Interesting (to me anyway) on the Hey Bill section (which is public) of Bill James' website:
Hey Bill, I always meant to ask you this question. If you were the general manager of a really bad team, say the 1962 Mets: how many years do you think it would take you to build a pennant contender? Thanks
Asked by: manhattanhi
Answered: 4/21/2021
I don't really have the skill set to be a General Manager, but I would say this: that if it takes longer than 7 years then there is something missing in the process, and if you can do it in less than 4 years then you've had some very good luck as well as a good process.
I didn't want them to sign Franco either. (Though for $800k, it doesn't much matter who they chose to play 3B.)
But that play was not at all his fault. He did exactly what he is trained to do in that situation. So if this thread is really about the bunt, it's not the place to thrash Franco.
Glad to hear Kjerstad has been medically cleared and is healthy enough to start working out with the team. Hopefully we see him at OPACY sometime in 2022 and full-time in 2023.
The Orioles want exciting players, too -- so long as they're cheap and aren't among the Saviors of the Franchise being held back so that team control of them will fall within some imagined flood of talent that's on its way some day.
If they can't have all those things, the Orioles will opt for cheap.
I'll try to explain in a future post why I think the Orioles may be underestimating the damage they're doing to themselves, but here's the gist of it. By not trying, year after year, to put young, entertaining talent on the field, the Orioles are having their fan base, and attendance, eaten away. That's a manageable problem if you're operating in Houston or Chicago, or in a pre-Nats Baltimore with a stadium that itself is a fan attraction. In Baltimore, in 2017-22, the loss of fans is much more likely to have significant, long-lasting effects.