Jeff Zrebiec of The Baltimore Sun is reporting that he believes Adam LaRoche is the Orioles top target for 1st base.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/2010/12/orioles_still_talking_bartlett.html
After 3 straight seasons of declining production, it is hard to believe that Pena’s asking price can be so high. There was a recent report out of Tampa that he was considering returning to the Rays on a 1 year deal. However, let us assume this is correct and that the price (years and money) is more than the O’s are willing to go for Pena.
I would imagine that the O’s value Derek Lee above LaRoche. I think you can infer that if LaRoche is the target, that Lee is showing lukewarm interest at best of coming to Baltimore.
If the O’s know they will not meet the price for Pena, and know/believe they will not convince Lee to come to Baltimore; they need to be doing what they can to land LaRoche. I think an ideal contract would be around 2 yrs and $15M. I would be willing to add a 3rd year, but would want to keep the entire contract under $25M.
LaRoche is the definition of a ‘league average,’ but that level of production has plenty of value. Especially when you have received far less than that.
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