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They will not sign Dunn for one reason.....
The ole mighty buck!

We are going to do what we have to in order to become competitive"

Boy we heard those words before!

Roch, a few things ive been meaning to ask you,

do you think Brian Roberts will leave Baltimore before the season, at the deadline or in free agency?

what does markakis want from the orioles? how far apart are the 2 sides?

is it possible melvin mora could get traded before his contract is up?
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I don't think the Orioles will let Roberts walk. I'd guess he's traded first, but there has to be a suitable deal. Don't know what's going on with Markakis, but they're not very close to a deal. Mora would have to waive his no-trade clause. - Roch

Luke Scott was one of the best defensive LFers in baseball according to the Fielding Bible. He was 4th best with a +12 ranking.

Roch,
Again I am very confused. Both Andrew and Trembly both said "we have a lot more to do" after the signing of these few players.

Why all of a sudden do they now see themselves not in the market for any more starting pitching? Has the baseball minds all of a sudden determined that Liz, Olson and Penn are adequate for the ML roster? Because when we ended the season, the overwhelming consensous was they are nowhere close to being ready. Oh that is right, they matured over the winter....darn me for not thinking of that.

Or again, does it come down to being cheap? I bet we have a lot of money stored away from all of the cost cutting of salaries over the last couple of years?

Concidering the luke warm interest Adam Dunn is getting, you would think he would be a little more flexible. Someone should put together some video of him in the outfield and sent it to him!

Dunn's obviously got some enticing numbers, e.g., HRs, RBIs, etc., but the strikeouts are horrendous, and for a guy who wants to just play outfield, his fielding leaves much to be desired.

IF he's going to be anywhere in this area, it'll likely be with the Nats since Bowden's been coveting this guy for quite awhile.

I still want more pitching. . .but the list of availables is pretty short, at least anyone decent. Looper still looks mighty good to me.

Maybe Dunn can't play 1B...Ty Wigginton is a good player but O's will be hard pressed to get him to sign a one year deal don't you think? If they are not in on Sexton any more then there is not much else out there except trades.....any word on Zaun? Why do the O's not like Salazar? He tears it up where ever he goes hitting..makes no sense...but what do I know..any other right bats that you have heard they could be looking at to obtain?

What about playing him at 1st? Have him and Huff switch on and off between 1st and DH. Seems like Dunn's price is falling, he could be something of a bargain. Man's hit 40 HR's for several years in a row, I think he could put some dents into the Warehouse.

I'm as big a Dunn fan as there is, and I'd much rather have him in left than Scott. That said, I'd still like to leave left open for Reimold, so if Dunn is unwilling to DH, then it's hard to argue for his signing. Thanks for the explanation, Roch.

Dunn just isn't a fit here.You really can't have 4 LH bats in a row in the line up and Jones isn't ready to plug in the middle of the pack. I think the remaining RH hitters are waiting to see if anybody calls other than the Os before they make a decision.I think it's down to Wiggington and Sexon.

Dunn might wind up learning a little humility in all this.He's a butcher in the of and not much better at 1st.

Since Scott is so streaky as a hitter, why not make him the DH and put Dunn in left?

Personally I'm not big on a guy who is a career .246 hitter, I don't care if there's pop in his bat, but we can all agree that Luke is an average fielder and gets streaky at the plate. If Aubrey wants to play first, let him. Then platoon Dunn and Scott between left field (give Dunn the majority of the starts to keep him happy) and the DH.

Personally, I think the guy doesn't fit the plan of the club and isn't worth the heft paycheck. He'd be great protection for Aubrey Huff, but let's face it, Huff isn't even part of the long-term plan.

ty wigginton has put up good numbers over the past few seasons. Why not sign him to a two year deal because mora, huff and roberts are all free agents after this season and wigginton could fill one of those gaps as well as lf or dh/utility guy. is 2 years 10-12 million too much?

I think the main reason I would want to see Dunn is to watch him hit balls onto Eutaw Street. Maybe we will be seeing him do that with the Nationals. Don't they already have too many outfielders?

I saw Anita Marks on some sports talk show on MPT last night. I did not think MPT had any sports shows. Green (participant) ribbons for everyone.

