Orioles Rumors

Technically, Roberts Could Be Traded

By Alex Walsh | February 22, 2009 at 9:23am CDT

Following a new contract extension for Brian Roberts, Peter Schmuck and Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun point out an interesting feature of Roberts’ new deal:

The club retains a fairly unfettered right to deal Roberts now, but Orioles officials insist the club has no intention of pursuing any trade talks involving him.

Many sportswriters have questioned the fit of this contract for the Orioles, since it keeps a 31-year old second baseman signed on an otherwise young team. With limited no-trade protection, Roberts may or may not be a continued fit for the Orioles’ long-term plan.

Orioles Rumors: Roberts Deal, McCrory

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | February 21, 2009 at 12:58pm CDT

Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun has the latest on Brian Roberts’ no-trade clause and an Orioles signing:

Roberts isn’t likely to be dealt anytime soon, but there are four teams he can’t be traded to this year. Schmuck is "pretty confident" that the Royals and Blue Jays are two of the four.
Roberts can block trades to eight teams next year and to 12 the year after that.
Roberts has a complete no trade clause the following year, just before his 10-5 rights kick in for spending 10 years in the majors and the last five with the same team.
The Orioles have agreed to terms with reliever Bob McCrory.

Heyman On Bay, Papelbon, Manny, Braves

By Tim Dierkes | February 20, 2009 at 4:58pm CDT

The latest from SI.com’s Jon Heyman…

Red Sox GM Theo Epstein says he’s had "casual conversations" about a contract extension with Jason Bay. We learned a few days ago that Bay is open to an extension but doesn’t consider it the "end-all, be-all."
Jonathan Papelbon says he’s a "gambling man," and he prefers to go year-to-year rather than sign long-term. Boston’s offer was far off his expectations, and he wants to set the market for closers. Papelbon is under team control through 2011, and will earn $6.25MM in his first arb year.
Heyman says there’s "some indication Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is about to become involved in the Manny Ramirez negotiations." Maybe that’ll get things moving.
Heyman says the Braves will look at Garret Anderson, Jim Edmonds, and Luis Gonzalez, though ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick has indicated the Braves aren’t interested in the veteran free agents.
The Orioles’ acquisition of Felix Pie cost Edmonds a chance to sign with the team.

O’s Sign Brian Roberts To Extension

By Tim Dierkes | February 20, 2009 at 10:44am CDT

10:44am: MLB.com’s Spencer Fordin reports that the deal is now official. Put it in the books. The Orioles have even issued a press release.

FRIDAY, 10:08am: MASN’s Roch Kubatko reports that Roberts passed his physical this morning. The O’s will announce his contract extension later today.

THURSDAY, 7:00pm: Zrebiec reports that the deal is done. Roberts confirmed that he took his physical today and the deal will be announced tomorrow. It’s a four-year, $40MM extension. Roberts feels that the O’s will compete sometime during the duration of his contract:

"I don’t think I would’ve made the commitment to even begin negotiations if I didn’t think that at some point in this process of the next four or five years that we wouldn’t have a chance to win,"

Roberts also voiced his desire to remain with one club for his entire career:

"In citing the reasons he wanted to get a deal done to stay in Baltimore, Roberts, who was married this offseason, pointed to the importance of loyalty and his desire to remain with one organization for his entire career," writes Zrebiec.

THURSDAY, 10:03am: Roberts on the deal: "Obviously, it’s fairly close to done."

WEDNESDAY, 6:09pm: The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec writes that the Orioles and Roberts are "finalizing" the contract:

The terms of the deal have been agreed to, but contract language and other details still need to be worked out before the agreement, which is expected to include at least a minor no-trade clause, is finalized, sources said.

Roberts has a physical scheduled for Thursday morning. A signature could come Friday.

4:17pm: Steve Melewski of MASN passes along a few quotes from Roberts. The second baseman spoke of making "huge strides" toward a deal.

3:06pm: MASN’s Roch Kubatko says the deal is "just about done," with only minor issues to be addressed. He says to expect an announcement Friday at the earliest.

11:44am: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says Roberts and the Orioles are close to a four-year, $40MM deal. Rosenthal implies the extension will begin with the 2010 season.

9:34am: According to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun, the Orioles are closing in on a four-year deal with second baseman Brian Roberts. Some details still need to be worked out.

Assuming the extension begins with the 2010 season, Roberts will be 36 at its conclusion. Is this the right move for a franchise trying to get younger?

Odds and Ends: Griffey, Blue Jays, Roberts

By Tim Dierkes | February 19, 2009 at 12:02pm CDT

Links for Thursday…

ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick has details around the Mariners’ Ken Griffey Jr. signing, while Keith Law has criticism for it. David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution blogs about his "Griffey Chooses Braves" story. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman also has thoughts on the decision not to play for Atlanta, and another postmortem article where he talks to Frank Wren and Chipper Jones.
Drunk Jays Fans has a preview of the team.
Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun writes in praise of the Brian Roberts extension. I don’t like the argument that the Orioles needed to sign Roberts because they don’t have a clear successor at second base.
RotoAuthority ranks starting pitchers for fantasy baseball.

