Bedard Anticipates Trade....According to Sun

[Roll Tide]

The Orioles started off the negotiations with concepts, never any hard numbers. IMO, he still has some resentment over what he believed was low-ball negotiations the year before. As such, the agent drew a line in the sand, but that doesn't mean that it had to stay there, does it? Couldn't MacPhail have tried to sell him on his plan which included a big role for Bedard?

At no time have there been dollar talks about even a one year deal which supposedly the agent proposed. Why is that? It's because the Orioles made the decision to cut bait pretty easily back in November and have been slow dancing with a few trade partners ever since.

Its because IMO that Mcphail knows Bedard & Roberts are his most valuable & honesty his only real chips that can bring back a large chunk of what we need

to have a chance in the next 3+ years to compete.

Sure you can argue about the value of our young pitching prospects & the scraps Millar, Huff, Mora, R Hernandez, Payton , & Gibbons would bring.

[ON BASE %]

Me neither. Right now, it scares me.

AFAIK, it's the one part of all of professional baseball that we know the least about. It seems like it's all a huge secret, and nobody knows what to say about it, nobody writes any articles about, it's almost like it's a dimension that doesn't even exist. I guess there's no way to know about it unless you're really on the inside of a franchise's entire operation. We might as well be asking the CIA and NSA to please tell us what they know about everything.

I agree Shack, there is very little we know about player development. I would love to hear insider observations about this area much more than trades.

Right now all we have to go by is that the Orioles scouting department has received good grades for the last several drafts recently by national sources such as BA. But there is a big disconnect between the good draft grades and the talent in the upper minor leagues and big leagues. The party line for poor organizations seems to be that there is "good talent in the lower part of the system." The caveat is that the drafts do take several years to judge the results. This year is important because Jordan's drafts have now starten to take root and more prospects should be advancing to the middle and upper levels of the system. If not, then Stocksdill and company will likely be on the hot seat with McPhail.

I'll say this much, I was very disappointed with some of the poor mechanics of our pitching prospects. In particular, Liz' mechanics were a disgrace and I'm sure McPhail wasn't pleased when he saw them. Also, Chris Ray had a very violent delivery and I wasn't surprised to see him get injured and need surgery. It was just a matter of time IMO.

But I don't want to make any blanket statements here. I'm not blasting our player development but I do have concerns and am skeptical.

[RShack]

I agree Shack, there is very little we know about player development. I would love to hear insider observations about this area much more than trades.

Right now all we have to go by is that the Orioles scouting department has received good grades for the last several drafts recently by national sources such as BA. But there is a big disconnect between the good draft grades and the talent in the upper minor leagues and big leagues. The party line for poor organizations seems to be that there is "good talent in the lower part of the system." The caveat is that the drafts do take several years to judge the results. This year is important because Jordan's drafts have now starten to take root and more prospects should be advancing to the middle and upper levels of the system. If not, then Stocksdill and company will likely be on the hot seat with McPhail.

I'll say this much, I was very disappointed with some of the poor mechanics of our pitching prospects. In particular, Liz' mechanics were a disgrace and I'm sure McPhail wasn't pleased when he saw them. Also, Chris Ray had a very violent delivery and I wasn't surprised to see him get injured and need surgery. It was just a matter of time IMO.

But I don't want to make any blanket statements here. I'm not blasting our player development but I do have concerns and am skeptical.

Given that nobody seems to know anything about it, the only thing we have to go by is whether or not the guys who get off the bus at Eutaw St. appear to do things properly.

That's a huge part of the MiL system's job: to make sure that guys get off the bus doing their job right.

I don't know what else we have to go by.

[ON BASE %]

Given that nobody seems to know anything about it, the only thing we have to go by is whether or not the guys who get off the bus at Eutaw St. appear to do things properly.

That's a huge part of the MiL system's job: to make sure that guys get off the bus doing their job right.

I don't know what else we have to go by.

Here's a post related to development posted yesterday by Dr. Shorebird. Very encouraging to say the least.

"Andy McPhail is emphasing improving the farm system. Besides the new foreign scout complexes etc. McPhail is introducing digital charting. Now pitchers will be charting our pitchers and opponents using Palm computers with advanced charting programs. The result should be more useful information about the development of our pitchers as well as building scouting reports on opposing pitchers.

Additional computer analysis of batters swings and pitchers deliveries may be planned as well."

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58131

[RShack]

Here's a post related to development posted yesterday by Dr. Shorebird. Very encouraging to say the least....

