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Odds And Ends: Lahey, Gibbons, Freel

By Cork Gaines [March 29, 2008 at 10:27am CST]

A couple minor notes this morning...

The Phillies claimed reliever Tim Lahey off of waivers from the Cubs. Lahey was the top pick in the Rule 5 draft from the Twins' system. The Cubs had to expose Lahey to waivers prior to offering him back to the Twinkies. Rule 5 rules still apply with the Phillies, so Lahey must remain on their 25-man roster all season or be offered back to Minnesota.
John Fay notes that after the Reds latest round of cuts the roster sits at 26 which could open the door for a trade. He doesn't offer any potential names, but Ryan Freel still seems like the most logical choice. By the way, LEN3 notes that the Reds called the Twins about Freel and the Twins weren't interested.
Peter Schmuck thinks that the Orioles might be reluctant to cut Jay Gibbons while Major League Baseball continues to renegotiate the league's drug policy. Gibbons is facing a 15-day suspension for use of PEDs but many believe the suspension will be lifted under the new agreement which ironically is supposed to stiffen penalties. Schmuck feels that if Angelos decides to keep Gibbons, it could undermine Andy MacPhail's efforts to rebuild the Orioles.

Cork Gaines writes for Rays Index and can be reached here.

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Comments

Gibbons should be gone. They don't need him. The outfield is set with Scott, Jones and Markakis. Millar is at first base. Huff at the DH. They have zero reason to keep a cheater on the team who wasn't even that good in the first place. I say good riddance.

Posted by: scribbletone | March 29, 2008 at 10:32 AM

Ok, lemme make sure I got this straight, Angelos DECIDES to keep Gibbons? Angelos would UNDERMINE McPhail...nah, that would never happen, would it? It must be an invention of the national media...oh, wait, Schmuck is from Baltimore, isn't he?

Posted by: crunchy1 | March 29, 2008 at 01:18 PM

this guys' name REALLY can't be Schmuck right? This is a goof, or like a nickname, right?

Posted by: bigchart333 | March 29, 2008 at 01:22 PM

Gibbons is a bum!, eat the 2yrs and 12 mil.,and give Moore the spot on the 25 man roster. Moore is a left handed bat and can play 1st and 3rd base.As said above the outfield is set with Redman as the 4th of.

Posted by: OUTL@W]EC[ | March 29, 2008 at 04:38 PM

I thought that Jay Payton was locked up as the fourth outfielder?

I guess Tike Redman could be the fifth outfielder then..

Posted by: scribbletone | March 29, 2008 at 04:42 PM

Payton is the 4th OF. The Os have Huff and Gibbons who both end up being 1B/DH more than OFs. They are pretty one-legged in the open field. Given the option, I think the Orioles would jump at the chance to get those guys off the team. Among them the one truly useless piece at this point might be Gibbons, and, in spite of the big salary he gets, he should be cut.

Also, Tim was the one who pointed out some kind of "Angelos the Maniac Owner" drama. Schmuck mentioned it passingly but he also said that Gibbons would be a litmus test to see if Angelos is truly backing off. That storyline is a dead horse. Yeah, yeah, Angelos sucks. He really does suck but there is a real sense that Angelos is distancing himself from the team and letting his baseball men take full control, possibly in preparation to increase the franchises' value so that he can sell it to an ownership group led by Cal Ripken. Right now Angelos just can't possibly save face by selling the Orioles in its current state.

Though so far I think you have to start thinking that Angelos has given MacPhail full control. In any season of the last 10 seasons, it would have been inconceivable for Angelos to allow a true rebuilding year. At this point I don't think there can be any doubt. The last time the Orioles had this many 20-25 year olds in the ML roster might have been the 80s.

Posted by: basemonkey | March 29, 2008 at 08:19 PM

I think the only reason why there's any reluctance to release him outright is because of his salary more than anything else. He makes ~6M/YR. That's low level starter rate but since the Os now have better productive young players who project to contribute past this season, Gibbons is a waste of a roster spot.

The caveat that Schmuck might be referring to is the fact that I think Angelos personally negotiated Gibbons' contract. Yes, it's a bad one advised against by his baseball men. To release him outright is to admit that it was a bad move. It would have been easier to cut him now if, say, Jim Beattie negotiated it and there were no insider politics. Also, another caveat to that is, Angelos was the man who helped negotiate Mora's contract too, another bad one.

Posted by: basemonkey | March 29, 2008 at 08:24 PM

"possibly in preparation to increase the franchises' value so that he can sell it to an ownership group led by Cal Ripken"

People in Baltimore would be going crazy. Angelos is gone forever, and who better to buy the team than a group led by arguably the greatest player in the team's history.

Posted by: scribbletone | March 29, 2008 at 09:54 PM

There's been a few articles on that possibility already. Cal has said that he'd be interested. Right now he and Billy owns and runs the O's Short Season affiliate which is sort of viewed as a dry run of the big job later. Angelos has said publically that if he's gonna sell he'd ask Cal first. He also said he wasn't thinking of selling anytime soon. Then again, what else would he say, phrased the comment that he'd only consider selling when the club was winning again, which gave rise to the theory that Angelos would want to cash out on a high note. In any case, you'd be right to assume that Oriole Nation would rejoice. I'd be one of them.

One side note might be that MacPhail grew up as a member of the legendary baseball family of MacPhails, which started with the Orioles, so, Andy actually grew up as an Os fan. I heard supposedly that Angelos hired him based on that and on Cal's recommendation. Andy's on the record for saying that reviving the Orioles is "personal" and "a labor of love" more than any other job he's had.

Posted by: basemonkey | March 29, 2008 at 10:53 PM

Baltimore will have 12 pitchers so that would leave 4 bench players.Payton,Gibbons,Fahey,Quiroz. Payton and Gibbons are dead weight.Earlier I guess I was dreaming Payton was gone.I was hoping Moore would get a spot.

Posted by: OUTL@W]EC[ | March 30, 2008 at 01:11 AM

O's bit the bullet and cut Gibbons - http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-gibbons0330,0,1607405.story

Posted by: JR | March 30, 2008 at 01:17 PM

Gibbons is gone!

Posted by: OUTL@W]EC[ | March 30, 2008 at 04:10 PM

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Odds And Ends: Lahey, Gibbons, Freel

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