The Orioles' search for a shortstop has led them to Japan and to the trade market. They are going to bid on Japanese infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka according to a Sports Hochi report relayed by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. The Mariners and Padres also seem likely to bid, but the Giants will not bid and the D'Backs probably won't either.
The Dodgers and Cardinals have some interest in Nishioka and we should know the high bidder by early next week. The 26-year-old switch hitter batted .346 with 22 steals and 206 hits last year. ESPN.com's Keith Law and Newman recently offered more analysis of his game.
The Orioles have also discussed deals for J.J. Hardy and Jason Bartlett and have dangled David Hernandez. Dan Connolly of the Sun says he's not sure he would give up Hernandez for either shortstop, since he's a big believer in the right-hander's upside, particularly as a reliever.
get him for three years, trade him at the 2013 deadline and then use Machado.
In three years, Roberts will be gone anyway. They could just as easily slide him over to second base, if he’s productive enough to still be relevant in three years, of course.
Smart move by the O’s, he might be pricer than Bartlett or Hardy (with the posting fee), but they wouldn’t have to give up Hernandez or any prospects and have him for multiple seasons. Sure he might not workout, but Bartlett and Hardy aren’t exactly the picture of consistency. With Machado probably 3+ years away, I think this would be a solid move.
Personally I think they should just send Matusz to the Twins for Hardy. 🙂
Wishful thinking there. Matusz is a centerpiece of a blockbuster deal.
But I sense sarcasm in that post.
Ding ding ding!
Granted, as a Twins fan, I genuinely think the Orioles should do that.
Now, would it be the worst trade in their history? Quite possibly. But that’s their problem. Not ours. We’d have Matusz. 🙂
Personally I think they should just send Matusz to the Twins for Morneau.
FTFY 😉
Ay! Why are the Giants not bidding?? Uribe is a FA. Currently we have no SS!!!
Considering the G-Men were one of the favorites to sign him a few weeks ago, perhaps Sabean has something close to done with Uribe?
Im hoping that’s the case, because I dont think I want any of the other free agents at SS for the Giants..
I really hope Sabean has Uribe close to signing….
The O’s SHOULD bid on him, we need a SS. A Itchiroo style slap hitter with speed would fit nicely in the 2 spot between B-rob and Nick. If we are going to be scouting there, we ought to post up on players that can help us. Re-sign Koji so the will both be more comfortable.
He would be a good pickup for the Padres. At this point, it doesn’t seem as though they will move Gonzalez before the start of the season, and he seems to fit at SS or 2B and slide into the 2 spot in the order, which is a definite need for the Pads
I don’t see the Padres making a big play for him. With there tight payroll, I don’t see how they could pay the negotiating fee as well as his salary. As a Padre fan I would like them to make a play on Aybar from the Angels. He is a great defender and can hit a little as well as steal some bases. They could then start Cabrera at AAA to get some confidence back while Hairston holds down 2nd for awhile. When Cabrera is ready they could move him back to his natural 2nd base and with Maybin be set up the middle, defense wise, for years to come.
A 26 year old middle infielder who is the best hitter for average since ichiro?
Let’s be honest this is EXACTLY the type of player that Toronto needs…I know AA would prefer the trade Market but this could work out well and we wouldn’t have to trade anyone…of course it could be a giant failure but so could whoever we trade for.
He had one season like that… it’s not like he’s a consistent .350+ hitter. Dave Cameron said he’s heard Nishioka compared to Kaz Matsui… that’s hardly inspiring.
It sounds like though he will be a better defender than Matsui and could be a little better hitter. Also Matsui never had a high walk rate, where this guy is apparently pretty good in that department. If that can translate then he will be worth it for the O’s.
The only thing these two (Nishioka and Kaz) have in common is position played. If I recall correctly, Nishioka has been a .140 ISO guy in NPB, while Kaz was a .220 guy (legit slugger there; obviously the HR power didn’t translate in the bigger MLB parks).To shockey, if you want to know the “next” Ichiro — or the closest thing to him — I give you: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norichika_AokiHis 2010 stats (.358/.435/.509 over 667 PA) haven’t made their way to the English page, but needless to say he had quite the bounce back year.
Isn’t he not being posted though?
Unfortunately not. Aoki is too valuable to sell off right now. His club can hold him for another year at <3m salary, and perhaps add another 10m on the posting fee next year if he gets his fifth .340+ season and the US economy turns around.
I know it has been rumored that Nishioka had pre-arranged a deal last year with his club to post him this offseason, but even if that is false, Chiba would be foolish not to sell him off this year. If Nishioka stayed in NPB another season and got hurt again, or posted another =<.300 BA, his posting value would have been decimated. If Chiba get anything approaching 10m or more, it should be considered theft IMO.
we also have Escobar and Hechavarria for a while, seems kinda useless to go out and spend on an infielder when you have hill, Hech and esco locked up for the next little while.. There are other holes to fill
Are the Red Sox and Twins still likely to bid on him? Personally I would like to see the Red Sox make a strong push for him to be the everyday SS until Iglesias is ready. Scutaro can get us a nice return right now so why not.
