Moose Milligan

So not acquiring talent is an obvious call?

You tell me why we couldn't have signed Ed-Rod this offseason.

I don't think Frobby is defending anything. He's just merely pointing out that there are other expenses we don't take into account when running a baseball team. And yes, each team gets at least $100 million before a pitch is thrown. But if, as Froberto Duran pointed out, your non-player payroll expenses were at $96.5 million...it could be kind of a wash, right? Maybe (and I realize I'm going out on a limb in saying this), just maybe not everything is as black and white as we'd like it to be. If you want to ignore the possibility for gray areas...well, life must be really nice viewing everything in stark black and white contrast. That said, I was the one that posted the Joc Pederson thread and I'm annoyed about the incredibly low payroll, too. I do believe the Orioles could spend significantly more than they currently are. Yesterday, Connolly in a chat for The Athletic stated that the plan all along has been for the Orioles to build a decent team from within and then finally supplement it with players once they're respectable. I find that to be a pretty stupid strategy, they should be looking to acquire talent whenever/wherever they can. Mind you, I don't want them spending money like a drunken idiot but at the same time there have been opportunities to add talent at reasonable salaries and they've chosen not to for this dumbass reason. As a result, we have to watch another largely **** pitching staff this summer.

Good. Maybe they don't last long and we can find a suitable replacement that'll pitch to a 5 ERA instead of a 7 ERA or whatever it is. Low bar to hurdle, I know but I'll take what I can get from this clown show.

I'm conditioned to expect it, too. But I'd be somewhat more understanding if we were losing 100 games routinely and had a terrible farm system. But that's not the case here. I think it's pretty stupid to wait until all these guys have graduated before making any moves, especially when it comes to the rotation and the pitching staff on the whole. Ahhh, can't lose 100 games if you don't play a full 162! I'm sure 2020 would have made it a 4th straight losing season if all the games were played.

Is Peter on a feeding tube or something? I kid, I kid.

Of course he didn't because it's a joke of a franchise. The Twins are at least pretty good. They were down last year, were in first place in the shortened 2020 season, 1st in 2019, 2nd in 2018, 2nd in 2017. I mean, they weren't trying to set club records for losses each year. The Orioles have basically made themselves into MLB's Siberia. Can't even be used as leverage to find a better deal elsewhere.

I'm reading this article on the Athletic about how Correa landed with the Twins. Basically Boras called them and pitched them. The Twins had freed up some payroll when they traded Donaldson to the Yankees but had a hole at shortstop. Boras just simply sends a text message to the Twins GM "we need to talk," he goes and stands with Kris Bryant that afternoon to introduce him to the Rockies. The Twins know that Boras is going to pitch them on one of his three remaining big ticket items: Correa, Castellanos and Conforto. Boras calls and just straight up pitches them. "I have a player who likes to hit in your ballpark, would fit on your roster, has leadership values and would take less years on a contract if the money is right." And the Twins are hooked. So then Boras reveals that it's Correa, they all hang up, the Twins FO practically ****s their collective pants and starts to scramble before Houston could pounce on that offer or the Yankees could get involved. Basically, the Twins scrambled all afternoon and into the evening to get to work on it. Members of the front office blew off a dinner with corporate sponsors and then they started negotiating. They got Rocco Baldelli on a zoom call with Correa and others to tell him about the atmosphere, the environment, everything. And after that, it all fell into place. It's great journalism and it's a great story. It's a really good read and if you have the Athletic I would recommend reading it. But the thing that sticks out to me is that...well, we're a team with a hole at shortstop. We're a team with a park that Correa likes to hit in (granted it's against our terrible pitching and it's not as good as he performed in Target Field, but still). We're a team that could use a leader. And Boras never called us. Well, maybe he did but it's not being reported anywhere. I'm assuming that Boras never called us to pitch Correa to us because he knows that we're not going to spend 35.1 million a year on a talent like that. You can like him or hate him, but Boras has his ear to the ground at all times and he has to know that we're not going to spend. I mean, why not call the Orioles? Why not pitch Correa to us? Why not, at the very least, use the Orioles as leverage to get his player more money elsewhere? It's because he knows the Orioles aren't serious. And that if a team like the Twins heard that the Orioles were also in on Correa, they'd probably just laugh it off. I'm not saying the Twins are the prom queen or anything but I know the Orioles are the fat kid at the prom for sure. Hell, they're not even at the prom, they're at home watching porn and out of Lubriderm.

I want the elite talent playing with capable (again, not necessarily superstars) talent when they arrive. I don't want Adley Rutschman having to catch starters that are AAAA types. Our rotation this year looks to be Means and 4 other bodies. Lyles is a body. IMO, Lowther and Akin are bodies. G-Rod will be up eventually but even then, there are 3 holes in the rotation. Had we signed E-Rod, we'd have Means, E-Rod and G-Rod. That's a pretty good trio...that could be a great trio if G-Rod pitches like he's capable of and I haven't even mentioned Hall yet.

The object of the game isn't to spend a lot of money, no one said it should be. But if it doesn't irk you that the Orioles are spending less than what Max Scherzer makes in a season, I don't know what to tell you. I don't think anyone here is arguing that the Orioles should spend money unwisely but it's frustrating to see a team that had a 120-160 million payroll a few years ago acting like they're in the poorhouse. Don't tell me this team can't spend money, especially on the rotation. The E-Rod deal was something that we could have done easily and would have made this team better this year.

Someone wants to buy a baseball team. Especially a team like the Orioles with a venue to play in like they do.

Even Joc Pederson is throwing shade at the Orioles. And he's absolutely right. Absolute dead last in payroll, that's pathetic. And see that number at the end? Proof positive that the devil is involved here with this ownership.

C'mon, Frobby doesn't defend the organization every step of the way. Stop being so dramatic.

You don't think they could have spent some money on the rotation this offseason? I suppose they did with Lyles. Let me rephrase: You don't think they could have done better than Lyles when adding to the rotation this offseason?

Yeah, we could have done that. Could have done the Ed-Rod contract, too. Oh well, guess we're just going to ride with what we got.

I agree with that. I wasn't trying to be snarky about it, either. Was genuinely curious about what this team has done that's considered innovative. As far as I can tell, they're on par with several other teams from an analytics perspective. Building a great complex in the Dominican was really nice but other teams have those, too.

What innovations have the Orioles implemented to rank them so highly?

They’re assuming that the “watchable product” this year is Rutschman and Rodriguez. No need to spend because of these two.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-offseason-grades-dodgers-blue-jays-mets-braves-twins-get-high-marks-yankees-astros-needed-more/

The last time this franchise let go of a nickel it was to get a better grip. Unbelievable. And yet by that I mean, totally believable.

I would be good with Teheran. They'll sign some completely underwhelming guys.

No, that’s actually pretty cool. I’ll check out more about him.

While we’re here, who’s Fermi?

I can see it both ways. But whatever, what’s done is done. Guess we gotta wait to spend. If that day ever comes.