The Orioles were busy earlier today. They signed reliever Luis Ayala to a one-year contract and then designated outfielder Matt Angle for assignment to make room for the right-hander on the 40-man roster. Here's the latest on the O's …
- GM Dan Duquette told reporters he doesn't see a fit for Manny Ramirez with Baltimore, tweets Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com. We heard last week that the O's, A's and Blue Jays were among the suitors for Manny, so it looks like that pool has been diminished by one.
- Duquette also said it's unlikely that he'll add any more players between now and the beginning of Spring Training, tweets Kubatko. So, it looks like the roster is set for now, and with Manny out of the picture, Wilson Betemit will likely have DH duties all to himself.
- The Orioles also issued an apology, via press release, to Korea Baseball Organization and Korea Baseball Association for "the club’s unintentional breach of protocol in failing to tender a status check in the process of signing Seong-Min Kim." Kim is the 17-year-old left-hander whom the O's signed last month — prior to him graduating high school — much to the dismay of KBO. The southpaw has been suspended from playing or coaching in South Korea, while the Orioles have been banned from scouting KBO games.
- To stay on top of Orioles news, be sure to follow their MLBTR Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds.
The Baltimore 2007 Nationals
What Manny losing another suitor, I’m shocked.
I love how every sportswriter in the country acts like there’s no way the Tigers will ever win a single game with Miguel Cabrera at 3b, despite the fact that their 3b last year was Betemit, a guy so bad defensively he is DH’ing for a team that plays MARK REYNOLDS at 3b!
For 1/2 a season… I believe the Tigers will be good, possibly great, but Miggy at 3rd will cost quite a few runs. I’d hate to be a sinkerballer on that team.
True, it’s going to be rough on Porcello, but Cabby can DH while Inge mans 3b on those days. Problem solved. He’s going to give up runs, but not nearly as many as he will produce at 3b over having Inge in the lineup every day.
So basically, your argument is that the Tigers are OK at third with Cabrera, because they had Betemit there last season?
Also who exactly, sportswriter or otherwise, is saying the Tigers won’t win a game next season? As of right now, they are in the worst division in Baseball, if they don’t win a game, I owe you a Coke.
Yes. Cabrera at 3b is no drop off from Betemit, and they are improving all over the rest of the field (RF, LF, 2b are all upgrades and the rest stay the same), so the defense will be fine. Everyone acts like the Tigers are doomed defensively becos of Miguel, I’m pointing out that he’s not a defensive regression and might even be an improvement. And when you add in his bat… yeah, the Tigers are going to be just fine with Cabby at 3b.
As to “who exactly, sportswriter or otherwise, is saying the Tigers won’t win a game next season”… nice strawman. I clearly said the press has acted like the Tigers can’t win a game with Cabby at 3b, not that anyone predicts an 0-162 season. If you read ANYTHING about baseball, you can’t deny that’s been the general response to the announcement that Cabby with play 3b…. that it will be a huge disaster.
I’m simply arguing that it won’t be a disaster and there are plenty of teams (like the Orioles) that would love to have to “worry” about the problem of having Miguel Cabrera at 3b.
That doesn’t change the fact that Cabrera is going to be a terrible defensive 3rd baseman.
No, but it DOES change the narrative that the Tigers are hopelessly defensively inept. Fact is, 3b even with Cabby is about to be the same defensively, and given improvements elsewhere they might actually IMPROVE defensively on the whole even with Cabby at 3b.
I think he’s worse defensively.
How did all these Tigers and Braves fans wind up here?
Anyway and Seriously, I am glad Duquette came to his senses about Ramirez.
However, Wilson Betemit as our full time DH, Seriously?
And to all who are discussing Mark Reynolds? Yes , he had a lot of errors last year. Yes, Keith Law said he was Brutal. Yes, He strikes out a lot. Yes to a lot of stuff that isn’t considered good. The thing is, he really isn’t that bad and when he creates an error, it’s more mental or lack of focus or something. He has the skills to be pretty good. He just isn’t Mike Schmidt out there. I still like him though and I think he’s a good influence in the clubhouse.
Look at the splits, also look at Big Poppi before DD savaged him off the scrapheap. You have him DH against righties, have Wieters DH against lefties to save wear and tear as a catcher. If Reynolds does his impersonation of a post in the field this year, you can always switch them.
BTW an Orioles fan would say he isnt BROOKS ROBINSON out there.
Once again reporters are implying that the Blue Jays have interest in a player. I believe Manny isn’t even being considered by Toronto, just does’nt fit into AA master plan.
I don’t see your point. It’s entirely possible that Betemit is worse than Reynolds at 3rd.
Betemit UZR/150 @ 3B = -14.1
Reynolds UZR/150 @ 3B = -10.5
Since we’re talking about outliers, you may have noticed that Reynolds’ -30.3 was nearly triple the previous worst year in his career.
You can’t use one argument because it is convenient. (Also, UZR requires something like 2 full seasons or at least 1500 chances to be useful. So again, both players are likely better than their UZR figures suggest).
You might also notice that I said “it’s entirely possible”. Which it um… is. I did not make a firm statement because I realize how much variability UZR naturally incurs.
He hits the ball frequently and hard? When he doesn’t he gets on base often?
Is this a real question? Because I will address it if it is. If not, I don’t want to waste my time.
For a non-contending team it makes sense because people that otherwise wouldn’t attend would go just to see the clown…. kind of like going to the circus.
its not 2008 anymore…
Ha. I don’t waste anything. For starters, I thoroughly enjoy all this stuff so it’s definitely not a waste to me. It’s then up to you if you want to read anything I write. I have some great conversations with people on here so not everyone feels the same way you do.
As for Manny, the question is of value. Would I sign Manny if I were a GM? I don’t know. What I do know is I wouldn’t dismiss him outright like most people on here have.
Let’s look at this objectively. In 2010, Manny hit .298/.409/.460 over 320 PA. Last year, he had 17 PA, making any judgments based on that season basically irrelevant in terms of on-the-field performance.
Now, let’s look at the situation. Manny will sign for a minor league contract, and serve his 50 game suspension. This will (presumably) give him time to get into playing shape. After 50 games, Manny begins playing in AAA.
Two things can happen here:
1. Manny can hit like he did in 2010, and prove to be a neutral member of the clubhouse (not negative, not positive because if we’re honest neutral would be a drastic improvement). You call him up and he provides solid production, maybe even draws interest in a trade.
OR
2. Manny doesn’t hit well. Or he does, but is a cancer in the clubhouse. In this case, you cut him. After 5 games, 10 games, 25 games… doesn’t matter. You cut him, you lose nothing.
By having Manny you essentially get a scratch-off lottery ticket. For $1 you could win big. You could also lose a dollar.
Why is this the worst idea in the world exactly?
There’s no doubt that Manny’s rich, but I don’t think he’s a billionaire…
I think Manny is being blackballed. Revenue sharing receipt teams do not want to upset Bud, and revenue sharing teams want to please him in hopes to reduce their burden.
Manny makes perfect sense for a lot of teams. I think even if he offers to play for free or pay someone he does not get another chance.
I think he needs to consider playing in Japan if he wants to play again. Obviously, he is not considering playing again for the money at this point.
As a Red Sox fan I am familiar with the good happy Manny, and the bad disgruntled Manny. When he was making 20 million, you never knew what you were going to get from Y2Y. Now he might be a bit humbled and the good Manny will show up. The good Manny is likely to be pretty good, even at 40, especially for a team wanting to use him at DH.