BJ Surhoff Is Angry

[SurhoffRules]

45 minutes ago, SurhoffFTW said:

i am not happy, it's true

All of us with Surhoff related monikers should probably be proactive and reflect if there's anything about our posting habit we should change in light of the new organizational direction......but seriously I'm not overly bothered by any of this.

I simultaneously empathize with Surhoff, am a bit surprised by the candor (and number) of his quotes, and am also not at all surprised that a roving minor league instructor's contract was not renewed as part of a massive change in organizational structure.

If he wants to stay attached to the game I wish him all the best finding a new position.  Maybe his path and Baltimore's will cross in the future, I loved watching him play.

 

[weams]

11 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

  I wonder if at some point the Athletic reins him in.

Who edits work at the Athletic? Anyone?

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, weams said:

Who edits work at the Athletic? Anyone?

Has to be someone, you give sports writers too much freedom and they start thinking they are actual journalists.

[mdbdotcom]

I wonder how many sources Connolly lost with this shakeup. 

[HowAboutThat]

1 hour ago, survivedc said:

Bunch of people dumping on BJ. I’d rather have former O’s than not. Getting rid of a guy that has spent 15+ years with the .org is different than firing a random scout. 

Would love for Elias to succeed. Would esp love him to succeed trying to keep old O’s involved as much as possible.

Why?

The Houston story was about Jon Matlack. JON MATLACK. He had a great career he was a great pitcher. 

Yet he couldn’t justify his opinion he had made no notes he had made no valuations it’s just his opinion that they were wasting their time. Man, I would fire that guy before the words were out of his mouth.

I agree that courtesy is always in order, but the idea that a guy should be kept around because he’s an old player is kind of ridiculous.

no offense intended.

In my initial comment I specifically said that BJ never said that he approached the boss about what he could do, what he should do To adapt to the new system. It appears he made no attempt. If Tony can get a response from Mike, an employee can get a response.

I Remember when Dom Chiti got fired(Or let go, or dismissed, or whatever) And he made it very clear that he repeatedly reached out to Dan to talk to him about the situation, and Dan insisted he never had. I am pretty sure who is telling the truth and who was ignoring text messages or calls. Don tried. If BJ had, I think he’d have said so.

meh. Nothing to see, let’s move on.

 

[survivedc]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

How about some younger old O's?

I dunno? Got me there?

[survivedc]

6 minutes ago, Philip said:

Why?

The Houston story was about Jon Matlack. JON MATLACK. He had a great career he was a great pitcher. 

Yet he couldn’t justify his opinion he had made no notes he had made no valuations it’s just his opinion that they were wasting their time. Man, I would fire that guy before the words were out of his mouth.

I agree that courtesy is always in order, but the idea that a guy should be kept around because he’s an old player is kind of ridiculous.

no offense intended.

In my initial comment I specifically said that BJ never said that he approached the boss about what he could do, what he should do To adapt to the new system. It appears he made no attempt. If Tony can get a response from Mike, an employee can get a response.

I Remember when Dom Chiti got fired(Or let go, or dismissed, or whatever) And he made it very clear that he repeatedly reached out to Dan to talk to him about the situation, and Dan insisted he never had. I am pretty sure who is telling the truth and who was ignoring text messages or calls. Don tried. If BJ had, I think he’d have said so.

meh. Nothing to see, let’s move on.

 

I of course don’t think someone deserves to be kept around simply because they played here at some point. 

You have no clue what BJ did, we have no clue what attempts he made to change and we have no clue if Mike approached him about changing. Maybe we will moving forward. To act like you do is disingenuous.

[Satyr3206]

Having Owned and Managed many businesses. Communication is key. I always hated letting go of people. Always do that like you are on the other side of the desk. If ya don't, it will come back to bite ya.

[24fps]

1 hour ago, weams said:

Who edits work at the Athletic? Anyone?

I'm not talking about the big names like Rosenthal, etc., but where would a lot of their lesser known writers go after The Athletic?  I wouldn't be suprised if many of those writers edit themselves based on some vague notion of what's expected even if there is a formal editor.

[ThomasTomasz]

4 minutes ago, 24fps said:

I'm not talking about the big names like Rosenthal, etc., but where would a lot of their lesser known writers go after The Athletic?  I wouldn't be suprised if many of those writers edit themselves based on some vague notion of what's expected even if there is a formal editor.

Actually, the opposite has happened with the Athletic.  Very well known writers have joined, which means they were tenured and had higher contracts at the newspapers/publications where they were at prior.  Newspapers are slowly dying, and to stave that off, they are letting go of the older writers who make more money and bringing in younger writers, who obviously make less.  The Athletic started at the right time to capitalize off of those writers being out of jobs, or doing their own thing like Connelly did with the blog.  

Just off my brief experience as a writer at a newspaper, I know I copy-edited myself in many instances, but there was always someone who did the final tweaks before it went out.  I imagine that there is an approval process for them to get something published, and that they have a copy editor or two in each department who does final edits before publishing.  

[ThomasTomasz]

8 hours ago, foxfield said:

We are on the same page...It's just a bit odd that a new guy brought in to do something that ownership has literally refused to do for almost 3 decades is being hit by Connolly for doing...the completely expected thing.  Thinking a new GM should be able to simply "manage" the franchise better with those still here is just odd.  We should expect to see him get his own people and those who have been here and not found ways to engage with Elias or Sig or any of the other new people should rightly expect to be part of the old guard and treated as part of the problem, even if their own qualifications are worthy of contribution.  

