Roch: Next GM must be on same page as Buck

[NCRaven]

So many false assumptions here:

1. No good GM will want this job. Wrong, as Connolly points out, there are only 30 of these jobs on the planet. You don't turn down what might be your only opportunity. Have there been exceptions? Sure, but they're few and far between. Girardi could turn us down because he knew he had a future Yankees job in the bag. Likewise Garrett could turn down the Ravens since he knew Jones was infatuated with him. But the O's have several good options. So, even if one says no, there's others waiting to say yes.

2. Bucks vision will only focus on winning now at the major league level. This is a man who goes to watch minor league games on his day off. Who leaves Baltimore after the season and goes straight to Sarasota to watch the last few days of instructional league. What do the Frederick Keys and rookies in the instructional league have to do with winning now? Nothing, but Buck is still interested.

3. Hiring a GM that is in sync with Buck is somehow wrong. Buck is under contract for what 2, 3 more years? Would it make any sense at all to hire a GM that wasn't in sync with Buck? I think Roch's comment is being misrepresented here. He specificallly said that a new GM couldn't be expected to be subservient to Buck, just that they should agree on the direction of the club and that Buck should have some say on the ML roster. That just makes sense since Buck is already here and has the best assessment of the players on hand and what he needs to be successful.

4. Free agents won't come here. We haven't been the top bidder on any of the big free agents. Teixeira did tell the O's not to bother, but it was clear he wanted to play for the Yanks. Let us make the best offer and force someone to turn it down. Then we'll know for sure whether that's true.

[Sports Guy]

I'd love to see the interview process that measures "wining and dining ability". Just, wow....

Its the same formula they use to measure WAR.

[Sports Guy]

Who we get isn't as important as what they do. Wining and dining ability should be a huge determining factor as the next GM will need to be a great salesman among other things.

The fact you actually think the biggest determining factor is the GMs ability to lure FAs shows how little you understand things.

[TiredofLosing20]

Well, I would be happy (and think a team could construct a winning team) with a GM who never signed a larger free agent contract than one year and 5M total value. So I think wining-and-dining is just Trea's code for "I slipped and hit my head on the kitchen counter again." An ambulance is en route.

I would be happy too but we aren't Tampa and frankly we do not need to be Tampa. Free Agency or more correctly "premium talent" isn't the devil, why slam the door on that. I think we need our next GM to be much better at FA than AM was. I am not promoting building the team thru FA and I am pro spending at the appropriate time, but it shouuld be an avenue we can go down at some point.

[CA-ORIOLE]

... the next GM will need to be a great salesman among other things.

Maybe we should interview the Sham-Wow guy.

[SrMeowMeow]

I would be happy too but we aren't Tampa and frankly we do not need to be Tampa. Free Agency or more correctly "premium talent" isn't the devil, why slam the door on that. I think we need our next GM to be much better at FA than AM was. I am not promoting building the team thru FA and I am pro spending at the appropriate time, but it shouuld be an avenue we can go down at some point.

I'm not opposed to free agency. I'm just illustrating why the ability to "lure" a free agent here for what usually ends up being too much money anyway isn't even on my list of GM qualifications.

[TiredofLosing20]

Maybe we should interview the Sham-Wow guy.

He's Busy!!

[mweb]

That was one of the funniest posts I've read on here in awhile. Speaking of Trea's of course.

And of course the numbers on the contract offer are much more important than "wining and dining."

[CA-ORIOLE]

He's Busy!!

Yeah, he doesn't look so good.

[TiredofLosing20]

I'm not opposed to free agency. I'm just illustrating why the ability to "lure" a free agent here for what usually ends up being too much money anyway isn't even on my list of GM qualifications.

Yeah, like I said it isn't a "huge determining factor" but I want someone who will have much better success in the FA market than we have had under AM and given this organization's state you need a good saleman.

That said, the biggest sales pitch would be to get this team back to .500

[Shopay]

Who we get isn't as important as what they do. Wining and dining ability should be a huge determining factor as the next GM will need to be a great salesman among other things.

I don't know what you're smoking Trea, but please pass it my way as you're out of your mind.

[UMDTerrapins]

The best thing a new GM could do is to start doing little things to convince Angelos that he's losing his mind. Start putting his keys in the microwave, sending inquiries from his email address to the Blue Jays as to Shawn Green's availability, forging his signature approving 10,000 Luis Mercedes bobbleheads, tell him the league has denied his request for orange baseballs, tell him Oriole fans LOVE him.

You have to set him up so when you say you need $275 million to sign Albert Pujols, you can cushion the blow by saying that new NAFTA regulations mean that we only have to pay him a currency adjusted $275 million Dominican dollars, which is equal to what we're currently paying Don Stanhouse to close! What a deal! He'll grab his Hayden Penn pen out of the fish bowl and sign the contract and thank the heaves that somebody is keeping him from doing something crazy.

[SteveO]

I have to restate this. Why does anyone think that a young and smart executive will be able to have ANY control over Angelos? He's not going to cede power and control to a young executive who's getting his big break. MacPhail got the closest of anyone since Gillick, and that's in large part because his last name is MacPhail and he's a well established executive.

I do not think that a young and smart executive is going to walk in and have any control over how Angelos sees things, I do however believe that Buck currently has that ability.

If I were a young GM considering taking this as my first job, I would consider the fact that there is a competent manager in place and he has the owners ear a +1. I would be happy to know there is someone in place who has that ability to get through to the notoriously stubborn and meddling Angelos.

Given the choice between having to deal with a guy like Angelos meddle or sharing power with a proven baseball guy like Buck who is pretty universally recognized as kowledgeable, I will take sharing some power with Buck any day. I have seen very few signs of Peter meddling during AM reign as GM. I pretty much think he had the autonomy and resources he asked for to implement his plan, it just did not work.

[JTrea81]

The fact you actually think the biggest determining factor is the GMs ability to lure FAs shows how little you understand things.

I didn't say biggest, just it needs to be a huge factor.

We need somebody charismatic and that can sell a losing franchise to a prospective FA, and is aggressive and creative in doing so.

Andy MacPhail's negotiating tactics work fine for trades, but lousy for FAs. His sales pitch is a big part of the reason we lost out on Tex IMO.

[UMDTerrapins]

Andy MacPhail's negotiating tactics work fine for trades, but lousy for FAs. His sales pitch is a big part of the reason we lost out on Tex IMO.

That and tens of millions of dollars.