And Buster Olney takes a little shot as well

[Dipper9]

How was it a "shot at the O's" when it was our stated strategy?

"Everybody else is chasing it, too," Duquette told MLBTR. "We have to wait for the sharks to feed and then we'll wait to see what's left over."

Double D told us this was the strategy right out of the gate, and yet people are STILL bummed that we weren't involved with the better talent. He TOLD us the plan...we just chose not to listen. Who's fault is that?

[GoldGlove21]

I think guys like Buster have a auto reminder event on there calendar to make sure they talk about every team at least once a month. Today, his Orioles reminder was staring him the face so he just rehashed the same old op-ed tagline on Twitter instead of delving into a more interesting piece of journalism.

Like what? They have touched on prospects, Duquette, the focus on the international market, the O's front office being addressed and the lack of activity in the free agent market. Is he supposed to do a complete article on all the things right about the Orioles, because if he did the article would be shorter than his tweet. :rofl:

[GoldGlove21]

Double D told us this was the strategy right out of the gate, and yet people are STILL bummed that we weren't involved with the better talent. He TOLD us the plan...we just chose not to listen. Who's fault is that?

He seems to feel that going from the laughing stock of the AL to a champion is much harder to do than just sign a premium free agent or two. I think he is right and what is really wrong with the O's has a lot to do with other aspects of the organization being screwed up. As fans we act like players or agents do not talk and that the players do not know what Baltimore is. Baltimore is the place where aging veterans come to die and if I were Prince Fielder and the Orioles offered me a 9/$219M deal my first question would be, "So where are you getting my money and the money for the next premium guy?".

[ledzepp8]

Olney's tweet isn't a shot...its the truth. The thread title should be...Olney tells truth about the Orioles offseason.

Does it really need to be pointed out that Olney can take a shot at the Orioles and still be telling the truth?

I don't really care what Olney says about the O's, but the complete randomness of his tweet is a shot at the Orioles. If we're getting technical about it.

[TonySoprano]

Double D told us this was the strategy right out of the gate, and yet people are STILL bummed that we weren't involved with the better talent. He TOLD us the plan...we just chose not to listen. Who's fault is that?

I can think of one Maine reason.

[Dipper9]

I can think of one Maine reason.

What are you trying to trea, I mean say?

[GoldGlove21]

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.

Duquette decided that addressing the structure of the Orioles was a better road map to winning than splurging on a sexy name. He is looking for cheap wins and depth. Some people have said that he didn't come here to lose, but if he builds the Orioles organization into a powerhouse than the Orioles could easily be more appealing to players. If Machado, Bundy and Schoop do not pan out over the next 2-3 years than the Orioles have no window for Fielder (or aplayer like Fielder) to compete. It can not all be accomplished via free agency, but at the end of the day some people wanted a new GM because they thought that MacPhail was the problem, but there will always be one constant and HE is the real problem. When did he decide that money and not winning was the driving force behind owning a sports franchise? Oh wait, problem the moment that he bought it! :angryfire:

[El Gordo]

I think their were two mandates that Duq was dealing with, that limited his choices. One was a Flat payroll. I doubt that was his choice. I agree with it though, because a team with and 85 M payroll ought to be at least a .500 team and adding money to that would just be feeding the dysfunction. The other mandate was more debilitating. Any major trade has to be signed off on by PA. So no matter how sensible a package for Jones, Guthrie et. al. might have been, it is unlikey it would be good enough for PA. Within those limitations I think Duq has made good choices. I would rather see him taking a bet on Antonelli than signing Kelly Johnson for 6M. I prefer seeing what Davis can do, than spending 8 M on Pena. I like adding Bettemit to the DH rotation, over spending 14M on Ortiz. I like taking a shot at Chen and Wada, over whatever FA SP we could have overpaid to take their place, and probably not do much better. And I especially like his focus on refurbishing the infrastructure and developing international FA markets. It would have been nice to trade Jones for SP, but I don't think it was feasible with PA here.

[Moose Milligan]

I don't understand posters who take umbrage with national media members who take shots at the Orioles. It's like someone kicked their puppy.

