Question about the organization (TOW)

[AdamK]

Debated which forum to post this within, but it's not about just one level of the club.

To those with the memory of, and those who are well read on the subject of, and those who may have first hand knowledge...

Is The Oriole Way very much alive and a part of the clubs philosophy or conduct? If so, in which ways?

Forget small sample sizes, just overall, and carried over year to year?

[scOtt]

Debated which forum to post this within, but it's not about just one level of the club.

To those with the memory of, and those who are well read on the subject of, and those who may have first hand knowledge...

Is The Oriole Way very much alive and a part of the clubs philosophy or conduct? If so, in which ways?

Forget small sample sizes, just overall, and carried over year to year?

I think the way Buck runs ST, very structured, very focused, fundamentals. Is very much like TOW. Perfect practice. Saw many quotes from new Oriole players saying that Oriole ST is very much different from the organization(s) they came from. No standing around, waiting. Very structured, every minute of every day.

[AdamK]

I like it. How else?

I'm not young anymore but I'm young enough to not remember some key 80's stuff being born in 79.

Tell me about how the minor leaguers would be brought up in TOW.

Have I heard that Weaver came from a time when spring training was held in a camp-like environment?

How did TOW become a thing? How much of a thing was it? What were other teams doing while we had TOW?

I'd love to hear more and I don't think it's going to happen from Costa Rica.

[scOtt]

I like it. How else?

I'm not young anymore but I'm young enough to not remember some key 80's stuff being born in 79.

Tell me about how the minor leaguers would be brought up in TOW.

Have I heard that Weaver came from a time when spring training was held in a camp-like environment?

How did TOW become a thing? How much of a thing was it? What were other teams doing while we had TOW?

I'd love to hear more and I don't think it's going to happen from Costa Rica.

I vaguely remember that there was an actual book, The Oriole Way. To keep each level of the Minors all teaching the same fundamentals. Not like Frederick stressing one thing, then you move to Bowie and they're stressing something else, then Norfolk and it's something else. I think we have that consistency. Buck gets reports and knows EVERY minor leaguer in the system. And in communicating with all his MiL coaches and managers and scouts to get these reports, he also keeps them all on the same page with his feedback to them.

[Tx Oriole]

Debated which forum to post this within, but it's not about just one level of the club.

To those with the memory of, and those who are well read on the subject of, and those who may have first hand knowledge...

Is The Oriole Way very much alive and a part of the clubs philosophy or conduct? If so, in which ways?

Forget small sample sizes, just overall, and carried over year to year?

Sorry but I think the Oriole Way is a thing of the past now. IMO

[weams]

Sorry but I think the Oriole Way is a thing of the past now. IMO

It preceded Free Agency in many ways. Obviously the Ripken boys and Eddie hung on to it. But they got hassled for the hazing part of it.

[weams]

Sorry but I think the Oriole Way is a thing of the past now. IMO

Buck grew up at Billy's knee. And Earl loved Buck's way.

[Aristotelian]

To me it was about building from within, stockpiling talent, particularly pitching, so that the organization was always in a good position to compete. This also meant a consistent organizational philosophy built around pitching and defense. It also meant a track record of successfully implementing the philosophy. That was what allowed the team to compete year after year from the 60s into the early 80s.

The Glenn Davis trade was a harbinger of a different organizational philosophy that lasted until I would say 2008. Although we had some success with free agents (Palmeiro, Alomar), we became increasingly dependent on outside players, and that is not a sustainable strategy for a mid-market team.

The Bedard and Koji trades marked phase one of a transition back to something like the Oriole Way. Although we did not have players of our own, we were able to acquire some from other teams and wean ourselves from dependence on market value free agents.

Then in 2012 with Manny's call-up, we finally developed one of our top prospects, and made the playoffs with a new core built around Manny and Bedard-Koji group. This is where we are in phase two. What I like about the current regime is that they have built around a largely homegrown core (Jones, Machado, Tillman, Miguel, Chen, Britton) without sacrificing any of their top prospects (Gausman, Bundy, Harvey). They have brought in a few free agents (Cruz, Hardy) but they are not dependent on them.

The only thing that is missing compared to the 60s-80s era is that we still do not have a track record of successfully developing top pitchers. With all the free agents set to depart, Gausman, Bundy, and Harvey have the opportunity to take us into phase three. In which case, we would be completely back to the Oriole Way.