O's reach agreement with Cesar Izturis

by Reddrummer9187 on Dec 10, 2008 11:07 AM EST Comment 53 comments

Heres the link to MLB Trade Rumors:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/12/orioles-reach-a.html

It looks like we have a new #9 hitter! At least this shortstop can play some defense hopefully. He's a stopgap for sure, but i'm still trying to figure out what the other side of the gap is. If we have one shortstop all next year it will be a success, even if he has an OPS under .700 and only plays average defense.

UPDATE: I edited this title and posting a little. First of all, Izturis isn't actually signed yet, and it seems like he won't be for a few days at least. Second, the mlb rumors post is just links to two other articles where the actual reporting is: ESPN and The Sun.

This blog gets picked up by a lot of aggregators now. We just have to be careful that we don't get into a situation like they had at OH last year where they announce a trade that never happens. Carry on.... -zk

FanPosts are user-created content and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of Camden Chat or SB Nation. They might, though.

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he has a decent glove, a decent arm...

has some speed, but is a classic no offense shortstop. He may help with his speed on the base paths since he had 24 steals last season with the Redbirds.

His numbers of .263/.319/.309/.628 last season won’t inspire fear in most pitchers. But, he is a good glove and that should be a improvement for the O’s is my first thought on him.

"The main idea is to win"-John McGraw

by Orioles 1894 on Dec 10, 2008 11:21 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

i look forward to not having to hold my breath every time a ball is hit to the shortstop… word on the street is that the yankees agreed to terms with sabbathia

What up?

by snakethejake on Dec 10, 2008 11:23 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

yeah, I read 7 years at $160 million....

also see they want Sheets, Manny and…. well the list goes on and on…..

"The main idea is to win"-John McGraw

by Orioles 1894 on Dec 10, 2008 11:28 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

yeah lowe and burnett as well.. a whole nother argument but baseball really needs a salary cap.

What up?

by snakethejake on Dec 10, 2008 11:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

wow

$300 million salary for ‘09. That’s why they’re the Mother Fucking Yankees.

"This world extends way beyond this little field of dreams we're dancing in and I want to see that world"

by exitfare on Dec 10, 2008 12:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

well CC takes them out of the Tex running… so one down, like 4 to go..

What up?

by snakethejake on Dec 10, 2008 12:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

since when?

What’s another 200 million to these guys?

by math_geek on Dec 10, 2008 1:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hardly

They’re not bringing Giambi back, so that’s $25M/year in savings right there

This will be my signature until the Orioles get a real SS.

by CoachOfEarl on Dec 10, 2008 1:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Plus his food bill

"This world extends way beyond this little field of dreams we're dancing in and I want to see that world"

by exitfare on Dec 10, 2008 1:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

wish the O's could have a $300 million salary.......

can you imagine what it would be like?

"The main idea is to win"-John McGraw

by Orioles 1894 on Dec 10, 2008 4:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The hilarious part of the CC deal

is that the last 4 years are option years, in case CC doesn’t like playing for the MFY. What are the odds?

This will be my signature until the Orioles get a real SS.

by CoachOfEarl on Dec 10, 2008 12:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe CC will tire

of exiting the playoffs after the first round

"This world extends way beyond this little field of dreams we're dancing in and I want to see that world"

by exitfare on Dec 10, 2008 12:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He could have stayed on the Brewers

Or signed with LAD or LAAOOCCA.

This will be my signature until the Orioles get a real SS.

by CoachOfEarl on Dec 10, 2008 1:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i can't find any evidence that this is true

the espn article has it as a straight-up 7 year deal

by pipkin on Dec 10, 2008 1:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

OK it's a rumor

but here’s the source

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-sabathiayankees121008

This will be my signature until the Orioles get a real SS.

by CoachOfEarl on Dec 10, 2008 1:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

again

this

The Yankees get Sabathia, the Mets get K-rod, and the Orioles get Ryan Freel.

by CoachOfEarl on Dec 10, 2008 1:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

wow

if that’s true…what a bad deal for the yankees. CC can opt-out and get an even better offer. Of, if he stinks, the Yankees are still on the hook.

Over half the length of the contract is basically a player option! sheesh.

by pipkin on Dec 10, 2008 1:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

law mentioned it too on his write-up

he doesn’t like it either.

I can definitely see him having three good years and then jetting if some West Coast team is looking to spend.

by pipkin on Dec 10, 2008 4:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Here's the same from Schmuck

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/schmuck/2008/12/izturis_looks_like_the_guy.html

The Orioles have all but finalized a two-year contract with free agent shortstop Cesar Izturis (right) that is believed to be worth about $6 million — according to a pair of sources close to the situation — but may have to wait until after the winter meetings to announce the deal because he almost certainly will be required to undergo a physical.

Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail would only say that he has been making solid progress in the negotiations with Izturis’s agent, but his upbeat response to inquiries about the negotiations seem to point to the situation being very advanced.

