Just get better

[Frobby]

There's a lot of division of opinion about whether the team mishandled the Tex negotiations, and whether it would have made a difference.

But you know what? At the end of the day, we all want the same thing. We want the team to get better. And the real concern here is not that we didn't get Tex, it's that we haven't done enough yet to actually get any better than last year, either for 2009 or longer term.

Oh sure, we've nibbled at the margins by signing Izturis and clearing space for Wieters to step in. But we haven't addressed the horrible pitching situation for 2009, and that situation seems to be deteriorating. We don't seem to have any long-term plan in place to replace Roberts, Huff and Mora in a year. We don't have a long-term answer at SS even though Izturis may be fine for his 2 years.

So that's all I care about. Put a better team on the field, one that seems to have a future, and I'll quickly forget all about Tex. I don't expect every problem solved at once, but I need to see steady progress. Now get to work.

[Sports Guy]

Well, the problem is AM sat around and did nothing else while Tex was deciding.

He has signed Izturis but only because a better team didn't want him.

He dealt Ramon...Great.

He has a ton of work to do and with the holidays now here, the warehouse normally shuts down, although hopefully this year will be different.

Getting better doesn't mean adding 2 out of Looper, Hendrickson, Redding and byrd. Getting better isn't saying, we just signed an all field, no hit SS.

That's not getting better...That is filling holes with guys with no future.

[Fan4Life]

There's a lot of division of opinion about whether the team mishandled the Tex negotiations, and whether it would have made a difference.

But you know what? At the end of the day, we all want the same thing. We want the team to get better. And the real concern here is not that we didn't get Tex, it's that we haven't done enough yet to actually get any better than last year, either for 2009 or longer term.

Oh sure, we've nibbled at the margins by signing Izturis and clearing space for Wieters to step in. But we haven't addressed the horrible pitching situation for 2009, and that situation seems to be deteriorating. We don't seem to have any long-term plan in place to replace Roberts, Huff and Mora in a year. We don't have a long-term answer at SS even though Izturis may be fine for his 2 years.

So that's all I care about. Put a better team on the field, one that seems to have a future, and I'll quickly forget all about Tex. I don't expect every problem solved at once, but I need to see steady progress. Now get to work.

Would you care to speculate as to what they can do to live up to our wanting them to be better?

I'm still for Olson for Pie/Marquis +$4-5MM

I'm open to signing Sheets if the deal is reasonable

What else is out there? Hu? Scott in a deal for Donald?

Your thoughts?

[Enjoy Terror]

I think it will be a lot easier to make moves once the bad contracts go away. After 2009 there won't be a single contract on the books, save for Cesar Izturis. We will have a payroll of roughly $20M, and MacPhail can use this money to do things like extend Jones, Markakis and Wieters. Also, we will have begun using players like Bergesen, Berken and Hernandez in the pen and rotation. Erbe, Tillman and Arietta will likely be in AAA. And I'm sure not far behind them will be Britton and others. We may draft a 1B by then, or maybe Snyder will be in AAA and we'll be looking at an LF, SS, 3B, or 2B. For all we know, those pieces could come in a trade for Scott, Huff, Sherrill or Roberts.

We're a couple years off, but I enjoy watching the team develop.

[Frobby]

Well, the problem is AM sat around and did nothing else while Tex was deciding.

He has signed Izturis but only because a better team didn't want him.

He dealt Ramon...Great.

He has a ton of work to do and with the holidays now here, the warehouse normally shuts down, although hopefully this year will be different.

Getting better doesn't mean adding 2 out of Looper, Hendrickson, Redding and byrd. Getting better isn't saying, we just signed an all field, no hit SS.

That's not getting better...That is filling holes with guys with no future.

As always, you make it sound as if it is so easy to do. News flash: other teams aren't just giving away their good young talent. The O's do not have that many trading chips.

If you believe MacPhail, he's been busy:

"We did not allow this to sidetrack our other endeavors," MacPhail said. "We're focusing on our pitching and catching primarily at this point."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.orioles24dec24,0,7091933.story

"We're still going to go out and do those things that we intended on doing," MacPhail said. "We're still going to go out and try to augment the pitching and fill out the catching situation. We haven't really been paralyzed by the negotiations. We've worked on those other things that we've had earmarked since the organizational meetings."

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081223&content_id=3727102&vkey=news_bal&fext=.jsp&c_id=bal

Like you, I'm not enthused about some of the names I've been hearing on the pitching front. But let's see where things stand on Feb. 15 when spring training begins. Six weeks is plenty of time to make some significant moves.

[Sports Guy]

As always, you make it sound as if it is so easy to do. News flash: other teams aren't just giving away their good young talent. The O's do not have that many trading chips.

