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Seeing as how Rome wasn't built in a day, I'm giving Andy McPhail another 2-3 years to get his ball rolling. You can't trade sirloin for porterhouse, so I trust his judgment in not pulling the trigger on trades when our return value is not enough, and I don't believe in getting rid of guys just for the sake of getting rid of them.

I see two possible scenarios that McPhail is facing:

A) What he expects in return is much too much for what he is offering, thus the other GM's are rolling their eyes and chuckling at the caliber of prospects that we're looking for considering who we're offering.

or

B) We're getting lowballed by every other ML team, who view our talent as worthless and thus will not give up anyone worth their salt.

In either situation, it's impossible - no, downright irresponsible - for McPhail to act. He's a patient man, and even though we just finished up more than a decade of losing seasons, I think we could all learn something from McPhail.

This off-season will be telling, but it's going to take a lot of time to get this clubhouse into respectability and contention. Yes, it sucks for us as fans, but we knew upon McPhail's hiring that we shouldn't expect success until 2010, or 2011. That's another season or two of pain, but so long as we get there, I'm willing to wait and see.

It's nowhere near midnight, so I don't see why we're all clamoring for Cinderella to get out of town. Let's just take a deep breath, except the season for what it was, and see where we go from here.

Patience, guys. Patience.

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I don't understand this thread. How much is a GM supposed to accomplish in little over a year? Do we expect Mcphail to be able to trade very tradeable commodity and remake the entire roster in one season? To build this organization up to a point where it can compete longterm is going to take smart moves and patience, not just a plethora of moves. Would I have liked to see Sherrill, Huff and Roberts traded for a valuable haul at the trading deadline? Of course. But that doesn't mean that any team was willing to do that.

Let's see what Mcphail has accomplished over the past 12 months that may help this franchise over the next several years.

- He traded Tejada the day before the Mitchell report came out for 5 players and shortly before it was officially known that he was actually two years older than his stated age. The previous regime was obviously not able to trade Tejada.

- He traded Bedard for 5 players. This trade has proven to be so lopsided that it sealed Bavasi's fate.

- Adam Jones was allowed to establish himself as an everyday player in CF from day 1.

- Luke Scott was given almost 500 AB this year, the most in his career.

- JJ, Albers, and Sarfate were given chances to establish themselves in the BP this year.

- Sherrill was given an opportunity to take on a bigger role in the BP this year. Maybe this allows Mcphail to trade him this offseason or at least he will be a valuable lefty out of the bullpen who can pitch in situational spots against lefties or in set up situations.

- He didn't sign any older overpriced past their prime veteran players to multiyear contracts like Payton, Millar, Conine, Baez, Walker, Bradford etc like we had see almost every previous offseason.

- Montanez and Mickolio were given opportunities at the end of this season.

- Olson and Liz were able to gain valuable MLB experience this year despite going through more than there fair share of struggles.

- While giving opportunities to younger pitchers like JJ, Albers, Sarfate, Mickolio, Bierd, FCab, McCrory, etc, he didn't give in to temptation and start promoting pitchers from AA or below. (Granted some of the younger pitchers didn't work out, but at least they got an opportunity to show who can possibly help going forward and who gets weeded out.)

- He traded away Bradford. Who knows what we got in return, but you can't bash a move based on not knowing what was received. And it opens up a BP spot for next season when we may have Ray, Sherrill, JJ, Sarfate, Penn, Albers, Patton, Hoey, Mickolio et al competing for spots in the BP.

- Several high upside players who fell in the draft due to signability concerns were targeted and some were signed.

- Wieters was signed just before the deadline. Arrieta was also signed after Mcphail's was hired.

- AM has stated that we need to improve our international scouting/operations. Whether we have taken steps in that direction remains to be seen but at least it seems as if he has made it a priority.

- Jay Gibbons was released at the beginning of the season, despite his still being owed almost 12 million dollars.

