Oriole fans are looking for a win this offseason. There was hope they might be in running for Cuban brothers Victor Victor Mesa and Victor Mesa Jr., who signed with the Miami Marlins on Monday.
A day later, 16-year-old Cuban right-hander Sandy Gaston, who was part of a showcase at Marlins Stadium on Oct. 5 with the Mesas, reached an agreement with the Tampa Bay Rays for a reported $2.61 million.
Now, the Orioles are left with $6.5 million in international bonus signing money, which can only be used on foreign players under 25 and not subject to the June First-Year Player Draft. They must use the money by June 15 because it doesn’t carry over.
For years, the Orioles eschewed the Mesas and Gastons, and re-entered the market when they decided to trade Manny Machado to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 18.
By that time, most of the top players, except for the Mesas and Gaston, were already signed. The Orioles did sign four players for bonuses between $125,000 and $225,000. That’s a typical bonus for players drafted in rounds 7-11.
Victor Victor Mesa signed for a reported $5 million. That’s a high first-round pick bonus. Gaston’s $2.61 million is what a late first-rounder can get.
The Orioles accumulated $2.75 million from the Atlanta Braves just ahead of the July non-waiver trade deadline when they sent Brad Brach for $250,000 and Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day for $2.5 million in international signing bonus money.
Trading O’Day was important. His salary for the last two months of 2018 and for 2019 was $12 million. That’s a lot of money for a setup man who pitched just 20 games before season-ending hamstring surgery this season, and huge money for a player who could help a contender but is of little use to a rebuilding team.
But it looks as if Gausman was only moved by former executive vice president Dan Duquette so that O’Day’s salary could be offloaded.
Gausman was attractive to the Braves because he has a live arm and wouldn’t be a free agent until the end of the 2020 season.
While the returns for Machado, Zach Britton and Jonathan Schoop contain some potentially useful players, the four who the Orioles received from the Braves got off to rocky starts with their new organization.
Pitcher Evan Phillips had an awful 18.56 ERA in five games. Pitcher Bruce Zimmermann (5.06 in five starts) and catcher Matt Cumberland (.190 average in 15 games) both struggled for Double-A Bowie. Infielder Jean Carlos Encarnacion (.218 in 26 games for Low-A Delmarva) also was a disappointment.
Gausman sparkled with Atlanta, going 5-3 with a 2.87 in 10 starts.
In retrospect, Duquette’s strategy of loading up looks naïve, at best. The Orioles hadn’t been in the international market for some time, and with a late start, he figured the Orioles could simply overwhelm the Marlins with their war chest despite their lack of infrastructure.
Instead, Duquette frittered away $750,000 of his stash on Jack Zoellner, who the Orioles acquired from the Phillies. Combine that $750,000 with the additional money accumulated by the aggressive Marlins, and the Orioles financial edge evaporated.
Miami had the location advantage, and with the Mesas gone, the pressure was on the Orioles to sign Gaston.
Now that they haven’t, they can try to sign some lower-level prospects and hope that at least one of the players they received from the Braves turns out to be a credible major leaguer.
It’s fair to wonder if the time was right to trade Gausman. If they hadn’t moved him in July, they could have had a somewhat respectable rotation that could have better withstood September injuries to Andrew Cashner and Alex Cobb.
Without Cashner, Cobb and Gausman, former manager Buck Showalter was left with a patchwork final-month rotation. Several times that month Showalter resorted to overmatched relievers that he hoped could simply get him through nine innings because winning those games seemed so unlikely.
The Orioles could have tried to trade Gausman over the winter for a better haul since he still has two more seasons before free agency.
A return to the international market is long overdue, but the late start this year combined with the years of inactivity made the Orioles’ task difficult, even with their financial position. That won’t be the case in the future.
If Gausman continues to impress with the Braves, and the players he brought don’t, Oriole fans will add this trade to the long list of forgettable deals of recent years.
Showalter back for a day
Showalter and his wife, Angela, have long supported KidsPeace, an organization that encourages foster care. They’ll return to Baltimore for Saturday’s “Trick or Trot” Run/Walk at Oriole Park, an event they’ve sponsored.
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Back to dumpster diving ...
Can we please move on from that term, Boog? It's so 2017.
Ergo the "Back to" preface Rich.
As I’ve previously written, the best we can hope for is that the team gets sold. These clowns don’t have a clue!
Lol! It’s worse than that as their aren’t even many clowns left with all the vacancies in management.
Lots of empty clown shoes awaiting their new feet. :-D
I’m super surprised Gastón didn’t want to sign with the worst team in the league.
