Harden, Beltre, Delgado, Soriano, Gonzalez

To be clear, I would be comfortable with the O’s if they decided to make zero-additions this off-season.

I believe you can upgrade the bullpen internally with Uehara, Mickolio, Berken, and Hernandez.

I believe if you do not have Eaton, Hill, Hendrickson, and Berken making 56% of your starts (and you do have Matusz, Tillman, Bergesen, Guthrie) the rotation will be improved.

I believe that you could go with Wigginton, and Scott at the corners for 2 months, and promote Bell and Snyder (and also Arrieta) on June 1st. This would still give them 4 months of ML playing experience, and better prepare them for 2011.

I believe Markakis, Jones, Wieters, Reimold, and Pie all figure to be better in 2010, than they were in 2009.

So, I am not pushing the O’s to make any moves. That said, if the O’s decide to add any of the names above I am not going to cry about it.

I can poke holes in each of the FA’s above:

Harden – Would be very hard to give a 3rd year, 2 years $20M would probably be my max.

Beltre – I personally would rather not sign him, but if you can get him for a year or 2, that gives you additional options. Defense should be strong, and out of SAFECO, his bat has a better chance to actually help vs. Feliz. I would rather go with Wigginton for 2 months, and be able to give Bell the remainder of the season, vs signing Beltre.

Delgado – Again, I am very lukewarm here. Being a DH occasionally probably appeals, but would seem like at this stage of his career he would rather go where he was more likely to win.. even if his role was limited. If you could get him for a year, not the worst.

Soriano – I would have no problem losing my 2nd round pick for Soriano. The O’s play in the same division as Rivera, and Papelpon, so we should all be aware of the difference of an elite closer. 3 of the last 4 years he has pitched at least 60 innings, allowing no more than 53 hits, with at-least 65 k’s. In 2009, he had 102 k’s in 75.2 innings. It would be tough giving the 3rd year though. Soriano has until tomorrow to accept arbitration.

Gonzalez – I would be less comfortable adding Gonzalez, but adding a lefty with strikeout ability appeals. It would have to be a 2 year deal. Gonzalez teamed with all of the existing possible right-handers (Uehara, Johnson, Mickolio, Hernandez, Berken, Ray, Albers) makes some sense.

My question is do you see any of these 5 (Harden, Beltre, Delgado, Soriano, Gonzalez) signing with anyone during the Winter Meetings?

The idea being, that if you do; and the O’s want these players… do the O’s need to be making their offer this week?

I could see Harden, and Beltre maybe signing with someone at the meetings; but I tend to think contracts for each of these players will be delayed at-least a few weeks.

I think the O’s without any moves will be around .500. To play Devil’s Advocate, what record would you call for the O’s to have in 2010 if they looked like:

Roberts 2nd
Reimold LF
Markakis RF
Delgado 1st
Jones CF
Wieters C
Beltre 3rd
Scott DH
Izturis SS

Wigginton, Pie, Moeller, 25th

Harden, Matusz, Tillman, Bergesen, Guthrie

Soriano
Uehara
Johnson
Mickolio
Ray / Albers
Berken
Hernandez