CaBBrera signs with the Nationals

So I’m a little behind in writing about Daniel Cabrera being non-tendered and signing with the Nationals.

The O’s haven’t exactly given me much of a reason to follow their moves this offseason, so sue me.

Anyway, yeah... Daniel CaBBrera signed with the Nationals.

The era ends.

Maybe now the Orioles won’t lead the MLB in walks.

I guess he won’t be plunking opposing batters as much any more, knowing he could get plunked himself when he steps into the batter’s box.

Even if Cabrera finds his “potential” in D.C., he was done as an Oriole. He constantly regressed over his career and he’s likely to be even worse in the NL, where his short temper and attention span will have to grapple with hitting. Or trying to hit.

So far he’s 0-14 in his career with 14 strikeouts and a sacrifice bunt (doesn’t count as an at-bat). But, he’s currently struck out 8 times in his last 8 at-bats, so only 5 more to go to break the record of 12 consecutive K’s by a hitter, which was set by Dean Chance in 1965.

Hey, that right there is enough reason to watch the Nationals more than the Orioles this year.

But don’t worry O’s fans. The O’s promptly filled Daniel Cabrera’s spot with Mark Hendrickson and his 5.07 career ERA.

Hendrickson may not walk as many batters, but the ERA will be about the same.

It’s all about consistency in Baltimore these days.

O's sign Hendricksuck... I mean Hendrickson

What is Andy MacPhail thinking?

That’s got to be the question on the dozen or so Orioles fans left in Maryland.

Yesterday the O’s agreed to terms with Mark Hendrickson. Hendrickson is a 36-year old journeyman who has never really been any good at any point in his career. If he was a right-handed pitcher who wasn’t eight-feet-tall he’d probably be working a cell-phone kiosk in a mall.

Hendrickson’s career ERA is 5.07. His ERA the last 2 seasons, in two of the most pitcher-friendly stadiums in the majors was 5.21 and 5.45. God only knows how his ERA will fare in Oriole Park, something akin to a band-box, in the AL East, where the #9 hitter is not swinging a toothpick.

MacPhail says he views Hendrickson as a long relief/spot starter type guy. Funny, I thought our entire pitching staff was filled with that kind of AAA-fodder in 2008. Now we’re going to pay more than the minimum for a guy like this?

Was Lance Cormier and his 4.02 ERA not good enough for you in blow-outs?

OK, I’ll be fair. As a reliever, Hendrickson’s ERA is not terrible. Over his career, it’s actually a respectable 3.39 in 103.2 IP. But last time I checked, we’re still paying Jamie Walker to suck, so unless we’re going to release him during Spring Training, I don’t know how we’re going to explain 2 worthless LHP in the bullpen.

My opinion? We’re being told Hendrickson is viewed as a spot starter, but in reality, he’s likely our #2 or #3. It’s the typical O’s move. “Hey, Hendrickson was good against us when he was with the Rays. He’s got to be good right? Throw him in the rotation! What the hell!”

Look up lazy move in the dictionary and pictures of Mark Hendrickson and Andy MacPhail will be staring back at you. There are any number of minor league free agents who could out-pitch Mark Hendrickson and it should be Andy MacPhail’s job to find that guy and sign him instead of giving innings to Too-Tall Hendrickson.

Maybe I’m miffed because I just watched Severna Park-native Mark Teixeira sign with the fucking Yankees or maybe I’m pissed I’ve got to take down the Christmas tree in a few days. And not because I’ll miss it.

But foul mood or not, Mark Hendrickson does nothing to improve the Orioles now, or in the future. And it’s high-time we start finding guys who at least have some potential to do that.

I thought Andy MacPhail wasn’t going to make these kinds of moves. Guess not.

Teixeira signs with.... who the hell do you think he signed with???

Highly coveted 1B Mark Teixeira signed with the New York Yankees today to the tune of 8 years, $180 million. For those counting at home, it's $22.5 million a year.

Teixeira had O's fans drooling since he filed for free agency because Teixeira is from Severna Park and played high school baseball a Daniel-Cabrera-wild-pitch from Camden Yards. But the O's never upped their initial offer of 7 years, $140 million, and the "hometown discount" that many fans were talking about never came into fruition.

In all seriousness, aside from the Baltimore ties, Teixeira didn't fit in with the Orioles' plan. Andy MacPhail has stressed over the last 2 years that he wants to add as many cheap, young and talented players as he can get, whether that be through the draft or via trades. Teixeira is great, but is only getting older and now, very, very expensive.

Yeah, Teixeira in Baltimore would have been a huge draw on paper, but until the Orioles start winning games in July through September, fans will never come out like they did in the 90's. It's a cold hard fact.

And $22.5 million a year for 8 years is a lot of money for just one player. But not for the Yankees. In case you haven't noticed they now have the top 4 highest paid players on their roster (A-Rod and Jeter, and this year's top 2 free agents in Teixeira and Sabbathia) and also signed highly-coveted free agent pitcher A.J. Burnett earlier this offseason. So if they didn't represent everything that is wrong with baseball before, they definitely do now.

If the Yankees and Red Sox (with an emphasis on the Yankees) are the only 2 teams that can afford high-priced players like Sabbathia and Teixeira, and are in the same division no less, then the system is broken.

The Teixeira signing doesn't exactly surprise me, and it shouldn't surprise anyone. All along Teixeira looked headed for the Red Sox until the Yankees came in with the highest offer and stole him away from Boston. It was simply bound to happen. But in my opinion, it represents what is the beginning of the end for a no-salary-cap Major League Baseball. So if it took a Maryland native like Teixeira to sport pinstripes for the next 8 years to fix the system, then so be it.

Because when the next labor agreement contract expires, mark my words, there will be another strike and it won't end until the players accept a salary cap, because quite simply, baseball cannot exist under these conditions.

