Beltre at third, a Cliff Lee on the mound, or even John Garland. Or Victor Martinez or and Adam Dunn at the DH spot.
However, he follows the games on MASN and pretty much reads all the papers, blogs and listens to sports talk radio to get the news. Plus, he really likes Buck Showalter (almost to the point of a ‘man crush’).
Whether he’s a real fan or not, I’ll let you all determine that.
I see the man once a month and the latest conversation – amongst other things – about the Orioles came down to Andy MacPhail.
We both chatted and wondered if MacPhail has even made enough progress with the Orioles during the past few seasons. He argues that the team needs more free agents and ‘drawing cards’ on the roster; meanwhile, I’d like to see a fix of the free agents and youngsters on the roster.
We both agree that MacPhail could do more. However, I do think the Orioles do need to focus on rebuilding the farm, because it as is, the more prospects a team has – the better.
Really, the organization is far better than it was perhaps a decade ago when we all saw another rebuilding project, I think at time was dubbed in promotions on the air as the “Baby Birds”.
We all know how that worked out. Even he thinks the Orioles are much better. Sadly, we both wonder despite it the improvement, will the Orioles ever contend with Red Sox and Yankees considering their financial advantage?
The Rays did it, although their team will be stripped of talent they had in 2010 and may be taking a step backwards.
The Blue Jays were able to finish above .500, although they were really not considered contenders.
At this point, we’ll all have to wait and see what happens.
Will my friend attend a game next season? Maybe. He stills insists that he won’t go to a game unless Angelos sells the team, or dies.
Finally, does anyone really, really think that Derek Jeter won’t be a part of the New York Yankees next year? There’s no point taking about a topic that has already been discussed to death, but there’s no way Jeter would ever, ever sign with the Baltimore Orioles.
I was not sure if Ron Fritz’s post on the Baltimore Sun’s ‘Toy Department’ blog was a joke or satirical piece, but I do think there was a bit of seriousness to it.
Yes, I do think signing Jeter would be a stroke of boldness for the Baltimore Orioles; however, I could never picture it.
That being said, with things on free agent market as it is, the Orioles might be looking to get a shortstop via a trade.
The Orioles haven't ruled out bringing back Cesar Izturis, but they are currently looking at other shortstop options, according to club sources.
They've had trade discussions with the Tampa Bay Rays about Jason Bartlett, and the Minnesota Twins about J.J. Hardy.
The talks with the Rays included discussion of a potential swap of Orioles reliever David Hernandez for Bartlett, who hit .254 with four homers and 47 RBIs in 2010, but is a career .281 hitter. However, that deal appears unlikely at this point as the Orioles consider other options.
While I like some of the intangibles that Jason Bartlett brings to table despite a down year in 2010, and Hardy has some pop, I’d pass on both if the swap includes Hernandez. With the Tampa Bay Rays looking to get cheaper and restock, who knows what will happen to Bartlett?
Both Bartlett and Hardy will be free agents at the end of the 2011 season.
Although Hernandez clearly struggled in a starting role – much like pitcher Jason Berken – he’s shown his worth in the Oriole bullpen and should be an arm to keep.
Finally, here are your free agent shortstops. Really, do any of them look all that appealing? Let’s not include Derek Jeter, as he’ll wind up with the Yankees again.
The only one on the list who looks somewhat desirable is Juan Uribe (who should get a ton of attention). Everyone else pretty much are just rather just fillers or past their prime. no comments
Today, the MLB awards season continues as the Manager of Year honors are doled out to the respective leagues.
I do expect the Rangers' Ron Washington to win it for the American League; meanwhile, Bud Black should win the honor in the National League for what he did for the San Diego Padres. It's amazing the job he did getting his team to stay in the playoff hunt before they started to wilt in September.
Despite Bruce Bochy's Giants' winning the World Series, he doesn't get it - in my opinion. The same for Charlie Manuel of the Phillies, and the legendary Bobby Cox of the Braves (who got the most of his team than anyone in 2010 ever expected).
As for the Orioles' Buck Showalter, do I seriously expect him to get some consideration? Maybe?
To win it at all -- no. Who knows is his magic touch will continue in 2011 and beyond. It can't be understated that once Showalter took over as the manager of the team, it was almost like the players got the message and shaped up.
Add to that scenario the return of Brian Roberts, Felix Pie, a healthy Koji Uehara, plus a pitching staff that seemed to mahically improve, Buck should deserve all the praise in the world and more. Who knows if the Orioles we saw in the finals two months who they were really were -- or a just squad that really played well beyond their talents?
Also, Showalter did a lot to make a potentially historically bad team into just a bad team record-wise.
While he may have finished well over .500 going 34-23 since early August, the body of work isn't there to merit much consideration. The Rangers' Ron Washington should win not only because of what his team did on the field, but also his personal story off of it.
I guess winning in sports is all the redemption one needs.
That's enough to take the honor.
Apologies to Ron Gardenhire (who I cannot believe has never won one), Terry Francona, Joe Girardi and Joe Maddon (who I really like).
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It looks like Dan Uggla - a name that has intrigued some to be had in a trade for the Orioles - has been claimed by the Atlanta Braves. He spurned a contract extension from the Marlins earlier this week and was promptly traded to the Altanta Braves for Omar Infante and relief pitcher Mike Dunn (LHP) earlier this evening.
That being said, it looks like the Orioles may be going after third-baseman Adrian Beltre.
From MLB Trade Rumors: The market for free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre is hot, tweets SI's Jon Heyman, and the Orioles "seem very interested." Heyman tweets that a dozen teams are interested in the Scott Boras client. Last week Boras told MLB Network Radio hosts Casey Stern and Jim Bowden regarding Beltre, "I would have to say in my years of doing this I’ve never had so much interest in one player." Heyman believes Beltre could be the first star to go off the board, but I'd still be surprised to see him sign before December.
In addition to the contract, the Orioles would have to surrender their second-round pick to sign Beltre. There is recent precedent for that; they gave their second-round pick (#53 overall) to the Braves a year ago to sign Mike Gonzalez.
Beltre, ranked third on our Top 50 Free Agents list, is far and away the best available third baseman this winter. In addition to the Orioles, the Red Sox, Angels, Blue Jays, Indians, Athletics, and Giants could be looking for help at the hot corner. Even the Pirates were said a week ago by Heyman to have interest in Beltre, but not all the clubs named here will be willing to go four or five years at $15MM or more per season.
With Josh Bell not looking like he's ready for prime time based on his stint last season, the Orioles need a strong, defensively-minded corner infielder and Beltre fits the bill.
His numbers in Boston in 2010 speak for itself, and he’s had a relatively strong career so far.
Beltre's bat would do wonders considering he'd play 81 games at Camden Yards. The Orioles need the power, a guy who can hit for average and a veteran presence.
It will be interesting to see if the Orioles even want to go along with Beltre's demand for a contract and the years involved. Then again, I’d be amazed if he came to Baltimore with a team still in its rebuilding stages rather than a contender.
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