Notes from the Post!

[El Gordo]

I realize it's not a direct quote, but I doubt the reporter would use a word like "floored" unless his source either used that word or said something just as strong.

Frobby, I think you're on shaky gound here. To begin with the reporter has his agaenda, to stir up controversy, and the source probably has one as well. If the FO source were someone who supported Flanquette he wouldn't characterize the reaction as "floored" to the media, if he is talking to the media at all. To do so means he likely has his own agenda and does not support Flanquette for whatever reasons.The fact that he is leaking puts the veracity of his leak in question. Suppose he's some disgruntled employee like,oh,... SG used to be, ...maybe the exectutive washroom attendant who fancied himself to be a better GM than any one else in MLB. How much credence do you want to give to such a characterization. Enough to attack Flanagan for his poor PR in allowing such impressions to leak to the press? If I didn't know better I would think you had an agenda for jumping to such a conclusion.

[Boca Bird]

If you are going to be a player, be a player for the right free agents, not those coming off career years. Be a player for ARam, ignore Soriano.

Says you. The three year averages say something a little different. Soriano scores more runs, gets more hits, hits more hr's, steals more bases, runs better and is (gasp) better defensively.

Player AB R H HR RBI BB SB BA OBP SLG

Ramirez, Aramis 3B CHC 539 82 160 31 100 42 1 .2968 0.3502 0.5306

Soriano, Alfonso 2B WAS 642 98 180 34 95 35 28 .2804 0.3251 0.5093

[Lt Melmo]

Says you. The three year averages say something a little different. Soriano scores more runs, gets more hits, hits more hr's, steals more bases, runs better and is (gasp) better defensively.

Player AB R H HR RBI BB SB BA OBP SLG

Ramirez, Aramis 3B CHC 539 82 160 31 100 42 1 .2968 0.3502 0.5306

Soriano, Alfonso 2B WAS 642 98 180 34 95 35 28 .2804 0.3251 0.5093

Uhm, you're not equalizing the stats to fit with ABs. ARam has higher AVG, OBP, and SLG. I know it's bad that ARam missed more time than Sori, but it's skewed by his missing some 39 games in 05, in which he still hit 31 homers. That was the only season in the last 6 in which he missed a lot of games.

EDIT:

Equalized for similar AB, not completely accurate because I'm too lazy to look up plate appearance numbers, difference from Sori's 3-year in parentheses:

Ramirez: AB: 642(0)

R: 98(0)

H: 191(+11)

RBI: 119(+24)

BB: 50(+15)

SB: 1(-27)

If ARam plays a full season, as he did last season, we could expect that he would perform better than Soriano's 3-year average. You can even take off a few of everything due to age decline and he'd still be at least equal.

[Boca Bird]

Uhm, you're not equalizing the stats to fit with ABs. ARam has higher AVG, OBP, and SLG. I know it's bad that ARam missed more time than Sori, but it's skewed by his missing some 39 games in 05, in which he still hit 31 homers. That was the only season in the last 6 in which he missed a lot of games.

EDIT:

Equalized for similar AB, not completely accurate because I'm too lazy to look up plate appearance numbers, difference from Sori's 3-year in parentheses:

Ramirez: AB: 642(0)

R: 98(0)

H: 191(+11)

RBI: 119(+24)

BB: 50(+15)

SB: 1(-27)

If ARam plays a full season, as he did last season, we could expect that he would perform better than Soriano's 3-year average. You can even take off a few of everything due to age decline and he'd still be at least equal.

Um, are you punishing Soriano for his abiity to keep himself healthy ?

Um, are you punishing him for staying in the line-up everyday ?

I hate to point out the obvious, but if a player is on the DL or is fragile, you won't get the same production. Sorry, you have to actually play to get credit in the real world. You can't just say, if ARam would've played the same number of games, he would've done more. Staying in the line-up is an equation in a players worth.

