Trade for Felix Pie

Background
The Orioles have dealt LHP Garrett Olson and minor leage reliever Henry Williamson to the Chicago Cubs for OF Felix Pie. Pie, who turns 24 in early April, was rated as the Cubs #1 prospect by Baseball America in both 2006 and 2007.

Stats
Because the sample size is so small for both Olson and Pie, I'm going to stick to career minor league numbers instead of showing what they've done so far at the major league level, which, in both cases, is pretty ugly in any case.

Pie

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG
7 Yr	627	2509	424	750	135	54	62	317	117	206	532	.299	.353	.470

Olson

	G	W	L	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
4 Yr	71	12	10	1	383.2	321	140	126	27	125	380	2.96	1.16

Williamson

	G	W	L	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
2 Yr	36	2	6	5	90	80	50	40	4	22	110	4.00	1.13

ND's Take
Finally, a truly positive move by the front office this offseason!

Felix Pie (pronounced Pee-ay) is exactly the type of player this organization needs to build around. He's young, he's talented, and he's dying for a chance to play every day. The Cubs never gave him any of their OF slots outright, and among all the bouncing back and forth between Iowa and Chicago, Pie never managed to show much. Now he's out of options, and the contending Cubbies still didn't see him as a solution.

Enter the Orioles, who have coveted Pie for years. The outfield is set for the foreseeable future with Pie (24), Adam Jones (23), and Nick Markakis (25), all Gold Glove-caliber fielders and all top-rated prospects. Pie is a 5-tools guy. He'll never be Barry Bonds, but he's got enough power, enough speed, and enough plate discipline that he has all-star potential.

So who did we give up to get this wunderkind? Garrett Olson, primarily. Olson is a decent pitcher who was definitely thrust into the rotation way too soon last year. He's never been thought of as a top-of-the-rotation guy, but he projects as a decent #4 starter for someone, although I doubt it'll be with the Cubs.

All indications are that the Cubs made this move for two reasons:
1. Pie was out of options, and they wanted to ensure they got something for him, since he was unlikely to have much value to them this year.
2. The Padres have expressed an interest in Olson, and the Cubs might be able to turn him around as part of a larger package for Jake Peavy.

As for Williamson, He's 6'5", he was a 14th round draft pick out of junior college, and he's got some outstanding strikeout ratios, both per inning and compared to walks. But he just spent his 22-year-old season at low A ball, he's never had any success as a starter, and he's never been listed on the O's top prospect lists. So even if he does ever make the bigs, I think we're looking at a middling righthanded reliever type. Certainly, he's a perfectly acceptable throw-in for a deal like this one.

The big question now becomes Luke Scott. Do we DH him? That's a lot of lefties in the batting order. Do we trade him? This seems the most logical move to me. I like Scott a lot, but if this team is going to take a shot at becoming a contender in the next few years, we're going to have to ride the young horses.

With an offensive core of Wieters, Markakis, Jones, and Pie, and pitching built around Guthrie, Arrieta, Stillman, and Hernandez, there's hope yet for the future of this franchise. now if we could only re-sign Roberts to hold down the leadoff spot...

GG's Take
When it comes to dealing with MacPhail’s old team, our GM shows the creativity and depth of knowledge that ideally we would show in all our dealings. Knowing that Pie is out of options and plenty of outfielders remain available on the FA market, MacPhail swooped in and nabbed a prospect with plenty of upside.

Pie reached the upper levels of the minors young and more than held his own. As a 21-year-old in AAA Iowa, he put up a .781 OPS and by mid-April was handed the Cubs' starting CF job. He sputtered, and quickly lost playing time to Jacques Jones. The next year he was the Opening Day CF, and was given 63 ABs to prove himself before another vet (Jim Edmonds) supplanted him. Suddenly Pie was off the Cubs’ fast track, the weak link in a powerful Cubs lineup with plenty of alternatives and little tolerance for failure. But there’s every reason to suspect that the Cubs have given up on him too soon. Two clues: He reached the high minors at an early age and his top PECOTA comps includes Carlos Beltran. Most hitters struggle at first, and declaring Pie a faded prospect based on 260 scattered major league ABs is rather preposterous.

Enter the O’s, who are rebuilding and have a huge organizational need for bats. Despite his lack of success, Olson has the track record to suggest he will eventually become a mid-level starter. Whether he would have reached that ceiling as an Oriole is debatable. The AL East feasted off him (7.04 ERA). But when you have only 7 Quality Starts out of 25, it’s not just a matter of tough matchups; you’re not fooling everyone. Olson only reaches the mid-80s with his fastball, so it’s all about location for him, and that (he walked 4.22 BB per 9, or nearly a batter every other inning) didn’t go so well for him either.

Fallout: The O’s get a high-potential bat, and have any number of warm bodies capable of throwing the 150 mediocre IPs that even a vastly improved Olson would have provided. A clear win for the O’s, taking advantage of a roster crunch. Defensively, our OF becomes the best in baseball – there, I’ve said it, find me another OF that compares! Thumbs up to MacPhail for leveraging his Cubs connections to land a high-ceiling position player, of which the O's have far too few.

Coming Soon...

While GG is off on army reserve duty, the site has admittedly been rather one-sided. Normalcy will hopefully soon be restored, and GG will lend his literary talents to this effort once again.

In the meantime, you can look forward to the following here on Glenn Gulliver's Travels:

- Two installments of Catching Up: the Hernandez Trade and the Cabrera Non-tender
- O's Holes and Who's Left to Fill Them
- Offseason Summary
- Spring Training Preview

Plus, we'll be adding some new features, such as This Day in O's History, Transaction Revisited, and Down on the Farm.

We encourage your feedback and suggestions, and we appreciate any word-of-mouth publicity you can offer.

At least this way, we can all suffer through this coming season together.

Gregg Zaun

Background
The Orioles signed catcher Gregg Zaun to a 1-year contract worth $1.5 million, with a club option for a second year. The option has a buyout of $500K, so the guaranteed money is $2 million.

Zaun, who played for the O's when he first came up in 1995-96 and who is famously Rick Dempsey's nephew, has played for 7 teams in 14 major league seasons, including Toronto for the past 5 years. It was there that he was first given the chance to start.

Stats

Year	Tm	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS+
2008	TOR	86	245	29	58	12	0	6	30	2	38	38	.237	.340	.359	87
14 Yr		1114	3125	392	783	170	9	78	405	23	437	484	.251	.344	.386	90

ND's Take
I think we can all recognize the logic behind this signing. Gregg Zaun is nothing more than a placeholder. He's keeping the dirt behind home plate warm. He's the hors d'oeuvres before the sumptuous main course.

Of course, I am referring to Matt Wieters, perhaps the O's best positional prospect since Jeffrey Hammonds (let's hope he turns out better than that one did). For any number of reasons (service time, seasoning, mentoring), the O's have decided not to hand over the keys to the Mercedes to Weiters just yet, and they fully intend to have their star catcher of the future begin the season in Norfolk.

He won't be there long. Whether it's June or August, Wieters is going to be with the big league club this coming season. Until then, though, someone has to catch the ball when the pitchers throw it. Enter Gregg Zaun.

Until this signing, the O's didn't have a single catcher on their 40-man roster. They had invited about 8 guys to spring training, the best of whom is Chad Moeller, who is not a legit option as a major league starter. Guillermo Quiroz? I don't think so.

So we considered the free agent options, and there were 4 guys out there:
- Matt Treanor: better than Moeller, but not by much, and who signed elsewhere before we could really consider him
- Jason Varitek: looking for tens of millions on a multi-year deal, which is exactly what we don't need
- Ivan Rodriguez: I'll come back to this in a minute.
- Gregg Zaun: former player who was well-liked by the fans for his hustle, which reminds them of his uncle Rick, who is an all-time fan favorite.

So, really there were two option, and one was guaranteed to appease the masses who have been irritable since Tex signed his pact with the devil. (I'm not suggesting that Zaun really satisfies those who were hellbent on having Tex in our lineup, but he's a bit of a salve to the burn for the Orioles Way crowd.)

IRod? Well, he'd have been a good mentor for Wieters IF he'd have been willing to cede his starting role midyear and become a player-coach of sorts. That doesn't sound like a wise bet to me. He's certainly not the IRod of old, so his production value wouldn't have been worth the money he was looking for.

Zaun seems to me to be a good role model. A hard worker who takes nothing for granted. A guy who respects the game and the people in the stands who are spending their hard-earned money to watch him play and are thereby paying his salary.

Is he going to hit much? Not likely. Is he a superb fielder? Not really. But the couple extra wins we might have gotten from half a season of IRod certainly isn't worth the extra salary or the potential headache of having two starters when Wieters is called up.

So kudos to the O's on this one. At least they can go get a decent placeholder when they need one.

Chris Gomez

Background
The Orioles signed utility man Chris Gomez to a minor league contract with a guaranteed spring training invite. Gomez played previously for the Orioles from 2005 through the middle of the 2007 season. He has played for 8 teams in his 16 major league seasons.

Stats

Year	Tm	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS+
2008	PIT	90	183	26	50	8	0	1	20	0	13	30	.273	.322	.333	77
16 Yr		1515	4604	517	1206	234	18	60	487	35	408	750	.262	.325	.360	82

ND's Take
I like Chris Gomez. I think he's a gamer. He's got a great reputation as a clubhouse guy, and since it's pretty clear that Kevin Millar isn't coming back, the Orioles could always use one of those.

And this move isn't going to cost us much (assuming it costs us anything at all), and it isn't likely to take a roster spot from an up-and-coming prospect who needs playing time. Oh, and Gomez had the best season of his career for us in 2006.

Not much else I can say that's positive. Basically, Gomez isn't going to contribute much offensively, he's below average defensively, and his big benefit is that he can play all four infield positions, offering the starters an occasional day off.

That's fine if that's what he provides. What's not fine is having him play 36 games at 1B in half a season, as the O's had him do in 2007. Or play 42 games at 1B and 6 at DH, as they had him do in 2005. If Chris Gomez is getting that many AB in the power slots of the lineup, you can write off the season already.

Of course, Gomez still has to make the team. The O's are apparently leaning toward going north with 13 pitchers, leaving only 3 spots on the bench. One will have to be a backup catcher, and one is going to be Ryan Freel. That leaves one spot to be taken from among Gomez, Donnie Murphy, Jolbert Cabrera, Lou Montanez, Oscar Salazar, and maybe Scott Moore or Nolan Reimold.

I think Gomez will win the spot, with one of the OF guys coming up when (if?) the pitching solidifies. If he is limited to a couple hundred plate appearances, he won't hurt us too much, and maybe his clubhouse presence will actually add something. If he plays much more than that, we'll know Trembley's not as good a manager as I've maintained he is.

Koji Uehara

Background
The Orioles signed Japanese RHP Koji Uehara to a 2-year $10 million contract, with incentives that could bring the value to as much as $16 million. Uehara will be 34 in April and has spent his entire career with the Yomiuri Giants, making 8 all-star teams. He has been both a starter and a closer in Japan, but the Orioles are treating him as a new member of their rotation.

Stats

Year	Tm	G	W	L	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
2008	YOM	26	6	5	1	89.2	90	43	38	11	16	72	3.81	1.18
9 Yr		276	112	62	33	1549	1354	558	518	183	206	1376	3.01	1.01

ND's Take
It's hard to tell how Japanese players will transition to the Majors. It has long been thought that Japanese baseball is considered to be roughly equivilent to AAA. The best Japanese players, therefore, can make the jump with no problem, some even reaching all-star status.

From 1999-2004, Koji Uehara was definitely an elite player in Japan. His pinpoint accuracy and range of pitches made him every bit the equal of Daisuke Matsuzaka, the star Japanese import on the Red Sox.

The problem is that Dice-K is 28 years old, and has been injury-free his entire career. Uehara is going to be 34 come Opening Day, and he's battled shoulder issues the past 3 years, bringing his numbers back to Earth.

Uehara is certainly capable of being a #3 starter, if he's healthy, if he's not starting to lose velocity, if he's not plagued by the gopher ball in the friendly confines of Camden Yards. The Orioles, with gaping holes in their rotation, certainly have nothing to lose with this signing.

In fact, many will point to this signing as a milestone, the first Asian player in an O's uniform, the breaking down of the barrier to the East. Maybe so.

I don't really think such a barrier ever existed, though. More likely, the O's just didn't invest in scouting the Pacific Rim, and this is the first fruit of last year's commitment to such an effort. It's not like all of a sudden the next Ichiro is going to decide to sign with us instead of the Yankees because of this signing. Japanese players are no different than American ones. They go where the money is, where the fans are good to them, and where they have a chance to win (and, if you're Mark Texeira, where your wife tells you to go, ya whipped Spankee sellout).

Maybe if we also sign Kenshin Kawakami, the other 33-year old Japanese pitcher on the market this winter, a case could be made that we've really opened the door to recruiting Japanese fans, which will lead to future Asian signings.

In the meantime, Uehara is a middle-to-end-of-the-rotation guy who we got for a decent price and for not much of commitment considering his age. As seems to be the case with all our recent signings, if we keep our expectations to that, no one gets hurt.

Catching Up: Cesar Izturis

Background
On December 15, the Orioles signed switch-hitting SS Cesar Izturis to a 2-year contract worth $5 million. Izturis won the 2004 NL Gold Glove at SS and made the 2005 NL All-Star team (but did not play). He spent the 2008 season with the St. Louis Cardinals, and has also played for the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Cubs, and Pirates in his 8 major league seasons.

Stats

Year	Tm	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS+
2008	STL	135	414	50	109	10	3	1	24	24	29	26	.263	.319	.309	67
8 Yr		903	3165	342	822	135	27	12	231	86	169	304	.260	.299	.331	67

ND's Take
From 1968-1980, the Orioles used Mark Belanger as their everyday shortstop. Belanger couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag, but he could field with the best of them, winning 8 Gold Gloves. Belanger "slugged" just 20 HR in his career, had a career .300 OBP, and only once in 18 years managed even league-average production (1976).

