Dan's Strategy This Offseason

[mdbdotcom]

I'm a Nick fan and I'm glad he's gone. Not that we didn't give him the Atlanta contract which would obviously have been a huge mistake. I'm glad he's gone at virtually any price. It was time to move on. We did replace him with Travis Snider and Steve Pearce. They will produce more in right field than Nick.

Not a Cruz fan, but I do respect what he did last year. It was a career year at age 33. If we gave him the Seattle contract, would he be likely to replicate what he did last year. I doubt it. We didn't replace 40 home runs with one player, but there wasn't one player available that the Orioles could acquire to replace 40 home runs.

We didn't "win" the off season. We didn't last year, either. We just won the AL East. I think we have a good chance to do it again.

Exactly.

[atomic]

I'm a Nick fan and I'm glad he's gone. Not that we didn't give him the Atlanta contract which would obviously have been a huge mistake. I'm glad he's gone at virtually any price. It was time to move on. We did replace him with Travis Snider and Steve Pearce. They will produce more in right field than Nick.

Not a Cruz fan, but I do respect what he did last year. It was a career year at age 33. If we gave him the Seattle contract, would he be likely to replicate what he did last year. I doubt it. We didn't replace 40 home runs with one player, but there wasn't one player available that the Orioles could acquire to replace 40 home runs.

We didn't "win" the off season. We didn't last year, either. We just won the AL East. I think we have a good chance to do it again.

Steve Pearce was on the team last year. I don't see how you replace Markakis with someone who played pretty much everyday in the second half of the season. Snider was pretty awful in 2012 and 2013. You also have Delmon at DH and De Aza in left. I would say the line-up is pretty weak. I think DD let the team down while trying to jump ship.

Also to the previous post it would have cost the team 15 million to have Markakis this year. They are paying him 2 million even though he is not on the team. I a

m guessing if the club really negotiated with Markakis he would have accepted a 3 year 33 million deal. That is what I would have done.

Also I think last season we did win the off-season. This year we lost.

[backwardsk]

Steve Pearce was on the team last year. I don't see how you replace Markakis with someone who played pretty much everyday in the second half of the season. Snider was pretty awful in 2012 and 2013. You also have Delmon at DH and De Aza in left. I would say the line-up is pretty weak. I think DD let the team down while trying to jump ship.

Also to the previous post it would have cost the team 15 million to have Markakis this year. They are paying him 2 million even though he is not on the team. I a

m guessing if the club really negotiated with Markakis he would have accepted a 3 year 33 million deal. That is what I would have done.

Also I think last season we did win the off-season. This year we lost.

Who is playing 1st base?

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[mdbdotcom]

Steve Pearce was on the team last year. I don't see how you replace Markakis with someone who played pretty much everyday in the second half of the season. Snider was pretty awful in 2012 and 2013. You also have Delmon at DH and De Aza in left. I would say the line-up is pretty weak. I think DD let the team down while trying to jump ship.

Also to the previous post it would have cost the team 15 million to have Markakis this year. They are paying him 2 million even though he is not on the team. I a

m guessing if the club really negotiated with Markakis he would have accepted a 3 year 33 million deal. That is what I would have done.

Also I think last season we did win the off-season. This year we lost.

The bold part is why it's whining.

DD acquired De Aza on August 31 of last season to do two things:

1) Improve LF defense for the stretch run and playoffs

2) Mitigate against the loss of Markakis

He then added Snider this off-season.

Do De Aza & Snider compensate for losing Markakis & Cruz? Possibly. They likely won't deliver as many home runs, but the outfield defense should be better than it was before De Aza's arrival last season, and the team will have more speed on the bases. Add improved depth and the return of Machado and I suspect we might score more runs than last season, just as we did in 2013.

[Redskins Rick]

Steve Pearce was on the team last year. I don't see how you replace Markakis with someone who played pretty much everyday in the second half of the season. Snider was pretty awful in 2012 and 2013. You also have Delmon at DH and De Aza in left. I would say the line-up is pretty weak. I think DD let the team down while trying to jump ship.

