Schmuck calls out the Orioles!

[weams]

Like my Father always says...."You buy (poop) you get (poop)!" The Orioles free agent philosophy for quite some time has been to buy poop.

Devil's Advocate. Orioles did not resign Adam. They did sign Hamilton. They kept Johnson. They signed John Danks.

What would that payroll be and who else would we have?

[Going Underground]

I don't think the issue here is really over Johnson himself. It's the idea that the Orioles have to salary dump their players to Oakland, while there is no indication they are going to go out and bring in any other high priced player. Few think Johnson was worth $10 million, and from a baseball sense it makes sense to me that Duquette moved him for whatever he could get. Me issue is that Duquette has come and said that his money will be used on "reallocation" which to me says it's going to pay for the arbitration raises. The Orioles should be looking to add an impact bat and another solid starter and if that means either trading for a big contract or giving one out, now is the time for them to do this.

They spent years telling the fans that they weren't spending because the team was not close, well, what were they doing with the moiney they were making then? You have to spend money to make money in baseball. This is something the Orioles ownership has never subscribed to.

I really don't care if we trade Johnson. $10 million might be too much for him. The O's always seem to let the free agent market set itself. Then they complain the prices are too high. Then most guys are gone and the dumpster diving begins. Twins.Marlins,Royals and soon the Mariners will be active. These are not big market teams. Duquette said the free agent market was moving quick ,a couple of weeks ago. He also said we had some trades and other things in the works at last years winter meetings. So if the free agent market is moving fast,the orioles are waiting for?

[Ripken]

I don't think the issue here is really over Johnson himself. It's the idea that the Orioles have to salary dump their players to Oakland, while there is no indication they are going to go out and bring in any other high priced player. Few think Johnson was worth $10 million, and from a baseball sense it makes sense to me that Duquette moved him for whatever he could get. Me issue is that Duquette has come and said that his money will be used on "reallocation" which to me says it's going to pay for the arbitration raises. The Orioles should be looking to add an impact bat and another solid starter and if that means either trading for a big contract or giving one out, now is the time for them to do this.

They spent years telling the fans that they weren't spending because the team was not close, well, what were they doing with the moiney they were making then? You have to spend money to make money in baseball. This is something the Orioles ownership has never subscribed to.

Wish we could salary dump Nick, too.

[Singleton]

I really don't care if we trade Johnson. $10 million might be too much for him. The O's always seem to let the free agent market set itself. Then they complain the prices are too high. Then most guys are gone and the dumpster diving begins. Twins.Marlins,Royals and soon the Mariners will be active. These are not big market teams. Duquette said the free agent market was moving quick ,a couple of weeks ago. He also said we had some trades and other things in the works at last years winter meetings. So if the free agent market is moving fast,the orioles are waiting for?

I agree. The O's always seem reactionary. The plan is never clear it feels too late. There's still talent to be had for the good GM. Lets see if we have one of those.

[Rene88]

I don't think the issue here is really over Johnson himself. It's the idea that the Orioles have to salary dump their players to Oakland, while there is no indication they are going to go out and bring in any other high priced player. Few think Johnson was worth $10 million, and from a baseball sense it makes sense to me that Duquette moved him for whatever he could get. Me issue is that Duquette has come and said that his money will be used on "reallocation" which to me says it's going to pay for the arbitration raises. The Orioles should be looking to add an impact bat and another solid starter and if that means either trading for a big contract or giving one out, now is the time for them to do this.

They spent years telling the fans that they weren't spending because the team was not close, well, what were they doing with the moiney they were making then? You have to spend money to make money in baseball. This is something the Orioles ownership has never subscribed to.

I am going to print this out and save it. EXACTLY! THANK YOU!!!

[TonySoprano]

Duquette has done a ton to the infrastructure of the organization (scouting and development) but he certainly has a budget limitation that is tying his hands. He's not going to come out say so, but his interview with 105.7 where he talked about reallocating the Johnson money sounded a lot like a guy sending out an SOS call. He made every indication that he doesn't have much of a budget to work from and I'm sure that's frustrating for him. He'll toe the company line like he should, but he has to know he's at a disadvantage that he doesn't need to be in if ownership would just spend the money.

He's consistent, I'll give him that. This is what Duquette told me a year ago.

Everyone wants to see the team make a splash in December but he's wants a team to make a big splash in October.

The best part? Well for me anyway, I was able to ask Dan a question about payroll. As you might expect, I noted how we should see at least another $10M from MASN depending on the negotiations with the Nationals, MLB is giving us an additional $25 million in 2014, and we just had a 20% increase in attendance. I continued, "the spin in the media is that Reynolds was in part a financial decision." Now if money is tight for 2013, when does he anticipate being able to spend more and maybe get payroll to $100 million?

"So what's your question? When can we spend more money?" Yes, we have more money from operations and also from the industry coming in. He didn't see the benefit in discussing payroll in public. We need to be cost effective and one way to do that is through our farm system. Also, we have more than enough resources to have a competitive team year after year.