There are whispers that ARam, (how can I put this politely?) isn't always "motivated" to play as much/hard as he can. Now, I'm not against signing ARam--not by any means, I just don't think he is so much better than Soriano as some people claim. Soriano is a proven masher and run-producer. Despite questions about his so-called attitude, he's in the line-up everyday.That still counts for something, especially with such a substantial investment.

[Frobby]

[Guillen's] situation sounds a whole lot like Durazo at this time last year. People kept saying he'd be back in time to begin this season or that he'd be on a MLB team by May or June. He had a grand total of 192 minor league ABs - and showed very little power in the process.

Yes, and at this point I'd rather look at Durazo than Guillen.

[geschinger]

Says you. The three year averages say something a little different. Soriano scores more runs, gets more hits, hits more hr's, steals more bases, runs better and is (gasp) better defensively.

Time will tell... I am confident that ARam could be plugged into the lineup and give the team a .900+ OPS. Soriano will likely be a lot closer to .800 than .900 IMO. It doesn't make sense to pay career year prices over a 5 or 6 year contract.

[Lt Melmo]

Um, are you punishing Soriano for his abiity to keep himself healthy ?

Um, are you punishing him for staying in the line-up everyday ?

I hate to point out the obvious, but if a player is on the DL or is fragile, you won't get the same production. Sorry, you have to actually play to get credit in the real world. You can't just say, if ARam would've played the same number of games, he would've done more. Staying in the line-up is an equation in a players worth.

There are whispers that ARam, (how can I put this politely?) isn't always "motivated" to play as much/hard as he can. Now, I'm not against signing ARam--not by any means, I just don't think he is so much better than Soriano as some people claim. Soriano is a proven masher and run-producer. Despite questions about his so-called attitude, he's in the line-up everyday.That still counts for something, especially with such a substantial investment.

As I said, the average numbers are swewed due to one season in which he missed an abnormal amount of games. The fact that he missed 39 games one season is not an indicator of how much he'll play when you look at his past 6 seasons.

And who cares about the "motivation"? Soriano publicly made a fool of himself not following Frank's instructions and almost got himself pulled from the lineup.

I don't think anyone's saying ARam is leagues better than Soriano, they just have similar production for different price tags due to Soriano having a career year. ARam isn't going to get 7/119; Soriano probably will.

[Boca Bird]

Time will tell... I am confident that ARam could be plugged into the lineup and give the team a .900+ OPS. Soriano will likely be a lot closer to .800 than .900 IMO. It doesn't make sense to pay career year prices over a 5 or 6 year contract.

Doesn't it bother you that ARam always has a better OBP than Fonz yet always scores less runs (even playing in the friendly confines) ? The goal is to score runs and stop the other team from scoring runs. Soriano scores runs and produces runs. I'll take his career averages--- and worry about 2012 when it comes.

Rumor has it Pat Gillick is very interested in signing Fonz. I don't mind that alignment.

[Boca Bird]

As I said, the average numbers are swewed due to one season in which he missed an abnormal amount of games. The fact that he missed 39 games one season is not an indicator of how much he'll play when you look at his past 6 seasons.

And who cares about the "motivation"? Soriano publicly made a fool of himself not following Frank's instructions and almost got himself pulled from the lineup.

I don't think anyone's saying ARam is leagues better than Soriano, they just have similar production for different price tags due to Soriano having a career year. ARam isn't going to get 7/119; Soriano probably will.

Publicly made a fool of himself because he was uncomfotable switching positions in his contract year ? Seems like a reasonable concern. Besides, when it all said and done, he played there and excelled there.

I doubt he'll get 7/119 anyway.

[rolliefingers]

Doesn't it bother you that ARam always has a better OBP than Fonz yet always scores less runs (even playing in the friendly confines) ? The goal is to score runs and stop the other team from scoring runs. Soriano scores runs and produces runs. I'll take his career averages--- and worry about 2012 when it comes.

Rumor has it Pat Gillick is very interested in signing Fonz. I don't mind that alignment.

Oh, boy. Another explosion of salient posts about Soriano.