Also to the previous post it would have cost the team 15 million to have Markakis this year. They are paying him 2 million even though he is not on the team. I a

m guessing if the club really negotiated with Markakis he would have accepted a 3 year 33 million deal. That is what I would have done.

Also I think last season we did win the off-season. This year we lost.

Darn it, why are you such a doom and gloomer?

The Orioles had the 2nd best offer on the table, and didn't want to go to that 4th year. That doesn't make them not negotiating.

Remember this, don't believe everything you read on the internet or what talking heads on 105.7 say, it might not always be true.

[atomic]

The bold part is why it's whining.

DD acquired De Aza on August 31 of last season to do two things:

1) Improve LF defense for the stretch run and playoffs

2) Mitigate against the loss of Markakis

He then added Snider this off-season.

Do De Aza & Snider compensate for losing Markakis & Cruz? Possibly. They likely won't deliver as many home runs, but the outfield defense should be better than it was before De Aza's arrival last season, and the team will have more speed on the bases. Add improved depth and the return of Machado and I suspect we might score more runs than last season, just as we did in 2013.

That is not whining. It is my opinion that the team will be worse offensively this year. Your opinion is that Snider and De Aza will make up for the loss of Cruz and Markakis. Having a different opinion that you does not make it whining. And I don't post this a million times. I am not saying woo is me we are going to be in last place. I just think that they will have a hard time covering the injuries that will happen this season. If you look at the line-up today other Machado and Jones you are looking at a pretty weak one. Yes DD has greatly improved the depth of the organization. But he is depending on guys at multiple positions who are pretty suspect. Lets hope it works out.

[Bahama O's Fan]

Replacing Nick and Nelson-is that what we are worried about? Go ahead look at our lineup that we beat the Tigers with:

Joseph

Pearce

Schoop

Hardy

Flahery

DeAza

Jones

Markakis

Cruz

Now the main lineup we will have:

Joseph/Wieters (hope to have him half the year)

Davis

Schoop

Hardy

Machado

DeAza/Snider

Jones

Pearce

Young

Now which one will score more runs?

[atomic]

Darn it, why are you such a doom and gloomer?

The Orioles had the 2nd best offer on the table, and didn't want to go to that 4th year. That doesn't make them not negotiating.

Remember this, don't believe everything you read on the internet or what talking heads on 105.7 say, it might not always be true.

Well I am just going off what I read and what Markakis has stated. Basically once his physical came back the team wasn't interested in bringing him back. For all I know this could have come from Angelos. The way Nick has been going on about this I doubt he was trying to get every last cent out of his contract. He seems upset about the way things happened. If it was just about the money he would have just gone to the Braves with a smile on his face.

[Aristotelian]

I am guessing if the club really negotiated with Markakis he would have accepted a 3 year 33 million deal. That is what I would have done.

Assuming it wasn't offered, why do you think Markakis would have accepted 3/$33M? He got the fourth year from Atlanta. I don't think he is going to forsake $7M just because DD did not return his phone call promptly.

Anyway, this thread was supposed to be about the strategy in general, not particular decisions. There were numerous threads with 100's of posts on Markakis. If you don't like the strategy in general, so be it. I would be curious to hear the argument.

In my opinion, the strategy makes sense - let the veterans go, and replace 80% of their production at 1/3 of the cost. Use the savings to build up depth so if we lose Manny or JJ for an extended period we are still in a good place. Even without Cruz and Markakis, we are very much dependent on veterans with some injury risk--JJ's back, Manny's knees, Wieters arm (Markakis's neck would have added to the list).The question, which is very much debatable, is whether it is more worth it to improve the team's upside than to protect more against downside risk.

[atomic]

Replacing Nick and Nelson-is that what we are worried about? Go ahead look at our lineup that we beat the Tigers with:

Joseph

Pearce

Schoop

Hardy

Flahery

DeAza

Jones

Markakis

Cruz

Now the main lineup we will have:

Joseph/Wieters (hope to have him half the year)

Davis

Schoop

Hardy

Machado

DeAza/Snider

Jones

Pearce

Young

Now which one will score more runs?

