Jim Duquette's comments on the orioles this morning.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Basically anyone who doesn't see the things the same way as you are stupid and ignorant. I am putting you on my ignore list as all you do is attack people and never say anything constructive. Why me posting what someone said on the radio has led to this is beyond me. Good bye.

Because if he said that Reynolds' power and patience makes him worth his offensive flaws, the pitchers on this team have the talent to make big strides this season, and the Orioles would win 75 games and be on the right track for next season, you wouldn't have said a word. It goes against your agenda, which you refuse to change despite all of the refutations of your various opinions.

Hell, you apparently believe that pitchers remain exactly the same from the day they come up to the day they retire. Why should anyone take you seriously?

[Frobby]

Man my only suggestion to you is to not retaliate. The problem is you are snarky and thinned skinned and you have engaged in sniping arguments with everyone who has a logical disagreement with you. To the point where a lot of posters have thrown their hands up and said "the hell with him." It is pretty bad when even Frobby has had enough of you...he reponds to everyone.

I responded to atomic. I think he is too pessimistic, but I think he should continue expressing his opinion. It's nothing personal.

[wildcard]

Can't argue with what the starters were last year. I am more interested in what the will be this year.

Players mature. Get healthy. Learn. Its a pretty young group.

[Hooded Viper]

I responded to atomic. I think he is too pessimistic, but I think he should continue expressing his opinion. It's nothing personal.

I agree he should continue to express his opinion, it is a board for that after all, I just think he should take the, dare I say it, Jtrean method of growing a thick skin. And to be fair, I should have quoted you directly about not wanting to argue with him, rather than generalize.

[Sports Guy]

I do have faith in some of the pitching to be better...But none of it is a lock.

I also think the offense takes a step back, so I see some improvement this year but not enough where it will really matter.

I can see plenty of scenarios that has this team winning up to 85 games....I just think the more likely scenarios have us under 75 and if I were betting, I take the under at about 68 wins.

I think what is very likely is that this is a better team and it doesn't really show up in the standings because everyone else is also better and since they started out at a higher level, they remain higher.

[El Gordo]

I think TBR are definitely better than last season with the addition of Moore, Scott, nd Pena and the development of Jennings. TOR is most likely better. My jury is out on the MFY's. Their pitching has a lot of question marks. They could be better but they could just as well be worse .Nova has looked bad in ST, and what can be expected from Hughes and Garcia? Kuroda is bound to have issues in the AL east that he didn't have in the NL West. They traded for Pineda and seems to have acquired a Pinata. And Jeter and ARoid look really old to me this spring. Boston I think is worse. Beckett is injured, and their closer is out for the year. Crawford is out for a while and coming off a wrist injury, a difficult one to bounce back from immediately. They have downgraded at SS. The back of their rotation is worse than the O's. And Bobby V is a loose cannon.

[Tony-OH]

I don't know if you have...You just aren't someone that anyone respects or will give any credence to.

Your opinion is meaningless.

No one really cares what you have to say. You are entertainment for the rest of us.

Come on man, that's getting personal. If you don't like the guy's opinions fine, but don't start the whole, "Nobody likes/respects you" thing because you don't talk for everyone.

[MrOrange82]

No, just you...and it has nothing to do with not agreeing with me because I am just as negative about the team as you are.

Its your ignorance and lack of knowledge in doing it that is absurd.

Redundancy ain't anything to write home about.

Definition of IGNORANCE

: the state or fact of being ignorant : lack of knowledge, education, or awareness

[Orange King]

Come on man, that's getting personal. If you don't like the guy's opinions fine, but don't start the whole, "Nobody likes/respects you" thing because you don't talk for everyone.

Yea, I mean I think his quoting approvingly of Duquette's suggestion that we will win 67 games this year is reasonable; it's roughly the same level as last year... It certainly doesent strike me as wildly pessimistic...

[DrungoHazewood]

I am not a negative poster I am a realistic poster. I say good things about Markakis, Wieters, and Andino. The team is bad so if speak the truth you are going to think it is negative as you don't see things as they are.

The Hangout has a long, long history of people who were overwhelmingly, unrealistically negative claiming they were "realists". Sure, you'll win money always betting the under with the '98-'11 Orioles. But every year we have someone stroll in and say their realistic assessment is that this Orioles team will be the one that goes 55-107. Haven't been right yet. You're creeping closer to the bottom end of plausible, so at least you have that.

