Backtobanks

I'd argue the problem for the Orioles right now is a) Some of their young arms have really faltered and have serious concerns (Matusz/Tillman). They had four young arms they were looking forward to ... right now, of that foursome (the aforementioned duo and Britton/Arrieta), they look to have 1 good starter, 1 inconsistent starter, and 2 gigantic question marks. No team should ever realistically hope that 4/4 top prospect arms should hit, but it sure feel like they expected 3 of them to. b) A relatively weak system. A couple stud guys in Dylan Bundy and Manny Machado, but really, this system is pretty bad right now. There's Schoop, a whole bunch of folks from this draft class (which doesn't look that great), Bobby Bundy. c) (and why I responded) A lack of quality trade chips/trade chips they over-value. I'm not sure too many teams are going to fork over the quality assets that the Orioles believe they should get for Nick Markakis and Jeremy Guthrie, but the Orioles aren't moving them unless it's a quality return. Markakis' power decline has a lot of folks alarmed, and he's signed down for fairly big money (3/42 left with an additional option year at 17.5 or a 3 mil buyout). Guthrie's a Randy Wells/Chris Volstad/Travis Wood level pitcher masquerading as an ace and not exactly cheap. Brian Roberts is an injury prone 2nd baseman now, past his prime, and still locked down for 2/20. Reynolds is Mark Reynolds, a poor fieldng slugger. One of the few guys they should trade (only 2 years until FA) is Adam Jones. Jones, though, is a tough guy to value. Orioles look at him as an emerging stud, while a lot of folks look at his as a poor fielding, questionable discipline guy. They want elite chips ... I'm not sure teams are going to give elite chips for him. Good, perhaps. One guy I would move, if I were them, is JJ Hardy, but I doubt they'll do so. I don't know if he can replicate the offensive season he just had, so this might be peak sell time. If they're really worried about Markakis, I'll gladly do a Markakis for Soriano + $10-$15 million trade. Somehow I don't think they're that worried.

From MLBTR: •Talks between the Orioles and Cubs were probably not very serious, sources told Rich Dubroff of CSNBaltimore.com. Dan Duquette doesn't want to spend heavily on a designated hitter and even if the Cubs ate about 80% of the $54MM owed to Soriano, the O's would still be on the hook for $3-4MM for each of the next three seasons

The only point I disagree with is "sooner than you think". If Theo is going to take 4-5 years, then I will be disappointed because he has the resources to do it sooner.

LaHair won't have any trade value. He might be a throw-in on a deal to an AL club.

Can't quite tell if he's saying that there's still the chance of going after Fielder or if there never was a legit pursuit. From every other move Theo has made (before Rizzo), I don't believe we were ever really "in" on Fielder. Maybe if he would've accepted a 3-year contract, Theo might have gone for it.

LaHair is going to have to really stink on a 65-70 win team not to be able to hold the job until Rizzo is ready.

The whole consent thing kind of reminds me of Borat walking down the street and asking every woman "Do you want to have sex with me?" (in a heavy foreign accent). Obviously Castro made a very bad decision, but I think it will be hard to get an arrest (let alone conviction) with the woman so drunk that she passed out being able to keep her story straight.

Hendry's vision was pushed by his superiors and that was go out and buy a winning team. We don't know what would have happened this year if Ricketts told him to rebuild the whole team.

Why not? There are multiple people that think the 2012 Cubs will be a .500 team too.

Obviously Hendry screwed up by drafting him. Thank god Theo won't make these kinds of mistakes.

Sure things - Jackson, Cashner, Soto/Castillo?

Hoyer can't be high profile when you have Theo looking over your shoulder.

That's why us fans should be patient and see what the team looks like in spring training. Remember we still have a good amount of money to spend and there's still plenty of good free agents on the market. Personally I would be shocked if this team payroll is below 120-125 million come opening day and still think they will be competitive next season. According to the media this team is rebuilding and next season doesn't matter, but I don't believe that. Are they retooling with a long term version towards the future? Yes and they are willing to trade assets for a high price. But none of the moves they made so far has thrown away next season either. They signed DeJesus which helps next years team, they traded Marshall but got a SP back to pitch in the majors next year. Losing Marshall hurts the pen, but you will like have Cashner there this season and have other good young relievers to fill in. They traded Colvin/LeMahieu but got Ian Stewart to be their third baseman next season. Now they swapped Zambrano who pitched like a back end starter last year and got a back end starter in return to replace him. Both have upside to pitch better due to Zambrano past history and Volstad talent/upside/age. So is the team better? Well you can make a case that the defense has improved with DeJesus and Stewart. You can make a case that the rotation is younger/deeper then last season. While the bullpen might not be as good. It can still be pretty good with Cashner likely taking Marshall spot and Wood to still resign. DeJesus is a upgrade in RF offensivly and you can make a case Stewart could come close to matching Carlos Pena offensive production from last year. Yes so far we added nobody who could replace Ramirez bat yet. But we also don't know yet who is playing first next season yet either. Or if they are going to get rid of Soriano and replace him with a better bat(you gotta hope Soto hits better next season as well). My point is this team hasn't done anything yet to make me think they will suck way worse then 2010-2011 and I think they could even be better. Is better enough to be a playoff team? Probably not unless things really go there way. But I don't see any of this throwing away next year yet, especially when they have money to spend and good free agents still available. Of course we could trade Garza, Soto, Byrd and Marmol and that could all change. But right now that's all media hype and rumors. Plus who says they don't get a young front in starter ready to take over for Garza back in the deal if that does happen? Or don't go out and sign a SP to replace Garza. My point is this off season is still incomplete, they can still go in the direction of adding players to make them better and have the money to do so. I'm sure they will still consider selling off assets for high return. But I believe Theo when he says they aren't going to just punt away next season either. So far none of these off season moves would suggest that (most of players added help next season and beyond) and there still in the position to sign and trade for players who improve the major league team next year. You have to be the most optimistic poster here or you're totally delusional. I'm betting on delusional.

