Jealous

[eddie83]

14 minutes ago, atomic said:

Strasburg was able to  be a free agent long ago. He is making $38 million this season. Scherzer is making $42 million.  The Nationals were built through free agency.  Rendon was drafted 6th.  We will have a guy picked #1 overall and a guy picked #2 overall. Time to start improving the team or get a new owner/gm combo.

The Astro's pitchers were likewise acquired through trades or free agency.  

No doubt they spent a ton of money. Just pointing out some of the elite talent was available to them because they were bad for awhile. Obviously he is gone but Harper played a big role in their turnaround.  

It takes time, unfortunately our former owner had no idea what he was doing. I’m probably most jealous of that. Peter never gave this franchise its best chance to succeed and for that at times it can anger me. 

[Bubble Buddy]

I'm definitely a bit jealous of the Nats for different reasons. They had a similar peak to our 2012-2016 teams and I honestly thought their window had passed. They are the oldest team in the majors. But they were able to ride this wave to a title. Soto was huge, the Corbin signing paid off (at least for this year), and freaking Howie Kendrick had his best season ever at 36.

I do struggle with the fear that now that they've won, they'll take even more fans away from the O's. But I guess that's the nature of it. We have the history and better ball park. We just need to win again.

 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Bubble Buddy

[Moshagge3]

45 minutes ago, Maverick Hiker said:

Yeah there is something special about winning the deciding game, the last game of the series, and unfortunately the Orioles have lost every deciding post season game.They also lost to the Brewers in 1982 in a deciding game to decide who would go to the playoffs that year.  So really they are 0-5 in these types of games. The worst  was 1979, that was such a special Orioles magic year except for the way it ended.

The Orioles definitely lack that signature postseason moment. No Kirk Gibson, Bill Mazeroski, Carlton Fisk types of moments. There's John Lowenstein's HR in the 1979 ALCS and the Delmon Young double from 2014, but I don't think many non-Orioles fans would immediately recognize those. Maybe Brooks Robinson's defensive gem from 1970, but even most Orioles fans would be hard-pressed to name which game that was from or what inning it was or anything like that. The Orioles won all of their titles handily and lost all the close ones. 

[Palmoripken]

1 minute ago, Bubble Buddy said:

I'm definitely a bit jealous of the Nats for different reasons. They had a similar peak to our 2012-2016 teams and I honestly thought their window had passed. They are the oldest team in the majors. But they were able to ride this wave to a title. Soto was huge, the Corbin signing paid off (at least for this year), and freaking Howie Kendrick had his best season ever at 36.

 

The way they turned it around after the terrible start they had which had many of their fans calling for Davey Martinez's head. I'm jealous of that since ti was the reverse of our Cinderella Pumpkin 2005 season where I believe we were in first place on the first day of summer and then began to implode and then went another seven years sub 500. 

[Ripken]

29 minutes ago, Palmoripken said:

I called it when they bunted in the 2nd. I thought that was an awful move. Playing small ball in the 2nd inning? And he was way too quick to lift Greinke for a guy who had been pitching a lot. 

After the MadBum success and Britton failure, at least Hinch was smart enough to use Cole last night.  Oh, wait...

[Palmoripken]

1 minute ago, Moshagge3 said:

The Orioles definitely lack that signature postseason moment. No Kirk Gibson, Bill Mazeroski, Carlton Fisk types of moments. There's John Lowenstein's HR in the 1979 ALCS and the Delmon Young double from 2014, but I don't think many non-Orioles fans would immediately recognize those. Maybe Brooks Robinson's defensive gem from 1970, but even most Orioles fans would be hard-pressed to name which game that was from or what inning it was or anything like that. The Orioles won all of their titles handily and lost all the close ones. 

If we have a memorable moment, it's what was done against us. The  late 90's Yankee dynasty IMO began the night of the Maier-Tarasco moment.. We won the first game IIRC and would have been up 2-0 going back ot Baltimore. Would we have won the series from there? I don't know but being up 2-0 going home is almost always a plus.  What made 2014 kind of sting is how the nation adopted the Royals as their lovable underdog and totally ignored that we actually had a bigger drought than KC.  And then gettign swept by a team who honestly was not the better team overall but got hot at the right moment. I'm not knocking their legitimacy. We lost fair and square but I'll always believe that we were the better team over KC in 2014 and they got hot at the perfect time.

[eddie83]

39 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Well, first of all, I enjoyed and savored it quite a bit.   After losing game 7 in 1979, missing the playoffs while winning 100 games in 1980, and losing to Brewers on the final day of the 1982 regular season, it was extremely sweet to bring home the trophy in 1983.   I certainly wasn’t thinking “that was great, but I would rather have won it in 7!”    I was beside myself with joy and that glow lasted a good long time.

But second, you’re right that we surely had no idea of what was to follow.    At that point, it felt like a birthright that the O’s would be in contention every year, after 16 straight winning seasons and 8 playoff appearances in 18 years.   With a 22 year old Ripken and a 27 year old Murray.     It’s amazing how far we’ve fallen.   

I know you can probably do some creative math if you will with other teams but the 77-83 run was incredible. They were about 12 more wins total away from 

77 Division title finish 2.5 games out  (3)

78 90 wins is a down year 

79 Lose WS in 7 (1)

80 win 100 games finish 3 out (4)

81. Crazy strike year. Couple wins away from being in postseason (3)

82 lose game 162 (1)

83 Win WS 

It was not the 66-74 run but it was a great run in a great division.  

Easily 2 WS titles and 3/4 more chances at another one.  

