Schmuck's sure to ruffle some feathers with his latest article

[SilentJames]

The only thing I disagree with is the "waiting until late december," thing. iI mean, honestly, its not as if Balfour wasn't the best option that was on the table, we laid the groundwork at the Winter Meetings and then did it. Sure Axford is gone, but I doubt Axford would have still been on the market long after Balfour signed regardless of the day he did agree.

This is a crappy situation. It really sucks. It will remain to be seen how long it takes Balfour to catch on somewhere else.

[TradeAngelos]

Schmuck is absolutely right, but if Dan manages to

- Figure out the Balfour situation or sign Rodney

Balfour deal is dead, Rodney is clearly inferior.

- Sign a proven starter like Burnett, Garza, Jimenez, or Santana

Obviously the only guy that is even a remote possibility is Burnett. You are in fantasy land if you think there is a chance for the others.

- Add some OBP at DH

Like who? All ears. Remember has to be cheap, young, and under control for the next 5 years or no dice.

I would still consider this offseason a success. It's doable, but he needs to start getting aggressive.

Considering that probably none or very little of what you outlined is going to happen, there is little chance for a "successful" offseason at this point.

[Yardball85]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/schmuck-blog/bal-orioles-right-to-be-careful-wrong-to-be-this-vulnerable-when-it-comes-to-grant-balfour-deal-20131220,0,7620272.story?track=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Spot on. How could you possibly say otherwise?

[Rene88]

Balfour deal is dead, Rodney is clearly inferior.

Obviously the only guy that is even a remote possibility is Burnett. You are in fantasy land if you think there is a chance for the others.

Like who? All ears. Remember has to be cheap, young, and under control for the next 5 years or no dice.

Considering that probably none or very little of what you outlined is going to happen, there is little chance for a "successful" offseason at this point.

Ha ha..I started to respond to his post and then I saw yours!

Spot on!

[Can_of_corn]

The only thing I disagree with is the "waiting until late december," thing. iI mean, honestly, its not as if Balfour wasn't the best option that was on the table, we laid the groundwork at the Winter Meetings and then did it. Sure Axford is gone, but I doubt Axford would have still been on the market long after Balfour signed regardless of the day he did agree.

This is a crappy situation. It really sucks. It will remain to be seen how long it takes Balfour to catch on somewhere else.

I would have preferred Mujica, who was off the board early.

[luismatos4prez]

Balfour deal is dead, Rodney is clearly inferior.

Obviously the only guy that is even a remote possibility is Burnett. You are in fantasy land if you think there is a chance for the others.

Like who? All ears. Remember has to be cheap, young, and under control for the next 5 years or no dice.

Considering that probably none or very little of what you outlined is going to happen, there is little chance for a "successful" offseason at this point.

If signing Balfour isn't a possibility then we have a lot more money to work with to sign Garza and co. Burnett would be awesome too, and more likely since long-term contracts for pitchers aren't the FO's thing.

Lucas Duda would be my ideal DH. Good OBP, still young (though arb-eligible)

Jesse Crain is still out there. If healthy, he's just as good as JJ or Balfour. Big if though. He's not a durable guy. As far as FA closers go, I like Balfour more than any other. Which is why I would have been happy to have him. But I wish managers and execs didn't see paying big money for good but not great closers as a necessary evil. Only the elite closers (Jansen, Kimbrel, etc.) are worth more than 5M, in my opinion.

[clapdiddy]

Could a trade be in the works? Any way we could work out a deal for someone like Cishek? Maybe they could throw in Stanton, too?

[atomic]

Spot on by Mr. Schmuck. He's really laid it on the Orioles recently.

Personally, I like the additions we've made. But, we still need a legitimate stick for the middle of this lineup and, I would say, TWO starting pitchers. One of those pitchers should be a good one and the other could be a 4th starter "innings eater".

We already have four starters. So I don't think we need two more.

[LookitsPuck]

He's 100% right.

Sorry, this is a nightmare of an offseason.

Right now our starting LF is gone, our RH side of the DH platoon was traded, we have an incomplete starting rotation and are in a situation where we have cannon fodder competing for the 5th spot (Matusz, Britton, Gausman, etc.), our starting 3B'man is coming off a significant surgery, we have no starting second baseman, and the one closer we thought we had replace the closer of old (which we traded for a bag of baseballs) is now "damaged goods".

I have a tough time trying to give Duquette ANY credit whatsoever. What has he done? Sign AAAA fodder?

