C.Rector Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 From: http://www.sunspot.net/sports/baseball/bal...ports-headlines From Thursday's Sun Palmeiro close to return as Oriole Team nears deal with 39-year old first baseman; Negotiations continue with Guerrero, Surhoff By Joe Christensen Sun Staff Originally published January 7, 2004, 10:46 PM EST Five years and 214 home runs after leaving the Orioles as a free agent, Rafael Palmeiro appears to be headed back to Baltimore. The Orioles are very close to an agreement to re-sign Palmeiro, team officials said Wednesday night, with the sides still negotiating whether to make it a two-year deal or a one-year deal with an option for 2005. Palmeiro, 39, who hit his 500th career home run last year for the Texas Rangers, apparently not only wants to return to Camden Yards, he wants to play first base. And with team sources saying the Orioles also made significant progress Wednesday in their negotiations with free agent right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, it looks like right fielder Jay Gibbons will spend much of next season as the team's designated hitter. Asked about the Palmeiro negotiations, a top Orioles official said, "You can pretty much bet that deal's going to be made." With regard to the Guerrero negotiations, he added, "I think we're in the driver's seat." Palmeiro, Guerrero, and shortstop Miguel Tejada are all represented by the same agents, Fernando Cuza and Diego Benz, and after signing Tejada to a six-year, $72 million deal last month, the Orioles are giving new meaning to one-stop shopping. After spending Wednesday in conference calls with Cuza and Benz, Orioles vice presidents Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan also tended to other business. They are still trying to re-sign free agent pitcher Sidney Ponson, and Flanagan was expected to have another discussion with Ponson's agent, Barry Praver, late Wednesday night. Earlier, Beattie moved closer to re-signing veteran slugger B.J. Surhoff to a minor-league contract similar to the one Surhoff signed last year. A year ago, Surhoff agreed to a deal that did not guarantee him any money unless he made the team out of spring training. Surhoff, 39, made the team, of course, and wound up hitting .295 in 93 games. The Orioles have already notified the left-handed hitting Surhoff that they intend to reduce his role for next season after using him in the outfield for 27 games last season. The two sides must reach an agreement before today's deadline, or Surhoff will become a free agent, but his agent, Greg Clifton, sounded optimistic last night. "We continue to make progress," Clifton said. "We're going to work late into the night, and early into the morning in an effort to keep B.J. in an Oriole uniform." The Orioles have a standing five-year, $65 million offer on the table to Guerrero, and though they haven't moved much, there were indications yesterday that Guerrero's camp was softening. Guerrero, who turned down a five-year, $65 million offer from the Montreal Expos before declining arbitration, initially asked the Orioles was for eight years, $145 million. His price lowered to seven years for $105 million, and with no other team besides the Orioles said to be offering him five years, his price has dropped again. Whether or not the Orioles can bridge the gap with Guerrero, team officials feel like the offense is going to get a tremendous boost with Tejada, catcher Javy Lopez and Palmeiro. After signing as a free agent with the Orioles in 1993, Palmeiro blossomed as a power hitter. After the strike-shortened season of 1994, Palmeiro began a streak of nine consecutive seasons with at least 38 home runs and 104 RBI. He helped bring the Orioles to the American League Championship Series in both 1996 and 1997, but left to rejoin the Rangers after the 1998 season. Though he'll turn 40 on Sept. 24, Palmeiro has shown no signs of slowing down, playing in at least 154 games every year since 1995. Last season, he hit .260 with 38 home runs and 112 RBI. With 528 home runs and 2,780 hits, there's a chance Palmeiro could reach the 600-home run and 3,000 hit plateaus with two more healthy seasons. Unless the negotiations crumble at the last minute, Palmeiro could have a chance to reach those milestones as an Oriole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastime Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Peter Angelos just loves to throw money around, doesn't he? He has it to throw, I guess. However, he usually doesn't get anywhere near the bang for his buck. Plus, he's in a division with the Red Sox, Yankees, and Blue Jays. How much of a chance do the Orioles REALLY have? If they don't shore up their pitching staff more, it's just an exercise in futility. The White Sox are a great example and great proof that you can have all the offense you want - if you don't have good pitching, forget about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Rector Posted January 8, 2004 Author Share Posted January 8, 2004 Peter Angelos just loves to throw money around, doesn't he? He has it to throw, I guess. However, he usually doesn't get anywhere near the bang for his buck. Plus, he's in a division with the Red Sox, Yankees, and Blue Jays. How much of a chance do the Orioles REALLY have? If they don't shore up their pitching staff more, it's just an exercise in futility. The White Sox are a great example and great proof that you can have all the offense you want - if you don't have good pitching, forget about it. The same could be said about the Kansas City Royals that used about 15 different pitchers last year as starters and despite a number of ballyhooed pickups in their offfense have yet to address that team's starting pitching. Its also interesting that ex-pitcher Mike Flanagin is in O's management and does not seem to be aware that the Orioles weakness in 2003 was their pitching, not their offense. Of course, this could be part of a 2 year plan: 1st year spruce up the offense, 2nd year the pitching gets upgraded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soxfan420 Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 The same could be said about the Kansas City Royals that used about 15 different pitchers last year as starters and despite a number of ballyhooed pickups in their offfense have yet to address that team's starting pitching. because there isnt much pitching out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I think Baltimore's main concern right now is to put fannies in the seats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastime Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 because there isnt much pitching out there. I just said that on another thread. The state of pitching is as bad as I can ever remember it. A lot of it has to do with expansion. Because there are so many teams now, there's probably 50-100 pitchers in baseball today that wouldn't have even sniffed the majors in the old days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBAHO Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Well I think this puts us in the drivers seat for Sidney Ponson now. Baltimore can not hav enough money to sign both Vlad and Ponson when they hav already signed Miggy and now Palmeiro. Also this will prob mean that KW will not want to trade Konerko now since the guy he wanted to replace him is about to get signed by another team. Baltimore still needs a lot of pitchin though bf they can think about makin da playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastime Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I know how WE feel about GIDPaul Konerko, but