Ramon Hernandez now an Oriole

[riverside sluggers]

This is a good pick up for the O's

 

Catcher adds pop to O's lineup

Baltimore reaches agreement with Hernandez on four-year deal

By Spencer Fordin / MLB.com

 

DALLAS -- One deal's done and another's in the offing, allowing the Orioles to leave the Winter Meetings with a sense of accomplishment. Several published reports state that Baltimore has reached a preliminary agreement on a four-year, $27.5 million contract with free agent catcher Ramon Hernandez, who would have to complete a physical before making it official.

 

Hernandez has missed a significant amount of time in the last two seasons with wrist and knee ailments, so the physical may be something more than a mere formality. The deal, if completed, would immediately push Javy Lopez into limbo. Lopez would either switch positions -- to first base or DH -- or get traded for help in other areas. The Orioles are still looking for help at both first base and in the outfield, and they'd also like to add depth to the starting rotation and bullpen. Thus far, the team's decision-makers have withstood the temptation to trade some of their young pitching, which was very much in demand at the Winter Meetings.

 

"Anytime you're trying to trade a player, you really have to take into consideration a lot of factors. And one of them is the marketplace," said Jim Duquette, Baltimore's vice president of baseball operations. "If it wasn't clear earlier, it became clear in the last two weeks that the cost of replacing a quality pitcher is so high that it would be very difficult for us to trade a pitcher of ours. It would have to be a unique situation."

[soxonfox]

Don't the O's already have a good catcher in Javy Lopez? This makes nosense to me. Unless lopez is a FA??

[Beckett95]

there going to use lopez at first or DH him. They also might trade him. Who knows what the orioles are doing. they have yet to realize that they need PITCHING.

[Sizzlin22]

They need pitching, untill they pick up a decent pitcher I'm not even remotly worried about the O's.

[ACL BoSox]

the orioles are still a 4th place team, at best.

 

No starting pitching, no closer, and an unhappy short-stop.