- He gave Quiroz, a younger player with some potential upside, a chance at backup catcher, instead of a retread like Bako who had zero upside.

- He resisted the temptation to call up Wieters in this lost season, likely so that he could catch everyday in the minors rather than splitting time with Ramon, and possibly to delay the start of his service clock. He'll be here next season anyway.

Looks like a lot was accomplished to me. And even if every move didn't work out or wasn't universally popular, every move seems to have been made with the long term future in mind.

(Ok, so he didn't obtain a decent SS. Big deal. 2008 was a lost season anyway. I'll be upset if we don't have a SS when we're ready to legitimately contend.)

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At least until he starts making some poor moves, or gives any indication that his plan isn't exactly what the team needs to be doing.

Every indication is that he is still being smart and following the general rebuilding plan. Small details may be a bit different than some people's "ideal plan" but as long as the general outline is right, and it is, then I'm fine with MacPhail.

Pretty much my exact feelings.

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I really want to start seeing some tangible signs (pun intended) that we will be a player internationally. If we could add an organizational top 15-20 prospect or two every year, that would go a long way with me. That would be a major signal that AM is re-allocating resources in a smart fashion.

I don't think I could be more impressed with MacPhail if he went out and signed Junichi Tazawa. Signing Tazawa might not make the most sense from a risk/reward point of view, but it would signal a huge change in direction (for the better) for the Orioles franchise.

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This offseason...

AM made two great trades, but it will take a few good trades and insightful signings to get the O's where they need to be....as well as a good system.

To that end, I think there needs to be improvement every year. The Orioles, in the AL East, are not a team that can take two steps forward and one step back and end up competing. I think AM understands that. And an offseason without any improvement is one step back in my opinion. I know that sometimes the signing are just not there, and the trades are not being offered, but in those rare circumstances something else needs to be done to help the organization. The Orioles could sign no one and make no trades, and I would be happy as long as they major scouting advances, opened acadamies, or otherwise improved the likelihood of acquiring better talent.

Its a tough standard, and maybe one day the team will be at the point where they can hide a bad signing or a bad trade, but that is not now.

This would make me physically ill! I agree about setting up the system for future success, but there are a ton of good free agents out there this offseason who can make an immediate difference on this team NOW and in 2010, 11, etc. MacPhail has to give Trembley some material to work with here. As it stands, MacPhail is allowing Trembley to be his fall guy, and that just isn't right!

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The Orioles have not seen two trades like the Tejada and Bedard trades in a long, long time. Probably since the 70's. MacPhail has earned a level of respect with those trades.

Huff, Roberts and Ramon are his next big tests. Trade or re-sign Roberts and Huff by April 1st. Unload Ramon's salary while getting something for him.

Improve the starters and SS.

If he does these things in the off season he is golden. These is no reason to believe he won't at this point.

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We'll see what AM does this offseason to fix a spot or two in the rotation and SS, what he does with Huff and BRob, and what FA signings he goes for, and what bp arms we go with on OD.

Rome was not built in a day, but slow and steady will not win in the ALEast.

I think AM could field a 75 win team without much effort next offseason assuming Guts, Ray, Sherrill and JJ are healthy and BRob and Huff have not been traded.

I really want to start seeing some tangible signs (pun intended) that we will be a player internationally. If we could add an organizational top 15-20 prospect or two every year, that would go a long way with me. That would be a major signal that AM is re-allocating resources in a smart fashion.

Wow! This is perfect. Mind if I steal it from ya?

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If anybody's goal is for the Orioles to be exactly where they need to be heading into OD of next season, then I really hope they are disappointed. I think the "ideal" path to follow still has us looking like an also-ran next year. If some of the pitchers develop very quickly, or we get big bounce-backs from Cabrera, Liz, and/or Olson maybe we can contend, but that should be the only way. Signing a bunch of average veterans for a one- or two-year window would be a tragic mistake.