No VP, no General Manager, no Field Manager. A coaching staff sure to mostly fired and replaced. Dysfunctional front office.
A middling farm system with zero credibility when it comes to developing starting pitching. The last impact starter they drafted/developed was Mussina, 25 years ago. A championship drought that’s a sure bet to reach 40 years.
And he’d join all that fun to maybe someday pitch in a tiny little jewel of a ballpark known to turn lazy left-field fly balls into 3-run homers, in front of a defeated fan base overrun with Yankee and Red Sox fans.
But hey — free tickets for the kidees! Look at how progressive we are!
Still scratching my head about why Gastón passed on them.
Zoey, you're such an optimist.
You know, Rich. I *actually* am pretty optimistic. I have a difficult job that requires a ton of prep, a little faith, and lots of collaboration with other people, both on my team, and outside.
But I’m also pragmatic, and I carry my skeptic card. I was a science major. I want proof, and facts, and a hard look at the context and history of a situation.
None of that bodes well when looking at the Orioles of the last 30 years. I’m tired of trying to kick that football while Lucy pulls it away at the very last second.
This organization has done very little deserve any benefit of the doubt.
I remain cautiously optimistic regarding the open/vacant positions. I’m seriously hoping for a progressive thought leader to take over and for the owners (whoever that may be, as I think they are positioning for a sale of the franchise in the next few years) will step out of the way.
That’s all the optimism that I feel the Orioles organization deserves at this time.
I agree with Zoey, you can't be an optimist about something that has already happened. Anyone who thought that the Mesas or Gaston would sign with O's are not looking at the facts. Would any one of us, with talent and being recruited by multiple organizations, join the one that is experiencing the turmoil of the O's? Simple answer is "No".
As for buying red hats with curley "W's", I am already in DC and their ownership is no picnic. Plus the team is not that entertaining. With all of that talent, they were not that competitive this year; they have never won a playoff series. Their pitching is woeful, especially the bullpen, etc., etc. ,etc.
Last, if you want the team sold, be careful what you wish for - their are much worse owners in sports than Peter Angelos. Loria comes to mind, even Jeter. Stan Kroenke bought controlling interest of the St. Louis Rams, said he would not move them and did. Lest we forget about Irsay. Hold them accountable, complain, criticize, be a fan! But never ever say, it can't get worse with a new owner.
Very interesting comments, Phil. Many fans have noticed a friendlier atmosphere at Oriole Park than Nationals Park.. Of course, that was when the teams were both winning.
When it's obvious by May that your MLB season is going down the toilet, that gives you June, July, August and September to come up with a plan for the future.
Anyone shocked that on Oct. 24, the Orioles have no front office, no manager or coaches, no clearly articulated blueprint for moving forward and no significant International signings to speak of - despite having the most International money to spend?
But let's give credit where it's due -- we were the first baseball team to put Braille on our uniforms. I've heard that's because the Orioles scouting staff uses Braille to write talent assessments.
Everyone around here is so cheerful this morning, bmorebirds.
Rich .. the lead write set that tone.
Rich, when you watch a player the Orioles could have (should have) extended back in 2016 knock in three runs in his first World Series game, that tends to put good cheer in short supply.
They actually could have extended him before that, bmorebirds.
Rich do you think if DD was still employed they could of gotten Gaston?
Hard one to answer, deqalt, but I’ll assume not.
The sarcastic comments are priceless. The sad part is that the sarcasm is well deserved. All we can possibly hope for is for the brain trust (I use that term loosely) to appoint a President of Baseball Operations (PBO) as soon as possible. Someone has to oversee this team's rebuild.
The more I watch MLB Network, the more I like John Hart to fill that PBO position.
Spin, I’m sure John Hart appreciates your support.
The trade doesn't look all that bad if you are the one signing the checks. You've now got less going out in payroll than you have coming in. I'm sorry, but I don't believe a word of this crap now that Duquette has been let go. 'We're revamping our international scouting strategy, we have a plan for rebuilding, quantity over quality, blah blah blah'.
Annnd, the guy with the so-called strategy gets fired. Which everyone expected to happen, but only after he provided cover for the organization through the sell-off. So it was all bulls**t.
This was a payroll dump, nothing more. The old man is running on fumes and the tax man peeks in the window every few minutes to check his progress. Time to squeeze every quarter til the eagle screams. And 30 minutes down 295 they are rubbing their hands together, watching young fans in the DMV area compare this trainwreck to watching Scherzer, Soto et al. and then asking Santa for a red baseball cap this Christmas.
