How did they get this bad?

[connja]

This is by far the worst assembled roster I can remember.  I have no doubt he is dealing with meddling from above and below, but his primary responsibility is to construct the roster and this is just FUBAR.  

We haven't had a leadoff hitter in how many years?  We haven't had a right fielder.  We have no bench - 2 pinch hitters tonight hitting under .200.  We have no speed.  And for a manager who had done nothing but preach the value of defense, we've sacrificed all of it and gotten nothing in return on offense.

And who would build a team with Trumbo, Davis, Alverez and Mancini on the same roster.  4 redundant players. 

Oh and the pitching....

DD should be first one to go.

 

[Three Run Homer]

The one thing that is clearly on DD is the failure to sign a decent utility infielder over the offseason.  We actually thought we could get by with Luis Sardinas and Engelb Vielma.  Then Schoop and Beckham got hurt and the O's had nobody to plug in, to the point that they had to use Pedro Alvarez and Danny Valencia at 3B and couldn't wait to claim Jace Peterson.  

I can't blame DD for signing Chris Davis, or for the fact that Trey Mancini and Jonathan Schoop have forgotten how to hit a baseball.  

[Rene88]

DD is to blame for one huge mistake: not signing Nelson Cruz IMO. That dumb mistake cost us huge.

DD did not lobby Angelos to sign Davis.

DD did not block the Britton trade.

DD did not block a potential Manny trade this offseason. 

This mess is not black and white, like most things in life.

[Spy Fox]

2 minutes ago, Rene88 said:

DD is to blame for one huge mistake: not signing Nelson Cruz IMO. That dumb mistake cost us huge.

DD did not lobby Angelos to sign Davis.

DD did not block the Britton trade.

DD did not block a potential Manny trade this offseason. 

This mess is not black and white, like most things in life.

We'd be better off if we had followed the logic of not signing Nelson Cruz more often.

[Moose Milligan]

5 hours ago, Rene88 said:

 

This mess is not black and white, like most things in life.

This is about where I am.  Plenty of blame to spread around.

[Frobby]

I blame Andy MacPhail.   If he hadn’t traded for Chris Davis, we’d never have signed him to that idiotic contract.    Damn you, Andy!

[theobird]

I think DD deserves a lot of the blame for sure. But there is plenty to spread around. Right now I think the focus should be on moving forward. The smart move would be to fire Duquette and Buck. Hire your new GM and let that guy make the moves, construct the rebuild including the hiring of his new field manager. That's the right move, IMO. Will it happen? Almost certainly not.

[foxfield]

Well I can’t fault anyone who sees this mess and finds fault with DD. But i can’t abide by anyone who can’t see BucK, Brady and in my opinion PA with blame. 

8 players on our 25 man opening day roster were either Rule V or non roster invitees. That does not include Tillman or Wright. 

But we are going for it!

[ThomasTomasz]

7 hours ago, Rene88 said:

DD is to blame for one huge mistake: not signing Nelson Cruz IMO. That dumb mistake cost us huge.

DD did not lobby Angelos to sign Davis.

DD did not block the Britton trade.

DD did not block a potential Manny trade this offseason. 

This mess is not black and white, like most things in life.

The odds on the Nelson Cruz deal, plus a Nick Markakis deal, were not in favor of working out.  A mid-30's slugger signed to a deal worth $14 million a year, also having PED allegations in his past, was a huge risk.  I can't fault the team for walking away from either, but what you CAN fault them for is not finding younger replacements.  We are still working to replace Markakis at the top of the order and his defense in RF, and Cruz over the past three seasons would likely be our highest OBP guy, along with another 40 homers.  

I certainly agree that it's not black and white.  I mean, if ownership is meddling to the point where we pass deadlines to sign Ryan Goins or Ryan Flaherty, something is wrong with our decision-making process. 

[foxfield]

7 minutes ago, ThomasTomasz said:

The odds on the Nelson Cruz deal, plus a Nick Markakis deal, were not in favor of working out.  A mid-30's slugger signed to a deal worth $14 million a year, also having PED allegations in his past, was a huge risk.  I can't fault the team for walking away from either, but what you CAN fault them for is not finding younger replacements.  We are still working to replace Markakis at the top of the order and his defense in RF, and Cruz over the past three seasons would likely be our highest OBP guy, along with another 40 homers.  

I certainly agree that it's not black and white.  I mean, if ownership is meddling to the point where we pass deadlines to sign Ryan Goins or Ryan Flaherty, something is wrong with our decision-making process. 

This would be funny if it were not true. 

[24fps]

9 hours ago, connja said:

This is by far the worst assembled roster I can remember.  I have no doubt he is dealing with meddling from above and below, but his primary responsibility is to construct the roster and this is just FUBAR.  

We haven't had a leadoff hitter in how many years?  We haven't had a right fielder.  We have no bench - 2 pinch hitters tonight hitting under .200.  We have no speed.  And for a manager who had done nothing but preach the value of defense, we've sacrificed all of it and gotten nothing in return on offense.

And who would build a team with Trumbo, Davis, Alverez and Mancini on the same roster.  4 redundant players. 

Oh and the pitching....

DD should be first one to go.

 

DD says he’ll be happy to oblige and wonders if you could ask PA if he could be let out of his contract tomorrow. 

[atomic]

Rumours were that there were agreements with two utility infielders but Angelo's just let them sit on his desk. The way the organization is set up there is no final responsible for anything. Hard to know who is to blame other than ownership. 

[atomic]

1 hour ago, theobird said:

I think DD deserves a lot of the blame for sure. But there is plenty to spread around. Right now I think the focus should be on moving forward. The smart move would be to fire Duquette and Buck. Hire your new GM and let that guy make the moves, construct the rebuild including the hiring of his new field manager. That's the right move, IMO. Will it happen? Almost certainly not.

You forgot to say fire Brady. 

[Tx Oriole]

10 hours ago, connja said:

This is by far the worst assembled roster I can remember.  I have no doubt he is dealing with meddling from above and below, but his primary responsibility is to construct the roster and this is just FUBAR.  

We haven't had a leadoff hitter in how many years?  We haven't had a right fielder.  We have no bench - 2 pinch hitters tonight hitting under .200.  We have no speed.  And for a manager who had done nothing but preach the value of defense, we've sacrificed all of it and gotten nothing in return on offense.

And who would build a team with Trumbo, Davis, Alverez and Mancini on the same roster.  4 redundant players. 

Oh and the pitching....

DD should be first one to go.

 

What's DD to do if Angelos won't allow him to make some deals that might have helped the team? Roy posted something about DD having some deals that he thought would help the team only to have Angelos to turn him down.  I think it was posted week and a half ago. Who you going to blame when Manny isn't traded this season? DD has some blame. Buck has some blame. But the main culprit is Angelos. 

[connja]

Again, his only job is to construct the roster and this is the worst roster in MLB.  

Our "strategy" of waiting til prices drop right before the season starts every year puts us in a bind.  instead of signing players we need, we just collect a bunch of players at sale prices whether or not they are good fits.

For example, with Davis on the roster for 7 years, no reason to sign Trumbo at any price unless a one year deal at that point.