Well I think you have to hope Hardy is healthy. If Davis repeats his performance last year you would have to say last years playoff line-up would be much more productive than this years.

[mdbdotcom]

That is not whining. It is my opinion that the team will be worse offensively this year. Your opinion is that Snider and De Aza will make up for the loss of Cruz and Markakis. Having a different opinion that you does not make it whining. And I don't post this a million times. I am not saying woo is me we are going to be in last place. I just think that they will have a hard time covering the injuries that will happen this season. If you look at the line-up today other Machado and Jones you are looking at a pretty weak one. Yes DD has greatly improved the depth of the organization. But he is depending on guys at multiple positions who are pretty suspect. Lets hope it works out.

Whenever you make comments about Duquette not doing his job because of the Toronto situation, that is whining. That's the part I said was whining. I guess you skipped over that.

[atomic]

Assuming it wasn't offered, why do you think Markakis would have accepted 3/$33M? He got the fourth year from Atlanta. I don't think he is going to forsake $7M just because DD did not return his phone call promptly.

Anyway, this thread was supposed to be about the strategy in general, not particular decisions. There were numerous threads with 100's of posts on Markakis. If you don't like the strategy in general, so be it. I would be curious to hear the argument.

In my opinion, the strategy makes sense - let the veterans go, and replace 80% of their production at 1/3 of the cost. Use the savings to build up depth so if we lose Manny or JJ for an extended period we are still in a good place. Even without Cruz and Markakis, we are very much dependent on veterans with some injury risk--JJ's back, Manny's knees, Wieters arm (Markakis's neck would have added to the list).The question, which is very much debatable, is whether it is more worth it to improve the team's upside than to protect more against downside risk.

IF they lose Manny and Hardy for an extended period of time they are going to be in a really bad place. You need depth but I don't think the team has it. Basically we are starting a B squad at left field, right field, second base, catcher and DH.

[NCRaven]

Well I am just going off what I read and what Markakis has stated. Basically once his physical came back the team wasn't interested in bringing him back. For all I know this could have come from Angelos. The way Nick has been going on about this I doubt he was trying to get every last cent out of his contract. He seems upset about the way things happened. If it was just about the money he would have just gone to the Braves with a smile on his face.

My memory of the press reports and Markakis comments is that once the physicals came back, they weren't interested in including a fourth year. I've not seen a single report from anywhere, including the Atlanta media, that this was a good contract for the Braves. At least for them it doesn't matter since they are going to stink anyway. A team that wants to contend has to do better than Nick Markakis playing everyday in right field. And replacing Nick's power. WHAT POWER? I know Pearce was on the team last year, but many of his AB's came during Davis' suspension. This year, he and Snider will likely be the primary replacements for Markakis in right. My point is that whatever combination of players that Buck uses in right are likely to be better than Nick was last year, and this year, and next year, and especiallyl in the last year of an awful contract.

[atomic]

Whenever you make comments about Duquette not doing his job because of the Toronto situation, that is whining. That's the part I said was whining. I guess you skipped over that.

Well it is my opinion. Of course he didn't do anything in the off-season before the 2013 season either. So it is purely conjecture.

[atomic]

My memory of the press reports and Markakis comments is that once the physicals came back, they weren't interested in including a fourth year. I've not seen a single report from anywhere, including the Atlanta media, that this was a good contract for the Braves. At least for them it doesn't matter since they are going to stink anyway. A team that wants to contend has to do better than Nick Markakis playing everyday in right field. And replacing Nick's power. WHAT POWER? I know Pearce was on the team last year, but many of his AB's came during Davis' suspension. This year, he and Snider will likely be the primary replacements for Markakis in right. My point is that whatever combination of players that Buck uses in right are likely to be better than Nick was last year, and this year, and next year, and especiallyl in the last year of an awful contract.

You are discounting Nick's OBP and his long pitch at-bats. And his tremendous arm in right.