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Mariners Targeting Gregg Zaun

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Gregg Zaun was offered arbitration by Tampa Bay today, but the free agent catcher has at least one serious suitor in the Seattle Mariners.  Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports report that the M's are looking to sign Zaun as a veteran platoon mate for prospect Adam Moore.  Rob Johnson, the only other catcher on the Seattle 40-man roster since Kenji Johjima's opt-out, is coming off of surgeries to both hips and may not be ready for Spring Training.

Both Moore and Johnson are right-handed batters, so the switch-hitting Zaun would provide Seattle with a lefty bat for a platoon situation; Zaun had an .801 OPS against right-handed pitching last season.  Should Zaun and Moore end up in a platoon, Zaun would find himself sharing time with a highly-regarded prospect for the second consecutive year.  He began 2009 in Baltimore in a platoon with Matt Wieters.

Earlier today, we learned that Zaun expects to sign by the end of the week.

Orioles Looking “Short-Term” At The Corners

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The Orioles aren't expected to be major players on the free-agent market this winter, but if the team does make a move, it will likely be to acquire a veteran presence at first and/or third base.

Speaking to MASN Sports' Steve Melewski, Baltimore team president Andy MacPhail said that given the Orioles' young outfield and second-year catcher Matt Wieters, he would "like to put more proven bats" in the lineup to compliment the team's young stars.  The O's have prospects Brandon Snyder and Josh Bell in the pipeline at first and third, respectively, but since MacPhail said he doesn't see either making the leap to the majors in 2010, the experienced hitters that MacPhail wants will have to come at the corner infield spots.

Baltimore already has Luke Scott (a team-leading 25 homers in 2009) penciled in at either first base or DH, and utilityman Ty Wigginton is available to play third.  Prospect Michael Aubrey (an .826 OPS in 95 plate appearances last season) is also in the 1B mix, possibly in a lefty-righty platoon with Wigginton that would lock Scott into a DH/LF split with Nolan Reimold and would then leave third base open for either a free agent or a player to be acquired in a trade.  The Baltimore Sun's Dan Connolly predicted the O's would sign Pedro Feliz, while there has been some speculation that the Orioles will make a trade with Florida for Dan Uggla and then move Uggla from second to third base.

In his Offseason Outlook series entry about Baltimore, Tim Dierkes listed names like Adrian Beltre, Carlos Delgado and Nick Johnson as possible targets for the Orioles.  These players would fit the "short-term" designation that MacPhail mentioned, but since MacPhail didn't rule out the possibility of "the right deal for the right player, even if it was a longer-term deal," would there be any other bigger-name corner infielders that you could realistically see Baltimore signing?

Discussion: What’s Next For Baltimore?

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The Baltimore Sun's Dan Connolly details the questions facing a Baltimore team with some young offensive talent, some terrific young pitching on the way, and a lot of extra cash.

Connolly writes that while the 64-98 record Baltimore had in 2009 was the third-worst in team history, "there is a sense that the future has promise because of the emergence of young starting pitchers Brian Matusz, Chris Tillman and Brad Bergesen, catcher Matt Wieters and outfielders Nolan Reimold and Felix Pie."

Left unsaid, of course, is the emergence of Adam Jones and Nick Markakis continuing to be a tremendous player.

The good news? The Orioles, according to Connolly, went from roughly $77MM owed in payroll at the start of the 2009 season-including $9MM to Jay Gibbons and Ramon Hernandez– to a $30MM commitment for 2010, not including raises through arbitration.

The bad news is that there aren't many marquee free agents (though there is Jason Marquis), and those that do qualify- Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, John Lackey– aren't great fits, particularly Bay and Holliday in an overcrowded outfield.

Connolly captures the problem of desires vs. realistic options perfectly here:

"The preference is to find a right-handed or switch-hitting first baseman in his prime, like the New York Yankees' Mark Teixeira. But there's no one who fits that profile in this year's class. The best free-agent options might be left-handed-hitting first basemen Russell Branyan and Hank Blalock or right-handed do-it-all Mark DeRosa."

