I think this is the kind of stop gap you want. Eats innings, goes deep, doesn’t tax the ’pen, veteran mentor, etc.

Plus, anytime you can get starting pitching for a reliever like Ray you do it.

I think this will pay dividends. Not a flashy move, more like buying a new set of tires.

I’m indifferent. I liked Ray and I think he may have needed more time but Millwood could prove to be much more valuable than Ray.

I’m sure I’ll get to see Ray here in OKC with the TEX AAA team before the season is out.

Now bring me a healthy Bedard on a sliver platter, Andy, and maybe I’ll start thinking about what to get you for christmas.

We got a player that’s not worth much for a player that’s worth even less. Sounds fine to me. Only problem is that we got older. But Milwood is heads and tails better than Alfredo Simon, Adam Eaton, or Steve Traschel.

Our rotation now looks like… Bergeson, Matusz, Guthrie, Tillman, Millwood. That’s a very reasonable 1-5. Getting Bedard back would be pretty freaking awesome though.

http://www.rangers.scottlucas.com/archives/2009/11/on_millwood.html

Worth a read about our new pitcher.

Originally posted as a Fan Post @ 3:21 PM

You have got to be happy about this deal if it goes down as advertised….

Aside from the money aspects and the fact that we traded away a guy we were close to non tendering, but this adds a decent arm to the rotation who will eat innings and allow guys like Erbe and Arrieta to not be rushed. It also puts less strain on the bullpen and will keep the pen stronger for the youngsters like Matusz and Tillman. Not to mention, Millwood could have another decent season making our 2010 Orioles a fairly strong team. Does Guthrie return to prior form? If he does, we will have 5 pitchers all capable of pitching like mid to front end starters. Of course there are a bunch of “what ifs”, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Millwood gives us a 4.25 ERA, Guthrie a 4.00 ERA, Bergy a 4.00 ERA, Matusz a 3.85 ERA and Tillman a 4.00 ERA. This would give us one of the better rotations in the league to consistently win games. Of course, without a true ace (yet), we wouldn’t do quite as well 1 on 1 with the Yanks or Sox.

 Regardless, you have to be happy with the deal IMO….

Starting pitcher with a career low WAR of 2.4 for an average at best reliever who is yet to crack 0.5 WAR (as per Fangraphs). Even with salary (Ranger’s said to be kicking in $3m on the $12m total), Millwood will only not be worth $9m if he happens to have his worst career year with the O’s (not that that is impossible or even unlikely given our reclamation projects in the past). No, Millwood does not represent the O’s ascent into the stratosphere of AL East contention, but, viewed as a trade between these two teams and the commodities transacted, this is an easy O’s victory.

If it had been for more than Chris Ray, I’d be annoyed, but for just Chris Ray, he’s worth a shot. Welcome, friend.

Scott Boras on reported trade of Kevin Millwood from Texas to Baltimore: "That is not done. I’m sure there are discussions,‘’ Boras said. "But the reports we have are that nothing has been completed.’’

General rule is that anytime you can get anything for a reliever, you do it. This is why the Dodgers got hosed in the Sherril deal. Starting pitcher that has a track record for 180 innings a season? You do it. Think about it. Why do we keep hanging on to Guthrie? He eats innings. That is what he does.

Regardless, this trade is fool proof because we’re paying at most three-fourths of Millwood’s salary for one year. Say the guy pitches 180 innings and blows up – gets eaten alive by the Yanks and Red Sox. No big deal… you had him for a year, he turns down arbitration (Scott Boras clients always do) and he ends up being a sparkling Type A or B free agent that nets us more picks… we’ve been pretty good at those lately.

Second scenario, he pitches 180 innings and we flip him for more prospects at the deadline to a contending team. Even better.

Third scenario, he’s actually decent – he does have a career history of pitching below the ERA average, provides a veteran presence for our young staff that rarely gets hurt, and believe it or not, has a reputation for pitching well in hitters’ parks (he did so in Texas, Cleveland and Philly). The only problem is that darn 12 million dollar salary.

Last scenario – he gets hurt, barely pitches and we eat nine million. And we release him on a pretty good gamble.

If McPhail were to land Bedard, I’d be stoked. That’s got six game win streaks written all over it.

this deal without knowing the dollar amounts involved.

His name is Joe, but we call him: Millwood.

That’s all I got. This trade doesn’t excite me at all, but I think it was definitely worth making.

1. Is Millwood the best return, value-wise, we could have gotten for Chris Ray? (Probably, I think)

2. Does the Millwood acquisition make us less likely to make moves that could have greater potential value than adding Millwood? (Also, I think, probably. Although the moves I saw with more potential seemed to not interest the O’s that much.)

the reason why the Orioles were on Millwood’s tradeable teams in his no-trade clause probably has to do with the fact that he’s from North Carolina?

It’s not really a stretch that he wouldn’t mind playing here…. so at least I’d like to think.

In Monday’s WSJ, in the back of the marketplace section, they have a table of mean salary by position and the corresponding WAR for each position. It’s interesting to see it in the table even if it’s not that surprising.

The highest two positions 1B and DH ranked 2nd (3.8) and next to last (1.08) in WAR repsectively. RP brought up the rear in both salary and WAR (0.63).

Especially since we only gave up Ray. I don’t think Millwood will repeat his 2009 success but he could pitch to a 4.20-4.80 ERA. Do you agree?

This is really a pointless move. ZIPS is projecting 98+ ERA for Millwood. That’s go down a bit since he’s switching to the AL East. He’ll eat inning but suck while doing it. I’m mostly indifferent I guess. We’re losing Chris Ray, whatever, and we’re spending $9M which is not chump change but I would rather see that money spent on the draft.

Teams have certain amounts of money set aside for certain things, and they budget that way, if we didn’t do this deal, I doubt it would have any effect on how much we spend in the draft.

Neither know for sure how the budget will work. I’m guessing the O’s have a finite amount resources though and spent on players could end affecting other areas like the draft. If we pick some stud player in the draft and lose him over money, I’m going to be pissed.

But I don’t want Bedard, I want Duscherer/Harden!! And while i’m at it, I WANT HOLYFIELD!

We get a solid pitcher in exchange for a mediocre reliever.

Over/Under on Millwood’s ERA: 4.75

Over/Under on Millwood’s innings pitched: 150

I’m going to take the over on both. Anyone else?

over on both.

Somedays it doesn’t load the page correctly and I can’t see anything. At best, I just can’t use the reply button. When I click it the screen goes all the way back to the top.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. At home I’m good to go.

And didn’t really lose anything.

I’m not going to complain, although I think this is a pretty worthless move as a.) we’re not going to contend and b.) I’m not sure mentorship is worth $12 million.

Chris Ray is a clusterfuck, though, so I’m indifferent.

with the declaration of millwood not lasting deep in games.

that’s what i was afraid of. i try and refrain from posting much at work.

but hey, its not Eaton, Hendo, or Trachsel, so I guess i’m happy.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb

“Rangers deal Kevin Millwood to Milwaukee”

Gee, thanks for remembering that Baltimore isn’t Milwaukee.