I would really be interested to know what other teams REALLY think about him and how they view him. In other words, is he a valuable commodity that another team would really want to have, or is he just a fading player whose worth is dropping rapidly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Rector Posted January 8, 2004 Author Share Posted January 8, 2004 because there isnt much pitching out there. I just said that on another thread. The state of pitching is as bad as I can ever remember it. A lot of it has to do with expansion. Because there are so many teams now, there's probably 50-100 pitchers in baseball today that wouldn't have even sniffed the majors in the old days. Another possiblity is that the widespread use of steroids has made it that much harder to get hitters out with the result that today's pitchers have to play harder than than their predecessors did, leading to more frequent injuries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBAHO Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I know how WE feel about GIDPaul Konerko, but I would really be interested to know what other teams REALLY think about him and how they view him. In other words, is he a valuable commodity that another team would really want to have, or is he just a fading player whose worth is dropping rapidly? I think most teams know that he's goin to rebound this year and put up sum really good numbers. Plus he's not a clubhouse cancer but at his salary u really hav to be a sure thing and then teams will want ya more. His 2003 year has scared off a lot of suitors, othawise it coulda been him and not Sexson or Derrick Lee that got dealt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastime Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Everytime I hear former pitchers talk about the state of pitching, they always say the same thing: the hitters are bigger and stronger, the league has too many teams, and the ballparks are smaller. It's probably a combination of all of those reasons. However, I think you would agree with me when I say that pitching nowadays is pretty mediocre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I know how WE feel about GIDPaul Konerko, but I would really be interested to know what other teams REALLY think about him and how they view him. In other words, is he a valuable commodity that another team would really want to have, or is he just a fading player whose worth is dropping rapidly? He's not "a fading player". He's what? 27 or 28? He just had a bad year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastime Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 DBAHO, I agree. If he hadn't fallen off production-wise last season, he would probably be already traded somewhere. If we do trade him, I'll miss watching him run the bases. Most players are timed with a stopwatch - Paul is timed with a sundial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soxfan420 Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 DBAHO, I agree. If he hadn't fallen off production-wise last season, he would probably be already traded somewhere. If we do trade him, I'll miss watching him run the bases. Most players are timed with a stopwatch - Paul is timed with a sundial. doesnt he have the same hip problems has albert belle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastime Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I hear different things from different people. Some people say that Paul has a "trick hip," while others say he has the same degenerative disease that Albert Belle had. Who knows what to believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Rector Posted January 8, 2004 Author Share Posted January 8, 2004 As of the moment, PK's hip problems are an Internet rumor, not anything that's ever been confirmed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastime Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 If it's an Internet rumor, then it MUST be true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elrockinMT Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Everytime I hear former pitchers talk about the state of pitching, they always say the same thing: the hitters are bigger and stronger, the league has too many teams, and the ballparks are smaller. It's probably a combination of all of those reasons. However, I think you would agree with me when I say that pitching nowadays is pretty mediocre. It could be cyclical also. Pitching dominated in the late 50's through the 60's and MLB tinkered with the mound, etc. Teams made a big push on improving their offense training, coaching, etc, all the way up from the minors to the bigs. Baseball wanted more offense thinking that would bring in more fans. Ballparks brought in the fences, the Sox quit freezing baseballs and adjusting the foul lines for bunts, etc, etc. Pitching may eventually get the same rapt attention and we will see a return to some dominance by hurlers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steff Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Well I think this puts us in the drivers seat for Sidney Ponson now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFan562004 Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I think it is very odd that the article didn't mention anything about Ponson, this leads me to believe there's no clear indication on the Ponson front for any team and he could sign with anybody at this point... I get a sneaky feeling a suprise team could come out of nowhere and sign him (Tigers, Diamondbacks, or Devil Rays possibly) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steff Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I think it is very odd that the article didn't mention anything about Ponson, this leads me to believe there's no clear indication on the Ponson front for any team and he could sign with anybody at this point... I get a sneaky feeling a suprise team could come out of nowhere and sign him (Tigers, Diamondbacks, or Devil Rays possibly) I'm assuming you didn't see this... "In other Orioles news: Though no formal offers have been made, the Orioles are still working to re-sign starting pitcher Sidney Ponson, with vice president Mike Flanagan spearheading the negotiations. "Mike and I have had several conversations during the past week," Ponson's agent, Barry Praver said, "and there appears to be mutual interest. But I would not want to handicap the outcome. I believe both the Orioles and Sidney would like to see this resolved one way or another in the next couple days." http://www.sunspot.net/sports/baseball/bal...sports-baseball Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan4life_2003 Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1703268 WOW....If this happens and they get any kinda pitching NY and Boston r in trouble... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan4life_2003 Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 My bad. I can see a thread was already started on this topic. SORRY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonxctf Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 now only if they had some pitching they could hang with NY and BOS. adding Javier Lopez, Vlad, Rafael, Tejada and maybe even getting Ponson back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wong & Owens Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 For whatever reason, the Orioles are using the Texas Rangers as a model of how to build a baseball team. Nice pitching staff, you're still a 4th place team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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