Roch's latest blog is seriously depressing

[esmd]

3 hours ago, interloper said:

It's bleak, man. And weird. The O's didn't trade their players so they could remain competitive, yet balk at the price to make sure they really ARE competitive, and seem completely taken by surprise at the cost of free agency, even in a year when the cost appears to have plateaued in respect to other years.

They have no good answers for their fans, though Buck tries his best. Their rotation as it stands could be an all time worst in the final year of some of its most beloved modern-day team members (Jones, Machado, Britton, Buck). 

Maybe at some point why this has occurred, but for now it's pretty wild to witness.

This post is so depressing.  And it is so because it's so true.  WTF is going through their heads in the O's offices?  You have two options - go all in, I mean really go all in, or have a sale and start the rebuild process.  Pick a lane and go with it.  But instead, they're doing this clueless middle of the road, no one at the wheel B.S., and all that's going to result in is them being roadkill.

SMDH

[theocean]

37 minutes ago, cimota said:

Now Roch is banning a lot of people posting on his blog.  He has thin skin. 

Roch is incredibly thin-skinned. He's triggered easily.

[Can_of_corn]

8 minutes ago, theocean said:

Roch is incredibly thin-skinned. He's triggered easily.

It's the supplements.

 

 

[interloper]

22 minutes ago, theocean said:

Roch is incredibly thin-skinned. He's triggered easily.

Yeah he really is pretty bad about that kind of thing. It's rather embarrassing for him.

[TradeAngelos]

44 minutes ago, esmd said:

This post is so depressing.  And it is so because it's so true.  WTF is going through their heads in the O's offices?  You have two options - go all in, I mean really go all in, or have a sale and start the rebuild process.  Pick a lane and go with it.  But instead, they're doing this clueless middle of the road, no one at the wheel B.S., and all that's going to result in is them being roadkill.

SMDH

Contrary to popular belief, there aren't only 2 choices of "sell everyone!!!" or "go all in!!". That only exists on message boards, not in real life. There is a middle ground, one they have been finding for the last 5 or so years quite successfully. I know that is no fun, isn't exciting, doesn't get the juices flowing when you log in......but that is a fact.  We don't live in this bizarro world of scorched earth mentality like most of the delusional fans do who think they know everything. You actually CAN not either be a 60 win team or a 95 win team, while throwing all caution to the wind and going half cocked in one direction or the other. I'm so sick of this mentality, it is completely ridiculous and not based in any real world reality.

Literally the absolute LAST thing any owner with a brain wants to do is sell off all his good players, OR just start throwing money around like it is going out of style. That isn't how you run any type of business. Now I am not suggesting our owner is one of those people, but this extreme positioning or "either/or" aren't the only two choices of how to continue to build a winning team. The extremes you recommend usually never work, but the Astros winning it all last year put the nail in the coffin for any rational argument otherwise, because surely if it happened once, it happens EVERY time. It doesn't work that way. 

Now the problem is when you do absolutely nothing on the spectrum from "go all in" to "sell everyone" and just sit there twiddling your thumbs watching the MASN money roll in. Something has to be done, this team needs actual bodies to pitch, but that is a far cry from the extremes everyone so desperately want to happen. There doesn't appear to be a plan in place like that either, so that is something to complain about. Not that they won't succumb to your message board wet dreams and drop an atomic bomb on the team, or sign 4 top free agents in the next 24 hours. 

 

 

[interloper]

1. Full rebuild

2. Go all in

3. Middle of the road approach where you're creative with trades and smart signings and make critical additions when needed (Dan's first couple years comes to mind here)

4. Do nothing

There is a time and place for the first 3 - all legitimate ways to run a winning organization. There is no time or place for #4, which is where we are at right now.

[TradeAngelos]

7 minutes ago, interloper said:

1. Full rebuild

2. Go all in

3. Middle of the road approach where you're creative with trades and smart signings and make critical additions when needed (Dan's first couple years comes to mind here)

4. Do nothing

There is a time and place for the first 3 - all legitimate ways to run a winning organization. There is no time or place for #4, which is where we are at right now.

A-MEN. 

[Il BuonO]

48 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

It's the supplements.

Maybe it’s not supplements. ?

[esmd]

On 1/26/2018 at 3:34 PM, TradeAngelos said:

Contrary to popular belief, there aren't only 2 choices of "sell everyone!!!" or "go all in!!". That only exists on message boards, not in real life. There is a middle ground, one they have been finding for the last 5 or so years quite successfully. I know that is no fun, isn't exciting, doesn't get the juices flowing when you log in......but that is a fact.  We don't live in this bizarro world of scorched earth mentality like most of the delusional fans do who think they know everything. You actually CAN not either be a 60 win team or a 95 win team, while throwing all caution to the wind and going half cocked in one direction or the other. I'm so sick of this mentality, it is completely ridiculous and not based in any real world reality.

Literally the absolute LAST thing any owner with a brain wants to do is sell off all his good players, OR just start throwing money around like it is going out of style. That isn't how you run any type of business. Now I am not suggesting our owner is one of those people, but this extreme positioning or "either/or" aren't the only two choices of how to continue to build a winning team. The extremes you recommend usually never work, but the Astros winning it all last year put the nail in the coffin for any rational argument otherwise, because surely if it happened once, it happens EVERY time. It doesn't work that way. 

Now the problem is when you do absolutely nothing on the spectrum from "go all in" to "sell everyone" and just sit there twiddling your thumbs watching the MASN money roll in. Something has to be done, this team needs actual bodies to pitch, but that is a far cry from the extremes everyone so desperately want to happen. There doesn't appear to be a plan in place like that either, so that is something to complain about. Not that they won't succumb to your message board wet dreams and drop an atomic bomb on the team, or sign 4 top free agents in the next 24 hours. 