Also, I question whether there is even an attempt to look for a new regime. You're telling me that nothing, NOTHING has come out of the Warehouse regarding the biggest decision made by the Organization since 2011? In the age of social media? And in the time of year when guys like Rich, Connolly, Kubatko and Melewski are desperate to find anything to write about?
Anyone thinking Cherington, Ng or any other fancy name being kicked around in Chatrooms is riding in on a white steed is deluding themselves. Look for someone already in the organization whose top traits are the ability to nod and say 'Yes' and a low price tag.
Thirty minutes down 295, Bancells? For me, thanks to traffic it’s more like an hour and thirty.
DD, a disaster, continues to disgust Oriole fans, even after he's gone.
For my money, we may now be at the lowest point in franchise history. No talent, no leadership, no direction. Unable to compete for talent even with the deepest pockets.
Nowhere to go but up, bats?
Come on, have faith. They can ALWAYS go farther down. It seems (literally) like a million years ago when the Orioles put excellent teams on the field year after year. I was fortunate enough to be a teen and early twenty-something during the glory years from 1969-1983 and got to watch almost two decades of teams never finishing lower than second. Sigh....
Seriously, how can a team be almost into November and not have one single person in place for GM, manager, or head of Baseball Operations? The question of why anyone at all would waste money going to watch the product coming out of this train wreck deserves a sociological study in fan loyalty. Should be worth a PhD to somebody.
Being a fan of this team is really hard. I want the team to win and I want the organization to perform well. Those two things go hand in hand but can also be mutually exclusive. I have zero expectations that the team will win much in 2019, but I’d love to think that we have a blueprint & plan to move forward.
So far, we don’t. Despite knowing since June that we needed to rebuild - we have yet to get new leadership in place. It’s so eerily quiet from a fan perspective that I’m left wondering if we’ll have a new leadership team in place before the winter meetings.
In the meantime, we missed on these prospects and have Monopoly money left to spend on who?
I really really don’t understand what’s going on with our lack of urgency and the lack of business savvy from our owners.
We are moving at a glacial pace when other teams are moving at the speed of light.
I’m so done with this.
Tater, hopefully there’ll be some news by the time the World Series ends. I’d love some fresh material.
Syd Thrift is giggling in his grave. "Confederate money." Again.
I do not believe the failure to sign Gaston (or the Mesas) to sign here was surprising or devastating. I do not think the Gausman trade was all that devastatingly bad either. I had to sleep on it overnight to get here, but this is my thinking:
1. The O's were in for a long-range, comprehensive rebuild whether or not Gausman stayed with the team and whether or not the Cuban players signed.
2. There are major needs for rethinking, reinvesting and rebuilding whether or not Gausman was traded or not, and whether or not the Cubans signed here.
3. Even if Crush regained his 2013 form, and goes from -3 WAR to (say) +5, that's only an 8-win swing. The overall problems are much more fundamental.
This circumstance arose from m anagement/ownership decisions to metaphorically push our chips to the center of the table, again and again, 2014-17. It almost worked, but for a hot Royals team in the ALCS. It was worth the gamble, but this is the consequence. The O's were not going to contend before Gausman hit free agency anyway, so why not try this?
A blueprint for sustainable contention means avoiding the boom-and-bust cycle, avoiding the concept of "windows", and always having good young club-controllable prospects to replace veterans who reach free agency and leave. This was how it was when Baylor replaced Frank and when Grich replaced Davey. The O's in recent years got away from the patience of investing in long-range scouting and player development; that needs to return. Not having spent for the Cuban players means those same dollars can be invested in scouting and player development. Doing do just might be better in the long run,
I mostly agree with what you’re saying. I’ll raise two counterpoints to above:
1. Young controllable pitching is by far the most valuable commodity in baseball. They have Gausman away, for essentially salary relief from O’Days contract. Manny is where all the hype was, but Gausman should have brought a better package than Manny. It’s not about the fact they had to trade Gausman, it’s more about what they got in return.
2. They didn’t push their chips in from 2014-2017. They half-assed it, which makes this all the more frustrating. They did exactly *nothing* to build on the success of the 2014 team, a front-office sin for which I will never, ever forgive Duquette. The half-way measures they took saw the team lose money, prospects, and games because they went dumpster diving for outfielders and pitching. All the while outbidding themselves on one dimensional bats who were certain to decline from obvious career years. Gah!
Good thoughts, Zoey.
