O’s add Hendrickson

Christmas came a little late for us, the O’s have added Mark_Hendrickson.

Long story short…he’s a tall guy with_a_5.07_ERA who’s been with plenty of teams. The deal is a 1 year deal and Hendrickson appears to be filling the role of long relief/spot starter (Perhaps Matt Albers will be moving to the rotation next season).

This is the part of rebuilding that stinks. Do I want to see Mark Hendrickson pitch next season for the Orioles. NO. He was dropped from the Marlins rotation last season and had a robust 5.45 ERA….That translates to probably 7.60 in the AL East. As a full time starter, Hendrickson has had a winning record once and that was in 2005 with Tampa with a 11-8 record and a 5.90 ERA. On a positive note, he doesn’t give up a lot of walks.

But look at it this way, Adam Loewen, Radhames Liz, Garrett Olson, and every other Oriole pitching prospect of the past decade have been rushed up to Baltimore because there’s no depth at the top to protect them and give them to full time they need to develop.  There’s plenty of pitching talent in the minors and the worst thing that could be done is to rush them up because they don’t have anybody else.

That said, I would hope there’s better 1 year rentals than Mark Hendrickson. I fear though that he’s a tall Jim Brower.

Merry Christmas

I’ll be taking the next few days since it is almost Christmas. You guys have a great Christmas. Wrap your presents, get together with your friends that are back in town, go see your family, eat a lot of stuff that’s not healthy, roast some chestnuts over an open fire, find a sugar plum, convince yourself that cranberry sauce really is good, watch a Christmas Story,drink some egg nog, go caroling and refuse to leave unless they give you figgy pudding, realize that the Little Drummer Boy is the worst Christmas song ever, wear some ugly Christmas sweaters, catch your yearly viewing of “How the Grinch Stole Chrismas” (the cartoon, not the movie), try to eat one of those awful pre-packaged fruitcakes, finish your shopping, start your shopping, gloat about having your shopping done, have fun, and forget about this Teixeria nonsense.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, so run with it.

Have a jolly one.

Coal in your Stocking:Teixeria signs with Yankees

Well, All of you who pinned your hopes on the Orioles getting Mark Teixeria are going to have a blue Christmas.

Teixeria signed today with….wait for it…surprise the_Yankees!

The terms are 8 years and 180 million dollars. That’s 22.5 million are season for Mark Teixeria. Some of you are probably upset that the O’s missed out. I would have liked to have Mark Teixeria, but not at that price and that length. When he’s 36 or 37 and making 22.5 million….will that be worth it. The O’s are rebuilding and committing that much one player (who..bear in mind…would probably be 32 or 33 when the team could possibly be a contender) would have been foolish. At the right price, I’d be in favor of signing him….but that wasn’t it.

Anyway, I like Andy MacPhail because he says_all_the_right_things.

“We can’t devote that many resources to one player, no matter where he’s from,” MacPhail said. “It doesn’t work that way for us. We have to follow the model of consistently good organizations like the Twins. We just can’t devote that much payroll to one player.”

That’s the way I feel.

And for those you who want to storm the warehouse with torches and pitchfork because your mancrush didn’t sign with the O’s and you’re sure it’s their fault:

(from Roch)

“We could have gone the same route as the Nationals,” said a team official, “and it would have ended the same.”

He wanted to play for the Yankees all along. I will have fun booing you Mark Teixeria. You’re dead to me.

O’s looking at other Free Agents other than Mark Teixeria

Putting the Teixeria topic aside because I’m sick of it, Peter Schmuck gives_us_some_more_realistic_names_that_the_O‘s are talking to.

Position players

Aaron Miles

eh, whatever

We need pitching?

According to Schmuck the O’s are talking to…

Tim Redding, Kenshin Kawakami, Braden Looper, and…wait for it…Mark Hendrickson.

says Mark Hendrickson’s agent:

“Mark feels like he had a great start to the season last year,” Urbon said. “He had a mediocre to poor middle part of the season and he started to get back on track and the Marlins went in a different direction. He’s got a lot to prove [as a starter], but he also knows that he can be successful coming out of the pen in a lot of roles.”

