Winter Meeting Stuffage: The Orioles

With 69 wins last season, the Orioles under the tutelage of Andy MacPhail will be expected to improve; however, it will not be in the free agent market, but via trades, the draft and possibly a Rule 5 pickup.

As we have seemingly talked about length, the biggest trade chips are Erik Bedard and Miguel Tejada. The Orioles from my point of view need to add more bats into the lineup, and also supplant arms into the rotation, and especially the bullpen.

We shall see what happens this week, and if a move or moves are made.

The Orioles decided not to offer either Paul Bako or Corey Patterson arbitration, which means that while both could re-sign with the Orioles – however, in my opinion, it’s not going to happen. Bako can be easily replaced, and while Patterson has a stellar glove and is great in the field, his hitting is a problem.

I’d rather see what we could get out of wheeling and dealing before the organization re-signs Patterson.

The Baltimore Sun has a great round-up of what to expect at the winter meetings and what deals could be made. Also, Jeff Zrebeic has an interesting Q&A with Brian Roberts who gives us all out there a player’s perspective on the wheeling and dealing of the off-season. ESPN’s Jayson Stark has an interesting take on the Orioles and their expectations in the 2007 winter meetings.

Also, check out Roch Kubatko’s blog today as he gives as perspective about being a member of the media at the winter meetings.