[stuff deleted]

Thanks for that...

[ON BASE %]

Thanks for that...

You're quite welcome Shack. Hopefully that thread will get a lot of views.

[Frobby]

I think Bedard needs to communicate better. Not with the media, but his team. He seems to have hurt feelings, but it isn't clear why. He has left the impression with the team that he does not want to be here, then he gets ruffled because there is more talk about trading him than keeping him.

MacPhail should get on the phone with Piepers and request to have a direct conversation with Erik. Hear it for himself, clear away any possible miscommunications, and then decide accordingly what to do.

Bump. I posted this on Jan. 25 after reading the Sun article. And essentially, this is exactly what may now have happened, except that Angelos made the call direct to Bedard.

[blueberryale77]

Bump. I posted this on Jan. 25 after reading the Sun article. And essentially, this is exactly what may now have happened, except that Angelos made the call direct to Bedard.

If that is in fact what happened, I do think Angelos is overstepping his bounds. I'm fine with him having final approval power over trades or big contracts, but he should not be calling a player and trying to sign them when the GM/"president" is trying to trade the guy. Any dealings of that nature should have gone through MacPhail if he is truly running "baseball operations."

[Frobby]

If that is in fact what happened, I do think Angelos is overstepping his bounds. I'm fine with him having final approval power over trades or big contracts, but he should not be calling a player and trying to sign them when the GM/"president" is trying to trade the guy. Any dealings of that nature should have gone through MacPhail if he is truly running "baseball operations."

I have no problem with Angelos making the call so long as MacPhail was on board with the idea. What could be more flattering to a player feeling unwanted than to get a personal call from the owner? However, if Angelos did this on his own, or basically put MacPhail in a position where he was unable to say he thought it was a bad idea, then that would be bad news.

[Pruke]

I have no problem with Angelos making the call so long as MacPhail was on board with the idea. What could be more flattering to a player feeling unwanted than to get a personal call from the owner? However, if Angelos did this on his own, or basically put MacPhail in a position where he was unable to say he thought it was a bad idea, then that would be bad news.

You framed the comment perfectly - I hope you're right about the first part.

The bold part is the one that scares the heck out of me.

[Fan4Life]

I have no problem with Angelos making the call so long as MacPhail was on board with the idea. What could be more flattering to a player feeling unwanted than to get a personal call from the owner? However, if Angelos did this on his own, or basically put MacPhail in a position where he was unable to say he thought it was a bad idea, then that would be bad news.

You ran some stats by us quite often last season as to how the team faired with regard to:

SP

BP

Defense

Offense

and wins / losses.

You noted that the offense seemed reasonably consistent and that when the bullpen and defense lapsed, so did the wins/losses.

Aside from the last month of the season, is that a fairly accurate synopsis of the team last season? And if so, is trying to build around Bedard / BRob and ACTUALLY improve the bullpen and team defense a bad idea?

[Cokeman]

I have no problem with Angelos making the call so long as MacPhail was on board with the idea. What could be more flattering to a player feeling unwanted than to get a personal call from the owner? However, if Angelos did this on his own, or basically put MacPhail in a position where he was unable to say he thought it was a bad idea, then that would be bad news.

Unfortunately, this is what I believe happened. From most indications, a trade had already been agreed upon between MacPhail and Bavasi...Seattle obviously thought a deal had been made by notifying Jones. Then, at 9:30 PM on Sunday night, MacPhail and Bavasi got blindsided by Angelos.

[RShack]

Unfortunately, this is what I believe happened. From most indications, a trade had already been agreed upon between MacPhail and Bavasi...Seattle obviously thought a deal had been made by notifying Jones. Then, at 9:30 PM on Sunday night, MacPhail and Bavasi got blindsided by Angelos.

We simply don't know. I agree with everyone's judgment about the implications of this conjecture. But we just don't know, do we...

[RShack]

You ran some stats by us quite often last season as to how the team faired with regard to:

SP

BP

Defense

Offense

and wins / losses.

You noted that the offense seemed reasonably consistent and that when the bullpen and defense lapsed, so did the wins/losses.

Aside from the last month of the season, is that a fairly accurate synopsis of the team last season? And if so, is trying to build around Bedard / BRob and ACTUALLY improve the bullpen and team defense a bad idea?

A very pertinent question. I don't know what those numbers say, but you're asking a great question.

[Cokeman]

We simply don't know. I agree with everyone's judgment about the implications of this conjecture. But we just don't know, do we...

Well, no we don't...maybe that's why I said "I believe..."