Four of the five AL East teams — the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Orioles — appear to have some interest in Cuban outfield prospect Jorge Soler. Here are the latest links from the division…
- Rob Bradford of WEEI.com explains that the future of out-of-options right-hander Michael Bowden may be closely linked to his Spring Training performance. For MLBTR's complete list of out of options players on the Red Sox and around the league click here.
- An Orioles official tells Childs Walker of the Baltimore Sun that there's "absolutely no truth" to rumors owner Peter Angelos is considering selling the team.
- The Orioles would have to offer Adam Jones an extension of at least five years for him to sign long-term, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. Rosenthal explores the timeline for a possible Jones trade, pointing out that the Braves were among the teams that inquired on the center fielder this offseason. Jones avoided arbitration with the Orioles last night, agreeing to a $6.15MM contract for 2012. He’s under team control through 2013.
Gee, Rosenthal has such insightful insight. I could do what he does just as well and with more integrity, and I haven’t written anything since my high school newspaper 25 years ago.
Well according to this blog, you wrote something as of right now 51 minutes ago. :p
Considering what Justin Upton received from the D-backs I think it’ll take at least 5 years/$45MM but probably closer to 6 years/$66MM or more.
Are you a fan of American Movie, or are you an American who is a fan of movies in general?
American Movie is awesome.
Banned in 3…2…1…
I apologize, I had no idea that wasn’t allowed. I’ll make sure to read the TOS thoroughly.
Bowden is doomed. His 1st game at the MLB level vs Texas was decent and has never done much sense. I would prefer to see Albers and maybe Doubrant with morales, and even a guy I have loved since his NC days.. Miller attempted to option.. Maybe they could sneak Miller back down if he would accept it, but think Bowden would get taken, as well as morales.
My thoughts again?? Carry only 4OF even at the start of the season, take 12 pitchers, since they will be burning up relievers with 2 guys only able to go 5-6 IP anyway and they should be able to give Bowden a longer look this time around, but Albers is a keeper, just don’t burn him out this year like they did last season and he should be able to help.
agree with the three-man bench idea, but i don’t think it will last if it happens at all. bowden showed some promise as a reliever last year in AAA, but he’s out of time now. sink or swim
That was the point, maybe didn’t make it clear (again. lol) take him North out of ST if he is strong and only 4 OF. If he implodes early? Waiver time, then either call up a replacement, or then they can call up that 5th OF, which in all likelihood would be Lin anyway, cause somebody would have claimed McDonald when they waived him in ST probably already and Lin is just as useful (if not more) than mcDonald anyway.
Boston still has pieces at Pawtucket they could also call up as long guys, the various retreads they signed, such as Carlson, even Maine or Cook if they were not already on the roster.
I think the decision on whether or not to put Bowden in the ‘pen is pretty complex and relies on several other moving parts. For one, having Aviles on the roster and able to play not only the infield, but the outfield corners could help with going with a shorter bench, but if he is the starting shortstop it doesn’t help. Also, if Doubront make the starting rotation it would be pretty easy to put Bowden in the ‘pen, and if Doubront doesn’t make the rotation do they really keep three lefties in the ‘pen? If they don’t want to keep three lefties it’s again pretty easy to put Bowden in the ‘pen, but then which lefty do they cut?
By the 3 lefties, you are implying Doubrant, Miller, morales? Just to make sure there..
Then.. I see both Miller and Doubrant useful as potential swing types in your scenario, where Morales has not gone more than a tad over an inning for some time.
Morales might have had more success last season, but just think that Doubrant would be better weapon vs LH hitters in leveraged situation, plus also able to throw in there for spot starts, as well as longer outings.. An Atchisson type in that situation.
I would really like to see Miller succeed, but don’t think he is going to get his act together.. Maybe they can sneak him back to Pawtucket and work with him more.
Yeah, those are the three lefties I was referring to. And I agree that of the three it would probably be Morales who is without a spot.
I personally think that in the end they find a spot for Bowden (unless he bombs in spring training maybe) because he showed pretty well last year in AAA that he still has late inning relief potential, it’s just a matter of how they fit him in. I could be wrong, but that my personal guess.
I think Morales has a spot in the pen to lose. He has the least to prove and the most clearly defined role. Regardless, there’s gonna be A LOT of competition in camp this year for sure and a lot of pressure on Doubront and Miller to pitch well early on.
Morales is a terrible pitcher, and has always been a terrible pitcher; he managed to throw all of 10 decent innings last year, the rest were bad or worse. Miller isn’t a great pitcher either by any means, but he has far more upside than Morales and his downside essentially is Morales (hard throwing lefty with no control of the strike zone), so they aren’t likely to choose Morales over Miller. And there is no way they choose either one of them over Doubront.
If they are able to work a trade involving one of them they might move any one of them, but a trade after spring training starts is very unlikely, so they would most likely have to DFA one of them to get them off the roster, and Morales is by far the most likely to be DFAd.
I disagree. I still think Morales has a better shot than Miller of making the team although Doubront probably has the best chance.
Why though? Morales’ upside is a hard throwing lefty reliever with control problems; that’s literally the same as Miller’s downside. They also have way more invested in Miller than they do Morales so they would be a lot less likely to just dump him even if they had the same potential.
Morales is seriously a terrible pitcher and I have no idea why he is even still on the roster. He had by far his best year since ’07, as far as walks are concerned, last year and was still approaching 4 walks per 9 innings. He also threw the most innings of his career last year at 46 so it’s not like he can even soak up a bunch of innings for you.
I would say that Albers and Morales are pretty much locks to start the season in the pen. If neither Doubront or Miller land the #5 starter’s spot, I’d look for one of them to end up in the pen as well and the other to be traded or placed on waivers. I really don’t see a spot for Bowden on the big league team so I would expect to see him traded as well. Miller probably has the best chance of any of them to pass through wavers without being claimed IMO but definitely not a sure-thing that he wouldn’t get claimed.
Trade him to padres for venable
Actually it’s just hundreds and they’re called Orioles fans.
Actually its thousands, we aren’t a Florida team.
Way to turn around a zing.
i don’t really like adam jones, but you are underrating him quite a bit there. he doesn’t play up to his tools, but a centerfielder who can hold his own defensively and hit better than league average is a pretty valuable player
I’m not talking about what he’s worth, but what it would take. Is Jeter WORTH $15MM a year, was he worth $18.9MM a year? Is he worth even $8MM a year? Hell no. But those are the numbers he could achieve, so he did.
he’s also got 4 years of service time already. upton had 2 when he signed his extension
” he doesn’t play up to his tools”
So what exactly is the difference in him and BJ Upton, except that Jones makes millions less and is 2x the offensive threat, plus is under team control for an extra season?
Edit:
Apologies.. Didn’t realize his salary for this season almost doubled to 6m.. Still, Upton at7m vs Jones at 6m? Jones is a far better overall player, just has lapses in the field defensively and Upton makes those same hair brained defensive plays also.
Speed and a little better arm is all Upton has over him.
Not even a dozen! While there’s 17 comments ( 18 with this) there problem is several responses are from the same blogger. I make 11, I think. I can’t count that high usually. :p
Seriously, though most Oriole fans stay on the local blog, a few venture on here, but not many.
As a Red Sox fan I don’t mind seeing one team that I’m not entirely concerned about. As a baseball fan… it’s pretty sad to see what Angelos has done to one of the older franchises.
You should be concerned with the way last season ended.
with a .330ish wOBA, their raw offensive numbers are similar (though arrived at in very different ways), but jones plays in a much friendlier offensive environment
upton actually provides a greater number of extra-base hits despite providing fewer total hits overall. combine that with all his walks and his base-stealing ability and he comes out the better offensive player (though not by a lot)
what really sets them apart is defense, which is hugely important in centerfield
The defense is just the thing.. Now don’t get me wrong as am only judging this on what have actually seen of the 2 and that is far more on Upton than Jones…
Both make superb plays and are very capable of it, then they both go out and make the most hair brained play the next time around.. Like throw to the wrong base..etc…
That is from watching Jones in limited time, granted, but extensive amount of time in seeing Upton play.
Not really. 3 games don’t prove the worth of a team. Especially when one of the teams looked like they had mentally checked out.
Over the last several years the Orioles seemed have been mismanaged and besides a couple of nice names I wouldn’t say their farm has much to offer the future.
All I care about is keeping Andino healthy for the late season Boston series.
I actually like the farm system and where its going. The bigger problem is in the O’s development and in how poorly we supplement our prospects at the major league level.
Quiet you
😉