Not signing Miler and Cruz is going to haunt this team and it's fans for years to come......

[islandecho]

I said it 3 months ago and I will repeat it again. The O's absolutely 1000000000% blew it by not signing BOTH Miller and Cruz. Here is the thing, you cannot replace ELITE players with castoffs and journeymen. Elite players win you games, series, and championships.

Both Miller and Cruz, but especially Miller, are the VERY best at what they do. Miller at basically shortening the game to 6-7 innings to YOUR advantage, by putting FEAR into opposing teams knowing if they don't have a lead going into the 6th-8th inning they are probably going to lose, and by giving a huge shot of confidence to the entire pitching staff that carries over to the whole team. His stuff is maybe the best I have seen in a long long time from any pitcher. And we just said ok, see ya later. You don't get rid of people like that. And Cruz helps by of course hitting home runs and knocking in runs, but also by strengthening the entire order top to bottom which allows for more opps to score runs.

This team as we know it is not going to be around after this year. Paying Cruz and Miller the money they received would have really only hurt this year, and that had a strong chance of being offset by the fact that the Os would have had a great shot to win the whole thing in 2015. Which means all kinds of extra revenue to PA. I don't believe I have ever seen a team, IN ANY SPORT, who after not competing for a championship for 20 years, get so close the year before and THEN PURPOSELY WEAKEN THE TEAM. 99.999999999% of the time that is when most owners and management say "this is a chance we may not get again for another 10 years, it's time to go balls to the walls and go for it". This team? We let are two best players from last year go and replaced them with no one. Its sad. It's disgusting. It's pathetic really. Because after this year? We are losing much of our core anyway, so the money that you would be paying Miller and Cruz will more than offset by the money saved by not paying Davis, Weiters, etc. This was a great chance to win it all, and I can tell you right now this team will be doing very VERY well to finish at 500. It just is not that great of a team

[Crazysilver03]

Did you literally copy a post you made in another thread and make a whole nother thread about it so you can feel special instead of keeping it where it was already being discussed?

[mdbdotcom]

Did you literally copy a post you made in another thread and make a whole nother thread about it so you can feel special instead of keeping it where it was already being discussed?

He's going to keep posting it until someone agrees with him.

[weams]

I said it 3 months ago and I will repeat it again. The O's absolutely 1000000000% blew it by not signing BOTH Miller and Cruz. Here is the thing, you cannot replace ELITE players with castoffs and journeymen. Elite players win you games, series, and championships.

Both Miller and Cruz, but especially Miller, are the VERY best at what they do. Miller at basically shortening the game to 6-7 innings to YOUR advantage, by putting FEAR into opposing teams knowing if they don't have a lead going into the 6th-8th inning they are probably going to lose, and by giving a huge shot of confidence to the entire pitching staff that carries over to the whole team. His stuff is maybe the best I have seen in a long long time from any pitcher. And we just said ok, see ya later. You don't get rid of people like that. And Cruz helps by of course hitting home runs and knocking in runs, but also by strengthening the entire order top to bottom which allows for more opps to score runs.

This team as we know it is not going to be around after this year. Paying Cruz and Miller the money they received would have really only hurt this year, and that had a strong chance of being offset by the fact that the Os would have had a great shot to win the whole thing in 2015. Which means all kinds of extra revenue to PA. I don't believe I have ever seen a team, IN ANY SPORT, who after not competing for a championship for 20 years, get so close the year before and THEN PURPOSELY WEAKEN THE TEAM. 99.999999999% of the time that is when most owners and management say "this is a chance we may not get again for another 10 years, it's time to go balls to the walls and go for it". This team? We let are two best players from last year go and replaced them with no one. Its sad. It's disgusting. It's pathetic really. Because after this year? We are losing much of our core anyway, so the money that you would be paying Miller and Cruz will more than offset by the money saved by not paying Davis, Weiters, etc. This was a great chance to win it all, and I can tell you right now this team will be doing very VERY well to finish at 500. It just is not that great of a team

Hello! Welcome to the Hangout. Where did you post this strong information back three months ago so we can all agree that you nailed it.

[Crazysilver03]

He's going to keep posting it until someone agrees with him.

Fine. I agree with it if he won't start another thread on the same topic.

