JTrea81's Offseason Plan

Well we have another offseason in front of us and the O's are showing promise and seem to be ready to take the next step. Which makes these comments from MacPhail in the Sun so annoying:

"Grow the pitching. It's one of things we need to do well here," MacPhail said. "Look at the reigning world champions. That strategy has been successful in San Francisco, and it can be in Baltimore."

"Our philosophy hasn't changed," MacPhail said. "You may get a deal done early, but by and large, those deals usually occur if a player wanted to return to his former club and they are able to work out something prior to, or shortly after, free agency starts. Or those early deals are preemptive strikes by clubs where the player and the agent decide that they are not going to get better than this and they get it done quickly. We would be much more likely to do the former rather than the latter."

Ah yes, Andy MacPhail who is as timid as ever and is trying to point to another team as the example the Orioles should follow - first the Rays and now the Giants. Yes, if players overachieve good things can happen. But you can't count on that and you can't be passive in free agency. That's what losers do.

So that leads me to Step 1:

1. Fire Andy MacPhail.

Well now that's out of the way, we can get to actually building a winner.

2. Offer 4/68 to Adrian Beltre at 12:01 AM Sunday. - It's time to show the Orioles are serious. No more of this waiting for the market. I'm setting the market. If you want to take Beltre from the Orioles, you are going to have to go all in and Beltre is going to have to turn down some serious cash if he doesn't want to play in Baltimore. I'm betting he'll take it, eventually though the offer may have to go up slightly.

3. At the GM Meetings trade Chris Tillman, Josh Bell and David Hernandez to the Brewers for Prince Fielder (sans extension). Forget about Gonzalez. Fielder will come much cheaper, and is still a bonified threat in the middle of the lineup. He lead MLB in walks and in a down year was still worth 4.1 WAR. I don't extend him because I'll likely be able to re-sign him for less than an extension when he hits FA.

By the Winter Meetings I expect to have my corner IF solved. Next step - SS.

4. Pick up one of likely non tenders - Bartlett or Hardy. Sign them to a 2 year deal.

5. Re-sign Koji Uehara to a 1 year $5 million deal with an option for 2012 to be the closer

6. Sign Eric Hinske to a 1 year $2.5 million deal with an option for 2012. Hinske was a solid option off the bench for the Braves and could do the same for Baltimore

7. Sign Jason Varitek to a 1 year $3 million deal with a team option for 2012. The Orioles need a solid backup catcher so they don't burn out Matt Wieters. Varitek is the best that's out there, and he is a good bat off the bench as well.

8. Sign Jerry Hairston to a 1 year 2.5 million deal to backup the middle IF spots.

9. Sign George Sherrill to a minor league deal with a ST invite after he's non-tendered. Sherrill got lit up against RH hitters but was still excellent vs. LH hitters. I think he could be this year's Ohman.

10. Trade Mike Gonzalez to the Yankees for AJ Burnett and $10 million. The Yankees need a LH reliever and the Orioles need a SP. I think Burnett will do better getting out of NY and he's wanted to pitch in Baltimore. Gonzalez isn't going to be worth the salary the Orioles are paying him. Burnett would be about $13 million a year, which would be about the going rate for a SP with his background.

Your 2011 Orioles:

Lineup:

2B Roberts
RF Markakis
3B Beltre
1B Fielder
CF Jones
DH Scott
C Wieters
LF Pie
SS Hardy/Bartlett

Bench:

OF Reimold
IF Hinske
C Varitek
IF Hairston

Rotation:

SP Guthrie
SP Matusz
SP Burnett
SP Bergesen
SP Arrieta

Bullpen:

LR Patton
MR Hoey
MR Berken
MR Sherrill
MR VandenHurk
SU Johnson
CL Uehara

That team is a 90 game winner on paper IMO and the only huge contract you give out is for Beltre at 4/68. Eventually Fielder will have to be re-signed, but you will already have Beltre and the core of the lineup under contract. You might need to still pick up another arm for the bullpen but that's about it until next offseason

It's these kinds of moves that the Orioles need to make to set themselves up to be a winner. They probably won't make the playoffs in 2011, but might be able to if all goes right, and they won't have to add much at all before 2012 to finally be a playoff team.