Birdwatch 12/12/09

Two years ago today, former Orioles utility infielder Chris Gomez, then age 36 and notable mostly for putting up a higher slugging percentage in 2007 than two-thirds of Baltimore's starting outfield, signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. That slugging percentage was .391.

Today, the Orioles reached terms with relievers Matt Albers (6.58 K/9; 1.73 WHIP) and Cla Meredith (5.12 K/9; 62.9 GB%) before the tender deadline at midnight tonight. Terms have not yet been released, nor do they really matter; they won't be large enough or long enough to stop the Orioles from jettisoning them if either can't get it done. Considering Albers's WHIP and that Meredith is an extreme groundball pitcher on a team with a below average defense and whose most intelligent move to fill the hole at third might be to bring back Miguel "The Butcher of Baltimore" Tejada, that could happen as early as the first round of cuts from spring training.

The Orioles have yet to reach terms with Jeremy Guthrie or Luke Scott, the only two other arbitration-eligible guys on the roster, so that's probably where they're headed. Relievers Brian Bass and Dennis Sarfate are candidates to be non-tendered, though Sarfate (7.83 K/9) is at least worth a look.

The reason for my focus on K/9 may or may not become clear in an upcoming blog post.

Steve Melewski over at MASN launches a well-meaning but somewhat bizarre defense of General Manager Andy MacPhail.

Apparently all the Orioles' big names are cool with Kevin Millwood joining the team, which is both nice to hear and so uncontroversial that I'm going to pass on finding a link and ask you to trust me on this one.

More around the league after the jump.

The Reds non-tendered Jonny Gomes today. If you happened to put in print that they did it because General Manager Walt Jocketty's mind has been melted away by his hardcore use of MDMA while trawling Cincinnati's underground rave scene for smackheads to bat leadoff, you'd likely be convicted of libel, but the jury would agree privately it was a reasonable assumption to make. Gomes hit for ridiculous power in 2009 (.541 SLG), in part because he played in the ballpark that was a converted two-car garage with no roof. I didn't list a position for Gomes because the Reds probably would have been better off claiming he was their DH and hoping no one called them on it, or failing that, just leaving left field empty. Nevertheless the Orioles should give him a look.

It seems there are people in the sports-industrial complex pushing for the Philadelphia Phillies to trade Cliff Lee for Roy Halladay, which is about as simultaneously pointless and extravagant as building a scale replica of the Titanic for the sole purpose of rearranging deck chairs wrought from gold.

The Kansas Royals sign catcher Jason Kendall for two years at $2 million per. Laugh, ye mortals, about Kendall's inability to get to second base, his weak twig, and his embarrassing propensity for striking out, but know this: for every man cursed by this world, there lives another who wishes he himself were so blessed.

Chien-Ming Wang may be non-tendered by the New York Yankees.

Jason Bay turns down a contract offer from the Boston Red Sox. New York Mets General Manager Omar Minaya, sitting alone at his desk in an empty, cavernous room beneath Citi Field, reads this news and is so moved he stands and shouts, "Why, I'll sign him for ten million a year!" He is a happy man for exactly five and a half seconds. Then he hears someone else, someone he assumes is the GM of the Philadelphia Phillies, a man he has often envied but never met, offer Bay the exact same deal! Minaya breaks out in a cold sweat. Not again, he thinks. Not after losing Raul [Ibañez]. He straightens his back, doubles the base salary, and adds an option year. This goes on for two hours. See also: Rodriguez, K.

While writing this post I was informed by a man from The Internet with dubious hair that reliever Brian Bass was non-tendered this evening. It is both an honor and a privilege to relay this in the section reserved for news about players not on the Baltimore Orioles.

More later if there's more later.