Dan Connolly: How Orioles Management Failed to Construct a Winning Roster

[Orioles West]

I thought the consensus here and at the Sun was that the O's were short on talent going in -- that essentially standing pat after the loss of Miller and Cruz was going to hurt our chances. What most thought was, Dan was going to do a better job of adding pieces along the way.

I think it is a little late for Mr. Connolly to whine about the winter losses, when the failure was not getting better help during the season - like DD did during our AL Wast title run a year ago. Was it budget constraints or a lack of minor league depth to get help? I think a bit of both.

-Don

[paulcoates]

He didn't say that, but the statement was pretty well vindicated anyway since the team scored as many runs with Snider and De Aza and Parra as they did with Cruz and Markakis.

So, that being said, Duq saw that his pitchers were not going to live up to what they did last year?

[El Gordo]

I thought the consensus here and at the Sun was that the O's were short on talent going in -- that essentially standing pat after the loss of Miller and Cruz was going to hurt our chances. What most thought was, Dan was going to do a better job of adding pieces along the way.

I think it is a little late for Mr. Connolly to whine about the winter losses, when the failure was not getting better help during the season - like DD did during our AL Wast title run a year ago. Was it budget constraints or a lack of minor league depth to get help? I think a bit of both.

-Don

Clearly it was his failure to realize that the SP would fail, and in a higher run producing environment we would need Markakis and Cruz in order to score more runs just to hold serve. It was obvious to DC apparently, if not to DD.

[waroriole]

He didn't say that, but the statement was pretty well vindicated anyway since the team scored as many runs with Snider and De Aza and Parra as they did with Cruz and Markakis.

That team didn't have Manny. Offense could've been even better.

Not to say I'm necessarily against any of the decisions. They just all failed spectacularly.

[Stotle]

Yea, that's pretty much what I'm saying. The piece was a one-year look at the wisdom of long-term deals. When everyone expected year one to be the most productive for each of those players. The piece should have come with a disclaimer that this is cherry picking the year that makes the Orioles' decisions look the worst.

Was he supposed to wait until 2017 to write a recap of 2015 offseason decisions? I don't see what's wrong with taking stock after year one. Another year of playoff revenue and increased season ticket sales sure would have been nice, even if it meant Baltimore would need to rely on cheaper home grown talent to help offset some added payroll costs.

I still can't for the life of me understand why "mortgaging the future" is only unacceptable when it comes in the form of long term contracts. Trade away prospects and draft picks, and fail to leverage your opportunities internationally, and we just call it "trying to spend wisely." No lo comprendo.

[Can_of_corn]

Was he supposed to wait until 2017 to write a recap of 2015 offseason decisions? I don't see what's wrong with taking stock after year one. Another year of playoff revenue and increased season ticket sales sure would have been nice, even if it meant Baltimore would need to rely on cheaper home grown talent to help offset some added payroll costs.

I still can't for the life of me understand why "mortgaging the future" is only unacceptable when it comes in the form of long term contracts. Trade away prospects and draft picks, and fail to leverage your opportunities internationally, and we just call it "trying to spend wisely." No lo comprendo.

Personally I thought ERod was worth raising the chances of a WS title by 5% or whatever it was.

The other playoff pieces I have not been in favor of.

[MemorialStadKid]

Was he supposed to wait until 2017 to write a recap of 2015 offseason decisions? I don't see what's wrong with taking stock after year one. Another year of playoff revenue and increased season ticket sales sure would have been nice, even if it meant Baltimore would need to rely on cheaper home grown talent to help offset some added payroll costs.

I still can't for the life of me understand why "mortgaging the future" is only unacceptable when it comes in the form of long term contracts. Trade away prospects and draft picks, and fail to leverage your opportunities internationally, and we just call it "trying to spend wisely." No lo comprendo.

At this point we're in a very tough spot in terms of who to bring in and who to let go. The Orioles need to spend very wisely this winter. No more nickel and diming. We know most of the FAs will be gone so it's time to get an impact pitcher at the very least.

