Who here has had enough?

[foxfield]

2 hours ago, atomic said:

I am sorry but the inaction by this team is infuriating.  This team is on pace to lose 115 games this season.   To put this in perspective the Astros were trying to lose at one point.  They had 22 million dollar payroll in 2013 and lost only 111 games.  Just about anything they do will improve the team for today and tomorrow.  I don't get it.  Release someone, trade someone , fire someone.   Have some fights in the dugout.   But do something already.  

There is much wrong with this roster and rosterbation relief won't change that.  And the depth of futility by this roster and it's "going for it" payroll is one of the most intriguing aspects of our otherwise abject failure.

 

1 hour ago, weams said:

I promise you. There will be trades. 

I am not in the camp of they won't make trades.  But it's a situation that is highly likely to leave the Orioles worse off.  Teams negotiating will obviously be hesitant about if we will agree and that is understandable.  We also don't have many pieces performing in a way that screams of tremendous trade value.  Obviously Manny is valuable.  But if your next best piece is Britton...well he was last awesome in 2016.  There is value, and the Orioles should have everyone on the table.

I continue to fear that trades will reflect a reload for 2019 and I think that idea will work about as well as the 2018 We're going for it! 

So, it's not IF there will be trades I am concerned about.  It is what are we trying to accomplish in doing them that has me greatly worried.

 

 

As to the Original Post.  Have I had enough?  Many here have debated things like the value of Felix Pie, the wisdom of Marty Cordova, the embarrassment of 30-3, the Mother's Day Massacre, the Wow Offer to Mark Teixeira, the wild 3 ways of Sports Guy and through it all...up or down have we have managed to forge on and continue to love the Baltimore Orioles.  Everyone has things they can turn attention to when it's not going well.  Less time here, more reading, time with family, etc.  Check out the music thread here sometime...

Mostly this is a continuation of an ERA began by an owner who may have saved the Orioles from an even worse fate by outbidding Jeffery Loria and yet has somehow managed to consistently embarrass baseball and the fans.  However, he may have also left a more enduring legacy by proving that 7+ years at top money contracts are bad.

Enough?  Well, yes, I have had enough.  But there are 30 MLB teams, and mine is the Baltimore Orioles, so, I will:

Hope the Owner makes a good move soon, hope the GM is given authority and a budget to succeed, I hope the draft turns up Brooks, Cal, Eddie, Frank and Jim.  I hope the manager drives the clubhouse to success, I hope every member of the organization knows their role and is held accountable to it.  I hope Chris Davis rediscovers himself and if not finds happiness away from the game.  I hope Manny Machado, Zack Britton and Adam Jones are traded to the Yankees for Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar and Luis Severino and I hope all three (Manny, ZB, AJ) sign with the Orioles on great deals in November. 

Mostly, I yearn for success that has been long out of our reach.  And while this particular season of futility has been very hard to take, I will simply find ways to go forward.  And to those who really don't have much remembrance of the 14 years of blackness or the 15+ years of baseball excellence, I say this...On the day that the Orioles announce they are looking to the future; name a GM, begin making trades that look to a future beyond this year and next...you will feel better immediately.  So will the players.  It's always darkest before the dawn of an era.

Imagine!

[weams]

 

[gtman55]

Am I the only one that has never been this excited to see a Ravens pre-season game? The Orioles misery has me drinking extra purple Kool Aid these days. 

[25 Nuggets]

I will be an Orioles fan no matter what happens, but I lost my die-hard-ness a long time ago.  If they show signs of an actual rebuild, I'll be more engaged with the team.  As of right now, I'm listening to maybe a third of their games.

[Moose Milligan]

Wait until the Orioles draft Heimlich tonight and then claim they didn't know about his past.

[foxfield]

46 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Wait until the Orioles draft Heimlich tonight and then claim they didn't know about his past.

His manuver? But it's saved countless lives!!!!   

[NashLumber]

5 hours ago, SteveA said:

Here you go!

 

Ah. He who Snelt it dealt it. 

[LookitsPuck]

3 hours ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

Season ticket holder?

Yup. Since 2007 or 2008. Can’t remember exactly, oddly enough. 

I’ll still go to games because my soon to be 5 year Old likes going. But they’re painful to watch.

