Orioles adding bullpen depth

The Orioles are staying committed to their offseason plan of rebuilding the bullpen with veteran arms, and arent afraid of throwing money at the guys they want. Jamie Walker 3 yrs, Danys Baez 3 yrs, Chad Bradford 3 yrs and Scott Williamson 1 yr. It gives the Orioles a specialist in Walker, two former closers in Williamson and Baez who can also work long relief. Bradford can be used as a specialist. All too go along with Chris Ray who had a wonderful year. Just crossing my fingers this signings arent like the last few veteran arms we have added to the pen over previous years (Kline, Hawkins, Brydak, Reed) Now if only the Orioles were this committed to adding starting pitching to a rotation that is very young and one big bat possibly two to the lineup the Orioles could be getting back to the Oriole Way.

The rotation is very young but showing promise. Erik Bedard who had a career year is the front line starter but still a young gun who would work better as a number 2 guy with no pressure. Daniel Cabrera who had a great last start of the year holding the Yanks to 1 hit over 9 innings got better once coming back from that minor league stint. Another year with Leo Mazzone and possibly winter ball might be the answer. Adam Loewen had a good rookie year, showing great promise and wrapped up a spot int he rotation for 07. Kris Benson pitched better then his record showed, he lost 3 games while going the distance. He clearly could have won 15 games. Hayden Penn never got his forum going after coming back from his surgery. He likely will start at Triple A Norfolk unless they dangle him to reel in a big arm or bat as some sort of package. The bright side he is still under 23 years of age. Jaret Wright giving up Chris Britton to land him was a good move if you ask me. Wright can round out the rotation, has big game experience, can be used in long relief or be used as part of a package deal for someone else. Rodrigo Lopez after the terrible year he had should be gone by now. Could be dealt to the Brewers for Kevin Mench. A OF with a average bat who can play the corner OF's or be a bat off the bench.

The Orioles we all knew were not going to put the money out for Soriano so we turned to Carlos Lee. I still believe Lee and his agent used the Orioles to up his money from the Astros. Now looking at who is available Cliff Floyd would be our best option. He would fill the spot in LF, has potential when healthy for 80 plus RBI's and 25 plus HR's. Would add nice protection for Tejada and a bat from the left side of the plate. Jay Payton is a last resort. He can play any OF position but the pop in his bat isnt what Floyd is capable of. Also some names to throw around would be Trot Nixon and possibly JD Drew if his deal with the Sox fall through.

Still a void at 1st base. Kevin Millar is looking for a 2 year deal, but sounds like the Orioles will offer one year with the option for a 2nd year. That might be enough to bring him bat. His numbers last year .272, 15 hr's and 64 rbi's. I was really hoping to go after Nomar but they showed no interest. If we would have offfered Nomar a 3 year deal for around 30 million we could have landed him. Millar and Gibbon could platoon there but Im hearing Richie Sexson's name thrown around which I find highly unlikely.