The Orioles have agreed to terms with 1B Derrek Lee on a one year contract worth $7.25 million with incentives that could make it as high as $10 million.

This is another great move this offseason by Andy MacPhail and it puts the finishing touches on our revamped infield. The Orioles plugged the holes at third base and shortstop relatively quickly with Mark Reynolds and JJ Hardy respectively but it seemed like first base was dragging on forever. Originally it seemed like we were close to a deal with Adam LaRoche on a three year deal but for whatever reason it never happened so we turned our attention to Lee and eventually a deal got done. Hes coming off a down year but theres not much downside to a one year contract. Last season Lee batted .260/.347/.428 with 35 doubles, 19 homeruns, and 80 RBI over 547 at bats between the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves. That alone would be a big upgrade over what the Orioles produced at first base in 2010 but the good news is that Lee’s stats improved after being traded to the Braves. He went from .251/.335/.416 with the Cubs to .287/.384/.465 with Atlanta. He also played all of last season with a torn ligament in his thumb which he had surgically repaired after the season ended. In 2009 he had the second best season of his career with a line of .306/.393/.579 with 36 doubles, 2 triples, 35 homeruns, and 111 RBI. Hes 35 years old so you can’t count on him getting back to that level but I think its fair to look for an OPS around .850 like he had after being traded to the Braves last year. He should be healthy entering spring training and motivated to prove last year was a fluke. He’ll be a free agent again after 2011 so it would do him well to put up a good season so he can cash in on one more multiyear contract. We can also offer arbitration after the season in this case to either get an extra draft pick or two, or have him accept for another reasonable one year contract. Hes also a very good defensive first baseman so our infield will be improved both offensively and defensively. Patience, power, and defense – what more can you ask for from your first baseman? He might not be the long term solution for our franchise but on a one year deal I think its the best we could’ve possibly done.

The Orioles have signed RHP Jeremy Accardo to a one year contract worth $1.08 million.

This is a low key signing that has some upside. Accardo was non-tendered by the Blue Jays earlier in the offseason making him a free agent. It looks at this point like he’ll be taking Matt Albers’ role in the bullpen as a middle reliever. Hes spent most of the last three seasons at Toronto’s AAA Las Vegas club after saving 30 games with a 2.14 ERA with the big league team in 2007. He hurt his shoulder in 2008 and never really returned to form after that. He had ERAs of 6.57, 2.55, and 8.10 for the Blue Jays over the last three seasons but in AAA he put up ERAs of 3.55, 3.00, and 3.48 over the same span in a hitters league and home ballpark. Last year he saved 24 games for Las Vegas, striking out 26 batters and walking 15 over 44 innings. He gets more ground ball than fly balls but doesn’t strike out many batters. Its a low risk acquisition. If he returns to his 2007 form or even close to that he’ll be a cheap bullpen arm for the next two years. Hes only signed for one season but he’ll be arbitration eligible after 2011 and under team control for 2012 if the Orioles so choose. The worst case scenerio is that he struggles and gets released or sent to AAA Norfolk and the O’s have to eat a million dollars. I think there were better choices for that kind of risk (like Joel Peralta or Manny Delcarman) but they probably wouldn’t come as cheap and maybe their still options as Andy MacPhail tries to rebuild the bullpen.

The Orioles re-signed SS Cesar Izturis to a one year, $1.5 million contract with incentives that could add another $1.75 million.

Izturis returns for a bench role to back up new shortstop JJ Hardy. Hardy missed 61 games with an injury last year and only played in 115 games in 2009 so a decent backup is a nice insurance policy in case he misses more time in 2011. We know Izturis can’t hit but thats not as big a deal for someone that should only play sparingly. His defense is good and this assures that there won’t be a drop off in the field when hes in there. He can also back up Brian Roberts at second base. The only problem I see with this is that we just traded for a utility man in the Hardy deal, Brendan Harris. Harris doesn’t provide much offensively either and I think it would be a waste to carry two no hit infielders on the bench. He still has an option so he could start the year at AAA Norfolk but I’m sure it will all play out in spring training. A bench of Izturis, Harris, Craig Tatum, and Nolan Reimold doesn’t give us many pinch hit opportunities and there would be a big drop off whenever a starter doesn’t play. Hopefully something happens where theres another bat added for the bench. So I don’t have a problem with the Izturis signing in general, I think its a mistake if both him and Harris are on the roster at the same time.

The Orioles have re-signed RHP Koji Uehara to a one year contract worth $3 million that could escalate to $5 million based on incentives. There is also a vesting option for 2012 based on appearances and games finished.

