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Dan Duquette can't get the financial go-ahead from owner Peter Angelos to meet Morales' asking price


Greg

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Was the plan really to use Johnson's money for Balfour and Webb? Maybe for Duquette, but the whole thing wreaks of Angelos sticking his hand where it doesn't belong and botching the entire thing.

My question is, we went in to the off season looking for a SP and a bat. We freed up 10M and used it to replace an expensive CL with a better cheaper one, and added another set up man. If they only have 100 marbles, where are they getting the money for the SP and Bat?

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I'm still waiting to see where the $10 million from the Johnson trade is being reallocated. It better not just be to Angelos' pocket. Counting down the days until we get a new owner...

You will be counting the days for a long time. After PA dies there are his sons.

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I completely disagree. Going nuclear (throwing their boss under the bus) for Kendrys Morales is not a viable option for DD and Buck.

They are way too intelligent to waste that bullet on Morales.

I think it is more likely that DD said that he wasn't sure if he could get PA to pay that much as a negotiating ploy.

"You know we're looking to add pitching too and although we like Kendrys we're pretty happy with our hitting in general so I just don't know if it's in our budget to spend $XM on a DH right now."

I've seen essentially the same statement a dozen times on here in the last week.

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Me too! If you're aiming to sell you want the healthiest balance sheet and profitability possible, which means minimizing operating costs, reducing long term contractual obligations (which are substantial liabilities), and maximizing profit. If you are aiming to try and keep the team in family, you care a little less about the long term contractual obligations, but you certainly care about profitability in the short term so you can afford your future tax implications. Either way, it's a plausible theory that would provide reasonable and understandable explanations for their actions/inactions.

As I've posted before, the only rational explanation I can come up with for Angelos not going all-out to try to build a team that will give him one last shot at the World Series is his desire to hoard cash so that, after estate taxes, his heirs will not be cash-strapped in running the team (including, possibly, extending Hardy or signing Davis, Weiters and/or Machado).

I would love to think that he's preparing to try to sell the team, but the kinds of financial commitments to a SP or DH that we're talking about wouldn't reduce interest in, or have an effect on, the price of a billion-dollar asset. To the contrary, if you believed (as most of us do) that a couple of signings costing $20 million dollars a year would enhance the chances of building a contender and boosting fan enthusiasm and attendance, they could the current owners' efforts to generate interest and get a higher price.

Based on the information I have seen, Angelos' thrift can be explained only by his irrationality or by estate planning concerns.

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I think it is more likely that DD said that he wasn't sure if he could get PA to pay that much as a negotiating ploy.

"You know we're looking to add pitching too and although we like Kendrys we're pretty happy with our hitting in general so I just don't know if it's in our budget to spend $XM on a DH right now."

I've seen essentially the same statement a dozen times on here in the last week.

I agree (see my post a couple pages back).

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I think that Webb + Balfour was a better way to spend 10 million then on Johnson.

Since the Balfour physical happened after the Johnson trade I am not sure what the point of your question is.

A) keeping Johnson shouldn't have precluded them from signing Webb.

B) they didn't have to trade Johnson so early in the process. They could have waited to sign Balfour first, then traded Johnson. Or kept Johnson when they had the physical fiasco. Of course, they didn't have an executable plan B in place.

My point is that even if you don't think he's worth his contract, he makes the team better and would have kept them within budget. They haven't reallocated anything.

They botched that scenario completely.

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A) keeping Johnson shouldn't have precluded them from signing Webb.

B) they didn't have to trade Johnson so early in the process. They could have waited to sign Balfour first, then traded Johnson. Or kept Johnson when they had the physical fiasco. Of course, they didn't have an executable plan B in place.

My point is that even if you don't think he's worth his contract, he makes the team better and would have kept them within budget. They haven't reallocated anything.

They botched that scenario completely.

No. The Johnson trade occurred at the deadline to tender offers to arbitration-eligible players. The Orioles did not want to go to arbitration with JJ, as they had decided that they did not want to pay him the estimated $10.8 million salary he stood to get. The real choice was trade or non-tender. Waiting and trying to trade him later really was not an option.

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A) keeping Johnson shouldn't have precluded them from signing Webb.

B) they didn't have to trade Johnson so early in the process. They could have waited to sign Balfour first, then traded Johnson. Or kept Johnson when they had the physical fiasco. Of course, they didn't have an executable plan B in place.

My point is that even if you don't think he's worth his contract, he makes the team better and would have kept them within budget. They haven't reallocated anything.

They botched that scenario completely.

You don't spend 7 on Balfour when you can possibly be on the hook for 10.6 for Johnson. You just cant do that with a budget of around 100 million. You are advocating them allocating 20% of the total budget on a trio of relief pitchers.

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I tend to avoid Angelos threads. My question is straightforward and objectively stated. Have any former gms gone on record and explicitly stated that Angelos interfered with their daily and within budget operations of the franchise? I am not talking about large-long term contracts which I would assume typically involve ownership approval.

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I don't know it for a fact, but both of us agree that in either of our "most likely scenarios," Angelos is NOT necessarily restricting DD. I'm still skeptical, but I think people should bear that in mind before accepting Cafardo's tweet at face value. Do you agree?
I don't accept any tweet at face value, but I see only two explanations for how this off season has gone. Either DD is hopelessly incompetent, or PA is up too his old tricks.PA has a history of meddling. DD does not have a history of incompetence.
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I tend to avoid Angelos threads. My question is straightforward and objectively stated. Have any former gms gone on record and explicitly stated that Angelos interfered with their daily and within budget operations of the franchise?

He probably makes them sign a vow of silence contract like Area 51 employees :)

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No. The Johnson trade occurred at the deadline to tender offers to arbitration-eligible players. The Orioles did not want to go to arbitration with JJ, as they had decided that they did not want to pay him the estimated $10.8 million salary he stood to get. The real choice was trade or non-tender. Waiting and trying to trade him later really was not an option.
The Os' tendered JJ an offer. They could have held off trading him up until it was time to go to arb.
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I think context is everything. DD has what, 15-17 marbles left? If he can't afford Morales, to me that means he's talking about adding Morales while simultaneously adding Santana or Jiminez. Surely he can afford Morales and be done. Doesn't seem to need further owner approval to get to 100 mil.

But if one of the SPs is looking like 13 or so per year, and Morales' low end is probably 3/21, that's 20 marbles and Dan only has 15 or so. Thus, owner permission required. Thus, PA rejecting it.

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