Orioles Rumors

Matt Wieters Update

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | May 8, 2009 at 10:54am CDT

Matt Wieters began the season as baseball's number one prospect, but we haven't heard much about him so far in 2009. Some took notice when he missed a bit of time because of a hamstring issue, but his season at AAA Norfolk has mostly been quiet. He's played well, though not incredibly, hitting one homer and batting .297/.391/.405 with 12 walks and 17 strikeouts. Gregg Zaun and Chad Moeller have combined for only 21 hits in 100 at bats for the O's, so they're not blocking Wieters' path. His main obstacle is time.

If the Orioles called Wieters up today, he'd accumulate enough service time this year (almost 150 days) to become a Super Two player. This means he'd cost the Orioles more money in the future because he'd go to arbitration four times.
If they wait until June 1st to call Wieters up, he won't accumulate more than 126 days service time. This would likely prevent him from becoming a Super Two and would likely save the Orioles millions of dollars in years ahead.
Waiting until June 1st or later also allows the Orioles to make sure Wieters is ready for the majors when he arrives. They can endure their soft-hitting catchers this year, because they're not a contender, so it would be a surprise to see the prospect called up soon.

Rosenthal On Royals, Atkins, Baez, Huff

By Tim Dierkes | May 7, 2009 at 10:43am CDT

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has trade speculation in the sidebar of his latest column.

Rosenthal sees shortstop Mike Aviles as the Royals' weakest link, given his .523 OPS in 97 plate appearances. Most projection systems had Aviles in the .720-.750 range. Rosenthal runs through potential trade targets such as Orlando Cabrera, Jack Wilson, Miguel Tejada, and Marco Scutaro. The first three have their flaws, and Scutaro doesn't figure to be available.
Rosenthal suggests the Rockies could accomplish their goal of more playing time for Ian Stewart by trading Garrett Atkins. However, Atkins is fairly pricey and is off to a .224/.287/.367 start through 108 plate appearances.
Orioles reliever Danys Baez is generating trade buzz with his 2.30 ERA through 15.6 innings. Baez is still owed $4.55MM of his $5.5MM '09 salary, and he also gets a $500K bonus if traded. So just moving the contract might be a feat for Andy MacPhail, in my opinion.
Aubrey Huff, with $6.62MM left on his contract, could eventually draw interest from teams like the Royals and Mariners, in Rosenthal's opinion. Huff seems back to his pre-2008 level; he's hitting .270/.331/.423 in 124 plate appearances.

Odds & Ends: O’s, A’s, Milledge, Manny

By | May 5, 2009 at 2:37pm CDT

Your links for Tuesday…

MASN's Buck Martinez believes the Orioles are headed in the right direction as an organization. "Sit back, relax and watch the organization grow," he writes.
Vlae Kershner of the San Francisco Chronicle summarizes the current standing of the Athletics' bid for a new ballpark. Would a fancy facility in San Jose, the nation's 10th largest city, help boost the team's payroll?
Lastings Milledge, who was demoted to Triple-A Syracuse on April 14, told the Washington Post's Chico Harlan that he hasn't kept in touch with the Nationals' front office, and hasn't been paying attention to the club's day-to-day progress. Sounds like a bad situation that might only get worse.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, super agent Scott Boras told Playboy magazine in a recent interview that his client, Manny Ramirez, simply didn't like living in the city of Boston. That, Boras claims, is the reason Manny wanted out. "It wasn't like Cleveland," said Boras. And it's not like L.A., apparently.

Odds And Ends: Yankees, Pedro, Mets

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | May 2, 2009 at 9:44am CDT

Links for Saturday morning…

Some Yankees fans are frustrated by the first month C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira spent in pinstripes, but Torii Hunter would be happy to add them to the Angels, according to Matt Gagne's article in the New York Daily News.
Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun writes that the Orioles continue to deny interest in Pedro Martinez.
MLB.com's Marty Noble reports that Omar Minaya now says the Mets have an "edge".
Noble adds that Oliver Perez could conceivably be asked to accept a minor league assignment if he pitches poorly today.
ESPN.com's Peter Gammons discusses teams' recent appreciation for a strong defense.
Gammons spoke with on GM who suggested we're in a golden era of second basemen in which players like Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler, Chase Utley, Robinson Cano and Aaron Hill hit well at a "defensive" position.
ESPN.com's Tim Kurkjian asks why the Rangers have always been offense-first.
Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun reports that the Blue Jays are scouting high school pitcher Shelby Miller.

Odds & Ends: Nationals, Garcia, Bonds

By Tim Dierkes | April 29, 2009 at 9:03am CDT

Links for Wednesday…

Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com grilled various Nationals about the possibility of the team signing Stephen Strasburg for big bucks.
Righty Steven Shell elected free agency, while Nats reliever Wil Ledezma accepted a Triple A assignment according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. Chico Harlan of the Washington Post discusses the Nationals' bullpen construction in this post.
Yahoo's Gordon Edes chatted with Evan Longoria as part of his article about David Price and Matt Wieters starting the season in Triple A.
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen commented about free agent Freddy Garcia, talking to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star thinks the Royals should sign Barry Bonds, and current team members seem receptive to the idea. In separate columns, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle and Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News try to figure out why Bonds hasn't retired.

