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Orioles getting younger, smarter

Posted on: February 8, 2008 5:02 pm

Edited on: February 9, 2008 9:14 am

Score: 26

In dealing Erik Bedard to Seattle on Friday and Miguel Tejada to Houston in December, Baltimore president Andy MacPhail acquired 10 different players, and even if the Orioles now may have to summon Charlie Brown to be their opening day starter, this is exactly the kind of thinking this decrepit organization needs.

Amassing young players -- not sending Snoopy's master to the hill.

The Orioles, rotting to the core in the Peter Angelos years, stink. They're long overdue for an overhaul, and the fact that MacPhail now has been able to pull off two major deals in the past two months signals that things are as promised when he accepted the job, that he's got the freedom to re-make the team without Angelos' mitts interfering.

The crown jewel of the haul is Adam Jones, a 22-year-old phenom from Seattle who likely will be Baltimore's opening day center fielder and one day could be an All-Star. The rest of the prospects acquired from the Mariners and Astros range from hard-throwing pitching prospects to unpolished position players.

Maybe not all of them will turn out. Maybe many of them won't click.

Odds are, however, that Jones and at least a couple others will -- lefty Troy Patton and righty Matt Albers, perhaps? -- and that still leaves the Orioles far ahead of where they are now.

Without Bedard, one of the best young pitchers in the game, the Orioles right now probably can't even hazard a guess on their opening day starter.

And that makes things even worse for Baltimore than they were last year, or two or three years ago, when the Orioles knew who would start on opening day?

Au contraire.

Enough of swinging for the fences in Baltimore. Boog Powell is gone, Brady Anderson's one year of power was a mirage and so, too, have been the Orioles. The standings over the past decade have shown as much and the fans have spoken by a mass exodus from Camden Yards.

Baltimore's current run of 10 consecutive sub-.500 seasons is the worst in club history. Tejada, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Brian Roberts, B.J. Ryan, Bedard ... new hopes have come, new hopes have gone, and all it's proven is that you can slap a new coat of paint on the house, but if the wood is bad, it ain't going to last.

The Orioles need depth, not sheen, and they finally have an executive who understands this.

It was a heavy price to pay for Seattle, five players for a lefty pitcher who can be a free agent following the 2009 season, but the Mariners are buoyed by the hope of last season's second-place finish (six games behind the Angels in the AL West) following a three-season freefall.

Man-for-man, they don't yet measure up with the Angels, AL West winners in three of the past four seasons. But Bedard and Felix Hernandez present an imposing one-two punch atop the Seattle rotation, and free agent Carlos Silva joins Jarrod Washburn and Miguel Batista to lengthen a rotation that should keep the Mariners in contention for much of the summer at worst, and, with a few breaks, maybe even sneak past the Angels at best.

