Eduardo Rodriguez

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

It really does keep coming back to this, doesn’t it?

We have 2 huge unknowns…can Elias properly build a winning ML roster and what is the ownership commitment to this team?  

We just don’t know the answers yet and it’s frustrating as a fan.

Elias is a smart guy.  And I don't mean that smart people are always successful, but I don't mind riding with a guy who's Ivy League educated and went to one of the best charter high schools in the country that's dedicated to science and technology.  That background doesn't guarantee anything but it does mean he will learn quickly.  Obviously I'd prefer a guy who has direct experience in this area but if we're going to go with a hot-shot young GM, Elias has a pedigree that's tough to beat.

That is to say I have more faith in the Elias part of the puzzle than the Angelos part of the puzzle.  

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Moose Milligan said:

Elias is a smart guy.  And I don't mean that smart people are always successful, but I don't mind riding with a guy who's Ivy League educated and went to one of the best charter high schools in the country that's dedicated to science and technology.  That background doesn't guarantee anything but it does mean he will learn quickly.  Obviously I'd prefer a guy who has direct experience in this area but if we're going to go with a hot-shot young GM, Elias has a pedigree that's tough to beat.

That is to say I have more faith in the Elias part of the puzzle than the Angelos part of the puzzle.  

I’d say I’m the opposite.   I really like Elias and want him to succeed, but I just can’t tell if he will.   The Angelos family has spent money when the team was in contention and I am pretty confident they’ll do it again, even though the sons are now in charge so we can’t know for sure what they’ll do.   

[Sports Guy]

3 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Elias is a smart guy.  And I don't mean that smart people are always successful, but I don't mind riding with a guy who's Ivy League educated and went to one of the best charter high schools in the country that's dedicated to science and technology.  That background doesn't guarantee anything but it does mean he will learn quickly.  Obviously I'd prefer a guy who has direct experience in this area but if we're going to go with a hot-shot young GM, Elias has a pedigree that's tough to beat.

That is to say I have more faith in the Elias part of the puzzle than the Angelos part of the puzzle.  

No doubt.  Intelligence is always valued and something to look for.  Doesn’t mean you can sell.  It doesn’t mean you have the right personality or something like that.  I have dealt with a lot of wealthy people and some of them are the best people you could be around and others have the personality of a wall.  They are great in an office (or in a lab) doing brilliant things but asking them to apply them to the “real world” and they struggle.

I don’t tend to believe Elias is one of those guys.  I think he has the right amount of intelligence and ego for the job.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

I’d say I’m the opposite.   I really like Elias and want him to succeed, but I just can’t tell if he will.   The Angelos family has spent money when the team was in contention and I am pretty confident they’ll do it again, even though the sons are now in charge so we can’t know for sure what they’ll do.   

The Angelos family has spent money on their own.
 

Yes, they signed modest (relatively speaking) FA contracts for Ubaldo and Cobb and they did sign Miggy (a lot back then but nothing now) but overall, they don’t pay for outside the organization guys.  Will that change?

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’d say I’m the opposite.   I really like Elias and want him to succeed, but I just can’t tell if he will.   The Angelos family has spent money when the team was in contention and I am pretty confident they’ll do it again, even though the sons are now in charge so we can’t know for sure what they’ll do.   

I can't tell if he will, either.

The Angelos family has spent money before, this is true.  But they tend to have made poor decisions with it.

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

No doubt.  Intelligence is always valued and something to look for.  Doesn’t mean you can sell.  It doesn’t mean you have the right personality or something like that.  I have dealt with a lot of wealthy people and some of them are the best people you could be around and others have the personality of a wall.  They are great in an office (or in a lab) doing brilliant things but asking them to apply them to the “real world” and they struggle.

I don’t tend to believe Elias is one of those guys.  I think he has the right amount of intelligence and ego for the job.

He communicates very well, too.  I think he's an affable guy.  Doesn't mean he can sell, but...I mean, DD had the personality of a doorknob.  I think Elias can do it.  

[Frobby]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

The Angelos family has spent money on their own.
 

Yes, they signed modest (relatively speaking) FA contracts for Ubaldo and Cobb and they did sign Miggy (a lot back then but nothing now) but overall, they don’t pay for outside the organization guys.  Will that change?

Well, I do not know for sure.   But in a rebuild, the main reason you slash payroll is so you can comfortably add payroll when the time is right.    So for me, the question is does Elias think the time is right, and if so, will the brothers accept the professional advice of the GM they hired?

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I can't tell if he will, either.

The Angelos family has spent money before, this is true.  But they tend to have made poor decisions with it.

He communicates very well, too.  I think he's an affable guy.  Doesn't mean he can sell, but...I mean, DD had the personality of a doorknob.  I think Elias can do it.  

I think he can too.  But I still need to witness him Doing it.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

Well, I do not know for sure.   But in a rebuild, the main reason you slash payroll is so you can comfortably add payroll when the time is right.    So for me, the question is does Elias think the time is right, and if so, will the brothers accept the professional advice of the GM they hired?

