FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-- --Orioles pitchers and catchers ran and threw here yesterday for the first time this year.
Another annual baseball rite of mid-February happened the day before, when anti-urgency super agent Scott Boras finally procured a contract for his last remaining high-profile client, pitcher Jeff Weaver.
Weaver and the Los Angeles Angels agreed to a one-year, $8.325 million deal that could be worth nearly $9 million if he meets certain incentives.
With it, an Orioles fan's worst nightmare became official.
All of the big-named free-agent pitchers have found homes - and none is in Baltimore.
There's a one-word response to that reality: good.
Make that great.
No doubt, the Orioles need a top-of-the-rotation starter or two. As they enter spring, they have a rotation filled with No. 3s and 4s - and barring a super-sized Leo Mazzone magic wand - it won't be enough to compete in a division and a sport that demands quality pitching.
So, yeah, the Orioles could have used A.J. Burnett, Kevin Millwood, Weaver, Paul Byrd, Jarrod Washburn, Matt Morris and maybe even Kenny Rogers.
But not at the astronomical prices they demanded this offseason, roughly $217.5 million total for the seven.
The Orioles' cautious approach was the right one. As much as it may leave the fan base feeling empty.
Granted, outlandish baseball salaries are nothing new. The Texas Rangers gave megaflop Chan Ho Park a five-year deal worth $65 million before the 2002 season. But this offseason's payout for pedestrian starting pitching was, in the words of one general manager, "beyond crazy" across the board.
This is how that GM referred to the Rangers' five-year, $60 million deal for Millwood, the reigning American League ERA champ with an injury history and only one 15-win season in the past six.
"It's the stupidest thing I have ever seen in my life, to give five years to someone who is a risk to blow out at anytime," the GM said. "If you didn't learn from Chan Ho, well, then, OK."
Orioles vice president Jim Duquette was more diplomatic about the overall pitching market.
"We were really surprised by the dollar amount and we were surprised by the years that some of the pitchers got ... when you look at the track record, their lack of success or their health, the question marks they have had over the years," Duquette said.
Millwood and Burnett, a sub-.500 pitcher who signed a five-year, $55 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays, were the best of the weak class. The rest is decidedly second-tier, potentially no better than what the Orioles have.
Washburn, who won just eight games for a division champ, signed with the Seattle Mariners for four years and $37 million. Morris, who had an awful second half, got three years and $27 million from the San Francisco Giants. Byrd, a 35-year-old journeyman, took two years and $14.25 million from the Cleveland Indians and Rogers, 41, who has, to put it mildly, anger-management issues, signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Detroit Tigers.
The Orioles had legitimate interest in Byrd, Millwood and, eventually, Weaver. But they fell about $1 million short of Byrd and roughly $20 million out of the Millwood sweepstakes. They never were really in it for Burnett, because they knew they'd had to overspend drastically for his potential.
One club source said the Orioles pondered a one-year deal in the $6 million range for Weaver, but even that wasn't good enough.
Jaded Orioles fans aren't surprised, believing that the club once again didn't pony up enough for quality players while other, so-called mid-market teams did. That has been true in the past, but it's the wrong thinking in this instance.
The Orioles were understandably prudent, given the risk versus the reward of these free-agent pitchers. If Burnett, for instance, pulls a Park and disappears, the Blue Jays won't easily rebound. Neither would the Orioles.
They don't need to cry poor, of course. They have more money than plenty of other, more successful, teams. They also don't have the same margin of error as the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
"If large-market teams make a mistake, if a guy is ineffective, [a large-market team] can in essence, pick up a good portion of the money and then trade them and get rid of them and their contract," Duquette said. "That has the potential to cripple a mid-market organization, so you have to be more selective."
What Duquette and Mike Flanagan did this offseason to improve the rotation was trade for Kris Benson, another solid but unspectacular pitcher. He had signed for three years and $22.5 million with the New York Mets last offseason - a deal that at the time was blamed for triggering the exorbitant contracts of 2004-2005. A deal that Duquette negotiated for the Mets and now calls, in retrospect, "a bargain."
If Benson flops here, the Orioles are on the hook only through 2007, not 2010 or beyond.
That's important, because next year the landscape changes. Potential free-agent starters include Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Andy Pettitte, Jason Schmidt, Brad Radke and Greg Maddux.
All have track records. All will be paid handsomely.
If the Orioles fail to land one of those plums, then Orioles fans can rightfully curse about the team's unwillingness to pay for pitching.
But not this winter. Not when the product simply didn't match the price tag.
danconnolly@baltsun.com
