Brittany Ghiroli on frustration in O's locker room

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2015/08/31/brittany-ghiroli-on-possible-frustration-in-the-orioles-locker-room/

Ghiroli writes about Orioles locker room and the frustration felt with the loss of Cruz and Markakis and the FO failure to replace them. I doubt that the pure sabermatricians will take very much stock in this. Yes, the Orioles players are professionals but they are human beings with human feelings. And it does affect their game despite their efforts.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2015/08/31/brittany-ghiroli-on-possible-frustration-in-the-orioles-locker-room/

Ghiroli writes about Orioles locker room and the frustration felt with the loss of Cruz and Markakis and the FO failure to replace them. I doubt that the pure sabermatricians will take very much stock in this. Yes, the Orioles players are professionals but they are human beings with human feelings. And it does affect their game despite their efforts.

Very interesting view point from her.

"frustration" isn't an excuse to play poorly, though. These guys are professional athletes. Barring injury, what's stopping our 21-35 year old professional athletes from playing as well and being as successful as the best teams in baseball? Are they not training enough, or not in the right way? Poor scouting and advice from the coaches and back office? Lack of effort? Whatever it is, I'd be astonished if it had anything to do with the O's letting some free agents walk.

And if they're annoyed about it but it didn't impact their play, I honestly don't care. I'm not especially interested in the team's emotional state of mind as long as it doesn't affect them on the field.

Everybody likes to blame DD, but there were plenty of people saying with a healthy Davis, Machado, and Weiters we wouldnt miss the production of Cruz and Markakis. Weiters hasnt contributed much and apart from Chris Davis, Manny Machado, and AJ, nobody has contributed all that much as far as position players. Sure it would have been hard to justify paying the contracts that were given to Nellie and Nick, but its the cost of doing business. Do you want to be a winning organization? If so, you have to pay market price. The money is there. Teams can pay for players if they WANT to pay for players. DD has a good track record with the dumpster diving but this year it was a colossal failure.

Now, they need to pay Chris Davis. And they need to pay some other guys as well. If not, this will be a sorry team for a the forseeable future.

"frustration" isn't an excuse to play poorly, though. These guys are professional athletes. Barring injury, what's stopping our 21-35 year old professional athletes from playing as well and being as successful as the best teams in baseball? Are they not training enough, or not in the right way? Poor scouting and advice from the coaches and back office? Lack of effort? Whatever it is, I'd be astonished if it had anything to do with the O's letting some free agents walk.

And if they're annoyed about it but it didn't impact their play, I honestly don't care. I'm not especially interested in the team's emotional state of mind as long as it doesn't affect them on the field.

The whole point was that it DOES affect them on the field.

The whole point was that it DOES affect them on the field.

Yep I think it does and has.

THis can't be...losing Cruz was no big deal and those who think so are just complainers:)

As for Kakes, I LOVED kakes but there is no way he is worth that kind of money.

Also, I just read the article. The only thing Britt said that was accurate is that the O's are not a playoff team.

The whole bit about "keeping guys from panicking"? What, do you think losing a few games is going to cause Machado or Flaherty to run around like a chicken with his head cut off and totally fall apart as a hitter and fielder? And how is an older presence in the clubhouse going to improve that if it is indeed happening?

They already have one of the most inspiring, most experienced and encouraging old guys in baseball right under their noses. His name is Buck. Don't stand there and tell me that they need a Delmon Young or a Vladimir Guerrero in the clubhouse to keep them from flailing wildly when they lose a few games. Ridiculous.

I figured I will print this quote again from Dan Connolly:

The season is spiraling out of control and Jones was there to talk about it whereas some of his teammates -- some that have stepped up in the past -- weren?t around. That?s been happening more often in the last month or so.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-orioles-notes-and-observations-jones-machado-trades-20150830-story.html

THis can't be...losing Cruz was no big deal and those who think so are just complainers:)

As for Kakes, I LOVED kakes but there is no way he is worth that kind of money.

I am not so sure if Parra gets 4 yrs/56 million.

The whole point was that it DOES affect them on the field.

Yes, but I disagree. It affects us stat-wise to not have Cruz in the lineup, and I'll agree with that, but to say that his departure somehow demoralized them or made them more likely to cave under pressure and therefore negatively affected the rest of the players this whole season?? We're talking about grown men here, not toddlers.

I think the media, including Britt, realize that we as fans are super frustrated right now and are looking for any answers we can dig up to give some rhyme or reason to why this team sucks so badly. So she's giving us exactly what we want: a reason. Well, it's not what I want. It rings hollow to me. It's a cop-out and a poor excuse for a terrible team's unacceptable play.

People that use Sabermetrics discount team chemistry and the impact of external influences (coaches, manager, player development).

Some things in baseball, believe it or not, can't be calculated using at TI-81.

I strongly believe losing Cruz in the clubhouse and his bat, and not making a heartfelt effort to replace that, hurt this team dearly.

Is that all to blame? Of course not. The starting pitching has been horrible, but discounting the absence of Cruz is a huge mistake.

People that use Sabermetrics discount team chemistry and the impact of external influences (coaches, manager, player development).

Some things in baseball, believe it or not, can't be calculated using at TI-81.

I strongly believe losing Cruz in the clubhouse and his bat, and not making a heartfelt effort to replace that, hurt this team dearly.

Is that all to blame? Of course not. The starting pitching has been horrible, but discounting the absence of Cruz is a huge mistake.

If only we'd replaced Cruz and the starting pitchers. Why didn't we do that?

I get the frustration from losing productive players and good teammates. But it doesn't explain how the starting pitching, which returned its top 6 starters, completely imploded this year.

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The failure to re-sign our free agents or improve the team this pat offseason sent the message to the players that ownership does not care about winning. I have said that I would have signed Cruz and Miller and let Nick walk but there certainly can be an argument to keep all 3. We had a window. Our owner let it close. He also screwed up the handling of DD. This team is now a mess. We will end up with a losing record and will probably lose our best power hitter, set up guy, and the guy that has been our best starting pitcher.

That would be ok if we were going to go sign a couple of TOR starters and some bats.....but we all know that will not happen. The culture Buck implemented was flushed y ownership. Don't hold your breath for it to return under Petey.