[SilentJames]

And the moves he has been making with the FO have been bashed. Granted, by people who may have an axe to grind but they aren't moves that people are like "wow those are great moves".

I do like the FO stuff he is doing but that is such an unknown commodity right now and we may never know if it actually works or not.

Basically, what it comes down to is the Orioles still have a very low chance of getting better this year and in the future...probably worse so now than ever before

Well, people laughed at Bill Beane too. Now I'm not saying that DD is revolutionizing anything here but the only reason we know Beane's name is because it worked. He had a theory that was different and it worked.

No one knew it would work when it was tried, so to say that no one is saying "ah yes this is a great move" well I think that is a little too much to ask. The Orioles could have signed Fielder, I doubt anyone would have called it a great move. They DID sign one of the top 20 FAs on the market and one of the top FA pitchers on the market - but everyone seems non-plussed by it because it wasn't a giant headline grabber. But I guarantee you that if the Ray had gotten Chen we would have heard about how smart a move it was.

The Orioles are bad, they have been bad for so long that the default setting for most of their actions, or non-actions, is one of suspicion and pessimism. And the Orioles have earned that. Last year we heard a lot of national writers and people saying that the Orioles were doing things the right way. I think I even remember one MLB net guy remarking that the Orioles are in the worst position possible because they had done everything the right way but they were stuck in the AL East, etc etc.

Then all those guys crapped the bed last year.

What I see DD doing is rather sly. He isn't jettisoning AM's plan with the players. I think he is banking on Matusz, Arrieta and Britton to have pretty good years. But what he HAS done that AM didn't is surround them with a ton of support. Chen, Wada, Eveland, possibly bringing in Koji or McClellan, stocking up on minor league arms and trimming the fat.

This team still revolves around Matusz, Arrieta and Britton - but now they have much more solid reinforcements. Moves that AM should have made when he was still here.

If it works and the Orioles win games then DD will be vindicated.

[El Gordo]

I don't understand posters who take umbrage with national media members who take shots at the Orioles. It's like someone kicked their puppy.

I don't understand why anyone would enjoy watching someone kick a puppy or

[BaltOriole]

I'm pretty sure people like Olney "bust" on the orioles because they know the orioles have the funds to sign Top FA talent and yet over the past few years, don't make a splash for that talent. I do believe they need to hold off and give DD some time. Guy just walked in the door and needs a full season to evaluate his talent before investing boat loads of money in players that might not gel or fit the direction of the team.

[crawjo]

Some of the steps Duquette has taken this offseason seem obvious, and they are, yet they also contradict prior practices with this franchise. Duquette is the FIRST GM we've ever had to openly prioritize on-base percentage. That, to me, is a huge and important change in organizational philosophy. Yes, we should have done that a decade ago or more, but better late than never. He has also given us a strong international presence for the first time that I can ever recall. Again, it seems obvious, but better late than never.

In fact, because of the importance placed on OBP I have a much higher confidence in what Duquette does than I've had for any of his predecessors.

As for Olney, it's not that he's wrong, it's just that his comment is basically meaningless. IMO, we should have been in on Fielder but not at his final price. And we should be in on Edwin Jackson and Cespedes, though whether either will come here remains a real question. Other than that? I'm glad we passed on all the other free agents. They weren't good fits for where we are in the competition cycle.

[NewMarketSean]

I'm pretty sure people like Olney "bust" on the orioles because they know the orioles have the funds to sign Top FA talent and yet over the past few years, don't make a splash for that talent. I do believe they need to hold off and give DD some time. Guy just walked in the door and needs a full season to evaluate his talent before investing boat loads of money in players that might not gel or fit the direction of the team.

I think this is a big part of it. Angelos was the owner when the team was winning by spending and OPACY was selling out. It's not like the Royals or Pirates situation where there was a different owner in place the last time they were any good. So the Orioles under Angelos will always be compared to when they were winning, and rightfully so.

[Going Underground]

We need a shark attack.

[video=youtube;kl2dslwQ29w]