If the Blue Jays land Dickey...

[millertime]

They instantly become favorites to win the AL East in my opinion. A rotation of Dickey, Josh Johnson, Brandon Morrow, Rickey Romero and Mark Buehrle is absolutely sick.

So, as I see it, every team in the AL East EXCEPT the Orioles have made improvements to get better (some more than others). The Blue Jays have added Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and it's looking like Dickey. The Rays just acquired 3 stud prospects for James Shields and Wade Davis (while still having a plethora of pitching depth. The Red Sox have added Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino (granted...not huge signings but still pretty decent improvements). And the Yankees, who were already better than the O's last year, resigned Ichiro and filled the only void they had at 3B by signing Youkilis.

Don't get me wrong, I know the FA market has been thin this year and I would have never agreed to pay Greinke as much as the Dodgers did and I would have never given 5 years to Josh Hamilton like the Angels did but other teams are finding ways to improve, mostly via the trade front, but the only thing the Orioles have done is resign McClouth, added a marginal at best Rule 5 draft pick and signed Conor Jackson and a few other very minor deals. I just thought that after 14 years of losing and FINALLY making the playoffs again, we would have done a lot more to improve this offseason. I only pray that DD has a few tricks up his sleeve still but the longer this offseason goes on, the more and more I believe that we are done making any kind of significant moves.

[clapdiddy]

I honestly don't know what you are complaining about. We DID sign Mike Recchia today!

[luismatos4prez]

You know how the Blue Jays and Rays were able to make those moves? They built up their farm system for years and became strong at identifying and developing talented players. Building a strong farm system was the key for both teams. The Blue Jays traded from their farm's depth, and the Rays' whole team is basically guys who came up through their system.

We don't have that. We have Bundy, Gausman, Schoop, and a bunch of low level prospects. I'm positive that part of Duquette's plan is to build a system that will rival the Rays' and Jays' systems.

The Red Sox and Yankees have bucketloads of money to spend. We have a self-imposed salary cap. We can't spend like they can.

Duquette has neither money to spend, nor prospect depth to trade from. His main usable assets are some former pitching prospects that have all failed multiple times in the majors, but still have some possible future value. Not much going for him.

[scOtt]

I honestly didn't like the Marlins deal for them. But if they get Dickey on top of that... watch out!

[Diehard_O's_Fan]

They instantly become favorites to win the AL East in my opinion. A rotation of Dickey, Josh Johnson, Brandon Morrow, Rickey Romero and Mark Buehrle is absolutely sick.

So, as I see it, every team in the AL East EXCEPT the Orioles have made improvements to get better (some more than others). The Blue Jays have added Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and it's looking like Dickey. The Rays just acquired 3 stud prospects for James Shields and Wade Davis (while still having a plethora of pitching depth. The Red Sox have added Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino (granted...not huge signings but still pretty decent improvements). And the Yankees, who were already better than the O's last year, resigned Ichiro and filled the only void they had at 3B by signing Youkilis.

Don't get me wrong, I know the FA market has been thin this year and I would have never agreed to pay Greinke as much as the Dodgers did and I would have never given 5 years to Josh Hamilton like the Angels did but other teams are finding ways to improve, mostly via the trade front, but the only thing the Orioles have done is resign McClouth, added a marginal at best Rule 5 draft pick and signed Conor Jackson and a few other very minor deals. I just thought that after 14 years of losing and FINALLY making the playoffs again, we would have done a lot more to improve this offseason. I only pray that DD has a few tricks up his sleeve still but the longer this offseason goes on, the more and more I believe that we are done making any kind of significant moves.

How about you go ahead and root for the Bluejays then if you are so in love with them. I am getting so tired of Oriole fans like you complaining about the job Dan is doing. The Bluejays have not proven anything yet. The Orioles proved to the baseball world that they are a good team.

[Crazysilver03]

I honestly didn't like the Marlins deal for them. But if they get Dickey on top of that... watch out!

Reports are saying it would be multiple players going on each direction.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

I know how you feel, but I'm reserving judgement a little while longer. DD moves at his own pace, and was still making moves in January and February last year.

But on paper, if the Jays land Dickey...yeesh. The AL East is once again The AL Beast.

[scOtt]

You know how the Blue Jays and Rays were able to make those moves? They built up their farm system for years and became strong at identifying and developing talented players. Building a strong farm system was the key for both teams. The Blue Jays traded from their farm's depth, and the Rays' whole team is basically guys who came up through their system.

We don't have that. We have Bundy, Gausman, Schoop, and a bunch of low level prospects. I'm positive that part of Duquette's plan is to build a system that will rival the Rays' and Jays' systems.

The Red Sox and Yankees have bucketloads of money to spend. We have a self-imposed salary cap. We can't spend like they can.

Duquette has neither money to spend, nor prospect depth to trade from. His main usable assets are some former pitching prospects that have all failed multiple times in the majors, but still have some possible future value. Not much going for him.

So do the Jays, if Rogers wants to spend it. They have pipelines of cable money.

[scOtt]

Reports are saying it would be multiple players going on each direction.

Taking on salary from the Mets?

[NATTYBO's]

They instantly become favorites to win the AL East in my opinion. A rotation of Dickey, Josh Johnson, Brandon Morrow, Rickey Romero and Mark Buehrle is absolutely sick.

So, as I see it, every team in the AL East EXCEPT the Orioles have made improvements to get better (some more than others). The Blue Jays have added Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and it's looking like Dickey. The Rays just acquired 3 stud prospects for James Shields and Wade Davis (while still having a plethora of pitching depth. The Red Sox have added Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino (granted...not huge signings but still pretty decent improvements). And the Yankees, who were already better than the O's last year, resigned Ichiro and filled the only void they had at 3B by signing Youkilis.

Don't get me wrong, I know the FA market has been thin this year and I would have never agreed to pay Greinke as much as the Dodgers did and I would have never given 5 years to Josh Hamilton like the Angels did but other teams are finding ways to improve, mostly via the trade front, but the only thing the Orioles have done is resign McClouth, added a marginal at best Rule 5 draft pick and signed Conor Jackson and a few other very minor deals. I just thought that after 14 years of losing and FINALLY making the playoffs again, we would have done a lot more to improve this offseason. I only pray that DD has a few tricks up his sleeve still but the longer this offseason goes on, the more and more I believe that we are done making any kind of significant moves.

Remember Roberts/Reimhold could come back and weiters/Hardy/machado should profess and remember we will have a full season of Markakis and McLout will be here for a full season so we should expect the team to improve. Of course I am being sarcastic..... I've said the same thing infant threads and have been criticized... GOOD LUCK

[scOtt]

I know how you feel, but I'm reserving judgement a little while longer. DD moves at his own pace, and was still making moves in January and February last year.

But on paper, if the Jays land Dickey...yeesh. The AL East is once again The AL Beast.

In DD we trust. This team certainly isn't there yet but it's not far off I think. I don't know how but we'll have a good club this year. Playing hard.

I could see 90 wins winning the East. Everybody beating up on each other.

[scOtt]

Remember Roberts/Reimhold could come back and weiters/Hardy/machado should profess and remember we will have a full season of Markakis and McLout will be here for a full season so we should expect the team to improve. Of course I am being sarcastic..... I've said the same thing infant threads and have been criticized... GOOD LUCK

That's a good misspelling. Good nickname.

[Crazysilver03]

Remember Roberts/Reimhold could come back and weiters/Hardy/machado should profess and remember we will have a full season of Markakis and McLout will be here for a full season so we should expect the team to improve. Of course I am being sarcastic..... I've said the same thing infant threads and have been criticized... GOOD LUCK

Take the H out of Reimold's name and put it at the end of Mclouth's name.

I don't understand how people still misspell Reimold's name.

[Il BuonO]

Take the H out of Reimold's name and put it at the end of Mclouth's name.

I don't understand how people still misspell Reimold's name.

Probably because he hasn't been on the field enough to remember seeing how it's spelled on the back of his jersey.:wedge:

[DrinkinWithFermi]

In DD we trust. This team certainly isn't there yet but it's not far off I think. I don't know how but we'll have a good club this year. Playing hard.

I could see 90 wins winning the East. Everybody beating up on each other.

Indeed!

I'm pretty comfortable with where we're at now, especially in regards to the offense and bullpen- I think 85-88 wins sounds about right with what we have already. I'll just feel a lot better if DD goes out and gets us another proven SP like Saunders, Edwin Jackson or Chris Capuano. I think one of Hammel, Chen, or Miguel probably falters next year, and I think we need someone else in place to protect against that.