Contract year, small ballpark.

That fat bum.

Ah well, I’m guessing the prospects aren’t much. Maybe a coupla live arms that are mostly projection? Either that or older guys repeating AA who might stick as relievers.

This gives us a collection of Luke Scott, Adam Jones, Ryan Freel, Nolan Reimhold, Lou Montanez, Nick Markakis on out forty man roster. Can we keep five outfielders? Does that mean that we lose Montanez? If we can’t keep five, do we lose Scott or just send Reimhold to AAA? Finally, what happens if we get Felix Pie also?

What the heck are we going to do with seven outfielders if we get Pie?

Still, no need to keep Hernandez, although it will be effing hilarious not to have a single catcher on our 40 man roster (Quiroz was outrighted).

O’s make first real move of off-season to clear room for Weiters

…Hustly McDirt ought to make up for Ramon’s laziness in the eyes of fans who don’t like the word ‘quantifiable.’ Not that Ramon’s quantifiable stats were any better.

And based on personal observation I have never seen a catcher less willing to block the plate than Ramon. I mean honestly, it was always “let me get two steps in front of the plate then dive back at the runner to try to make the tag as he scores.”

may actually be halfway decent, depending on how much $$$ we’re sending to Cincinnati.

Also, so much for MacPhail being too slow to get anything done…

Let the Matt Wieters era begin!!!

Hard to really know what to think about this without knowing the two prospects or how much money we are saving. It’s good to get rid of Razor and make room, but Freel is completely worthless. He is a worse hitter than Ramon at a less demanding defensive position, although granted, Ramon isn’t exactly adequate defensively.

Farney

Freel gained some notoriety in August of 2006 when The Dayton Daily News reported that Freel talks to an imaginary voice in his head named Farney.1 Said Freel: “He’s a little guy who lives in my head who talks to me and I talk to him. That little midget in my head said, ‘That was a great catch, Ryan,’ I said, ‘Hey, Farney, I don’t know if that was you who really caught that ball, but that was pretty good if it was.’ Everybody thinks I talk to myself, so I tell ‘em I’m talking to Farney.”2 Freel later said that Farney’s name arose from a conversation with Reds trainer Mark Mann: "He actually made a comment like, ‘How are the voices in your head?’ We’d play around and finally this year he said, ’What’s the guy’s name?’ I said, ’Let’s call him Farney.’ So now everybody’s like, ‘Run, Farney, run’ or ‘Let Farney hit today. You’re not hitting very well.’

It’s gonna be another interesting year…

Hey, I love him as much as anybody. But let’s face the reality of our logjam in left. We can play Reimold and Montanez as stop gaps for a season. We are going to suck this year anyways. Luke actually played well enough where maybe we can get a pitcher of sorts. Unless we get some pitchers soon we are going to have the bullpen committee literally starting games.

I hope Freel never touches the field. The O’s are embarrassing enough as is. We should bring back Brady if we want stolen bases and OBP. You seen the guy lately? You could skin carrots on those abs.

Brandon Waring

Justin Turner

I figure, it can’t hurt us at all to do so. We’ll practically have our pick of scrub prospects. This team isn’t going anywhere, and we’ve have two spots in our 40-man available.

per roch:

Freel would have been Buck Martinez’s starting second baseman in Toronto in 2001, but he tore up his ankle. Martinez really likes the guy. He thinks this is a great trade.

Andy MacPhail – 1
O’s fans counting on the inevitable disappointment – 0

To be continued…

…was next to nil, right? 12 months ago I didn’t want to trade him cuz I thought he might accrue some trade value, but that didn’t happen. I suppose a utility player is nice, right?

In the end, will this trade be any different if we hadn’t just DFA’d Ramon or something?

1) We need Izturis’ defense. He’s relatively cheap. Even with his bat, he won’t hit worse than our shortstops in 2007.

2) The Freel-Ramon trade is essentially a wash. I don’t think either prospect will make it and the monetary impact is probably neutral. But we dump someone who’s become a pain, given Trembley more flexibility with his bench, and cleared the way for Weiters. Here’s Keith Law’s take.

Plus, I have irrationally liked Freel in fantasy baseball. Maybe it’s the name, maybe it’s his uber-utility status, maybe it’s the stolen bases. I like the idea of him as an Oriole and, in real baseball terms, he doesn’t hurt the team, even if he doesn’t help all that much.