I know we need some stopgap guys for a year or so until all the prospects are ready, but a_career_5.07_ERA does not excite me.

Ben Sheets does excite me, but Roch says that ain’t_happening because they’re worried because he’s injury proned. But we were interested in AJ Burnett…who’s only injured slightly less than Sheets and only great in contract years…go figure.

Hey, I’m glad they’re still conducting business outside of the Mark Teixeria traveling circus.

Cabrera signs with the Nats

The Washington Nationals are the newest team to be suckered in by Daniel Cabrera. Cabrera signed a 1_year_deal_with_Washington. Nats fans will be entertained by 1st inning meltdowns, 10 walk outings, plenty of runs surrendered, and a fair amount of beaned batters. Its fine though because IF he ever gets it all together, he’s going to be a filthy ace…just like Randy Johnson. Keep saying when he walks the first batters in a game, it worked for me plenty of times.

Oh and for the token Teixeria news, The_Angels_have_pulled their offer. If you’re keeping score at home, the Angels are out, the Red Sox might be, and the Yankees supposedly pulled their offer or haven’t even made one. That means it should only be the O’s and Nats left standing…but I don’t believe that. This is too compliated and annoying at this point. Sign some where Mark and I’ll decide whether to adore or hate you after the fact.

Tex ‘Unlikely’ now?

Nothing new on Teixeria front this morning, but I figured I’d throw this up before I run out in no exact order- buy a new tire (flats on rainy days in bad parts of town aren’t fun), start my Christmas shopping, and have lunch with a long lost pal.

So let’s start it up

• Buster Olney says_that_unless_Tex takes_a big hometown discoutn, he aint’ coming home. Bear in mind, that ESPN’s Karl Ravech said yesterday that Tex was ‘enormous attracted’ to the O’s. Don’t take their word as fact. Anyways, Buster says that the O’s have the lowest offer of the teams and haven’t upped it yet. So who knows. I won’t believe any of this until Tex is at some press confence saying how it’s always been his dream to play and be paid by (fill in the blank).  
• Rob mentioned in the comments on yesterday’s post that basically ‘Great if the team signs Tex, but what about the rotation?”  The rotation as it stands at the moment is Jeremy Guthrie and nothing. The Cabrera era ended with a non-tender and there’s apparently 11_more_suckers lining up to be rewarded with more walks than the eyes can see and numerous 4 inning starts. As for what who we’re looking at Schmuck mentions_a_few_names_, Tim Redding (who was non-tendered by the Nats…that’s not good), Brandon Looper, and the two Japanese pitchers, but not Carl Pavano. Carl Pavano is a walking injury report.

             My pure guess for next season’s rotation

            Guthrie, Paul Byrd, Redding, 1 of the Japanese pitchers, and Matt   Albers

• Cesar Izturis is offically_an_Oriole. It’s 2 years/ 6 million dollars.

Tex “enormously attracted” to Orioles?

I’m still slightly pessimistic about the prospect of the Orioles signing Mark Teixeria. Everytime that I’m convinced the O’s are out it, I see something like_this.

If you missed it, here’s a recap. ESPN’s Karl Ravech reported that  according to a source close to Mark Teixeria, that he’s close to a decision. That in that decision, the O’s are very much in it because he has an “Enormous Attraction to Baltimore.” 1) He grew up cheering for the O’s. 2) He wants to be close to his Maryland home 3) The O’s are offering a lot of money too.

I honestly think this has A CHANCE to happen. I still worry that the O’s are being used to up the ante to make the Red Sox pay more. This has happened before. But maybe… just maybe…Tex really does want to play for the O’s. The O’s, Nats, Red Sox, Angels, and Yanks are in this, so I’ll think that the Orioles have a 26% percent chance of making this happen.

Cabrera non-tendered

Sometimes good things come to those who wait, but sometimes you wait 8 years and Daniel Cabrera still hasn’t got together.

So after 8 seasons of failing to liveg up to the hype, the Orioles have_non-tendered_Cabrera, making him a free agent. Cabrera went 8-10 this season, with a 5.25 ERA. He walked a lot of guys again (90), struck out a lot fewer batters (2007-166, 2008- 96), and gave up 24 homers.