The range of possibilities has narrowed over the past few days, but after Adam Everett signed with the Detroit Tigers, MacPhail said he was still happy with the way the shortstop situation was playing out. He seemed to indicate that the team is about to clear its offseason schedule to the point where it can focus entirely on the more complicated matter of adding a couple of veteran pitchers to the starting rotation.

He’s not the future but he’s decent. Especially given Dr. Orpheus’s post about the current state of shortshops.

[Guthrie's] president of my heart. ~PhilR8

by Stacey on Dec 10, 2008 11:28 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Awesome

Now I can change my signature

This will be my signature until the Orioles get a real SS.

by CoachOfEarl on Dec 10, 2008 11:36 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

test

This will be my signature until the Orioles get a real SS
The Yankees get Sabathia, the Mets get K-rod, and the Orioles get Ryan Freel.

by CoachOfEarl on Dec 10, 2008 1:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

nice

What up?

by snakethejake on Dec 10, 2008 10:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Defensive analysis link dump

SS defense by PMR

SS by total production

Starting SS by RZR

I think these are CHONE numbers

This can only do good things for our team ERA.

This will be my signature until the Orioles get a real SS.

by CoachOfEarl on Dec 10, 2008 11:50 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Is there any 3 year averages?

I checked the fielding bible but I couldn’t find any. From what I understand, trusting one year’s worth of data is a sketchy. Miguel Tejada is the leading SS in 2008 in terms of RZR.

by birdman on Dec 10, 2008 12:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fair enough

He missed time in 06/07, which is probably what kept him off the 3-year FB list.

RZR is a weird stat, not good for ranking imo but gives a pretty good idea of a person’s range, more so than range factor. You can CTRL + select multiple years on that page, but it still only picks out individual seasons. 08 and 04 show up in the top 10.

To get a full picture of a player’s range, you should evaluate both his Revised Zone Rating and his plays made out of zone (OOZ).

I’m not sure why they don’t make RZR = (outs + OOZ) / BIZ, which should take care of that.

He won a gold glove in 04 fwiw.

This will be my signature until the Orioles get a real SS.

by CoachOfEarl on Dec 10, 2008 1:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Schmuck reports 2 years at 6 million total. About as little a number as we could possibly get away with signing a shortstop.

It’s a good signing, and leaves our holes to really just starting pitching if we let Aubrey play 1st base and Luke DH. Plus whatever we decide to trade away.

by math_geek on Dec 10, 2008 11:58 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I am happy about this signing for two reasons

1. An average player will be at the position
2. Hopefully I will never see Fahey at SS ever again.

"This world extends way beyond this little field of dreams we're dancing in and I want to see that world"

by exitfare on Dec 10, 2008 12:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Will he continue his position as Huff’s batboy?

by mpire on Dec 10, 2008 12:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Let's hope so

Anything that keeps him off of the diamond

"This world extends way beyond this little field of dreams we're dancing in and I want to see that world"

by exitfare on Dec 10, 2008 12:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

thank you

i’m glad Fahey makes someone else’s eyes as sour as mine we he plays…..

by fearthechant on Dec 10, 2008 3:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm OK with this signing

If Izturis is really a plus fielder.

We shall see.

by dkdc on Dec 10, 2008 12:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

My dream Orioles lineup would be guys who are all plus defenders

I would love to route for a team that does all the little things right like you have to do to play good defense. I don’t ask for greatness, just adequacy and effort.

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey

by jobe on Dec 11, 2008 12:05 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i don't want little things if they all can't hit

a stopgap shortstop who can’t hit? fine.

otherwise, get me some big donkeys who can mash the ball. let’s play earl weaver style.

by pipkin on Dec 11, 2008 1:03 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Sorry

I’m kind of going through a moneyball/OBP baseball backlash right now.

by jobe on Dec 11, 2008 2:32 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i’ve always felt that it should be that way with a shortstop though, if he can hit that’s just an extra perk, but the defense should come first.. other positions, i.e. first base and third base should have power hitting and good defense..

What up?

by snakethejake on Dec 11, 2008 7:00 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Pretty good

Didn’t want/expect two years, but I guess thats what it took.

by UMterp08 on Dec 10, 2008 12:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

He's 28

did you really think we were going to find a better option in 2010? An extra year is irrelevant as it will be a long time before we develop a Shortstop.

by math_geek on Dec 10, 2008 12:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

At $3M/year

We should have signed him for 4 years.

This will be my signature until the Orioles get a real SS.

by CoachOfEarl on Dec 10, 2008 1:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

given that we are nt going to be competative

I see no harm in installing a dirt cheap + defender, even if he can’t hit. Our miserable pitching would be aided quite a bit by a real short stop, and he isn’t so expensive that we can’t easily shift him to backup for a year if something better comes along/ we feel we may be competitive in 2010. Meanwhile, this makes A lot more sense than trading anyone, or signing a type A free agent and giving up draft picks.

by ItsBenFeldman on Dec 10, 2008 1:38 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

good pickup

I think this is a great pickup for the price – fewer strikeouts, more speed, good glove should net a few more wins. Probably would help to hit the weight room this off season, but did have a pretty good Aug/Sep, where his OPS hit .692 with a .311 average. Maybe he’s turned the corner.

