Tireball.com

Mark Teixeira was born in Severna Park Maryland and the Orioles would love to bring the 28-year-old slugger to Baltimore. But for all the success Teixeira has had over the course of his career it’s unclear how Teixeira could help a team who finished last in the AL East suddenly become contenders. This is the same Orioles team that ranked eighth in runs and thirteenth in ERA in the AL.

While the once potent lineup has fallen back to middle of the pack, the pitching for the Orioles has not ranked higher then 10th since 2004.

Signing Teixeira to a huge deal could prove to be a dissaster for the Orioles. One the team almost made following the 2005 season.

While Kevin Millar has manned first base for the Orioles the last three years no one could say he was an elite player during that time. Things could have been different for the Orioles, as following the 2005 season they made a play at Paul Konerko.

Konerko had just led the Chicago White Sox to the World Series and had back to back seasons of 40 homers and 100 RBI. Hoping to make a splash the Orioles offered Konerko a five year deal worth $65 million. After some thought Konerko eventually resigned with the White Sox for five years and $60 million.

Paul Konerko
G    AVG    OBP    SLG    OPS    HR    RBI
2006    152    .313    .381    .551    0.932    35    113
2007    151    .259    .351    .490    0.841    31    90
2008    122    .240    .344    .438    0.782    22    62

Kevin Millar
G    AVG    OBP    SLG    OPS    HR    RBI
2006    132    .272    .374    .437    0.811    15    64
2007    140    .254    .365    .420    0.785    17    63
2008    145    .234    .323    .394    0.717    20    72

And in the always important pockets…

Konerko 36 million, plus two years remaining at 12 million each
Millar 8.65 million

Obviously Konerko has not been four times the player that Millar has been but you can’t deny that the Orioles pretty much got what they paid for out of Millar. While making less then a fourth of the money the White Sox paid Konerko Millar put up number you would expect from a average-below average first basemen. Konerko is no more a $12 million dollar player but he’ll be making that for the next two seasons wheter he returns to form or not.

It’s simple. The Orioles will need to realize that there is more then enough guys who can play better then the Kevin Millar level. They will also hopefully notice that these guys do not deserve the nine figures that will be thrown at a player like Teixeira.

Looking at the current free agent pool there is only one player who is a true first basemen who had a better 2008 Millar. Sadly it’s Eric Hinske and if I had to bet on the two for 2009 I’d put my money on Millar.

However if the Orioles are willing to take a chance on a player one that would benefit the team would be the left handed swinging Richie Sexson. Sexson hit 12 homers in 96 games between Seattle and New York last season. While no longer the 40 home run threat he was a few years ago theres still some power left in the 34 year old body of Sexson and it’s easy to reason that with the aide of Camden Yards he could be a solid 25 homer guy.

If the Orioles are really out to spend money though there are two third basemen  who could be had. Casey Blake and Joe Crede both could be had for far less then Teixeira. Crede who has bad his issues with back trouble over the course of his career easily could be a 30 homer guy if heatly while Blake is a solid 20 homer guy who is the better bet of the two to finish out the season heatlhy.

While Russell Branyan and Brad Wilkerson could be mentioned here neither could be trusted as a teams sole plan for the position entering 2009.

None of the above options should come anywhere close to the deal Teixeira will recieve. If there is one saving grace that the Orioles won’t embarass themselves it’s that Teixeira has stated he considers playing for a contender a priority. It looks like the Orioles are out of the woods on this one. Phew.