The This Team IS Done, We are Dumb and Nothing can Fix it MEGA THREAD

[El Gordo]

Is it a different approach than we've had for the last 3 years?

We have never seen this kind of a team slump before have we? If it's the same approach how come teams didn't figure us out last year or the year before.

[DrungoHazewood]

You mean as in, don't throw them fastballs...ever. When you think you need to give in and throw a fastball, don't. They will swing at your crap, junk pitches.

That's pretty much the scouting report on us. We have poor OBP and swing at everything. Why would a pitcher ever throw us a heater for a strike?

I doubt it's quite that simple. Nobody swings at everything. The O's still probably see more fastballs than any other type of pitch. It's matters of degrees and adjustments.

[MemorialStadKid]

Well at least the stats people (of which I am not one) will be able to show examples of their opinions. Unlike you who has freely admitted to not liking any of Duke's offseasons, claiming that we were lucky to have winning seasons the past 3 years, but then will claim that the win-loss stats of 2015 "prove" your point that Duke and Angelos are cheap and didn't do anything in the offseason to help this team.

Frankly, I've grown tired of your act and am no longer amused by it.

I never said DD was "cheap." I said he was distracted by the Toronto situation and failed to improve.

What examples are there to not improve when the opportunity arises? I get frustrated by the constant excuses for not improving using stats. That's a tired act if I've ever seen one.

MSK

[Going Underground]

ERod thanks the Orioles.Also thanked the Red Sox for letting him throw a cutter.

The Baltimore Orioles might rue the day they traded Eduardo Rodriguez to the Red Sox in exchange for Andrew Miller at the 2014 Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline. Miller made a major impact down the stretch with Baltimore last season, but the veteran reliever since has signed with the New York Yankees and Rodriguez is just getting going in Boston. And the early returns on Rodriguez, who tossed another gem in the first game Wednesday, have been sensational. Rodriguez is 9-4 with a 1.97 ERA in 18 starts in the Red Sox organization since being acquired from the O’s. Most importantly, he’s 2-0 as a major leaguer, allowing only one run on five hits over 14 2/3 innings (0.61 ERA) while striking out 14 and walking four. Opponents are hitting .102 (5-for-49) against Rodriguez in his two big league outings. “Last year, I was just surprised when they told me, ‘You’re going to be traded. You’re going to Boston now,’ ” Rodriguez recalled Wednesday. “But look at where I am right now. Now I am going to say thanks to them for trading me here.” Red Sox manager John Farrell made it perfectly clear Rodriguez is staying in Boston’s rotation.

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2015/06/red-sox-notes-eduardo-rodriguez-appreciative-of-orioles-2014-trade/

[Dipper9]

I never said DD was "cheap." I said he was distracted by the Toronto situation and failed to improve.

What examples are there to not improve when the opportunity arises? I get frustrated by the constant excuses for not improving using stats. That's a tired act if I've ever seen one.

MSK

What about the years before when he was not being chased by the Jays? Never mind, I'd rather go argue with a wall.

[DrungoHazewood]

What examples are there to not improve when the opportunity arises? I get frustrated by the constant excuses for not improving using stats. That's a tired act if I've ever seen one.

I much prefer the constant excuses for not improving using crystals. And magnets. Maybe divining rods.

[El Gordo]

I much prefer the constant excuses for not improving using crystals. And magnets. Maybe divining rods.

I prefer chicken entrails myself.

[DrungoHazewood]

I prefer chicken entrails myself.

Or tea leaves. You get to drink a fine cup of Lapsang Souchong and then see the future.

[sportsfan8703]

ERod thanks the Orioles.Also thanked the Red Sox for letting him throw a cutter.

The Baltimore Orioles might rue the day they traded Eduardo Rodriguez to the Red Sox in exchange for Andrew Miller at the 2014 Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline. Miller made a major impact down the stretch with Baltimore last season, but the veteran reliever since has signed with the New York Yankees and Rodriguez is just getting going in Boston. And the early returns on Rodriguez, who tossed another gem in the first game Wednesday, have been sensational. Rodriguez is 9-4 with a 1.97 ERA in 18 starts in the Red Sox organization since being acquired from the O?s. Most importantly, he?s 2-0 as a major leaguer, allowing only one run on five hits over 14 2/3 innings (0.61 ERA) while striking out 14 and walking four. Opponents are hitting .102 (5-for-49) against Rodriguez in his two big league outings. ?Last year, I was just surprised when they told me, ?You?re going to be traded. You?re going to Boston now,? ? Rodriguez recalled Wednesday. ?But look at where I am right now. Now I am going to say thanks to them for trading me here.? Red Sox manager John Farrell made it perfectly clear Rodriguez is staying in Boston?s rotation.

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2015/06/red-sox-notes-eduardo-rodriguez-appreciative-of-orioles-2014-trade/

Well adding the cutter explains what happened. Good thing preventing our pitchers from throwing it has kept them from needing TJ.

[islandecho]

I am a big believer in the psychological importance of an athlete performing up to the top of his or her abilities. I think it plays a bigger part than even I realize. I know I have played sports my entire life, from golf (4 hndcp) to tennis (played in college) to hockey (played from the time I was 4 until now) to baseball to bball to football to bowling (212 average) to weightlifting to a host of others, and it always amazes me how my head can influence how well I do on any given day. It's kind of crazy.

So in that vein, DD did two things this off season that imo destroyed the 2015 season before it even began. First, he did the Toronto thing. For the past 3-4 years, ever since Buck and DD came here, there has always been a sense of continuity and family. I think that played a big part in the teams consistency the past few years. When DD tried to leave? I think that surprised a lot of the players and made them lose that sense of stability that they felt here. It kind of cast a cloud over everything. The good feels were gone.

Second, when DD failed to sign Cruz, Miller, and to a lesser extent Markakis, and when he replaced them with no one, and him doing this when the team just got done going to the ALCS? I think it really took the momo and sense of confidence away from the players. It also made them lose some of that extra drive and mojo they have had the past 4 years. I am sure many stopped and asked themselves, "we just got to the ALCS, and management's plan is to LOSE some of our top players? Without replacing them? Ok then." They had to subconciously wonder, what is the point in going all out when our GM and owner are not giving their 100% to win?

I know many will pooh pooh this, but ask Peyton Manning about the off season and what it means to a team. He has said many times that to have the full support of the coaching staff and owner....to have all of the players on the same page at off season conditioning and workouts...is vital. He repeatedly says that the off season is by far the most important time of the year for the team. That it leads up to the team getting in the right frame of mind and competing at 100%.

I really feel that DD hoodwinked the team this past year. And at this point I want him to go to Toronto next year so the cloud hanging over the team can lift and they can start fresh. I would go so far as to say he almost deserves to be fired for the disaster this season has been, all while coming off our first ALCS appearance in many, many years.

[AlbionHero]

If I'm a baseball player, I'm not going to be all worried and lose my motivation to play because of what some old dude up in the box seats did. I'd also be a bit more understanding of the economics of baseball than your average fan, and know that DD was a bit handicapped by all the arbitration cases so he didn't have the money to replace the guys who left, so I wouldn't take it personally.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Jesus man. You started an entirely new thread to written the exact same thing that has been written by you in four other places. Give it a freaking rest. We know what you think. Honest.

The bowling analogy is a new angle.

[islandecho]

Jesus man. You started an entirely new thread to write the exact same thing that has been written by you in four other places. Give it a freaking rest. We know what you think. Honest.

Off topic.

[weams]

The bowling analogy is a new angle.

What does Dick Weber say about any of this?

[weams]

That's a trolling meme. Lose it.