It's been a busy day for Orioles news, as so far we've heard that the O's are one of three finalists for Bronson Arroyo, Baltimore signed Jack Cust and Evan Meek to minor league contracts, Grantland's Jonah Keri explored the team's recent spending history and its MASN TV contract, and MLBTR's Steve Adams wrapped up even a few more O's items as part of an East Notes post. Heck, why stop now? Here are more Orioles tidbits plus more news from around the AL East…
- Freddie Freeman's eight-year, $135MM extension with the Braves could very well change the parameters for the Orioles' possible extension with Chris Davis, observes MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko. "If Davis comes close to duplicating his 2013 season, [agent Scott] Boras will view Freeman's salary as chump change," Kubatko writes. The Braves' deal with Freeman, 24, covered his three remaining arbitration-eligible years and his first five free agent years, while the 28-year-old Davis has just one year of arbitration eligibility remaining before hitting free agency following the 2015 season.
- Also from Kubatko, he questions if the Orioles would make a multiyear offer to Suk-min Yoon given his shoulder history and how the O's were recently burned by Tsuyoshi Wada's injury history. With Yoon looking for a two-year commitment and the Rangers, Giants, Cubs and Twins all showing, a one-year offer might not be enough to get it done for the Orioles.
- The Rays have been talking to the Nationals about a Jose Lobaton trade for at least a month, MLB.com's Bill Ladson reports, though the two sides can't settle on what the Rays would get back in return. Though the Nats are one of several teams interested in Lobaton, Tampa Bay is in no hurry to deal the catcher and could wait until Spring Training begins to move him.
- The Yankees' struggles to draft and develop quality minor league talent in recent years is chronicled by ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews and Andrew Marchand.
- Over at Roto Authority, MLBTR's fantasy baseball-focused sister site, I looked at which of the Orioles' Manny Machado or the Blue Jays' Brett Lawrie is the better bet for fantasy success in 2014.
Rays probably want Espinosa for Lobaton. Definitely too much to give up for a backup catcher.
Scherzer in 2015, Davis in 2016.
Scott Boras gonna get paid.
Has done well in 2014 with Ellsbury and Choo, and maybe Drew too
Imagine if he still had Cano.
Machado vs. Lawrie? Am I missing something here?
Depends on when manny will be healthy
Unless he misses like half the season (highly unlikely), that still doesn’t seem like a fair comparison. Maybe some fantasy leagues award points for tattoos?
Machado has his fair share of tats as well.
That could be a battle.
In all seriousness Lawrie has to stay healthy too, plus stay calm!
Manny has already been cleared to resume baseball activities. He is 6-8 weeks ahead of schedule.
This is fantasy baseball, not real baseball. Most of Machado’s current value comes from his glove. As a hitter, he has been right at league average so far. Last year, his wOBA was .325 which was good for 12th among 3B. He was behind players such as Chase Headley and Martin Prado and just above David Freese, who were all players who took a lot of flack for their offensive struggles. If you take into account the knee injury, I can see the argument for Brett Lawrie who has a career wOBA of .330.
Giants NEED a guy like Yoon more than any other team mentioned. The only guy that is capable to spot start, or take over if there is an injury in the rotation is Petit. He is no sure thing and nobody in the organization is pushing him. They need depth and a 2 year deal is a risk worth taking, especially since the have a need for a long man in the bullpen too.
Yankees have really flubbed some picks in recent years. The last 2 drafts look like it had some impact talent. Hensley had some injury, but that is why he dropped. He is an elite arm. It does take a bit more effort on their part though. They don’t get access to that elite talent, they have to search for the diamonds in the rough.
Man your so right!! Im tired of all the things people say about the yankees and there drafting problems how can you possibly have a great farm when you always have to find diamonds in the rough. I mean there always at a disadvantage because they win!!! They never get the chance at top line talent where they always have to pick. I think it was just last season at one point when the yanks system was ranked like 10th. Thats pretty damn good for having to pick from left over talent!!! Start talking about that!!
That is the point of the draft… to provide competitive balance, teams who do not win get the better player. So in reality the Yankees not having a good farm system makes complete sense. And the yankees system being ranked 10th holds little water IMO, big market prospects always get overvalued, I can’t remember the last Yankees prospect who really did anything.
Um Derek Jeter.
Ha..
How about Cano, and there are players since then that the Yankees have drafted that have done well.
It was a joke. Hence the Ha.
I know what you are saying. Tampa Bay has had 90+ wins in every season except one since 2008 and can’t find a draft pick.
Also, Everyone realizes that there are more rounds than just the first to draft people. Right? Some of those players do become stars too.
Now they are trading the talent that they drafted from before their winning seasons. Like the Shields trade for example.
James Shields was a 16th round selection. Every team passed on him over a dozen times. He’s hardly the example to hold up as “the talent that they drafted from before their winning seasons.”
And the Rays passed over him several times too. NO teams saw that he would become what he has become. The first round you have a much higher chance of striking gold. A huge portion of today’s,top players were top draft picks.
I absolutely agree. I was just pointing out that the Rays losing ways had nothing to do with them drafting Shields.
Some of Red Sox picks from ’10-’12:
’10 Brentz (36), Raunaldo (39), Workman (57) Cecchini (143)
’11 Owens (36), Bradley (40), Betts (172)
’12 Johnson (31)
Thats a big chunk of the Red Sox prospect list, which is highly rated, and all were drafted after the position, where the Yankees did draft or should’ve been drafting. I’m sure other top-rated farm systems have plenty of ‘after-30’ picks, as well. Yankees have simply done a poor job drafting, while forfeiting other draft picks for FAs.
As of right now, Yankees don’t pick until 56th, but could’ve been picking 18, 32, 33, 56. It was their choice to sign those FAs and lose those picks, not “because they win!!!”.