Craziest Orioles offseason and spring ever?

[Redskins Rick]

To be fair, 3 of our pitchers have a pretty good track record of being average or slightly above average. Spring training hasn't given me much confidence in them repeating that, but I don't expect any of those 3 (Tillman, ubaldo, gallardo) to fall off a cliff.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

But, for those that want the team to fail, of course, they are going to assume the worst.

[Tx Oriole]

I have the gut feeling that it will. Not sure if anything will surprise me after this winter and spring rollercoaster.

I don't think it will. Very strange goings on.

[glenn__davis]

I sat through 14 losing seasons, losing a game 30-3 and a decade plus of ridiculously stupid decisions and didn't blink an eye.

But the way this franchise has conducted itself lately has been pretty embarrassing.

I'm not sure who's ultimately responsible for it but the buck stops with DD as far as I'm concerned. I'll be glad when he's gone.

[Moshagge3]

Just to review the highlights:

- Wieters becomes one of the first players ever to accept a QO

- O's reportedly offer $154 mm to Chris Davis as the winter meetings open, then pull the offer off the table, then sign him for $161 mm five weeks later after flirting with Cedpedes for a day.

- O's reach a 3-year deal with Gallardo, then renegotiate it to two years when they see stuff on his physical. Part of the attraction is it allows them to use the 29th pick to get...

- Dexter Fowler, who reportedly reached a deal with the O's but then shows up in Cubs' camp.

- O's sign Kim, he starts off 0 for 23, then after he starts getting some hits they bench him and it leaks that they're discussing sending him back to the KBO.

- And it looks like a Rule 5 guy beat him out and will start.

- O's avoid arbitration with Miguel Gonzalez for $5.2 mm, then cut him at the end of spring training.

I left out the boring stuff, like Trumbo, O'Day and Alvarez.

What a crazy offseason. I wonder if the season will be equally crazy.

Let's not forget:

-Pie in face policy discontinued.

[Moose Milligan]

Since there's no real way to categorize craziest offseason I'll give you credit because this was pretty crazy, but then nominate the 1898-99 offseason:

- The manager and part owner of the team, Ned Hanlon, entered into a partnership with Charlie Ebbets' Brooklyn team. Transferred himself to Brooklyn.

- Hanlon and his new partners worked out a "trade" where they sent future HOFers Willie Keeler, Hughie Jennings, Joe Kelley, and a few others to Brooklyn for a Hickory Farms Cheese and Sausage basket.

- The team's other future HOFers John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson were slated to go to Brooklyn, too, but convinced somebody that they couldn't leave because of their bar/bowling alley (The Diamond) in Baltimore.

- McGraw, aged 26, named player-manager.

- Despite the intention to send almost all the best players to Brooklyn, McGraw somehow acquired Iron Man McGinnity from a minor league team and kept him in Baltimore. He went 28-16 as a rookie, was eventually inducted into Cooperstown.

- Apparently not realizing what they had, Brooklyn allowed Jimmy Sheckard to move to Baltimore where he had the first really good year in what was a near-HOF career. They took him right back after '99.

- Acquired "Wagon Tongue" Bill Keister, who was a journeyman that had brief cups of coffee in '96 and '98, but hit .329 as a regular for the Orioles in '99.

- Acquired Candy LaChance, which was only remarkable because 19th century men apparently allowed people to call them things like "Candy".

1899-1900 was also crazy, but is easier to sum up:

- Orioles, along with Washington, Louisville, and Cleveland contracted out of existence. As far as I know 1900 is the only year in the past 140-odd years Baltimore had no professional baseball team in any league.

Was McGraw a good player?

Great post. But I'm now calling you Candy. You're also forgetting the 80's Candy Maldonado. I think it was short for something like Candido but yeah, there's a 20th century man allowing himself being named Candy.

Maybe I was just younger and more excitable but the offseason we got Miggy, Javy, and Raffy had me f'ing STOKED. I was so amped. I guess maybe that's not the definition of "crazy" but it was one of the more memorable ones.

I think roller-coaster would be a good description for this one.

[JKOriole]

I just hope with all that went on this offseason, the O's wont be back to dealing with confederate money again.

[weams]

I just hope with all that went on this offseason, the O's wont be back to dealing with confederate money again.

The money never was funny. There was just not enough of it. An old, ill, befuddled man made that quote. And it stuck.

[DrungoHazewood]

Was McGraw a good player?

He was an excellent player, but had his career derailed for reasons I only partly understand. He was an extinct player type - he'd hit .330 or .350 with 100+ walks but no power whatsoever. Came to the O's as a teenager. In the mid-1890s his wife died and then he contracted something like typhoid, and he missed significant parts of two seasons. Bounced back to have an insane 1899 season (player-manager of a team that finished 4th despite being stripped of most of its core, while hitting .391/.547/.446 while being a plus third baseman. 9-win season). But was done as a player by 30, possibly due to after-effects of the earlier illness.

Great post. But I'm now calling you Candy. You're also forgetting the 80's Candy Maldonado. I think it was short for something like Candido but yeah, there's a 20th century man allowing himself being named Candy.

That's an excellent pull. I'll give you a major award if you can find a recent player nicknamed "White Wings" or "The Old Woman in the Red Cap" or "Butts" or "Peek-A-Boo".

[DrungoHazewood]

Apologies for the thread derail, but that last post had me looking up 19th century nicknames and this article is just too funny to not post.