Are you "Fonz's" agent? His uncle? His masseuse?

[Boca Bird]

Oh, boy. Another explosion of salient posts about Soriano.

Are you "Fonz's" agent? His uncle? His masseuse?

Oh boy. Another explosion of salient posts about my posts; from the one who always talks, despite having absolutely nothing to say

Are you the message board police ? Its editor for content ? Its resident sleeping tablet ?

[geschinger]

Doesn't it bother you that ARam always has a better OBP than Fonz yet always scores less runs (even playing in the friendly confines) ? The goal is to score runs and stop the other team from scoring runs. Soriano scores runs and produces runs. I'll take his career averages--- and worry about 2012 when it comes.

If you want to use meaningless arguments, then I'd have to ask you the following... Doesn't it bother you that in Soriano's career year he drove in significantly fewer runs thant Ramirez?

I wouldn't mind plugging in his career numbers into LF if I didn't have to pay him based on a career year. And the worrying could start as soon as 2007. If he puts up numbers in the same ballpark as his last season in the AL, which is not all that unlikely, he'd be a terrible signing at upwards of $16m a year.

Rumor has it Pat Gillick is very interested in signing Fonz. I don't mind that alignment.

It'd be great if Gillick was successful. I'd wish Fonz luck in Philly.

[JTrea81]

Doesn't it bother you that in Soriano's career year he drove in significantly fewer runs thant Ramirez?

Considering he hit leadoff for most of the season I'd say that would be why his RBI's were down. There aren't that many leadoff hitters that have had 100 RBI seasons. If you put him in back of or in front of Tejada I'm sure he'd get 100 RBI in an O's uni.

[Boca Bird]

If you want to use meaningless arguments, then I'd have to ask you the following... Doesn't it bother you that in Soriano's career year he drove in significantly fewer runs thant Ramirez?

Not really, since he batted mostly leadoff. Is 10 rbi less from the lead-off spot (on a bad offensive team) in a big stadium, significant ?

I wouldn't mind plugging in his career numbers into LF if I didn't have to pay him based on a career year. And the worrying could start as soon as 2007. If he puts up numbers in the same ballpark as his last season in the AL, which is not all that unlikely, he'd be a terrible signing at upwards of $16m a year.

You act like you are personally paying Soriano. Doesn't it bother you that so much Oriole money goes unspent as the years pass by, while we miss on endless opportunities to make this team a contender? Soriano is the best player available. I wish we got the best players available. Crazy, right ?

So-called "experts" predicted that Soriano was gonna have an off year because of RFk, too. SO be it. He's the masher that the Orioles desperately need and would help the offense tremendously. He would instantly make the line-up significantly better. That's what I worry about. I'm really not interested if Petey has to (finally) dish out more loot than he "should". Thats what he gets for not poneying up on the players in years past

It'd be great if Gillick was successful. I'd wish Fonz luck in Philly.

Yeah, I'm quite sure GIllick and Soriano will turn Philly around. In the meantime, we get to congratulate ourselves on not "overpaying" as we stagger towards another season of futility. Yipee!

[osfan83]

You act like you are personally paying Soriano. Doesn't it bother you that so much Oriole money goes unspent as the years pass by, while we miss on endless opportunities to make this team a contender? Soriano is the best player available. I wish we got the best players available. Crazy, right ?

In the meantime, we get to congratulate ourselves on not "overpaying" as we stagger towards another season of futility. Yipee!

Thank You! THIS NEEDED TO BE SAID. We are so concerned about keeping our payroll down, in hopes this money will be used for a better purpose at some later date. What did we spend the Vlad money on? The rest of the league doesn't care how much money the O's "save", they just keep paying for the talent.

Now I'm not opposed to blowing it up and starting over, but at some point, if you think you are in a position to contend, then you MUST SPEND THE MONEY.

If your argument is that we are not close to contending, fine. Don't sign Soriano, trade Miggy and build for the future.

If You think we can win in the next two years with Miggy, then SPEND THE MONEY AND GET THE TALENT!