Is this team bad enough for the number 1 pick?

[Philip]

19 minutes ago, Frobby said:

We didn’t tank at all.   We went into 2018 trying to contend, and won 47 games.   It wasn’t intentional, except for the July 2018 sell-off when we were already playing .300ish baseball four months into the season.

 

I’m not sure, the official line may have been “contention” But I screamed constantly at the time that there was no attempt made during the off-season to assemble any kind of worthwhile team. We loaded ourselves up with DHs who could not hit. And even if a couple of them were possible at first base, you can’t have four first baseman on your roster. There was no attempt at all to assemble any pitching depth, not even someone to cover for Tillman, who was so bad that nobody was allowed to watch him pitch, and we had to rely on Buck’s reports.

I remember the Beats constantly asking Buck about the bad play, and he constantly said, “this is who we have.” Yet no one ever asked him WHY this is who we have. No one asked WHY that problem wasn’t dealt with in the offseason. Never asked Buck or Dan, which is why Roch and Conally and the crowd are full of “slight regard” as Henry’s messenger reports to the Prince in Henry V.

The catastrophe was so complete I have often wondered if the incompetent off-season was Dan’s deliberate revenge.

Grant Brisbee Wrote a highly detailed, extremely witty, and brilliant article about the Royals and the Orioles and what the team did after 2014. He lists every single major transactions each team made, and regardless of how much of a Dan apologist one is, it  is impossible to read that article and not conclude  that he was incompetent.

[Philip]

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/8/31/17768472/kansas-city-royals-baltimore-orioles-bad-no-good

[glenn__davis]

32 minutes ago, Frobby said:

We didn’t tank at all.   We went into 2018 trying to contend, and won 47 games.   It wasn’t intentional, except for the July 2018 sell-off when we were already playing .300ish baseball four months into the season.

 

You are correct of course, at least at the start of the year.  Got my seasons mixed up.  By July the tank was full on though.

[Frobby]

43 minutes ago, Philip said:

I’m not sure, the official line may have been “contention” But I screamed constantly at the time that there was no attempt made during the off-season to assemble any kind of worthwhile team. 

Not saying they did a good job, but they spent $56 mm on four years of Alex Cobb and $16 mm on two years of Andrew Cashner.  Those are not moves a team makes if they’re tanking.   

[Philip]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Not saying they did a good job, but they spent $56 mm on four years of Alex Cobb and $16 mm on two years of Andrew Cashner.  Those are not moves a team makes if they’re tanking.   

Those are moves a team makes if it is stupid. I don’t think I said that they were tanking, I said they were incompetent And the debate has been who is responsible for the incompetent decisions, I don’t think anybody denied that they were bad decisions.

[LookitsPuck]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

We didn’t tank at all.   We went into 2018 trying to contend, and won 47 games.   It wasn’t intentional, except for the July 2018 sell-off when we were already playing .300ish baseball four months into the season.

 

I still can't quite get over just how awful those trades were. 

[Just Regular]

3 hours ago, Philip said:

There was no attempt at all to assemble any pitching depth, not even someone to cover for Tillman, who was so bad that nobody was allowed to watch him pitch, and we had to rely on Buck’s reports.

I feel like the Brady Cobb recruitment was the centerpiece of the 2017-2018 offseason plan, and Cobb hoped for a suitor anywhere else before grudgingly accepting Brady's $57M.  It was an offseason with that $15M/year extra for Adam/Zach/Manny's last run that just took forever to get spent because of Cobb's Camden-fearing nature.

The Either/Or I remember from that February/March was Lance Lynn, who ended up taking 1/12 from the Twins on March 12th.   He was bad too that year, but should outearn Cobb by a little bit this time.

[OriolesMagic83]

12 hours ago, glenn__davis said:

Didn't you say prior to last year that the O's absolutely had to tank for Rocker because he was a once-in-a-generation talent?

These once-in-a-generation talents sure do seem to come around often.  I remember when we were supposed to tank for Pedro Alvarez as well.  

The O's still had the honor of having the great Pedro Alvarez on the team w/o even drafting him!

[Jammer7]

We certainly look bad enough the past three weeks. It depends on what trades Mike Elias makes, which players get called up and what injuries are incurred. We don't score many runs, our starters (aside from Means) rarely finish five innings, and our pen is falling apart. We play 76 games in the AL East. We are looking at a top 3-4 pick. 

[ShoelesJoe]

Worst record in MLB.

Lost 9 of their last 10.

Still have 53 games left against AL East teams. 

I think we'd easily be the betting favorites for next year's #1 spot in the draft. 

[Greenpastures23]

First pick isn't a bad consolation

[Camden_yardbird]

12 hours ago, Greenpastures23 said:

First pick isn't a bad consolation

Its not the first pick that I am worried about.  Its that Elias clearly thought that he had a more complete team than he did.  As noted by others in this thread, not have the self awareness to know what your team is can destroy the competitive future of the franchise.

Its like the White Sox trading Tatis Jr for James Shields.  

[PeteCanes]

5 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

Its not the first pick that I am worried about.  Its that Elias clearly thought that he had a more complete team than he did.  As noted by others in this thread, not have the self awareness to know what your team is can destroy the competitive future of the franchise.

Its like the White Sox trading Tatis Jr for James Shields.  

I’m sorry, that is a terrible analogy 

[Sports Guy]

5 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

Its not the first pick that I am worried about.  Its that Elias clearly thought that he had a more complete team than he did.  

Huh?  He has said he doesn’t care about wins yet you think he thought this team was more complete?

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

Its not the first pick that I am worried about.  Its that Elias clearly thought that he had a more complete team than he did.  As noted by others in this thread, not have the self awareness to know what your team is can destroy the competitive future of the franchise.

Its like the White Sox trading Tatis Jr for James Shields.  

Or he wasn't being 100% truthful in an interview.