I am more knowledgable than you. You don't even know the real WAR of pitchers. You use some simplistic stat for pitchers instead of using the Baseball reference standard which is much more complex and pertinent stat.

fWAR and rWAR are just different. They use different approaches, especially in fielding and pitching metrics. Neither is necessarily wrong, nor more/less accurate. They just start with different assumptions. Someone with your vast knowledge should know that. Are you just toying with us mortals?

Maybe Jimmy D should've just said we have a bunch of #4s and #5s for an AL East rotation...

We'd need to squint and try our hardest to imagine that the O's rotation if somehow they are shot with Incredible Hulk gamma rays would be able to put out a near .500 effort, but look at the other rotations. We don't stand a chance.

There are realistic projection systems that have the O's with better pitching than the Jays. That may or may not be right, but it's an exaggeration to say nobody thinks this has the potential to be a halfway decent staff.

Funny all the national media and baseball experts agree with what i say and the only people that agree with you are guys who predicted the orioles would win over 82 games last year.

That's either a lie or an exaggeration. I've seen a whole bunch of projections, and not one of them has the O's with much less than 70 wins, most in the 70-75 win range. You're the only 64-or-fewer win prediction I've seen.

I guess using statistics makes me super dumb in your mind. I really don't know what i have said that could be consider unintelligent. And in this thread I am making no claims at all. I am just repeating what I heard on the radio. If you guys were such Orioles fans perhaps you would listen to local sports radio and listen to the interviews that occur instead of getting angry at me because they don't match up with your fantasy world.

It would help your case if you used statistics well. I'd rather you go off of purely subjective observations if you're going to use stats poorly, mainly cherry picking numbers that support your outlying conclusions.

I put sports talk radio several steps below The Real Housewives of Saskatchewan in my hierarchy of sources of useful information on sports.

[BrunoCherrytown]

There are realistic projection systems that have the O's with better pitching than the Jays. That may or may not be right, but it's an exaggeration to say nobody thinks this has the potential to be a halfway decent staff.

What's your take? I have the advanced stat knowledge of a pile of Legos, but just eyeballing them I'd take the Jays rotation over ours.

[primetime]

Did JD actually say that Reynolds was barely a ML hitter?

Yes. I heard the interview this morning. Atomic pretty much has everything verbatim that JD said.

[ccbird]

1) Saying Reynolds isn't a ML hitter is absurd. That is someone who only looks old school stats like K's and BA.

2) BMat may only end up being a #4 this year or for his career...acting like that is his ceiling would be moronic.

3) No idea if Hammel will bounce back or not but he was a 4 WAR pitch in back to back season pitching in Coors Field.

Those 3 comments alone tell you why he is on a radio show and not in an organization. He is horrible.

I fear it's a family trait.

[Bradysburns]

He said Hunter was a #5 starter. Hammel was a #5 or a maybe spot starter. Matusz and Arrieta were #4 starters. And Chen was a number #4 or 5 starter.

He said we were a 95+ loss team. Mark Reynolds was barely a major league hitter and he doesn't know why we released Simon when we need pitching depth. And the Reds were a good team who picked him up.

He said we had no #4 hitter. But at least we will be be better than the Astros.

Jim is right, across the board - with the possible exception of Reynolds, as other posters have said. However, I would almost agree with him on Reynolds, too. To me, Reynolds is a MLB hitter, but he's really a pinch hitter, in the mold of a late-career Pete Incaviglia.

So I'm close to agreeing with him on Reynolds, despite Reynolds' decent OPS numbers.

While I appreciate OPS and take it into account, I don't consider it a "one stop shop" for determining how good a hitter really is. I think it's more valuable when considered alongside the "old school" numbers like BA and RBI.

OPS assumes, in my mind: 1) That power is more important than average over a large sample size. 2) That walks are as good as singles. 3) That the ability to hit for contact (opposite field, bunt, sac fly) and move runners over is not relevant. That means you could theoretically have a guy with a 1.000 OPS who has driven in no runs, has scored no runs and is not a threat to move runners over.

On the other hand, you could not say the same for a guy with 1 RBI on the season. He has driven in at least 1 run. I know that's an absurd comparison, and it's only intended for argument's sake. But I do think it illuminates the one small weakness of OPS as a stand-alone indicator. I should disclaim, as if it were necessary, that I am not a stat expert. Just an armchair guy.

Anyway... Even without the Reynolds assessment, I think Jimbo is accurate - that's what most people OUTSIDE the orange bubble are seeing, IMO.

[byrdz]

I love how people quote the "experts" as if their opinions will always end up being reality.

Why aren't these experts on yachts kicking it somewhere in the Caribbean??

Their love of the game must keep them on ESPN/MLB/etc payroll...