Elias J2 International Orioles

[scOtt]

Apropos of nothing Elias actually said in the press conference, I wondered what the reason was for have a presser. There was no tangible big news to report. It was just a State of the Union address with the press. I find that very refreshing.

Without ever sharing his deepest secrets Elias seems to genuinely try to give the media the most hard information that he can. Unlike DD who said a lot of words but told nothing. And some props to the media for asking some good questions too. There were a LOT of them huddled around him, probably 15-20 at least. You can see them all in the reflection from his sunglasses. A gaggle of reporters.

[scOtt]

2 minutes ago, atomic said:

Yeah but if they don't sign anyone rated in the top 50 rated prospects again I will call it a failure.  Not that the list is the total judge of talent but if they can't get any highly rated prospects it is a good sign they aren't making any headway. 

Like Elias keeps saying, those guys decided where they'll sign a year or two ago. Next year will start to tell if Elias is lying as you suspect or not, not this year.

[DrungoHazewood]

25 minutes ago, atomic said:

Every GM we have had says the right things when they first came in. When DD first came in he hired Fred Ferriera and announced they were going to be very active internationally. Even made a bunch of international signings.  Chen, Wada, and Gonzalez 2 of the 3 who were very helpful in making us a winner.  

The team should be judged on actions and not words.  

You are physically incapable of having a positive outlook.  

[DrungoHazewood]

10 minutes ago, atomic said:

Yeah but if they don't sign anyone rated in the top 50 rated prospects again I will call it a failure.  Not that the list is the total judge of talent but if they can't get any highly rated prospects it is a good sign they aren't making any headway. 

You could have said "you know, if they sign one or two of the top 50 guys that would be a pretty nice get, it'll show some tangible progress."

Well, not you.  But someone could have said that.

[atomic]

9 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

You are physically incapable of having a positive outlook.  

Just because I don't take things for facts for things that you imagine doesn't mean I don't have a positive outlook.   The only things that matter is what actually happens not your fantasy world.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, atomic said:

Yeah that is what I am going to do.  No reason to praise or condemn before we know what actually happens. 

Bottom line, beginning on July 2 we’ll hear that the O’s have spent X on players 1 - Y, and paid the individuals bonuses of blah blah blah.    Most of it will be gibberish to us in terms of who these players are and whether they’re worth the bonuses they’re getting. This isn’t like the MLB draft where you can get some intel and form opinions about the 40 guys your team has drafted.     Most of these guys will be complete unknowns and the only thing we’ll really know is that they thought Player A was worth Z amount.    They could spend $1 mm on a guy (doubtful) and we really wouldn’t know much about him.    

[atomic]

7 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

 You could have said "you know, if they sign one or two of the top 50 guys that would be a pretty nice get, it'll show some tangible progress."

 Well, not you.  But someone could have said that.

You seem to be on of the most negative persons on here.  I am not sure why you call me negative.  I can imagine how you would act in a political conversation.  I have set a level of what I consider a success. It seems reasonable.  There are 50 guys in the top 50 ratings and only 30 teams.  Not too high of a threshold.  

[atomic]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Bottom line, beginning on July 2 we’ll hear that the O’s have spent X on players 1 - Y, and paid the individuals bonuses of blah blah blah.    Most of it will be gibberish to us in terms of who these players are and whether they’re worth the bonuses they’re getting. This isn’t like the MLB draft where you can get some intel and form opinions about the 40 guys your team has drafted.     Most of these guys will be complete unknowns and the only think we’ll really know is that they thought Player A was worth Z amount.    They could spend $1 mm on a guy (doubtful) and we really wouldn’t know much about him.    

I would like to hear they have started plans on building a new facility.  With almost every other team in a nice new state of the art facility we aren't really going to get the top guys until we start making real improvements. Like I have said talk is cheap.  Actions are what count.  Sign someone highly rated.  There are rating lists of these guys.  I am sure a lot of guys who make it aren't big prospects when they sign but if you aren't getting any of the highly rated guys it is a sign that you aren't truly competing. 

[Frobby]

13 minutes ago, atomic said:

I would like to hear they have started plans on building a new facility.  With almost every other team in a nice new state of the art facility we aren't really going to get the top guys until we start making real improvements. Like I have said talk is cheap.  Actions are what count.  Sign someone highly rated.  There are rating lists of these guys.  I am sure a lot of guys who make it aren't big prospects when they sign but if you aren't getting any of the highly rated guys it is a sign that you aren't truly competing. 

As we’ve discussed at length here, a lot of the so called top guys have been courted by teams for two years and have had verbal agreements in place for a while.   It would be unrealistic to expect the O’s to get their full proportionate share of those guys this year.    Still, I’m hoping (and based on Elias’ comments, now expecting) that we will make significant progress this signing period and then further progress next signing period.    It’s just going to be hard to judge it other than very superficially.   Maybe there will be some outside pundits who will comment on how we did.    Otherwise, ask me in 2 years when some of this signing class will be in the GCL or maybe Aberdeen and we see how they’re doing.  

[Slappy]

I don't really care whether we spend $3.5 million or $6 million or whatever, to me what counts right now is that we are focused on developing a program to scout and sign kids internationally going forward.  The fruits of that labor may not be obvious until 3 years+ down the road, but at least it really seems like the Orioles as an organization have clear leadership and a clear plan and that is a MASSIVE improvement over the past 20 years.

[mdbdotcom]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

You are physically incapable of having a positive outlook.  

Ever since Bilbo Baggins found the gold ring he lost.

[atomic]

58 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

Ever since Bilbo Baggins found the gold ring he lost.

Have no idea what you are talking about. 

[Tx Oriole]

3 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

You are physically incapable of having a positive outlook.  

He may be.

[Tx Oriole]

1 hour ago, atomic said:

Have no idea what you are talking about. 

Don’t feel alone. I don’t either.

[TGO]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

As we’ve discussed at length here, a lot of the so called top guys have been courted by teams for two years and have had verbal agreements in place for a while.   It would be unrealistic to expect the O’s to get their full proportionate share of those guys this year.    Still, I’m hoping (and based on Elias’ comments, now expecting) that we will make significant progress this signing period and then further progress next signing period.    It’s just going to be hard to judge it other than very superficially.   Maybe there will be some outside pundits who will comment on how we did.    Otherwise, ask me in 2 years when some of this signing class will be in the GCL or maybe Aberdeen and we see how they’re doing.  

I'm wondering what the "rules" (unwritten) are with respect to those verbal agreements / hand shake deals. If another team has an agreement with a player for, say, $1 million and we call him up and offer $1.5 million, what would happen? The team that had the agreement can't really enforce the deal they had with the player, and MLB can't really charge the Orioles with tampering or anything like that since this entire system of verbal agreements is not binding or sanctioned by the league (and in fact is done to get around one of the league's restrictions). I assume though that other teams would frown upon this kind of thing and take it out on the buscones involved and, if they get the opportunity, the Orioles.

Since Elias and Perez were both with other teams that had much larger international scouting presences, they presumably are very aware of the players in this upcoming signing window and probably even know where a number of them have committed and for how much.