Orioles, Ravens, Miscellaneous Notes
I didn’t get a chance to watch the game tonight, but from what I’ve read it looks like a nice win. The series split feels pretty good all things considered.
Also, if you missed it, the Ravens will not play their game against the Texans on Sunday. Instead, they’ll play it Monday night as a result of Hurricane Ike. That area of the country has some very bad history with regard to hurricanes, so send ‘em your thoughts/prayers/whatever you do.
Some random notes:
– The O’s hosted veterans from Walter Reed tonight in honor of 9/11. Very appropriate and very well done.
– I’m intrigued by Brian Bass. He didn’t exactly put up great numbers tonight, but he seems like a decent addition. Maybe we stretch him out and he becomes a solid fifth starter next year, maybe he takes on the long man role and provides some stability there. Either way, it’s a veteran arm that we got for basically nothing. Seems like a solid, smart move.
– Is there any doubt that Joe Flacco should be the QB for the rest of the season? From what I understand, Troy Smith lost something like 20-30 pounds to his illness. It will take months — not weeks — for him to regain the strength and stamina required to play in the NFL. If/when he gets there, how game-ready will he be?
– I forgot to mention this last week, but it is downright unconscionable that Travis Hafner was allowed to play for the Akron Aeros in their playoff series win over the Baysox. It’s ridiculous that MLB allows big league players to have “injury rehab” assignments during the minor league playoffs.
– I’m curious about something: how far do you think the O’s should go in pursuing Mark Teixeira? Put your GM hat on for a moment and break it down into real terms of years and $$$. For me, I’d go no longer than 6 years and no further than about $16-18 mil/year. That seems like it probably won’t be enough, but any more than that and the albatross potential becomes too great.
Here’s an interesting article that touches on his thinking
You’re also welcome/encouraged to use this thread to post up any thoughts that have been percolating lately. Consider it a catch-all.
Yeah, I totally saw that item about the Minor League Playoffs last week on The Dugout, that is such bull. I guess our only hope is that it will help rekindle some of the rivalry between Cleveland and Baltimore…baseball-wise since ‘97.
I have no idea how much I would offer Tex, but I think it’s important that the Os go after him just to raise the price the Spankees have to get for him.
As awful as it is that the Indians would do that, the Baysox did themselves no favors by only scoring 1 run in each game that Hafner had a homerun in. The Baysox also can’t blame Hafner for loading the bases. If they wanted to avoid the grand slam they could have IBB’d him and pitched to the next batter. Doesn’t matter anyway because they lost 6-1; without Hafners involvement they would’ve lost 2-1.
I have been the most outspoken critic of the Orioles involvement with Tex on other boards. During the last offseason, the mantra was “rebuild rebuild rebuild”… “Roberts is too old for rebuilding, we need to trade him”, “need to get younger and cheaper”, etc etc
Now everyone wants to bring on Tex, who will be 29 at the time we sign him. Neal, you wouldn’t give him more than $16-18 a year for 6 years? According to your article he already turned down $17.5 for 8 years from the Rangers! He’s not worth that much money.
Bottom line is his production/salary ratio is out of whack. Yeah he’ll hit 40 home runs and bat .300+, but for $18 million a year? We’re paying Huff $8M to hit 30 homeruns and bat .300 this year… as Schmuck said… seems like a cheap date. I’d also hate for Teixiera to be turning 36 years old and we still owe him $40 million over two years and the guy is either crippled by injury or just in overall decline due to age.
It’s a stupid move to make, hometown hero or not. The Orioles can find internal options that can fill the role just as well for a lot cheaper, and can cut bait more readily if something goes wrong. I’d just hate to see another Jay Gibbons or Danyz Baez contract on the books.
I completely agree with all your points, Greg. The one thing that you leave out though is how much signing Tex would energize the general fan base. That’s indisputable.
It’s a tough decision. One one hand are all your legit points, on the other hand is a kid coming back to star for his hometown team. Signing Tex would show the average fan that MacPhail/Angelos are really serious about trying to win. It’s also a marketing coup, which cannot be discounted.
Oops. Take out “also” from my last sentence. It’s a marketing coup, that’s my whole point.
Basically, I don’t see him coming here. Maybe we can snag him in a trade when he’s like 36 and we’re in the playoff hunt and we need a bench player/DH/conquering hero for the home stretch.
Specifically to the salary, Greg, I totally missed that in the article but that’s pretty funny. My point in throwing that number out there was really just to say the same thing you’re saying: that what he’s worth and what he’ll probably get are two different things.
If I’m not mistaken, it’s a happy 30th birthday to Ms. Amber Theoharis today.
No shit? Good for her. I’m pro-Amber.