Andy MacPhail is no different.....

[Peace21]

Than the ones that came before him, that tried to piece this club together under Peter Angelos' watch. Andy MacPhail's first offseason so far with the Baltimore Orioles has been very entertaining to say the least. And its mostly entertainment thats met with yawns. Besides the Tejada deal, nothing that Andy MacPhail has accomplished this offseason leads me to believe that this team and organization is back on track to winning baseball. Yeah Rome wasnt built in a day, but we have seen this act before. Beattie, Flanagan, Duguette, Flanagan again with Dug, and now Andy MacPhail.

I dont think Mr. MacPhail realized what kind of job he was getting himself into when he accepted the job of President of Baseball Operations back in June. Its a tough pill to swallow. Working with a man like Peter Angelos has to be a handful. Hearing horror stories from people around the league and people who came before him, about how Peter meddles and holds things up has to make you wonder what am I getting myself into? Also it may fuel some people, people like MacPhail whose well respected by Peter, to come in here and take on the challenge of working with Peter Angelos as your boss, and show the public that you have full autonomy. I think Andy MacPhail has full autonomy so far. But im beginning to wonder if Andy MacPhail has full autonomy with himself? If the man can pull the trigger, without thinking twice about it.

Its got to be tough to gamble on how you go about dealing your Ace left handed starter (who wont resign here) and trade your all star second baseman (who likely wont resign here in 09 when he is a free agent). Heck the guy just got the job in June, he hasnt had a full season with these players yet and he is forced to gamble on trying to trade them. But it has to be done.

Andy needs to restart this franchise. He needs to rebuild and start over with youth. And Im starting to wonder if AM is capable of making a move that will be looked at negatively by the average baseball fan in town, and positively by the true baseball fan in town. He needs to do whats best for the team, and not whats best for Peter or the average baseball fan. He has one week left in my mind to make this work. And if the week ends without any moves of Bedard or Roberts, than Andy MacPhail will just be like the rest. Handcuffed by Peter and by his own self. No matter what happens afterwards.

[hanOverfan]

The offseason isn't over, and while I'd rather these trades happen before the season starts, Bedard and Roberts could still be traded at the deadline.

I think this is a little early. If it was March 30th, I'd agree 100%.

[Boy Howdy]

Wow, Peace.

I'm not going to stress you on the specifics, but this post concerns me a little bit.

You've usually seemed pretty optimistic about things, and now you're sounding like JTrea or SG-lite (I kid, I kid ).

Hope this post is part rant to release frustration (perfectly understandable), rather than a conclusion you've reached after sorting through all the info at your disposal.

Hope MacPhail's just playing a heck of a hand of poker.

[osfan83]

Than the ones that came before him, that tried to piece this club together under Peter Angelos' watch. Andy MacPhail's first offseason so far with the Baltimore Orioles has been very entertaining to say the least. And its mostly entertainment thats met with yawns. Besides the Tejada deal, nothing that Andy MacPhail has accomplished this offseason leads me to believe that this team and organization is back on track to winning baseball. Yeah Rome wasnt built in a day, but we have seen this act before. Beattie, Flanagan, Duguette, Flanagan again with Dug, and now Andy MacPhail.

I dont think Mr. MacPhail realized what kind of job he was getting himself into when he accepted the job of President of Baseball Operations back in June. Its a tough pill to swallow. Working with a man like Peter Angelos has to be a handful. Hearing horror stories from people around the league and people who came before him, about how Peter meddles and holds things up has to make you wonder what am I getting myself into? Also it may fuel some people, people like MacPhail whose well respected by Peter, to come in here and take on the challenge of working with Peter Angelos as your boss, and show the public that you have full autonomy. I think Andy MacPhail has full autonomy so far. But im beginning to wonder if Andy MacPhail has full autonomy with himself? If the man can pull the trigger, without thinking twice about it.

Its got to be tough to gamble on how you go about dealing your Ace left handed starter (who wont resign here) and trade your all star second baseman (who likely wont resign here in 09 when he is a free agent). Heck the guy just got the job in June, he hasnt had a full season with these players yet and he is forced to gamble on trying to trade them. But it has to be done.

