It doesn’t appear Orioles general manager Dan Duquette is planning to initiate extension talks with contract-year shortstop Manny Machado. “I would never say never, but we’re going to be more focused on ’18 than beyond,” Duquette told Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. “I don’t really know what’s going to happen beyond that.” Machado, Duquette, manager Buck Showalter, center fielder Adam Jones and relievers Zach Britton and Brad Brach are all scheduled to become free agents after the season, leading Duquette to admit to Feinsand that 2018 will be the last hurrah for this particular Orioles core. If he stays the GM into 2019, Duquette hasn’t closed the door on spending in free agency next winter, but he also isn’t dismissing the idea of a rebuild. Regarding a potential teardown, Duquette offered: “There is some logic toward doing that, right? You get the premium picks in the Draft and they can become the core players for your next championship club. A lot of this is timing; it’s cyclical.”
More from the AL…
- The Twins are “unlikely” to sign any of the top remaining free agent starters – Jake Arrieta, Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn – Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio hears (Twitter link). On paper, anyone from that group would bolster Minnesota’s rotation, which will go without injured No. 1 starter Ervin Santana to open the season, but the club hasn’t shown a willingness to meet their asking prices. Even without any of them on the books, the Twins are already on track to begin the year with a franchise-record Opening Day payroll (approximately $121.83MM).
- Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi is projected to start the year in the Rays’ rotation, but as a two-time Tommy John surgery patient, he faces long odds of making an impact, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times details. Only 31 other pitchers have made it back to the majors after undergoing a second Tommy John, which Eovaldi had as a Yankee in August 2016, while just 11 returned to start, per Topkin. That 11-man group (which Topkin lists) doesn’t offer a ton of hope, but Eovaldi is nonetheless banking on continuing as a starter. “I definitely want to be a starter and hold it out throughout the entire year,” he said. “As of now, we haven’t had any limitations, and we haven’t even talked about it.” The flamethrowing Eovaldi was a major league-caliber starter with the Dodgers, Marlins and Yankees from 2011-16, so it’s understandable that he and the Rays want to see him continue in that role. Although, his contract does include $2.375MM in relief incentives, Topkin notes.
What an aimless position Duq has taken. Absolute garbage.
Classic Duke!
Never a clear direction
Never? Really?
I think Duquette has likely had his fill of Peter Angelos. Even if Angelos offers him an extension, I see him passing on it.
What’s aimless about refusing to pay $300M-400M it would probably take for an extension? give Dan credit.
maybe if Machado comes out and says he’ll take a hometown discount, or want to stay, then you guys might have a point.
Duquette is a lame duck. He obviously is gone after this year and is not allowed to do anything w/o approval , and he knows any proposed move for beyond 2018 wont be approved easily if at all so why bother.
Agreed! While I’m not a big Duquette fan it would make sense to rebuild with a lame duck GM and Manager. This too falls on Angelos who I would wonder if he might be suffering from some form of dementia? So?
He’s 88, so it’s definitely a possibility. If Angelos is determined to keep Machado the entire year and getting only a comp round draft pick when all is said and done, he’s either mentally unsound or dead set on cutting off his nose to spite his face.
I appreciate the Orioles always reminding us Mets fans that we only have the second most irrational management/ownership group on the east coast.
If they’re focused solely on 2018 then why did they sign like no one at all? If this is the Orioles when they are focused I’d hate to see the unfocused version.
What do you mean? They signed Andrew Cashner and Colby Rasmus!
Sarcasm is the best medicine for a thread like this one……LOL
Thank You JD!
ROFL!!! Thank you for that. O’s acquisitions this winter have been nothing but roster spackling. The best moves they made were NOT bringing back Miley or Jimenez
The Orioles ownership is definitely not irrational. It’s very logical, so long as you remember that Angelos is a lawyer by trade and is risk-averse by nature. His actions have been very logical, just not very baseball-fan friendly.
I don’t think the orioles have the capital to extend machado and pay the other players on the team too
They have one of the most advantageous network deals since they also have most of the Nationals’ deal (deservedly so, as this was the agreement when they moved). But they have a very nice income stream that other small markets would kill for.
the Orioles have no direction right now.. the future looks like 100 loss seasons
Did you read the article or even follow baseball? It’s very clear that the Orioles are all in this year before they will be forced to throw in the towel next year. Although I wouldn’t expect a miami/houston/Chicago style rebuild.
