What a bunch of sad-sack losers

[Satyr3206]

In the midst of the Vietnam war, when Walter Cronkite did an editorial denouncing the war, Lyndon Johnson was quoted as saying" Ive lost Walter Cronkite..and Ive lost America"..

Maybe thats a little strong, but I feel when a fan who gives his heart and soul to a team like Frobby comes out so angrily and pointedly and rips his team it is extremely telling.

I have always hated the Yankees with every fiber of my being, but Ill tell you one thing..their fans are great because their management never let them suffer for long.

Call it checkbook baseball, and ridcule their approach to buying the best teams..but at least their teams compete and make it a good show year after year.

This franchise has not given its fans a break in 11 years. They have a beautiful ballpark and a great city, but it doesnt mean a damn thing if the team cant even compete on a respectable level.

The Orioles are the sporting love of my life, nothing in any other sport comes even close...but Im sick of this one sided love affair.

In the first half of the season when they battled, I remembered why I loved them so much. Not now. These guys packed it in about three weeks ago. LIKE THEY DO EVERY YEAR AT THIS TIME!!!!

Injuries?

Sure they had them. So did the Yankees, and Toronto, and even the Rays.But they didnt tank. We dont have a franchise that can put players in when others go down. We lack depth, we lack overall talent..and we really lack the imagination and respect for the fans the other teams have. It IS an embarrassment to this once great and proud franchise. I will expect nothing less than an open checkbook to go after top talent in the offseason...it wont be the answer..but it will at least show the fans that this ownership wants to make things entertaining.

Its the least they can do!

Signing a few free agents wouldn't be too bad but remember what got us in this mess. Out of the top three in the AL East I would rather build like the Rays. Farm System all the way. They signed a few free agents but the core of that team is either home grown or shrewd trades. Even Boston has a impressive farm system. If the O's try to become the Yankees it just won't work. They have more money and it's that simple. Like MacPhail said when he first took the job. We're in a tough division with high payroll teams. We have to do it smarter and cheaper.

[mikezpen]

Frobby, the best thing you can do is detach yourself from this team in September, because they've already detached themselves...

Maybe if they had something to play for instead of pride, then they'd be a little more resilient...

That's about the best observation I've seen. Yes, let them lose the rest of their games. That's fine by me. I don't listen any more.Go for the draft pick.

This organization is absolutely years away from contending if they ever even do it in my lifetime. And now to make matters worse, virtually every good pitcher they have at the Major League level has hurt his arm. Even those few good ones we have may be gone or at a lower level if they do return.The system has some talent but it's very thin; let's face it.

If the Angelos family hangs on to the Orioles, get used to this.You'll have a repeat of the St. Louis Browns.

[JTrea81]

The Orioles fanbase doesn't have a choice. They're going to get another losing season, whether we go out and blow a bunch of money on free agents or not.

Again, throwing money at free agents with the goal of putting fans in the seats is what got us here in the first place.

Throwing money at mediocre FA's is what got us there in the first place. The Orioles never really went after Carlos Delgado or Carlos Lee or Paul Konerko. They didn't go after the top talent. Instead they went after the Jay Payton's and Kevin Millar's of the world and then went after a whole bunch of FA relievers. And the one top talent guy they got, they refused to augment with talent, saying it was a luxury.

The Orioles also had very poor scouting and poor drafts. Jordan seems to have reversed this trend as we now have one of the strongest farm systems in baseball, especially in the pitching dept.

I'm saying we need to go after the top talent namely Mark Teixeira and most likely Burnett or Sheets. We've got the talent to surround those guys, but we need the top talent to win.

[Mooreisbetter27]

Throwing money at mediocre FA's is what got us there in the first place. The Orioles never really went after Carlos Delgado or Carlos Lee or Paul Konerko. They didn't go after the top talent. Instead they went after the Jay Payton's and Kevin Millar's of the world and then went after a whole bunch of FA relievers. And the one top talent guy they got, they refused to augment with talent, saying it was a luxury.

I'm saying we need to go after the top talent namely Mark Teixeira and most likely Burnett or Sheets. We've got the talent to surround those guys, but we need the top talent to win.

IIRC we gave Konerko the best offer. He chose the White Sox over us anyways.

[JTrea81]

IIRC we gave Konerko the best offer. He chose the White Sox over us anyways.

We made a token offer, if we really wanted him, we would have overpayed more. Our offer wasn't that much more than the WS offer.

[Satyr3206]

We made a token offer, if we really wanted him, we would have overpayed more. Our offer wasn't that much more than the WS offer.

And we would be worse off because Konerko is having a horrible year. If Minnesota, Florida, Arizona, and Milwaukee can do it, so can we. Keep putting talent in the Minors and have the patience to wait for them to develop.

[Intimidator301]

Signing a few free agents wouldn't be too bad but remember what got us in this mess. Out of the top three in the AL East I would rather build like the Rays. Farm System all the way. They signed a few free agents but the core of that team is either home grown or shrewd trades. Even Boston has a impressive farm system. If the O's try to become the Yankees it just won't work. They have more money and it's that simple. Like MacPhail said when he first took the job. We're in a tough division with high payroll teams. We have to do it smarter and cheaper.

People are getting too deep in the Rays hype in my opinion. Doing it like the Rays is fine, if that's all you can afford to do. This team has THREE things the Rays dont. 1. The finances to spend 2. A stadium that is still a gem around baseball. 3. A supportive fanbase, if you give them a product worth supporting.

