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Open season: MLB free agent period begins, Orioles look to add bats
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After following Mark Teixeira’s ever move last winter (“he sneezed and his phlegm is kind of orange. He’s definitely going to sign with the O’s!”) it’s difficult to get too excited about free agency this year. The good news is the club is a year closer to respectability with the young arms and bats who made their way to the bigs in ’09 beginning to gain seasoning.
No free agent should attract as much attention in Baltimore as would-be homecoming king Mark Teixeira. The biggest names on the free agent market, SP John Lackey and LF Matt Holliday, are long shots for The Birds, though the club has expressed some interest in both (the way a band geek would express interest in the captain of the cheerleading team).
The Orioles will add pitching and corner infield help at some point this winter. Picking through the list of available pitching free agents is a daunting task. One can only hope the O’s settle on a few Bedards or Garlands rather than any more Hills and Eatons.
As for the infield, a pecking order may be emerging. Below are candidates for both positions, assorted according to the likelihood that the Orioles will sign them. In terms of methodology, this ranking system was created by randomly reviewing these candidates’ resumes, haphazardly interpreting Orioles GM Andy MacPhail’s cryptic quotes on the free agent market, and a good deal of guesswork.
Have a look and feel free to chime in. Who do you think the Orioles should go after? Are there any candidates you’d like to see in orange and black who didn’t make the list? Why in the hell would the team sign Hank Blalock?
Check out these 2010 free agents and remember your guess is as good as mine.
Free agents: 1B/DH
Definitely maybes: Carlos Delgado, Nick Johnson, Adam LaRoche
Long shots: Hideki Matsui, Erik Hinske,
No thanks: Dmitri Young, Doug Meintkewitz, Jim Thome, Aubrey Huff
Hopefully, the Orioles will pass on a guy like Jim Thome, who is very far past his prime at this point and openly told the Dodgers he couldn’t play first base. Dmitri Young and Aubrey Huff aren’t quite as old as (nor did they have the career of) Thome, but they are on the downward trajectory as well. Meintkewitz is a defensive specialist, which isn’t what the Orioles need.
Matsui seemed a more likely acquisition before he won the World Series MVP, which likely priced him out of the Orioles’ range. This is just as well. I don’t know why I put Hinske on this list. He just looks like a guy the Orioles would sign. He also looks like Kevin James.
Delgado should be available at a discount coming off of an injury-filled year in which he made only 112 plate appearances. He is in his late 30s, but he had an .871 OPS in 2008, his last healthy season. Johnson is an on base rather than power guy, but the Orioles could take a gamble on his .402 career on base percentage and hope Jones, Wieters, and Reimold continue to develop power to bring him home.
LaRouche is a 25 home run guy. But he’s only 30, young-ish for a free agent. In a light year for corner infielders, he might look pretty good by January. Signs point to Atlanta looking elsewhere.
Free Agents: 3B
Definitely maybes: Adrian Beltre, Pedro Feliz, Joe Crede
Long shots: Chone Figgins, Mark DeRosa
No thanks: Miguel Tejada, Melvin Mora
Tejada moves up the list slightly if the Astros decline arbitration. He is a Type A free agent. It was a nice decade, but Mora’s days in orange are over.
Figgins is a speed guy and he is probably going to be expensive. It would be a bit odd for the O’s to sign a guy like him if they think Josh Bell can stick at the hot corner. Mark DeRosa can play a number of positions but isn’t necessarily an every day 3B.
There have been a lot of reports that Beltre is highly regarded in the Orioles front office. He’s another 20 something home run guy, though he’s also known for his defense. Like Delgado, 2009 was an injury-filled season for him.
Crede has a career on base percentage of .304. I don’t know why the O’s would look to him for help at 3rd, but stranger things have happened.
At 35, Feliz is a stopgap type of player. He’s also a low OBP guy, but he may be more open to a 1- year deal due to his age. Also, after playing the last two seasons in Philadelphia, Feliz has postseason experience. This type of experience is in many cases lame and meaningless, but this is baseball, so I’m sure the club would tout a Feliz signing by pointing to the Phillies World Series appearances as if Pedro Feliz was the reason they made the Fall Classic.
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