If you believe MacPhail, he's been busy:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.orioles24dec24,0,7091933.story

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081223&content_id=3727102&vkey=news_bal&fext=.jsp&c_id=bal

Like you, I'm not enthused about some of the names I've been hearing on the pitching front. But let's see where things stand on Feb. 15 when spring training begins. Six weeks is plenty of time to make some significant moves.

Sure they do...They just have to be willing to trade them and I suspect that outside of BRob, they aren't willing to do that.

[OrioleFan55]

Well, the problem is AM sat around and did nothing else while Tex was deciding.

He has signed Izturis but only because a better team didn't want him.

He dealt Ramon...Great.

He has a ton of work to do and with the holidays now here, the warehouse normally shuts down, although hopefully this year will be different.

Getting better doesn't mean adding 2 out of Looper, Hendrickson, Redding and byrd. Getting better isn't saying, we just signed an all field, no hit SS.

That's not getting better...That is filling holes with guys with no future.

Why does anybody listen to what this guy says? He worked as a ticket seller before getting fired. He was loud and obnoxious then and it doesn't seem like anything has changed.

Any opinion is fine, but this guy acts like he was born to be a GM - and that's all he's remembered for at the warehouse - a loud-mouth know-it-all.

There is good fan sentiment on here and some good insider information, but anyone who listens to this guy even for one sentence is misguided...

[Enjoy Terror]

You know, going into 2008 we had Guthrie, Burres, Cabrera, Loewen and Trachsel. We were 6-1 to start the year anyway. It did wind up falling apart eventually but...

I already think that Guthrie, Burres, Liz, Olson and Penn is a step up from that rotation. I also think that having Albers, Patton, Waters and others to go will be able to stem the potential meltdown moreso than we were able to in the past. I also would not be surprised to see Bergesen, Hernandez and Berken get cups of coffee if things are really bad. Either way, just to see some of our promising young guys come in and do some work will be fun.

And that's all before we've signed or traded for anyone else that might fit into the rotation like Looper or Kawakami.

[Pedro Cerrano]

I don't really understand why we're once again targeting these mediocre run-of-the-mill pitchers.

Unless we're resigned to waiting for Tillman, Matusz and Jake to get called up and take their spots in which case we're simply punting 2009.

[Sports Guy]

Why does anybody listen to what this guy says? He worked as a ticket seller before getting fired. He was loud and obnoxious then and it doesn't seem like anything has changed.

Any opinion is fine, but this guy acts like he was born to be a GM - and that's all he's remembered for at the warehouse - a loud-mouth know-it-all.

There is good fan sentiment on here and some good insider information, but anyone who listens to this guy even for one sentence is misguided...

LOL..spoken like someone with very little clue and is a cheerleader moreso than someone with real knowledge.

How about you talk about what I said and try to debate this with me?

[OrioleFan55]

LOL..spoken like someone with very little clue and is a cheerleader moreso than someone with real knowledge.

How about you talk about what I said and try to debate this with me?

Ha, I will when you offer something of real substance.

[trueoriolesfan]

Would you care to speculate as to what they can do to live up to our wanting them to be better?

I'm still for Olson for Pie/Marquis +$4-5MM

I'm open to signing Sheets if the deal is reasonable

What else is out there? Hu? Scott in a deal for Donald?

Your thoughts?

Cubs won't do Pie for Olson. Now if we trade Roberts i hope we go after Vitters.

[Sports Guy]

I don't really understand why we're once again targeting these mediocre run-of-the-mill pitchers.

Unless we're resigned to waiting for Tillman, Matusz and Jake to get called up and take their spots in which case we're simply punting 2009.

I get the idea of getting a few stop gaps while we wait for our younger guys.

But why spend the money? How much different is Byrd/Redding and Henrickson to Waters and Bass?

Now, I don't want Waters and Bass in the rotation but I would prefer that to the other 2. I would prefer they took that 4-8 million(whatever the FA starters get) and sign every draft pick....Or use that money to take on a bad contract so that we can get a good prospect that maybe we can have as a starter for the next 5-10 years.

[Sports Guy]

Ha, I will when you offer something of real substance.

LOL...Ahh, spoken like someone who really has no idea...Thanks for validating that...I am sure your stay here will be a short one and no one will care when you are gone.

[L.D.Blair]

As always, you make it sound as if it is so easy to do. News flash: other teams aren't just giving away their good young talent. The O's do not have that many trading chips.

If you believe MacPhail, he's been busy:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.orioles24dec24,0,7091933.story

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081223&content_id=3727102&vkey=news_bal&fext=.jsp&c_id=bal

Like you, I'm not enthused about some of the names I've been hearing on the pitching front. But let's see where things stand on Feb. 15 when spring training begins. Six weeks is plenty of time to make some significant moves.

This is a great point. We need to improve, certainly. But, there's lot of time to do so. A great point.