Category: MLB

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irishchamps4 Reputation: 86 Level: All-Star Since: Aug 18, 2006	Posted on: February 8, 2008 11:59 pm Score: 68 Orioles needed Bedard I understand why you think that it is a good move for the Orioles to get younger. I agree. However, getting rid of Bedard is stupid. Bedard is not like a Sammy Sosa or Miguel Tejada. He is not a moody, selfishooking for nothing but money. He also isn't old. Bedard was the highlight of the Orioles team last year. Fans loved seeing him pitch, and things seemed to click for the rest of the team when he was on the mound. It seemed like everyone played better when he was on the mound. With the crap bullpen they had and still have, you need a solid ace. I understand the need to rebuild, but this is not the right move. Bedard is 28. He is still young, and has a lot of solid years left. [ Reply to Comment ]
irishchamps4 Reputation: 86 Level: All-Star Since: Aug 18, 2006	Posted on: February 8, 2008 11:59 pm Score: 64 Orioles needed Bedard I understand why you think that it is a good move for the Orioles to get younger. I agree. However, getting rid of Bedard is stupid. Bedard is not like a Sammy Sosa or Miguel Tejada. He is not a moody, selfishooking for nothing but money. He also isn't old. Bedard was the highlight of the Orioles team last year. Fans loved seeing him pitch, and things seemed to click for the rest of the team when he was on the mound. It seemed like everyone played better when he was on the mound. With the crap bullpen they had and still have, you need a solid ace. I understand the need to rebuild, but this is not the right move. Bedard is 28. He is still young, and has a lot of solid years left. [ Reply to Comment ]
irishchamps4 Reputation: 86 Level: All-Star Since: Aug 18, 2006	Posted on: February 8, 2008 11:59 pm Score: 59 Orioles needed Bedard I understand why you think that it is a good move for the Orioles to get younger. I agree. However, getting rid of Bedard is stupid. Bedard is not like a Sammy Sosa or Miguel Tejada. He is not a moody, selfishooking for nothing but money. He also isn't old. Bedard was the highlight of the Orioles team last year. Fans loved seeing him pitch, and things seemed to click for the rest of the team when he was on the mound. It seemed like everyone played better when he was on the mound. With the crap bullpen they had and still have, you need a solid ace. I understand the need to rebuild, but this is not the right move. Bedard is 28. He is still young, and has a lot of solid years left. [ Reply to Comment ]
jburl123 Reputation: 91 Level: All-Star Since: Sep 4, 2006	Posted on: February 9, 2008 12:10 am Score: 83 Orioles getting younger, smarter They needed Bedard why? so they can win 74 games and still end up 20 games out? I will take 69 wins and a chance at being decent in 3 years over 74 wins and no hope for the future. Now all we have to do is get a decent return for Roberts and we will have a nicely stocked farm system. Develop some players over the next couple of years and feed the farm. This is exactly what the doctor ordered. Great trade! [ Reply to Comment ]
irishchamps4 Reputation: 86 Level: All-Star Since: Aug 18, 2006	Posted on: February 9, 2008 1:13 am Score: 78 Orioles getting rid of talent I didn't say don't make moves to get younger. I said don't trade your ace pitcher who is still young. You develop players and use them. Don't develop players and trade them. Is Jeremy Guthrie getting to old too? Should the O's look to get a couple prospects for him? About Roberts, they are working on trading him, too. Another dumb move. I feel like the Orioles have been rebuilding for about five years. It is time to at least start getting over .500. It is time to stop saying we will be good in a couple years. It never happens. [ Reply to Comment ]
GrimReaperIV Reputation: 94 Level: All-Star Since: Jan 11, 2008	Posted on: February 9, 2008 2:12 am Score: 45 Orioles getting younger, smarter I understand both sides of the argument here. On one hand, if you can take one guy and get 5 good prospects for him.....if two of them turn out. You've came out ahead in the deal. On the other hand, if I'm a fantasy baseball owner (which I am)....from an owners stand point, I cant see trading a "sure thing" like Bedard, for guys who may or may not contribute at all for a couple seasons. Baltimore having the sorry team they have (sorry fans, I've nothing against your team....just stating the truth here. if it makes you feel better, I'm a reds fan lol).....getting rid of the ONE person fans' come to see, may not have been the smartest thing in the world. Especially since these guys your getting arent going to produce at least for another 2-3 seasons (save the 20 yr old cf who will contribute this year), It's a high risk/ high reward trade....no doubt about it. As far as trading Tejada....kudo's. Papaw can play in the NL penal league this year. His days are over, numbers in decline just like his body. [ Reply to Comment ]
andspd1980 Reputation: 0 Level: Amateur Since: Oct 1, 2006	Posted on: February 9, 2008 7:42 am Score: 62 Orioles getting younger, smarter Just to let you know, Adams Jones is a 22 year old phenom, not the 20 year old phenom mentioned in the article (guess Scott Miller forgot to check that when he wrote the article). [ Reply to Comment ]
SilverAce72 Reputation: 99 Level: Superstar Since: Sep 18, 2007	Posted on: February 9, 2008 10:42 am Score: 88 Orioles getting younger, smarter Bedard is not like a Sammy Sosa or Miguel Tejada. He is not a moody, selfishooking for nothing but money.Are you kidding? Bedard is one giant a**hole. Granted he is a great pitcher, but if your argument was also to state he was good for the locker room then you are sadly mistaken. I think this is one of the reasons the team thought it was a good idea to get rid of him now while he has a high value. They get 5 players for one and lose one very bad attitude. With that said, without him the Orioles will undoubtedly fall behind Tampa Bay this year. But who cares if you finish in 4th or 5th place? [ Reply to Comment ]
BirdmanTim Reputation: 71 Level: Pro Since: Aug 11, 2006	Posted on: February 9, 2008 10:59 am Score: 66 Orioles getting younger, smarter In the last 5 years the Orioles have produced a 2nd baseman, an outfeilder (Markakis), one consistant starting pitcher, one pitcher with lights out stuff but shakey control (Cabrera) , and a potential closer who in 2009 has a chance to prove that his second year was a sophomore slump (Ray). The Orioles have had 10 years to develope everyday major leaguers, that's what they've come up with. Other former prospects of their haven't exaclty panned out well once they left the Orioles for other teams have they? Perhaps the only guy out of that group that might still be producing in the future is BJ Ryan if he ever gets healthy.. The Orioles tried to peice together a team with Palmeiro Javy Lopez and Sammy Sosa signing as FAs that hung with the Yankees and Red Sox in 05 before taking a nosedive in the second half of that season of which to this point they still haven't recovered. So the Orioles crashed and burned on signing FAs that trades that found these guys playing for an AL East team that doesn't have the interlocking NY logo or the Red letter B on their caps. Now the Orioles once aren't exaclty a prime destination for 1st tier FAs now either, and they haven't produced enough talent through their own drafted players to make up for it either. In light of all of this, as good as Bedard is, he's one of the team's few trading chips for a team that needs to stabilize itself as an organization, and not just stand behind one great pitcher that they couldn't garauntee resigning anyway once his contract was up. The only other trading chip the Orioles have is Roberts, who will likely be traded too for 5 other prospect players like Bedard and Tejada. The Orioles entire system needs an overall, but that doesn't get accomplished by standing pat keeping the few good players that the Orioles have produced but can't build around with. It also seems as if some people are under rightfully under the impression that prospects may not pan out, but forget or overlook that Bedard at one point was also a prospect much like Palmer, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Ripken, and Murray. Those guys had to prove themselves too. [ Reply to Comment ]
pittbaster Reputation: 99 Level: Superstar Since: Jan 15, 2007	Posted on: February 9, 2008 11:07 am Score: 94 Orioles getting younger, smarter I get that Bedrard is excellent. What you're not understanding is that after 2009, Bedard would be leaving anyway. He didn't want to be here. How would it be better to have two more sub-500 seasons trying to rebuild with Bedard and then lose him for *nothing*? Then, the rebuilding process would only have half worked, and it would just be more of the same. [ Reply to Comment ]