Loewen speaks to Roch

[ChaosLex]

Look at it this way. My wife, who anyone here who has met her will attest to, is a "casual fan." I told her what happened, and I made sure to not color my description with biasness or anything, I "just the fact"'ed the story. Her response? "Why would he do that? I bet people are piiiiiiiiiiissed."

Obviously, she's a member of the vast "wrong-majority" conspiracy.

[Mashed Potatoes]

That sounds reasonable. Hey...the guy's career is hanging by a thread. I consider it less a "career move" and more "best chance for survival.

There's absolutely no indication at this point that he's going to develop enough power to be a productive AL East first baseman. The odds are strongly against that. Sure it's easy to cite the O's recent and current first base situation, but Loewen is YEARS away from helping the big league club there.

He gets to play in his home country for the team he grew up rooting for and there appears to be a clear path to the big league club if things go well. If you're a Blue Jays fan, you've got a feel-good story to follow for a few years.

That's all very reasonable, but none of it addresses the crux of the issue, Loewen misled the Orioles, gave his word, and then broke it.

(Again this is based off the reporting I've read, if Loewen never gave his word then I have no problem with his decision)

[Mashed Potatoes]

I'm with you. Of course, you won't get crap for it; I'm getting personal attacks and threads started directly against me (by the same poster, too).

It's good to be a moderator!

[DrungoHazewood]

I understand what he did. We expect players to be huge fans of the team that just happened to draft them, and that's unrealistic. I'm just a little disappointed that it appeared they had a handshake agreement after the team had treated him pretty well, and he jumped teams anyway.

[Wind Rider]

Schmuck admitted to one of his bloggers that the Toronto offer was higher. Did the Orioles get caught trying to do it on the cheap again?

[The Wedge]

Schmuck admitted to one of his bloggers that the Toronto offer was higher. Did the Orioles get caught trying to do it on the cheap again?

How do you define "on the cheap"? He already had a pretty good amount of our money and because of guarunteed contracts was always gonna get that money no matter what happened (within reason, which this falls under). I don't think not offering him a lot of money would be "doing it on the cheap."

If the Blue Jays offered him more money, that's their prerogative and also kinda dumb as well.

[Wind Rider]

They obviously think he's going to turn into a good hitter, perhaps based on what he just showed. Cheap is the Orioles not spending what is required, something they've done on a lot of occasions, and suffered the consequences.

[The Wedge]

They obviously think he's going to turn into a good hitter, perhaps based on what he just showed. Cheap is the Orioles not spending what is required, something they've done on a lot of occasions, and suffered the consequences.

I think they're taking a huge risk just because they can. There's more chance he never gets above A ball than of him becoming Ankiel 2.0.

[Wind Rider]

And aren't we so financially well off, because of our low costs not so much our revenue, that we could take such a huge risk?

[The Wedge]

And aren't we so financially well off, because of our low costs not so much our revenue, that we could take such a huge risk?

I reiterate my point about already having had given the kid a pretty nice chunk of change which technically wasn't fully earned (which isn't his fault, but still true). And again, if the Blue Jays want to over pay on the risk, that's their prerogative, but I think it's dumb. I almost think they did it more to tick the O's off, or rather, bait them in to overpaying to keep him, than to really get a good player in their ranks. I know that's not true, but throwing money at him just seems stupid to me. I probably would have been irked if the O's had spent more than they should have on him just to keep him.

Also...so he followed not only his childhood dreams, but the money. Yeah, that makes him more sympathetic.

[TommyD4207]

I'm with you. Of course, you won't get crap for it; I'm getting personal attacks and threads started directly against me (by the same poster, too).

Or he won't get crap about it because he doesn't have this holier than thou smug aura about his posts that you do.

[NewMarketSean]

Why would we pay a pitcher trying to become a hitter after 6 years any more than the minimum... especially after we already handed him 5 Million for the equivalent of a 4 hour work week?

All the sudden Loewen had teams interested in him. Maybe the O's should have expected it to happen, but they definitely shouldn't have sunk any more money into Adam Loewen.

[Aloe]

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/schmuck/2008/10/loewen_leaves_orioles_at_the_a.html

I can blame him for that if I want to. This just goes to show. You never give a drafted player a major league contract. Yeah I know. Everybody is different. I don't care. The risk is to great. This kid blows out his are, you have to release him and he signs with a different club the first chance he gets.

The only thing the Orioles ever got from their investment in Loewen is, well...nothing.

[RayKinsella]

Perhaps now the great Blue Jays/Orioles rivalry of the 90's will return?

[24fps]

Perhaps now the great Blue Jays/Orioles rivalry of the 90's will return?

God I hope so. (Although some would have you believe it only lasted for 15 minutes )