While there have been some teams that have been active on the market, such as the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, things have been quiet on the Baltimore Orioles’ front. It seems that the market has been moving a little slow, but players have been signed.
Just not by Baltimore.
The Winter Meetings are next week in sunny Orlando and the discussion will invariably center on, “who will Andy get?”
Good question. At this point, most fans are wondering, “will the Orioles get their targeted players, or will they spurn us?
“Who are they going to sign?”
Fans have suffered 12 losing seasons and there may be a 13th, or even possibly a 14th before the Orioles perhaps even see the magic .500 mark.
Buck Showalter guided the Orioles to a 33-24 record after he showed up and took the reins of the team on-field from Juan Samuel; however, like I mentioned on Monday, a nice finish to 2010 doesn’t guarantee an over .500 record in 2011.
The Orioles do have players they are targeting and have made offers to, but little else is known aside from that.
Maybe it’s a state secret that’s not being divulged or something. We know Andy MacPhail isn’t saying anything at all.
As James, the media and every other blog has mentioned, the team needs a corner infielder – preferably a first base man – plus, a big time bat. Apparently, the Orioles have made an offer to Paul Konerko (who is a free agent), but he’s already spurned the team once before and I wonder why he would want to leave the White Sox. Would he come to an organization in a rebuilding stage? He’s older and has never been particularly fleet on foot, but he’s got a solid bat with pop — alas, he is also on the wrong side of 30.
I still do have affinity towards Dunn, considering what I saw from him in Washington, plus his power numbers. However, will Baltimore give him the money to come and hit Camden Yards 81 times a year? Plus, would Dunn want to give up the notion of playing first base full-time and be a DH?
Then again, could Dunn hack it as a DH in the American League?
I mean, Pat Burrell joined the Rays in 2008, got released because he seemingly could not hack it the AL. Therefore, he joined the Giants, found a home there and won another championship.
Lest we forget, the Orioles are looking for a shortstop as well. It looks like the team may be looking at some more names, rather than bringing back Cesar Izturis. Right now, it looks as if the Orioles are waiting to see if either J.J. Hardy or Jason Bartlett, or any other viable shortstop will be non-tendered.
In other news, Miguel Tejada will not be coming back to Baltimore — for a third time — as he was signed by the Giants this week (presumably to fill in the void at shortstop with Juan Uribe leaving for the Dodgers).
Also, Rafael Palmeiro is on the potential list of Hall of Fame candidates for the first time (he’s not getting in anytime soon); Robert Alomar is on the list again after narrowly missing induction (he should get in now) and Ernie Tyler is on the mend.
