is adorable.

oh whatever. it’s a fun move-ish type thing.

Is that now Garrett Atkins may now be our starting first baseman.

I guess Tejada is a better signing than Crede, but I still dont like it.

Miggy is a decent stop gap, but I did not want to see him back. Ever since he asked for a trade, I stopped liking him. It was obvious that he was dogging it out there. He barely ran out close plays and seemed to stop caring. I did not like that attitude, and really don’t like seeing him on the team now that it is younger. I may be in the minority, but I did not want to see him back in Baltimore.

if i have this correct in my mind, in just the 3 players we added we’ll have about $20 mil. come off the books for next offseason (atkins $4 mil, miggy $6 mil, millwood $9 mil). That + another $5 mil (give or take) is what it will take to sign AGonz, right? I love McPahil more and more. Who else is coming off the books?

Can one of the CC moderators create a spreadsheet tracking the O’s contract/salary status by player? thanx.

People were yelling “Tejada s back!!”. A lot of people there seemed VERY excited.

i like having him back and all but it just doesn’t make sense. why did we even sign atkins in the first place?

But as a fan, I’m wondering when we’ll start bringing in long-term replacements and not stop-gap after stop-gap.

And I want to inform everyone here that the picture at the top of the fanpost is incorrect. That is Bill Duck’s back, baby. Notice the white skin.

I’m sure AJ isn’t giving up #10

He is a relly good player, surely the best we were going to slot in there. Not our 3B of the future, sure, but that’s not the idea. Sure a lot of fans got down on him about the time he got down on being on the team, realizing he had signed to spend the heart of his career with a loser team. I say, come on back, forgive and forget, we’ll love you all over again.

Bring on Bedard!

If you wanted a big bat, and had $6M to spend, how about getting Branyan?

Since this is done, we should get Bedard and then trade them both in July.

 sign branyan because he is only healthy about once every 3 yrs. miggy will have 27 double 20 hr’s and 98 rbi’s this yr

He got a call form someone and then he just told my dad and I, it was pretty neat.

He’s a better hitter than any of the other options (not including the post-proving-himself-in-AAA Josh Bell, hopefully) and if Tejada is able to replicate his season from last year, no amount of Crede’s D makes up for the gap in offense. Crede really, really can’t hit. At all. Miggy can.

And if Miggy is hitting really well around July, he’d be a prime candidate to flip at the deadline. Nothing to dislike about this. All that chemistry-leadership-rah-rah bullshit is overrated high school stuff anyway. Winning breeds chemistry, not the other way around.

Not that I think this puts the Os into 2010 contention. Still not there. But I like it just fine, and c’mon, sports is really about the narrative we construct…and in terms of ‘constructing the narrative’ what is NOT to like about the return of the guy who once looked like he might take us back to glory in 05? The first half of 05, anyway.

The purposes of signing veterans on a developing young team, in order, are to:

1) Push the team over the top into contention,
2) Mentor the developing players, and/or
3) Fill a gap while the team develops.

Miggi clearly can’t do #1 this year, and he clearly does #3 just fine. But he is actively destructive for #2, unless we’re talking about mentoring in terms of birth certificate forgery, steroid masking agents, dogging out ground balls or GIDPs. Miggi doesn’t fit with where this team should be trying to go this year, not even a humbled Miggi who comes back to us on our terms instead of his. I’d love to be eating my words and I’ll root for him to hit, but I don’t think the contributions he can make will match the potential cost.

When you heard about the signing, did you run put your Tejada jersey on and take this picture so that you could use your clever play on words?

Nope, I was right: can’t be yelled.

Hey, who doesn’t like that 199? But I’m afraid the comparative offensive advantage of Mr. Miggles next year, at age 62, over the ex-bunting phenom (with playoff experience) will prove marginal; meanwhile, as the former kicks balls around at 3rd, people’ll start to wonder “Just what does Solid Veteran to Put Us Over the Top mean, anyway”? The top of what? If it’s from 88 to 92 wins, I’ll (joyously) eat my шапка. But if it’s from 72 to 76, who gives a warm кусок дерьма?

I know, I know, get out of the unquantifiable. But any way you slice it, I just can’t shake the Seen This Movie Before feeling. I liked the 1st half, but I think we’ve bought ourselves a ticket to a rerun of the 2nd, i.e. less bang, lotsa whimper.

I don’t like signing both Tejada and Atkins. One is fine. Two, not so much. By signing Tejada, Atkins now moves to first base, at least until he flames out. This now prevents either Scott or Reimold playing first, which in turn severely limits Pie’s ABs, unless somebody gets hurt. So now the team is electing to pass judgment on Pie as a 4th OF, as riding the pine will be awful for his development. And for what? A better shot at winning 81 games in 2010? This move is Flanagan-esque, as has this off-season. Color me unimpressed.

And I’d be surprised if Tejada has an OPS+ materially over 100. And I don’t think Atkins will even come close. Good thing Pie is on the bench for that…

miggles and wiggles

I like the move. If Bell gets “blocked” and spends a full year at AAA, what can it hurt? If he’s mashing, it might be a bit of a problem, but that sure is a problem i’d like to have. The only way I don’t like this is if Dave says “Tejada?! He was an MVP. He bats 4th’”.

between liking this move on a sentimental level (remembering when he was basically the best thing on the team), and being totally ambivalent with sprinkles of disgust about it on a practical level. It just doesn’t fit into the “rebuilding” thing, and so I am relieved it’s just a 1-year deal. I’ll know how to really feel about it once he shows if he can still hit in the AL east.