With Ubaldo Jimenez making what was very likely his final home start in an Orioles uniform last night, Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com wonders if the right-hander will influence how the O’s approach free agent pitching decisions in the future. The Orioles have been notoriously hesitant about committing big money to (or even acquiring) pitchers, making their four-year, $50MM investment in Jimenez in the 2013-14 offseason a particular risk for Dan Duquette, who had to talk ownership into the signing. In the wake of Jimenez’s struggles, Connolly wonders if the Orioles will now totally shy away from big-money deals for veteran arms. This would, of course, complicate Duquette’s offseason work, as the O’s are known to be looking to add two starters to help their beleaguered rotation.
Here’s more from around the AL East…
- Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro took part in a wide-ranging interview with Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi (part one; part two) that included some mention of Josh Donaldson’s future in Toronto, though Shapiro said that the team wasn’t planning to publicly discuss such matters. Shapiro wouldn’t confirm or deny if the team had already held any extension talks with the star third baseman, who is set to hit free agency after the 2018 season.
- Shapiro said “Durability. Athleticism. Flexibility” will be three of the Jays’ biggest lineup needs, noting that the team could address those needs via a corner outfielder or in a backup middle infield role behind Troy Tulowitzki and Devon Travis. A large roster overhaul isn’t forthcoming, as Shapiro believes “it’s not a big leap for us” to return to postseason contention given the number of injuries and unexpected setbacks that plagued the Jays’ season. The interview is well worth a full read, as Shapiro touches on such other subjects as player development philosophy, the team’s farm system, plans for a new Spring Training facility and renovations to Rogers Centre.
- John Farrell’s contract as the Red Sox manager only runs through the 2018 season, and given Farrell’s relative lack of job security since Dave Dombrowski took over Boston’s baseball ops department, CSNNE.com’s Evan Drellich argues that the team should either give Farrell a long-term extension this winter or part ways with the manager. Either decision would remove Farrell’s status as a distraction both inside or outside the clubhouse. With the Sox closing in on their second straight AL East title, Farrell’s performance certainly seems worthy of a longer commitment, though there have been whispers that Dombrowski (like most executives) would prefer to hire his own manager, rather than stick with the manager inherited from the old regime.
Hasn’t the ubaldo Jimenez signing already impacted how the orioles sign free agent pitching? Or you could make the argument that it was well before him when our FA pitching policy started.
Absolutely. Duquette got scorched on this one, and I don’t blame them for being hesitant. When your WHIP is 1.5, it’s borderline disasterous. The potential run production at that level is stunning. When he’s on, he’s on. Lights out. No questions. But Christ, when he’s having a bad game, it gets bad quick. I always felt for him though, seeing as he was extremely friendly, a great teammate, and never blamed anyone else for his performance. Farewell, Ubaldo.
Farrell need to win or go deep in the playoff to keep his job!! Louvo was the guy for us in 2016 but now is too late
As tasteless a comment as this admittedly is, Farrell’s cancer saved his job. There was no way Boston was going to let him go under those conditions.
I agree 100 percent even though I wished they would have fired him he is a terrible in game manager but he will keep his job again this year unless the Sox get knocked out in the first round again
I’m not a BOS fan so fill me in, what is there to not like? His only terrible season he had Middlebrooks as their starting 3Bman, Bradley was a sub mendoza line hitter, Betts and Bog had yet to learn how to shave, and only one starter pitched more than 145 innings.
Two back to back 90+ win seasons, even when your Front Office is spending bookoo bucks on sad Panda and Castillo, sounds like a good manager. As a Reds fan, you can do much worse.
If Girardi, Showalter, Francona, etc. had the exact same team right now, I’m betting they would have 5-7 more wins easily. Also, Farrell seriously damaged or destroyed 2 careers (Steven Wright & Blake Swihart) by playing them at positions they were unfamiliar with, he has a strange penchant for over-using pinch runners and depleting his bench, was reported to have had issues with Travis Shaw which allegedly led to Shaw being traded (for what amounted to nothing) and was tied to cheating.
Ladies and gentleman, let me introduce the left and the right.
The Orioles are basically stuck making Ubaldo type signings, and there’s not really anything wrong with that since there isn’t much of an alternative for a team constantly trying to compete but that can’t afford big time signings.
