What if Duquette's plan for 2012....works?

[WV O's]

I don't know. I certainly wouldn't go so far as to assume that 1) if there have been changes in culture, that it is solely the result of a change up top, and 2) that improvements between last year and this year are solely the result of a change up top.

Fair enough. But, if we end of .500, then to what would you attribute that?

[DrungoHazewood]

It's actually done based on the original bird logo--not sure what years exactly, but definitely 1961 and thereabouts:

I don't know the date of the very first Baltimore Oriole bird logo, but it's definitely prior to 1930, I'd guess around the turn of the century. Here's one from 1939, and I've seen one with a simpler, more cartoonish full-body bird logo from the early 1920s. The first team named the Orioles was the American Association team from 1882, but uniforms and even caps were pretty logo-free until the 1900s. The Champion Orioles of 1894-96 had plain gray/white uniforms with either a block letter Baltimore on the front, or a kind of gothic script B on the breast pocket, looked kind of like the Tigers. Caps were either plain gray/white, or with black horizontal stripes, and of the pillbox/1970s Pirates design.

[33rdst]

The O's can only compete in the AL East by developing most of it's talent from within. DD's plan was to improve scouting and player development in order to achieve this, while adding players to the ML roster who would help the ML cub to improve in the win collumn while staying within the owners budget restrictions. Not a part of his plan were blockbuster trades as part of a massive rebuild, or big ticket FA signings as part of a win now at all costs, apporoach. He obviously wants to see how good the core talent is before he decides which direction to persue. Seems prudent to me. The trade deadline will be a strong indicator, because if he chooses to extend Jones and hang on to Hardy, he thinks we can win while we have Wieters. If he trades Jones and Hardy, then he doesn't, Wieters will be shopped in the fall, and we are rebuilding.

Why is it that some people refuse to see this? Duquette articulated this plan from day one and his moves have reflected this agenda. It's not like he's trying to keep it a secret. Yet people will still post that "Duquette doesn't have a plan".

[El Gordo]

Why is it that some people refuse to see this? Duquette articulated this plan from day one and his moves have reflected this agenda. It's not like he's trying to keep it a secret. Yet people will still post that "Duquette doesn't have a plan".

What they mean is Duq's plan is not the one they want. They want either spend on Fielders, or trade everyone for prospects.

[Orioles West]

Reading the board, I think about 90% of the posters (me included) think that Duquette is dreaming if he thinks it likely that this team plays .500+ baseball in 2012. But, what if it does happen? Will you view the team's future over the next several years in a different light? Will you be willing to give Duquette more of a benefit of the doubt? Or will you see it as a lucky blip on the radar that has no real long-term meaning and says nothing about Duquette?

This was as disappointing as a Hot Stove season could be for me, and I wasn't feeling much to start camp, I even skipped Sarasota this year (and absolutely LOVE the place, great spot for Spring ball). All of that said, I am very suddenly a bit more optimistic. Pitching is always the key and if a couple of these arms show up, although again, I am worried about Hamel, not his stuff, his ability to overcome a bad day, but I like the look of the staff more than I thought I would. I was going to give DD the benefit of the doubt anyway, since he is working with the worst owner in all of baseball. This isn't a playoff club, but maybe closer to .500 than I thought a month ago.

-Don

[Riggodrill44]

Have to bump this.....great read and alot of crying.

[NickM21]

I don't know if I can handle another rebuild. If we can't win with our current group, it's going to be a long *** time before we get anywhere. It's not like before where we all knew in the back of our minds it wasn't going to work. We knew Bedard and a few others were really the only worthwhile players we had. I mean we couldn't really expect to get somewhere with Rodrigo Lopez and Bruce Chen as our staff "anchors" right? This is a legitimate group of players. I have faith they can at least stay in contention. That's better than what we've done in a long time. Unless we are blown away with an offer for jones or hardy or etc I'd rather keep this nucleus.