So what's an Oriole to do?

Odds & Ends: Reynolds, Gammons, Orioles

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Some late night links after Jake Peavy allowed three runs in five innings in his first start for the White Sox…

  • Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic notes that Mark Reynolds is likely to fall short of qualifying as a Super Two, meaning he'll have to wait until after 2010 to become arbitration eligible. He also says that it "does not appear there have been any discussions about a long-term deal with Reynolds, but the club does not seem averse to the idea of an extension."
  • ESPN's Peter Gammons writes about how great Victor Martinez has been for the Red Sox since being acquired at the trade deadline. He also praises Casey Kotchman, but I think I'd rather have Adam LaRoche, who has a 1.053 OPS since the trade.
  • Orioles Manager Dave Trembley indicated that the team needs someone to hit behind Nick Markakis until some younger players like Matt Wieters and Adam Jones are ready to do it, according to MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko. 
  • If you aren't already, make sure you follow MLBTR on Twitter.

Odds And Ends: Red Sox, Peavy, Indians, Torre

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More links for Monday…

No Regrets For Jays On Snider Situation

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It's become a trend in baseball to hold top prospects back at the beginning of the season. We've seen the Rays do this with David Price, and the same situation would have occurred with Evan Longoria had it not been for injuries on the big league club. The Orioles finally just called up Matt Wieters this weekend, and the Brewers employed this method with Ryan Braun back in 2007.

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi has a different outlook on the situation, and says that he has no regrets in making the decision to give Toronto's prized outfield prospect Travis Snider a shot on the big league club to start the season:

"I don't get caught up in the whole, 'Oh, we better hold this guy back, because we control him' [attitude]. I think what you want to do is take your best players and, if they have to go back down, they go back down. You can still get that time back a couple months down the road."

Snider certainly earned his way onto the club, hitting .381 while clubbing four home runs and driving in 10 runs through 22 games this Spring, but has gone into a deep slump after a hot start. In the month of May, Snider had posted a line of .213/.237/.243 and 11 strikeouts with just one walk.

Baltimore's Andy MacPhail commented on his own situation with Wieters, using Snider's struggles to support his decision to keep Wieters in the minors:

"We think Wieters is ready," MacPhail was quoted as saying in the Toronto Sun. "We don't want to be like Toronto with Snider and return the player to the Minors."

Did Ricciardi rush Snider to the Majors? What would the MLBTR readers have done in that situation, given Snider's strong Spring Training performance?

Chad Moeller Designated For Assignment

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According to a press release, the Orioles designated backup catcher Chad Moeller for assignment to make room for super-prospect Matt Wieters.  Moeller, 34, hit .200/.259/.360 in 54 plate appearances.  But more importantly, it's Wieters Time!

On a related note, Tom Tango asked today:

Please, just one time I’d like to hear an honest reason for why star players are being held back.  Just once.

Matt Wieters To Debut Friday

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He's finally coming…multiple readers have emailed that Orioles president Andy MacPhail said on MASN that top prospect Matt Wieters will debut Friday in Baltimore against Dontrelle Willis and the Tigers.  Wieters, 23, posted a .285/.367/.482 line in Triple A.  He slugged .552 in May.

Since the Orioles were patient with him, Wieters likely won't become a Super Two player. Even if he never sees the minors after his weekend debut, he'll accumulate just 129 days of service time this year and won't have enough experience to become a Super Two after 2011. Every player to become a Super Two in the last three offseasons has had at least two years, 130 days service time. Wieters will hit free agency after the 2015 season regardless, but he'll go to arbitration three times, instead of four. By showing restraint this year Baltimore saved millions of dollars down the road, when they expect to contend.

No player making his MLB debut between now and the end of the season is likely to become a Super Two after 2011, even if he sticks in the majors. This matters for teams like the Braves who can now call up players like Tommy Hanson without paying extra for them in years to come.

Ben Nicholson-Smith also contributed to this post

Matt Wieters Update

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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.

Odds & Ends: Nationals, Garcia, Bonds

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Links for Wednesday…

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