If the Blue Jays land Dickey...

[DrinkinWithFermi]

But he matched his MLB career averages at the AAA level. He shoul have exceeded them at the AAA level.

I'm just saying that he's moving in the right direction, and showing signs that he's not dead yet.

[kyleott]

But he matched his MLB career averages at the AAA level. He shoul have exceeded them at the AAA level.

I'll play devil's advocate here, and add that IIRC, McLouth's AAA numbers in Norfolk were not anything to write home about. I believe he put up an average of around .240.

Now, whether or not you want to attribute that to Norfolk's park is another thing, but it isn't impossible to improve your line from AAA to the majors.

Especially if you are on the supposed mend.

[PaulFolk]

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.

Let's calm down, guy. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that another team is good. I must admit that if I were a Blue Jays fan, I'd be giddy over what the team has done this winter. It doesn't mean the Orioles don't have a chance to beat the Blue Jays, but it's another obstacle for them to climb.

[ShaneDawg85]

I think you'd like to think that, but deep down you know that a team whose biggest weakness was starting pitching just added 600-700 innings of something like 3.50 ERA quality. It doesn't take much squinting and hoping to see the Jays as a very serious contender right now, and probably a better team than the Orioles.

And who have several guys coming off injuries, a guy in Johnson who has shown zero ability to be healthy, prospectively guy in Dickey who had a career year and who while serviceable for years to come is unlikely to match it coming to the AL East and back to a league where at best he was a league average pitcher his entire career, and Buehrle who is also serviceable and nothing more. They've made good moves, but coming off 73 wins is still coming off 73 wins, and while the Orioles haven't made moves, they've haven't really lost anything either. Right now there is no front runner team in the AL East as far as I see it, but if I had to pick one, the Blue Jays wouldn't be it solely because of the moves they made.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

And who have several guys coming off injuries, a guy in Johnson who has shown zero ability to be healthy, prospectively guy in Dickey who had a career year and who while serviceable for years to come is unlikely to match it coming to the AL East and back to a league where at best he was a league average pitcher his entire career, and Buehrle who is also serviceable and nothing more. They've made good moves, but coming off 73 wins is still coming off 73 wins, and while the Orioles haven't made moves, they've haven't really lost anything either. Right now there is no front runner team in the AL East as far as I see it, but if I had to pick one, the Blue Jays wouldn't be it solely because of the moves they made.

Dickey isn't the same pitcher that he was a few years ago. His stuff can dominate anywhere, even the AL Beast. If Johnson is healthy, and it's not as much of a longshot as you're making it out to be, the Jays will go a long way this year.

[Roll Tide]

I agree, but his AAA season last year looked a lot like his career averages, and he was healthy or close to it. If we were able to fix McLouth, who was even further gone than Jackson, I think this could turn out to be a very solid under-the-radar move.

Is that you Mr. Angelos???? It has to be ... You seem far to content with constantly counting on players you've got us out of the dumpster.

Seriously ....The Orioles will only be able to hit on one of these guys every so often. Repeated reliance on these types of players is foolish. If we were upgrading the roster and taking a few flyers on a couple of these trash signings that would be one thing. But Sheesh ... you are guaranteeing a season of success of a scrap heap type guy.

[scOtt]

Nice post, and spot on. In the objective world, there is no other way to see it. If you are heavily altered by the Orange Cool aid, you follow in behind the "in DD we trust" crowd. DD did make some nice reclamation project moves last year, specifically McLouth and Gonzalez. He made a lot of moves, some did not go nearly as well. Dana Eveland, Taylor Teagarden, etc. But take a look at all of the players we have that are directly the responsibilty of moves made by AM. Andy MacPhail did a lot for this team.

Hardly. I'm as critical of the team as anyone when they do stupid crap. But what bad move has DD made so far? Name one.

And I do appreciate the foundation AM left. He did many good things for the team.

I don't blindly follow DD, I just trust that what he does is going to make the whole club better. And he hasn't let me down yet.

[Roll Tide]

Why am I not surprised after reading your post. Very negative.

This is only December.

Show me anything they've done this off season that merits any real confidence that they are improving the team. You will not admit when the players report for spring training that DD basically wasted the off season and got nothing of note and you were wrong. And that's not surprising either.

The longer the Orioles go into the off season other teams will begin to set their rosters and trades (which seems to be the Orioles preference) will get harder and harder to make. Based on the Orioles track record I have every right to be skeptical that they will get anything done.

[Can_of_corn]

Hardly. I'm as critical of the team as anyone when they do stupid crap. But what bad move has DD made so far? Name one.

And I do appreciate the foundation AM left. He did many good things for the team.

I don't blindly follow DD, I just trust that what he does is going to make the whole club better. And he hasn't let me down yet.

Seong-Min Kim.

[Roll Tide]

Hardly. I'm as critical of the team as anyone when they do stupid crap. But what bad move has DD made so far? Name one.

And I do appreciate the foundation AM left. He did many good things for the team.

I don't blindly follow DD, I just trust that what he does is going to make the whole club better. And he hasn't let me down yet.

Well you actually have to make moves to make a bad one. The Orioles dumpster diving is a no lose proposition...You expect nothing so you cant say they made a bad move...and you call them geniuses when one works out.

[Crazysilver03]

Hardly. I'm as critical of the team as anyone when they do stupid crap. But what bad move has DD made so far? Name one.

And I do appreciate the foundation AM left. He did many good things for the team.

I don't blindly follow DD, I just trust that what he does is going to make the whole club better. And he hasn't let me down yet.

Seong-Min Kim.

J.C. Romero was a pretty bad week. Granted that was resolved relatively quickly.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

Is that you Mr. Angelos???? It has to be ... You seem far to content with constantly counting on players you've got us out of the dumpster.

Seriously ....The Orioles will only be able to hit on one of these guys every so often. Repeated reliance on these types of players is foolish. If we were upgrading the roster and taking a few flyers on a couple of these trash signings that would be one thing. But Sheesh ... you are guaranteeing a season of success of a scrap heap type guy.

I seem to have missed the press release where we named Jackson the everyday first baseman and cleanup hitter.

[scOtt]

I'll play devil's advocate here, and add that IIRC, McLouth's AAA numbers in Norfolk were not anything to write home about. I believe he put up an average of around .240.

Now, whether or not you want to attribute that to Norfolk's park is another thing, but it isn't impossible to improve your line from AAA to the majors.

Especially if you are on the supposed mend.

And McLouth started slow in AAA and then got stronger. Almost forced his way to Balmer. Hopefully Jackson can do the same. Don't know who the Tides hitting coach is but he's doing something right.

[scOtt]

Seong-Min Kim.

Is that that reliever?

[Roll Tide]

This is truly an idiotic statement.

If you really think that those things are taking away from the Orioles building a better roster than you must not understand the real world.

No more idiotic than you making excuses for a cheap owner and his mouth piece GM. Same old tune even though the faces change. I remember on the forum how folks defended the "Grow the Arms and Buy the Bats" and the "IN AM WE TRUST". We as fans had every reason to believe the Orioles would improve the club for 2013. The club performed well for the 1st time since since the late 90s. Fans interest was up 20% and the bounties of that and some playoff games gave the team the resources to make some meaningful additions. The Orioles hadn't been included in a rumor since the rule 5 draft on MLBTR until yesterday. Then we heard about Dickey .... It was obvious that as soon as another team was in play the Orioles chances dropped to 0. I get it ...we're not giving up Bundy to get Dickey .... But even Roch basically said that DD is overvaluing the cavalry and the other teams undervalue them ...Certainly beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. But based on their track records none of them other than Tillman has done anything that would make them uber valuable.