Orioles to be more active in International Free Agent Market

[Aglets]

OK I'm willing to go back into utter doom and gloom mode now.  That's really disheartening that we traded for slots and apparently weren't willing to actually pay the market price (or even slightly above).

[Redskins Rick]

8 minutes ago, Aglets said:

OK I'm willing to go back into utter doom and gloom mode now.  That's really disheartening that we traded for slots and apparently weren't willing to actually pay the market price (or even slightly above).

Think its time to start making the kool-aid.

[Aglets]

Think its time to start making the kool-aid.

Oh YEAH!

Wait, I mean oh no.

[Roll Tide]

52 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Roch is working overtime trying to spin the Orioles in some good light. tough job right now. Sure, Graham is "minding the store" and I'm sure he is some kind of contact with owenership, but clearly this team did not have a plan on how to ensure they got at least one of those prospects.

As one scout told me, "Gaston was worth the $2.6 million." ff he was, then you make sure Gaston's representative knows they will outspend any reasonable offer. Regardless of how it all went down, the fact that the Orioles could not land one of the remaining three top prospects after having the most money tells you how bad things are with this organization right now.

The fact that the Angelos brothers apparently could care less about keeping the fans or their employees informed is even more troubling for the future in my opinion. Just business as usual under the Angelos ownership.

Tony ...Here is my issue!

The Mesas never wanted to play anywhere but Miami (little Havana). That was pretty much obvious by the fact that they waited for Miami to collect the funds. Gaston took the next closest teams money to stay in the area imo.

If he wanted to stay in Florida no amount of money that was available under this slotting system really matters. Prior to this the Dodgers invested something like 20 million dollars in Y Diaz if I remember correctly. The difference now just isnt that much different and therefore a guy can chose geography over taking the most money. Also the difference is also offset by the tax differences in Florida as opposed to Maryland right?

I'm not drinking the Koolaid ....I just think this is a very important time for the Orioles under Peter's sons and hiring someone to really run the show is key.

 

[Tony-OH]

54 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

Tony ...Here is my issue!

The Mesas never wanted to play anywhere but Miami (little Havana). That was pretty much obvious by the fact that they waited for Miami to collect the funds. Gaston took the next closest teams money to stay in the area imo.

If he wanted to stay in Florida no amount of money that was available under this slotting system really matters. Prior to this the Dodgers invested something like 20 million dollars in Y Diaz if I remember correctly. The difference now just isnt that much different and therefore a guy can chose geography over taking the most money. Also the difference is also offset by the tax differences in Florida as opposed to Maryland right?

I'm not drinking the Koolaid ....I just think this is a very important time for the Orioles under Peter's sons and hiring someone to really run the show is key.

 

I don't really dispute that these players, especially the Mesa brothers wanted to play in Florida/Miami. My issue is you just don't let Tampa outbid you here when you need some good publicity. The organization is a rudderless ship right now and the Angelos brothers are doing themselves zero good by staying so secretive.

[wildbillhiccup]

57 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

Tony ...Here is my issue!

The Mesas never wanted to play anywhere but Miami (little Havana). That was pretty much obvious by the fact that they waited for Miami to collect the funds. Gaston took the next closest teams money to stay in the area imo.

If he wanted to stay in Florida no amount of money that was available under this slotting system really matters. Prior to this the Dodgers invested something like 20 million dollars in Y Diaz if I remember correctly. The difference now just isnt that much different and therefore a guy can chose geography over taking the most money. Also the difference is also offset by the tax differences in Florida as opposed to Maryland right?

I'm not drinking the Koolaid ....I just think this is a very important time for the Orioles under Peter's sons and hiring someone to really run the show is key.

 

Everything you stated is pretty obvious (and makes sense to me). So why did the Orioles go all in on push to sign these players? Unless you think Duquette went rogue then ownership must have signed off on this international push. So you can either put the blame on them for not actually signing these players or for not doing their homework on the front end and realizing they wouldn't be able to sign them. Either way it's one ownership. 

[wildbillhiccup]

5 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I don't really dispute that these players, especially the Mesa brothers wanted to play in Florida/Miami. My issue is you just don't let Tampa outbid you here when you need some good publicity. The organization is a rudderless ship right now and the Angelos brothers are doing themselves zero good by staying so secretive.

Like it or not the Orioles went "all in" on the Mesa and Gaston and walked away empty handed. That's just as much on ownership as it is on Duquette. They were the ones signing his paychecks. 

[Aglets]

Yea you if you're going to lose both of them to Florida teams because of geography and culture issues then you need to at least make it very clear through the press that your offers were the best on the table but the kids cared about more than money apparently.

Instead what we now know is that Tampa outbid us and that we weren't even really that close to matching Miami's offer to the Mesas.  You just can't do that if you expect to be taken seriously as pursuers of top international talent.

[eddie83]

Signed some players.... 

 

 

[wildbillhiccup]

2 minutes ago, Aglets said:

Yea you if you're going to lose both of them to Florida teams because of geography and culture issues then you need to at least make it very clear through the press that your offers were the best on the table but the kids cared about more than money apparently.

Instead what we now know is that Tampa outbid us and that we weren't even really that close to matching Miami's offer to the Mesas.  You just can't do that if you expect to be taken seriously as pursuers of top international talent.

Here's a better idea. Maybe do your homework on these players beforehand before you trade away half our team for international money. I mean a scouting report's one thing, but did no one in the meetings' ask the question (of the group) if we could realistically sign these players? They had to know that Miami would be a contender because of their international money and Cuban ties. It makes me think this franchise still thinks it's held in high regard as a destination spot for players which couldn't be further from the truth. 

And losing out to Tampa for Gaston was salt in the wounds. I would have thought they would have gone all in on him just to save face, but apparently the team doesn't care what we think. Maybe the light bulb will finally go off when attendance and merch. sales drop next season. 

[Going Underground]

20 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Signed some players.... 

 

 

At least we got Machado back. Looks like he won't play third and wants to play SS. So we spent all the international money now? 

[Ruzious]

49 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

At least we got Machado back. Looks like he won't play third and wants to play SS. So we spent all the international money now? 

Nah, that's Gilbert Machado... the guy who used to play point guard for the Wizards.  

I'm guessing all 4 of those players don't add up to more than 500k of the international slu... er slot money - probably significantly less.  

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

I don't really dispute that these players, especially the Mesa brothers wanted to play in Florida/Miami. My issue is you just don't let Tampa outbid you here when you need some good publicity. The organization is a rudderless ship right now and the Angelos brothers are doing themselves zero good by staying so secretive.

My issue would be that the O’s should have been able to get the intel on the Mesas’ preferences much earlier, and either made a different trade for Gausman without international slots as part of the deal, or trading slots elsewhere.    Heck, even if they got the intel on the Mesas last month, then why weren’t we the team trading away slots for Kyle Baraclouth?    

[Tony-OH]

2 hours ago, wildbillhiccup said:

Like it or not the Orioles went "all in" on the Mesa and Gaston and walked away empty handed. That's just as much on ownership as it is on Duquette. They were the ones signing his paychecks. 

I don't see how this is on Duquette at all since he was already fired before any of them signed. This is completely on ownership for not having their future baseball operations people in place already.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

I don't see how this is on Duquette at all since he was already fired before any of them signed. This is completely on ownership for not having their future baseball operations people in place already.

Their reluctance to spend in this area is frustrating to me.  Just give the folks you put in charge a budget and let them decide how to divide it up.  Don't mandate money be spent on the ML payroll at the expense of other areas.