Duquette: "We want to be 500 or better this year"

[hammonds davis]

We have incrementaly gotten better while buck has been here and while 500 doesnt seem like much we havent been over 500 in 14 years. So yes a 500 season would have me excited it would mean our young pitching has gotten better. If they improve this season and we get to 500 we could probably predict them to improve even more two years from now. That would mean next offseason dd and buck could think we are on the cusp of a big step and go all in and sign maybe one of Matt Cain or Cole Hamels and a big bat like Josh Hamilton. So i think 500 would be great and a big improvement for this organization and a sign this team is moving in the right direction.

[atomic]

Macphail certainly didn't say the team would be at .500 or above his first season. I like that Duquette is not coming up with some BS 5 year plan. The orioles in 1988 were the worst team in baseball and they competed in 1989 with a bunch of new faces. You can be a naysayer all you want the team has some good players but needs starting pitching and to get rid of guys like Reynolds. Getting a couple of decent starters and improve at 1st and left field and you have a decent team that could be .500. But if you have starters who can't get out of the third inning it is another sub .500 team.

Duquette is telling like it is. The farm team is a mess we don't have starters. He isn't going to hide behind rebuilding. He is trying to improve everything. Time will tell if him and his new hires can turn the team around or time has passed them by. But at least he is taking responsibility.

[ccbird]

I can't believe people let what the O's do or don't do work them up anymore. It really is such a relief when you completely and fully become apathetic.

[blid]

O`s must be the mystery team here

Pujols, who could announce his decision as early as Wednesday, has offers from the St. Louis Cardinals, Florida Marlins and a third team that has publicly declined to be identified.

[EddieMurrayfan]

Ok, you answer me something.

How do you acquire talent if you are not willing to....:

1) Trade your valuable pieces

2) Spend money

Just let me know how you make up 15 wins by not doing those 2 things?

Are we, yet again, just going to put the fate of the ML team on the shoulders of 3 young pitchers? Are we going to, yet again, put our eggs in one basket?

One basket? Probably!

[Frobby]

Its not just this one quote. Its the combination of this quote and everything else being said and what is being done right now.

I agree with your interpretation of what DD is trying to do. It's a tightrope act to try to improve the W-L pretty significantly without dramatically increasing the payroll, while building for the future at the same time. He sort of did that in Boston, though, after a year of treading water. So, while I share your concerns, I will wait to see what happens. But I'm not getting my hopes up too far because we've watched this approach fail several times.

[Sports Guy]

We have incrementaly gotten better while buck has been here and while 500 doesnt seem like much we havent been over 500 in 14 years. So yes a 500 season would have me excited it would mean our young pitching has gotten better. If they improve this season and we get to 500 we could probably predict them to improve even more two years from now. That would mean next offseason dd and buck could think we are on the cusp of a big step and go all in and sign maybe one of Matt Cain or Cole Hamels and a big bat like Josh Hamilton. So i think 500 would be great and a big improvement for this organization and a sign this team is moving in the right direction.

Of course a 500 season would be great.

But they aren't going to get there with the current team, plus a few new role players.

Its going to be more of the same from the last decade.

Rely on 3-4 young pitchers to be very good and go with that.

Our defense is poor. There is no team speed. Pitching is young, unproven and not developing quick enough. The talent and potential is there in those arms but nothing has come to fruition yet.

The offense has upside but also downside and a lot of wild cards.

Its one of those things where we could be fine(500ish fine) if the young pitching develops and the hitting is better than it was last year.

But that's asking for a lot.

[MrOrange82]

Ok, you answer me something.

How do you acquire talent if you are not willing to....:

1) Trade your valuable pieces

2) Spend money

Just let me know how you make up 15 wins by not doing those 2 things?

Are we, yet again, just going to put the fate of the ML team on the shoulders of 3 young pitchers? Are we going to, yet again, put our eggs in one basket?

Wouldn't be a problem if the O's actually added eggs to the basket every now and again.

I don't agree with you often, but on this count I do (which is why I posed the question in another thread...to which fans is DD "listening"?).