I would like to be in a position next OD that the goal of the season isn't to avoid a collapse or perhaps and even loftier goal to eclipse the .500 mark. I agree with Frobby's post that we need to sign some pitching that will bridge the gap between where we are, and where we want to be. You have proposed some good ideas in that area recently although you don't point that out here. So I'm not sure if you have changed your mind and are proposing going into next season with only the talent we have in-house, but to me, that would be a mistake. If we are going to add talent, then that talent should be able to provide us with a higher goal next season than the 2 I previously outlined.

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When you take a step back, the only thing that really matters on the baseball side is wins and losses. So that being said, over the next three years what would you expect from McPhail?

2009: 80 wins

2010: 85 wins

2011: 90 wins

That's kind of where I am right now. If in 2009 this team wins 72 games, then I have a real problem with the progress. If this growth rate is too fast, then we should be looking to move Nick now, because if we are not planning on competing before 2011, he will not be part of the future, unless he extends, and I don't think he will.

Building up scouting, overseas academies and our minor leagues are very important...but at some point it must translate to wins on the ML level.

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I'm not really sure what he can do in September anyway...

This season was heading down the tubes when Albers went down. Sad to say, but he was the guy that protected us from the short outings that we got out of our young pitchers. Frankly, I think we need two of those guys next year and they should probably be Albers and Olsen.

We were lucky enough to not have any crucial position player injuries this year. Mora and Jones went down for a couple of days/weeks, but they didn't kill this season, the pitching and the injuries to our pitchers did.

It's almost as if the montra for every starting pitcher but Guthrie is "Walk, Walk, Home Run." It's not going to end until our pitchers realize that they can pound the strike zone and trust their stuff.

Everyone talks about how far this team is from contention... really? Last year, the Devil Rays were worse than us, now they're on their way to their first ever AL East title. Good for them. But did they go out and make a ton of FA moves? No, they got good production from their position players (no doubt we'll get as good or better production next year with Weiters, a more experienced Montanez, and Reimold. SS is also sure to be better next year, one way or another.) and they got CONSISTENCY from their promising pitching staff. That's all it takes. That team isn't without its holes, either.

MacPhail has done a TON to get us into really good position to make a run, and probably sooner than most people think. Frobby is right... this is a HUGE offseason for us. The holes we have may be gaping, but there really aren't tons of them. Two reliable starting pitchers would make us a million times better. The rest of the staff just needs to find a way to stay out of the big innings and STAY HEALTHY.

I wouldn't count this team out for next year just yet.

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I love the whole "Rome wasn't built in a day" thing...... I'd wager the Romans didn't sit and hope horse crap would turn into building blocks either. I agree that the deals of Tejada and Bedard were very, very good. That being said it's really hard to compare him to those of the past as Flanny, Duq, and Beattie were not given approval to deal star players.

I think SG has a very valid point with this thread. AM has done nothing to improve the team in season. How many quality playerd did we sign during the International signing period??? How many waiver claims did we make???? Any trades besides Bradford for the PTBNL????

I'm not here to bash AM but this team needs to do so much it just can't take a 7 month break and still make progress. Part of me believes AM was given the word not to add payroll during the season. This would explain some of the inactivity. His comments when Bradford was traded about "I can use the cash" was also an eye opener.

This team has so much to do I'm not sure AMs methodical mode of operation will get the job done.

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I don't understand this thread. How much is a GM supposed to accomplish in little over a year? Do we expect Mcphail to be able to trade very tradeable commodity and remake the entire roster in one season? To build this organization up to a point where it can compete longterm is going to take smart moves and patience, not just a plethora of moves. Would I have liked to see Sherrill, Huff and Roberts traded for a valuable haul at the trading deadline? Of course. But that doesn't mean that any team was willing to do that.

Let's see what Mcphail has accomplished over the past 12 months that may help this franchise over the next several years.

