The three most disappointing things about this season so far (other than losing)

[SeaBird]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

They are not a real easy team to root for.

My brother-in-law was a die hard NY Metropolitans fan from day one in 1962.  He hung in there for every game, cheered them on, bought the memorabilia, took occasional vacation days to go to the Polo Grounds. They drew just under one million fans in their first year.  They won only 40 games in their first season and he swore they would build on it and be better in 1963.  (It would be hard to be worse than 40 wins.)  And  they did get better each year as far as wins go but they never climbed out of 10th place for  the next 6 years.  Then in 1969 Stengel's "Lovable Mets" shocked the sports world with 100 wins and went on to beat the Orioles in the 1969 WS in 5 games.

My father-in-law said my brother-in-law said something like, "Well....that didn't take too long,"  His fandom and stick-with-it love for that team sure paid off.

 

[mdbdotcom]

We are no closer to improving than we were last Sept;ember. We learned nothing. We have the same people in charge producing the exact same results.

[Es4M11]

15 hours ago, SeaBird said:

My brother-in-law was a die hard NY Metropolitans fan from day one in 1962.  He hung in there for every game, cheered them on, bought the memorabilia, took occasional vacation days to go to the Polo Grounds. They drew just under one million fans in their first year.  They won only 40 games in their first season and he swore they would build on it and be better in 1963.  (It would be hard to be worse than 40 wins.)  And  they did get better each year as far as wins go but they never climbed out of 10th place for  the next 6 years.  Then in 1969 Stengel's "Lovable Mets" shocked the sports world with 100 wins and went on to beat the Orioles in the 1969 WS in 5 games.

My father-in-law said my brother-in-law said something like, "Well....that didn't take too long,"  His fandom and stick-with-it love for that team sure paid off.

 

I'm 33 years old, been a fan since 5-6 years old - when is it my turn?

[Hank Scorpio]

Their unabashed unwillingness to acknowledge when it's time to rebuild the organization.

At this point, it's become a fire sale type situation. Didn't have to be this way.

[Es4M11]

1 minute ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Their unabashed unwillingness to acknowledge when it's time to rebuild the organization.

At this point, it's become a fire sale type situation. Didn't have to be this way.

That's the problem with guys like Buck and P.Angelos, they think they are the smartest guys in whatever room they are in. Most of the time they are probably right, but when they are wrong...you get a train wreck like this and the people responsible don't want to correct it because they will have to admit that they were wrong.

 

JMO

[glenn__davis]

Frobby's original post was great and I agree on all 3 fronts.

Just to add one more thing, the amount of strikeouts in the game (our beloved O's certainly included) is becoming more and more disappointing to me.  I still love the game, but the high pitch count, all-or-nothing approach, with less balls being put in play, simply isn't as fun to watch.

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

Frobby's original post was great and I agree on all 3 fronts.

Just to add one more thing, the amount of strikeouts in the game (our beloved O's certainly included) is becoming more and more disappointing to me.  I still love the game, but the high pitch count, all-or-nothing approach, with less balls being put in play, simply isn't as fun to watch.

Short of radical rule changes, I don’t know what you do about it.    A rookie pitcher for the Cardinals threw a couple of pitches at 105 mph yesterday.

[Es4M11]

Just now, Frobby said:

Short of radical rule changes, I don’t know what you do about it.    A rookie pitcher for the Cardinals threw a couple of pitches at 105 mph yesterday.

Mercy! I wonder how long he can keep that up...?

[webbrick2010]

To me it is there total lack of commitment to team defense and team speed and the bogging down of the roster with Rule V guys

The plan this year was:

1. Continue to start Adam Jones in CF ignoring that he is the worst CF'er in baseball

2. Start Beckham on the left side of the infielder even though he is not a ML regular

3. Didn't resolve the Trumbo situation by dumping him.

4. Signed Tillman when they had first hand knowledge that he was washed up. How can McDowell still have a job?

Instead of adding speed and defense to the OF, they signed Colby Rasmus (instead of say Dyson) who said sure I'll take 3 million to add to my retirement funds, and then retire.

Kept Santander, Cortes an Arahu on the roster, because Rule V guys are our future, even though we have never gotten anything resembling a ML regular from our Rule V efforts

[Aristotelian]

I think the overarching disappointment was laid out in Tony's Game of Thrones article. I can handle a losing season if there is a positive culture and plan for rebuild. There seems to just be infighting and competing agendas adding up to incoherence and no plan for the future. 

[glenn__davis]

30 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Short of radical rule changes, I don’t know what you do about it.    A rookie pitcher for the Cardinals threw a couple of pitches at 105 mph yesterday.

Oh, I agree.  I'm very much a traditionalist, but while I'm not quite to the point of seeing radical changes I'm getting pretty close.  I think pushing fences back (where possible) would be a start.  Maybe make a mandatory fence distance requirement on all new stadiums built.  Yankee Stadium's right field porch is ridiculous.  

[glenn__davis]

And just to get back on point with the thread, I do certainly agree with webbrick's commentary regarding the defense.  We heard for years about how important defense was to Buck, and yet he's made multiple decisions (or lack of decisions) over the past few years that indicate that this is not the case.  You look at our defense most nights and we have 3 positions - 1B, 2B and C - where guys are playing where they should be.

[clapdiddy]

The biggest disappointment for me is that this team kind of ties in to what others have stated.   They have taken away my desire to watch my favorite sports team.  Watching bad baseball is no fun.   If they were exciting to watch, but losing,  that would be one thing.   Having to watch a lineup with guys like Davis, Trumbo, Valencia,  and Alvarez in it (and playing the field...yikes!) is uninspiring.  

In the bigger picture, I think the lack of progress, thus far, in the farm system is very troubling.     I just don't see any "can't miss" prospects in our system.  We've traded away a lot of assets from our farm for a shot at contending, and now we've depleted a weak system.  I'm not saying that was a right or wrong thing to do, I'm just saying it happened.  

If we were a smart organization, we'd find a taker for anyone on the roster that could bring back young talent.   The only problem is that I'm not sure that the people currently in place are the right ones to be making those decisions.

[TouchemAll]

The Tillman and Davis thing has me most rattled, Tillman especially, seems like somebody didn't make the tuff decision on Tillman, not sure really who it was, I suspect it was Brady and Buck, and if Tony is right they are mostly responsible for the construction of this team then it's time for them to go, and I don't think since the Toronto deal that any of the Angelos have any faith in DD so it's time to clean house.

Davis is unique because of the $$ involved, but it's been long enough, and there's more then enough evidence that at the VERY LEAST you have to sit the guy against LH pitching.

 

[mdbdotcom]

3 hours ago, Roy Firestone said:

When Manny goes, this team will be the hardest to watch of all my Oriole teams in the last 30 years or so, and maybe every bit as unwatchable as 0-21.

Well, it is our 30th anniversary of the 0-21 season. Who's bringing the cake?