I'm going to make a bold statement. I don't think Andy MacPhail is employed by the Orioles any more.

[crawjo]

Bingo. MacPhail was an outsider that had no ties to this franchise's fanbase or its history other than his dad. Flanagan was the Orioles and felt the same pain the fanbase did.

MacPhail seemed to care more about his philosophy of team building and his ego more than the fans' deslolation and making sure this team won.

I have no doubt if given the autonomy that Andy has now that Flanny would have made the Orioles winners at the ML level much quicker because he knew how much it meant to the fans to see the team win again.

This is such a garbage statement. Flanagan kills himself and now all of a sudden he's a hero again who would have done anything to make the Orioles a winner. Except that it doesn't work that way. GMs can only make the best moves possible for the team, and then hope that those moves work out. If a GM fails, it does not mean that they don't care. This is so obvious that I feel silly for saying it.

[JTrea81]

This is such a garbage statement. Flanagan kills himself and now all of a sudden he's a hero again who would have done anything to make the Orioles a winner. Except that it doesn't work that way. GMs can only make the best moves possible for the team, and then hope that those moves work out. If a GM fails, it does not mean that they don't care. This is so obvious that I feel silly for saying it.

Except MacPhail's moves were not the best ones possible for the team. He had other alternatives that would have been better, but he could not deviate from his own philosophy in order to pursue them.

A GM should put the team's success over their own philosophy. MacPhail has never done this.

He's constantly made statements about "this is the only way we can win" when teams in the very same division have proven otherwise and their ability to adapt to take advantage of opportunities when they arise is what keeps them a level above the Orioles.

[gamer]

as tough as it is being a major league ball player, its even more tough being a major league GM. Im laughing at how people are bashing him for not putting the team as his top priority. Think about this for a second,,,, MacPhail hates losing as much as all of us. Id also like to say its tough to be successful GM when no free agents want to come here.... and thats my "hurricane irene has put me in a bad mood" post of the day

[TiredofLosing20]

Or, AM wanted to win very badly and believed that his methodology was the best approach. Maybe he thinks he knows more than message board GMs who don't have all the information. Nah that can't be it. It has to be AM's maniacal belief that he would rather lose than have his "plan" proven wrong.

[Rconnell]

Bingo. MacPhail was an outsider that had no ties to this franchise's fanbase or its history other than his dad. Flanagan was the Orioles and felt the same pain the fanbase did.

MacPhail seemed to care more about his philosophy of team building and his ego more than the fans' deslolation and making sure this team won.

I have no doubt if given the autonomy that Andy has now that Flanny would have made the Orioles winners at the ML level much quicker because he knew how much it meant to the fans to see the team win again.

I think Andy MacPhail was hired because his philosophy and management style appeal to Peter Angelos and align with his goals. MacPhail operates very conservatively and doesn't make a lot of high risk moves. MacPhail doesn't believe in international scouting/spending or high-priced pitching free agents. None of the moves MacPhail has made really differ from what we have done the last 13 years. I feel that Angelos is comfortable letting MacPhail have autonomy because MacPhail is not going to rock the boat or want to make a ton of risky moves.

If Angelos wanted to spend tons of money on free agents and international scouting, he would make sure those moves happen. While I don't have any big insight into the way a front office is ran, it is logical that a GM must stay within a set budget and constraints given by an owner. Changing a GM isn't going to make that budget go up or change Angelos' philosophies on how the team should be operated. I think Angelos wants to win so long as it happens in a way that he approves.

[foxfield]

Except MacPhail's moves were not the best ones possible for the team. He had other alternatives that would have been better, but he could not deviate from his own philosophy in order to pursue them.

A GM should put the team's success over their own philosophy. MacPhail has never done this.

He's constantly made statements about "this is the only way we can win" when teams in the very same division have proven otherwise and their ability to adapt to take advantage of opportunities when they arise is what keeps them a level above the Orioles.

But I thought Buck was in charge?

[SouthRider]

Except MacPhail's moves were not the best ones possible for the team. He had other alternatives that would have been better, but he could not deviate from his own philosophy in order to pursue them.

What were some of these alternatives you soeak of?

[glenn__davis]

Except MacPhail's moves were not the best ones possible for the team. He had other alternatives that would have been better, but he could not deviate from his own philosophy in order to pursue them.

A GM should put the team's success over their own philosophy. MacPhail has never done this.

The reason MacPhail has those philosophies is because he believes they give the organization the best chance to win.

