Orioles Rumors: Huff, Scott, Meredith, Sano

I don't understand the O's angle on Huff. To me, he's the biggest no-brainer to trade besides Sherrill.

I don't understand the O's angle on Huff. To me, he's the biggest no-brainer to trade besides Sherrill.

Posted by: Thee4stringking | July 20, 2009 at 09:59 AM

Actually, I think it's Baez that's a no-brainer, then huff, then sherill, even though I love the effort these guys are giving every game.

or they can keep huff and offer him arbitration. they dont have a 1b in the system ready to take over next year. he declines arb the o's may even get the two first rounders, huff is tip toeing on type a status, and if he accepts they have him at first until next years deadline. hopefully by then snyder is ready for a call up.

as for scott, he's cheap and under team control. why move him for the sake of moving him?

the guy mentioned here the o's should be in any rush to move is beaz but he has an albatross of a contract.

it doesnt feel right talking orioles trade rumors without saying "brian roberts brian roberts brian roberts brian roberts"

somebody had to do it

brian roberts

wow triplicate.

As a Cal Ripken fan, and a Red Sox fan, I keep tabs on the Orioles from time to time and search for some insider information. However, I can't get any here. All I see is the same information that they really don't wanna move Scott or Huff if they don't need to. This Orioles team as it stands now is not in any shape to compete with Toroto, let alone anyone else in the AL East. You got Markakis on what appears to be a solid deal. Start rebuilding around him again. They can get high value for Huff if they move him immediately and i emphasize immediately. Each day they wait is costing them trade value.

Keep in mind, the Orioles (correct me if I'm wrong) have a very strong foundation in the farm right now. If they develop even a few guys well, I strongly feel they could make a run in 4-5 years if they deal off their loose ends now to strengthen it even further.

Huff will probably be a Type A Free Agent. That means, if the Os offer him arb, and he signs with another club, the Os get two 1st Rd picks. So, Os GM MacPhail should be shopping Huff looking for a team to offer a package worth more than two 1st round draft picks. That's pretty high value that my gut says another team will not be willing to match.

There has been several mentions to no in-house candidate to replace Huff.

With Wieters and Reimold on the team, AAA 1st baseman Brandon Snyder is the O's best non-pitching prospect. He tormented AA pitching this year, and while struggling out the gate at AAA, I'd imagine is Huff's replacement for next year.

-ACE-,
Snyder's bat will probably eventually play at 1B. The question is his glove. Last year at AA he made 11 errors there with moderate range and a solid fielding percentage. Some in the organization believe he can cut down the errors, but he's not a finished product. The current regime places an emphasis on defense, and doesn't seem inclined to start a player who can't defend. They've been going through a phase of exchanging players who are good bat/questionable glove types in exchange for athletic all-around players.

Santana/Beckett FTW,
I agree with you that 1B is one of the most plentiful positions in baseball, but you're seeing it from a Boston fans' perspective. For a team like yours, you can have your pick of whatever Free Agent best suits your team, and there's a pretty decent liklihood that that player would sign with the Red Sox. On a rebuilding team, there's usually no price to convince the top tier players to sign with you, and as you work your way down the ladder of available talent, even an average bat like, say, Lyle Overbay will ask to be paid several notches above market value. There's a reason why the losing clubs always seem to have a lot of the same kinds of players (older vets past their primes trying to extend careers, health-derailed pitchers trying to re-establish themselves, busted prospects trying to get a fresh start, etc). Opposing fans love to bash losing teams for adding these kinds of players, as if they started out with the same range of options but just chose badly. It wasn't that long ago when Boston was in that same boat too.