[Redskins Rick]

12 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

It was 1983.  My bedtime was 9:00, so I don't recall what the Baltimore TV stations were or weren't doing on the 11:00 news.  And '83 wasn't the first time the O's were making a run, they did it all the time.

I never saw the city turn to orange, like DC turned out Red. But, its all perception and what we feel.

83, I was already married and the father of two and what was sleep?

[NCRaven]

8 minutes ago, Moshagge3 said:

The Orioles definitely lack that signature postseason moment. No Kirk Gibson, Bill Mazeroski, Carlton Fisk types of moments. There's John Lowenstein's HR in the 1979 ALCS and the Delmon Young double from 2014, but I don't think many non-Orioles fans would immediately recognize those. Maybe Brooks Robinson's defensive gem from 1970, but even most Orioles fans would be hard-pressed to name which game that was from or what inning it was or anything like that. The Orioles won all of their titles handily and lost all the close ones. 

True, but the image of Brooks leaping into the air as Etch and McNally ran out to him remains one of sports most iconic photos.  Staring at the poster on the wall of my office right now.  My mom's ticket to game 3, lower reserved $8.00, is in the frame.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Maverick Hiker said:

Yeah there is something special about winning the deciding game, the last game of the series, and unfortunately the Orioles have lost every deciding post season game.They also lost to the Brewers in 1982 in a deciding game to decide who would go to the playoffs that year.  So really they are 0-5 in these types of games. The worst  was 1979, that was such a special Orioles magic year except for the way it ended.

Don't forget September 27, 1897.  The O's played their last game of the season against Boston down 0.5 a game in the standings.  25,000 showed up to Union Park (capacity about 10k) to cheer on the Birds.  But they lost 19-10, and dreams of an NL four-peat were dashed.  Two years later they'd be contracted out of the league.

[Palmoripken]

1 minute ago, NCRaven said:

True, but the image of Brooks leaping into the air as Etch and McNally ran out to him remains one of sports most iconic photos.  Staring at the poster on the wall of my office right now.  My mom's ticket to game 3, lower reserved $8.00, is in the frame.

That's awesome and it is a lovely photo.  It's crazy to think how up and down sports can be. In '66, the O's were the surprise underdog and shocked the world beating Koufax and Drysdale. Then a few years later the heavy favorite and lost against the Mets. 

[DrungoHazewood]

6 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

I never saw the city turn to orange, like DC turned out Red. But, its all perception and what we feel.

83, I was already married and the father of two and what was sleep?

It was '83.  You couldn't go online and order 5,000 custom T-shirts to be delivered in a couple days.

[Palmoripken]

1 minute ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Don't forget September 27, 1897.  The O's played their last game of the season against Boston down 0.5 a game in the standings.  25,000 showed up to Union Park (capacity about 10k) to cheer on the Birds.  But they lost 19-10, and dreams of an NL four-peat were dashed.  Two years later they'd be contracted out of the league.

I wonder how different baseball would be Drungo if the O's had stayed in Baltimore and Babe Ruth ended up being a hometown hero in the bigs for his hometown team. That era fascinates me since I recently discovered my Dad's grandfather was an amateur player in those days and he lived not too far from what became Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. I think the Pirates' stadium prior to Forbes Field was near him too as opposed to Forbes which was more uptown from where he and his family lived.

[Frobby]

5 minutes ago, atomic said:

Strasburg was able to  be a free agent long ago. He is making $38 million this season. Scherzer is making $42 million.  

This statement is technically true, but highly misleading.   Both contracts have wild variations in annual salary and the amount deferred.    Strasburg had a $15 mm salary each of the last two years.    This year his salary is $35 mm plus he received a $10 mm signing bonus on July 1; but $30 mm of the $35 mm salary is deferred until 2024-30.    The next four years his salaries are $25 mm ($10 mm deferred), $15 mm, $15 mm and $45 mm ($30 mm deferred).     In the end, it all boils down to him receiving $15 mm in cash each year of his 7-year deal, and then another $70 mm in deferred payments at $10 mm/yr for 7 years.   So $38 mm is neither the actual cash he’s receiving this year ($15 mm) nor the average annual value of his salary ($25 mm without discounting for the deferral, about $23 mm if you discount the deferral).
 

Scherzer is similar.   His entire 2019 salary is deferred, and the only cash he’s receiving this year is a deferred portion of his signing bonus totaling $15 mm.   And his designated salary for 2019 (all deferred) is way higher than what it was the preceding 4 years.   So, the $42 mm you cite is again much higher than the actual cash he’s receiving this year ($15 mm) or the average annual value of his deal ($30 mm without discounts, $27.4 mm with discounts).    
 

I don’t think any of this detracts from the point you were making that the Nats were built in significant part through free agency.    I just want it to be clear that the astronomical salaries you are citing bear very little relationship to the economic reality of what they’re actually receiving this year or what the Nats’ average total outlay for these players is over the life of their deals.   
 

[JR Oriole]

I was 8 in 1983....too young to really appreciate winning.  I think you have to at least be a teenager to truly appreciate how great winning a title is.....

I can't say I am jealous of the Nats, because honestly it is just refreshing to have a new champion.  In an era where New England wins just about every Super Bowl, Golden State needed injuries just to finally stop winning titles, and Alabama and Clemson simply alternate titles each year, it is nice to have a new dog at the top.  I used to appreciate dynasties in sports but as I got older, I became much more of a share the wealth guy.  Real fans invest a tremendous amount of physical and mental energy on their teams and I like to see that rewarded.  The numbers are rapidly dwindling in terms of fanbases that deserve a title more than Orioles fans.  I like to believe that at some point, we will get what we truly do deserve.....hopefully at the expense of a fanbase that has already been rewarded.