- He traded Tejada the day before the Mitchell report came out for 5 players and shortly before it was officially known that he was actually two years older than his stated age. The previous regime was obviously not able to trade Tejada.

- He traded Bedard for 5 players. This trade has proven to be so lopsided that it sealed Bavasi's fate.

- Adam Jones was allowed to establish himself as an everyday player in CF from day 1.

- Luke Scott was given almost 500 AB this year, the most in his career.

- JJ, Albers, and Sarfate were given chances to establish themselves in the BP this year.

- Sherrill was given an opportunity to take on a bigger role in the BP this year. Maybe this allows Mcphail to trade him this offseason or at least he will be a valuable lefty out of the bullpen who can pitch in situational spots against lefties or in set up situations.

- He didn't sign any older overpriced past their prime veteran players to multiyear contracts like Payton, Millar, Conine, Baez, Walker, Bradford etc like we had see almost every previous offseason.

- Montanez and Mickolio were given opportunities at the end of this season.

- Olson and Liz were able to gain valuable MLB experience this year despite going through more than there fair share of struggles.

- While giving opportunities to younger pitchers like JJ, Albers, Sarfate, Mickolio, Bierd, FCab, McCrory, etc, he didn't give in to temptation and start promoting pitchers from AA or below. (Granted some of the younger pitchers didn't work out, but at least they got an opportunity to show who can possibly help going forward and who gets weeded out.)

- He traded away Bradford. Who knows what we got in return, but you can't bash a move based on not knowing what was received. And it opens up a BP spot for next season when we may have Ray, Sherrill, JJ, Sarfate, Penn, Albers, Patton, Hoey, Mickolio et al competing for spots in the BP.

- Several high upside players who fell in the draft due to signability concerns were targeted and some were signed.

- Wieters was signed just before the deadline. Arrieta was also signed after Mcphail's was hired.

- AM has stated that we need to improve our international scouting/operations. Whether we have taken steps in that direction remains to be seen but at least it seems as if he has made it a priority.

- Jay Gibbons was released at the beginning of the season, despite his still being owed almost 12 million dollars.

- He gave Quiroz, a younger player with some potential upside, a chance at backup catcher, instead of a retread like Bako who had zero upside.

- He resisted the temptation to call up Wieters in this lost season, likely so that he could catch everyday in the minors rather than splitting time with Ramon, and possibly to delay the start of his service clock. He'll be here next season anyway.

Looks like a lot was accomplished to me. And even if every move didn't work out or wasn't universally popular, every move seems to have been made with the long term future in mind.

(Ok, so he didn't obtain a decent SS. Big deal. 2008 was a lost season anyway. I'll be upset if we don't have a SS when we're ready to legitimately contend.)

You are really, really reaching here for a lot of these answers.

He shouldn't be getting any kind of credit for most of these things.

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I love the whole "Rome wasn't built in a day" thing...... I'd wager the Romans didn't sit and hope horse crap would turn into building blocks either. I agree that the deals of Tejada and Bedard were very, very good. That being said it's really hard to compare him to those of the past as Flanny, Duq, and Beattie were not given approval to deal star players.

I think SG has a very valid point with this thread. AM has done nothing to improve the team in season. How many quality playerd did we sign during the International signing period??? How many waiver claims did we make???? Any trades besides Bradford for the PTBNL????

I'm not here to bash AM but this team needs to do so much it just can't take a 7 month break and still make progress. Part of me believes AM was given the word not to add payroll during the season. This would explain some of the inactivity. His comments when Bradford was traded about "I can use the cash" was also an eye opener.

This team has so much to do I'm not sure AMs methodical mode of operation will get the job done.

Yea, you have to wonder if AM can walk and chew gum at the same time.

This is why we had to get Markakis done before the offseason...No reason to have that going into the offseason and dragging out.

Am has to much to do and for him, likely not enough time, to not address things in a more timely fashion.

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