No question.  And, to be fair to the brothers, does Elias give them confidence that he is that guy who can sell them and spend their money wisely?  
 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The Angelos family has spent money on their own.
 

Yes, they signed modest (relatively speaking) FA contracts for Ubaldo and Cobb and they did sign Miggy (a lot back then but nothing now) but overall, they don’t pay for outside the organization guys.  Will that change?

And they've never really done it for a TOR type starting pitcher. Getting a legit starting pitcher looks like one of the needs the Orioles will have to get over the hump to become a playoff team.

Elias is following the Astros playbook, but will the Angelos family open their wallets for starting pitching talent that isn't of the Cobb/Ubaldo variety. 

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

No question.  And, to be fair to the brothers, does Elias give them confidence that he is that guy who can sell them and spend their money wisely?  
 

Well, good question.   The advantage he has is, they hired him.   I’m sure they discussed that the team would strip down and then build back when certain things were in place.   How specific those discussions were, and whether there were concrete criteria for when the spending wouid be anticipated, I have no idea.    

I think apart from what makes sense from a pure baseball standpoint, there’s a PR component too.   You can really feel that fans are getting impatient.   
 

[Can_of_corn]

9 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Well, I do not know for sure.   But in a rebuild, the main reason you slash payroll is so you can comfortably add payroll when the time is right.    So for me, the question is does Elias think the time is right, and if so, will the brothers accept the professional advice of the GM they hired?

The main reason you do it is because revenue is going to be down.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Frobby said:

Well, good question.   The advantage he has is, they hired him.   I’m sure they discussed that the team would strip down and then build back when certain things were in place.   How specific those discussions were, and whether there were concrete criteria for when the spending wouid be anticipated, I have no idea.    

I think apart from what makes sense from a pure baseball standpoint, there’s a PR component too.   You can really feel that fans are getting impatient.   
 

They hired him but that was 3 years ago.  Does he give them the same confidence today that he did then?

You would think so, since he isn’t trying to win and they know that but still.  I was told some rumblings that made me think there could be some chinks in the armor there but I don’t know how real the rumor is.  It was a good source but need to see if something comes out of it.  
 

 

[Just Regular]

3 hours ago, RZNJ said:

The last question first.  It's probably too much but we'll have to overpay.  Second, what pitcher comes to Baltimore to re-establish market value?  Answer.  Not a very smart one.  One year deals in Baltimore are for the desperate that no one else will take.

Its perverse, but I feel like the awfulness of the situation is part of the pitch to Syndergaard for his pillow year.

As a pair are Eduardo and Davies much better than Hamels and Porcello entering last offseason?   Things didn't go very well for those two.   Teams are drawing down the use of SP who aren't stars.   Fangraphs crowdsourcers are I feel in general diehard fans, but last year they badly underestimated what clubs were truly willing to pay mid and back rotation types.

They guessed 15 for Paxton, got 8.5, 14 for Hamels who got zip, 13 for Happ who got 8, 11 for Porcello who got zip.

An old school SP4/5 being put out of work by Jorge Lopez once through the order might not be too expensive if we were actually going to give someone decent money for that role.    There aren't many more Carlapalooza's for today's Pavanos.

 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, OrioleDog said:

Its perverse, but I feel like the awfulness of the situation is part of the pitch to Syndergaard for his pillow year.

As a pair are Eduardo and Davies much better than Hamels and Porcello entering last offseason?   Things didn't go very well for those two.   Teams are drawing down the use of SP who aren't stars.   Fangraphs crowdsourcers are I feel in general diehard fans, but last year they badly underestimated what clubs were truly willing to pay mid and back rotation types.

They guessed 15 for Paxton, got 8.5, 14 for Hamels who got zip, 13 for Happ who got 8, 11 for Porcello who got zip.

An old school SP4/5 being put out of work but Jorge Lopez once through the order might not be too expensive if we were actually going to give someone decent money to someone for that role.    There aren't many more Carlapalooza's for today's Pavanos.

 

Hamels got a million for a couple inter-squad games.

Sign me up for that action.

[DrungoHazewood]

30 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’d say I’m the opposite.   I really like Elias and want him to succeed, but I just can’t tell if he will.   The Angelos family has spent money when the team was in contention and I am pretty confident they’ll do it again, even though the sons are now in charge so we can’t know for sure what they’ll do.   

Peter Angelos would sometimes spend, but usually stupidly.  On Chris Davis and a bunch of zeros trying to prop up 75-win teams.

But then he'd seem to take away that spending was useless, and he'd hold the line for years.  He'd say idiotic things like no pitcher was worth a long contract or Mike Mussina money.  And the league-leading payroll of $80M in 1998 became the 15th or 20th-highest $80M payroll 10 years later.

We don't know what the boys will do.  Sometimes sons mirror their fathers, sometimes they Costanza their old man and do the opposite, and sometimes it's a mix.  But I am somewhat optimistic that they've let Elias do his thing so far.  Peter would not have.