Mark, when you talk about Baylor and Grich, that was before the advent of free agency. The six-year clock is what opens and closes windows for most franchises. A team must be very canny to avoid that.
I found it ironic that fans who had never seen the Mesas and Gaston decided these were "must haves."
So much failure from the top people and ownership that it’s beyond pathetic. I don’t understand how such a filthy rich family can stand by while their name is drugged through this tremendous embarrassment. For heavens sake Angelos family, breakout the checkbook and spend like the other teams in the east. You can’t take your billions with you. Otherwise sell the franchise to someone who is willing to operate a 21st Century professional sports t
It’s no longer about them spending money. They had a top ten payroll last year. It’s about correcting the dysfunction in the warehouse; creating an international scouting infrastructure; fixing the Americas scouting; putting thought leaders in place, and letting them do their jobs.
Therein lies the rub. The Angelos family net worth does not include the letter B. They are far richer than you or I, but they ain't billionaires. They're spending Mesothelioma money in a stadium they do not own. They purchased the franchise in the early 90's, just as payrolls were beginning their insane ascent into the stratosphere. The 1992 Orioles payroll was just north of 21 million, or one season of Chris Davis. Unfortunately the economics of professional sports in the 21st century makes it so hundred millionaires need not apply, only the big boys can keep up.
Angelos is worth and estimated $2 billion dollars. Even if that estimate is off by 50%, he’s still a billionaire.
By comparison, Steinbrenner (a man most think of when they imagine billionaire baseball owners) was worth 1.15B when he died.
Angelos family money is not the issue here. It’s more about the Angelos ego when it comes to running the team.
It’s a shame too because Angelos has been a great man in the community outside of his failed stewardship of our favorite team.
PA, obviously a lot of fans today seem to agree with you.
Hey Rich, if you like optimistic readers and commenters it would behoove you to write some optimistic articles.
Tough job with the current O's organization, I know.
Then we'll all get in line with our cheery fan faces and praise the rising O's
Hallbe, I am occasionally sarcastic in my comments and on Twitter though I try not to be in my articles. Sometimes it doesn't come across. I don't want readers or necessarily optimistic or pessimistic. I want all readers to comment. When there's something to be optimistic about, I'll be delighted to write it. And, it looks like the sun just came out.
I mean, other than OPACY, what is there to be all that optimistic about? The team had a nearly 50 game slide in wins in two seasons.
Farm system rankings that I’ve seen show that they barely moved the needle with the 15 additions they made from trades. Yeah I get it, these rankings aren’t the be-all end-all, but it’s hard to argue they aren’t at least directionally accurate). So it’s not like there’s a bumper crop of youngins ready to explode on the scene.
There seems to be some young pitching in the low minors. That’s optimistic, but 3-4 years out. Mullins looks like he may be a nice player. Villar looked energetic.
But we are really searching for some silver linings here. It’s not Rich's fault for the lack of optimism— it’s the team’s fault.
What stands out to me is deafening silence from the Warehouse about this utter calamity. It's as if the team has the attitude of "Ignore the problem...it'll go away."
Maybe The Sun's Jon Meoli will parrot-out some drivel about how it's not important that the Orioles failed to sign anyone -- it's only important that they tried.
And maybe Meoli is right, but it will interesting to see how few people the team draws next season as they battle to just match the number of wins they had this season. It will also be noteworthy to see what intellectual misfits take the GM and Managerial positions. It's an unwinnable situation.
Here's hoping SS Bobby Witt, Jr. decides to attend the University of Oklahoma instead of playing professionally -- well, for the Orioles.
Rich that's as angry as I've heard you. Rightfully so. This Gaston inaction is totally ridiculous. The most annoying aspect about all of this is the secrecy from the warehouse. At least somebody come out from behind the curtain and explain,lie say something. Let us know you're alive and trying. Tell us "we're trying so hang in there fans". It's a fragile fanbase that deserves better tan this.
Orial, I’m not often angry except when postseason games end at 2:25 a.m.
The bigger question is who is calling the shots at the Warehouse. This organization has known since probably July that they were going to need a new general manager. The season has been over for weeks ... and nothing.
We don't have a GM, we don't have a manager and we don't have any international signings.
But we have saved a LOT of salary, as Mr. Duquette was so proud to point out.
It is hard to get into a bidding war when nobody has the authority to bid higher. Don't you think?
I’d bid high on you, Danno.
