And Buster Olney takes a little shot as well

[Fan4Life]

Angelos is till the owner that's all the evidence anyone should need. Ignoring that, even if DD is a good GM and gets the organization on the right track it's still going to take a good while for Baltimore to become a desirable place to play ball.

This may all be true.. but it doesn't necessarily support Buster's comment which is what we are debating.

Either we missed out on acquiring specific assets or we didn't. If one is to complain about the offseason, they need to back it up.

[Fan4Life]

they can use whatever they want...the orioles deserve everything they get.

lol.....

[LookinUp]

What evidence do you have that we aren't?

Just because DD has made good moves this offseason doesn't mean he picked the right guys, has the right strategy or that it will be implemented properly.

You are just assuming that crap will turn to gold because DD touched it.

The evidence will be from performance..until then, they are still a joke.

Your overreaction to the thread title notwithstanding, you're obviously right here.

I'm left to assume that Buck thinks the core we have in place can be competitive enough to win 81-84 games. If he's right and we do, next offseason becomes the time that we need to actually spend some coin. If he's wrong and we're still a 70 win team, I suspect Jones, Hardy, Guthrie, JJ, Markakis and Reynolds could all be available in some form either at this trade deadline or next offseason.

In this regard, our lack of direction at least has some rationale. Personally, I think the argument that our core can be relatively competitive is pretty poor. Considering that strongly held opinion, it makes no sense to me for us to wait to make guys like Jones, JJ and Hardy (our 3 best chips, IMO) available for trade. There's risk in waiting, particularly on an injury prone guy like Hardy, but this is the direction DD/Buck have chosen.

[TonySoprano]

Let them take shots. We'll see how the Duquette era plays out.

a blast from the past

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[Fan4Life]

Your overreaction to the thread title notwithstanding, you're obviously right here.

I'm left to assume that Buck thinks the core we have in place can be competitive enough to win 81-84 games. If he's right and we do, next offseason becomes the time that we need to actually spend some coin. If he's wrong and we're still a 70 win team, I suspect Jones, Hardy, Guthrie, JJ, Markakis and Reynolds could all be available in some form either at this trade deadline or next offseason.

In this regard, our lack of direction at least has some rationale. Personally, I think the argument that our core can be relatively competitive is pretty poor. Considering that strongly held opinion, it makes no sense to me for us to wait to make guys like Jones, JJ and Hardy (our 3 best chips, IMO) available for trade. There's risk in waiting, particularly on an injury prone guy like Hardy, but this is the direction DD/Buck have chosen.

I think SG is right also. Just not in this thread.

[Sports Guy]

lol.....

BTW, Olney is right here too...as Tony S showed, this was DD's STATED strategy this offseason. Just wait and pick the leftovers.

[TonySoprano]

We're gonna' need a bigger budget as well....

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[Fan4Life]

BTW, Olney is right here too...as Tony S showed, this was DD's STATED strategy this offseason. Just wait and pick the leftovers.

If Olney was paying attention, he'd just slam the strategy, not the outcome of the strategy.

[Sports Guy]

If Olney was paying attention, he'd just slam the strategy, not the outcome of the strategy.

Why?????????

[TonySoprano]

If Olney was paying attention, he'd just slam the strategy, not the outcome of the strategy.

If some of our posters here were paying attention, they wouldn't have thought we had a shot at signing Prince Fielder either. Fielder, Cespedes, et.al, aren't what is leftover after the "sharks" feed.

[Fan4Life]

Why?????????

Because it doesn't make any sense to complain about the outcome of a stated strategy if you're aware of it. That outcome was predictable because you said you were going to do it. Expressing thoughts about what brought about the outcome makes sense. As you have done. Pick a lane, choose a path etc etc.. that is a reasonable argument. Olney could learn a thing or two from you.

[Enjoy Terror]

The on-the-field 2012 Orioles has not changed much, this is true. The Orioles have definitely taken a backseat approach to addressing the weaknesses of the team, hoping that something clicks with the players already in the system. This approach is low risk compared to spending in free agency, where the Orioles have at times sensibly whiffed, yet at others failed to put anything into play.

The moves that were made were cheap, high reward long shots: Antonelli and Flaherty COULD be valuable additions. The Asian pitchers COULD be valuable commodities the Os can flip later, a similar path to Koji Uehara. We can't judge these moves now; if they all pan out, DD is the hero... if not, he's the blockhead.

Undoubtedly, if the litmus test for a "successful" offseason is an expensive foray into free agency, then yes: DD has failed in that regard.

However, we were promised many things from the MacPhail era that did not come to fruition... in his short time here DD has taken risks in international free agency unprecedented in Orioles history. In a brief time he overhauled a front office completely (short of ownership), with the appearance that this club can be built to scout, draft and develop talent in a manner that would do the Oriole Way justice. You'd be hard pressed to argue that DD hasn't turned some heads where MacPhail said "I can't" or "I won't", and DD set out to do them anyway.

In spite of the lackluster offseason, I'm pleased with the way the Orioles have been handled: by addressing the root of the problem, the structure of the organization. In time, we will hopefully see a shift in the way things are handled from the bottom up.

[vab]

You've got 14 straight losing seasons and a thin farm system. What else can you realistically do but wait and pick the leftovers?

[JayThomas]

Seriously? Do you think they improved the talent on this team, short and long term, in any kind fo a significant way this offseason?

I'm not going to defend the changes made to the ML roster, and clearly we haven't done anything in terms of stocking the farm. However, I do think that it's possible that Davis, Antonelli, and Chen could turn out to be (deserving) long term contributors. Obviously, we'd have to get lucky here, but it's certainly not implausible for any of the 3 to prove to be very attractive regular ML starters.

[Sports Guy]

I'm not going to defend the changes made to the ML roster, and clearly we haven't done anything in terms of stocking the farm. However, I do think that it's possible that Davis, Antonelli, and Chen could turn out to be (deserving) long term contributors. Obviously, we'd have to get lucky here, but it's certainly not implausible for any of the 3 to prove to be very attractive regular ML starters.

Davis was already here.

The Antonelli signing was a good one but there are always players like him available every offseason, so while I am glad they picked him up, its not like it was some creative, out of the box, rare move.

The Chen signing should be fine but he isn't likely to improve us in any real significant way.