Typically, I am not one to preach the use of stopgap players to make a bad team slightly better. It's a waste of money and almost always doesn't work.
But for the 2011 Baltimore Orioles, stopgap players are the way to go.
Considering this offseason's free agent market is so thin, that's almost the only option. That, or unloading the farm system for a big-name player, something we all know isn't likely to happen.
Therefore, the Orioles will need to get creative, assuming Paul Konerko doesn't want to sign here without being overpaid, which is practically a given.
There are ways to make a more competitive Baltimore Orioles team for 2011 without landing Konerko and Cliff Lee. And that's what the 2011 season should be about: Making a more competitive team so that the free agents of next year's class will be more apt to come to Baltimore, or at least hold the position until a prospect is ready to take it over.
Let's take a look at some ideas:
The slugger is coming off a great comeback year in which he hit .300 with 29 homers and 115 RBI's. Stick that stat line in the 2010 Orioles and they would lead in all three categories. Vlad is getting up there in age for a ballplayer (will be 36 before the start of the 2011 season), but the guy can hit.
He's batted .300 or better in every season of his 15-year major league career except for his first, which consisted of 27 AB, and 2009, a season where he had just short of 400 AB due to injury, which surely took a toll on how he performed offensively.
And yet, the man was still able to hit .295 that year. Not to mention that in 10 of his 15 years, he's driven in over 100 RBI.
Vlad will be much cheaper than many options out there, like Konerko or Adam Dunn, and serve the need of a big, intimidating right-handed bat to slot between Nick Markakis and Luke Scott.
Obviously, Buck Showalter would want to DH Vlad, as his outfield playing days are behind him and the O's already have an awesome defensive right fielder in Markakis, which would push Luke Scott onto the field.
Or, an even crazier idea, Showalter could try Vlad at first. With Vlad's knee problems, it probably wouldn't work out well, but hey, it's a thought, right?
Luke Scott
This is one of the more obvious ideas, putting Luke Scott at first for the 2011 season and seeing how he fares. Many people believe he can't play there, but who really knows what Scott is able to do defensively until given a legitimate shot?
Showalter could call up Scott today and tell him to either get with one of the Orioles' new coaches during the offseason, or hire a personal infield coach himself to work with him at the position and get him ready for spring training.
I wouldn't expect Scott to become a Gold Glover, but I personally feel that given a chance, he could prove to be a very competent first baseman, at least until a better option rolls along.
Scott certainly has the bat for the position as well, if he can maintain what he was doing from last May on and erase the "streaky" label from himself completely. He wouldn't be a top-hitting first baseman, but he would certainly do the job offensively, being a very nice complimentary piece if given the right people hitting in front of him.
Putting Luke Scott at first would open up the DH slot, which Vlad could fill. That would give the Orioles a 3-4-5 spot of Markakis, Guerrero and Scott, a line that could drive in a lot of runs if leadoff man Brian Roberts stays healthy.
Adam LaRoche
LaRoche is a guy who many people tend to forget about. Since 2005, he has hit at least 20 home runs and driven in at least 78 RBI every season, last year putting up a line of .261/25/100, all while hitting in spacious Chase Field in Arizona for a Diamondbacks team that had trouble doing pretty much everything offensively.
Now, LaRoche is obviously not the big cleanup hitter the O's so desperately need, but he'd be a very, very good complementary bat if the O's can get their big hitter, or at the very least, provide more pop and spark for a lineup lacking it.
He also has a solid glove, sporting a career .995 fielding percentage. LaRoche is a better player than many people realize, and he'd be pretty cheap.
If the Orioles could sign both Vlad Guerrero and Adam LaRoche, they could then move Luke Scott back into left field and have a offensive lineup that would be very much like the 2008 Orioles, with solid hitters up and down and the veterans helping the young guys get better pitches to hit.
Substitute the signing of LaRoche with, maybe, Carlos Pena, and there is yet another option, albeit one not as appealing. But these three free agents would all be cheaper, one-year solutions that would turn out productivity pretty close to what the top guys out there would.
I understand that playing Scott in left over Felix Pie and/or Nolan Reimold may not be very appealing, with the upside of both of the younger players, but these are just options I'm throwing around.
More than likely, the O's won't sign any of the three players I've mentioned in this article, but it's always fun to throw fantasy lineups together and think about the options and possibilities. One thing is for sure, though: The Orioles need to do something with their offense before the 2011 season.
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