Ryan Freel Is Unhappy

By Tim Dierkes | April 28, 2009 at 3:20pm CDT

Ryan Freel's Orioles career is not off to a good start. He's trying to bounce back from a head injury, and has gripes with the team's handling of the situation according to MASN's Steve Melewski. His reply when asked whether he wants to stay with the Orioles:

"I think change is good for people. I think the expectations were for me to come here and perform in a different way than I did. I don't think I met the expectations the way I in spring training. There is nothing wrong with change. I don't think I fit here. I can't control what they do with me. It's putting a damper on my career."

You may recall that Freel met with Andy MacPhail on April 15th over playing time concerns. It seems that the O's acquired Freel for Ramon Hernandez in December mainly just to free up cash (they saved $3.5MM) and a catching spot for Matt Wieters.

Odds & Ends: Perez, D’Backs, Baez

By Tim Dierkes | April 27, 2009 at 9:57am CDT

Links for Monday…

RotoAuthority looks more closely at the Pirates' MLB-best rotation.
Mike Berardino of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel says the Marlins won't be pursuing Luis Vizcaino.
On Saturday, MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan wrote that the Rangers don't expect to be in on Pedro Martinez, but could have interest in Vizcaino for a Triple A job.
Eddie Bajek of Detroit Tigers Thoughts has a quick American League Elias rankings preview.
Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post thinks Oliver Perez may be headed to the bullpen or even Triple A if he'll consent. Perez has pitched poorly in three of his four starts. He's had streaks like this before, though.
With Brandon Webb out for at least six weeks, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic wonders if the Diamondbacks will be sellers this summer.
Could Danys Baez have midseason trade value? Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun thinks it's possible, despite the pitcher's $5.5MM salary.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post looks back at last summer's Xavier Nady/Damaso Marte deal with the Pirates.
Murray Chass thinks Ned Colletti deserves a contract extension. Do you agree?
ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. wonders who will be the first American-born player to exploit a draft loophole by dropping out of high school and living in another country for a year to become a free agent.

2010 Options: Baltimore Orioles

By Tim Dierkes | April 20, 2009 at 2:43pm CDT

Let's take a look at the options facing the Orioles after the season.

Gregg Zaun – $2MM club option with a $500K buyout. The general feeling is that Matt Wieters will be the starter behind the plate by the All-Star break. Paying a net of $1.5MM for a quality backup like Zaun is probably still worthwhile.
Melvin Mora – $8MM club option with a $1MM buyout. Prospect Billy Rowell moved to right field in March, and he's not close to the Majors anyway. The Orioles don't have much in the third base pipeline. Mora would be worth the net $7MM for another year if he can approach his '08 production. Currently the 37 year-old is on the DL with a strained hamstring.

The Orioles also have many contracts ending after '09: Aubrey Huff, Danys Baez, Jamie Walker, Ryan Freel, and Mark Hendrickson. Those five will earn a total of $23.5MM this year. Ty Wigginton will still be around next year, but the Orioles may be in the market for another corner infielder.

Odds And Ends: Wieters, Guerrero, Gonzalez

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | April 18, 2009 at 10:37am CDT

A few links for Saturday morning…

Steve Melewski of MASN.com spoke with the Orioles Director of Player Development, David Stockstill, about Matt Wieters, who left last night's minor league game with an apparent right hamstring cramp.
More bad news for Angels fans, as Vladimir Guerrero is out for at least a month.
Luis Gonzalez tells Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post that he's already missing baseball and he wouldn't ask for much salary-wise.
Ozzie Guillen still doesn't have an answer in center field according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Cowley wrote earlier in the week that the Giants are looking to unload Aaron Rowand.
ESPN.com's Keith Law discusses high school prospect Donovan Tate, who's the son of former NFL running back Lars Tate. Law says Tate is the "top prep position player in this draft."

Rosenthal On Free Agents, Orioles, Ortiz

By Tim Dierkes | April 8, 2009 at 4:39pm CDT

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has a new column up.

Rosenthal discusses the unprecedented number of decent free agents available, a few games into the season (click here for our free agent list). He suggests the hitters will have a harder time getting jobs than the pitchers due to the time needed to shake off the rust. In talking with execs, Rosenthal learned that the trade market for mediocre players (Jarrod Washburn, Nate Robertson, Austin Kearns) may be depressed this summer due to the available free agents.
As he wrote in February, Rosenthal says that Braden Looper turned down more money to play for the Orioles due to his preference for the NL. Tim Redding also preferred the easier league. The result of those rejections: a very questionable '09 rotation.
Rosenthal spoke to an executive who was shocked to discover that Russ Ortiz seems to be back to his peak form.
Rosenthal speculates that Paul Bako could help the Twins.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Show all

Headlines

Orioles Rumors

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect