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Orioles close to signing Burnitz for the outfield


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Report: Orioles close to signing veteran OF BurnitzSportsTicker

Major League Baseball News Wire

BALTIMORE -- Jeromy Burnitz apparently is going to replace Sammy Sosa again.

Coming off a productive season with the Chicago Cubs, Burnitz is close to signing a two-year, $12 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles, the Baltimore Sun reported on its website Tuesday night.

The 36-year-old Burnitz would fill one of the remaining holes in an Orioles lineup that is light on outfielders. Jay Gibbons will likely start in right field, but Eric Byrnes became a free agent after he was not offered a contract earlier this month and Luis Matos could be headed towards a reserve role.

Baltimore also appears to be moving on from its one-year experiment with Sosa, who was acquired in a trade with the Cubs last February, but struggled mightily with the Orioles, hitting just .221 with 14 homers in 102 games.

Burnitz took Sosa's spot in right field for the Cubs last season, batting .258 with 24 home runs and 87 RBIs in 160 games.

It marked the eighth time in the last nine seasons that Burnitz hit at least 24 homers, but was also his ninth straight season with at least 100 strikeouts.

The Orioles would be the seventh team and fifth in the last four seasons for Burnitz, who originally was a first-round pick of the New York Mets in 1990.

The lefthanded slugger has a .255 lifetime average with 299 homers and 932 RBIs in 13 major league seasons, spanning two stints with the Mets, as well as runs with Cleveland, Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado and the Cubs.

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He is a better fielder then he gets credit for. He will hit for decent powere in the AL, and approach 30 HRs in that bandnox in Camden Yards. But he is a big time strikeout guy, and not the greatest hitter, averagewise.

But he will top Sosa's production. Easy.

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He is a better fielder then he gets credit for. He will hit for decent powere in the AL, and approach 30 HRs in that bandnox in Camden Yards. But he is a big time strikeout guy, and not the greatest hitter, averagewise.

But he will top Sosa's production. Easy.

He will top Sosa's Post Steroid Numbers. Not that hard to do apparently! :P

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