Orioles Rumors

Draft Roundup: Crow, Matusz, Alvarez

By Tim Dierkes | August 13, 2008 at 11:02am CDT

The deadline to sign ’08 draft picks is 11pm CST on Friday. Here are the latest rumors.

MLB.com’s Kevin Czerwinski has a new summary of the unsigned first rounders.
The Nationals and Aaron Crow are not close. It’s been said Crow wants a Major League deal in the $8-10MM range.
The Orioles are reluctant to give a big league deal to Brian Matusz.
John Perrotto expects Pedro Alvarez to sign at the last minute. Dejan Kovacevic dismisses the notion that it would be OK for the Pirates to shrug off signing Alvarez and take next year’s #3 pick.
The August 15th deadline doesn’t apply to Mariners top pick Joshua Fields, since he was a college senior.

Orioles Offered Extension To Markakis

By Tim Dierkes | August 13, 2008 at 9:37am CDT

According to ESPN’s Buster Olney yesterday:

Recently, the Orioles made a modest offer to right fielder Nick Markakis, and the conversations went nowhere; it’s unclear whether the threads of negotiations will be picked up any time soon, or — more likely — will be held over until next winter.

A brief history on the Markakis negotiations is below. He will be arbitration-eligible for the first time after this season.

In March, Markakis was renewed at $455K rather than the $800K he hoped for. He did not make any negative public comments, though several outlets perceived him to be miffed, ticked, and angered.
In May, Olney wrote that the Orioles planned to wait at least three years before discussing long-term deals with young players like Markakis and Adam Jones.
Later in May, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun said extension discussions are expected this winter. The O’s will focus on buying out free agent seasons.
In July, Jeff Zrebiec of the Sun said the Orioles talked to Markakis about an extension but talks hit a wall and they’ll wait until after the season. Zrebiec said the Orioles wanted to buy out Markakis’ three arbitration years, at least. I speculated that the O’s could offer six years, $62MM.

Odds and Ends: Ibanez, Dunn, Blake, Stewart

By Tim Dierkes | August 12, 2008 at 9:53am CDT

Let’s kick off the morning with some random links.

Live chat here today at 2pm CST.
Brian Matusz is hopeful about striking a deal with the Orioles by Friday’s deadline. Roch Kubatko has a source saying it’s likely.
Baseball America’s Jim Callis warns us not to listen to the posturing – he still expects all the first-round draft picks to sign with the possible exception of Allan Dykstra.
Should the Mariners offer Raul Ibanez a three-year deal at $10-11MM per?
No word yet on possible Rays acquisitions in wake of the Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria injuries. Marc Lancaster wonders if Kenny Lofton or…don’t say it…Barry Bonds would make sense.
The Mets had no interest in Adam Dunn. They wonder about his passion, according to Joel Sherman. Did you know he doesn’t like baseball?
The Phillies were more interested in Casey Blake than Manny Ramirez.
Athletics Nation looks at some free agent options for ’09.
Shannon Stewart didn’t understand his latest Blue Jay Experience.
The Yankees, Mets, Angels, and Padres have scouts at the Olympics to watch Hitoki Iwase, Koji Uehara, Kenshin Kawakami, Yu Darvish, and Kyuji Fujikawa.

Heyman’s Latest: Lucchino, Manny, Rangers

By Tim Dierkes | August 11, 2008 at 4:02pm CDT

I wanted to let the Dunn trade cool off a bit before diving into Jon Heyman’s latest.

Heyman "people in high places in baseball" who believe Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino might leave after the season, possibly for the Dodgers. He’s still butting heads with Theo Epstein apparently.
Heyman doesn’t buy the idea that Scott Boras orchestrated Manny Ramirez’s departure from Boston. He also doesn’t buy the idea of Ramirez playing in New York.
Nolan Ryan would like Tom Hicks to sell the Rangers to him, but Hicks has shown no willingness to do so.
Players such as George Sherrill, Brian Fuentes, and Raul Ibanez are not expected to clear waivers. No surprise there.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Giles, Teixeira, Dunn, Manny

By Cork Gaines | August 8, 2008 at 2:53pm CDT

A few random notes from around the baseball Blogosphere…

Orioles Outsider projects what Mark Teixeira should be worth on the open-market and wonders how much above that number the O’s should be willing to go.
Baltimore Birds Nest thinks that the only way Teixeira ends up in an O’s uniform next season is if Peter Angelos opens the wallet and makes the biggest offer.
Camden Chat would prefer to have Adam Dunn over Teixeira.
The Shadow of Manny Ramirez compares the Manny Ramirez trade to a scene from "Sex and the City"…Don’t worry. It went over my head also.
Not to be outdone, Soxaholix wonders why every time one of the Sox best players leaves town, it is like an episode of the new "90210".

