Trying to figure out AM

[bigbird]

Reading Roch's latest comments have me scratching my head trying to figure McPhail out. If in fact we have no intentions of signing Tex, Burnett or any other premier free agent it leaves me thinking one of two things:

1) He really missed the boat the last year by not dealing Roberts, Huff, Sherrill, Hernandez.

or

2) He's unsure of the direction he wants to head in.

What other reason can there be??? Roberts could have been traded to either the Cubs or Indians, Hernandez was pursued by the Mets, and there were Sherrill and Huff offers at the deadline. If in fact he wanted to go forward with the rebuilding mode these players should have been traded. No ifs, ands , or butts about it.

Another thought is after our 2008 start AM thought we were closer than we actually are and wanted to give the team a chance. Wrong choice. Keeping the above mentioned players and not pursuing premier free agent talent just puts up behind even further. I sit and wonder why we didn't go after an Anthony Reyes, claim 23 yo LHP Eric O'Flaherty from Seattle, or sign upper level international talents. Why did we do nothing for almost 9 months???

My conclusion is that AM is all in this off season to sign premier free agent talents. If he's not he's made a Thrift like mistake that has once again stalled this organization.

[Sports Guy]

I really don't see how anyone can argue with that post BB. Very well said.

I really think part of the problem is they really don't know what they want to do.

[Fan4Life]

Sounds reasonable.. But that's one heck of a risk to take realizing you're not the only buyer on the market.

[Belkast]

Reading Roch's latest comments have me scratching my head trying to figure McPhail out. If in fact we have no intentions of signing Tex, Burnett or any other premier free agent it leaves me thinking one of two things:

1) He really missed the boat the last year by not dealing Roberts, Huff, Sherrill, Hernandez.

or

2) He's unsure of the direction he wants to head in.

What other reason can there be??? Roberts could have been traded to either the Cubs or Indians, Hernandez was pursued by the Mets, and there were Sherrill and Huff offers at the deadline. If in fact he wanted to go forward with the rebuilding mode these players should have been traded. No ifs, ands , or butts about it.

Another thought is after our 2008 start AM thought we were closer than we actually are and wanted to give the team a chance. Wrong choice. Keeping the above mentioned players and not pursuing premier free agent talent just puts up behind even further. I sit and wonder why we didn't go after an Anthony Reyes, claim 23 yo LHP Eric O'Flaherty from Seattle, or sign upper level international talents. Why did we do nothing for almost 9 months???

My conclusion is that AM is all in this off season to sign premier free agent talents. If he's not he's made a Thrift like mistake that has once again stalled this organization.

Hopefully we will have a good idea in the next month or so. I do think we are going all in. I would like to believe that we will see a significant improvement.

Just a reminder....PGA wants to win NOW!

[Fan4Life]

Hopefully we will have a good idea in the next month or so. I do think we are going all in. I would like to believe that we will see a significant improvement.

Just a reminder....PGA wants to win NOW!

Thanks for the bedtime story.. I'll sleep better now.

[Miller192]

Great post BB, I agree 100%

[bigbird]

Hopefully we will have a good idea in the next month or so. I do think we are going all in. I would like to believe that we will see a significant improvement.

Just a reminder....PGA wants to win NOW!

I want to believe this sooooo bad. The only thing I think Angelos likes more than winning is MONEY. Hopefully your source has the scoop on this one.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Maybe we just don't know what the hell is going on? :laughlol:

[33rdst]

Hopefully we will have a good idea in the next month or so. I do think we are going all in. I would like to believe that we will see a significant improvement.

Just a reminder....PGA wants to win NOW!

We will certainly find out in the next thirty to sixty days. My reaction to the statement "PGA wants to win now" is that Peter is not completely in control here. It may not matter what Peter wants.

[Lucky Jim]

Maybe we just don't know what the hell is going on? :laughlol:

I don't know what you're talking about. I knew we were going downhill the minute we failed to sign Wieters before the signing deadline. The writing was on the wall.

Oh, wait.

