Orioles Offseason Grade

Spring training has officially begun and now it is time to reflect on the offseason and decide how we think Andy MacPhail and the Orioles did. This has been by far Andy MacPhail’s most active offseason with the Orioles. It actually has been the most active offseason for the Orioles in quite some time.

As I said in earlier posts, just because the Orioles made a number of moves, doesn’t mean those moves are going to work out. As fans, you would hope the Orioles will be better than last year based on the money that has been spent and the number of players that have been added. On the other hand, with the Orioles luck, they will still find a way to lose close to 100 games. But I am not going to be negative!

I am very happy with the moves the Orioles have made this offseason. They basically have a new infield along with a lot more depth in the middle of the infield. They added the right handed power bats at the corners and DH along with an upgrade offensivley at short. They got another late inning reliever, middle relief depth, and a starting pitcher.

This offseason the Orioles acquired Derrek Lee, J.J. Hardy, Mark Reynolds, Vladimir Guerrero, Kevin Gregg, Jeremy Accardo, and resigned Koji Uehara and Cesar Izturis. These were the more well known moves that were made, but MacPhail also was able to make several moves in which he provided the Orioles with more depth. The Orioles picked up players like Brendan Harris, Nick Green, Randy Winn, David Riske, Clay Rapada, Ryan Drese, and resigned Mark Hendrickson.

The one concern that I do have with these moves is where they will leave the Orioles after this season. Derrek Lee, Vladimir Guerrero, J.J. Hardy, and Koji Uehara are set to be free agents after this season. These moves will surely help the Orioles this season, but also leave the team with a number of holes to fill again next offseason. There is a chance J.J. Hardy could be signed to a longer deal, but for the most part, the moves the team made this offseason won’t help the Orioles in the long term.

You can make the argument that the Orioles aren’t going to come close to contending for anything this season even after these moves, so why sign these players like Guerrero and Lee? The Orioles didn’t really make many moves that will help them two or three years from now when they are hoping to be contending. That would be my only complaint on the moves that were made this offseason.

Even though the moves the team made this offseason won’t help the Orioles in the future, I still really like what Andy MacPhail did to improve the club. I would give Andy MacPhail and the Orioles a B+ grade on their offseason moves. Only time will tell how good of an offseason the Orioles had, but what grade would you give Andy MacPhail and the Orioles on their offseason moves?