Loading ...The Baltimore Orioles have had a very uninteresting offseason thus far in regards to improving their baseball team, at least to the naked eye. I know that it is still early in the offseason and a lot can happen between now and spring training, but the O's have made one thing apparent, spending money is not an option.
Yesterday, Mark Reynolds signed a one year $6 million deal with the Cleveland Indians, yes you read that right, $6 million. Baltimore paid him $500,000 when they declined his option, that is 1/12 of the salary he will receive next season. Reynolds took a $1.5 million pay cut to play with the Indians next season after making $7.5 million last year with the Orioles. Where am I going with this? Simple, Baltimore never had any intention of trying to bring Reynolds back. You may be saying, but wait Josh, Dan Duquette said that they would love to have him back and would try to re-sign him as a free agent, and my response to you is that you are in denial and continue to fall for Baltimore's front office ploys. If they really wanted to bring him back, they could have. $6 million for one year, your telling me the Orioles couldn't have paid him that? Cmon, it is obvious they did not want Reynolds. It is the same thing as when they "claimed" they offered Mark Teixiera a contract but for less money thinking Mark would give them a home town discount, they were lying to you! The Orioles never actually presented Teixiera with a contract because they were afraid he would take it, and they did not want to pay him the money. The front office, and most likely under direct orders from owner Peter Angelos, let's out these rumors on purpose to make the fan base think that they are trying…..malarkey. Oh, by the way they never offered or tried to get Prince Fielder last year either.
Ok, enough with the negatives, the Orioles have managed to change one aspect of their 2013 team that plagued them in 2012, strikeouts. Last year, Baltimore struck out 1,315 times at the plate and they have already managed to get rid of just under 20% of those k's by not resigning Reynolds who had 159 strikeouts and trading Robert Andino who had 100 strikeouts last season. Undoubtedly, this was part of the offseason plan.
Now for an outlook for the rest of the offseason. The Orioles need to do something, ANYTHING worth noting, especially after this Reynolds disaster and how improved the AL East is, already this offseason. Baltimore still needs a big bat to solidify the middle of the order and a veteran arm in the starting rotation. I believe they will likely resign Joe Saunders, but he is not a glorified ace of a staff, in fact would most likely be fifth in the rotation. Part of me believes the Orioles will not make any type of move for a big name pitcher because they feel Dylan Bundy will be up by mid-season and Kevin Gausman will likely be there next year, so why go out and get a high priced ace when we have two in the wings? The answer to that question is easy, as good as they seem, and believe me I think the world of both of these guys and they could be a heck of a two man tandem at the top of the rotation in the future, but we do not know that they will be ace worthy. Lastly, as much as I hate to say it, I would be shocked if Baltimore makes a move for a big bat, blame it on years of front office disappointment, but I do not see it happening.
Let us know how you feel O's fans, what do you think of what the Orioles have done this offseason? Post a comment and let your voice be heard.
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Tags: Baltimore, Baltimore Orioles, Baseball, Dan Duquette, Joe Saunders, Mark Reynolds, MLB, Peter AngelosRelated Videos
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i feel like we just had this conversation…..
Yes we did, and it seems that we have this conversation every offseason, it is just unfortunate that it is the same this offseason because Baltimore fans finally came back towards the end of the season as they believed in this team, but now the front office is not rewarding those fans, and we are all back to being disappointed with the Orioles front office.