I think MacPhail did a pretty good job landing this one.

by Slobbity on Dec 10, 2008 1:50 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

he doesn't need to hit the weights

he’s never going to be a good hitter. we don’t want him turning into Willie Mays Hays here. Just stick to what you’re good at.

by pipkin on Dec 10, 2008 1:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Defense

according to BP, Izturis has been worth 33 FRAA/ and 143 FRAR over his career in 800 games at short (6 FRAA AND 26 FRAR over a full season)

In contrast the 5 men who manned shorstop for us last year:

Bynum (-3 FRAA, 4 FRAR in 52 games)
Fahey (-2 FRAA, 8 FRAR in 81 games)
Castro (18 FRAA, 77 FRAR in 510 games)
Hernandez (2 FRAA, 9 FRAR in 53 games)
Cintron (-17 FRAA, 31 FRAR in 383 games)

so only Luis and Juan Castro can approach his defense. And as weak as Izturis is offensively, he is far superior to Catro (with a career batting line of .228/.268/.331) Castro has been 56 runs BELOW replacement in his career in only 2372 at bats. Izturis has also been a below replacement lifetime hitter, but ~~24 in 3165 at bats~~ still brutal, but, per 500 at bats, about 5 runs better than Castro.

Luis Hernandez was a run below replacement level in 148 at bats with the O’s. But keep in mind that this is a tiny sample size and IS SUPERIOR TO HIS PLAY AT EVERY MINOR LEAGUE LEVEL. Meaning that he would almost certainly NOT hit even that “well” if sent out there this year.

Given all this, I see this as a 1 win upgrade on the low end, 2 win upgrade on the high end, just looking at short. Given that this will help clear some weak bodies of the bench, it is better than that, as it will allow us to carry an extra bat, instead of a 3rd shortstop.

So yeah, as much as he sucks, its still a 1-3 win upgrade for 2009.

by ItsBenFeldman on Dec 10, 2008 1:58 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Z, you're so proper :)

[Guthrie's] president of my heart. ~PhilR8

by Stacey on Dec 10, 2008 3:49 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Good contract. I’ll give Andy an A+ on this deal if Izturis is an actual filler and not the solution.

I’m reserving my comments until the winter meetings are over.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Dec 10, 2008 3:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

This is what I'm saying as well

It’s certainly not a great signing or the solution for the void at short, but if this is the guy that fills in until a young guy can take the reigns in a couple years, I’m content.

by Dr Orpheus on Dec 10, 2008 4:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I may be wrong

but it seems to me that simply identifying the problem, having a course of action to correct said problem(s), and actually following through with part or all of that plan(s) is what we are really happy about. Like a corner has been turned and the team is no longer wandering the winter meetings, spring training, 99% of the season looking for bad contracts and bad players.

Always trust your cape. -Guy Clark

by BPinOK on Dec 10, 2008 5:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

not wrong...

i think establishing consistent, baseline competence at the upper echelons of the org is a huge step in the right direction. can’t remember where i read it this am, but dan evans said he was real impressed w/ the o’s approach w/ kawakami (i.e. they had done their homework on how to handle a dude from npl)…to me, that’s indicative of a team w/ a plan.

"When people ask me what my motivation is, I have a simple answer: Money."

--Jerry Reed, on acting

by j.q. higgins on Dec 10, 2008 6:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I just got giddy again

You’re both right. MacPhail continuing to execute the plan he set out when he arrived is huge. Now, I wonder if part of that plan is letting Huff walk and collecting the draft picks or trading him midseason. Also, if the infield can be addressed more so then simply finding depth for the minors and possible utility guys for the future.

by Dr Orpheus on Dec 10, 2008 6:21 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You're certainly not wrong

But Andy has yet to reach the hard part. Getting a shortstop who looks to be a filler is fine, but if Andy can’t deliver the long term solution, his rhetoric is meaningless. I’ve been the biggest MacPhail fan as he seems to want a complete youth movement, but the guy still has to produce.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Dec 10, 2008 9:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

According to Rosenthal

the physical is set for tomorrow, after which the deal can be officially announced.

[Guthrie's] president of my heart. ~PhilR8

by Stacey on Dec 10, 2008 4:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Like the move

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/izturis-signs-wood-update Fangraphs did an analysis. The move is cost effective, and while Izturis is only worth 2-3 wins above replacement in a vacuum, when you consider the cavalcade of bums the O’s trotted out to play short last year, he might add three to four wins to the Orioles. Regardless, he’ll definitely improve the teams record by a game or two.

Next stop, 75 wins! Whooooo!

by TheImpossibleMan on Dec 10, 2008 6:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs