This is a long one. Be warned.

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Here's BBTF's defensive awards for worst fielders. The M's won 3 awards. One for 1B, one for left and one for right. Pretty impressive.

Outfielders

The article does note that there might be a problem with how he's evaluating Safeco for outfielders. Has anyone seen a way to do that that might help him out?

Infielders

I don't really understand his method. Is it any good? Is there another way to approach this topic that makes more sense?

Method

Hey guys. Nice site you have going. I'm by no means advocating any of the following, it's just speculation given the moves taking place, so please don't just flame me cause you hate the deal. I just don't follow the O's close enough to know what they need aside from the surface reports.

Facts:

1. In case you don't know, the M's just signed Migel Cairo. Yes. Really. We have no idea why.
2. It looks like the O's are going to try to deal Roberts, if they haven't already.
3. The O's need middle infielders. It looks like Cedeno at short. But w/o Roberts, who's at second? I don't see any middle infielders anywhere near the top of the O's prospect list.
4. The M's are frustrated with Jose Lopez.
5. The M's have a second base prospect in Yung-Chi Chen who could potentally replace Lopez, for a year at least.

Speculation:
Given all that,wouldn't it stand to reason that Lopez is in the Bedard talks between the O's and M's? He's a MLB ready replacement for Roberts and far better than any youngsters in the O's farm system. Obviously, Jones or Morrow would be the centerpiece of the deal, but Lopez could be part of the package, instead of another prospect farther away from the bigs.

Question:
I know Bill Bavasi has to have thought about this, but I don't know your GMs tendancies. Is this something he would concider?

Wouldn't it be reasonable that Cairo is intended to platoon with Chen and not as competition to Lopez? If the Orioles are interested in dealing B. Roberts to the Cubs, they are going to need a 2B for next year. The Orioles don't have a middle infielder anywhere in the top of their farm system. It does make sense to me to get that player as part of the Bedard trade. So, they could get 2 MLB ready position players in Jones and Lopez for Bedard. Then they could trade Roberts to the Cubs for the rumored Sean Gallagher, Sean Marshall, and Ronny Cedeno (P,P,SS).

So, I've been seeing Adrian Beltre's name come up from the NY media as a possible replacement for A-Rod.
Beltre's signed for 2 more years at 12 mil each. That's very reasonable for what he does. It seemed like a big contract at the time, but it's turning out to be rather precient. The M's don't need to dump his salary, so it would have to be a actual talent trade to get the second best position player on the team, especially since the M's have no immediate minor league infielders to replace him.

Who do they think the M's would take? As far as I can tell, the Yankees have no tradable players that match up with the M's(I'm asuming Phil Hughes, Cano and Wang aren't going anywhere). Am I missing someone? Are there some prospects ready to bump people out of their spots, or are there some personality problems that need to be moved?