December 31, 2006
The Right Huff?
Aubrey Huff reached an agreement with the Orioles.
The Orioles tried unsuccessfully to lure free-agent slugger Carlos Lee to Baltimore and also were unable to complete a deal for Atlanta Braves first baseman Adam LaRoche.
Their offseason search for an impact hitter produced little but frustration for the past month and a half, but that changed early yesterday morning. At about 2 a.m. yesterday, the Orioles agreed in principle on a three-year, $20 million deal with free agent Aubrey Huff, several industry sources confirmed.
Huff, a 30-year-old who can play first and third base and both corner outfield spots though is primarily valued for his bat, is expected to take a physical in Baltimore this week, possibly Wednesday. The deal will be finalized and announced if he passes his physical.
The question in my mind, is Huff really an impact player? The answer is clearly no. He peaked at ages 26 and 27, and really hasn't been that good since. He put up two 20 win share seasons at that age, and hasn't come close since. At age 30, I don't expect him to get suddenly better.
But the Orioles are really just spinning this as an impact signing. Hitters with decent stats are getting contract in the in high teens per year, not $20 million over three years. The Orioles were scraping the bottom of the barrel here, and trying to make the best of it. It's a typical Baltimore move of the last few years, picking up a player who was once good and now has limited upside. It does little to improve the team.
It's possible that the O's are doing about as well as they can (just talking about this offseason alone) considering they've had 9 straight losing seasons (which is the real problem and spans many differents management teams, only Angelos is the constant). Perhaps they could've/should've paid more then the Cubs for Soriano. Perhaps they could've/should've grossly overpaid for Lee, although the O's were most likely just being used by Lee and Lee's agent in that mini bidding war. Did they really have a shot at Schmidt or Pettite or Zito? Honestly? Should they have matched the contracts Lilly, Suppan and Meche got?
They decided to overspend on their bullpen. Probably not a great strategy but it could pay off, possibly.
They have improved their team though. The O's are being very patient with their young pitching. I figure their season comes down to this:
Markakis continuing to improve.
Bedard building on what we saw last year.
Cabrera and Loewen taking big steps forward.
The last two names are probably long shots to make big improvements, I don't know.
Where the O's, IMO, have really messed up the last few offseasons is when they completely messed up negotiations with Guerrero and Delgado. For a period of time it appeard that the O's were the only team negotiating with these players. In a depressed market the O's still felt as though they could lowball these players and pussy footed around until other teams swooped in - the Angels and Marlins.
I think this helps the O's out a bit. They have poor offensive options at three of the four corner spots, and Chris Gomez was their backup 1B/3B prior to Huff's acquisition. He's not a star player by any means, but he'll help out an O's lineup that has some holes in it.
the O's have made some solid minor league free agent signings (Knott, House, DuBois, Sing - they had also signed Phelps but lost him to the Yanks in the rule 5 - perhaps they get him back if the Yanks sign Minty)
Much of the reason for this, however, is that the O's are now out of Siberia... I mean, Ottawa and in Norfolk, and also because of the need for LHP mashers at the ML level.
I think it is a decent move as well. He is cetainly better than Hillenbrand who got not the years, but the same money per year.
I'm wondering if the O's are still going after Craig Wilson? The O's need to hit lefties better and Wilson can help a ton with that. Or do they think one of their MLFA's, House, Knott or DuBois can fill that role?
guess we'll see.
As an O's fan, I can agree with your sentiment. I do think he if can do what he did in Tampa Bay, then it will be a bargain and he'll help to protect our most productive player offensively, Miguel Tejada.
However, if he can't produce like did in Tampa, this may be a bad signing and a waste of money.
I think this was done to placate the fanbase, and as well incrementally improve the team. The Orioles need another big bat and another top flight pitcher to even be a wild card contender.