Well it looks like Andy MacPhail made the right decision after all by not offering Uehara arbitration. Koji would’ve probably earned between five and seven million dollars if he would’ve accepted, instead the most he can make is five but the Orioles have insurance in case his injury issues come back up. I still think it was too risky to not offer arbitration with a chance to miss out on a draft pick if he would’ve signed with another team but I’m glad it worked out. He was great in the second half of last year as the teams closer. A 2.86 ERA over 44 innings with 13 saves and an 11 to one strikeout to walk ratio are the highlights of his season. He’ll enter spring training as the teams closer but it’ll be interesting to see how hes handled in March to get him ready for the season. Hes very injury prone and we’re counting on him more now than we did at the beginning of last year so hes health will be crucial to the success of our bullpen. The best case scenario is that he stays relatively healthy all season and his 2012 option vests, giving us another productive season for a reasonable price. Worse case is hes hurt throughout the season and we don’t get much from him, but in that case he would only cost us $3 million. This was a safe signing with alot of upside and we really needed it after trading David Hernandez and losing Matt Albers and Mark Hendrickson to free agency.

The Orioles have signed LHP Will Ohman and LHP Will Startup to minor league contracts. They also designated RHP Robert Gabino for assignment after making the Mark Hendrickson signing official.

Grade: B-

The loss of Robert Gabino is of no consequence, he was just a warm body on the roster in case of emergency. Both left handed pitchers the O’s signed are in the “LOOGY” mode. Will Ohman received an invitation to spring training, while Will Startup will report to minor league camp and start the season at AA Bowie. Ohman was limited in 2009 with injuries, pitching 12.1 innings with a 5.84 ERA. He was effective in 2008 with a 3.68 ERA and 53 strikeouts over 58.2 innings, so if he can show hes completely healthy and effective he could earn a spot on the opening day roster. Most likely I think he starts out at AAA Norfolk and is on call in case of injury or ineffectiveness. If he does make the team I would hope it would be in favor of someone like Clay Meredith instead of Kam Mickolio, who I have high hopes for this year. The other lefty, Startup, missed all of 2008 and most of 2009 due to tommy john surgery. Prior to that he was effective at getting out left handed hitters with a funky delivery. He had decent strikeout rates so if he can bounce back completely he could be a solid reliever. Nice upside to these signings.

The Orioles have signed LHP Mark Hendrickson to a 1 year contract for $1.2 million and an option for 2011.

Grade: C+

This was only a matter of time and the only thing that comes as a surprise is that it took this long for it to happen. Hendrickson was mostly a failure out of the rotation in 2009, but he was really effective coming out of the bullpen. You could argue that he was the best relief pitcher we had last year. In 2010 he will be used strictly as a reliever unless theres some kind of emergency and we need a spot start on little notice. He was 6-5 with a 4.37 ERA with 61 strikeouts and 33 walks in 2009, but was 2-5 with a 5.40 ERA as a starter and 4-0 with a 3.44 ERA as a reliever. Hes not much of a “left handed specialist” as lefties and righties hit him pretty similarly, but it seems it takes hitters a second time through the lineup to get a read on him. He’ll be a nice complement to our improved bullpen.

The Orioles have signed 3B/SS Miguel Tejada to a one year contract worth $6 million plus performance incentives.

Grade: C+

The return of Miguel Tejada comes at a bit of a surprise. When he was traded to Houston before the 2008 season for OF Luke Scott, LHP Troy Patton, RHP Matt Albers, RHP Dennis Sarfate, and CI Mike Constanzo the team and the fans seemed to be sick of the shortstop. His range was diminishing, his attitude was bad because he couldn’t deal with the losing, and he stopped running out groundballs. It was revealed after the trade that he had used steroids and was actually two years older than he had reported throughout his career. He had a down year in 2008 with the Astros, batting .283/.314/.415 with 38 doubles, 3 triples, and 13 homeruns. He bounced back in 2009 with a .313/.340/.455 line and led the league in doubles with 46 while hitting 14 homeruns.

The Orioles have signed Tejada to be the everyday third baseman with newly signed Garrett Atkins moving to first base despite the fact that hes never played the position in his MLB career, although he has played it in winter ball and the World Baseball Classic. He has the tools to be a good fielder on the hot corner but its going to take some time for him to adjust. The reason he isn’t seen as a shortstop is because he doesn’t have the range anymore, but he still has sure hands and a strong arm which are tools for a good third baseman. He’ll be used as a stopgap until Josh Bell is deemed ready, so the one year contract makes sense and $6 million is a fair deal – maybe even cheap. Tejada doesn’t have the power that he did from 2000 – 2006, but he still has the ability to hit the ball on a consistent basis and hit it hard. Hes another doubles hitter added to the lineup to go with Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis. Miggy doesn’t walk very much either with his on base percentage greatly dependent on his batting average. His walks have gone down as his power has diminished, hinting that pitchers don’t fear him as much as they used to.

