Orioles sign Vlad

[wildcard]

Will/has Buck ever made a mistake in his judgment on the baseball field in his life?

I didn't say he haven't. I pointed out the Buck's opinion on Vlad and Stole's are opposed to each other.

Personally since Buck was brought in to turn the franchise around I believe he deserves a chance to do just that.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

[Sports Guy]

I didn't say he haven't. I pointed out the Buck opinion on Vlad and Stole's are opposed to each other.

Personally since Buck was brought in to turn the franchise around I believe he deserves a chance to do just that.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Did you need to point that out?

I how about I quote one of your posts and say:

Wildcard just typed a message.

None of us are dumb enough to believe that your only intention is to show that they have a differing opinion. We can all see that. Ray Charles can see that.

[CatonScott]

L e t t e r s

[wildcard]

Did you need to point that out?

I how about I quote one of your posts and say:

Wildcard just typed a message.

None of us are dumb enough to believe that your only intention is to show that they have a differing opinion. We can all see that. Ray Charles can see that.

From the response it sounds like I did need to point it out.

[TonySoprano]

My guess is Vlad is Sammy v2.0 for the O's. How soon some forget that debacle, and get all starry-eyed at the big career stats that are most likely gone forever.

I hope not, but that's the 800 pound gorilla in the room some don't see.

[statman]

Ladies!!!!!!!!!!! Please!!!!!!!!!!!

Vlad's old and has glass knees. Luke Scott's a bad defender.

Both their bats in the lineup are likely better than Scott and Pie's bats. Scott's defense is likely significantly worse than Pie's.

Hopefully the offensive upgrade and the defensive downgrade wash each other out. This isn't a situation where they traded 3 young pitchers for one year of a fat first baseman. I think they overpaid but I can live with it, although it doesn't make a whole lot of sense given that they're probably not going to compete this season.

On paper the lineup looks pretty good, but I give the Vlad signing a "meh." He's certainly not the cherry on top of a contending team.

Can we reserve those comments for September, Nostradamus?

[Sports Guy]

From the response it sounds like I did need to point it out.

Not really. This is just another case of you have your head buried in Buck's butt. We get it, you worship him and think the Orioles do no wrong.

You have this same mantra every offseason and every year you end up looking foolish.

One of these years, I guess you have to be right...law of averages dictate that, right?

However, enough of your holier than thou, the Orioles do everything right attitude. People much more knowledgeable than you are pointing out the issues and your only response is that your hero thinks its a good move.

Wow, what an argument. What's next? the I'm rubber your glue argument?

[Arthur_Bryant]

You are right in many ways. Its not done yet. Vlad still has to pass the physical. And Oriole physicals are pretty tough, ( when they occur,(Gonzo)).

Managing leftfield with Scott and Pie is something that Buck apparently wants the chance to do. Scott is worse defensively. But Buck has a choice and this is what he picked.

If you are right and the O's don't contend and Vlad leaves after one year then I will agree that paying $8m for him was not a smart move. Buck appears to believe differently. I think he deserves the chance.

The bolded basically encapsulates the fundamental question behind most of the discussions since Buck arrived and the record turned around: what is the real talent and potential of this team? Yeah, that's always the question about every team, but the range of reasonable answers is unusually wide in this case.

Even granting some good luck in one-run games, are they really as solid as they looked after Buck arrived? If so, they can legitimately aspire to the post season this year, and trying to pick up an extra two or three wins makes a lot of sense. And although we're talking about Vlad here, really this question is behind a lot of their decisions this year, because if they're as shaky as the final season record suggests, then they are just treading water and aspiring to 79-ish wins, the way they have been doing for most of the past 13 years, whether they've admitted it or not.

Clearly, AM and PA have bought into the proposition that this team is for real.

In Buck we trust.

[LookinUp]

My guess is Vlad is Sammy v2.0 for the O's. How soon some forget that debacle, and get all starry-eyed at the big career stats that are most likely gone forever.

What's the differencs? Well, it starts with Vlad being good when he was young, and Sosa not. Then Sosa hitting roids hard AND using a corked bat, with no such evidence with Vlad. Followed by Vlad continuing to produce after the steroid era went boom.

Bottom line, Vlad is/will be declining, but there's no evidence that his decline will be as precipitous as the prima donna cheating Sosa.

[Crazysilver03]

Just because are have a different view then Stotle does not mean I am hostile to him. I think I have trying to explain that. And I didn't have to use demeaning words to do it.

Just because you say you aren't being hostile doesn't mean that isn't the way it is coming across.

[Hank Scorpio]

Can we reserve those comments for September, Nostradamus?

I'm not really inclined to reserve comments. You don't have to like them, but are you really going to argue the point?

Do you think the signing of Guerrero vaults the Orioles into contention, or really makes them all that better than they already were?

[McNulty]

2) I have done the background work to determine who I think made the AGon for Eaton trade and it was Jon Daniels not Buck that made that trade. Buck was brought to the Rangers by John Hart. Hart left the Ranger before the AGon trade and Buck's contract ran for a year in a lame duck status. New GM Jon Daniels was going his own way after Hart left. I doubt that he was listen to Buck at the point that AGon was traded. Buck was left go by Daniels after the season mainly because he was not Daniels' guy. So it was Daniels that gets the credit or the blame for the AGon trade.

This paragraph made my head hurt.

You are making Trea-like assumptions all over this thread.

[Crazysilver03]

I am making my own argument. I researched how Buck turns a team around, which is what he was brought to the O's to do, and I believe that the Vlad signing is part of that plan. I am pointing out that Stotle's opposition to the Vlad trade going against how Buck is building the team.

I am not positive about the Drese move but I like the suggestion that he was brought in to mentor younger players and is bound for the minors.

I am not sure the Hendrickson is a Buck move. It appears to be MacPhail running out of money and try to get a lefty on the cheap.

I am not sure who's move Accardo is. He certainly is not a major piece on the team. I am perfectly willing to say that whoever wants Accardo on the team knows more about why he want them then I do. He appears to be below the talent level of the other acquisitions this off season. I will have to wait to see why he was brought in.

Interesting how you called these moves "dumb" when they were first announced, but now you don't have that tone.

It has been brought up that Showalter traded Adrian Gonzalez for Eaton.

You are making an argument that because Buck liked Vlad, Buck is right, even though you have been against some of the signings this off-season, which might have been Buck, and he has made mistakes in the past.

If you are so up Stotle's case, why aren't you constantly point out how SG is "wrong" because he doesn't suggest the same thing Buck does?

[Sports Guy]

This paragraph made my head hurt.

You are making Trea-like assumptions all over this thread.

Especially since I am pretty sure we have seen direct quotes on here rom Buck commenting about his involvement in that trade.

I like how WC likes to take leaps like that..It amuses me.

[statman]

I'm not really inclined to reserve comments. You don't have to like them, but are you really going to argue the point?

Do you think the signing of Guerrero vaults the Orioles into contention, or really makes them all that better than they already were?

It is a certain, unarguable fact that NOBODY can say whether or not the Orioles will make the playoffs this year...If they do, it would be quite difficult to call any of the offseason moves "bad".