Birdwatch 12/23/09

Less with the jokes today, I think; the Javier Vazquez trade has soured my mood. You can mentally update the previous post about the Yankees as you see fit; the upshot is that instead of coming into the season with a rotation in the middle of the top ten in Major League Baseball, the Yankees are now top five. It is realistic to expect that they are not yet done, and will likely take fliers on undervalued guys with concerning contracts at positions of need, whether through trade or free agency. Wouldn't be surprised to see them pick up a guy like Kiko Calero. They were talking about trading for Carlos Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs, and one would think the Vazquez acqusition would put paid to that, but you never know. I wouldn't put it past them to contact Erik Bedard about coming to the team later in the season on an incentive-laden one-year make good contract that sees him coming out of the pen; in their new park the Yankees value strikeout specialists over all other kinds of pitchers, and Bedard fits the bill perfectly.

We could have a long discussion about payroll inequality in the sport, but it's been done before, and I'm tired of having it. It's not really something that's fucked the Orioles that badly, anyhow; the past twelve years are due more to institutional idiocy and hubris than anything else. J.P. Riccardi's Toronto Blue Jays from 2006 to 2008, however, are a bleaker story; their pythags over those years puts them around a 90 win team, but the division they played in combined with terrible luck (Dustin McGowan, Shawn Marcum) and one horrific contract (Vernon Wells) -- and the inability to pay that bad luck to go away like the Yankees and, to a much lesser extent, Boston Red Sox are able to -- have seen them fire Riccardi, trade the face of their franchise and one of the best pitchers of the last decade for prospects, and essentially enter rebuilding mode. They, like the Orioles, will continue fighting for the scraps of the AL East in 2010, while the Rays and Sox battle for second. And unless there's a major sea change in New York City soon, that's the way it's going to be for the next few years.


The Orioles' deal with third baseman Garrett Atkins is $4.5 million for one year with a club option for 2011, as you might have heard. Like the Gonzalez signing, the contract is short and easily jettisoned if it turns out to be a mistake. Miguel Tejada would have been a better choice from the stats side of things, but his prior history with Baltimore and the fact that he wants a multi-year deal made that unrealistic. I talked a lot of shit about Atkins in my previous posts, but he's probably the best stopgap option; nothing was traded to get him and it doesn't hamper the club long-term.

The O's also signed Australian lefty Chris Lamb to a minor league deal. Lamb's currently 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in the Aussie league he's playing in, and even though ERA is extremely flawed, once it gets up into the sevens you should start worrying. Another low risk, low reward move; Ryan Rowland-Smith this guy probably isn't.

MacPhail is more or less standing pat now, I'd guess. The Orioles still need a power bat, but it's looking more and more likely that unless someone wants to overpay for Pie, they'll see if Brandon Snyder has what it takes in Spring Training, and if not, make do until he's ready to come up for an extended look.