TB is a feel good story, but their chances of sustaining longterm success in the AL east is worse then the Orioles. TB was smart to lock up Longoria, but Crawford, Kazmir,and Pena are due big raises soon. Lets see how that goes.

If we do it like TB, we won't contend before 2013. Other then Wieters, we don't have a Longoria, Price, Upton, or Crawford in the waiting. It took them 10 years of finishing last to get to this point. We have A LOT of catching up to do. We have the finances to close that gap, and still build a respectable farm system.

We may not be NY, Bos, or LA, but were not KC, Min., or Pit. either.

[mikezpen]

I think contending in 2013 is realistic.

This is a lousy organization, cursed by the worst owner in the game.Nobody good's going to play here if he has any wish of being on a contender.Quit talking about Texieras and Burnett's. It's not going to happen.The only way is to build through trades for young talent and thru the draft-and that takes time.

[JTrea81]

And we would be worse off because Konerko is having a horrible year. If Minnesota, Florida, Arizona, and Milwaukee can do it, so can we. Keep putting talent in the Minors and have the patience to wait for them to develop.

But we aren't drafting MLB ready positional talent, nor are we big players on the international scene. So our positional talent is always 4-5 years away and so is competing if we keep the status quo. And then you stand to lose Markakis, Wieters and Jones to FA.

This fanbase won't stand for 4-5 more years of losing and neither will our top talent. Nick is already mailing it in in just his third season, what happens if Wieters and Jones start doing the same?

[Moose Milligan]

This fanbase won't stand for 4-5 more years of losing

I think you're gonna have to get used to this, lil buddy.

[Dipper9]

I can't contain myself anymore. The disgraceful performance of this team in Yankee Stadium this weekend, and the pathetic display they have put on for the last five weeks (not to mention the pathetic performance in 6 of the last 7 years from mid-August on) just makes me nauseous.

Where the hell is the life and pride in this team? I'm embarassed to root for them.

When the pitching was getting shelled every day, frankly that was easier to take. But our offense has been maudlin this month. They really look like they can't wait for the season to end.

I had expected a lot more from this team. Remember all that talk about how resilient this group was earlier in the year? How resilient are they looking now?

There is no other team in baseballl that lays down every September like this. Not the Royals, not the Pirates, not the Nationals. Not one team.

So go ahead and tell yourselves that this is actually a good thing because we are getting a higher draft pick. In my opinion, it sucks.

I see two positives. One, Yes, we will get a better draft spot. But second, and most importantly, the team is showing MacPhail that he CANNOT stand pat with this offense and just improve pitching. He has got to make improvements everywhere, and it starts with Tex. Sprinkle in a Burnett and Bedard. Add a splash of shortstop, and see how that tastes.

[BirdmanIOP]

Amen Frobby!!!Everytime I say something like this the "sunshine pumpers" abuse me! This team /organization needs to give us a much better product to watch this time of year.I am sick of watching them blowup,it's embarressing to be an Oriole fan from mid-August on! Screw the draft pick nonsense,you people need to get real!!!

[DrungoHazewood]

- Frobby is absolutely right - this team is a debacle, it's a joke. Every single year they fold up their tents and go home with two months left. They have little talent and almost no depth, but they also have no fight. Would I do the same thing if I was on such an awful team? Maybe, but I'm not paid very well to play professional baseball from February through September.

- Anyone who thinks it should take until 2013 to build a winning team is not holding the front office or the players to nearly high enough a standard. If they really wanted to they could pull a Cubs, buy three or four top free agents and some depth and contend next year. Angelos and MacPhail just have to be willing to take risks.

[NewMarketSean]

These late season collapses really are mind-boggling. It makes you wonder if every single person in this organization needs to go and we have to start over, expansion style. The pitchers can't throw strikes, get hurt or just can't make the jump to the majors and there are still no positional prospects other than Weiters and Reimold and who knows what the future holds for Reimold. That doesn't even take into account the coaches and the scouts and the front office. It's a disgrace.

I guess all we can do is stop signing veterans and start finding better younger players.

[Satyr3206]

But we aren't drafting MLB ready positional talent, nor are we big players on the international scene. So our positional talent is always 4-5 years away and so is competing if we keep the status quo. And then you stand to lose Markakis, Wieters and Jones to FA.

This fanbase won't stand for 4-5 more years of losing and neither will our top talent. Nick is already mailing it in in just his third season, what happens if Wieters and Jones start doing the same?

The plan was always to stockpile pitching so that when they get closer to the ML they could be traded for positional players. Because pitching is always in demand it's a sound strategy.

Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus will have the Orioles farm system ranked in the top third of all ML clubs. Thats mainly because of the pitching. See above.

The fanbase will have to be patient. No one here has enjoyed what has happened to the O's for the last 11 years. So now we have a master plan, that will take some time to bear fruit, and all of a sudden we should go hog wild on the FA market? That is not a sound strategy and everyone here knows it. I for one don't want anymore Bobby Bonilla's, or Danys Baez's, or Jay Payton's. I'll wait for Wieters, Matusz, Tillman, Riemold, etc. etc. It's cheaper and smarter.

If players are mailing it in then it's time for a new manager. It's simple. You don't hustle and give 100% you ride the pine, get sent down, or get released. Sometimes a manager needs to light a fire under his players. If the manager can't do that it's time to find a new job.

The O's played a competitive series with the MFY's. Two good pitching performances, they just didn't get the timely hits and the defense was suspect a few times. Those things can be fixed and worked on.It doesn't mean you throw out the blueprint for future, long term solutions.