Odds and Ends: Pirates, Royals, Gagne

By Tim Dierkes | February 18, 2009 at 12:08pm CDT

Links for Wednesday…

Joe Torre plans to retire as a manager after the 2010 season, learned MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick.
Braves blog Talking Chop talked to ESPN’s Keith Law about the farm system.
Baseball America’s Jim Callis spoke to one assistant GM who believes teams will cut back in the international market, partially because they can do so without a major backlash from fans. Callis also has the ’09 draft order at that link.
Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball looks at the $69MM+ teams spent on first-round draft picks last year.
Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the Pirates have anywhere from $41.75-$75.15MM tied up in Nate McLouth, Paul Maholm, and Ryan Doumit, all of whom were signed this winter. In a blog post, Kovacevic notes how the McLouth talks did a 180 when Frank Coonelly stepped in.
Alex Speier of WEEI talked to Red Sox execs John Henry and Larry Lucchino about the salary cap idea as well as the team’s offseason.
Aubrey Huff, a free agent after the season, isn’t worried about the future according to Roch Kubatko of MASN.
Chris Forsberg of the Boston Globe relays quotes from Jonathan Papelbon about the long-term deal that did not materialize this winter.
Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star discusses the idea of releasing Mark Teahen and John Buck to sign Orlando Hudson, which some Royals fans are pushing for.
Pitcher Kevin Correia turned down better deals to sign with his hometown Padres, according to MLB.com’s Corey Brock.
Newly signed Brewers reliever Eric Gagne hopes to atone for his 2008 season, says Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Roberts, Orioles Narrowing Gap On Extension?

By Tim Dierkes | February 18, 2009 at 8:02am CDT

WEDNESDAY, 7:59am: Schmuck takes a stab at the numbers on a possible Roberts extension:

The Orioles – according to Baltimore Sun reporting – were holding close to a three-year offer worth $30MM until the past few weeks. Though no definite number came out of the Roberts camp, the word on the street was he was looking for closer to $40MM over that term and would look more kindly on a four-year offer. No one would be surprised if the final deal ends up being four years for about $44MM, which would be about the same average annual salary the Orioles gave Nick Markakis.

Markakis, however, is guaranteed almost $15MM per year for his first three free agent seasons.

WEDNESDAY, 10:51am: Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun talked to Orioles president Andy MacPhail, who said he’s "narrowing the gap" with Brian Roberts’ agent on a possible extension. Spencer Fordin’s source doesn’t believe Roberts’ extension has been held up because of Orlando Hudson’s free agency. MacPhail said similar things to Roch Kubatko of MASN. Roberts does not want to talk about the topic until Thursday. Perhaps this spring, we’ll be spared the constant Roberts trade rumors.

Odds and Ends: Dunn, Schumaker, Abreu

By Tim Dierkes | February 13, 2009 at 12:07pm CDT

Links for Friday…

The Blue Jays signed pitcher Dirk Hayhurst to a minor league deal; they’d released him to make room for Matt Bush.
Alex Speier of WEEI has quotes from John Smoltz about his departure from Atlanta. Smoltz leaving the Braves was the biggest surprise of the offseason for me.
ESPN’s Jayson Stark surveyed 15 baseball sages for all kinds of opinions on the best and worst of the offseason (which is not officially over yet).
Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post has more from the Adam Dunn press conference.
Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sees Skip Schumaker as the Cardinals outfielder most vulnerable to a trade.
ESPN’s Keith Law weighs in on the Bobby Abreu signing.
Kevin Goldstein’s Top 100 Prospects list is up over at Baseball Prospectus.
Scott Moore cleared waivers; he’ll remain in the Orioles organization.
My definition of a fantasy baseball sleeper, over at RotoAuthority.
Shoutout: MLBTR had over 9,800 pageviews from Puerto Rico this month.

Jeff Zrebiec Talks To Andy MacPhail

By Tim Dierkes | February 13, 2009 at 8:50am CDT

Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun talked to Orioles president Andy MacPhail recently. A few hot stove highlights:

MacPhail doesn’t feel misled by Mark Teixeira and Scott Boras, but notes that there was never any engagement from them after the Orioles made their offer.
The Orioles’ philosophy is to "grow the arms and buy the bats." With Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, and Jake Arrieta in the system, it seems to be going according to plan.
MacPhail says owner Peter Angelos is not meddling, in fact "there is nothing further from the truth."
Of course, MacPhail would like to sign Brian Roberts to an extension while maintaining financial flexibility.

Odds And Ends: Brewers, Roberts, Tejada

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | February 11, 2009 at 6:01pm CDT

A few links for Wednesday night…

According to The Sports Network, the Brewers signed minor leaguers Eduardo Morlan and Cody Scarpetta to one year deals.
Brian Roberts hasn’t given up on working out an extension with the O’s, according to Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports. Kubatko writes "it’s pretty clear that he wants a fourth year."
Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News profiles Jesus Montero, the 19-year-old who could succeed Jorge Posada if he fares well as a catcher.
MLB.com’s Corey Brock reports that Tigers’ pitching prospect Rick Porcello isn’t changing his approach as he approaches the majors.
AZSnakePit.com interviewed D’Backs GM Josh Byrnes about pitching, defensive metrics and the June draft.
Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Chase Utley looks healthy in Clearwater.
The Astros hope Miguel Tejada starts the season as their shortstop, according to Brian McTaggart of the Houston Chronicle. Astros GM Ed Wade is apparently "committed to Tejada."

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