The Orioles have been making calls to other teams in search help at their corner infield positions, and Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports that they've made calls specifically regarding Placido Polanco, Bryan LaHair and Chase Headley.
General manager Dan Duquette is in search of a high on-base percentage who can hit near the top of the Orioles' batting order. An industry source cautioned Connolly in telling him that the O's talks regarding the trio have been preliminary.
Orioles third basemen have combined to hit .233/.291/.383, and their first basemen haven't fared much better at .237/.316/.415. They've primarily used a combination of Wilson Betemit, Mark Reynolds, and Chris Davis at the positions this season, but all are defensive liabilities and Davis has been shifted to an outfield role.
Connolly speculates that Polanco may be the best fit, as he would cost the cheapest of the three to acquire. Headley figures to be one of the most coveted players that is potentially available this summer, and LaHair is controllable through the 2017 season. Polanco earns $6.25MM this season and has a $5.5MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout for the 2013 season.
I’m really curious as to what we could get for Polanco. I’d hope we could get a bullpen piece or back end starter type.
we’d need a few pieces, but the question I have is who plays 3rd. move Jimmy over and call up a SS? Wigginton can’t play there every day. it’s maddening!
Wiggington/Fontentot for the remainder of the year.
You’re not getting a few pieces for Polanco. A few spare parts, maybe.
Chase Headley plays third. Cause once RAJ dumps Polanco, he’s gonna trade for him.
Phillies don’t have nearly enough pieces to land Headley. The Padres don’t want projects who are 2-3 years away. They’re expecting to land 2-3 guys who are ML ready within a year.
For a 36-year-old with a .628 OPS? Good luck getting anything of value…
He’s also an elite defensive third baseman. I’d probably want at least what the Yankees gave up to get Ichiro, which isn’t much.
He was an elite defensive third baseman last year. Not so much this year. What happened to his range?
He isn’t 6.25 million dollars elite …
You wouldn’t be paying $6.25 million.
He isn’t even worth the $2MM or so that’s left on his contract.
If Polanco gets moved, it’ll be for a non-prospect along with salary relief.
That’s what I thought about Jim Thome and we ended up getting Lino.
A defensive-minded catcher who profiles as a backup IF he can hit his weight? Yeah, that’s exactly the kind of non-prospect I was talking about.
Prior to 2012, John Sickels ranked Lino as a C prospect and called him the 20th best O’s prospect in a top-heavy farm system (only the Top 7 were ranked as better than C+ prospects).
Lino responded to that ranking by putting up a .214/.284/.323 line through 250 at bats this season. Sure, he’s only 19, but it’s pretty optimistic to say he’s anything but a long shot.
Honestly, if I were you, I’d be more excited about Kyle Simon.
Polanco would have to be it.
We really dont need any HR’s and thats all LaHair is really good for.
Also LaHair can not hit lefties one bit.
Polanco will get you hits and play a good defensive 3B and not cost a lot.
He also sucks at the plate.
Polanco is a strong defender, but injury prone at this stage. he also is a streaky hitter. He’s not a top of the order guy anymore, sadly. I like him a ton, was psyched they signed him, but he’s aging pretty fast.
OPS+ of 70 this year and 86 last year … when’s the next hot streak coming?
Unfortunately, LaHair has hit all of 2 homers since the end of May, so he’s not really good for anything at this time. Man I wish we could’ve traded him at the end of May when he was on fire still.
if Polanco leaves, who plays 3rd this year for the Phillies? and next year? There is no replacement for him in the minors. Seems like there’d have to be a MLB-ready 3B in the deal.
If someone had a legit MLB ready 3B, why would they trade for Polanco?
What about Wiggington/Fontenot until Galvis is healthy/off suspension? I can realistically see the Phillies giving him a shot at 3B since Rollins is locked up at SS for the next couple years and they want to get “younger”
Gotta agree with this.
The only player on the roster capable of getting an elite 3B (potentially) is Cole Hamels. Cliff Lee might but we’d probably have to eat a ton of salary.
The Phillies would undoubtedly go with Wigginton/Fontenot.