Andy needs to restart this franchise. He needs to rebuild and start over with youth. And Im starting to wonder if AM is capable of making a move that will be looked at negatively by the average baseball fan in town, and positively by the true baseball fan in town. He needs to do whats best for the team, and not whats best for Peter or the average baseball fan. He has one week left in my mind to make this work. And if the week ends without any moves of Bedard or Roberts, than Andy MacPhail will just be like the rest. Handcuffed by Peter and by his own self. No matter what happens afterwards.

I hear ya. If something isn't done soon, it looks like 2009 will be our first real chance at rebuilding. Even if we trade Bedard and Roberts at the deadline in July, it's unlikely their value will be any higher than it currently is, and they both become true rent-a-players for whomever aquires them.

I've been waiting 10 years, it looks like we may have to fast foward through the next 2 years to see a real rebuilding effort take place.

[dabirds]

This is not a good sign!

You have been the biggest cheerleader of the offseason and MacPhail. Looks like now, even you are having doubts. I'm starting to feel very depressed, and am starting to believe nothing will happen.

What a horrible offseason and what a HORRIBLE job by MacPhail if this turns out to be true.

[forest leech]

You heard it here first, AM is a failure before even coming close to a full year on the job.

[blueberryale77]

Oh goody! We really needed another of these threads, complete with an insider's touch to make people go extra ballistic. Why, Peace, why?

[Boy Howdy]

Oh goody! We really needed another of these threads, complete with an insider's touch to make people go extra ballistic. Why, Peace, why?

Peace is really Erik Bedard trying to ratchet up fan pressure on MacPhail to make a deal???

Can you teach me that curveball?

[bgfield]

I don't think the fact that we've done next to nothing this offseason has anything to do with Angelos' meddling. I think MacPhail is waiting for teams to give up too much, and I think it's a horrible approach. It's just like betting big every time in gambling - when you do win, you win big, but in the end you'll still end up losing more.

MacPhail's philosophy of rebuilding, and focusing on player development and generally building up the young guys is the right one. But so far it seems like his approach to achieving that goal is bad. Now I could be wrong but the season is creeping towards us slowly and it wont be long before it gets here and all Andy can say is "well, I traded Tejada at least!"

That's hardly a rebuilding effort.

[byrdz]

I think that McPhail has proven that he is smarter than the previous GM's at making trades with the Trachsel and Miggy ones. We don't even have to wait to see how these new guys perform before we declare those victories. He also hasn't signed any high salary, mediocre, past their prime players this offseason. We still have all of our draft picks. WE have more money to throw at Tex next season. We got Wieters and a pretty good draft class despite losing a pick. He's focused on the minor league system like he should be. So, he's making the small deals happen and he has more time to make the larger deals happen and he's not making mistakes like bad signings and he's focused in the right direction. More patience is needed.

[bandy75]

Hey Peace21! Aren't you one who preached patience in the past. Judging from this thread, I guess not. Ever here this one. It ain't over til it's over. And it definitely isn't over yet. I'm caling premature thread. There's therapy for that kind of thing.

Hey, that was from Yogi!! No yankee quotes allowed!

[Del34]

Wow. I'm pretty sure I recall Peace being optimistic in some posts yesterday...but of course there's certainly the chance that you know more than us, Peace.

What I worry about is that maybe MacPhail thinks he has all the time in the world to do these deals? I mean, technically...he does because it's fairly obvious this team probably has no chance of contending next year, or maybe even the year after. But the fact he started the rebuilding process with getting rid of Tejada and has since sat on/passed up deals he maybe should've taken is concerning.

There's no reason we shouldn't be getting as young and talented as possible by offering our top two trading chips(and maybe some throw ins/high salary guys) while they still are very valuable and healthy.

Simply....MacPhail needs to take what he can get, as long as it's reasonable, before it becomes too late.

[rickster]

Peace what happened since 10:50 last night? When you posted that McPhail is still following plan A.

[bgfield]

Where's the gamble though? It's only a gamble if AM could get less by waiting.

He could end up with nothing. That's a gamble.

[Peace21]

Hey Peace21! Aren't you one who preached patience in the past. Judging from this thread, I guess not. Ever here this one. It ain't over til it's over. And it definitely isn't over yet. I'm caling premature thread. There's therapy for that kind of thing.

I have full support of MacPhail. But if nothing happens after this week, than ill be very worried about who we have running this team.