The Orioles announced that they have signed Randy Winn to a minor league deal and invited him to Spring Training. The 36-year-old will provide depth behind outfielders Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Felix Pie and Nolan Reimold.
Winn has not made the playoffs in 13 years at the Major League level, though he came close last year. The Yankees, who made it to the ALCS in 2010, signed him, but designated him for assignment after he struggled. The Cardinals picked him up, only to struggle down the stretch themselves.
In 233 plate appearances for the Yankees and Cardinals last year, Winn batted .239/.307/.356 and played all three outfield positions. He was an everyday player as recently as 2009, but at this point in his career, the switch-hitter is likely a bench player.
orioles just gave a single fingered salute to Vlad
lol, are you serious? winn isn’t going to make the club. they can still sign vlad
too bad he wont help Baltimore winn any games
I’m gonna bookmark this. That was really funny.
“That was really funny.”
Funny, I felt completely the opposite way about the comment.
It was sarcasm. I don’t actually bookmark comments, even if they are actually funny.
Does anyone seriously believe that anything Baltimore has done this off-season is going to lead to more wins? I don’t.
It’s only February. Shoot the Orioles could take 1st place and surprise the whole baseball world. I mean it’s easy to say a team will be good when you don’t play.
Yes! That is an explosive lineup.
I don’t think people realize how bad the Orioles were last year. The fact that they won 66 games is kind of astounding.
Look at the garbage they were running out at first, short and third in 2010:
1B: .625 OPS
SS: .549 OPS
3B: .668 OPS
Even if Lee, Hardy and Reynolds put up career worst numbers, they’ll each destroy the production that the O’s got from their positions last year.
That said, the O’s 2011 season hinges on the success/failure of Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta and Brad Bergesen. The offense will easily be much better than it was in 2010, but if those three pitchers don’t progress as the O’s expect them to, 2011 is going to be just as disappointing as 2010 was.
Yes. Even if Baltimore had done nothing this offseason, they’d have a chance of having a better year in 2011 than in 2010, just based on the maturing of young players. 2010 was beyond horrendous, at least until Buck showed up and Roberts returned.
Their lineup is flawed, and their pitching remains vulnerable to injuries and immaturity, but this team has a lot more upside potential than any team they’ve had since the late 90s. Problem for the O’s is the Red Sox, Blue Jays and Rays are lot better too than they were in the late 90s.
Is it possible that they are signing Vlad and trading Pie?
So you are saying, you can’t have your Pie and Vladimir too?
I don’t think they’re trading Pie … The O’s don’t really have any other players capable of manning CF when Adam Jones needs a night off. And, no, Winn is not that player.
If anything, Winn is headed to AAA because they expect Reimold to be on the major league roster.
I see this purely as depth in case of injury. Pie did miss several months with injury last year, and Jones doesn’t have a perfect health record either. When Pie went down, Corey Patterson came in and at least provided replacement level at-bats (we don’t have any decent outfield prospects in the upper minors – the best is Matt Angle, a good fielding CF with a .640 OPS in AAA – probably needs some more work).
This is the baseball equivalent of of buying whatever Chuck Norris is trying to sell you on TV every saturday at 6:00 am… you’re never going to use it because you know it doesn’t really work, waste of money and the shipping to get it there.
Get ready to watch him strike out, immediately take off elbow guard and helmet, and place it on home plate. Everytime. It’s his strike out ritual
I could see them in 2nd place, behind the red sox. Look at that lineup! Plus it could get even better with Vlad!
Agree, Orioles are going to be solid this season.
While I agree that the O’s have improved significantly, they are not going to win 90+ games this year. The division has tightened but the roster improvements don’t add to over 30 games. I can honestly see them jumping over the Blue Jays but no way the come in second.
Winn’s dilemma last year seemed to be that coming from being an everyday player to a bench player, he was not able to make the adjustment. Older players especially have that problem at the end of their careers. With the Yankees he’d play 2 days in a row and then sit 4 days and he never could get a groove going. When he went to St. Loius he got more playing time and performed a lot better. Good luck to him , because he’s a quality guy.
Yawn.
WHAT IS VLAD THINKING ABOUT? DOES HE NEED ANOTHER DOMINICAN ON THE TEAM TO SPEAK TOO? JUST TELL HIM MATUZ IS DOMINICAN.
Shouldn’t this have been Corey Patterson’s spot? That aging vet who can play all three outfield spots and barely hit?
I believe Patterson signed a minor league deal with the Jays a while ago. Too bad, I liked the guy as a 4th OF.
He did indeed. He is likely to end up being the 4th outfielder for the Jays. May get some playing time, as the team is like to focus on speed more this season.
Yeah, that’s kinda what I meant. If you’re gonna sign Winn, why not just sign Patterson to the same deal? It was a bit disappointing seeing him leave…
I guess at this point though with Vlad signed there wouldn’t be many at bats for Patterson anyway…
another way too say helping AAA with outfield
I would have preferred Lastings Milledge btw.
I still can’t help but feel bad for Winn, he’ll likely retire after this year. His decline has to be the steepest I’ve seen in recent years. I thought his last season with the Giants was awful, he did worse last year I hate to say it but I don’t think he’ll be as lucky as Aubrey Huff he likely won’t make the playoffs let alone the WS.
randy winn is the worst player i’ve ever seen, i can’t believe the yankees played him so much last year