Happy Sunday everyone and hope everything is well with you all.
It’s the day before the Winter Meetings down in Orlando, but over the past few days, fans have been wordering what in the world the Orioles are doing?
I’m sure something will happen in the next week — hopefully. It looks like the Orioles’ braintrust and Buck Showalter will be down there to see how the organization can improve at the big league level.
It does look like the Orioles will have a major turnover of talent in 2011, but who the team acquires is anyone’s guess at this point. Fans are frustrated, mystified and wondering who the team will get. I’m not going to jump off a building yet and consider next season a failure.
With slugger Adam Dunn, along with Lance Berkman off the board and Adrian Gonzalez seemingly on his way to becoming a member of the Red Sox — or perhaps not, according to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated, it’s becoming fairly obvious the Orioles need to make a move for power bat.
I still think Konerko plays out his career as a member of the White Sox. No way do I see him coming to Baltimore.
James, in a blog posted earlier today, notes the Orioles are looking Mark Reynolds for third base. As we know, Reynolds is currently plays the hot corner for the Diamondbacks and is available on the trade market.
As much as I don’t want him as an Oriole, he may not be a bad option for the short term. The strikeout totals he has accumulated the past several years are scary, plus he seemingly didn’t hit his weight last season; however, you can’t deny his power and RBI output.
Josh Bell, based on what we saw in his season in Baltimore in 2010, looked overmatched and just didn’t look ready for the big show.
I still do wonder if Adrian Beltre might consider putting on the black and orange — alas, much like the case of Paul Konerko — um, no, unless there’s a miracle.
Again, I still don’t want Reynolds, but he’s relatively affordable, and for now will not cost you in the eight-digit range per year. If the Orioles do get him, let’s hope he’s not as huge as a liability in the batter’s box than I think he might be.
At this point, who do the Orioles trade? I’m sensing Chris Tillman. Let’s hope the organization doesn’t need to give up one of their top prospects to get the Arizona third baseman.
Finally, as if we didn’t know this would happen — Derek Jeter will remain a Yankee.