Unless this club signs a legitimate starting pitcher (Garza), then I have zero faith in this club's ability to be anything more than a .500 team. They look like an absolute mess right now.

[TradeAngelos]

He's 100% right.

Sorry, this is a nightmare of an offseason.

Right now our starting LF is gone, our RH side of the DH platoon was traded, we have an incomplete starting rotation and are in a situation where we have cannon fodder competing for the 5th spot (Matusz, Britton, Gausman, etc.), our starting 3B'man is coming off a significant surgery, we have no starting second baseman, and the one closer we thought we had replace the closer of old (which we traded for a bag of baseballs) is now "damaged goods".

I have a tough time trying to give Duquette ANY credit whatsoever. What has he done? Sign AAAA fodder?

Unless this club signs a legitimate starting pitcher (Garza), then I have zero faith in this club's ability to be anything more than a .500 team. They look like an absolute mess right now.

"Cannon fodder" rep LOL. That was a good one.

[Norfolk orioles]

Is this one of the worst offseasons in orioles history? Honest question.

Signing overrated free agents in the 90's and early 00's was pretty bad and not signing anyone of value before buck arrived was also bad, but the fact that we are close to a playoff team and still not signing anyone significant really has to put this up there as one of the worst offseasons ever for me.

Plus Patton gets suspended, we trade johns for pennies on the dollar and don't get a replacement and oh yeah, Brian Roberts became a Yankee.

This one is up there among the worst ever for me.

[Yardball85]

The only thing I disagree with is the "waiting until late december," thing. iI mean, honestly, its not as if Balfour wasn't the best option that was on the table, we laid the groundwork at the Winter Meetings and then did it. Sure Axford is gone, but I doubt Axford would have still been on the market long after Balfour signed regardless of the day he did agree.

This is a crappy situation. It really sucks. It will remain to be seen how long it takes Balfour to catch on somewhere else.

I would have preferred Mujica. And I wish they had gone after Hart (mid to upper 800 OPS the three years before he got hurt) and/or LoMo.

[Elbren]

If signing Balfour isn't a possibility then we have a lot more money to work with to sign Garza and co. Burnett would be awesome too, and more likely since long-term contracts for pitchers aren't the FO's thing.

Lucas Duda would be my ideal DH. Good OBP, still young (though arb-eligible)

Jesse Crain is still out there. If healthy, he's just as good as JJ or Balfour. Big if though. He's not a durable guy. As far as FA closers go, I like Balfour more than any other. Which is why I would have been happy to have him. But I wish managers and execs didn't see paying big money for good but not great closers as a necessary evil. Only the elite closers (Jansen, Kimbrel, etc.) are worth more than 5M, in my opinion.

People keep living in this pipe dream and I can't understand it.

This team hasn't paid a pitcher since Sidney Ponson. Sidney. Ponson.

Pretty sure Millwood made more/similar money, but he was only for one year and Texas paid a decent chunk of his salary that season. We have yet to give out a double digit salary for a pitcher, nor given out a contract over 3 years.

So, how is it there are people who honestly think this team will shell out $14 - $16+ Mil. per year on a 4 or 5 year deal? It's the question that has continued to loom over this team and yet people on this board continue to pretend it doesn't exist.

None of these pitchers are coming here folks. The sooner people accept this, the less angry you'll be when you see them sign somewhere else.

[Elbren]

Is this one of the worst offseasons in orioles history? Honest question.

Signing overrated free agents in the 90's and early 00's was pretty bad and not signing anyone of value before buck arrived was also bad, but the fact that we are close to a playoff team and still not signing anyone significant really has to put this up there as one of the worst offseasons ever for me.

Plus Patton gets suspended, we trade johns for pennies on the dollar and don't get a replacement and oh yeah, Brian Roberts became a Yankee.

This one is up there among the worst ever for me.

The 2011-12 offseason was much worse (IMO).

- similar low-budget moves that took forever to happen (priority was on finding a GM at that point)

- your current GM walked away from the team despite ownership wanting him back and no other team looking at him to fill a similar position.

- multiple GM candidates telling the team they were not interested in our GM vacancy with several refusing even be interviewed.

- the one candidate who did have interest flew in to Baltimore for a 2nd interview, this time w/ the owner. After one meeting with Angelos, he went back to Toronto and turned down our offer. Pretty sure it was within 24 hours.

- the only real candidates that showed interest in the position were internal personnel and a guy who hadn't worked in MLB in a decade (Duquette).

[Ripken]

This bull**** from the FO continues and that stadium is going to be might empty while this team competes for 4th place.