And still no mionor league free agents.

[Dr. FLK]

If there's a point to this thread this is it IMHO. Tony and Frobby both alluded to a list of MiL FA signings likely to be released now that the Rule IV draft is done. I'm surprised you haven't heard of this as well. Yes, we are weak at the AAA level but as psk170 has said, as Jordons picks move up things will improve, and why not give some of those guys the chance to sink or swim rather than going to more AAAA retreads. Those kind of guys might make more sense if we weren't rebuilding. And just for the record(I know this wasn't your point) say what you want about LH; he did a heck of a job filling in for Miggi when he went down last season.

He had a 662 OPS, walked once, and had a whopping 3 XBH in 30 games. I'm not sure you could find many backup SS who would put up worse numbers than that in 30 games. I'm not sure why he gets so much credit for being well under mediocre in a small sample size. He did nothing impressive.

[El Gordo]

He had a 662 OPS, walked once, and had a whopping 3 XBH in 30 games. I'm not sure you could find many backup SS who would put up worse numbers than that in 30 games. I'm not sure why he gets so much credit for being well under mediocre in a small sample size. He did nothing impressive.

I was talking about the playing time he spent filling in for Miggi. In those 32 AB he hit .344 .364 .406 , and played great defense. In the 33 AB after Miggi came back, not so good. The point was in the context of our not having decent replacements at the MiL level to fill in when ML starters go down. I'm not suggesting LH is a potential ML ,starter that would be OH heresy of the highest order, I'm just saying he did the job when he was needed.

[Dr. FLK]

I was talking about the playing time he spent filling in for Miggi. In those 32 AB he hit .344 .364 .406 , and played great defense. In the 33 AB after Miggi came back, not so good. The point was in the context of our not having decent replacements at the MiL level to fill in when ML starters go down. I'm not suggesting LH is a potential ML ,starter that would be OH heresy of the highest order, I'm just saying he did the job when he was needed.

I guess. His sample size in the ML is small enough that I don't want to eliminate the bad half of it. And, his MiL sample size is big enough that I'd tend to believe it, and not count on him to be a replacement at all.

[El Gordo]

I guess. His sample size in the ML is small enough that I don't want to eliminate the bad half of it. And, his MiL sample size is big enough that I'd tend to believe it, and not count on him to be a replacement at all.

You keep disregarding the point I am making. Did you watch the games last season?

I'm not talking about his ML/MiL stats, or weither he is a ML SS, blah, blah, blah, I'm saying he did what was expected of him filling in for Miggi. He wasn't filling in for Miggi in Aug and Sept.

[Ohfan67]

Not to throw a monkey wrench in this argument, but House signed with us on 1/5/07 and Knott signed 12/22/06 according to baseball-reference.com. (They didn't list a date for Dubois.) Leicester signed 1/5/07 and Shuey 2/2/07. Certainly other free agents were signed before this time last year, but a lot weren't. I think it is too early to say we are too late.

Great post. There's an incredible amount of hyperbole in this thread. Thanks for providing some data. Obviously the O's aren't slower than they were last year.

[Joe'sO's]

I have a problem with things not getting done. That goes for MacPhail, my employees, my kids and even myself. If you have a list of 10 things to do you can't have tunnel vision and focus only on 1 or 2 of the tasks. MacPhail also painted himself into a corner by announcing he was going to hire a "right hand man". Where is he????? He could have had Duquette working with him and by the way Duquette is as equally respected in baseball circles as MacPhail is.

Things need to be done and done now.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out the next few weeks.

I get the distinct impression that no one under McPhail knows what their roles are so they're just showing up every day hoping he starts doing something. I've said from the beginning not sitting people down and telling them what their roles were,were a bad management sign. At least Falnny/Duke could walk and chew gum at the same time even if they wern't the greatest moves in the world. I've never been as uneasy about the FO as I am today and that includes the Thrift era.It's extremely puzzing that as long as McPhail has been around the game ,so little is getting accomplished. I'm also beginning to wonder if he's asking too much from other teams because he's scared to pull the trigger on a deal. While I want to get good return fro these guys you can't live in a fantasy world.Not wanting the spend any serious money of free agents is another puzzler.ou have to wonder of the O's will have the depth to even get through the season without dipping down to single A players.The whole rebuilding of the farm system is going to take a hit if too many players are rushed ahead.

[Gurgi]

I think MacPhail is slow to pull the trades off because he knows the players we get in return will have an enormous impact on the future of the franchise. He is doing what he did with Traschel. Trying to wear the other teams down and get exactly what he wants. With money not being the deciding factor in the trades(not looking to cut payroll) it puts us in a powerful position. We want and need great prospects.

[Lucky Jim]

I'm not the only one who's noticed a change in BB's stance re: the Warehouse now that MacPhail is in charge, it appears. The idea that we should be criticizing AM because we haven't heard anything re: MiL FAs seems ludicrous to me - I mean, for the first time in years, we have someone willing to disassemble the team in the name of future success...and who, in doing so, has created a vibrant, vital market for his players. Not only that, every bit of info about AM is that, while he may move slow, he is methodical and thorough.

Do we really think that he's disregarding the minors at the expense of long-term success? And if so, why do we think that? What indication is there that he's neglected anything at all?

Too much hand-wringing. Too many individual agendas.

Honestly, I think AM has done a great job so far - and my only complaint is a contingent one - if he doesn't pull the trigger on a good deal. But I recognize the weight of "if." It would be nice if some others would acknowledge it, too.