And with the O's becoming more and more of a mid-market team, and not winning anytime soon, a baseball-less summer won't make a bit of difference to me. And not many other O's fans.

Now back to the O's. They must've been crossing their fingers hoping that Teixeira would take a lot less money to play for a losing organization a few miles from his childhood home. But in the end, it simply wasn't going to happen. And to be honest, they probably knew it would play out like it did. They covered their asses with a fair offer and have an excuse locked and loaded for the angry fans who have to watch as another star free agent dons pinstripes only to crush their O's 18 times a year.

But at the same time, a lot was riding on the Tex-in-Baltimore pipe dream. Because unless the Orioles somehow significantly improve the roster between now and February 1st, Brian Roberts is unlikely to extend, meaning he will be a free agent at the end of 2009, along with Melvin Mora, Aubrey Huff and several other players.

And since the O's don't appear to be in the running for any other remaining big name free agents like Adam Dunn or Ben Sheets, the O's might as well jus trade Roberts for the best package of prospects available.

Maybe Teixeira would have fooled fans and the front office for a year or two, thinking that they were close to contention, but let's be real. The O's are going nowhere until at least 3 pitchers now in the minor leagues develop into reliable starters. And that is with or without a dozen Mark Teixeiras.

And other than Erik Bedard, when was the last time the O's developed one of those and didn't trade him before he became any good (John Maine)?

So BLOW IT UP!!! Get on with it! Tex is gone! There is no plan B. Hell, there never was a plan A! Let's get the ball rolling so we can have some winning baseball in Baltimore again while we're all still alive.

O's make moves...

The Orioles finally made some moves this offseason that will impact the 2009 opening day roster. They traded catcher Ramon Hernandez to the Cincinnati Reds for utility-man Ryan Freel and 2 minor-league prospects.

They also have agreed to terms with short-stop Caesar Izturis and appear to be close to officially signing the defensive specialist.

Neither of these moves is going to create excitement in the fan-base, but they do somewhat improve the make-up of this team.

Trading Hernandez was addition by subtraction. His constant laziness behind the plate and inability to run out ground balls quickly turned fans against him despite his still decent offensive output.

By adding Freel, the Orioles get the competent utility guy they’ve been missing since they traded Chris Gomez. Freel is a career .272 hitter with a .733 OPS. He’s a vast improvement over former UTI-men Freddie Bynum, Brandon Fahey and Alex Cintron.

The 2 minor league prospects involved in the trade are 2B Justin Turner and 3B Brandon Waring. Turner will be 24 and has not played above AA-ball, meaning that he will likely be AAA fodder, but he has shown some power throughout his MiL career, with a .445 SLG.

Waring is the intriguing one, but at 23, he is a tad old to have not advance beyond single-A. However, Waring has a ton of power .523 career SLG. His downfall, however is the strikeout (156 K in 441 AB in 2008).

Both players somewhat deepen the offensive talent pool in the O’s minor league system. Look for Turner to start in Bowie and Waring to begin the year in Frederick.

The O’s also just announced the signing of short-stop Caesar Izturis. Some call the signing a lazy one, but with the O’s expected above-average offense in 2009, they can afford a no-stick SS with a great glove, and Izturis fits that bill. And at 2 years, $6 million, he comes cheap.

In addition to these moves, the Orioles were still very busy, and a reported 4-way deal involving the O’s, Padres, Cubs and Phillies was at one point close to being completed. The move would have sent LHP Garrett Olson to the Padres and brought back LH OF Felix Pie from the Cubs.

It is unknown whether it is still on track or fallen apart.

In any case, Felix Pie was the centerpiece of the oft-reported Brian Roberts trade last offseason, but that deal never was completed. So far, in limited MLB at-bats, Pie has yet to live up to his Adam Jones-like potential, but the O’s still believe he can become a starter in the OF.

That obviously means that the O’s soured on Olson in 2008, and it would be hard for them not to. Olson did pitch well in about half of his starts, but was shelled in the other half, finishing with a 6.65 ERA. One has to think that Olson will improve in ’09, simply because he can’t get any worse, but after compiling 165 IP in the majors over 2 seasons, Olson’s career 6.87 ERA is causing hopes to rapidly fade.

The potential Olson/Pie deal also likely squashes any hope that the O’s had in Nolan Reimold becoming a starter in 2009. Reimold had a great ’08 season for AA-Bowie, hitting 25 HR, knocking in 84 RBI and compiling a .868 OPS. But adding Pie to an already crowded OF with Scott, Jones and Markakis, means that Reimold will either be traded or become AAA fodder in ’09.

There were also rumors that the O’s would be getting back SP Jason Marquis in the Olson deal. Marquis is basically a salary dump for the Cubs, who have soured on his failure to live up to his excellent 2004 season when he won 15 games with a 3.71 ERA for the Cardinals. Since then Marquis has turned in ERA’s of 4.13, 6.02, 4.60 and 4.53. He does, however, eat innings, and rumors of the O’s thinking hard about signing Jon Garland support the O’s desire to have someone in the rotation who can give the bullpen a smaller workload despite the mediocre-at-best outcome.

Unfortunately there is still little movement on the Mark Teixeira or A.J. Burnett front, although the O’s have officially met with both players and their agents. And with the Washington Nationals reported to throw their hat into the ring for Teixeira, O’s fans are already starting to worry that Tex will be playing for the “other hometown team” in 2009. And let’s face it, being outbid by the Nationals, would be an embarrassment to O’s fans.

My take? Tex re-signs with the Angels or comes back to the east coast to sign with the Red Sox.

So there you have it. Things are starting to heat up as the winter GM meetings in Las Vegas continue. Stay tuned to the Bad Oriole for updates and takes on any solid rumors and official moves!