To be fair, I believe AM began with the "we have work to do before we can be competitive" spiel, and it's clear how that worked out. So, by the same token, regardless of what DD says this winter, the value of his words will ultimately have to be measured against the position occupied by the Orioles a year or two from now.

That being said, 85ish wins next year is a ludicrous goal. As SG said, if you're not willing to increase payroll (substantially, IMO), and you're not seriously listening to offers for players like Jones (and I'd add Wieters, Britton, et al. to that list), there's simply no way you go from winning 69 games to winning more than you lose. Hoping and praying for the resurgence of the now-embattled "cavalry" is, to put it mildly, an exhausted rallying cry.

[Lucky Jim]

I agree with your interpretation of what DD is trying to do. It's a tightrope act to try to improve the W-L pretty significantly without dramatically increasing the payroll, while building for the future at the same time. He sort of did that in Boston, though, after a year of treading water. So, while I share your concerns, I will wait to see what happens. But I'm not getting my hopes up too far because we've watched this approach fail several times.

I'll care if he does it at the expense of long-term value/success. Fiddling with the component parts (and dealing third-tier prospects) doesn't matter to me. I think he has every intention of trying to do what he says, but until it actually costs us something, I figure it's his prerogative.

[Malike]

http://www.masnsports.com/school_of_roch/2011/12/duquette-we-want-to-be-500-or-better-this-year.html

This just annoys the hell out of me.

You want to win more games? Great. We all want to win more. We all want to root for a team that wins more games.

But, how in the hell are you going to pull that off by basically putting the same team on the field next year that you had last year, adding in a different 4th OFer, a different back up C and perhaps 1 or 2 different starters, starters who are not true TOR guys.

I know he also said he wants to build...and he is going to do that organizationally by improving scouting, development and our international presence. That is all exciting. That is all great and that is all needed.

But while you wait for that, you need to bring in talent. Right now, the Orioles don't want to trade anyone. They either view them as core players or guys that are "very valuable" to them, such as Johnson and Andino. You say you want to imrpve the talent...you want to improve the depth. Buck said we don't have enough talent in the minors...Yet, you don't want to trade anyone to acquire it? How is that supposed to work? Just keep waiting for good drafts and International signings to happen? At least if you make trades, most of the players could be here in 2 years or less and you could build something very quickly.

They also don't want to up the payroll in any significant way. That means no Fielder, no Pujols, no Wilson, no Buehrle, etc....

So, that leaves the team, yet again, as a fence rider. A team that is playing for the short term while putting a poor short term product on the field.

And yes, this is DD's comment but I don't blame him. I blame Buck. I blame PA. This is the same mantra we have heard, year in and year out.

Its just very frustrating because while it is great that DD is improving so many areas that need improvement, I don't believe that he can do the same with the ML team and we have 2 people, Buck and PA, who just aren't good enough to make those decisions and are not thinking long term enough.

But the confusing and frustrating part is if you aren't looking long term, why not go out and get talent via free agency? Just go spend some money.

Lets be honest, you have no idea what has been discussed at the winter meetings, and you have no clue on who he might or might not trade. You are being critical, just for the sake of it. Shocking.

[Sports Guy]

And again, let me be clear. This is more directed at Buck and PA than DD.

I believe if DD could do what he wanted, he wouldn't go this path.

But Buck is running things in terms of the ML team and PA is listening to him, provided that he doesn't want to spend much money.

[Malike]

And again, let me be clear. This is more directed at Buck and PA than DD.

I believe if DD could do what he wanted, he wouldn't go this path.

But Buck is running things in terms of the ML team and PA is listening to him, provided that he doesn't want to spend much money.

I tend to agree with this.

[Sports Guy]

Lets be honest, you have no idea what has been discussed at the winter meetings, and you have no clue on who he might or might not trade. You are being critical, just for the sake of it. Shocking.

You know its funny...We hear this exact same thing every year.

[Orioles0615]

So no one would be happy next year if they won 84 games

[Fan4Life]

I can't believe people let what the O's do or don't do work them up anymore. It really is such a relief when you completely and fully become apathetic.

Must spread the rep...