No offense, but it's pretty silly for you of all people to get on MacPhail for sticking to his guns, considering I've never seen you change your opinion about pretty much anything, even in the face of indisputable evidence against it.

MacPhail wanted to win. I have little doubt of that. Just because you disagreed with his methods doesn't change his motives.

[The Rick]

What were some of these alternatives you soeak of?

There were plenty of alternatives. There is no doubt about that.

However, what he fails to acknowledge is how unlucky AM has been. He's made a plethora of good moves, but has just gotten very unlucky with how many of them have turned out. To think that all of our top pitching prospects (except for maybe Arrieta) would completely crap the bed this year is unfathomable, yet it's also reality. Josh Bell was a trade we liked at the time. Tillman hasn't been developed since we traded for him, etc.

I think AM's failure here points more toward the system-wide organizational mess then it does about AM himself. That said, he's the GM and he needed to be able to more quickly assess and address the system-wide issues. He deserves credit for addressing some of those issues (Ed Smith), but he certainly deserves blame for not addressing other key issues (player development, international scouting, etc.).

[SombodysMom]

If you replaced a person in their dream job (while they still had it) and later they took their life with accusations of depression caused by that loss...what would you do?

Contact the family directly, because they are the only ones who need to have my condolences.

[El Gordo]

There were plenty of alternatives. There is no doubt about that.

However, what he fails to acknowledge is how unlucky AM has been. He's made a plethora of good moves, but has just gotten very unlucky with how many of them have turned out. To think that all of our top pitching prospects (except for maybe Arrieta) would completely crap the bed this year is unfathomable, yet it's also reality. Josh Bell was a trade we liked at the time. Tillman hasn't been developed since we traded for him, etc.

I think AM's failure here points more toward the system-wide organizational mess then it does about AM himself. That said, he's the GM and he needed to be able to more quickly assess and address the system-wide issues. He deserves credit for addressing some of those issues (Ed Smith), but he certainly deserves blame for not addressing other key issues (player development, international scouting, etc.).

PA is opposed to international scouting and the revamping and clearing out of PA crony deadwood in player development. How could AM be expected to address these things. His mistake was accepting the job with these limitatins in the first place.

[helloharv]

PA is opposed to international scouting and the revamping and clearing out of PA crony deadwood in player development. How could AM be expected to address these things. His mistake was accepting the job with these limitatins in the first place.

Didn't Andy tell us many times that he has Full Control ? And the fanbase bought into that thinking Peter won't have deals sitting on his desk or kill deals like he did with Flanny and others.

[GoldGlove21]

Didn't Andy tell us many times that he has Full Control ? And the fanbase bought into that thinking Peter won't have deals sitting on his desk or kill deals like he did with Flanny and others.

This comes back to wanting a job or not. When asked about your boss in front of your boss, do you call him a horses A$$? That sort of thing gets you fired and I am sure that leads to more respect and a higher stature in the game, right? Andy is right in a lot of what he is saying. His says pitching is expensive and risky, we have cheap pitchers outside of Guthrie and many of them have been hurt or under-performed. What if we invested $30M into two pitchers and one of them faltered? That is about 20% of the Orioles team salary gone! I wouldn't have tried to build the Orioles like Andy has done, but for the most part his trades have been money. Reynolds, Hardy, Hunter and Adam Jones? He obtained three above average players and a high upside #4/#5 for a bunch of reliever, an oft injured Bedard, an older reliever in Koji and a high upside backend arm in Hernandez. Very well done by MacPhail.

The problem is that this organization needs to have a change in philosophy. Maybe MacPhail was allowed to bring that to the table or maybe he was told to field the best team that $85M could buy. We will never know, so me bashing MacPhail is not going to happen. The players we have now are better IMO, but the competition has gotten a lot better too.

[El Gordo]

Didn't Andy tell us many times that he has Full Control ? And the fanbase bought into that thinking Peter won't have deals sitting on his desk or kill deals like he did with Flanny and others.

This is naive. Of course he is going to say that. He certainly isn't going to say the opposite. He was opperating with autonomy, within certain basic perameters. Those were: no firing of cronys, and no big sPending on FA SP and the Latin American market.

[JTrea81]

This is naive. Of course he is going to say that. He certainly isn't going to say the opposite. He was opperating with autonomy, within certain basic perameters. Those were: no firing of cronys, and no big sPending on FA SP and the Latin American market.

And that shouldn't have stopped him from winning at the ML level. How he chose to allocate those resources within those parameters did.