It’s got to be Headley or nothing for the Birds here.
Polanco’s done. With his diminishing range, I doubt he’s any better than Betemit. The O’s have enough sub-.700 OPS’s on their roster anyway. They don’t need another.
Same goes for LaHair. Dude is completely worthless vs. lefties and hasn’t hit much of anything of anyone since the middle of May (.224/.288/.327 since May 16).
I hope the talks with the Phillies and Cubs were just due diligence on Duquette’s part.
and by due diligence, you mean “I’ll give you Kevin Gregg for him. No? Okay, thanks for your time anyway.”
I wouldn’t give up Gregg for them. Gregg has actually been quite good for quite a while this season.
LaHair has been struggling lately…but he is still a very solid LHB with very good power and a .361 OBP and a .855 OPS. Also, he is under control for 6 more seasons and not even arb-eligible until 2015. He might not be able to hit lefties very well, but that could be worked on. And in the mean time, considering that 70-75% of MLB pitchers are RHP, he can be very valuable to a team in a platoon where he gets the majority of AB’s and you use a RHB who mashes lefties to replace him for those AB’s. I am not even sure if it is worth it to trade him now for the Cubs. It might be better to just see if he can adjust and start hitting again.
How about this: Bryan LaHair + Reed Johnson for Parker Bridwell.
That’s intriguing but not going to happen.
What about Matt Carpenter from Cards? Plays a decent 3rd base and averaged .408 obp in minors and has a .353 obp this year his rookie year in majors along with + .800 ops. If Cards include pitching prospect would O’s trade Matusz or Arrieta?
Danny.Valencia.
A Few things.
1st of all I don’t think Wilson Betemit has heard of the rotation play, I am willing to bet that Headley and Polanco have. Out of the two, I would rather have Polanco, because he’s done after this year and I am hoping the O’s can start fresh with someone in their system in 2013. Plus, I can’t see the Padres trading Headley to us because we are not apart of that former “Red Sox Type” clique.
The other thing is I remember reading that the O’s were given the “Green Light” to spend. I wouldn’t call acquiring LaHair being a part of that Mantra.
I would call acquiring Justin Morneau being a part of that, but not LaHair.
Now, will “The Duke” do it? I don’t know. Also, since the Phillies won last night miraculously, maybe they think they are on the road to victory again and won’t trade anyone. So who knows. There’s always the Ramirez Boys (Aramis and Hanley). Hahaha!
Hate the idea of LaHair- we already have a version of this kind of hitter in Chris Davis. Polanco at least fits the on-base skills DD is looking for but he’s essentially washed up a this time. I think Headley is a great fit, maybe not as a top of the line up hitter, but as a solid starting MLB caliber 3b. His run production would get a boost from getting out of San Deigo and in a better line up. The problem is the Padres are asking for the moon for him and Headley isn’t worth that kind of investment. If we were going to give up a load of prospects, we should just go get Upton. Personally I think the Orioles should continue to be patient and develop they better prospects (not what other O’s fans want to hear) and pick up some spare but useful parts like they did with Thome. Superstar players are not going to come to Baltimore any time soon, we need to focus on developing them.
Why would LaHair even be on the O’s radar? He’s never played 3B and we have Davis, Reynolds, Betemit, and a handful of others who can play 1B if need be. I’m not even sure he’d jump to the top of the depth chart if he arrived in exchange for nothing. Polanco is the consummate short-term player and doesn’t help the O’s beyond the stretch run in 2012. Unless the Padres are asking for more than 3 potential starters, Duquette has to consider making a deal. The Padres probably want a starting OF (we can send Hoes or Avery) and a couple of pitchers (Matusz, Arrieta, or Hunter — pick 2). How could the Pads ask for more? Headley is not a masher and they’ve already extended Quentin to be the power in the middle along with Alonzo.
I don’t get why headley is such a hot commodity. I’d rather the o’s ride it out with Reynolds. His ability to make tough plays is well overlooked and I’ll take his power potential any day. Headley is an average ball player.
Not to mention Reynolds has a good eye. Sure he strikes out, but his .806 career ops makes up for it.
The player I care about is Headley.