Ok, can't figure out why this guy wants to play the OF when he can make the same money just batting.

Now that the Dunn issue is settled has anyone, ANYONE, contacted the agents of Barry Bonds??? He's the HOME RUN KING and he would DH for cheap.

Check out his numbers from 06 and 07. He can help this team!

With so many free agents at the end of the season (Huff, Mora, Roberts, Baez, Walker) why would we be that concerned with signing a 1B/3B/OF like Dunn or Wigginton to a multi year deal? With the market the way it is we could potentially get one of them really cheap considering.

How serious are the O's about Wigginton? Seems like a good fit, esp. since Mora only has a year left.
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They're definitely interested, but like everyone else, he's looking for a better deal. More years, more money, chance to win right away. - Roch

So I'm watching Major League II and camden yards is all Blue... It's weird...

Hey Roch, any word of MacPhail working with a specific payroll?

It seems we are heading for around 70 million or so, however next year the payroll should drop a decent amount, and with the weak free agent class I can't see us making a splash.

Could Angelos be setting up to sell the team? Or is PGA just not willing to spend money anymore.

When MASN was founded we were told it would put us on equal footing with Boston and New York as it pertains to signings. If anything we have been going in the other direction as of late.
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I haven't heard that MacPhail is under orders to keep the payroll at a certain amount. If he sees a reason to spend, and not just on players, he'll go to Angelos and present the reasons why. This includes new video system, foreign scouting, etc. - Roch

We went through all that 1B talk here in Cincinnati for years--not going to happen. Don't be upset if this LF issue causes the O's to lose Dunn. When he hits one, it stays gone and it's something to see. But most of his HR's are solo shots. Also, I watch or listen to almost every Reds game and I can tell you without exageration that in the last 3 seasons I can only remember 3, count 'em 3, sacrifice flies. Now, he does have a good eye at the plate and draws a lot of walks, especially for a guy with such a long strike zone, and he hustled more than he was given credit for (he has a lumbering stride, so it looks sometimes like he's dogging it, when he's not), but his future is as a DH and unless he comes to terms with that, he's going to have a rocky career. That would be too bad, because he seems like a pretty okay guy.

I haven't heard that MacPhail is under orders to keep the payroll at a certain amount. If he sees a reason to spend, and not just on players, he'll go to Angelos and present the reasons why. This includes new video system, foreign scouting, etc. - Roch

And potter will look at him like he has 3 heads & remind him that good ole Mike Flanagan is just down the hall to take over anytime....

I hear more of you saying they missed the boat by letting guys like Redding and Kenshin Kawakami get away.

DON'T count me among these people..... BUT $igning Urhura & Hendrickson, folding their arms & claiming their work is done here as far as the starting rotation is concerned is comical.
God bless em for giving guys like Liz, Penn, Olson, etc. their shot but odds are 2 of them will be fair to failing & be back in AAA or the bullpen. Maybe one works out this year as a solid starter. $igning just one bonafide ML SP with some track record of success is not much for the fan base to desire, is not unreasonable financially, & does not mean anyone is getting off the youth rebuilding bandwagon. This is something that I am certain doesn't register on the FO radar or more likely, isn't given a second thought.

Roch,
I had to laugh at your response to Wigginton coming to the O's "They're definitely interested, but like everyone else, he's looking for a better deal. More years, more money, chance to win right away"

It sounded like you were making a list of why every decent free agent high tails it away from the Orioles? McFail and Ole Peter will try to get a "hometown deal", for the least amount of time, for the lowest cost...in return for not a chance in this world of winning in the next 5-8 years.

McFAIL take a look at Roch's list...... says a lot about your negotiating tactics and Ole Peter's philosphy!

Roch,
I haven't heard that MacPhail is under orders to keep the payroll at a certain amount. If he sees a reason to spend, and not just on players, he'll go to Angelos and present the reasons why. This includes new video system, foreign scouting, etc. - Roch

And when Andrew walks thru the door with the request, Ole Peter will cry about the Nationals, remind him we are a small market team, the hardship of the recent economic times and last but not least, all of the GMs that he can be replaced with if he doesnt get his butt back thru the door and act like a small market GM in front of the media!

