Category Archive:
Roch Kubatko
Eliminating one shortstop option
The Orioles won't have the same Opening Day shortstop in 2009.
Not that we were expecting it to happen, but now it's official.
Luis Hernandez, a minor league free agent, has signed with the Kansas City Royals.
Baseball America refers to Hernandez as a "slick fielder," but it didn't show this year. Not in spring training and not in Baltimore. Otherwise, he might have stuck around. The club was willing to overlook his offensive deficiencies if he could make all the routine plays and increase the range at the position that Miguel Tejada had shrunk to the width of a stripper's pole.
Another fan favorite, reliever Greg Aquino, has signed with the Cleveland Indians.
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Do you see Blake Davis starting at SS at Norfolk this year? Might be time for Boom Boom to move on too.
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Depends on composition of both rosters. They might want to start him at Bowie again and see how he hits. - Roch
Fields like he's in an oil slick? Take a cue from the Pirates and outsource the SS problem to India. I'm sure we can find a close match to Fahey's body type, but with a much better skill set, given the cricket tradition: no need to tap the javelin-hurling population for the middle infield. Look how far the Pirates got back in the mid-80's with the Sammy Khalifa signing (who was born in California, but I always recall announcers calling him "the Egyptian shortstop"). Has San Pedro de Macoris, the "cradle of shortstops," been exhausted after all these years?
Roch,
How dare you post this info 2 days before Turkey Day? How do you expect any O's fans to be able to celebrate with the news you just laid upon us!!! I am just hoping that no one pulls an oblique or tears a labrum under all this stress!!
Personally, I think L. Hernandez would have been fine if people hadn't jumped all on his case for being a little tense and uneasy in the early goings of the season. I know that he botched some plays early on, but I can't recall anything that he did or missed that was so obvious and unforgivable as to have to demote him and submit the rest of the club to Fahey, Cintron and Bynum, until they finally corrected that by going and obtaining Castro.
Granted, I'm not going to cry over the loss of Luis Hernandez...but I don't think the guy got a fair shake really.
Thanks for dashing our dreams, Roch. Now we're back to the drawing board. Time to start the countdown to 2010.
Has any team ever considered *front-loading* contracts? Seems to me they are always back-loaded, to save on net present value at the time of signing and factor in inflating salaries. But the back ends of long-term contracts are the killers (like paying Giambi $22M). If the Orioles were to front-load a contract to Teixeira, they'd have more money available to build the team around him in the future. Maybe write in an out clause along the lines of what Sweeney had with KC years back (KC had to make a .500 record to keep him): if the Orioles don't make the playoffs in the next four years, Teixeira can opt out of the remainder. If the Orioles do, the remaining years get locked in. So something like $160M for 8 years, $90M in the first 4.
Didn't get a fair shake? Short memory. No field, no hit and no success in the minors to which he was returned after a thorough tryout in the bigs. It was a shame to see him do so poorly after his pretty good games in '07, granted. But he caved, man.
Roch, has Jon Leicester signed with Orix yet or is that still up in the air?
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Gotta be honest, haven't thought of that guy in ages. Will try to find out. - Roch
roch
It seems like a lot of ppl are going to the royals.... Any news on contracts?
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Just a minor league deal. Barely enough money to pay the cable bill. (And I know there's an Aubrey Huff joke in there somewhere). - Roch
We had an Opening Day starter at shortstop last season?
Who knew?
Roch,
What is cal doing these days.....I am sure he would still be much better to watch than last years crop or Tejada......Please comeback Cal we wont complain about the streak anymore....we will be good....Its karma...that the Orioles dont have a shortstop....after having the best of the best for so many years....its karma.....
Every year the O's have one or more Louis Hernandez' and Greg Aquinos. Every year.
There has been an unending parade of bums through the O's clubhouse since 1997. The parade continues unabated. The only question is who are the 2009 members of the Stiffs of the Year club?
I still think that Cesar Izturis is the right choice for shortstop since he'll be cheap, and he can definitely play defense. That's what we wanted all along. He did bat pretty well last year, which is better than our shortstops combined for last year.
Speaking of Mark Teixiera, it'll be a nice Christmas gift for us if we can at least be on the short list for him. As well as AJ Burnett.
I'm encouraged that AJ Burnett does want to play here, but like all of us, I would prefer that he sign 3-4 years instead of that dreaded 5 year contract, because of his injury troubles. I don't really understand why baseball isn't paying attention to the economy. Teams should be trying to give contracts like 3 years minimum, and 40 million minimum. Not these contracts that are astronomical like Santana's contract or A-Rod's contract, etc.
We shall see, though, what the Orioles offer both free agents and others. The same goes with other teams. At least, it'll be interesting to see who goes where to what team. I'd love to see Pettitte go to the Dodgers, and have the Yankees strike out on CC and Teixiera. For so long, the Yankees have thrown more money than any other team at problems. They need to face the harsh reality that they can't just magically solve their problems by doing that like they have done.
Happy Thanksgiving!
j roberts - You're idea of a thorough tryout in the bigs is 5-6 weeks?!? Wow, you're a tough cookie aren't you!
My point was that we had a young guy that was playing in the majors as a starter for the first time and from the moment he was given the job it was with the caveat that it was because of his glove (which was perfectly fine because he couldn't hit for a lick). His nerves got the better of him, he got tentative and was sent back to the minors as a result... I was fine with that too, but can you honestly say that he did worse than those who the Orioles knew they had to follow him? Fahey is a decent utility guy, but he doesn't have a strong enough arm to be an everyday shortstop. Cintron's fielding was downright horrendous and Bynum was too busy attempting to showboat how slick a fielder he was that he didn't make most of the routine plays that Hernandez was crucified for missing.
All this talk about average players that will come here if we overpay them and legitimate players that wouldn't even think of coming here sounds familiar.......When is everyone going to wake up , we will field a poor product as long as Peter the Great owns this franchise. The F.O. suckers you in to believing they will be players for big time free agents , Peter the Great must be proud. The O's will field another team that will have a rough time getting out of last place , fun huh !
Sign Izturis, it makes sense for the following reasons;
1 - Proven glove
2 - He's still young & his best years may be ahead of him. He won ROY & has a gold glove.
3 - He's fast
4 - The best SS's currently in the org are Castro, Bynum, Cintron & Fahey.....dreadful