[Tx Oriole]

I said it 3 months ago and I will repeat it again. The O's absolutely 1000000000% blew it by not signing BOTH Miller and Cruz. Here is the thing, you cannot replace ELITE players with castoffs and journeymen. Elite players win you games, series, and championships.

Both Miller and Cruz, but especially Miller, are the VERY best at what they do. Miller at basically shortening the game to 6-7 innings to YOUR advantage, by putting FEAR into opposing teams knowing if they don't have a lead going into the 6th-8th inning they are probably going to lose, and by giving a huge shot of confidence to the entire pitching staff that carries over to the whole team. His stuff is maybe the best I have seen in a long long time from any pitcher. And we just said ok, see ya later. You don't get rid of people like that. And Cruz helps by of course hitting home runs and knocking in runs, but also by strengthening the entire order top to bottom which allows for more opps to score runs.

This team as we know it is not going to be around after this year. Paying Cruz and Miller the money they received would have really only hurt this year, and that had a strong chance of being offset by the fact that the Os would have had a great shot to win the whole thing in 2015. Which means all kinds of extra revenue to PA. I don't believe I have ever seen a team, IN ANY SPORT, who after not competing for a championship for 20 years, get so close the year before and THEN PURPOSELY WEAKEN THE TEAM. 99.999999999% of the time that is when most owners and management say "this is a chance we may not get again for another 10 years, it's time to go balls to the walls and go for it". This team? We let are two best players from last year go and replaced them with no one. Its sad. It's disgusting. It's pathetic really. Because after this year? We are losing much of our core anyway, so the money that you would be paying Miller and Cruz will more than offset by the money saved by not paying Davis, Weiters, etc. This was a great chance to win it all, and I can tell you right now this team will be doing very VERY well to finish at 500. It just is not that great of a team

And I disagree. The cost for Miller was what? Ten million a year? And Cruz chose

to leave. What he got would be too much for the O's to pay. When Nelson's

career goes belly up in a year or two. The Mariners will live to regret the Cruz

signing. IMO

[TonySoprano]

I said it 3 months ago and I will repeat it again.

Hello! Welcome to the Hangout. Where did you post this strong information back three months ago so we can all agree that you nailed it.I'm as curious as Weams. You registered this month, but you "said it 3 months ago." Do you want to explain how?

[mdbdotcom]

If we'd had Cruz and Miller on the team last year, we probably would have won the World Series, because... Cruz and Miller.

[gmelson26]

you registered this month, but you "said it 3 months ago." do you want to explain how?

The Birdland has cometh!

[TonySoprano]

The Birdland has cometh!

Not exactly.

I think people are really underestimating the losses of Cruz and Miller. They were arguably are best players down the stretch and in the playoffs. Cruz carried the team the first half of the year and did well come playoff time, and Miller was lights out the best pitcher we had once we got him. Pretty much unhittable. To me, losing those two with no real replacement yet or one that looks available still? BIG setback.

Markakis? While he has always been a favorite of mine, lets face it, he was an average hitter. Good fielder. Very replaceable.

I am just really disappointed in what the Orioles have done so far. It appears as if they are hoping that Weiters, Davis, and Manny all come back and make up for what we lost, but lets face it, we had them for parts of last year and it wasn't as if we were the be all and end all. It wasn't until Miller came that we really took off. Hate to say it but I think we are in for a pretty disappointing year. And this is coming from a guy that placed pretty big bets last March on the O's in Vegas to win the East, the AL, and the WS.

[DrungoHazewood]

As I've said many times, getting into a bidding war for a guy coming off of a career year at 33/34 is not just ill-advised, but a litmus test for a GM. If I was interviewing a GM candidate and he said he'd allocate $60M to a 34-year-old free agent coming off a big year following three consecutive 1.5-win seasons I'd politely ask him to leave.

[weams]

I think our moderation staff would have solved that the fellow was at the Fords theater that night.

[JLee2027]

He's going to keep posting it until someone agrees with him.

The Orioles problem is the starting pitchers have sucked. Cruz/Miller wouldn't solve this.

[mdbdotcom]

The Orioles problem is the starting pitchers have sucked. Cruz/Miller wouldn't solve this.

You mean a slugging DH and an 8th inning pitcher won't lead a team whose starting rotation has an ERA over 5.00 to the World Series?

[spiritof66]

I agree with the OP -- provided we pay for those signings by moving the team to NY or LA so we can increase media revenues and sell more tickets at higher prices.