Dunn is the cheaper alternative to Tex. I think it would be wise to bring him in. The guy is a masher. He would help revitalize the fan base . More importantly he’s still young & could be part of the long term equation. Dunn could be the modern day version of Boog Powell. It makes sense at 5 yrs 60 mill. Of course, the O's decision making rarely makes sense.

Sign Braden Looper to be 2nd or 3rd in the rotation--heck, spend a little more and get Jon Garland. Then add Adam Dunn to split 1B/DH/LF with Scott and Huff. If not Dunn, there's Jonny gomes who could split DH and LF AND he's a right-handed bat. He will surely rebound from last year's poor average--and he has pop in his bat. Greg Zaun can be the starting Catcher for the first couple of months (or weeks, depending on how hot Weiter's bat is to start the season) and use Chad Moeller as the backup until we bring Weiters up from AAA. This team could be competitive if Angelos would just spend some MONEY. I don't care how well the Rays did last year with a low payroll. You've got to have the talent to back it up. And for the Os, that's gonna require some money.

Getting Dunn might not be the O's best move in terms of the standings, but it could be a lot of fun. The club could come up with some season-long promotion where a fan could win a car if someone (read Dunn) hits the warehouse.

Speaking of extracurricular activities at Camden Yards, I've always has a guilty pleasure: those stupid races held at Brewer (sausage) and Nat (Presidents--come on, it doesn't get any better than Teddy!) games. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out one that might work for the O's, and the closest I've gotten is one featuring authors with ties to Baltimore or, at least, Maryland. Poe is self-recommending. Mencken is another who comes to mind. Other possible ones: creator of the "Great American novel," F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), detective writer Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon), and prolific novelist John Dos Passos, to name a few.

The problem is that you need authors who are very recognizable to most of the fans, and I'm not sure a majority would know anyone but Poe. There is a possible solution, though, and that's to expand it to famous American writers in general, which would mean that E.A.P. would always be the crowd favorite (unless, of course, they throw a "Roch" into the proceedings-LOL).

Expand the field, and you've got some instant recognition; besides Poe, most people should be able to identify such figures as Ernest Hemmingway, Mark Twain, and Stephen King (since he's a big Red Sox fan, I'm sure there's a way to make sure he loses every race in creative ways ala Teddy...see links below)

"Let Teddy Win!" blog race results

http://blog.letteddywin.com/presidents-race-standings

VIDEO Teddy headed for certain win, but tripped by Oriole mascot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_qIL7Lj7oI&feature=related

I hope that the Orioles DO NOT SIGN Adam Dunn. He's just a left-handed Richie Sexton. He's Dave Kingman. He should not be on this team.

I think this post low-balls Scott's defensive abilities. I can't remember a bad outfield screw up by him this past year. All I remember are his great angles to cut off a sharp liner into the left field foul area and fire a good throw to wherever he needed it. He reminds me a lot of BJ Surhoff in left field, perhaps without the speed on the arm.

I always wondered why we always thought of him as a defensive liability last year. Most of the time I'd rather him play left field defensively than Jay Payton. At least look can not one hop it to second base.

Roch,

Time for a report / news on the signing of Brian and Nick.

About a week from now the O's have to post Nick for Arbitration from what I recall. What that did was anger him last year. Oh well he will be happy this year ? Right!

Brians agent has stated some time near the opening of spring training and there will be no more negotiations. So why not test this? Right!

Time to the silence to be broken by the O's. Silence is not golden in this situation. Time to sign them both. Little is looking like an opportunity on theis season. At least they can offer this.

What is your view and any news????

After some thought, I realized Angelos would not shell out that much dough for Dunn and/or Garland. We definitely need a 1B and more starting pitching. There are enough guys to plug into the bullpen that when one falters you can keep bring another up from the minors until one eventually is successful. I do think Wiggington would be a great fit for first--if he can keep up the production. 2 years, 5 Million per would seem like a great investment. Also, I like Jonny Gomes as a possible 1B/OF/DH. As far as pitching goes, it seems like Looper is the only halfway decent reliable guy, but we could take chances on someone like Bartolo Colon, Livan Hernandez, or Odalis Perez.