Orioles Sign Cesar Izturis

some of us will be pissed, others will be pleased. im pleased

Whoopee!

Good.

And, an all glove guy is ideal for a rebuilder with a young pitching staff.

They also picked up Freel and 2 minor leagers from the Reds for Ramon Hernandez. I think the Orioles are putting massive stock in Wieters now.

I like this signing. Anyone have izturis's career numbers?

Not a bad deal, in my opinion. He's not a glitzy glamor type signing, but after seeing botched play after botched play out of the SS position this past season I'm more than willing to take a guy who makes the plays and can occasionally drive in a run. They can't all be Cal Ripken.

Perhaps the best of a bad lot. He'll really help the young pitching staff, so he's worth the gamble. It's nice to have Freel now in case of various injuries forcing the O's to shift everyone around.

6M???

I sure as hell hope that's not a one year deal. He's a good fit for the team with his defense but he would be lucky to be paid half of that.

@phoenix:

http://thebaseballcube.com/players/I/Cesar-Izturis.shtml

It has to be a 2 year deal, $6 mil for 1 year is crazy. I suspect many O's fans will be weary of Izzy going into that second year though, since he can't hit a lick. But he is a slightly above avg. defensive SS.

Think a less flashy Rey Ordonez, which is also a good comparison for his bat.

But the curious thing is that the O's could have had another decent defensive SS who doesnt' hit much for 1/3rd of the yearly salary in Adam Everett. So comparing Everett's 1 year, 1 mil deal, to Izzy's 2 year (hopefully), 6 mil deal, this is a head scratcher. Everett actually has a little more pop in his bat than Izzy.

It's a two year deal. I heard the O's are actually interested in Furcal too? I doubt the O's would sign him. It sure would be nice though. Better than Izturis.

Decent short-term sign. Nothing to get excited about, but hey...at least we didn't waste a bunch of money on one of the oldies asking for the moon like Renteria or Cabrera or trade young pitching for some garbage SS the way San Diego wanted Olson for Greene. Furcal would've been preferable, but he's also pretty pricey and a health risk, and I'm not sure how I'd have felt giving the guy 4 years. Honestly, the only guy I really thought might be worth a look was JJ Hardy via trade. Granted, the Brewers were probably asking for a ton, but I'd be interested to know if MacPhail even inquired. I wonder if an Olson, Mickolio, Sherrill package could've gotten it done. Guess we'll never know. 'least this guy can field.

Stability at SS is worth something with a young pitching staff, I suppose. Not sure if it's worth $6M over 2 years, though.

"...which would dwindle the O's farm system away even more."

?????

Even more than what?

We haven't traded any of our prospects and the general consensus among the so-called 'prospect experts' is that the O's have a top ten system right now, with a particularly strong upper tier that could produce several star-caliber players. Matt Wieters, Chris Tillman, and Brian Matusz lead the way as (arguably) top 25-ers, while Jake Arrieta, Brandon Erbe, and Nolan Reimold could all wind up as Top 100 guys. Furthermore, while we lack the depth displayed by the Rangers, A's, or Red Sox, and are often seen as having a top-heavy system, there IS a fairly impressive crop of secondary prospects coming up: Bill Rowell, Brandon Snyder, David Hernandez, Troy Patton, Kam Mickolio, Brad Bergeson, Zach Britton, Tony Butler, Chorye Spoone (though he's out until mid-2009), LJ Hoes, Xavier Avery, Bobby Bundy, Ryan Adams, Tyler Henson, and Pedro Beato (awful in '08, but still a lot of talent). Throw in the young guys already at the MLB level- Markakis, Adam Jones, James Johnson, Radhames Liz, Garrett Olson, Hayden Penn, Dennis Sarfate (I hate him, but...), James Hoey, Matt Albers, Chris Ray (comin' back), and Lou Montanez among them- and whoever we grab with this year's No. 1 pick- 5th overall- and you've got a fairly impressive youth movement in full swing. It isn't baseball's best, but it's up there and, if anything, seems to be on the upswing. When you say the system would dwindle away EVEN MORE, the implication is that it has already dwindled and is currently in poor shape. Which it clearly is NOT. Then again, maybe I'm reading too much into things.