2012-2015 Astros, meet the early 1960s Orioles

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't find obvious rebuilding years as painful as I do the limbo years where the front office makes some patch work signing and hope the team finishes with a winning record.  I can put up with losing if I can see them working toward an actual goal.

That's reasonable.     The O's played it halfway for far too long in the losing years.   

[weams]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

While I think a complete rebuild may be the way to go, I'm not naive enough to think that rebuilds always work.    You hear a lot about the ones that do, and that makes the odds seem better than they really are.    

Most fail miserably. Especially if not propped up with big income.  Paying a guy a lot to build around him almost never works.  Free Agency and long term contracts are almost never wise. For anyone. As you have documented for us. 

[weams]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

That's reasonable.     The O's played it halfway for far too long in the losing years.   

The way that Tampa, Washington, and Houston did it was last or second to last in the league for five seasons in a row.

[25 Nuggets]

12 hours ago, HoustonOrioleFan said:

When was the last young/talented Orioles team?  '96/'97 was overwhelming veteran-led…Why Not '89 was fun, but now proven frankly not to be that great a young team (weak AL East with Toronto's 89-win title)…Even '79-'83 was more veterans, right?  More knowledgeable posters will correct me, but I think the 64-66 Orioles were the last (only) young/super talented Orioles team that came into their prime together…sure "old" (he was 30…thank you stupid Reds GM whose name I have forgotten) Frank Robinson put us over the top, but that team was young and so good…must have been incredible!!

If you're comparing to Houston -- the 2012 team had a younger average age.

Houston has more veterans than people think.  Brian McCann, Yuli Gurriel, Josh Reddick, Carlos Beltran, Evan Gattis, Mike Fiers, Charlie Morton, Will Harris and Luke Gregerson are all major contributors and over 30.  Dallas Keuchel is 29.  Jose Altulve and George Springer are 27, which is older than Matt Wieters, Adam Jones, Chris Davis, Chris Tillman and Wei-Yin Chen were in 2012.

[25 Nuggets]

27 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't find obvious rebuilding years as painful as I do the limbo years where the front office makes some patch work signing and hope the team finishes with a winning record.  I can put up with losing if I can see them working toward an actual goal.

There's a big difference between that, and tanking.

That, I support.  Tanking, I do not.

[Tx Oriole]

2 hours ago, 99ct said:

For sure - it could still turn out well for them. I guess my point was more that, in their fourth year, they're still under .500. That's four painful years, and it goes without saying that would take it's toll on Orioles fan. 

Like 14 years of losing.

[99ct]

3 minutes ago, Tx Oriole said:

Like 14 years of losing.

Pretty much. The difference between losing and rebuilding can quickly get blurry though. Obviously I'd love to have tons of great prospects though - I'm not arguing against that. 

[foxfield]

2 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Rebuild much preferred to rolling the dice on the David Segui's and Marty Cordova's of the baseball world.  

Marty Cordova woulda been a hall o famer if not for the sunburn....  

[Tx Oriole]

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't find obvious rebuilding years as painful as I do the limbo years where the front office makes some patch work signing and hope the team finishes with a winning record.  I can put up with losing if I can see them working toward an actual goal.

I can too Can.