This had to happen. I finally stopped drinking the Daniel Cabrera kool-aid this season. Up until that time though, I was snookered by Cabrera’s “electric” arm, in retrospect it is electric….electric as a frayed extension cord in a puddle of water at a match stick factory…nothing good is coming out of that. Corny asides aside though, I kept hearing and reading and believing that if Cabrera could harness his raw talent he would be an ace and an anchor of the Orioles rotation for years and years to come.

But it didn’t happen. Daniel Cabrera ripped my heart out every fifth day. There would be occassional stretches where I’d think he might be turning around, but then he’d walk 8 or 9 batters in his next start and the downward spiral would start anew. It’s frustrating because he has the talent, but he can’t get it together. Ray Miller was a great pitching coach and he couldn’t get him straight. Leo Mazzone couldn’t, and now Rick Krantiz couldn’t. Krantiz had Cabrera throwing mostly fastballs and that worked for a time but then it didn’t.

A few years ago, I was all amped out about a future rotation of Bedard, Cabrera, Penn, Loewen. Flash forward to now and Bedard, Loewen, and Cabrera are no longer with the team. Penn is still struggling in the minors. Bedard is the only one of the bunch that was even good. Now he’s injured. That’s the cruel reality of the game.

It’s dissappointing but it’s nice to the O’s finally willing to cut their losses. Cabrera has had plenty of time to get it together in Baltimore, but it hasn’t happened. If a starting pitching starved team like the Orioles non-tendered him, its an indictment against Cabrera’s talents. Maybe he goes somewhere and gets it together. I doubt it, but if he does..then good for him. It wasn’t going to happen in Baltimore.

Happy Trails, Cabs. I’ll miss your ocassion brilliance, that start or two every season where you look filthy. I’ll miss when he’d play the role of enforcer and punk some guy (A-R0d, Sheffield) in a loss or for revenge. I won’t miss hearing Buck Martinez or Gary Thorne or whoever else saying “If he could ever get it all together, he’ll be a 20 game winner.” I won’t miss seeing him walk every other batter, or getting unraveled on the mound and giving up another homer. Let him be the headache and heartache of some other team. Some other teams fans can depressingly watch him meltdown on the mound and think to themselves “If only he could get it all together…he’d be awesome.” Chances are, he’s not. But I’ll get to watch a bunch of stopgap pitching and Jeremy Guthrie next season, and it’ll take Guthrie and 4 whoevers over another season of Cabs. Its a relationship that needed to be ended.

Adios.

Burnett…Bur-NOT

Roch mentions that A.J._Burnett_ain’t_happening.

You already know the Orioles aren’t getting A.J. Burnett, who should command a five-year deal. That’s two more than the Orioles want to offer, as I’ve been saying.

The Yankees are supposedly offering 5 years and at least 80 million for the pleasure of AJ on their roster. At that price and length, they can have him. I’m a skeptic on AJ and would rather not have the team commit that time and money on a pitcher who delivers only in his contract year and the rest of the time he’s banged up or medicore. He could be aces for the Yankees or whatever team he signs with or if he’s Carl Pavano re dux.

More on Teixeria, the Excitement and Thrills continue!

Peter Schmuck weighs in on the latest_Tex_rumors:

But an latimes.com report that the Orioles are “apparently willing” to offer nine years for $180 million has been met with incredulity from O’s officials. Maybe they will get to that point, but I’m hearing they aren’t close to that yet.

We’re guessing that they are closer to seven years at about $20 million per year, though that doesn’t figure to get it done.

And Schmuck_also_adds:

If there is some doubt on the part of Orioles fans about the true desire of the Orioles to sign Teixeira, consider MacPhail’s response when somebody asked him if he will head home tomorrow feeling like his trip to these winter meetings — which produced the Ramon Hernandez/Ryan Freel trade and an agreement in principle with free agent Cesar Izturis — was a success.

“If Tex signed with somebody else tomorrow,” MacPhail said, “it would be hard to walk out of here feeling liike it’s been a success. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t be a success unless he signed with us, but it sure would be a lot more fun (if he did).”

Wow. Andy MacPhail really wants Tex. I’m used to the tight lipped “We’ll see what develops” MacPhail. So the O’s are all in on this one.