What Our Fanbase Seems to Have Forgotten

[Satyr3206]

DD was hired with one mandate. That wasn't to have a miracle year in 2012. That wasn't to be a dominant team in 2014. That mandate was to build a second to none organization that could compete with the Yanks/Sox/Jays without breaking the bank. The reality is that we don't have the budget those teams have. So, long term, we need to build from within. Signing Nick, Cruz and Miller would have made us all feel good, but it would have been counter to the long term goal of the organization. The long term goal is to compete over the long haul by having a continual flow of young players from the farm system. You can't do that signing older players on the downward slope. Miller is intriguing but I believe that DD looked at the talent and made a judgment on the repeatability over the long term and decided he wasn't worth the chance. It would surprise me if either Nick or Cruz have long term success past the next two years. So, we are left with signing stop gaps until we achieve the long term goal.

Sort of like eating your vegetables instead of your donuts. But, I don't think anyone wants to go back to 15 years of ineptness.

Don't talk common sense. Few people understand it.

[Frobby]

Erik Bedard was a Top lefthanded starter, like Lester with a strike out pitch. Gausman is not anything like that in terms of value.

Apples and oranges. Bedard had shown what he could do at the top of his game, but was only two years from free agency and a bit injury prone. Gausman has shown a preview of what he may be able to do, and is under team control for five more years, two of which are dirt cheap. I doubt Gausman would bring what Bedard did, but he'd bring a nice haul due to where he is on the age/control curve. I have zero interest in trading him, however.

[Dipper9]

Maybe that's all we may need to compete for a playoff spot. But that's probably not what the fanbase wants after getting so close this year. You cant just replace Cruz, Miller and Nick with some scrubs and expect to win it all next year.

But one thing people keep missing when they say the bolded above is the following.

We are replacing Cruz and Joseph with Matt Wieters and Pearce.

We are replacing Nick Markakis and Ryan Flaherty with Manny Machado and DeAza.

As it stands now, IF nothing changes, which we know things will change, I like 2015's offense better than 2014's playoff offense...

2014 vs 2015

RF: Nick vs Pearce (2015 wins)

CF: Jones vs Jones (equal)

LF: DeAza vs DeAza (equal)

DH: Cruz vs ? (2014 wins)

1b: Davis cannot be worse than last year. (2015)

2b: Schoop in his Sophomore campaign (2015)

ss: Hardy at worst will be equal, but he should be better than his 10 homers last year. (2015)

3b: Flaherty vs Manny (2015)

C: Joseph/ Hundley vs Wieters (2015)

To me, losing Nick and Cruz and gaining Wieters, Manny, and Davis is a win for 2015, regardless of who fills LF/RF? and DH.

[Dipper9]

One more thing...remember when one of the best players in baseball left the Cardinals for Anaheim. How did the Cards make out when they didn't shell out the money to keep Pujols?

Albert signed with Angels Dec 8, 2011

2012 Cards lost in the NLCS

2013 Cards lost in the WS

2014 Cards lost in the NLCS

I'd say one player, even one of the best in the game, does not a team make. The Orioles will be fine without Cruz, who's 2014 numbers can't even sniff Pujols' career averages when he was with St. Louis.

[LoyalBirdFan]

One more thing...remember when one of the best players in baseball left the Cardinals for Anaheim. How did the Cards make out when they didn't shell out the money to keep Pujols?

Albert signed with Angels Dec 8, 2011

2012 Cards lost in the NLCS

2013 Cards lost in the WS

2014 Cards lost in the NLCS

I'd say one player, even one of the best in the game, does not a team make. The Orioles will be fine without Cruz, who's 2014 numbers can't even sniff Pujols' career averages when he was with St. Louis.

You go Dipper :2yay-thumb:

[brianod]

I don't think we need to go the Oakland or Tampa route, we certainly can afford more than those teams. But, we aren't NewYork, LA, Boston or even Detroit. We can't afford to overpay older players and replenish the roster with more older overpaid players. This is a bad model that has failed even the bottomless pit Yankees. I'm not recommending standing pat either. I'm simply saying that we should not lose sight of the long term goal in an attempt to be the best in 2015. We have had three good years, I want to follow those years with sustainable success. What I don't want under any circumstances is a repeat of 96, 97 where we tried to beat the Yanks at their own game and went spiraling down a rabbit hole.

[weams]

The Mariners and Melky Cabrera seem to have staked out their positions, with Cabrera after five years and upwards of $60MM and the M’s not willing to go past three and around $42MM.

MLBtrade rumors. Well, now we know the floor.

[Moose Milligan]

blah blah blah

Angelos owns the Orioles.

Angelos owns a majority stake in MASN (RSN).

I am not saying we should have offered Lester a 6/$150MM contract but to say that we do not have the budget for players like that is a lie.

I think the odds are stacked against a contract that size for a pitcher that age.

[Mayor McCheese]

I think the odds are stacked against a contract that size for a pitcher that age.

Lester is not a good comparison but any guy going into his prime we will just continue to be passive on.

I get that we make a lowball offer but it's almost pointless at times.

[weams]

blah blah blah

Angelos owns the Orioles.

Angelos owns a majority stake in MASN (RSN).

I am not saying we should have offered Lester a 6/$150MM contract but to say that we do not have the budget for players like that is a lie.

I really want to understand this. As we both know, the MASNCASHMONEY is not available to anyone for the foreseeable future. So let's talk about the owner, and the club itself.

Do you know what budget the baseball operations department asked for? Because them may not want to invest 200 million dollars in players even if they were permitted to. That would be a heavy mantle to carry seeing as they penultimate position was in the team's grasp at 107.

Do we know what the ownership told them to work with on an annualized budget? Despite the rumblings I have never heard management talk about constraints from above over the last decade.

Every time that I hear a complaint about the price of players from this team it is always length of contract, not AAV that they state is outside our comfort.