Moose Milligan

I said .820-.859 but IMO it'll be closer to the lower end of that range. Tony's posted a few times that the peripherals say that his 2021 season was legit so there's reason to think he can do it again. He did crater in the last two weeks IIRC but with the development of the Crohn's disease news, its understandable as to why. Or a beating of a dead horse one? Me too.

Yeah, it's a case of if everything were the same between our offer and another teams, why would you come to Baltimore? Wait, I know! New left field fence design! WYC and Miguel Gonzalez were fantastic. I agree they were lightning in the bottle types and I don't know if we can replicate anything like that again. I'm not sure if Duquette had a genius streak in him, but if he did, it had to be that...picking up two guys that weren't totally sought after by other teams and having them do well here.

I've got faith in the prospects, I just don't see a lot in the way of pitching that's going to get us there outside of G-Rod and maybe the oft-injured Hall. Ultimately being an Orioles fan is a lesson in futility. It's nice to have some hopes but I've been down this road before. Cheers.

Slim chance to none.

I don't see how they're going to be contenders between now and 2025 at the earliest and I know you think they can do it by like next week but they just don't want to. Knowing what we know about this ownership group, I don't see how they're contenders (and that's assuming everything breaks right) before 2025.

I don't disagree, but as a fan I'm also not taking this personally.

Profit sharing? Sounds like socialism to me! That's a joke, btw. I agree that profit sharing should be a thing. But I also don't believe teams will be more competitive with it. Bad decisions will be made no matter what.

I'm pretty sure they look at these things as investments. Over time, the value of an MLB franchise will increase, not decrease. Or any sports franchise, really. Of course the fans matter. But to act like the owners are relying on fans for their sole source of income isn't accurate, I believe.

K, I don't believe that's how every owner makes all their money. These guys are loaded before and after they were MLB owners. I don't particularly know if they care about the fans either but I don't believe the fans are how they make their money. Angelos made his in asbestos lawsuits, we know that. Lerner made his, IIRC, in real estate. None of these guys make their main income off owning a baseball team.

This is true. But they're not out there like Scherzer making comments. I'm not sure if that's strategy on their part or that they don't have someone shoving a mic in any of their faces to make a mistake like that.

Players want more money. Owners don't want to give it.

Very true. Quoted for emphasis.

BuT wHaT aBoUt tHe LeFtFiElD FeNcE WhAt DoEs ThAt MeAn?!?!??!?!1111

Most polls are going to favor the players, I believe. The people that don't favor the players, IMO, are the ones that are constantly astounded by someone like Scherzer who's made an astronomical amount of money in his career wanting more...not taking the time to realize that the owner of any team has an incredibly higher amount of wealth than any player. It goes back to the little man, "I'D PLAY FOR FREE" complex. And the fact that the players are more recognizable and vocal than the owners are here. Owners aren't offering up soundbytes like Scherzer did. It's entertainment to us that is seemingly (but not really) irreplaceable and necessary. It's a business to them. It's funny, when we see guys get traded or sign a FA contract, the comment is made "It's a business...blah blah blah..." and then we forget that it REALLY IS A BUSINESS until a time like this. And then there's whining about how it's a business.

That's funny, your username implies what I'd trade you for.

Well let's be honest here. That's what most every thread usually gets down to; what a player could be traded for.

I don't believe tanking with high draft picks is the only way to be successful in the MLB. You shouldn't either. Small market teams have to do it smarter and better than big market teams. Do I need to remind you about your Tampa obsession? I don't think that quote gives any insight about how he thinks for players playing for small market teams.

They would argue (and I believe they have argued) that if there's a salary floor, there will have to be a cap. And they certainly don't want that. I don't know if a floor would do any good. It might, but if there's an imposed minimum on what I'd have to have payroll as an owner, I'd rather just give that money to the young guys and meet the floor that way. I mean, look at the Acuna contract, it was something like 10/124, signed when he was 21. I'd rather give him 10/175 and make that dude happy through age 31 before letting him walk. I' d rather use that extra meat to make the salary floor rather than bring on some aging mediocre guys like Eric Hosmer. Blech.

The aforementioned teams won't always be this good. But in case you haven't noticed, we've been practically at the bottom of the barrel more often than not over the past 20 years. Hell, over the past 30 years. So while the Sox and Yankees might not always be good, we have to contend with the Jays and Rays who look to be very good, too. I will put it this way, all of the other 4 teams do things better than the Orioles. I would argue they're all better run. Maybe that changes when Elias' plan comes to fruition. For the record, I'd prefer to stay in this division and figure out ways to beat the competition.

I'd argue that we made the playoffs 3 times in a 5 year span when the aforementioned teams weren't particularly good. In regards to what you and SG are debating, I can't even make sense of it anymore.

They're going to make a fence that automatically reconfigures dimensions between at bats. It'll be 385 to the power alleys one minute, 355 the next. I'm here for it.

There's been plenty of whining over the years on this board about the division. Maybe not the exact words that "we cannot compete in this division," but similar sentiments. How can we compete with the payrolls of Boston and NYY, etc. Calling for re-alignment, etc. It's been a theme on here for a long time.

Is this the part where someone chimes in with how they can't believe how greedy the players are, that they should be happy with whatever they get? And then remind everyone here how they'd be happy to play for free?

@Picklesthis is where SG will claim that you're too dense to follow his argument or something to that affect. If you keep picking apart his arguments and standing your ground, it'll just result in ad hominem attacks. Or he'll go on the offense and accuse you of trolling. Noble effort, though.

That's a decent range but if we're on the low end of that I'd be annoyed. I mean, it all really depends on how the prospects perform this year but I think a good goal should be not to lose 100 games this year.