O's still in 3 way dance

[Crazysilver03]

Typical Orioles. All they ever do is find ways not to spend money. The O's are making plenty of money especially now that they have MASN but they never want to spend it. It's baseball. There are no guarantees. I know. Why don't they make a legit offer to CC Sabathia. He doesn't have an injury history. He would cost alot more than Burnett but if injury history is all they're worried about then it should be no problem.

I'm disappointed that so many on this board are willing to excuse the Orioles not spending money on real players year after year it's like you all have Stockholm Syndrome or something. All McPhail has done since he's been here is decrease payroll. Now it's time to increase it. What did they think when the let it slip that they would want to go after Texiera and Burnett. They new going in that these guys would command lot's of money. Don't be fooled for a minute that the front office didn't expect Burnett to get the offer that he got. They knew someone would offer him a 4 or 5 year contract for that kind of money. They knew it. If I could figure it out then so could they.

You can always find reasons not to spend money if all you want to do it not spend money.

Sabathia has injury risk because he has a very heavy workload. Last year, he ranked highest in pitcher abuse points across all major league pitchers.

MacPhail has only been around for one full season and suddenly he is increasing payroll every year he is here? Payroll went down because we traded away are highest paid player. Wait for him to have two full seasons before you use this claim.

The Orioles have money and they are willing to spend it, but they arent going to spend it wastefully.

[connja]

Typical Orioles. All they ever do is find ways not to spend money. The O's are making plenty of money especially now that they have MASN but they never want to spend it. It's baseball. There are no guarantees. I know. Why don't they make a legit offer to CC Sabathia. He doesn't have an injury history. He would cost alot more than Burnett but if injury history is all they're worried about then it should be no problem.

I'm disappointed that so many on this board are willing to excuse the Orioles not spending money on real players year after year it's like you all have Stockholm Syndrome or something. All McPhail has done since he's been here is decrease payroll. Now it's time to increase it. What did they think when the let it slip that they would want to go after Texiera and Burnett. They new going in that these guys would command lot's of money. Don't be fooled for a minute that the front office didn't expect Burnett to get the offer that he got. They knew someone would offer him a 4 or 5 year contract for that kind of money. They knew it. If I could figure it out then so could they.

You can always find reasons not to spend money if all you want to do it not spend money.

Couldn't agree more. It's time to take some risks.

Wouldn't it be nice if they had locked up a SS or someone before the winter meetings, so they had less to do?? The idea that they could find the time to fill 4 holes in one off season is feeling crazy. Let's just get the ball rolling.

[OrioleBird79]

Here we go again over valueing our players!! Come on Markakis for Kemp and Kershaw, that's funny!!

We do over evaluate our guys, however this is not one of those times. Kemp is a good player, but I do not consider Markakis his equal. I actually think Markakis and Penn/Olson for Kershaw and Kemp would be a fair trade. It's easy to find value in a guy who could easily win an MVP award or two in the next 7 years. He is likely the best right fielder in all of baseball. He is the best fielder and has stats that are similar to those big sluggers that they put in right.

If the Orioles were to let go of Markakis tomorrow he would have a 6 year $80 Million deal before the end of the winter meetings. We tend to want prospects that have high upside, Markakis is what happens when a prospect with high upside put it all together. Markakis is that good.

[Sports Guy]

Here we go again over valueing our players!! Come on Markakis for Kemp and Kershaw, that's funny!!

He isn't overvaluing anything...He is saying that someone would have to totally blow him away for him to consider trading Markakis.

[Anonymous]

Typical Orioles. All they ever do is find ways not to spend money. The O's are making plenty of money especially now that they have MASN but they never want to spend it. It's baseball. There are no guarantees. I know. Why don't they make a legit offer to CC Sabathia. He doesn't have an injury history. He would cost alot more than Burnett but if injury history is all they're worried about then it should be no problem.

I'm disappointed that so many on this board are willing to excuse the Orioles not spending money on real players year after year it's like you all have Stockholm Syndrome or something. All McPhail has done since he's been here is decrease payroll. Now it's time to increase it. What did they think when the let it slip that they would want to go after Texiera and Burnett. They new going in that these guys would command lot's of money. Don't be fooled for a minute that the front office didn't expect Burnett to get the offer that he got. They knew someone would offer him a 4 or 5 year contract for that kind of money. They knew it. If I could figure it out then so could they.

You can always find reasons not to spend money if all you want to do it not spend money.