[NashLumber]

I became an O’s fan due to peer pressure a couple of weeks before my 8th birthday.. In ‘69, as a kid who only saw pro baseball in Raleigh NC when “The Game of the Week” was on, the only baseball talk or buzz I heard was about The Mets. When the World Series was set, all of my fellow 8, 9 and 10 year olds on the block went for the O’s and they told me why (the Robinsons, Boog, Cuellar, etc, “they’re far superior, Jeff!”). I said, ok. Fine. They lost, but I stayed with it and was rewarded in my 2nd year of fandom with the ‘70 Series win and Brooks became my role model for all time. And then another Series appearance and loss to the Bucs. And so on as the rest of you did through the 70s, 80s, 90s up to the present. So my love for them was kind of the way kids become fans of teams, but my continued love of a sports team for 49 years is kind of irrational, especially now in the internet age where it’s not uncommon to check the board four times a day, even when things are bad and the front office and at times the manager’s decisions are a comedy of errors. Why in the world would I cling to this mess of an organization? I guess I just love baseball, period. And for that reason, it’s hard to be happy right now. It’s BAD baseball.  I have scaled back my tuning in to mostly radio now so that I can be of more help before the kids go to bed and other meaningful things around the house. I’ve had to make similar adjustments anyway due to being a bachelor for 53 years and marrying a women with two kids 3 years ago. I don’t think anyone gets some kind of award for being the most blindly loyal fan here. I certainly don’t aspire to that. And anyone has the right to do what the hell they want. Hot fan. Cold fan. I’m not gonna criticize anyone for scaling back their fandom or act self righteous about it.  I’m truly pissed with the front office and the lack of direction, poor player development, on and on. But I’ll still be an O’s fan even though they don’t really deserve it right now. 

[O's84]

6 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Wait until the Orioles draft Heimlich tonight and then claim they didn't know about his past.

I might be needing a certain maneuver if that happens. 

[Camden_yardbird]

14 hours ago, weams said:

 

I wouldn't touch a DB pitcher...  

Whatever they are doing over there to develop their pitchers is breaking them.

[utvolzac]

Been a diehard fan for 30 years since I was 7 years old. My feelings on the O’s have gone from general apathy to a feeling of hopelessness. My only investment at this point is the Hangout. Watching the games is completely impossible, I was checking the box scores daily but I couldn’t take seeing Davis batting 5th anymore, so I stopped doing that even.

Like everyone else I’m waiting for the Manny trade and eventual rebuild, but part of me feels we’ll do the unthinkable and keep Manny for the comp pick, that we’ll use on a guy who’s upside is a utility infielder.

Theres just so much incompetence at every level of this organization that even a rebuild would probably get botched by the current regime.

Terrible organizational structure, inept ownership, unqualified executives (Brady), awful player evaluation (horrible contracts) not much going on in the farm system and even worse on actually developing talent once they are in the system. 

The thing that keeps me invested is that I’m still young enough that I’ll most likely outlive Angelos and I can hope and pray that his kids won’t want to pay the inheritance tax on the team. Following the disaster of the 2014 offseason coming off the ALCS, I have zero faith in winning under anyone named Angelos owning the team.

[JR Oriole]

I will say that I am extremely impressed with everyone who has NOT had enough.  For me (and I know for many others on the Board), it is this awful fear that we don't have the right people in place to execute a rebuild.  If we could be the Astros, or Cubs, or Braves even and do this the right way, I would be thrilled.  But we are so slow with everything that it seems less like careful deliberation and more like complete incompetence.   In terms of Angelos, long after his reign as owner is over, I will remember him for getting rid of a beloved announcer who many of us grew up listening to and a manager who would be named manager of the year and was responsible for taking us further in the playoffs than we have been since, as well as having a tenure as owner that produced org structure disarray, blocked trades, and minimal postseason success. I remember thinking when he became principal owner that he wanted to be another Steinbrenner.  Well, the difference is George was a tyrant who won his fans 11 pennants and 7 championships.  PA....0 on both counts.  Congrats on your legacy dude.....small shoes to fill.

[Ohfan67]

This year sucks and last year was pretty bad, but it's no where near the level of hell that was the middle and later parts of the 14 year losing streak. This year is a real stinker, but the O's are actually in better shape than they were during much if not all of the losing streak. They have a lot of cash coming off the books and their minor league system is significantly better (and yes, still not as good as it should be/we want, but better). There's some chaos in the FO now, but these aren't the Syd Thrift days. 

[Redskins Rick]

1 minute ago, Ohfan67 said:

This year sucks and last year was pretty bad, but it's no where near the level of hell that was the middle and later parts of the 14 year losing streak. This year is a real stinker, but the O's are actually in better shape than they were during much if not all of the losing streak. They have a lot of cash coming off the books and their minor league system is significantly better (and yes, still not as good as it should be/we want, but better). There's some chaos in the FO now, but these aren't the Syd Thrift days. 

Good post.

Yes, the minor league system is vastly improved and with room to still improve, its no longer the worse in MLB.

Yes, losing sucks, but i dont feel like I did, in the 14 year black hole, of course, nobody wants to see this losing keep going on either.