Would someone please defend Andy MacPhail

[Scrat1]

I'll give it a shot:

Hardy trade is looking pretty damn good.

Bedard trade is still a doozie, even if some of the players haven't developed as we had hoped. Jones alone would have been worth the trade.

Penn for Andino trade was a nice, small move.

Same with Olson for Pie.

Tejada for Scott and spare parts has been big for the team.

Uehara, although injury prone, has been a pretty good pick up.

Vlad is coming around, and Lee seemed to be doing the same before he got pulled from today's game.

It's certainly on MacPhail that we wasted a pick and all that money on Gonzalez, but it's not MacPhail's fault that Gonzalez has pitched as poorly as he has.

He's not a perfect GM, but there are far, far worse out there and considering he's got Angelos to deal with, I think most discussion of wanting a new GM is mostly just an irrational grass is greener impulse.

[BaltimoreTerp]

We get reminded of it each week, sometimes when the team even wins.

If he and the team were that bad, we would be reminded of it every night. So why not last night, when we had won five-of-six including two from a division leader? A team that, by the way, we have done worse against over the past two seasons than the Red Sox.

Why should anyone think this is more than simple overreactive ranting over a crappy loss then something actually worth discussing in such a general fashion?

[Roll Tide]

Sorry to get in so late .... The big problem I have with Andy is ...A few of us were pushing for the club to get A Gonz ...We instead end up with Lee and well... Think of what our record would be with A Gonz's performance instead of Lee....I also agree this bullpen sucks andI could pitch better than Gonzalez.... LOL Just kidding

[mweb]

It's amazing to see how the FAs he's passed on have done - Mark Teixeira, Matt Holliday, Adrian Beltre... And instead we have Garrett Atkins, Derrek Lee etc...

And he keeps spending money on ineffective relievers. For all the crap Flanny and Duquette got for that 42 million they spent, at least Bradford and Walker performed for most of their contracts. Gregg and Gonzalez have been disasters from Day 1.

Tex hasn't been that great and where's Figgins and Lackey?

[mweb]

Posters on here have amazing hindsight! Especially after an awful game that causes a lot of reactionary threads.

[Crazysilver03]

Sorry to get in so late .... The big problem I have with Andy is ...A few of us were pushing for the club to get A Gonz ...We instead end up with Lee and well... Think of what our record would be with A Gonz's performance instead of Lee....I also agree this bullpen sucks andI could pitch better than Gonzalez.... LOL Just kidding

Getting AGon would be great, but that would likely mean no Britton and/or Arrieta in the rotation. Pick your poison.

[Wilshade]

AM has done a lot of good for the Orioles. Pushing to get the new spring training facility and beginning to restock the farm system come to mind. He is the only GM that PA trusts. We had pretty decent GMs before. Remember Gillick? But, PA didn't trust him or anybody else and the franchise tanked because of that.

The minors are still not what they should be. And they won't get any better unless PA puts more money into drafting and developing talent.

[21xxxv]

It's not reactionary when this team has been stuck in reverse for the past 2146 games. Yeah, I am 50, and for the past 13 plus years or 26% of my life the Orioles have been an utter embarrassment. It cannot be defended. I don't need playoffs every year, I don't need Championships or WS. How about 83 wins, how about a sniff of a legit professional team. We are a bunch of lambs being led to slaughter for yet another year, and then being asked to tolerate it by diehard, disconnected fools.

[ccbird]

Posters on here have amazing hindsight! Especially after an awful game that causes a lot of reactionary threads.

You ain't kidding. What's also funny is thinking Buck didn't have the biggest say in who is in his bullpen right now. You can make an argument against Gonzalez being a Buck guy since he was already here but other than that I would bet everyone else McPhail picked up was rubber stamped by Buck.

[BaltimoreTerp]

It's not reactionary when this team has been stuck in reverse for the past 2146 games. Yeah, I am 50, and for the past 13 plus years or 26% of my life the Orioles have been an utter embarrassment. It cannot be defended. I don't need playoffs every year, I don't need Championships or WS. How about 83 wins, how about a sniff of a legit professional team. We are a bunch of lambs being led to slaughter for yet another year, and then being asked to tolerate it by diehard, disconnected fools.

You know we're 19-21, not 12-26 like last year, right? That we just won five of six? That this awful loss dropped our record versus the Red Sox to an embarassing 2-2, and 11-11 including last season?

How about some perspective instead of some irrelevant history lesson?

[mweb]

You ain't kidding. What's also funny is thinking Buck didn't have the biggest say in who is in his bullpen right now. You can make an argument against Gonzalez being a Buck guy since he was already here but other than that I would bet everyone else McPhail picked up was rubber stamped by Buck.

And the majority of the board was pretty high on Gonzalez the player when he was signed, just didn't like giving up the pick and/or the cost.

Most thought the BP would be solid or better going into the season.

[tennOsfan]

Just how in the world does someone evaluate Kevin Gregg and conclude he's worth even half of what Andy paid?

[Scrat1]

And the majority of the board was pretty high on Gonzalez the player when he was signed, just didn't like giving up the pick and/or the cost.

Most thought the BP would be solid or better going into the season.

Yeah this is an important distinction to make.

[Sports Guy]

AM isn't the right GM for us...but PA will always be the bigger issue.

[Sports Guy]

The thing about many of the AM bashers that is so funny to me is how completely wrong they are in how the team should be built.