If I go into a car dealership, is it a good plan to try to spend the most money possible? No. I want to get the best car I can for a given number of dollars; or spend the fewest dollars possible for a given quality-level car; or, more realistically, get the best value I can, recognizing that there will be some tradeoffs between quality and cost. But because of this false perception that the Orioles have unlimited dollars to spend, now it's considered virtuous to spend as many dollars as possible.

As Andy says, he's been given plenty of budget authority. But he also has the authority to decide when and in what manner to deploy those resources, which are bigger than he's spent so far, but yet far from unlimited. If you want to argue that Tex and/or AJ are worth the dollars it would take to get them, fine ... there are arguments that can be made both ways. But it's tiring to keep hearing this idea that increasing payroll drastically during this particular FA signing period is the true sign of virtue.

[Enjoy Terror]

Typical Orioles. All they ever do is find ways not to spend money. The O's are making plenty of money especially now that they have MASN but they never want to spend it.

This is such a stubborn comment. MASN, at most, gives the Orioles $35M to work with. Combine that with a team that brings in 10-15K people per game and you want the Orioles to go in for $15M a year for Burnett? For one player? That's like 30 Oscar Salazars, or 30 Garrett Olsons. Our payroll would be up in the low $100M for these free agents and the Orioles are stubborn?? If anything, the Orioles should be looking to cut payroll at all costs, considering that the bad economy is going to put even LESS people in seats next year. The Orioles should be ran like the Rays, Marlins, Diamondbacks and A's-- you know, other teams with cash flow problems, and you're trying to run it like the Mets and Yankees with a bucket of cash. Maryland only has 4M people in it, and 700K in Baltimore alone... New York City has 16M an a nationwide fanabase. They can afford it.

[bigbird]

I can't believe that this deal can't be expanded to include Scott to the Cubs with all of the permutations of the names involved (Olsen, Scott, Walker, Cedeno, Pie, Marquis, Hill,etc.). Somehow, I would think that Hendry and AM can find some kind of middle ground so that the Cubs end up with Scott and Olsen (to be flipped to the Padres).

Maybe the Orioles don't want to deal a productive outfielder under control for 4 years for any of the suspects or bad contracts the Cubs have left. I'd wager we coulf get Marguis and half of his remaining contract paid by the Cubs for a no name non roster suspect of our own.

[bigbird]

This is such a stubborn comment. MASN, at most, gives the Orioles $35M to work with. Combine that with a team that brings in 10-15K people per game and you want the Orioles to go in for $15M a year for Burnett? For one player? That's like 30 Oscar Salazars, or 30 Garrett Olsons. Our payroll would be up in the low $100M for these free agents and the Orioles are stubborn?? If anything, the Orioles should be looking to cut payroll at all costs, considering that the bad economy is going to put even LESS people in seats next year. The Orioles should be ran like the Rays, Marlins, Diamondbacks and A's-- you know, other teams with cash flow problems, and you're trying to run it like the Mets and Yankees with a bucket of cash. Maryland only has 4M people in it, and 700K in Baltimore alone... New York City has 16M an a nationwide fanabase. They can afford it.

Maryland has over 6 million people now. A winning team will put more fannys in the stands, economy or no economy. How did we affors a $90 million payroll a few years back with no MASN or welfare check frm MLB? I'd argue that $35 million total too. That may be the share for the Orioles rights but Angelos and friends are pocketing much more than that.

[getxstoked]

Maryland has over 6 million people now. A winning team will put more fannys in the stands, economy or no economy. How did we affors a $90 million payroll a few years back with no MASN or welfare check frm MLB? I'd argue that $35 million total too. That may be the share for the Orioles rights but Angelos and friends are pocketing much more than that.

The Yard had a lot less empty seats then, genius.

[Hank Scorpio]

I cannot imagine a situation where MacPhail would trade away one of his starting pitchers without having signed at least one first.

Just my $.02.

[Peace21]

The Yard had a lot less empty seats then, genius.

Whoa out of line.

[Sports Guy]

The Yard had a lot less empty seats then, genius.

With this comment and the one in your other thread, it is amazing that you haven't been banned in the past.

The difference between the year BB said and last year was only a few hundred thousand seats...In the scheme of things, that isn't a ton and its not a difference that should mean 30+ million dollars in payroll.

Before being a jerk to well respected posters, perhaps you could come to the table with some actual ideas and thoughts instead of trolling and throwing around a bunch of bs.

[Belkast]

The Yard had a lot less empty seats then, genius.

C'mon now! That was really uncalled for. Have some respect to fellow posters.

[Belkast]

Sorry about that guys. I didn't realize you all were already on it.

[Peace21]

Sorry about that guys. I didn't realize you all were already on it.

Its like a weekly exercise.