[utvolzac]

I really could care less if we sign Minor League Free Agent. Not that I think it's a waste of time, in theory, I actually like the idea of taking a chance on guys. Low risk, high reward. I really liked the MiL signings we made last year.

I say I could care less, because even when we do sign some valuable minor league guys, they just waste away without getting any real chances anyhow.

Plus, after the way we treated House & Knott last season, and Terrero the year before. I have no doubt that the O's are last on the list of teams MiL guys want to sign with.

[Fan4Life]

I'm not the only one who's noticed a change in BB's stance re: the Warehouse now that MacPhail is in charge, it appears. The idea that we should be criticizing AM because we haven't heard anything re: MiL FAs seems ludicrous to me - I mean, for the first time in years, we have someone willing to disassemble the team in the name of future success...and who, in doing so, has created a vibrant, vital market for his players. Not only that, every bit of info about AM is that, while he may move slow, he is methodical and thorough.

Do we really think that he's disregarding the minors at the expense of long-term success? And if so, why do we think that? What indication is there that he's neglected anything at all?

Too much hand-wringing. Too many individual agendas.

Honestly, I think AM has done a great job so far - and my only complaint is a contingent one - if he doesn't pull the trigger on a good deal. But I recognize the weight of "if." It would be nice if some others would acknowledge it, too.

I think it was Tony who posted a comment that BB's source is not on good terms with MacPhail..... for whatever reason.... but when it was posted the implication I took from it was it has an affect on BB's outlook at times.

Here is what I was referring to....

Well, we know your source is not AM, and we know your source doesn't like AM or is not held in high regard by AM with your latest comments................

[TommyD4207]

And don't even get me started on House vs. Bako. I can't even imagine how someone could rationalize these moves.

If you're talking about only having House, Bako, Whiteside, and Castillo as backup C options before the season started, I agree with you. If you're saying that we probably should've given him more PT as a 3B/1B/DH, then I would probably agree with you.

If you're giving MacPhail any heat, then I disagree with you. With Scott Moore in the fold, I think he thought he was more a part of the future, fine. Huff and Millar are paid much more $, and I think he was trying to establish trade value. I think the difference between Bako and House's offense is a wash at best when you take their defensive differences into account.

When you take into account the difference between MLB and IL and Texas League, and the difference between the league average of how many players steal in the IL and Texas League and the rate at which they're caught and the difference in how catchers are better in MLB, and you do the math, it's very, very close.

[Lucky Jim]

I think it was Tony who posted a comment that BB's source is not on good terms with MacPhail..... for whatever reason.... but when it was posted the implication I took from it was it has an affect on BB's outlook at times.

Here is what I was referring to....

Yep. That lens is creating a lot of distortion, methinks.

[Tony-OH]

Maybe I'm being naive here, but I don't see what the big deal is here. Even if we haven't signed anyone yet to fill our Triple-A (I've already heard we have signed some folks but we're waiting on the PR department to release the names), who cares?

I know bigbird has an agenda here and that's fine, we got it, his guy is getting shutout and/or doesn't have the same pull anymore and he's letting everyone know it. But seriously, we have several sources reporting that we have several offers for Bedard, a possible deal with the cubs for Roberts, and some interest for Tejada. The season doesn't start tomorrow so what's the big deal? Last year the O's signed Knott and House in late December, early January.

We have no idea yet what type of talent we will get back for the the big three so why clutter up Triple-A with a bunch of AAAA guys for depth right now? If we don't sign some now, we can surely sign them when some are released or ask to be released instead of going to the minors with another club if they think they have a better chance of seeing more major league time with the rebuilding Orioles.

I'm just amazed that terms are being thrown around suggesting AM is not working hard or has not done anything. AM has shown patience in the past and look how the Trachsel deal went down. Now we here teams like the Cardinals and Reds are entering the Bedard sweepstakes.

I have no idea if the front office folks don't know what to do on a daily basis, but what is clear is AM is in charge, and he's working a lot of teams seeing who's going to blink first and give him the kind of prospects we need to rebuild this team.

I'm not concerned over anything this off season to tell you the truth. AM has patience, I have patience, and I still beleive we are all going to be happy by the time spring training roles around.

[square634]

If you're talking about only having House, Bako, Whiteside, and Castillo as backup C options before the season started, I agree with you. If you're saying that we probably should've given him more PT as a 3B/1B/DH, then I would probably agree with you.

If you're giving MacPhail any heat, then I disagree with you. With Scott Moore in the fold, I think he thought he was more a part of the future, fine. Huff and Millar are paid much more $, and I think he was trying to establish trade value. I think the difference between Bako and House's offense is a wash at best when you take their defensive differences into account.

When you take into account the difference between MLB and IL and Texas League, and the difference between the league average of how many players steal in the IL and Texas League and the rate at which they're caught and the difference in how catchers are better in MLB, and you do the math, it's very, very close.

I really don't think Bako's mediocre/bad defense was better than House's enough to make up for his lack of hitting ability, but we had a long thread about this a while ago. Either way, Bako's level of performance had already been established, whereas you never know what you could get from House. The season was over already anyway, so why go with the old guy?

[RShack]

I really don't think Bako's mediocre/bad defense was better than House's enough to make up for his lack of hitting ability, but we had a long thread about this a while ago. Either way, Bako's level of performance had already been established, whereas you never know what you could get from House. The season was over already anyway, so why go with the old guy?

I wish cindy would drop by and say, "Bako and House are not O's, and they are not Perfect Ones. They're both gone! So, No No No! NO to having even more Bako-House threads!"