[jabba72]

Just another day in the warehouse where nothing is what it seems to be. The team cries poor when all indications are its doing well.

[tilgaham]

First, I commend Schmuck for stepping out on his own here. These are questions that NEED to be raised, and as far as local reporters go, he's a respected one (although I typically don't enjoy his column).

I've been as fiscally conservative in my opinions as anyone, but it's clear that Baltimore could afford a $110M-$120M payroll and still be making money for Mr. Angelos. I think it's a little too early to freak out just yet, but if we don't spend $30-40MM this offseason I'll join Roy on the ledge.

We're sitting at $80MM as far as payroll goes right now.

$122MM is:

Choo (6/120?) Say 16M/19M/21.25/21.25/21.25/21.25 (+16MM for 2013)

Mujica (2/14) (+7MM for 2013)

Chris Davis (8/160) + Backload it such that (+12MM from 2013)

Longterm Machado extension (10/100), backloaded such that (+7MM for 2013)

Trade Wieters + Eduardo Rodriguez/Gausman for a TOR starter.

We now have a team capable of winning the division without jacking our payroll up to $150MM.

As I said, I'll wait patiently until the offseason plays out a little bit more, but I'm starting to get nervous.

[Going Underground]

Just another day in the warehouse where nothing is what it seems to be. The team cries poor when all indications are its doing well.

Nor well at all. They are poor.

But there are two areas for potential growth. Although the Nationals’ standoff with MASN and the Baltimore Orioles, who own the majority stake in the regional sports network, continues, the Nationals’ media rights and the valuation of their stake in the network don’t appear to be wholly damaging to their bottom line. The Nationals, however, have argued that they are a top 10 market and should be paid as such in terms of media rights, and there is obviously more money available. The Orioles, as a team, are valued at only $514 million, 20th in the majors, but they are propped up by their controlling stake in MASN, which is valued at $492 million, the fourth largest amount in baseball. As a result, they are valued higher than the Nationals at $1.12 billion, good for the seventh highest in baseball.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2013/10/23/nationals-valued-at-830-million-by-bloomberg-ranked-13th/

[CA-ORIOLE]

I don't think the issue here is really over Johnson himself. It's the idea that the Orioles have to salary dump their players to Oakland, while there is no indication they are going to go out and bring in any other high priced player. Few think Johnson was worth $10 million, and from a baseball sense it makes sense to me that Duquette moved him for whatever he could get. Me issue is that Duquette has come and said that his money will be used on "reallocation" which to me says it's going to pay for the arbitration raises. The Orioles should be looking to add an impact bat and another solid starter and if that means either trading for a big contract or giving one out, now is the time for them to do this.

They spent years telling the fans that they weren't spending because the team was not close, well, what were they doing with the moiney they were making then? You have to spend money to make money in baseball. This is something the Orioles ownership has never subscribed to.

I agree with everything but the bolded part. Unfortunately, I think there is plenty of money to be made by straddling the fence ...... and with a lot less risk. Putting out a fairly competitive team but not really going for it. While DD may not be happy where he's at, PA may be tickled pink about it.

[Russsnyder]

Congratulations to Peter Schmuck. Finally someone in the mainstream media has stepped out and taken on the Angelos machine that controls the local media. I have been a Orioles fan for 51 years. It is an absolute disgrace that one man refuses to put the best product on the field for his loyal fans . He is making millions off of each cable household that has MASN on their payed cable or satellite subscription. Put the money back into the team.

[crowmst3k!]

Congratulations to Peter Schmuck. Finally someone in the mainstream media has stepped out and taken on the Angelos machine that controls the local media. I have been a Orioles fan for 51 years. It is an absolute disgrace that one man refuses to put the best product on the field for his loyal fans . He is making millions off of each cable household that has MASN on their payed cable or satellite subscription. Put the money back into the team.

Plus the free $25 million that MLB gives each team because of MLB.TV

[weams]

He's consistent, I'll give him that. This is what Duquette told me a year ago.

I think he has consistently said that and I do respect it. Frobby and I had a disagreement about what I though I heard him say once, but he really avoids talking about those types of thing when asked. He says he has everything that he needs to compete in the AL East and I have yet to see anything show that he lies about that. When he brings home a loser, I'll call him on that.

[weams]

Plus the free $25 million that MLB gives each team because of MLB.TV

It turns out to be 27 Million.

[atomic]

I still think this is also important.

It's always difficult to figure out just what's going on inside the Orioles front office. The team's business divisions seemed to be humming along nicely when the club fired executive vice president of business operations Doug Duennes without explanation in late July. That led to predictable speculation about increased ownership participation in the day-to-day operation of the franchise, something that ? based on past history ? would not figure to evoke confidence from the fan base.

The Sun only has two sports columnists and one strictly does football. The Washington Post has at least 8.

Well they had another guy who thought the Ravens made a huge mistake by letting Billy Cundiff go. I hate sports columnists. I can form my own opinions just report the news.