Dave Sheinin article on the plight of the Orioles

[DrungoHazewood]

20 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

Not much new in here. (Interesting that a former MLB beat reporter appears either not to know how attendance is determined or choose to be misleading about it.)

But the quote above got my attention. Really, Buck? What are some of the "lot of different things" the Orioles have tried and are trying?  I can't think of a damn change this team has done, other than those necessitated by injuries (the Stone Hands Platoon at third, Peterson at second). You're still starting Tillman. You're sticking with Brach, mostly. You're still playing Davis and Trumbo and Caleb and Jones and Santander. You're not bunting and starting runners more. Maybe you're clamoring for younger players to be brought up, but if so that hasn't happened. Other than the free-agent upgrades from last year's woeful starters, May 2018 looks a lot like September 2017. .

From what I can tell, the Orioles haven't tried a lot of things. They are pretty much "just sitting around going, ‘Well, it’s just one of those things you go through.’ " Am I missing something? (It wouldn't be the first time.  

So what could they be doing?  Bunting and starting runners more is a good recipe for scoring less.  There's nobody in the minors who would turn things around.  Changing the lineup around is just shuffling the same resources, it won't do anything meaningful.  This isn't football or soccer where you can introduce all new formations and tactics, it's baseball.  For the most part the manager's best weapon is to get out of the way and let the players play.  You could replace Buck tomorrow with any other human being and almost all of the tactics and lineups would be the same, or different in meaningless ways. 

Winning baseball isn't pulling levers and pushing buttons.  It's building a team in the offseason, and the prior offseason, and the one before that.

[spiritof66]

40 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

So what could they be doing?  Bunting and starting runners more is a good recipe for scoring less.  There's nobody in the minors who would turn things around.  Changing the lineup around is just shuffling the same resources, it won't do anything meaningful.  This isn't football or soccer where you can introduce all new formations and tactics, it's baseball.  For the most part the manager's best weapon is to get out of the way and let the players play.  You could replace Buck tomorrow with any other human being and almost all of the tactics and lineups would be the same, or different in meaningless ways. 

Winning baseball isn't pulling levers and pushing buttons.  It's building a team in the offseason, and the prior offseason, and the one before that.

Not lying about what they're doing.

I agree with you almost 100% -- if I were Buck, I might have pushed for dipping into the MiL roster by now -- but Buck is trying to persuade Oriole fans, and that includes me,  that that they are doing different things that might help. That's either massive self-deception or a flat-out lie.

And BTW, bunting and starting runners are generally counter-productive, especially with a bunch of slowpokes like the Orioles. But could you really find a way to score even fewer runs than they're scoring? Maybe so.

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, pastorfan said:

Don't get your hopes up. They will not trade the guys they should. No one knows who is in charge...so who is even going to make the decision to trade guys? You have what you tolerate...and apparently ownership is cool with the way things are.

Oh, totally agree.  No way they trade Machado.

I am cool with not trading Machado if they think they have the duckets to sign him in the offseason and can do it.  But that's not happening.

It's too late, they should have traded him last year at the deadline, maybe this offseason but now I don't think the return will great with him essentially being a rental.  

Too late to have traded anyone else of value back when they had some.  Trading Manny now represents the last glimmer of hope to get a good prospect, maybe two.  Had they traded Manny, Britton and others when their value was higher, we might feel better about this team right now.

 

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

I don't know how anyone that wants to have a shred on credibility can talk about where the O's are right now and not talk about  the injuries,  the schedule and the late signing of Cobb.    But then again it is the Washington Post that has a vested interest in the O's regional rival.

I'm fairly certain you were a fan of this guy weren't you? lol

[spiritof66]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

I don't know how anyone that wants to have a shred on credibility can talk about where the O's are right now and not talk about  the injuries,  the schedule and the late signing of Cobb.    But then again it is the Washington Post that has a vested interest in the O's regional rival.

You  forgot the cold weather. Didn't you notice how things turned around once it warmed up?