Why would we be interested when we have Lahair and Stewart? :lol:

Right. Signing Fielder right now would be a more prudent move than waiting for Votto (who may or may not even make it to FA). Banking on potential free agents not to be extended by their team or traded and extended while passing on current FAs is a flawed and dangerous strategy. That's my problem with Theo's plan. Waiting until the time is right to spend on FAs might not ever happen and if they do happen you have to outbid the Yankees, Red Sox, etc. Those teams took this offseason off, the Cards and Brewers lost the hearts of their lineups, and we are hoping for a 70-win season.

When Ricketts hired Theo, he said Theo would be totally in charge of all baseball decisions. That means the buck stops on Theo's desk.

Tim Dierkes at MLBTR doesn't think we could get LoMo for Garza even up.

I take back anything bad I said about Theo.

LoMo is really stretching it unless we're including a top prospect and paying the vast majority of Z's contract.

The spirit of Jim Hendry lives on.

These just being 2 teams that are desperately seeking starting pitching. The Marlins and Orioles are also known to be actively seeking I really don't get why nobody seems to be willing to take a chance on 1 year of Big Z, a year that promises to be a walk year as nobody will pick up the 19 mil 2013 option. He has a 9 mil buyout which I'm sure the Cubs would pick up or maybe split. Obviously, Z has his mental issues, but if there's ever a year that he'll act and pitch anything like a 18 mil pitcher, this would be it, and although his velo is down a bit he still has what it takes to be a 3 guy in most rotations, probably 2 for the Yankees depending on how seriously you take Nova. A lot of teams seem very reluctant to give Edwin Jackson 4 years and Z would cost less in terms of prospects than Garza, Floyd, Jurrjens, or Wandy. I'd be willing to eat a good chunk, if not all of the salary if we could get 3 decent prospects in return, possiblly 1 of somebodies top 10 and 2 high ceiling guys or big league ready types, but obviously nowhere near the caliber of guys we'd expect for Garza. I understand that Z isn't a guy that should be railroaded out of town, but the way the 2012 season's shaping up, if we have to pay the 18 mil anyway it could be more valuable to us if we got some prospects and let Z pitch elsewhere. Perhaps a change of scenery would do him well. Maybe teams will be more desperate in the summer. I've been saying all along that I'm surprised nobody has shown interest in Zambrano with the Cubs paying a big chunk of his salary and expecting very little in return. Zambrano who slot into a #3 or #4 starter in most rotations. Given his numbers and scouting reports from last year, it's not that surprising people aren't lining up for a potential headache that probably won't give you 200 innings. With new management and a new manager, the Cubs are better off giving Zambrano another chance to see if they can salvage something at the deadline. With the Cubs picking up $12-$13 million, it leaves Zambrano at 1 year/$7 million. That's as good a deal as you're going to find out there.

These just being 2 teams that are desperately seeking starting pitching. The Marlins and Orioles are also known to be actively seeking I really don't get why nobody seems to be willing to take a chance on 1 year of Big Z, a year that promises to be a walk year as nobody will pick up the 19 mil 2013 option. He has a 9 mil buyout which I'm sure the Cubs would pick up or maybe split. Obviously, Z has his mental issues, but if there's ever a year that he'll act and pitch anything like a 18 mil pitcher, this would be it, and although his velo is down a bit he still has what it takes to be a 3 guy in most rotations, probably 2 for the Yankees depending on how seriously you take Nova. A lot of teams seem very reluctant to give Edwin Jackson 4 years and Z would cost less in terms of prospects than Garza, Floyd, Jurrjens, or Wandy. I'd be willing to eat a good chunk, if not all of the salary if we could get 3 decent prospects in return, possiblly 1 of somebodies top 10 and 2 high ceiling guys or big league ready types, but obviously nowhere near the caliber of guys we'd expect for Garza. I understand that Z isn't a guy that should be railroaded out of town, but the way the 2012 season's shaping up, if we have to pay the 18 mil anyway it could be more valuable to us if we got some prospects and let Z pitch elsewhere. Perhaps a change of scenery would do him well. Maybe teams will be more desperate in the summer. I've been saying all along that I'm surprised nobody has shown interest in Zambrano with the Cubs paying a big chunk of his salary and expecting very little in return. Zambrano who slot into a #3 or #4 starter in most rotations.

As long as we're having fun, let's make it a real blockbuster: Tigers get: Garza, Vitters, Jay Jackson Padres get: Castellano, Porcello, Russell, Lake Cubs get: Turner, Smyly, Rizzo, Headley Id just as soon get Castellano and let the Padres keep Headley. That way, we can give Stewart a year at 3rd to see what he's worth and if he's good we juice a few more years out of him until Castellenos is ready. The Pads would end up with Porcello, Lake, and Russell for Rizzo which is reasonable. I can go along with that. Give Theo a call and tell him to get it done. I assume you have Theo and Jed on your speed dial.

As long as we're having fun, let's make it a real blockbuster: Tigers get: Garza, Vitters, Jay Jackson Padres get: Castellano, Porcello, Russell, Lake Cubs get: Turner, Smyly, Rizzo, Headley

Breaking News - The Cubs will be signing Pudge any day now. :lol: :lol: :lol: STOP. EXISTING. Just chill. Just having some fun while we wait for the big trade.