I mean, I knew we were going downhill the minute we let PA nix the deal with the Mariners.

Oh, wait.

Of course we don't what's going on. And haven't, again and again. Though that doesn't stop anything.

BTW, there's nothing in that Roch blog entry that suggests we're not going to make a move on Teix. All it does is lay out the calculations behind that move. I'd be scared if we DIDN'T measure the costs and benefits.

Hopefully the four day weekend will give folks a bit of time and space to decompress. Though probably not enough to balance the epidemic/endemic irrationality caused by 11 years of losing.

[Belkast]

I want to believe this sooooo bad. The only thing I think Angelos likes more than winning is MONEY. Hopefully your source has the scoop on this one.

I know that you do, Bigbird. I also know why you are having a hard time believing it. It's been 11 years. Though AM clearly stated today that we won't be a playoff team next year, he didn't say we would be in year 12 of losing.

I am really trying to not get into why I feel confident, like I have in years past. Partly because I don't want to get into trouble with my guy, as well as the board, and partly because I don't want to jinx things. I will just reiterate that PGA is getting older and he wants to win NOW.

[TonySoprano]

I want to believe this sooooo bad. The only thing I think Angelos likes more than winning is MONEY. Hopefully your source has the scoop on this one.

Hopefully we will have a good idea in the next month or so. I do think we are going all in. I would like to believe that we will see a significant improvement.

Just a reminder....PGA wants to win NOW!

I have no doubt that Peter Angelos has wanted to win for some time. Otherwise, why put out statements, three years ago that we're going to be right on the heels of the Red Sox and Yankees or right in their faces? Why promise three years ago that we will acquire the players we need to be successful? Why we're supposed to believe that this year he really, really means it, as opposed to all of his past promises, I don't know.

[anselmO]

If AM, PA doesn't do something to spark interest in this team for '09, it would be mind-boggling. Attendance and interest in the team would be difficult for the most die-hard of fans. They HAVE to be taking that into consideration.

If they stand pat, and their big moves of the offseason are signing Izturis and a back-end SP, there will be some lonely nights in the stands down at OPACY.

If Angelos is such a business man and so hung up on money, he has to know that he has to take action THIS offseason.

[eastonguy]

This might be a stupid question but who is this Belkast guy?

[LookinUp]

Reading Roch's latest comments have me scratching my head trying to figure McPhail out. If in fact we have no intentions of signing Tex, Burnett or any other premier free agent it leaves me thinking one of two things:

1) He really missed the boat the last year by not dealing Roberts, Huff, Sherrill, Hernandez.

or

2) He's unsure of the direction he wants to head in.

What other reason can there be??? Roberts could have been traded to either the Cubs or Indians, Hernandez was pursued by the Mets, and there were Sherrill and Huff offers at the deadline. If in fact he wanted to go forward with the rebuilding mode these players should have been traded. No ifs, ands , or butts about it.

Another thought is after our 2008 start AM thought we were closer than we actually are and wanted to give the team a chance. Wrong choice. Keeping the above mentioned players and not pursuing premier free agent talent just puts up behind even further. I sit and wonder why we didn't go after an Anthony Reyes, claim 23 yo LHP Eric O'Flaherty from Seattle, or sign upper level international talents. Why did we do nothing for almost 9 months???

My conclusion is that AM is all in this off season to sign premier free agent talents. If he's not he's made a Thrift like mistake that has once again stalled this organization.

Huh? So he should have taken a good pitcher and a few throw-ins for Roberts, weak offers for Huff and Sherrill and anything at all for Hernandez? And not doing so means he made a Thrift-like mistake?

I don't get it. You seem to be advocating a fire sale that's more concerned with dumping salary then getting anything of significance back in return.

No offense, but he can give players away at any time. I can agree that it'd be awesome to trade all of those guys for a nice return, but I'm not at all convinced that we were ever presented with a return that was worth trading any of the four.

Either way, I hope he is all in this year. However, if he's not, that doesn't make him Sid Thrift.