The MLB Winter Meetings & The O’s

The Baseball Winter Meetings start this coming Monday in Indianapolis. What does that mean for the Orioles? Hopefully not much if you are a fan.

Traditionally, the Winter Meetings are a time of action for the Front Offices around baseball. They have already held their General Manager Meetings which are essentially used for a conversation in theory.

The teams leave the GM Meetings and return to their respective offices, and the path they wish to take becomes more concrete. The teams with available cash, and agendas, go to the Winter Meetings with the goals of making things happen. Huddled in their hotel rooms meeting with representatives of other teams, and the agents that matter; it is not uncommon to see trades of significance arise, or firm offers to the elite Free Agents be made. All of that takes place with every credible Baseball reporter in the Country taking up space in the lobby of the hotel below. All in all, it is a terribly exciting time for anyone connected to the game, or that holds interest in baseball to begin with.

So if the O’s are a team with cash to spend (they are), and a team with an agenda, why would I hope there is little forthcoming action for the Black & Orange? Look, I believe Andy MacPhail is going to take advantage of a saturated market to bring in a couple of stop-gap players he believes will improve the team for the season. There are quite a number of different players that ‘could’ help improve the O’s this coming year. That would not be my first-choice, but I can get behind it.

It would not be my first choice, because if the Orioles are going to improve in 2010 like I believe they will, it will be due to the players already existing within the organization. Frankly, I would be comfortable with the O’s making zero additions to the prior of the 2010 season.

You are reading this and saying the O’s bullpen was pathetic last-year, how can you stand pat?

I would say the O’s could choose to stand pat, and improve in the bullpen because you can add Uehara, Mickolio, Berken, and Hernandez to the bullpen for the season; and you have improved over the options that existed in 2009.

Johnson will be back and one of the 7 bullpen options. The team figures to bring back Hendrickson, or maybe they decide to add a situational lefty.

If the O’s have zero confidence in Ray, or Albers being additional set-up guys with Johnson; and want to spend the money to add someone like Rafael Soriano, or Mike Gonzalez to compete for the closing job, I could possibly get behind that.

You are reading this and saying the O’s rotation was pathetic last-year, how can you stand pat?

I would remind you that the Orioles had 56 starts in 2009 made by Adam Eaton, Rich Hill, Mark Hendrickson, and Jason Berken. That is 35% of the overall starts for the season.

Consider me one that would enjoy starting 2010 with a rotation of Matusz, Tillman, Bergesen, Guthrie, and Arrieta. Like I said above, I expect that MacPhail will take advantage of a saturated market and add some stop-gap talent. If MacPhail wants another starter he can somewhat count on, and believes Arrieta needs additional time in the Minors (not to mention, does not want to start his arbitration clock), I will be fine if the O’s ink someone like Rich Harden for 2-3 years. My point is, that even if MacPhail stands pat, the rotation will be improved over what we saw this past year. That improved rotation, is another reason the bullpen will be better.

You are reading this and saying it would be a disaster to start 2010 with Wigginton, and Scott at the corners.

I would remind you to keep things in perspective. If that were to happen, nobody in the Warehouse would be trying to convince you they were long-term options. They would be telling you the truth, as stop-gaps, they might represent better options than what exists on the market (and the money, and more importantly the years it would take to sign them).

If you go with Wigginton, and Scott at the corners to start this coming year, it would allow the O’s to send Josh Bell, and Brandon Snyder to AAA Norfolk for some additional seasoning – but would not lock those players there for the rest of the season.

You could go with Wigginton and Scott for two months, and bring-up Bell and Snyder on June 1st. That would allow Bell and Snyder to gain 4 months of Major League playing experience, and be that much better prepared for 2011, when you expect to contend as an organization.

That would be my choice. Again, if the O’s decide to sign Tejada, or Delgado for a year, or Beltre for two; I can get behind it. I would not make the argument that they would not be better for 2010 with any of those additions.

I would be surprised to see Harden,Tejada, Beltre, or Delgado sign during the coming week. Maybe someone swoops in there to get one of them (Harden, Beltre?) but all of them seem like players will sit on the market for awhile. Which of course leads me back to the Winter Meetings and this coming week. As Roch Kubatko rhetorically asked today, if you eliminate Lackey, Holliday, Bay from the realistic FA list, and Adrian Gonzalez, and Fielder from the trade list, who do you want?

I guess I should first say, that I do believe the O’s would have a chance to sign Lackey if they offered 5yrs $90M, but I think that is a lot of money to spend on depreciating returns. Bay is a DH in waiting, and does nothing for me. Holliday would not come here, nor do I see the need to pursue him if he would. Even if you could trade for Gonzalez, and Fielder, the packages necessary to get them (before signing them long-term) would be cost prohibitive.

When those names or others come off the board at the Winter Meetings, do not get mad at the O’s. Get excited by the reality that Markakis, Jones, Wieters, Reimold, and Pie all figure to be better in 2010, than they were in 2009.

The MLB Winter Meetings are exciting, and the average O’s fan looking for action will be depressed by Oriole inaction. However, there is nothing to be depressed about when nothing major comes to fruition. The O’s are going to greatly improve this coming year, and that improvement is going to come from within.