The O's trade demands for Tejada with Boston is STEEP!

[CuseCubFan69]

Bartimole is definitely in a position to get greedy. Their best player is disgruntled and wants out, but he's still under contract for a couple of years. They don't have to get rid of him, why not see how much teams will be willing to overpay for his services? I think their brass knows the playoffs are not a realistic expectation for '06, so they're trying to hold out for a deal that makes it a little more likely. If every other GM around holds firm that they will not overpay for him (i.e. give up someone like Prior), the demands will be lowered.

 

Lots of people, particularly in the media, seem to be missing this fact. Baltimore does not have to trade Tejada. There's no reason to act with urgency. The O's shouldn't move Tejada unless they're completely overwhelmed by an offer. I think they've played this pretty well.

 

If I were the O's GM and Boston wanted to deal, I'd tell them that any offer had to include Marte, Lester, a quality shortstop, and very little salary.

 

I wonder if Boston regrets trading Hansley Ramirez before they found out about Tejada.

[8-8-88]

You are going to see the Orioles hold onto Tejada until the All-star break. The only problem with that, is that Miggy will end up having a bad first half of a season and the Orioles won't get nearly as much as they could if he were traded today. Orioles management isn't vert bright.

[Diffusion]

Over the last four years, Clement has averaged:

 

194.2 IP, 170 H, 20 HR, 77 BB, 181 K, 3.99 ERA (3.91 FIPS ERA)

 

Trash?

 

Now look at the Orioles' rotation which right now features Daniel Cabrera (has genuine potential to be among the best pitchers in baseball, but if he ever gets there it probably will be a while), Erik Bedard (has solid number two potential, but he's not there yet either), Rodrigo Lopez (has been rubbish, is rubbish and ever will be - 4.77 career FIPS ERA, he's 30 now, his stuff is sensationally bleh, bread and butter sinker has good movement but clocks just 88, no good breaking stuff to really speak of, certainly not an out pitch, knows how to pitch and make best use of his limited stuff, which is lucky since otherwise he'd be in the minor leagues, but that's about all he's got going for him), Bruce Chen (home run king! Career FIPS of 5.14, FIPS last year was 5.18, my prediction for this year - ERA over 5.00) and Hayden Penn/John Maine (Penn's being rushed, Maine's just doesn't appear to be that good).

 

Sorry, but you put Matt Clement on that staff and he's the ace for now.

 

Now he is getting paid $19m over the final two years of his deal. Sure, he's overpaid, but there's absolutely no way that the guy's trash, that he has no value or, worse, that he has negative trade value.

 

You look at the current market for pitchers and $9.5m per probably isn't far out. The O's aren't going to do any better than that. The only pitching option out there really now is Jeff Weaver, and he's going to require a long commitment. Got any suggestion as to who else the O's can get? Contreras maybe from the White Sox. Who else?

 

Fair value for Clement relative to what he gives you is probably somewhere around about $6m a year. So Clement's, say, $3.5m overpaid in each of the next two years. The Red Sox kick in a bit of cash, eating him down to say about $7-8m a year, and Matt Clement becomes a very valuable trading chip.

[BigbadB]

Also, if Clement did happen to put it all together over the course of a whole season, he'd be an ace. The question is whether he can do that or not. He seems to go through periods of wildness. I don't know if it has anything to do with his asthma, but I hope he eventually does figure it out. He's one of the most enjoyable pitchers to watch when he's got his good stuff working.