NL VP of Scouting : " It’s embarrassing to the sport what they’re doing, or aren’t doing."

[Tony-OH]

There are people they do not agree with tanking to help a rebuild and I get that. As we're going through it, it's certainly not fun from a fan standpoint.

But, at the end of the day, unless you are willing to spend your way through the down years, you have to tank for a bit in order to have a better chance of getting a lottery ticket draft choice vs the more crap shoot of the later 1st round picks.

All the while the organization has to draft and develop very well, while also spending all of their cap in the international market.

It's pretty expensive and in a world were there is no salary cap and the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers can spend unlimited amounts of money, it doesn't make a ton of sense. 

As several have already stated, we've been through the mediocre years and knowing every year you need to catch lightning in a bottle to compete is not fun. I'd rather the organization be built for sustained success and by using the latest technology and analytics to help stay on the cutting edge. Not all of it will work, and there will be missteps and failure, but i at least feel like the organization is going in the right direction. and being built on a solid foundation now.

[Sports Guy]

10 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Or, you know, they are actually embarrassed by how the Orioles are going about things.

Seems every bit as likely as them having an axe to grind.

I just love the Baltimore Victim Syndrome.  Everyone is out to get us!  The MLB Umps, the NCAA Refs, the National Media!

Yea, I don’t get why people take these things so personally.

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, NCRaven said:

I am excited by this year's team.  An outfield full of young talent.  Mancini's return.  I'm fine with the pickups of Galvis and Franco.  I like that Means, Kremer and Zimmerman will play big roles in the rotation.  Now, I'd like to see a steady stream of prospects make their way to the big club during the course of the season.  Bauman, Lowther, Wells and Akin could all make their way onto the pitching staff.  Diaz and McKenna could get shots.  And, I really hope to see Rutschman later in the season.  Those types of moves would make this big league season a success.  Beyond that, the development of Gunnar Henderson and Adam Hall [not to mention Grayson Rodriquez and DL Hall] would be great news for me, as well.  I'm stoked about '21.

I agree.   The team in 2018's win total was in the 40s.

Elias took over and got them into the 50s in 2019, and a win% equivaent of the 60s in 2020.   I'm hoping for the 70s this year and that means shooting for .500 next year.   We are starting the season with 2 rookies in the starting rotation, and at least 2 in the everyday lineup.   We expect to see Akin back at some point and expect to see Diaz up at some point.   I really believe Lowther and Bauman and Rutschman are close too.

Right now, I don't see anything to be concerned about in terms of progress.   We  have a top 10 farm system according to almost every rating,  we began infusing younger talent into the lineup last year and will continue this year.

This is pretty much what I hoped for when Elias took over, I don't get what people are complaining about.

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, Can_of_corn said:

 

We are also in year four with no guarantee that year five will be different.

There are no guarantees for everyone.   Isn't a top 10 farm system with quite a few interesting guys already making their major league debuts and others who appear to be close, all you can ask for?

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, SteveA said:

I agree.   The team in 2018's win total was in the 40s.

Elias took over and got them into the 50s in 2019, and a win% equivaent of the 60s in 2020.   I'm hoping for the 70s this year and that means shooting for .500 next year.   We are starting the season with 2 rookies in the starting rotation, and at least 2 in the everyday lineup.   We expect to see Akin back at some point and expect to see Diaz up at some point.   I really believe Lowther and Bauman and Rutschman are close too.

Right now, I don't see anything to be concerned about in terms of progress.   We  have a top 10 farm system according to almost every rating,  we began infusing younger talent into the lineup last year and will continue this year.

This is pretty much what I hoped for when Elias took over, I don't get what people are complaining about.

Only because one of them had their service time gamed last season.

[Number5]

10 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

What was he asked?  What is the context?
 

It’s not odd if they asked him his opinion on how the Os are fielding their ML product or something along those lines. 

The whole thing seems bizarre to me.  Why would a reporter ask the scouting director of a NL team his opinion on the minor league free agency decisions of an AL team?  Come on.  Yes, we don't know the context, but to presume that this is a normal occurrence is just silly, IMO.  I neither know nor care how this came about, as it just plain seems like a very odd thing for this guy to do in the media.  And Corn's assertion that the guy is truly embarrassed by the minor league free agency decisions of another team  will never make any sense to me, no matter how many times he posts it.  I say, who cares?  The comment reflects negatively more on the person making them that it does the object of his commentary, IMO.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, SteveA said:

There are no guarantees for everyone.   Isn't a top 10 farm system with quite a few interesting guys already making their major league debuts and others who appear to be close, all you can ask for?

Nope, I can ask to actually see the players in the majors, instead of having them have to "earn" it in some nebulous way.

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

There are people they do not agree with tanking to help a rebuild and I get that. As we're going through it, it's certainly not fun from a fan standpoint.

But, at the end of the day, unless you are willing to spend your way through the down years, you have to tank for a bit in order to have a better chance of getting a lottery ticket draft choice vs the more crap shoot of the later 1st round picks.