Cesar Izturis is definitely an above-average fielder. He has good range, and he doesn't boot the ball very often. But he's no Mark Belanger. At least not defensively.

Offensively, unfortunately, he is almost exactly Belanger. Izturis has a little more speed (leading to more triples, which accounts for his slightly higher SLG). But given the fact that today's baseball requires more offense, Izturis actually has a lower career OPS than Belanger compared to the league average (adjusting for park factors).

Orioles fans routinely excused The Blade's lack of offense because his glove was so good and because the O's were winning. I have a hard time believing that today's fans will be so forgiving, both because Izturis, while an excellent gloveman, is not Belanger's fielding equal, and even more so because the team is about as likely to sniff the postseason as Izturis is to hit 30 HR (ain't happening).

Mark Hendrickson

Background
The Orioles have signed free agent LHP Mark Hendrickson to a 1-year $1.5 million contract. Hendrickson is a 6'9" 34-year-old swing man, who spent the 2008 season with the Marlins and who has also pitched for the Blue Jays, Rays, and Dodgers in his seven professional seasons. He also played 114 games in the NBA before pursuing his baseball career.

Stats

Year	Tm	G	W	L	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	ERA+	WHIP
2008	FLA	36	7	8	0	133.7	148	87	81	17	48	81	5.45	78	1.47
7 Yr		215	50	63	0	977.7	1133	610	551	119	286	545	5.07	89	1.45

GG's Take
We got our Mark... Hendrickson, that is. One year, $1.5 million - same as he made last year. He can make about $400,000 more if he stays in the rotation all year. A tall, soft-throwing lefty, he's been a below-average pitcher as long as he's been in the league, with ERAs routinely topping 5.00. He did have some success out of the bullpen last year with the Marlins when facing lefties; it seems doubtful, however, that the O's leave Hendrickson in the pen, rested and reserved for optimal matchups.

The Orioles have no illusions about Hendrickson's upside but are hoping he can soak up innings and help justify leaving the high-upside kids (Arrieta, Matusz, Tillman, David Hernandez, and even perhaps Liz) in the minors that much longer, a model the O's used successfully with Steve Traschel in 2007 and far less so when they tried to squeeze Traschel's usefulness into 2008. It's not likely that he'll perform any better than the unready prospects, but at this minimal cost, the O's are wise to let the AL East tee off on Hendrickson instead, thereby sparing damage to the young guys' psyches. Let's hope Hendrickson can keep it together well enough to pitch five innings on a regular basis. It's pathetic that veteran mediocrity is what we O's fans are reduced to hoping for, but that's a discussion for a different thread.

ND's Take
The Mark Hendrickson signing is only a big deal in that it's the first pitcher we've signed in an offseason in which we need to sign at least 2-3 veteran arms. This is not a guy who can be counted on for anything more than a few consecutive games in which he awes you with his size, teases you with his stuff, gets away with walking too many guys, and then implodes. Sound familiar?

Hendrickson has never had the potential of Daniel Cabrera, but he's essentially Cabrera Lite. Taller, doesn't throw as hard, better control, but the same infuriating tendancy to tease you into wanting to believe in him.

Last season, Hendrickson started out on fire. On May 8, he was 5-1 with a 3.56 ERA for the Marlins. By the All-Star break, he was 7-7 with a 6.24 and banished to the bullpen. He's put together similar up-and-down stretches before (in his first four career starts, he was 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA and 0.77 WHIP over 26 IP; his next 6 starts, he was 1-4 with a 7.26 ERA and 1.65 WHIP over 31 IP), just as Cabrera was known to do for us.

Unlike Cabrera, though, Hendrickson can't be forgiven with the old "maybe he needs a change of scenery" excuse. The O's will be his fifth organization in eight years. So why sign him? We just rid ourselves of Cabrera; why bring in his lesser baseball doppleganger?

The simple answer is that we need warm bodies. Before this signing, the 5-man rotation would have been Guthrie, Olson, Liz, Burres, and Waters. The other options include guys bouncing back from injuries, like Patton, Sarfate, Penn, and Albers. And we're not going to throw the next class of promising arms to the wolves. So someone has to pitch.

Hendrickson is cheap, he's capable of giving us four or five innings per outing, and he's not altogether terrible. (How's that for a compliment?) As long as that remains the expectation, no one will be disappointed.

P.S. Does this signing set a record? Do the Orioles now become the first franchise to have had two Sixers second round draft picks play for them (Hendrickson and Minor)?