I remain confused why any negative assessment from someone in the national media is immediately met with scorn and suspicion as if the writer is personally attacking the Orioles. There's not a single thing in Connolly's article that hasn't been corroborated by other writers over the last two weeks.

MSK

[Can_of_corn]

At this point we're in a very tough spot in terms of who to bring in and who to let go. The Orioles need to spend very wisely this winter. No more nickel and diming. We know most of the FAs will be gone so it's time to get an impact pitcher at the very least.

I remain confused why any negative assessment from someone in the national media is immediately met with scorn and suspicion as if the writer is personally attacking the Orioles. There's not a single thing in Connolly's article that hasn't been corroborated by other writers over the last two weeks.

MSK

Connolly is National media now?

[DrungoHazewood]

Was he supposed to wait until 2017 to write a recap of 2015 offseason decisions? I don't see what's wrong with taking stock after year one. Another year of playoff revenue and increased season ticket sales sure would have been nice, even if it meant Baltimore would need to rely on cheaper home grown talent to help offset some added payroll costs.

I still can't for the life of me understand why "mortgaging the future" is only unacceptable when it comes in the form of long term contracts. Trade away prospects and draft picks, and fail to leverage your opportunities internationally, and we just call it "trying to spend wisely." No lo comprendo.

I have no idea why you think I'm a huge fan of trading away everything on the farm. Judicious trades of mid-level prospects can be okay.

Trading Josh Header when he's in A ball isn't quite the same as committing $60M to someone you know is going to dramatically decline sometime in the next few years.

[Stotle]

I have no idea why you think I'm a huge fan of trading away everything on the farm. Judicious trades of mid-level prospects can be okay.

Trading Josh Header when he's in A ball isn't quite the same as committing $60M to someone you know is going to dramatically decline sometime in the next few years.

What about the aggregate impact of trading Hader, Rodriguez, Davies, draft picks, and international slots? Then adding to that increased investment in marginal/bounce-back players you hope will outperform recent production or repeat a season or less of above-norm production?

How does that compare to the risk that in a couple of years you could have declining return on an asset that is, at present, performing?

[DrungoHazewood]

What about the aggregate impact of trading Hader, Rodriguez, Davies, draft picks, and international slots? Then adding to that increased investment in marginal/bounce-back players you hope will outperform recent production or repeat a season or less of above-norm production?

How does that compare to the risk that in a couple of years you could have declining return on an asset that is, at present, performing?

As with almost everything there is a balance. You can withstand trading guys like Hader and Rodriguez if you have a strong development pipeline. Obviously that's lacking now.

But the Orioles have a limited payroll, especially relative to the division. They will immediately feel the impact of a bad free agent decision. There are multiple ways to acquire low cost talent. But little you can do when you sign a guy to a long $100M deal and he stinks.

[Stotle]

As with almost everything there is a balance. You can withstand trading guys like Hader and Rodriguez if you have a strong development pipeline. Obviously that's lacking now.

But the Orioles have a limited payroll, especially relative to the division. They will immediately feel the impact of a bad free agent decision. There are multiple ways to acquire low cost talent. But little you can do when you sign a guy to a long $100M deal and he stinks.

Case-by-case analysis, but I think you're way too dismissive when it comes to signing a long term contract and way to comfortable with the idea of savvy cheap signings and trading away depth, draft picks, and international slots. Sometimes it works out. When it doesn't you get a bad year and no clear path for fixing it (and a crappy system to boot). Which, surprise, is where Baltimore finds itself. Thank heavens the team was bad enough to get a shot at drafting Manny or it would really be a disaster.

[jimmypowder]

Angelos = CHEAP .

Thats why we failed.

[DrungoHazewood]

Angelos = CHEAP .

Thats why we failed.

Ah yes, another tired old post about how a mid-market team increasing payroll from $80M to over $110M in three years is cheap. Why do I get the feeling that cheap is defined as "not enough wins"?

[Slappy]

That's a long article to get page hits.

He could have just said "the Orioles underperformed because Tillman, Gonzalez, and Norris underperformed and the club couldn't find replacements"

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