 

 

That would be all well and good if they were in a division other than the AL East in 2018.  The Yankees and Red Sox have reloaded and are both back in a major way.  The "middle ground" you suggest will be good for 3rd place at best.  Being a 80+/- win 3rd place team isn't really any better in the long run than a 75 win last place team.  1983 was 35 years ago.  If they want to have any hope of winning another one, their choices are as I described.  Middle ground just isn't going to get it done.

[Ripken]

This has been painfully obvious since the 2014 season ended.  They let Cruz and Miller go, threw away draft picks, handed out horrible contracts, ignored glaring deficiencies in the org, and it's been all down hill since.  With the farm system finally bouncing back a little, and all other things considered, the only option is to trade Manny and anyone else who's not part of 2019 and beyond, and rebuild.  Not that a blind owner and a FO full of dead men walking can accomplish that.

[Frobby]

19 hours ago, esmd said:

That would be all well and good if they were in a division other than the AL East in 2018.  The Yankees and Red Sox have reloaded and are both back in a major way.  The "middle ground" you suggest will be good for 3rd place at best.  Being a 80+/- win 3rd place team isn't really any better in the long run than a 75 win last place team.  1983 was 35 years ago.  If they want to have any hope of winning another one, their choices are as I described.  Middle ground just isn't going to get it done.

I think here fans have different philosophies.   Some feel that if you aren’t going to seriously contend for the division title, you may as well finish last and build for the future.   Others feel that they’d rather see a team that at least has a shot at a wild card spot, and winning the majority of its games, than watch a team that is losing 60% of the time.   There’s no right or wrong here, it’s a matter of preference, and there are risks either way.

[weams]

I like seeing the Orioles win more times than I see them lose. It's really quite simple for me. I am in this for the personal enjoyment. 

On another note, Roch wrote about the Boras negotiation with Britton today.

Quote

Britton’s case was unusual due to the surgery and how the injury occurred while working out, eliminating any possibility that the Orioles might release him. The sides were far apart past the 1 p.m. deadline.

“(Negotiations) weren’t smooth by any means,” he said. “The last few years we’ve had pretty lengthy discussions and kind of taken it right to the deadline. This year was a unique situation. Had I not gotten injured in the offseason I think it would have been pretty smooth sailing, but both sides were kind of in a unique position.

“There wasn’t a lot of reference for what I had done and I think as a player I was looking out for every player in the future who might get injured in the offseason. There was a precedent that could have been set and I didn’t want to be the guy to set it, so we kind of drew a hard line where we were going to start negotiations. And the Orioles were really professional about it, obviously, like they’ve always been. They’re hard negotiators, though, and I think anybody in baseball will tell you that. But at the end of the day I think we found something I was comfortable with and they thought was fair and we got it done.

1

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2018/01/zach-britton-on-being-maybe-a-little-ahead-of-schedule.html

[Camden_yardbird]

On 1/28/2018 at 9:44 AM, esmd said:

That would be all well and good if they were in a division other than the AL East in 2018.  The Yankees and Red Sox have reloaded and are both back in a major way.  The "middle ground" you suggest will be good for 3rd place at best.  Being a 80+/- win 3rd place team isn't really any better in the long run than a 75 win last place team.  1983 was 35 years ago.  If they want to have any hope of winning another one, their choices are as I described.  Middle ground just isn't going to get it done.

No.  In fact it is much much worse.  As Rob Manfred said himself in the LeBatard interview, look at the draft a few years ago, the twins, the Astros, the cubs were all in the top 5 picks.

MLB is in fact fostering and promoting a strip down rebuild model.  Mediocre teams in small markets that try and "reload" as the Orioles have suggested they are doing will be left in the dust.

Chose a direction, make choices in executing that plan.  The Orioles aren't doing that and there could be a thousand reasons why not.  But they need to figure something out or they are not going to be able the one thing they really want to do and that's make money.  They have done nothing to invigorate the fan base.

[clapdiddy]

3 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

No.  In fact it is much much worse.  As Rob Manfred said himself in the LeBatard interview, look at the draft a few years ago, the twins, the Astros, the cubs were all in the top 5 picks.

MLB is in fact fostering and promoting a strip down rebuild model.  Mediocre teams in small markets that try and "reload" as the Orioles have suggested they are doing will be left in the dust.

Chose a direction, make choices in executing that plan.  The Orioles aren't doing that and there could be a thousand reasons why not.  But they need to figure something out or they are not going to be able the one thing they really want to do and that's make money.  They have done nothing to invigorate the fan base.

Or maybe only one reason...

[TradeAngelos]

43 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

No.  In fact it is much much worse.  As Rob Manfred said himself in the LeBatard interview, look at the draft a few years ago, the twins, the Astros, the cubs were all in the top 5 picks.

MLB is in fact fostering and promoting a strip down rebuild model.  Mediocre teams in small markets that try and "reload" as the Orioles have suggested they are doing will be left in the dust.

Chose a direction, make choices in executing that plan.  The Orioles aren't doing that and there could be a thousand reasons why not.  But they need to figure something out or they are not going to be able the one thing they really want to do and that's make money.  They have done nothing to invigorate the fan base.

The Orioles have done this exact thing that allegedly doesn't exist anymore, and have been in playoff contention or in the playoffs for the last 6 years. This ridiculous notion that you need to lose 100 before you can win 90 is patently absurd, and not based in the slightest bit of reality.