It's completely in character for the O's to miss out on top talent, and this goes back way before Duquette arrived. For as long as I can remember, the O's have consistently come up a day late and a dollar short when it comes to convincing top talent to sign in Baltimore. Aside from the Chris Davis contract, management only seems to be interested in bargain deals. When you have a great organization and the team is winning, you have an attractive place for good players to come, and they might consider a bargain deal to be part of a winning team. When you don't have those things in place, it's a tough sell to convince anyone to sign with you, and even harder still if you low ball them with your offer. Hopefully the new GM recognizes this and understands they'll probably have to overpay for talent in the short term.
I think you’re oversimplifying here, Justin. In recent years, the Orioles have had a payroll in the top half of MLB. Not only have they paid Davis, but Adam Jones and Darren O’Day were re-signed. And they’ve spent on Andrew Cashner, Alex Cobb over the past winter.
The argument isn’t that the team is reluctant to spend, but that its spent unwisely.
When it’s time to rebuild, you don’t spend on free agents and younger players aren’t as costly.
Overpaying for talent in the short term has helped get the team into the predicament they’re currently in.
Perhaps I am oversimplifying a bit, but let me clarify my position. The O's refuse to pay market value for PREMIUM talent. Yes, we payed O'Day 4yrs/$31 Mil, and I don't think that's a bad signing by itself. But one year earlier, we didn't even try to match the 4yr/$36 Mil that Andrew Miller ultimately took. O'Day is fine in his own right, but Andrew Miller is spectacular. If O'Day is worth $31 Mil, then surely Miller was worth $36 Mil, right? To miss out on a premium talent for $5 Mil seems like we have a spending problem somewhere...
The very definition of penny wise and pound foolish. There’s dozens of examples of this under Angelos.
Just a boring question: Is the international bonus money real money? I keep reading that it disappears after a certain date. Where does it go? Or is it just the right to spend so much cash on these players; and if it's not spent, it just stays in the team's bank account?
It’s the right to spend, Will. They can’t exceed the limit that’s pre-set. Not a boring question, Will.
Some of the people lamenting not getting the Mesas and Gaston misapprehend how that money works. It's not like a grant (someone else's money, to spend or not). It's the team's money. If not spent on these free agents, it can be spent in other ways (scouting, player development, etc.), or saved until some future time when the expenditure may be wiser. The money was not free money, and the declined opportunity to spend it is not a loss.
It's like the end of the tax year for my business. I can elect to (say) buy a new pickup truck or a computer. Yes, because of the tax laws I can depreciate certain expenses, but I'm still spending my money, not Uncle Sam's. If I elect not to make the investment in the equiment I perhaps do not really need for my staff, then the money I have not spent is my money to one day spend on something else. Maybe even payroll.
If they judged these guys not worth the slot money they got from a Florida team, they made that judgment. Dan Duquette clearly thought one or more of these guys would be worth it, but Dan is gone and the current regime (temporary or otherwise) did not agree.
The Brach trade is the one that blows my mind
Brach was struggling but any other GM would have come away for more
And acquiring Ortiz was down right stupid
Phil, I can always count on you.
God, after hearing this news it leaves us with two theories for the lack of positive action by the front office. (1). The front office is apathetic and simply does not care about baseball operations. If the Gausman trade was not Duquettes doing, but was the idea of ownership this would support this theory. I do not see O'Days salary being worth giving up Gausman who (in all likelihood ) would have had a bounce back year in '19 and would have fetched much more than Carmona and signing money. If this is the case ownership is penny pinching and is cost cutting at the detriment to the organization. (2).The organization is the worst run team in the history of North American professional sports. Using this theory, the front office made the Brach an Gausman trades in good faith and legitimately tried to invest the signing money. The incompetence of the organization to have a GM and manager along, with the lack of an international presence allowed the team to have delusions of grandeur when it came to the Mesas and Gaston. Either way Bird Backers are left with pile of rubbish in exchange for valuable and controllable assets. Baltimore baseball fans deserve better than an uninterested, cheapskate organization or one that is run by a bunch of inept nincompoops.
As a lifelong fan I realistically don’t foresee being a contending team as long as the O’s are in this division. Winning the division once in a while, yes, but consistently winning won’t happen until divisions are shaken up, if that should ever happen. Regardless of what Pres, GM, and Mgr they hire they will never have a chance outbidding those “two” teams up north. All we can do is cheer and wait for those “once in a while” seasons! Let’s Go O’s!!!
The Brewers beat the Cubs, so it does occasionally happen, WV.
I can't believe Cito didn't want to come to Baltimore! He must still be afraid of the response he'd get after not using Mussina...
Well played...well played....
A thoroughly depressing read.