The Orioles are a long shot to sign Edwin Jackson, but they’d love to have him and would consider offering a four-year deal, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports. The Orioles’ chances of signing the free agent right-hander will likely come down to money, Connolly notes.
Johnny Damon is also an unlikely fit in Baltimore. The Orioles aren’t motivated to sign him, especially after adding another designated hitter option in Wilson Betemit. We can basically cross Damon off of Baltimore’s list for now, Connolly explains. Damon and Jackson are both Scott Boras clients.
The Red Sox appear to have offered Jackson a contract. No unsigned pitcher completed as many 2011 innings as Jackson (199 2/3 regular season innings plus 17 2/3 in the playoffs), and the 28-year-old is probably the top free agent remaining.
The more and more the off-season goes on, the more likely I’m finding it Damon or Matsui return to NY for a cheap one year deal.
Wilson betemit as DH? Really? I know it’s the Orioles, but seriously.
Look at his number versus righties
When they first announced it, I scratched my head. Now I have time to think about it’s a really good mood. the guys remaining as DH have all been stars, and what the Orioles needed they didn’t fit as well. They would chaf at the role the Orioles will ask of Betemit as that his starts will almost always against righties, or he will come in as pinch-hitter against rightie relievers. He is use to being a part time player, so getting 8-10 PAs aweek wont bother him. 263PAs vs RHers last year: .303.365.500.865
Betemit won’t be the full time DH, that’s already been established. Showalter likes a revolving door at that spot, so you’ll see Betemit in there one day, Davis another, Reynolds, Reimold, Wieters, maybe even Markakis and Hardy at times. It wouldn’t even surprise me if Jones gets a shot once or twice. When one of the corner guys is DHing, Betemit takes their spot in the field.
That’s what Duquette has been trying to do, building depth and getting players who can play multiple positions.
Betemit won’t be the full time DH, that’s already been established. Showalter likes a revolving door at that spot, so you’ll see Betemit in there one day, Davis another, Reynolds, Reimold, Wieters, maybe even Markakis and Hardy at times. It wouldn’t even surprise me if Jones gets a shot once or twice. When one of the corner guys is DHing, Betemit takes their spot in the field.
That’s what Duquette has been trying to do, building depth and getting players who can play multiple positions.
Damon may not want to come back to the Yankees-barring an injury, he’s not going to get that many at bats, with Jones, and the older players rotating through the DH spot. Damon is a proud guy-he wants the shot at 3000 hits, and he’s going to need about 1000 plate appearances to get there. He can’t afford to burn a year.
As an Oriole Fan, I would rather suffer a form of “Chinese Water Torture” before I would deal with Boras or “ANY” of his remaining free agent clients! This rumor of Edwin Jackson coming to “Charm City” is just another example of how desperate the organization truly is!
Edwin Jackson at 8M a year would be a steal, if DD and the O’s FO could pull it off…
It would be a steal for sure – Boras and Jackson would be stealing money from the O’s.
Jackson will be over paid like all free agents. I’m a little surprised at the action he is getting. Boras knew that when the Sox got in the bidding the price would go up.
You realize of course that the Orioles already have Boras players on their roster, such important ones as the catcher and the number one prospect? You’re gonna have to deal with Boras whether you like it or not.
You realize of course that the Orioles already have Boras players on their roster, such important ones as the catcher and the number one prospect? You’re gonna have to deal with Boras whether you like it or not.
Jackson would be a good fit on the O’s but I think you will find him somewhere in the NL next year if he signs a 1 year deal, simply because he can boost up his stock a lot more for next season. Signing a 1 year deal in the AL East isn’t really going to help him. Now if they plan on offering him a multi-year deal, then I would think he has to consider that as an option because of how little attention he has gotten thus far this offseason.
Meh… The concern I have about signing Jackson is more about his impact on how the rotation fills out, as opposed to how he will perform. It will be nice to have a veteran innings guy with some upside, but the only way they are going to dig themselves out of the hole they’ve dug is if they start to develop their players. Which means you have to play them. If you sign Jackson, then you have 3 slots in the rotation filled by Guthrie, Jackson, and Chen. Then you have the last 2 spots to be filled by some combination of Matusz, Tillman, Arrieta, Britton (all four were considered to be cornerstone players as recently as last year), Eveland, Wada, Jim Johnson (if they decide to put him in the rotation), Patton (who was a starter in the minors but never used in the rotation in the bigs, Bergeson, and Hunter. We can argue about how high those players’ ceilings are (Bergeson, Hunter). We can argue about how many chances they should get (Tillman, Matusz). And we can argue about whether they are better suited to be relievers (Johnson). But you have to actually put them in the rotation and let them play so that they can develop. You could say that lot of the kids already had their chances last year, but how many times have pitchers come out of the minors and been great out of the chute? Arrieta is 25, Britton is 24, Matusz is 24, Tillman is 23. People around Baltimore act like all four have already flamed out. But the fact remains they are still plenty young enough to fulfill their potential. In my mind, they have to be given the chance without shuttling them back and forth between the minors and majors. It’s nice to have depth and to have options. But the O’s aren’t going to contend regardless of the veterans in the rotation. To me most of the younger guys have higher potential than Jackson has (Matusz and Britton specifically). So why risk interfering with their development by blocking potential rotation spots. 17 some odd years of losing sucks and breeds a desperate must win now mentality in the fans. But that just win now mentality has not worked in the past. Think of all the average to mediocre players we’ve signed in the last decade with the thought that maybe we would catch lightning in the bottle. We’ve made limited progress in the majors. Our minor leagues have improved, though still remain somewhat underwhelming. A win now mentality will not fix all of the ills that are wrong. We need to keep the long term, big picture in view otherwise we will continue to have the same results.