This is A Mess (Mega RANT Thread)

[TonySoprano]

We aren't allowed to call them names but boy it sure would be easy!

Please don't.

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[scOtt]

It is a mess because we have an organization where the most senior baseball guy doesn't want to be here. It is a mess because 2015 is really a wasted year. We were very close at the end of 2014 and 2015 could have been the year to really go for it all. We chose to not go for it all by letting the free agents leave yet the spin to reporters is the team is All In for this season. The moves we made this past offseason are not all in. Now we will go into next year with needs for 1B, C, 2 OFs, a DH, 2 starting pitchers, maybe a reliever.

If we weren't truly committed to go for it this year, we should have started retooling last offseason.

We were almost in the WS last year. Why would ANYONE make major changes to the team? But DD is disgruntled and coasting. Running out his contract, a PRISONER of Evil Pete.

No self-respecting GM who EVER wanted to have a job in MLB again would do that.

[weams]

Herman and MSK are real men of conviction. During the best stretch of the year from June 24-28 culmintating in the O's sweeping a DH from Cleveland and being 7 games up, they either had nothing to say. or stuff like this.

See, their rhetoric gets toned down real fast when the team is winning. All of a sudden they aren't quite as sure about all the crap they are spewing. Now the team is down again, and boy are these guys tough now. LOL

We aren't allowed to call them names but boy it sure would be easy!

No name calling.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Guessing how players will play is always a plan. It's what we do. It's what GMs all do. It sure is not about what we pay them though. I showed you. Paredes is as good as Hanley.

Ehh, "guessing" is a poor choice of words. No GM should be guessing. They are paid to make calculated risk/reward decisions. If someone had told me that Machado would be having and MVP season and Davis would be up around an 820 OPS at this point in the year, I'd have guessed we'd be having a very good season. I agree with Eddie 83 that the COF/DH platoon strategy (minus Paredes) has turned out about as poorly as it could, along with a few other factors (Norris/Tillmam, injuries etc) kicked in.

[SteveA]

I wasn't trying to pick a fight with you or anyone for that matter. I just think a guy that plays everyday and gets on base consistently, doesn't get platooned and plays a solid RF is more valuable than Snider, who even if he is a better defender only plays in the field half as much. I think a guy getting on base every game in front of the order on this team gives us something we lack. Markakis isn't a great player but his skills would help our team.

I agree 100%. If they both cost the same, any GM that chose Snider over Markakis for the same price should be summarily fired.

[scOtt]

This is a maddening thread!

[TonySoprano]

I agree with Eddie 83 that the COF/DH platoon strategy (minus Paredes) has turned out about as poorly as it could, along with a few other factors (Norris/Tillman, injuries etc) kicked in.

Well, if we had Cruz, he could have pitched for Tillman or Norris when they stunk up the first half.

[weams]

Ehh, "guessing" is a poor choice of words. No GM should be guessing. They are paid to make calculated risk/reward decisions. If someone had told me that Machado would be having and MVP season and Davis would be up around an 820 OPS at this point in the year, I'd have guessed we'd be having a very good season. I agree with Eddie 83 that the COF/DH platoon strategy (minus Paredes) has turned out about as poorly as it could, along with a few other factors (Norris/Tillmam, injuries etc) kicked in.

There is no way to say it differently. Going forward is always a guess. Maybe an informed one.

[weams]

Well, if we had Cruz, he could have pitched for Tillman or Norris when they stunk up the first half.

Easily as well. I wanted Nelson to stay. I would have made the mistake to keep him and let Davis go.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Markakis of course signed a 4 year deal and Snider is making peanuts. I admit I get frustrated at times. I understand what the Orioles were thinking. I look at the start of the year and we had a defender in Lough, Young who is best served as a DH vs lefties, Pearce who prior to last season best attribute on offense was that he hit lefties well, DeAza who is best vs RHP and Snider who had yet to prove himself as anything more than a 350 at bat a year player. At the end of the day it was a mistake to think that it all would work out.

I just can't grasp how a player who plays roughly half as many innings in the field and gets about 55-60% of the at bats can be close to as valuable of a player? If he is clubbing the ball with a 950 OPS or something that is one thing. If his defense is so great then why isn't he playing more as well? Right now Paredes is best served as a DH vs RHP, today even if Matt would have played 1B that still means a lefty had to play the field and today it was Lough. Markakis is in there every game, he isn't get benched for Lough. In the AL you only have a 4 man bench. So with a back up catcher and utility IF the most platoons a team can have is 2 unless you use the backup IF and catcher in platoons. This team would benefit from an everyday player who gets on base and someone that doesn't make you carry another player. I don't know how to value that in numbers,? but I think it matters.

Platoon strategies can be effective multipliers for lower budget teams (or teams with payroll constraints in our case). Lots of teams have used them effectively. When one or two (in our case several of them) are slumping it can multiply the pain and it certainly did in our case. I really hated the Delmon Young decision and hated Buck playing him as much as he did earlier in the year.

[eddie83]

I agree 100%. If they both cost the same, any GM that chose Snider over Markakis for the same price should be summarily fired.

Pretty concise way of saying what I am mainly trying to say.

[eddie83]

Platoon strategies can be effective multipliers for lower budget teams (or teams with payroll constraints in our case). Lots of teams have used them effectively. When one or two (in our case several of them) are slumping it can multiply the pain and it certainly did in our case. I really hated the Delmon Young decision and hated Buck playing him as much as he did earlier in the year.

I agree but we tried a mix and match at 3 spots. I have no issue in 2016 with a Snider type of player and Pearce in a platoon. I just think you need more quality surrounding that. You are asking a lot to try that at 3 positions. I think right now we need another RH batter.

[eddie83]

Well, if we had Cruz, he could have pitched for Tillman or Norris when they stunk up the first half.

I don't think going forward we can build our team expecting more than a league average rotation with what we have. I am not saying that we shouldn't strive for better but if a 2014 season happens then it is a bonus.

[weams]

I think right now we need another RH batter.

Delmon? Or is the curse broken anyway?

[CA-ORIOLE]

It is certainly difficult to understand how Snider can have the positive WAR he currently holds. My advice would be to take WAR as simply one indicator of several and I would caution not to use it to freely in the middle of a season.

I haven't watched Nick play at all this year. He certainly has a good OBP but pretty much everything else appears to be about a zero and his average is slowly falling to the expected 275-285 range from over range. At 275 with virtually no power, he can't be bringing much to the team even with a good OBP. And I'm a huge Nick fan.

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As I stated earlier, Snider's WAR numbers are very likely inflated by his very high defensive numbers this year which are not consistent with his career trend (which isn't bad) and don't seem to match his performance. That said, I think Snider is more comfortable in LF and is a perfectly fine defensive outfielder imo.

Nicks defensive numbers appear to be much more consistent this year with his career trend. His powerless season looks to be on track for a near 2-ish WAR year and he doesn't need a platoon partner.