Marker In The Sand; Defeatism...
Well, it looks like our well-needed retool of the Baltimore Orioles seems to have come to a screeching halt. Fans clamored for change after the sad last two months of the baseball; alas, like I said in my last posting, the team on paper we have now is what will most likely be the one we see in Spring Training.
Reading the news sites, forums like Orioles Hangout, Pressbox, and blogs like Camden Chat there's not a whole lot of news coming out.
What does this mean for us? More losing? More hopeless, humid nights at the Yard? We being 20 games out of first by July?
Right now, we pretty have two players, Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts who are nothing short of valuable commodities right now. Despite all the rumors, reports, back talk and innuendo, both men are still members of the Baltimore Orioles.
Again, I'll say we still have them both under right for two more years; thus, Andy MacPhail can bide his time and look for the best deal possible. 2008 is not about winning or losing, it's about taking the Baltimore Orioles into the future and starting to wipe the slate clean.
Whether that means signing Erik Bedard to oodles of money, or seeing Brian Roberts continue to be PR face of the Orioles remains to be seen. I see the forest from the trees with these two guys, and know for the good of the organization, MacPhail's commodities need to be traded for their worth.
No, we don't trade them to trade them -- let's get some tangible talent on board and get baseball to relevant in Baltimore after June.
This weekend, I had quite an influx of Cubs fans read this blog, which is a good thing. I cannot bring any more perspective into whole deal aside from just being a fan, but the Orioles hold all the cards and Andy MacPhail will make a move when he sees fit.
I had a talk about the Orioles today amongst some co-workers today and as 90% of any talk concerning the Birds of Baltimore lingers towards Peter Angelos.
Honestly, I don't solely put the blame on the Baltimore Orioles being so bad on Mr Angelos -- the team has been not good because he doesn't open up the purse-strings, it's the combination of bad drafts, poor scouting, guys who didn't work out, player over-evaluation, signing the wrong free agents, and depending on re-treads to compete.
The Orioles' scouting department have helped to improve the dire situation at the lower levels by signing Matt Wieters, Billy Rowell and key guys; thus, we are heading in the right direction. However, there's a lot of work to do.
The road may be bumpy, long and miserable, but I have faith in Andy MacPhail and the Orioles scouting department. Well, simply I have faith because, um, nothing else has worked for the past decade.
4 comments:
"Honestly, I don't put the blame on the Baltimore Orioles being so bad on Mr Angelos -- the team has been not because he doesn't open up the purse-strings, it's the combination of bad drafts, poor scouting, guys who didn't work out, player over-evaluation, signing the wrong free agents, and depending on re-treads to compete."
I'm not disagreing with this remark because I like to attack Angelos (which is always fun). Instead, you should realize that all of the contributing factors mentioned above fall under the responsibility of the owner. He is at the top, he makes the final decisions (whether or not you want to believe the latest rumors that he is staying out of operations now) and he is equally to blame when things are going poorly as he is to praise when things are going well. It just happens in his case, with respect to the O's, that things have never gone well. So whether you think it's fair or not, it is Angelos fault.
No doubt. I should have said I don't only put the blame only on Angelos; however, you are right -- he's captain of the ship, that being said, he's the one who has to answer to everyone.
You've hit the nail on the head. While I'm sure some of not most O's fans would like to see some real movement in regards to building the team back up, the moves have to make sense both from a baseball and economic standpoint. It has taken a long time for the O's to fall this far, certainly it will take some time to get back to the way things once were.
TWS, Happy New Year. Certainly, I would love to go toe to toe with the Red Sox and Yankees every year, but reality tells me that it will be a good while before the Orioles are respectable.
It might as well be done the right way.
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