Trachsel agrees in principle

by nittany lion on Feb 12, 2007 8:03 PM EST Comment 20 comments

That was quick. Hey you've got admire the front office jumping on this one, but what does it say about Trachsel's prospects that we could go from not needing him at all to signing him in one day?

UPDATE: It's official. He passed his physical today. (-zk, 2/14)

Veteran right-hander Steve Trachsel...finalized a one-year worth a guaranteed $3.1 million today. The contract includes a $4.75 million club option for 2007. He's not expected to report to Fort Lauderdale until Friday.

There's some stuff in there about the timing, too. His shoulder was "bothering him" in the offseason, so he went to Baltimore for an MRI in "late January", which is, like, 2-3 weeks ago.

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Hard to see

how the O's lose on this deal. Gives Perlozzo an oppurtunity to ease in Penn in a swingman role and gives you a chepa back-of-the-rotation guy to flip for cookies at the deadline when Penn or somenody else might be ready to start in Baltimore. Trachsel looks very similar to Benson, just older.

"Your best? Losers always whine about 'giving it their best.' Winners go home and fuck the prom queen."

"Carla was the prom queen."

by NHZ on Feb 12, 2007 8:08 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

They knew

The FO knew of Benson's injury for the past few weeks. This gave them time to work things out with Trachel. He's a #3 starter at best, but he does have a knack for pitching well enough to win more games than his ERA would merit.

by Ralph Zig Tyko on Feb 12, 2007 11:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You know,

"it's well-known that members of the Orioles FO read this board."

Oh no, I'm sorry, that piece of smug-cockery is a quote from a different blog.

Ask, SC, and ye shall receive.

On a more serious note: Who here at CC possibly thought our FO would resolve this by the end of the day.

No Hayden Penn bullshit, no trying to bump up Paul Shuey. They just went out and got the best of what was available.

These guys are starting to look downright smart.

by zknower on Feb 12, 2007 9:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That was fast

I figured they would need to take a day or two work out incentives and clauses. But I guess Traschel didn't have any major league offers so it wasn't like his agent could leverage the O's bid against anyone.

Two things.

I'm not complaining against the signing but let's face. It's Steve Traschel. I'm going to predict that Traschel is out of the rotation by June 15th, if not off the roster.
Why not look into getting Pavano? He's been working out like a mad man over the winter and he's healthy (well, at least for now). I'm sure the Yanks would pay half of his remaining contract which would make him a low risk. Get him out of a city with a high density of models, he might start to concentrate better and become relevant again.

Big Bird says, "Get Pat the Bat!"

by birdman on Feb 12, 2007 10:40 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

re:

"I'm not complaining against the signing but let's face. It's Steve Traschel. I'm going to predict that Traschel is out of the rotation by June 15th, if not off the roster. "

My prediction when I heard this was that he'd be gone by the ASB, so we agree. He's a good filler until Penn or someone is ready.

Still would rather see a four-man rotation, but that ain't happening.

by pipkin on Feb 13, 2007 1:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You don't want Pavano

pitching for you unless the Yankees are picking up about 90% percent of his contract, if at all. Trachsel comes at 1/3 the price of Pavano, doesn't cost the Orioles any prospect, and has a track record better than Benson's.

"Your best? Losers always whine about 'giving it their best.' Winners go home and fuck the prom queen."

"Carla was the prom queen."

by NHZ on Feb 12, 2007 11:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Right...

the priority at this point, IMO, has to be to add depth and let everyone compete in ST.

You don't replace an injured pitcher with a guy sporting an albatross contract and who hasn't pitched with any effectiveness, if at all, in almost two seasons.

"[Jason] Giambi walks too much. He's clogging up the bases with all that walking." - Tim McCarver

by Wade Boggs Hair on Feb 13, 2007 4:19 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I rather have

Ryan O'Malley!

by merdon1332000 on Feb 12, 2007 11:08 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Nice

I can't say I'm thrilled about having Trachsel on the team, but under the circumstances he was the best option available and the Orioles didn't dick around getting him for a change. This represents a HUGE improvement for the Warehouse.

Oriole Magic! Feel it Happen!

by Mike Boehm on Feb 12, 2007 11:20 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

word

I was going to say that, pretty much word-for-word.

"I don't want any credit. I'm not looking for credit. You know what? I don't want any blame if we're horse shit, either." -- Jim Leyland

by SC on Feb 13, 2007 2:14 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Create some Competition

They have a glut of mediocrity in the bullpen, why not do the same in the rotation.

Ryan Drese, Yusaku Iriki, Jose Lima, Brian Moehler, Victor Santos and Glendon Rusch, to my knowledge, are still available. Why not try to get some of them on minor league deals with ST invites and let them try to earn a spot? If nothing else, it might motivate Hayden Penn a bit...

"[Jason] Giambi walks too much. He's clogging up the bases with all that walking." - Tim McCarver

by Wade Boggs Hair on Feb 13, 2007 4:23 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

of those guys

I would be interested in Rusch. And mmmaybe Drese. And Lima, because fuck it, you know? LIMA TIME. BAP BAP BAP

"I don't want any credit. I'm not looking for credit. You know what? I don't want any blame if we're horse shit, either." -- Jim Leyland

by SC on Feb 13, 2007 4:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

LIMA TIME

I bet Jose would make his hair bright orange for his starts...between him and Millar goofing around the Orioles would be the loosest losing team in a long time!

"[Jason] Giambi walks too much. He's clogging up the bases with all that walking." - Tim McCarver

by Wade Boggs Hair on Feb 13, 2007 9:42 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

re:

Yes, they have a long history of being loose, happy, and content during Peter the Terrible's benign reign. Lima could only help.

by drj on Feb 13, 2007 10:05 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

also, they'd have herpes

by pipkin on Feb 13, 2007 12:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Even if he has herpes...

LIMA TIME has more postseason victories, 1, than the rest of the Orioles starters combined.

...plus he'd color his hair orange

"[Jason] Giambi walks too much. He's clogging up the bases with all that walking." - Tim McCarver

by Wade Boggs Hair on Feb 13, 2007 4:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Rusch

Glendon is going to sit out 2007 (or at least most of it) to deal with the blood clot issues from last year. He's not an option til next year.

by thecubsfan on Feb 13, 2007 3:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Optimistic

Given the circumstances (not knowing about Benson's injury until ??? and that they're the Orioles FO) this is a really good move. I'm surprised at how quickly they acted.

"Jaret Wright will be the missing piece in the Orioles quest to return to respectability." --- Jaret Wright's Mom

by BrianS on Feb 13, 2007 8:53 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Damn, I was hoping for an agreement in principle..

Oh well, if all we can get is something in principal-- and I for one hope it isn't Principal Skinner, whom I've always sort of admired (although he hasn't thrown his mother off a train yet)-- then I guess that's what we'll take. And actually, the other principal here ($3-3.5 m) is relatively modest for this product, who seems to have been able to get hitters to contribute when he showed up-- which, for whatever reasons it happens, is always a Good Thing. As the man said, there's nothing more strategic than a single, a walk and a 3-run homer...

by Titov on Feb 14, 2007 2:09 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

haha

I didn't even notice it. That's probably because I read things without thinking about them 99% of the time. Which explains my numerous typos and missing words that would make for sentences that aren't gibberish if they were there.

"I don't want any credit. I'm not looking for credit. You know what? I don't want any blame if we're horse shit, either." -- Jim Leyland

by SC on Feb 14, 2007 10:14 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs