C. Izturis appears at top of O's wish list at short

The Orioles have talked to the representative for free agent Cesar Izturis , the latest indication that the slick-fielding shortstop is at the top of their list to fill the team's vacancy at the position.

[12345abc]

This is a real big deal. Go very, very slow, Andy M. Ponder and ponder, plan and plan, process and process, but delay any decision as long as possible. What a guy. Bill Slowsky indeed.

[Joe Mess East BMore]

Is it me or do the Orioles actually seem to have a clue? Digging it.

[trifin]

Ahhhh- perfect! A possible acquisition who is cheap and can't hit. That will put some more fans in the seats I am sure. Thank you O's management team!

[Prospect Expert]

He fits the Peter Angelos profile: inexpensive and awful.

No, we couldn't possibly use a shortstop the calibre of Renteria, Furcal, or Cabrera.

MacPhool is the perfect GM for this kind of team.

[Scott]

Awesome, more mediocre talent!!!! Way to start the year off O's with your great decision making. We won't get a star player and I can't wait to hear the excuses why. I love how they have already talked about the injuries to the better shortstops or they might cost more. Lets keep that salary down no sense in spending money, but make sure you bring in new jerseys cause no one will buy the old ones so I guess you got to find new ways of income. Lets hype up how good the nobodys are that way it will make us look like we made good decisions, Oh by the way, so what if you lost a second round pick, you can't even pick a first rounder. Jeez!!!!! The only thing your gonna hear around the league about the O's is how they will finish last again. But that is the gameplan cause we will be contenders next year, the next Rays, my bad. I can't wait to hear the game plan come next year. Thanks O's!!!!!! Run while you can Brian, and if your smart Nick don't extend, it'll ruin your career.

[Mike]

My biggest surprise from this article is that the O's won't give up Garrett Olson for Greene. Greene is a good shortstop and right now it doesnt look like Olson will be more than a #4 starter at best. We should pull the trigger on this deal right now.

[Joe]

Prospect Expert wrote:

He fits the Peter Angelos profile: inexpensive and awful.
No, we couldn't possibly use a shortstop the calibre of Renteria, Furcal, or Cabrera.
MacPhool is the perfect GM for this kind of team.

Furcal wants 4 years and is coming off back surgery, no thanks. The other two will lose you draft picks, come on Mr. so-called prospect expert, what are trying to do? Win it all next year? That's not happening with any of those three anyway, Izturis is the perfect stop-gap plan. If we lost a second round draft pick for a badly fading Renteria or an undisciplined and old (34) O. Cabrera I would become physically ill, be glad Andy MacPhail knows what he is doing.

[Joe]

Mike wrote:

My biggest surprise from this article is that the O's won't give up Garrett Olson for Greene. Greene is a good shortstop and right now it doesnt look like Olson will be more than a #4 starter at best. We should pull the trigger on this deal right now.

You would rent Greene for one year (a free agant after 2009) and send away a kid with 4 full years of salary control who has good stuff to a much weaker league and a big ballpark? Sounds like Jon Maine redux to me. Never trade away that much service time unless you're sure the prospect is a bust, no way I am ready to say that. Plus what does Greens do for us? We have no designs on winning anything next year, look at the big big picture Mike, always, always the big picture.

[TimD]

All glove, no bat. THAT will improve the team next season.

[Prospect Expert]

Joe wrote:

<quoted text>
Furcal wants 4 years and is coming off back surgery, no thanks. The other two will lose you draft picks, come on Mr. so-called prospect expert, what are trying to do? Win it all next year? That's not happening with any of those three anyway, Izturis is the perfect stop-gap plan. If we lost a second round draft pick for a badly fading Renteria or an undisciplined and old (34) O. Cabrera I would become physically ill, be glad Andy MacPhail knows what he is doing.

If MacPhail knows what he's doing, how come he's not mentioning Hector Gomez, Oscar Tejada, Esmailyn Gonzalez, or Yaimaco Navarro?

Probably because he doesn't have a clue as to who those players are....

Fact is, I can run circles around MacPhool when it comes to knowledge of minor leaguers.

[Prospect Expert]

Let me state for the record that if MacPhail and company scouted the Dominican better, we wouldn't be nearly as concerned about losing draft picks by signing free-agents.

I don't think Joe realizes how poorly this organization is being run......

[veedub]

Izturis would provide one thing that MacPhail and Trembley covet most, and this is DEFENSE. He is an above average fielder in an extremely important position. His offensive output would be merely icing on the cake.

And for the morons suggesting we jump on the Greene deal, do you honestly advocate trading starting pitching for a one year rental? That's absurd. If we could possibly extend Greene then it would be a different story, but we've heard nothing that suggests that we could. Spending gobs of cash on retreads like Furcal, Renteria, or OCab makes no sense, nor does trading our top prospects for a guy like Hardy. Some of you people really got worked up over the dumbest sh1t.

[John in Conn]

I'm with AM on this one - sign up Izturis. He's 28, relatively cheap, and has won a Gold Glove. That's exactly what the O's need for a SS. Spend the big $$ on signing Nick, Brian, and Teixeira. Then move A. Huff (at his peak value; plus he doesn't like Baltimore) for a starting pitcher.

[charlie]

Maybe the key phrase here is "he is willing to come to Baltimore" The translation is that "he is wlling to come to Baltiore for what Angelos is willing to pay." While I agree that Izturis is an upgrade on what we had in 2008, I am not sure he is the "significant" upgrade McPhail is trying to convey. However when we basically had a season of Triple A shortstops, a Izturis who is clearly in the bottom third of major leagues shortstops will be an improvement. A bottom tier shortstop for a bottom tier team seems a natural fit, no wonder he willing to come here!

[charlie]

John in Conn wrote:

I'm with AM on this one - sign up Izturis. He's 28, relatively cheap, and has won a Gold Glove. That's exactly what the O's need for a SS. Spend the big $$ on signing Nick, Brian, and Teixeira. Then move A. Huff (at his peak value; plus he doesn't like Baltimore) for a starting pitcher.

who in their right mind is going to take on the rest of Huff's contract and give away a starting pitcher to boot?

[Joe]

Prospect Expert wrote:

<quoted text>
If MacPhail knows what he's doing, how come he's not mentioning Hector Gomez, Oscar Tejada, Esmailyn Gonzalez, or Yaimaco Navarro?
Probably because he doesn't have a clue as to who those players are....
Fact is, I can run circles around MacPhool when it comes to knowledge of minor leaguers.

He has tried to get both Escobar from the Brewers and Donald from the Phillies. The asking price? Jeremy Guthrie. Believe me he thought about pulling that trigger too but we need someone to fill the innings while the young pitchers on the farm grow up. His mandate to the organization when hired was to learn the other teams organizations as well as our own so your assumption is of course wrong. Thsi is how the Braves are always so good in trades they know your people better than you do and this is Andy's goal too.

[Joe]

Prospect Expert wrote:

Let me state for the record that if MacPhail and company scouted the Dominican better, we wouldn't be nearly as concerned about losing draft picks by signing free-agents.
I don't think Joe realizes how poorly this organization is being run......

I know how poorly it WAS run and I understand it will take a few years to undo a decade of incompetence. Losing draft picks for marginal talent (Hentgen, Trombley, Segui, Hernandez, Baez, Bradford ect.) has been the root of our problems and here you are advocating more of the same?

[Joe]

charlie wrote:

<quoted text>
who in their right mind is going to take on the rest of Huff's contract and give away a starting pitcher to boot?

Huff is actually underpaid now, did you know he won the Silver Slugger Award? That said, he would not bring a starting pitcher of much caliber, the supply and demand factor at work there, too many dh's available and few starters.

[ravencaws from jax fla]

The Orioles are a bunch of cheap a__ sobs,this guy had 1 home run and 24 rbis,come on,so who cares if he can field,they had one of those last year,as usual they are going after the real big time free agents aren't they,they are a bunch of losers in their front office.

[Merv]

Anytime you can add a quality defensive player, go for it. Mark Belanger was a horrendous hitter for the most part but every Oriole pitcher loved having him behind them. You can never have enough pitching and defense. Sign him.