Excited isn't the word for what I am, though that would've been last year. Depressed isn't the word for what I am because I do still believe Britton, Arrieta, and Matusz could have exciting seasons this year and show they are in fact something to build around. Depressed is, however, what I will be if I am responding to a thread like this on February 22, 2013.
I for one, am not depressed. While I am not overly enthusiastic as I've been in the past and then duped beyond words, I am not dreading this year. In fact, I am pretty stoked that I just found out that Opening day is 1) On a Friday 2) Being a teacher at a private residential school and our students go home the day prior to that to be with their families for Easter (Spring Break) I don't have to take a personal day to go, and 3) My kids are old enough to stay with the grandparents so my wife and i can just party all day and have fun and not worry about coming home! YEE HAW!!!! Now, I just need to get tickets!!!!
c
I know I'm going to catch heat for using this as a reference, but the Orioles' plight into loserdom every year for the past 14 years reminds of something that Bud Collins of The Boston Globe said said on an HBO documentary called The Curse of the Bambino. The film was made only one year before the Red Sox had finally won it all in 2004, so it had been 85 years since his team had won the World Series.
Collins said ....... "It's like a guy with women. Are you going to give them up ??? No, of course not. She's going to break your heart, she's going to throw you out, she's going to change the locks ... but you're going to be right back, pounding at the door the next spring" ........
They are two different situations, and I know that I have a lot of nerve to use the Red Sox' plight of futility as a reference on an Oriole board, but the similarities in the comparison are dead-on.
The point is Bundy is a sure fire ace and is thought of as better than any pitching prospect since Mike....and Manny is the best hitting prospect for us in my lifetime....Two gus better than any prospect we have had besides wieters in this horrible 14 years....And Matt is the best player on our team already and if DD was smart he would be trying like hell to lock him up with some club options tacked on...
This team has a nice mix of established young players and unproven young guys with talent....Add in the superstar prospects and the 20 legit pitchers who are battling for major league time and this team is one of the more exciting teams we have had in a long time....I just am not buying the doom and gloom attiude around here....Granted we all would love a new owner and a weaker division but given those realities I find this year to be just as exciting as the pervious 10 if not moreso.
I actually am starting to think if we can get a few good breaks and a couple of FA SP next year (could be the deepest FA SP crop in a long time) that this team will be looking at alot of vaulable assets to start a rebuild at worst and at best an 85+ true talent young club with a shot at the playoffs in a solid, sustained window.
There are more reasons to be excited this year than in most of my years following this team (been an Orioles homer since 96' 7 years old bruh)
1) No pitching prospect is a sure fire anything.
2) Machado is not a better hitting prospect than Wieters was.
3) The established players have shown themselves to be solid contributors on a contending team...not really AS caliber guys.
4) The young players have talent but have suffered through awful stretches, injuries or a combo of both...so, they are big question marks.
5) We have a team full of mediocre at best players that we are trying to get league average production out of.
6) Team defense blows.
7) Team speed is poor.
8) The prospects we have are far away and may or may not amount to anything...the potential and promise is there for some AS caliber guys, no doubt about that...but we have had those players in recent years and they haven't panned out.
Overall, you grossly overrate what is here now and have basically ignored what was here before...You say, when was the last time we had 2 top 10 prospects...it was recently and you say, well that doesn't matter because these guys are better. lol
Its great you want to be optimistic...no one will fault you for that. But don't come on here and just lie or greatly exaggerate things to fit your blindly optimistic agenda.
...And the pissing match begins anew!
I am not gonna engage this really because it's a pissing match for sure.....Of course there is no sure fire anything in baseball or life.....And of course Machado hasn't shown he is a better hitting prospect then Wieters yet, even though its closer then people think....Poor wording by me sure I forgot I have to spell out every last detail for it to not be condisered Lying...LOL I clearly said besides Wieters....Your agenda is just blinding you to the moves made this offseason which are much closer to your ideal management style then our past vet stop gap moves.
In my many words that were ignored on the slight wording problem I will re word as such....
Bundy is the clearly thought of as a pitcher with a much better chance at being a true ACE pitcher versus any other pitching prospect in the recent past....Manny is clearly in the elite class of hitting prospects just as Matt was...At 18 he dominated the low A and whether Matt would have or not is unknown but it wouldn't shock me if he put up similar numbers Matt did in the Minors at the sameage....
As for the small part of my comments that were about our minor leagues it is a most truthful statement that Manny and Bundy are elite prospects much more in the mold of Matt than a B-Mat or JA or Tillman.....While they got close in a rankings standpoint it is due to the state of the minors then versus now....In terms of potential and stuff/tools Bundy and Manny are much closer to Wieters calibar than the other less toolsy/stuff guys...
I have no agenda at all and to say I am lying is riduclous but don't come on here (SG) and hyperbole my comments to fit YOUR FED UP/OVERLY NEGATIVE O's AGENDA! So much for not engaging...
Anyway team speed is poor and team D is horrible/below average depending (could be better?) on Buck's line choices....We have a team of solid guys some of which can possible have several all star type seasons which could help push this team toward contention with some breaks/shrewd moves...
I used to have an Eveland agenda then a D agenda now an optimistic agenda.....Just because I post and make points doesn't qualify me to have any kind of agenda.....If SG wasn't such an entrenched member of this community he would get blasted for his hyperbolic posts/accusations towards other posters motivations....but he gets a pass because he has 100000000 posts and is well known as is his unparrelled aggressive annoyance posting style.
Getting back to my original post this team has more young major league talent then we hve had since the losing began and two superstar prospects and a 3rd almost superstar prospect...
DD clearly believe's that AAA producers are very undervalued in an environment where young players are such valuable assets, that it's basically like striking gold if some of these AAA powerhouse guys have good years this year....Couple that with the cheap pitching depth he picked up (assuming a few actually have success) then at the end of this year, all of a sudden, we have a tremendous young, cheap core that needs only a few pieces to play with the big boys for a division title.....I think DD has he right strategy at this point for this team.....Best case we have a great upincoming team with superstar talent on the way....
Worst case we have another 60 some win season and another top 5 pick these next twp junes and he can start trading some of our Major league talent for prospects who can help build our team going forward....
So basically I think right now at this very moment we are in a low point as a team, but going forward I think there is so much more upside then downside for our future....So as the season starts I would like to see a more upbeat orioles community, which I think will be much more enjoyable to particpate in..It's gonna be a fun year either way.....Spring training is here....Time to dream on the O's!
Go O's!!!!!!!
I think you are certainly correct that Machado and Bundy have higher prospect ceilings than Matusz had. Whether they will reach their ceilings is an open question.
As to Schoop, I do not think he ranks ahead of where guys like Tillman and Arrieta were considered to be a few years ago. I think it is pretty clear that in February 2009, we had a better farm system than we have right now. We had Wieters, Matusz, Tillman, Arrietta, Reimold, Hernandez, Bergesen, Berken, Britton, and several other guys who have since spent some time in the majors.
Those were your words...stop trying to back off of them.The point is Bundy is a sure fire ace and is thought of as better than any pitching prospect since Mike....and Manny is the best hitting prospect for us in my lifetime
You were wrong...dead wrong.
You had this long post about how great things are yet your post was filled with a bunch of bs and wrong statements.
Try talking about what is actually the truth and not what is being drummed up in your head and perhaps, your comments would actually be something people respect.
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