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OT: Kevin Gregg finally signs with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:53 pm
by LittleOzzy
Last week Baltimore reportedly offered Kevin Gregg a two-year, $8 million deal, but apparently that wasn’t enough because according to Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston.com the Orioles have upped their two-year offer to $12 million and Gregg is close to accepting.
Gregg racked up 37 saves for the Blue Jays this year for his fourth straight season with at least 20 saves, but his 3.79 ERA during that time isn’t particularly impressive and he blew six save chances this year to finish with a success rate of 86 percent that’s basically right at the MLB average.
Gregg is a decent setup man who’s apparently about to be paid like something a step or two above that because he’s gotten a chance to rack up saves in the past.
According to McDonald the Nationals and Red Sox are also in the mix for Gregg, who would presumably compete for ninth-inning duties with Koji Uehara if he indeed opts to join the Orioles.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/ ... h-orioles/
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:00 pm
by mikero
How the hell does Gregg get paid more per year than Downs?
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:01 pm
by zong
Are we geting any compensation? This man is about to get PAID. Wow.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:18 pm
by Schad
Bahahahahahahahahahaha.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 7:03 pm
by SharoneWright
LOL @ "close to accepting" the deal. Gregg shouldn't let the ink dry.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:53 am
by hyper316
baltimore is just picking up unwanted scraps this offseason. they are destined for battling #1 pick with pirates
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 4:57 am
by Skin Blues
Whenever you wonder why teams like Baltimore always suck, keep stuff like this in mind. I guess they were at his mercy and forced to raise the offer by 50%... hahahahhaha
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:44 am
by Geddy
I hope Orioles fans have their heart medication ready for next season.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 7:54 am
by Raps in 4
rkid wrote:I hope Orioles fans have their heart medication ready for next season.
They won't need to call on him very often.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 9:01 am
by Mike Hunt
I don't get the comment: His 3.79 ERA over that time is unimpressive. Actually, it kind of is. Any ERA under 4 nowadays is pretty impressive.
Gregg only really had 2 bad stints this year. His bad performances came in bunches and only for short periods of time. He was actually pretty resilient. I was surprised at how solid he was for most of the season (take out the one week when he forgot where the strike zone was and you're looking at a very solid season).
The question is: How likely is he to repeat this? Most would think: not very. Baltimore seems to believe something else. Lets not make this out to be a horrible move by Baltimore. It's more likely than not, a bad move. But this isn't the kind of move that will kill a franchise. If he has an ERA at or just under 4 and saves over 80% of his opportunities, they'll probably be happy with their signing.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:59 am
by Chevy Chase
I agree with Mike.
While the blown saves always seemed to come at key moments in the season, when we still thought we had a chance if we could just stay close, his overall body of work was more than adequate. I doubt whoever we use this year will be as good.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:49 pm
by Duffman100
The Orioles go in the right direction for a period of time...then they spend 12 million on a mediocre middle reliever.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 2:46 pm
by Skin Blues
Mike Hunt wrote:I don't get the comment: His 3.79 ERA over that time is unimpressive. Actually, it kind of is. Any ERA under 4 nowadays is pretty impressive.
No, it really isn't. ERA in and of itself is relatively useless for relievers anyway, because it is so volatile. Akin to only looking at a starter's ERA in May and concluding how good he is. But even if it was the most important stat, there were 93 full time relief pitchers with an ERA below 4 last season. Three per team. Considering it's the lowest paid position in baseball - and deservedly so - the fact that you cracked the top 100 is
not impressive, and definitely not worth $6M/yr.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 5:34 pm
by hyper316
i think The Gregg is being signed as a closer, and usually closers make a lot more money than regular relievers. 37 saves is good, but I just dont want The Gregg pitching for the Jays anymore. I have no trust in him every time closing out games.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:01 am
by Dayne
The BJ Ryan signing by JP was a hard lesson IMO that a non-major market team like ours should never even think about paying top dollar to a closer. I mean, unless you've got a Rivera or Hoffman on your hands, there's no sense in paying +$5 mill for a "closer" - when that job can be done by a committee of relievers or just choosing one from your existing roster - with comparable efficiency. It's just not cost-effective anymore.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:51 pm
by The_Hater
Dayne wrote:The BJ Ryan signing by JP was a hard lesson IMO that a non-major market team like ours should never even think about paying top dollar to a closer. I mean, unless you've got a Rivera or Hoffman on your hands, there's no sense in paying +$5 mill for a "closer" - when that job can be done by a committee of relievers or just choosing one from your existing roster - with comparable efficiency. It's just not cost-effective anymore.
I think that overpaying for RP's is the biggest mistake that almost all MLB teams make. At least those that don't have bottomless pockets.
Pay for elite offensive players and definitely pay for quality SPs but so many quality MLB bullpens are stocked with cheap, homegrown arms. That's where you need to make sure your farm system is strong and thats where you save your $$$.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 6:04 pm
by tecumseh18
The_Hater wrote:I think that overpaying for RP's is the biggest mistake that almost all MLB teams make. At least those that don't have bottomless pockets.
Pay for elite offensive players and definitely pay for quality SPs but so many quality MLB bullpens are stocked with cheap, homegrown arms. That's where you need to make sure your farm system is strong and thats where you save your $$$.
So would outbidding the Reds for Chapman have been a mistake? It's amazing to the think the guy could have TJ surgery, lose 5 mph off his fastball, and still be throwing at 100.
I think there's a show business factor in springing for a big closer. Watching a strong, confident pitcher pick up a save can be the most exciting part of the game for the fans. The vibe among the crowd when BJ Ryan (in his first season here) would come in and mow down the opponents was tremendous. Henke-esque, although BJ didn't trade on velocity. That's how you build a fan base.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:41 pm
by luvtheteam
tecumseh...nice post. Wholeheartedly agree except that the fireballers are just too expensive in the open market. I sure hope AA can trade for something decent before spring training. I'll take Gregg back if it comes to that just as a stop gap for a year or 2, but admitedly he's not the fireballer were looking for.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:56 pm
by Schad
tecumseh18 wrote:So would outbidding the Reds for Chapman have been a mistake? It's amazing to the think the guy could have TJ surgery, lose 5 mph off his fastball, and still be throwing at 100.
If he remains a reliever, yeah. Chapman's contract structure is crazy; he got a $16.25m upfront (though it's deferred over the next decade) bonus, and the final 2-3 years (when he'd be relatively cheap) disappear if he becomes arb-eligible in 2012 or 2013, which will almost certainly happen now. If he hits arbitration eligibility after 2012, he'll have gotten $25m for a shade over 2 years in the bigs...pretty close to $200,000 per inning pitched, assuming a regular workload.
That's demented no matter how hard he throws, and it speaks to the fact that the Reds really should use him as a starter, even if it takes longer.
I think there's a show business factor in springing for a big closer. Watching a strong, confident pitcher pick up a save can be the most exciting part of the game for the fans. The vibe among the crowd when BJ Ryan (in his first season here) would come in and mow down the opponents was tremendous. Henke-esque, although BJ didn't trade on velocity. That's how you build a fan base.
I don't think that people watch games for the closer.
Re: Kevin Gregg close to signing $12 million deal with Orioles
Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 6:44 pm
by hyper316
y is this taking so long. who's holding this up? gregg or the O's?