MacPhail Coming Back?

[scOtt]

What sort of plan B would you have liked for him to have had when basically 4/5 of his starting staff (which were highly touted) all proved to be unreliable at best?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Dipper9]

Great, are Blast games covered on the front page of the Sun? Are Blast games talked about on WBAL 11 every night? Do the Blast get discussed on Sportsline on WBAL every night like the Orioles were last night (with Bret Hollander)?

Is Blast Opening Night a city-wide holiday like the O's opening day is? You see a lot of people wearing Blast jerseys and hats around town?

What a ridiculous assertion.

Were you there when the Blast won the (whatever the hell the indoor soccer title is)?

No, I wasn't, because they aren't even on TV. And if they are, I don't know where?

[TiredofLosing20]

I said "some" not all.

Thats not the part I found to be "sweeping"

and since MacPhail=losing, those fans must be content with losing. That's the rationality to me.

That logic (or illogic) is the part that I found to be "sweeping". The "some fans" that want AM back may want him back because they feel he gives them the best shot at turning this organization around given the PA factor. Also they may recognize that had the pitching staff pitched even remotely close to what it did at the end of 2010, the 2011 team would have likely been better than .500 and closing in on 90 wins.

I am not sure how you have plan B (which I am not even sure what than looks like) when plan A appears to be working as it did for the final two months of 2010. The young pitching looked to mostly everybody to be finally maturing and the offense was crappy. AM went out improved the offense and the young pitching monumentally failed, it happens.

At this point, I am probably ready for a change at the top not necessarily because I believe he did a bad job but because I don't think he can progress us much further than this. The problem is I have zero confidence that AM's replacement will even fair as well as he did and quite frankly had your approach been taken we would be about a 75 win team with about 50 million (in annual salary) in really crappy contracts.

[DrungoHazewood]

Don't assume or depend on all your young arms reaching their ceilings to contend.

That was never the plan. If Arrieta, Britton, Tillman, Bergesen, and Matusz had been 2.0 win, league-average starters, far from most of their ceilings, the Orioles would have been about an 80-win team. And that 80-win team would be in a position to make some moves in free agency and become a contender. In fact, isn't that your dream? A team chock full of average pitchers, but also loaded up with fat first basemen and assorted other premium sluggers?

[weams]

That was never the plan. If Arrieta, Britton, Tillman, Bergesen, and Matusz had been 2.0 win, league-average starters, far from most of their ceilings, the Orioles would have been about an 80-win team. And that 80-win team would be in a position to make some moves in free agency and become a contender. In fact, isn't that your dream? A team chock full of average pitchers, but also loaded up with fat first basemen and assorted other premium sluggers?

I have been watching him in the post season. He's good, but he sure is fat. His defense is in no way superior to Reynolds.

[glorydays]

Anyone here mention that Thrift took a 78 win team his first year and finished his tenure with a team that lost 63 and 67 games? Also, even though it is small and still disappointing - after 3 years of an improving win total - at least AM's teams are moving in the right direction toward .500 ball and not away from it.

[The Rick]

Britt just posted an article, no news though really:

But with the team's 2011 season more than a week old, and given how tight-lipped and under-the-radar MacPhail has been since joining the organization in 2007, it wouldn't be a total shock if a decision isn't made public until MacPhail's contract expires Oct. 31.

For Showalter, who was heavily rumored to be moving upstairs if MacPhail leaves, that expectation has also shifted and it's a safer bet that he will return to the dugout in 2012. Showalter, who is signed through the '13 season, is expected to play a significant role in how the organization moves forward, regardless of his formal title.

[TonySoprano]

Britt just posted an article, no news though really:

But with the team's 2011 season more than a week old, and given how tight-lipped and under-the-radar MacPhail has been since joining the organization in 2007, it wouldn't be a total shock if a decision isn't made public until MacPhail's contract expires Oct. 31.

I am not being entirely sarcastic when I say I'm surprised what passes for the "process" is underway. We are still three-four weeks away which is positively premature in Angelos' history.

[SammyBirdland]

Prediction: Bud Selig opts out of the final year of his contract and Andy MacPhail becomes commish prior to the 2012 season.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Prediction: Bud Selig opts out of the final year of his contract and Andy MacPhail becomes commish prior to the 2012 season.

While I think that Andy MacPhail has a very good chance of being the next commissioner, I still think that Bud Selig will release his grip on the position when it is pried from his cold, dead hands. Which is one thing the Orioles have in common with Major League Baseball.

[Skeletor]

While I think that Andy MacPhail has a very good chance of being the next commissioner, I still think that Bud Selig will release his grip on the position when it is pried from his cold, dead hands. Which is one thing the Orioles have in common with Major League Baseball.

Andy MacPhail would help the Os a lot more as MLB commissioner than as Os gm.

[GoldGlove21]

That was never the plan. If Arrieta, Britton, Tillman, Bergesen, and Matusz had been 2.0 win, league-average starters, far from most of their ceilings, the Orioles would have been about an 80-win team. And that 80-win team would be in a position to make some moves in free agency and become a contender. In fact, isn't that your dream? A team chock full of average pitchers, but also loaded up with fat first basemen and assorted other premium sluggers?

I agree with the overall point of your post, but the fact that Arrieta, Britton, Tillman, Bergesen and Matusz did not perform well is the point to some extent. How do you hold 4 young pitchers with limited success to pitch to average or slightly worse ERA's in the AL East. Bergesen was a question mark. Tillman had command issues. Britton has upside, but even he might have been rushed up to perform as a #3 starter. Matusz was a guy that I thought let us down the most, but I am thinking that there was more to that story. Arrieta was injured and shut down, but he wasn't half bad if we ignored 3 of his starts that really inflated his ERA.

You either have faith in the young pitching or you do not. If you do not than why even make an effort in the FA market? If you do than no matter what their 2011 numbers say, you make an effort to better the team via free agency. If those pitchers fail us as a whole than we might as well rebuild again. Deal the core because they will not be much of a core by the time that we are ready to compete on a regular basis.

[GoldGlove21]

Andy MacPhail would help the Os a lot more as MLB commissioner than as Os gm.

This is exactly what I would hope happen. Not just help the Orioles, but help small to mid-market teams compete. Just like a house, baseball needs ceilings and floors in order for everyone to live in it.

[scOtt]

This is exactly what I would hope happen. Not just help the Orioles, but help small to mid-market teams compete. Just like a house, baseball needs ceilings and floors in order for everyone to live in it.

That will all be decided with this year's CBA (which I highly doubt!) or else be put off til this new agreement expires. Commish has more influence than the President, but not much more. Commish can't dictate what happens...

[DrungoHazewood]

Anyone here mention that Thrift took a 78 win team his first year and finished his tenure with a team that lost 63 and 67 games? Also, even though it is small and still disappointing - after 3 years of an improving win total - at least AM's teams are moving in the right direction toward .500 ball and not away from it.

Given the uncertainty in records, the noise inherent in the signal, I put teams in buckets of wins. For simplicity, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90+. The O's have been firmly in the 60s bucket for years. They're in a better spot than with a senile GM, but there's no progress.