All the while the organization has to draft and develop very well, while also spending all of their cap in the international market.

It's pretty expensive and in a world were there is no salary cap and the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers can spend unlimited amounts of money, it doesn't make a ton of sense. 

As several have already stated, we've been through the mediocre years and knowing every year you need to catch lightning in a bottle to compete is not fun. I'd rather the organization be built for sustained success and by using the latest technology and analytics to help stay on the cutting edge. Not all of it will work, and there will be missteps and failure, but i at least feel like the organization is going in the right direction. and being built on a solid foundation now.

I was fine with the rebuild and I'm not asking for them to sign big name free agents.

But I think we have reached the point in which we should be seeing these kids ascend to the higher levels instead of holding them back for what appear to be financial reasons.

[LTO's]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I don’t know why you are even talking about in terms of a viable alternative.  I spent tons of posts and words talking about this.  

I have asked you multiple times on here and you have given this exact answer. It's interesting that instead of just presenting an opposing organizational direction you always say that you've explained it somewhere else. Is signing a few ML stop gap FAs really what's going to make the Orioles not "embarrassing"? 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Number5 said:

The whole thing seems bizarre to me.  Why would a reporter ask the scouting director of a NL team his opinion on the minor league free agency decisions of an AL team?  Come on.  Yes, we don't know the context, but to presume that this is a normal occurrence is just silly, IMO.  I neither know nor care how this came about, as it just plain seems like a very odd thing for this guy to do in the media.  And Corn's assertion that the guy is truly embarrassed by the minor league free agency decisions of another team  will never make any sense to me, no matter how many times he posts it.  I say, who cares?  The comment reflects negatively more on the person making them that it does the object of his commentary, IMO.

You don't feel embarrassed by your co-workers' behavior at times?  I wish I could say the same.  It isn't rational I know but it still happens to me.

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, Number5 said:

The whole thing seems bizarre to me.  Why would a reporter ask the scouting director of a NL team his opinion on the minor league free agency decisions of an AL team?  Come on.  Yes, we don't know the context, but to presume that this is a normal occurrence is just silly, IMO.  I neither know nor care how this came about, as it just plain seems like a very odd thing for this guy to do in the media.  And Corn's assertion that the guy is truly embarrassed by the minor league free agency decisions of another team  will never make any sense to me, no matter how many times he posts it.  I say, who cares?  The comment reflects negatively more on the person making them that it does the object of his commentary, IMO.

Anonymous scouts and GMs and those around the game are asked stuff like this all the time.  He gave an assessment based on his beliefs of what the team is doing within the context of what he was asked. 
 

I dont see anything wrong with him doing that but hey, to each their own.

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, LTO's said:

I have asked you multiple times on here and you have given this exact answer. It's interesting that instead of just presenting an opposing organizational direction you always say that you've explained it somewhere else. Is signing a few ML stop gap FAs really what's going to make the Orioles not "embarrassing"? 

I don’t recall you asking me but maybe I just didn’t care to continue to repeat myself over and over.  Most of my posts are spent on this topic.

That being said and as I have said countless times, I largely agree with everything Elias is doing.  However, I feel the team should be better and more competitive this year.  I think the Os have a lot of money they can throw around right now and could be using that in trades and free agency to acquire players that help now and long term.  I think they are getting dangerously close to having too much depth and are at risk of losing some guys for next to nothing, ala Pop.  I would like to see them address some areas of weakness in the organization by going outside of it.

Again, these are all points I have mentioned several times so if you aren’t seeing it, that’s on you.  It’s not from a lack of me answering the question.

[LookinUp]

12 minutes ago, SteveA said:

...
We are starting the season with 2 rookies in the starting rotation, and at least 2 in the everyday lineup.   We expect to see Akin back at some point and expect to see Diaz up at some point.   I really believe Lowther and Bauman and Rutschman are close too.

Right now, I don't see anything to be concerned about in terms of progress.   We  have a top 10 farm system according to almost every rating,  we began infusing younger talent into the lineup last year and will continue this year.

This is pretty much what I hoped for when Elias took over, I don't get what people are complaining about.

I don't disagree with any of this, but I think it's obvious that the O's will still have to supplement this rebuild with significant talent from outside of the org, whether through trades or free agency. Our farm system won't be enough by itself unless the international stuff really breaks out. Even that is years away.

At some point, soon, Elias will need to make that pivot because it won't all be done with a single stroke of the pen. Building the full team that competes will take time, even with a good minor league system.

[Tony-OH]

10 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I was fine with the rebuild and I'm not asking for them to sign big name free agents.

But I think we have reached the point in which we should be seeing these kids ascend to the higher levels instead of holding them back for what appear to be financial reasons.

Who do you think is being held back this year due to financial reasons? 

[Number5]

10 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

You don't feel embarrassed by your co-workers' behavior at times?  I wish I could say the same.  It isn't rational I know but it still happens to me.

Co-worker?  Perhaps.  Competitor?  No.