Regarding BJ, I was touched when he cried upon finding out he was traded.  That he loved being here and wanted to be a part of a turnaround was commendable and that he still does is also commendable.  But if he is a year in with Elias and hasn't reached out to ask how he can help...well that was probably a mistake.  

But you are right...Connolly has to write about something, but this was his third take on this and if you subscribe to the Athletic (I do) and look at the comments, he is being fairly roasted for the take.

But the thing is, the GMs of years past were brought in with the expectation of managing the franchise with people still in place.  Sure, they had the ability to bring in a handful of hires, but to really put their imprint on the organization?  That hasn't happened since Peter Angelos bought the club.  You don't get the kind of tenure that the Orioles had by not protecting people, from some of the higher end executives like Brian Graham to Scott McGregor, who has served forever and a day in a variety of capacities.  

I hate to see people lose their job, but at the same time, it almost seems like the Orioles lucked their way into competing from 2012-16.  From some successes in the draft, to trades done by the former regime and some very good dumpster diving/low risk FA moves, we were one of the best teams over this time- not to mention great bullpen management.  But none of that was indicative of long-term success, and building a talent pipeline that transcends winning periods.  

That's why I am happy with the moves Elias is making.  We can't do it all in one year, and I expected a lot of changes that we are getting now.  And guess what?  It's making news, and people are talking about the Orioles.  Bowden and his partner today on SiriusXM's The Front Office talked about it on their show, and it was brought up a couple times in the past two weeks.  Most people are in agreement that it's part of a massive overhaul and needs to happen.  There are problems when a team can not develop a top of the rotation starter, which we haven't done for two decades except for Mussina and Bedard.  Things had to change from the ground up, and it's slowly happening, and I'm excited.  If we can develop even 3/4's of the talent pipeline that the Astros and Dodgers have, combined with payroll resources that we had around $150 million, the Orioles can get back to competing year in and year out and keep it going.  

Someone made a great comparison that the Redskins have been run in the same way, that's an excellent comparison as I'm also a Redskins fan.  Snyder needs to take a cue from the Angelos family, and bring in someone to build from the ground up.  

[24fps]

7 minutes ago, ThomasTomasz said:

Actually, the opposite has happened with the Athletic.  Very well known writers have joined, which means they were tenured and had higher contracts at the newspapers/publications where they were at prior.  Newspapers are slowly dying, and to stave that off, they are letting go of the older writers who make more money and bringing in younger writers, who obviously make less.  The Athletic started at the right time to capitalize off of those writers being out of jobs, or doing their own thing like Connelly did with the blog.  

Just off my brief experience as a writer at a newspaper, I know I copy-edited myself in many instances, but there was always someone who did the final tweaks before it went out.  I imagine that there is an approval process for them to get something published, and that they have a copy editor or two in each department who does final edits before publishing.  

All open windows eventually close and that was also behind my post.  If The Athletic has a recognizable journalistic code of ethics behind it then I take my hat off to them and wish them all the best going forward.  But in an age of virtually instantaneous feedback on public approval (or lack therof) of one's work, I don't relish thinking about the consequences of deviating from the norm when I have a mortgage and a couple of kids to educate.

I hope their writers have contracts that insulate them from the next paradigm shift which could happen any minute now but God help them if their boss likes tossing the word "brand" around.

[Moose Milligan]

11 minutes ago, ThomasTomasz said:

But the thing is, the GMs of years past were brought in with the expectation of managing the franchise with people still in place.  Sure, they had the ability to bring in a handful of hires, but to really put their imprint on the organization?  That hasn't happened since Peter Angelos bought the club.  You don't get the kind of tenure that the Orioles had by not protecting people, from some of the higher end executives like Brian Graham to Scott McGregor, who has served forever and a day in a variety of capacities.  

I hate to see people lose their job, but at the same time, it almost seems like the Orioles lucked their way into competing from 2012-16.  From some successes in the draft, to trades done by the former regime and some very good dumpster diving/low risk FA moves, we were one of the best teams over this time- not to mention great bullpen management.  But none of that was indicative of long-term success, and building a talent pipeline that transcends winning periods.  

That's why I am happy with the moves Elias is making.  We can't do it all in one year, and I expected a lot of changes that we are getting now.  And guess what?  It's making news, and people are talking about the Orioles.  Bowden and his partner today on SiriusXM's The Front Office talked about it on their show, and it was brought up a couple times in the past two weeks.  Most people are in agreement that it's part of a massive overhaul and needs to happen.  There are problems when a team can not develop a top of the rotation starter, which we haven't done for two decades except for Mussina and Bedard.  Things had to change from the ground up, and it's slowly happening, and I'm excited.  If we can develop even 3/4's of the talent pipeline that the Astros and Dodgers have, combined with payroll resources that we had around $150 million, the Orioles can get back to competing year in and year out and keep it going.  

Someone made a great comparison that the Redskins have been run in the same way, that's an excellent comparison as I'm also a Redskins fan.  Snyder needs to take a cue from the Angelos family, and bring in someone to build from the ground up.  

As an aside, it helped that the Yankees/Sox weren't good then, either.  

[wildbillhiccup]

The bigger question is how Brady has dodged the firing bullet. It's pretty amazing when you think about it and the amount of turnover within the organization within the last year. 

[ThomasTomasz]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

As an aside, it helped that the Yankees/Sox weren't good then, either.  

And they were also rebuilding their minor league system at the time for their next runs as well.  Moreso the Red Sox, during that timeframe but they also won the WS in 2013.