The Twins are going to, for sure, said Joe Christensen. Red Sox are more of a question mark.
What’s wrong with Lowrie?
Come on cardinals!
I’ve no interest in getting Hardy- too injury prone and has not lived up to the run production he’s teased us with in the past. I like Bartlet, but not enough to trade Hernandez. I’m leery of the Japanese kid because their skills have not always translated very well to American baseball. That said, he wouldn’t cost prospects, and at least offers more upside than the established guys they are thinking of trading for.
I’ve seen two or three O’s fans saying Bartlett over Hardy, and I really don’t get the appeal.
Is it just that you’d prefer speed or to save an extra million dollars on Bartlett over Hardy? Between the two, Hardy is the vastly superior option overall.
Hardy is better between the lines, but he’s not nearly as good when Bartlett plays and he watches on TV during rehab sessions.
I hope the wrist thing is better this year, because Hardy was playing well before that slide into third and it’d be nice to get that over a season. I can’t see a trade of him coming about though, since there aren’t any good alternatives out there that wouldn’t cost a lot more in terms of prospects or cash (and still might not provide the same production as Hardy.)
Hardy is better between the lines, but he’s not nearly as good when Bartlett plays and he watches on TV during rehab sessions.
I hope the wrist thing is better this year, because Hardy was playing well before that slide into third and it’d be nice to get that over a season. I can’t see a trade of him coming about though, since there aren’t any good alternatives out there that wouldn’t cost a lot more in terms of prospects or cash (and still might not provide the same production as Hardy.)
Hardy is overhyped since he had his one big season in Milwaukee and has come nowhere near it since. I like Bartlett because you won’t be paying for run production that isn’t there. Trust me, I rather have someone other than those 2, but between the 2 I’d take Bartlet.
I really wish the Braves could work out a deal for Hardy… I know he has had some injury problems, but he would a major upgrade over Alex Gonzalez. Before some delusional fans chastise me by saying “he hit 23 homeruns last season”, he also had a sub .300 obp and struck out over 1/3 of the time.
I really wish the Braves could work out a deal for Hardy… I know he has had some injury problems, but he would a major upgrade over Alex Gonzalez. Before some delusional fans chastise me by saying “he hit 23 homeruns last season”, he also had a sub .300 obp and struck out over 1/3 of the time.
A rare good move for the Orioles. There is no guarantee Roberts will ever be healthy and Nishioka could be playing 2nd sooner than later.
agree, while I don’t think B-Rob is done, he does give them a good option, in case his injury problems continue.
Coming from a Huge os fan. this is just another Publicity stunt to make it seem like the orioles are trying. Just like the Tex deal. WE offered him 20 million dollars less then the highest bidder trying to make it seem like we were really trying. Aslong as Peter Angelos is alive. The orioles will be a joke. SO much talent going to waste. We always have the RAVENS 🙂
You need to go back and read the reports. That was their initial offer and they were never given the opportunity to up their bid.
He wanted to go the Yankees and it was just a matter of getting them to up their offer. The Nationals offered more money than the Yankees and were turned down as well.
I get tired of hearing anti-Angelos rants. He is perfectly willing to spend money, the players simply haven’t wanted to come to Baltimore. We had the best offer to Vlad and Konerko the last time they were free agents and we made a perfectly fair offer for Tex. No one is going to outbid the Yankees when they decide they want someone. I will agree that Angelos has mucked up the management of the team, but in the last 4-5 years he’s taken a step back.
no sir. That is untrue. The year we were pursuing vlad was the year we instead settled for miguel and the angels offered him more money, now konerko on the other hand didnt wana be in baltimore because WE SUCK. Believe me, im a DIEHARD fan. but im sorry sir, Angelos must go. the offer to tex was bs. we wanted a hometown discount? bs. what about macFAIL reporting we offered a deal to holliday last year? also untrue. and hes the one who said it. lol.
I think this would be a better move to sign him then trade Hernandez, how many times have we traded a player away and they turn out to be great players and it bites us in the ass lol I think David is really coming into his own, and in a year or 2 should be our closer for years to comes.
I think this would be a better move to sign him then trade Hernandez, how many times have we traded a player away and they turn out to be great players and it bites us in the ass lol I think David is really coming into his own, and in a year or 2 should be our closer for years to comes.
I hope the orioles get nishioka because you never know we could actually have a bat at ss and like someone said above, when machado is ready we can slide him to second if he’s actually good. I hope we get konerko too and I see that being pretty realistic. Whether we get adrian beltre too is not that realistic. But if the orioles land nishioka and konerko taht would be major up grades for our offense. We would obviously need to resign wiggington and itzuris as a back up.
If we can’t get nishioka, then i would want jj hardy over bartlett.