Anyway, onward and upward. I'm not blogging about any more trades until they are actually announced. We'll see how long I can stick to that resolution...
Now we look at the rest of the expected roster for the Orioles. Since there are so many holes in the lineup, so many roles that seem unsettled (and so many trades that have yet to happen) most of these players won't warrant a full post simply because it is difficult to know how much they will play and where.
Melvin Mora
There's not much to say about Mora at this point in his career. He'll be 36 this season and offensively, he's been in steady decline over the last three seasons. There's even question as to how much he'll get to play with Scott Moore potentially pushing for playing time. Look for Mora to hit about .270 with 15 homers and OPS about .750. Mora's real strength at this point is that he seems to have learned to field his position. He had his finest defensive year at 3B in 2007 and was actually a pleasure to watch.
Kevin Millar
Millar will also be 36 this season but since so much of his value comes from his patience at the plate, I don't see his overall production dipping much. He set a career high for walks last season and hit 15 homers. He will bring much needed patience to a lineup that needs some and don't be surprised if he finishes with a higher OPS than Spanky Huff...again. At half the price.
Jay Payton
What few skills Payton had as a baseball player have begun to erode and he was pretty bad as a regular in leftfield. But he can still hit lefties and it would be nice if he was platooned with Luke Scott in left and Tike Redman (or whoever) in center. We have to pay the guy for 2008 anyway, we may as well let him do the one thing he can do well. Earl Weaver would do it. If he's deployed properly, I could see him hitting .280 and getting on base at a .350 clip making him a pretty useful roleplayer.
Luis Hernandez
Don't let the .290 average from last season fool you. He only batted .250 in 6 minor league seasons so I expect him to be hitting sub-.250 for most of the season. He doesn't walk either. His defense had better be great.
Jay Gibbons
Coming back from injury, it is unclear what role he will have on this team. To stay healthy, he will need to be limited to DH and will have to battle it out with Millar and Huff for at bats. Will he get enough plate appearances to work out his swing? He will need very poor production and/or injuries to others to get a significant amout of playing time. I compared him to Rico Brogna last season. Brogna was out of baseball by the time he was 32. Gibbons is heading down that path.
Adam Lowen
A veritable rookie coming back from injury with a pin in his throwing elbow? Who knows? Can you tell me what to expect from this guy?
Luke Scott
I'm going with the platoon theory here and guess that Scott will get something in the neighborhood of 400 AB. He'll get on-base at a .350 clip, he'll strikeout over 100 times and he'll slug in the neighborhood of .500. You know how many regulars we had slugging .500 on last year's roster? None, brother. Not one. Please platoon this guy with Payton in left. It would be almost perfect...
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