I like the signing in general. It gives us a solid contact hitter to fill the void until Bell arrives and it also gives us some versatility. We don’t need to carry SS Robert Andino and his terrible hitting on the roster anymore because Tejada can move over to shortstop on the days Cesar Izturis needs a rest with Atkins or Ty Wigginton playing third and the other manning first. Its up to Dave Trembley to use this to the teams advantage, but it could provide us the opportunity to keep an extra hitter (Lou Montanez, Rhyne Hughes, etc.) for pinch hitting late in games as opposed to a guy that plays once a week. Spring Training should be interesting to see how Tejada’s glove comes along at his new position. The only thing remaining on Andy MacPhail’s offseason to do list would be picking up a left handed pitcher or two. I think theres a good chance Erik Bedard could be brought back. Mark Hendrickson and Japanese import Hisanori Takahashi are also options.

The Orioles have signed LHP Mike Gonzalez to a 2 year contract worth between $12 – 16 million. They also signed 3B/1B Garrett Atkins to a 1 year deal worth $4.5 million with a $8.5 million club option for 2011.

Grades -  Gonzalez: B, Atkins: C-

I like the Gonzalez signing. Hes a left handed pitcher with a 90-96 mph fastball and a nasty slider. He’ll come into spring training being the heavy favorite to win the closers role. He strikes out alot of batters, although he walks his fare share as well, and hes very good against left handed hitters. He’ll be a slightly better version of George Sherrill making approx. $7 million a year. In 2009 he pitched to a 5-4 record with a 2.42 ERA over 74.1 innings, striking out 90 batters, walking 33, and saving 10 games. He was a type A free agent so the Orioles will lose their second round pick to the Atlanta Braves, which I don’t think is too big of a deal since the club has shown the propensity to pay overslot for fallen talent. Gonzalez has had injury issues in the past and pitched a career high in innings last season, but hes closed in the past and should allow other pitchers like Jim Johnson and Koji Uehara to pitch in roles most helpful to the team. Its not a slam dunk signing, but we grabbed arguably the best reliever on the free agent market on a short term, mid level money contract.

The Atkins signing doesn’t excite me much at all, but there wasn’t much out there and it does have some upside. Atkins had a huge 2006 season with the bat, but hes declined significantly each year since then (.965 OPS in 2006, .853 in 2007, .780 in 2008) before bottoming out in 2009. He hit to a .226/308/.342 line with 12 doubles, 1 triple, 9 HR, and 48 RBI in 2009 (.650 OPS) despite playing half his games at hitter friendly Coors Field. Hes not known as a good fielder at third base and he won’t have the thin air to aid him in 2010. Maybe Terry Crowley can help him rediscover his hitting stroke and we’d have a bargain on our hands. We could play him at either third or first depending on who else we sign this offseason so theres some versatility there, plus we shouldn’t have any problem moving him or benching him if/when 3B Josh Bell and/or 1B Brandon Snyder are ready to come up to the majors. We won’t miss out on any big time corner infielders because of this deal as everyone on the market has their downsides. At least we got Atkins on a fairly cheap one year deal and if he bounces back to his old self we can retain his services for another year.

The Orioles signed C Chad Moeller back on a minor league contract and invite to spring training.

Grade: C+

This seemed like only a matter of time. He’ll be the heavy favorite to win the backup catcher position in spring training in the competition with Michel Hernandez and Craig Tatum. Moeller is a great guy to have at back up catcher; he doesn’t demand alot of playing time, he can work with Wieters on improving his catching skills, and he works well with the young pitchers. The Orioles would be exciting if Moeller repeated his performance from 2009, but over more games.

The Orioles signed right handed starting pitcher Steve Trachsel, formerly of the Mets, to a one year deal with a club option for 2008.

Trachsel: 15-8, 4.97 ERA, 164.2 IP, 1.60 WHIP, 4.32 K/9

Cost: 1 year/$3.1 Million, 2008 club option/$4.75 Million

Grade: C

The Orioles pretty much had to sign a veteran pitcher to replace Kris Benson after he injured his shoulder. I would say Steve Trachsel was the best choice out of what was left out there. Others included Mark Redman and Ron Villone. I just hope they don’t guarantee him a spot in the rotation. I would rather see him battle with Hayden Penn, Garrett Olson, and Jeremy Guthrie in Spring Training with the best of the group grabbing the 5th starter’s spot. I would have liked to have had Rodrigo Lopez to put in this spot, but there was no way the O’s could have seen the injury coming. Trachsel should come close to what Benson would have produced, if not we have other options. There is no way that club option gets picked up.