Cork Gaines writes for RaysIndex.com and can be reached here.

Odds and Ends: Manny, McDonald, Bradford, Bowden

By Tim Dierkes | August 8, 2008 at 9:31am CDT

Collection o’ links…

Craig Monroe has cleared waivers and become a free agent.
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick talks to Pirates GM Neal Huntington about his deadline deals.
Pirates players Chris Duffy and Franquelis Osoria cleared waivers and will head to Triple A.
Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi says manager Cito Gaston will be back next year.
Yesterday Dan Shaughnessy wrote a few sentences about the commissioner’s office investigating Manny Ramirez’s final hours with the Red Sox. It’s become a national story. More on the situation from the L.A. Times.
Sean McAdam wonders if the Red Sox could acquire Toronto shortstop John McDonald. He’d have to get past ten other AL teams first.
In regards to the Chad Bradford deal, Andy MacPhail said, "I can use the dough." MacPhail said the Orioles will receive a prospect, to be determined in the offseason.
Jack Etkin of the Rocky Mountain News believes Rockies reliever Kip Wells is expendable.
Tracy Ringolsby heard speculation that Nationals VP of baseball operations Mike Rizzo could replace GM Jim Bowden.

Draft Roundup: Matusz, Alonso, Hosmer

By Tim Dierkes | August 8, 2008 at 9:12am CDT

Let’s round up some links concerning the unsigned ’08 draft picks.

The Orioles haven’t made much progress with Brian Matusz, but they haven’t gone backward either. His agent seems cautiously optimistic.
Reds top pick Yonder Alonso told the Miami Herald there’s a 50-50 chance he doesn’t sign and goes back to college. One of Alonso’s "advisors" said the Reds and Alonso were way off on figures.
Sam Mellinger says some think Royals top pick Eric Hosmer might be willing to try college. Hosmer is advised by Scott Boras. Mellinger considers fourth round pick/first round talent Tim Melville the Royals’ backup plan. Ideally, they’ll sign both high-ceiling talents.
How much of this is just posturing? We’ll know on August 16th.

Rays Acquire Chad Bradford

By Tim Dierkes | August 7, 2008 at 1:24pm CDT

According to Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports, the Rays won a waiver claim on reliever Chad Bradford. They’ll send a player to be named later to the Orioles for him. The Rays strengthened an already excellent bullpen.

Bradford, 34 next month, has a 2.45 ERA in 40.1 innings this year. His strikeout rate is dangerously low, but he’s not walking anyone or allowing home runs. He also has a very strong groundball rate.

Bradford has $1.05MM left on his contract this year plus $3.5MM in ’09. Aside from the Angels, all the other American League teams passed on the chance to claim Bradford.

Mark Teixeira Rumors

By Tim Dierkes | August 7, 2008 at 9:46am CDT

It’s not fair to lump all Orioles fans into one big group. But as you might expect, some of the team’s fans are pushing for a signing of Maryland native Mark Teixeira. Teixeira, for his part, said all the right things while remaining noncommittal. Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun expects the Orioles to at least make a run at him.

Free agent megadeals are generally frowned upon for non-contenders. The Orioles, especially, face an uphill battle in the AL East. Craig Calcaterra thinks Teixeira would be a mistake for the Orioles, and such a signing would deviate from Andy MacPhail’s plan. I tend to agree. But to play devil’s advocate, we have seen some successful big money free agent deals signed in advance of contention. For example, the Tigers’ signing of Ivan Rodriguez in ’04 and (hopefully) the Royals’ signing of Gil Meche in ’06. The Orioles signing Tex would be in the same mold, only with more risk attached.

Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times says to treat the "ten year contract" talk with skepticism in regard to Teixeira. Tex answered a question from Ken Rosenthal specifically about whether he’d like a ten-year deal – who wouldn’t? There is no sign that Teixeira, even represented by Scott Boras, will actually demand ten years. And even if he does, I doubt he’ll get it.

Draft Update: Crow, Alvarez, Matusz

By Tim Dierkes | August 4, 2008 at 2:12pm CDT

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo reminds us of baseball’s next deadline: this year’s draft picks must be signed by end of day August 15th. Mayo provides links updating progress on unsigned top ten picks Pedro Alvarez, Eric Hosmer, Yonder Alonso, and Aaron Crow. No news on Gordon Beckham.

Roch Kubatko says both the Orioles and Brian Matusz remain confident a deal will be done. No hard feelings on either side regarding the delay.
Based on this Q&A with Nationals GM Jim Bowden, talks with Crow apparently haven’t gotten too far.
As for Alvarez, the Pirates have a dollar figure they’d prefer not to exceed.

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