Do you follow baseball? They came last in the division last year, lost one of the best relievers in baseball, and added nobody
Similar to the jays who added Curtis granderson, Yangervis Solarte and Randal grichuk in their attempt to get over the hump.
How “all in” do you believe the Orioles to be? they added some mediocre pieces as always and still don’t come off as a playoff caliber team to me…
And as an avid Orioles fan, you’re correct. I can’t wait until Angelos is gone and someone that is actually baseball minded and not cash driven is running/owning the team.
I hear Jeffery Loria is looking for a new team……..Oh Wait….
.LOL
…be very careful for what you wish for. It can always be worse.
What if????
The Yanks & Sox pass on Machado?
The bidding war will be a lot less. That Stanton trade really screwed a lot of players. Think about it.
The weakest link in their (Yanks & Sox) outfield is JBJ. Or Hicks. So Harper isn’t truly a possibility either. All due to Stanton.
I could also see Stanton opting out IF the Yanks win a WS. Why stay when you can go home to LA.
I can’t believe Angelos can’t see the writing on the wall. Should have traded while you could.
The Dodgers weren’t interested in bringing Stanton in this offseason for mere long shot prospects. If Stanton opts out he’ll want at least the 7/220 he’d have remaining. Why would the Dodgers go there for what will be a 31 year old DH at that time. Yanks are stuck with another ARod contract.
What If…????
If Stanton doesn’t Opt-Out, the Marlins owe the Yankees $30 Million.
What If….Instead of the opt-out…..Stanton requests a trade to the Dodgers after his opt-out date??? The Yankees get the 30 Million, and could send it and Stanton to the Dodgers……and get some excellent prospects in return.
Yanks would clear payroll…..and continue to feed the farm.
Stanton will NOT be a 31 yr-old DH at that time. He has fielding skills. He has a cannon for an arm. He’s NOT regressing that much in 3 years.
Stanton isn’t opting out of 7/220. That’s nothing but false hope if you think he would. Nobody’s giving him that again. He can hit 60 hrs again this year and he’s not going to see that money for that period of time. He will definitely be in regression by the end of that deal.
ummm, I don’t think the “prospect” pkg that ny would get would resemble anything that could be construed as “excellent” and “feeding the farm”. no salary responsibility would be ny’s prospect pkg…
The Stanton ship to LA is gone. Seager’s arm/elbow/arm is going to be a long term issue. I see him moving him to 2nd base and they’ll look at Machado at SS.
Davis = one hit wonder
750 is the wrong number to use since in any given season teams have a 40 man rosters not counting those player that move on or off the 40 man roster. Also studies have shown roughly 11 percent of the population may have ADHD. So 116/1200 is right in line with that number.
May have. That’s certainly not diagnosed. Anyway you want to slice it the number in the MLB is higher. I’m not sure the long term effects for a lot of these guys gives them any sort of advantage at all though.
Smart Move: Hold Machado, Jones and company til the trade deadline. Great play with a poor record will equal a trade. Poor play with a poor record will be harder to sell. Either way, expect big moves mid season from the seven nation army!
That would be a great plan, but we both know Angelos will find a way to screw it up. He’ll expect the moon AND the stars for each player, and if nobody is willing to pay that he’ll nix the deal.
Shortsided by the Twins. They have all this money coming off the books in 2019 and Lynn or Cobb puts them on par competing with the Indians. Santana is a free agent at seasons end because his option won’t vest due to the injury. This is amazingly short sided on Minnesota’s part in my opinion.
cman, can the Twins exercise Santana’s option? Or, is the only way it can be exercised is by him hitting the innings mark?
It’s mutual.
The problem is he’s not spending any of it because he thinks that stream is going away as MLB gives more to the Nats.
This should be deja vu for longtime Orioles fans like me. They signed Brady Anderson and Albert Belle to huge deals (to be fair, no one saw Belle’s hip problem coming). They gave a 34 year old injury prone David Segui big money (for the time) and got 1.25 seasons out of him for 4 years.. But they would not pay Mike Mussina and then spun it as him being a traitor when the Yankees paid him??? When Machado is wearing pinstripes or bouncing 55 doubles a year off the Green Monster for the home fans, and Schoop follows him out the door a year later I will not be surprised. I see a repeat of the 1998-2011 era coming. Meanwhile they’ll do something like kick the tires on Mark Reynolds when they already have Davis and Trumbo…wait, they are!
The good news is Peter Angelos won’t live forever, although I could see him cutting some kind of deal with the devil to live forever just so he can stay in control of the team.