In Hindsight, one move

[Bahama O's Fan]

If you could go back and change one move only in the Duquette/Showalter era, be it a trade, signing, etch..., what would it be?

[Mayor McCheese]

This is a no brainer -

I would have never given the Cubs Arrieta and Strop!!!!!

[eddie83]

If you are assuming his production would have improved here like in Chicago it is Arrieta by a mile.

[Aristotelian]

How about a top 3? Also, to be clear, this is all with the benefit of hindsight? We are not talking about whether we liked the deal at the time.

My top 3 in hindsight: Arrieta trade, Ubaldo, and the Davis deal. Close call but I would go with Arrieta if forced to choose one.

My top 3 that I did not like at the time: Parra trade, Davis contract, selling comp pick to the Dodgers.

[Bahama O's Fan]

This is a no brainer -

I would have never given the Cubs Arrieta and Strop!!!!!

With the way he was pitching for us, do you believe we would have gotten the same performance as he is giving the Cubs?

[Bahama O's Fan]

How about a top 3? Also, to be clear, this is all with the benefit of hindsight? We are not talking about whether we liked the deal at the time.

My top 3 in hindsight: Arrieta trade, Ubaldo, and the Davis deal. Close call but I would go with Arrieta if forced to choose one.

My top 3 that I did not like at the time: Parra trade, Davis contract, selling comp pick to the Dodgers.

Yeah, total hindsight.

[FuManchu]

If you are assuming that players would have performed equally (which they wouldn't have) had they stayed then it is no doubt Arrieta. If he was with the O's and performed like an ace, then you could argue that the domino effect of signings and lost draft picks involving Jimenez and Gallardo wouldn't have happened.

[Aristotelian]

Honestly Arrieta could have stalled out in AAA for us, but it would still be that move. It hurts that much to see him pitching at a Cy Young level for another team.

[pastorfan]

Letting Duquette go to Toronto.

Agree. It cost us the 2015 season as he did nothing to improve the team in a winnable division. Other than that I hate the Gallardo deal given that they knew he was hurt and gave up a pick. (Trading Jake and Pedro--two power arms--for Feldman was foolish business even if they had not panned out.)

[LookitsPuck]

Let Duquette go to Toronto. If the rumours were true of either Sanchez or Hoffman for Duquette.

That said, if he goes to Toronto: we don't trade for Parra, we don't sign Gallardo and we don't like Gonzo walk.

I'd like to go back and nix the Arrieta trade, but that's only *if* he'd have flourished in Baltimore. I'm not so sure he would have given the cutter ban and Buck's TTTP infatuation. So, not going to do that.

[LookitsPuck]

20-20 hindsight is easy. Jake was lousy for us and started to become an unhappy player. We needed a veteran arm for the pennant run.It turned out to be a bad move for us, but at the time, most people didnt seem to mind and many liked the trade. Ubaldo, if he were just mediocre would have been a bargain...but he turned into a disaster. It happens. Gozo wasnt great for most of the spring and had multi millions coming to him if we kept him. Tough call.

All of these are facts and disappointing deals.But what about acquiring Brach, Trumbo, Alvarez, and Kim. Id say all four have been very good moves for the Orioles. How come Dan doesnt get any credit there?

Well, Kim was certainly a good signing. But then we had that debacle with the media and Duquette trying to dump him/send him back to Korea. Soooo.

Obviously Brach has been amazing. And the Trumbo trade has been solid.

Alvarez I like in a vacuum. But the Alvarez signing created a further logjam and now we have an OF of DHs. It's one of the worst OF defenses in baseball. So I think the roster construction was poor by signing Alvarez.

[sportsfan8703]

This is a no brainer -

I would have never given the Cubs Arrieta and Strop!!!!!

End of the thread right here. Easiest hypothetical question ever.

[tntoriole]

Honestly Arrieta could have stalled out in AAA for us, but it would still be that move. It hurts that much to see him pitching at a Cy Young level for another team.

On our board, the accepted wisdom is that it was ALL Rick Adair's fault, that we totally screwed up Arrieta, etc. Now while there is truth to some of that, it is also important to note what else happened to him when he moved to Chicago. He changed his ENTIRE muscle mass and conditioning program and attributes it as much as anything else to his improvement.

One day after the 2013 season Brittany and Jake were leaving a French bakery in their hometown of Austin when he noticed a Pilates studio next door. Arrieta has always been a workout omnivore, devouring any discipline that will make him better: yoga, Olympic weight training, visualization, sports psychology.... Pilates? Sounded interesting. Arrieta figured he would take one or two classes a week. He walked into the studio and signed up for a class with an instructor named Liza Edebor. "I pitch for the Cubs," he told her.

"Oh, thats great," she said. I never heard of you. Let's see what we can do.

In the first half of the 20th century German-born Joseph Pilates developed a series of controlled movements to improve strength and flexibility throughout the body. Many of the movements involve the use of pulley systems on a machine called a reformer. After Arrieta?s first session with Edebor he told her, "We need to train together. This is life-changing."

He took sessions three times a week. He ordered a custom-built reformer for Wrigley Field and put it in the only space available, a cramped storage room that doubled as manager Joe Maddon's media interview room. Last season Maddon conducted media briefings while Arrieta ground through his Pilates workout just a few feet away.

In the off‑season Arrieta turned his Austin garage into a Pilates studio. Edebor trained Brittany and Jake there for an hour and a half six days a week, starting at 6 or 6:30 a.m. "Jake went from a regular-sized athletic guy to just ripped", Edebor says, "and the only thing we did was Pilates."

"It's an incredible experience," Arrieta says. "Pilates has been around a long time but maybe was taboo in this sport. I think it's only a matter of time before you see a reformer in every big league clubhouse."

The Cubs finished remodeling their clubhouse facilities this off‑season, giving one of the game's most cramped quarters the second-largest footprint in baseball, behind only the Yankees' facilities in square footage. The new Wrigley digs include a room devoted to the latest in training devices. It is known as the Arrieta Room. More reformers are on the way.

"What I noticed from Pilates last year was that I have much better control of my body," Arrieta says. "I repeat my delivery consistently. My balance is much improved. And the mental and physical toughness Pilates requires to complete movements the correct way have directly helped me on the mound." Tom Verducci http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/03/28/jake-arrieta-chicago-cubs-profile

[Can_of_corn]

End of the thread right here. Easiest hypothetical question ever.

I don't like choosing Jake since I don't think he would have developed here.

I think these types of hypotheticals mostly come down to the draft. Pick a guy that greatly exceeded his draft position and plug him in for an O's pick.

I will say the Parra deal really hurt the team going forward. Not only was he putrid but Davies was lost and Gallardo had to be signed to fill a hole that Davies could have filled.

[tntoriole]

I will keep Milt Pappas....oops, sorry, wrong era.