he is always hurt and is something of a streaky player. I dont know if he’s really that much better than Luke Scott (except for the fact that Delgado actualy has played 1st for some time now). I think I wont really care either way, as long as it’s only a 1 year deal, maybe with an option year.

only for a year contract. On the other hand, I’d much rather sign Vlad to a year contract, but that’s wishful thinking.

they predict Lackey to… the Yankees? That’d be fun.
They also predict Pettite resigns with the Yanks. Seeing how Joba and Hughes are supposed to both be starters next year, they already have CC and AJ, and they still have Wang lingering in the shadows, I dont know how this all would work out. I’m guessing they dont sign Lackey. I wouldnt be shocked though.

1) Youth is what is overvalued in the market nowadays (which is I suspect why Billy Beane went after Giambi and Cabrera last winter). Yes, a huge majority of players’ peaks are at age 30, and most are in rapid decline by their late 30s, but this is not true for every player, and older veterans who have had recent success are unlikely to simply fall off the map suddenly. This may or may not apply to Delgado, who barely played in 2009.

2) The Orioles had the worst first base situation in the majors last year, and it absolutely needs to be upgraded. The in-house options of Scott, Aubrey, Snyder, and Hughes are less than palatable to myself, but I don’t know how they work for you all (or the Orioles).

3) Delgado probably is the highest upside bat on the market (which is weak) among the first basemen, though he is hardly a sure thing, and as noted doesn’t really help with the left-handed issues of the team (and needing to face a variety of good lefties in Sabathia, Pettitte, Price, Lester, and whoever else gets brought in means there is a lot of need for lefty-mashing talent on the 2010 Orioles).

4) There is always the trade market, and the non-tender market to consider, as the Orioles do have a few movable trade chips to acquire a young hitter. I think the speculated hypothetical I heard a lot was Guthrie for Mat Gamel, which I could probably get behind if the Orioles went out and signed a decent pitcher (of course, there isn’t really a comparable pitcher on the market, but I digress).

1) Youth is what is overvalued in the market nowadays (which is I suspect why Billy Beane went after Giambi and Cabrera last winter).

Youth is cheap so I’m not sure it can be overvalued because it’s not susceptible to market pressures. And that’s Beane’s MO. Go after over the vets whi might have somethign left and sign them to a one year deal (see David Justice, Frank Thomas).

And I’m not sure about the value of going after these vets. Why not let Pie and Reimold switch between LF and DH. This way we’ll maybe develop Pie’s bat rather than giving away bats to a vet who won’t be here next year. If we sign Thome or Delgado to a cheap one year deal, fine, whatever, but we can do w/o them.

I think it’s fine for a 1 or 2 year deal. There are many worse options to fill the gap at first for a year or two.

Also, looking at this from a PR perspective, Delgado has 472 career home runs right now. They could really hype up a chase to 500, which would get fans to the ballpark, where maybe they’d notice that there is a lot about this team to be excited about.

It’s not my money so I don’t care about the price tag and they need a first baseman. They got zero production out of that position last year, so he at least won’t be a worse option.

And, given that our current options are Chris Ray or Jim Johnson, I’d welcome Billy the Kid with open arms.

Without Mora and Old Aubrey, the Orioles hit .258/.317/.376 with 308 strikeouts. Those two combined for .240/.310/.368 with 54 strikeouts in 374 plate appearances against lefties, but the overall struggles are hardly confined to them. Only Roberts, Scott, and Reimold were any good against left-handed pitching.

I say give him a shot for a year, see how he does. Not much to lose, seeing as how he’s getting old and other teams probably don’t have an incredible amount of incentive to get him. Plus, first basemans are nice in this time of need. Left-handed power bat? Go for it.

Really, we have enough locked up in the outfield that we can improve the team just by moving an OF to 1B, and we have more Left handed hitters than is really necessary.

If it’s a really low market deal, OK, but I’m much more interested in a RH bat or a 3B or someone who’s not 38.

To me it’s not so much about dollars as it is about years. You don’t want to be offering someone like Delgado or Thome or Glaus or Nick Johnson anything more than a year (or 2 years on a reallllly cheap contract) because that’s begging to get bitten in the ass when they suck and you find yourself having to upgrade yet again. The O’s aren’t going to be a team that has a $5M/year player sitting on the bench, so when you sign, say, Aubrey Huff to a three-year deal, you’re really committing a roster spot to him for three years. That’s why all this talk about “value” players really concerns me. Is Delgado really going to come here on a one-year deal? Is Glaus? Dye? Beltre? Let’s be honest: probably not. So say the O’s sign Glaus and Delgado to two-year deals to come in and hit a few homers, but the late years of their career end up hitting them hard and they never really produce. Now it’s 2011 and the O’s were hoping to compete, but they’re still running these two slapdicks out to the infield every night because they have no trade value and there’s no way Angelos opens the pockets to upgrade one or both positions when he’s already got millions tied up at the corners. So, yeah … one-year deals is all I’m saying.

…because it’s possible he’d be here for more than a year or two. Still though, my faith in Pie makes me want to move Reimold to first, but I’ve said that on every thread possible.

Echoing what Y Not points out above, how many times are we going to take that oldtimer who “should give us at least 25-30 HR”? I’ve been hearing this line about the old ponies they keep trotting through Otterbein to the ballpark for too damn long. I like Delgado, but let’s not kid ourselves. This will not work out for us.