The thing is they have to stick to shorter deals to limit downside, which they really have aside from Ubaldo. They caved on Ubaldo, they signed him late I think and should have had enough leverage to limit his deal to two or at most three years. They should have signed him to the same deal Gallardo got.
Deals like what Hammel, Fister, and Volquez got last year should be more what they are looking at. Problem for them is it’s an AL East hitters’ park so pitchers will not be eager to sign with them on short term deals; they will have to offer more money than others, just need to be firm on years. Sign a couple of Fister, Liriano, Colon, Nolasco, Gonzalez, etc. to one or two year deals, maybe take bake Chen if Jeter pays him down by more than half. If you luck into decent years out of the guys you can compete.
Sox should part ways with Farrell and hire Ron Gardenhire.
you don’t want gardy against the yankees 18 times a year
I’m an A’s fan but Farrel that bad? I mean, isn’t about winning!? BoSox are doing fine right now…
Records of active mgrs who have won the WS, assuming Bos, Chi, & Cle win the Div in 2017:
Farrell — 7 yrs (2 in Tor) 1 WS 3 Div.
Bochy — 23 yrs 3 WS 1 Pennant 6 Div.
Francona — 17 yrs 2 WS 1 Pennant 3 Div
Sciocia —- 18 yrs 1 WS 6 Div
Yost — 13 yrs 1 WS 1 pennant 1 Div
Giradi —- 11 yrs 1 WS 3 Div
Maddon —- 12 yrs 1 WS 1 pennant 3 Div
Ubaldo’s HR/9 rate with BAL is double that of his HR/9 rate when he was with COL. Did anyone predict that would happen?
Signed a strikeout pitcher with declining velocity and shaky control. Wasn’t a huge surprise to see his numbers spike. But idk what you’re talking about they’ve only doubled in 2017 where he’s averaging 2. He was a little higher but nothing too crazy in his prior 3.
I’m talking about his career AVG with BAL (1.3) and comparing it to his career AVG with COL (.6). No one could have guessed that would happen, not after the year he had with CLE in 2013. Yes, he burned BAL, but it happens. BAL shouldn’t use it as a…now we’re never going to spend excuse.
You can talk about career average all day but it’s spiked by one outlier year. 1/4 seasons raises the total average and it’s in his last season. Not to mention what he did in Colorado isn’t the most relevant data anyway cause he had two years in Cleveland sandwiched in between. HRS haven’t been ubaldo’s issue in Baltimore. It’s been horrible control. Everything has been his problem this year but no his HRs have not been the culprit. It wasn’t some crazy spike he had in Baltimore, he’s averaged 1 per year aside from this year. 1 per year would be a little higher than his career average but again it wasn’t the reason for ubaldos ineffectiveness these last 3 seasons.
His FB is down 7-8 mph from when he was in Colorado, so it was predictable.
Lame Duck manager status as a “distraction” is way overblown by media.
If the Orioles want to be competitive. they have no choice but to sign free agent pitchers at market (and by market I mean overvalued) prices. They have two legitimate starts for next season (Bundy and Gausman), a potential reliever to starter conversion (Castro), about seven different guys who could be their fifth starter but would never be considered rotation options for most other teams, and nothing in their system that would compete for a rotation spot if they were in any other organization. They really need three starters, they absolutely must get two. If they really think that Miley had a bad luck year (this season was very much out of line with the rest of his career) then the option on his contract is affordable. Still, I’d much rather see them pursue Cobb, Cashner, and Garcia as replacements for Jimenez, Tillman, Hellickson, and Miley.
Ynoa is the only internal candidate that may be able to look like a 5th starter. Ynoa has a decent heater and a 4 pitch mix. Castro is essentially a two pitch pitcher who occasionally works in a changeup. He has no shot against the lineup a 3rd time. I truly do not understand the optimism on him as a starter. The guys average almost 4 walks and is barely striking out 5 per9 in a relief role. Castro throws hard and velocity gets people excited but ynoa throws 94 himself and has a much better pitch mix. He doesn’t give up HRs and has some control. I don’t see Castro being any better than that.Castro is a reliever unless he develops something else to mix in and can improve control.
Keep Farrell get rid of dumbrowski