“Orioles big game shopping & most believe it's exclusively rotation”

[RZNJ]

3 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

 

I dont disagree with either of you.

My biggest problem with the front office. Up till this season, I had no issues with Elias, he was doing what he was hired to do.

Dont pretend and mislead us by telling the fans, you are going to blast off and contend, and then not even try, especially at trade deadline, the team was playing well and you threw in the towel.

The time for liftoff comments were after the trade deadline and describing where the team was heading into the 2023 season.

[Redskins Rick]

8 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

The time for liftoff comments were after the trade deadline and describing where the team was heading into the 2023 season.

so far, the blast off has been only talk, total crickets on real movement.

Granted, winter meetings hasnt happen yet.

 

[joelala]

4 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

so far, the blast off has been only talk, total crickets on real movement.

Granted, winter meetings hasnt happen yet.

 

I’ll reserve judgement until all the dominoes have fallen and the season starts, but I agree, if we don’t make a splash to acquire a legitimate 4+ WAR player, I’ll be disheartened. 

[Frobby]

3 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

 

I dont disagree with either of you.

My biggest problem with the front office. Up till this season, I had no issues with Elias, he was doing what he was hired to do.

Dont pretend and mislead us by telling the fans, you are going to blast off and contend, and then not even try, especially at trade deadline, the team was playing well and you threw in the towel.

The Elias “liftoff” comment was after the trade deadline, so Elias didn’t mislead anyone.   And to me, it was a comment about the existing team’s readiness to compete going forward, and had nothing to do with the team spending money.   Here’s the context of that remark.  

That said, after the season was over, Elias did indicate he’d be spending more money than previously.   Here’s what he said:

“I do continue to view this as an offseason where we’re going to have the flexibility to invest in the major league payroll in a different way than I have done since I’ve been here.”

“This is the time to start to make more significant investments in the major-league payroll whether that comes in the form of free agents or kind of buy-side trades, I don’t know yet, but I would expect one, if not both of those types of those activities from us.”

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/and-now-an-offseason-that-could-be-full-of-its-drama-and-fun

So there you go.   It’s November 29, plenty of time for Elias to do what he said he would do.   

[RZNJ]

6 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

so far, the blast off has been only talk, total crickets on real movement.

Granted, winter meetings hasnt happen yet.

 

You said he promised stuff and didn’t deliver at the deadline.  Incorrect.   Now, before 90% of FA’s are signed you’re claiming he didn’t follow through on his rhetoric.  It’s tough to take talk like that, yours not his, seriously.

[Going Underground]

38 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The Abreu signing is the most money the Astros have given a FA since this run began.

The Orioles are going to treat FA very similarly.  Short term deals that fill a few gaps here and there.

Bigger moves are trades, who you keep internally and how you draft and develop.  IE, the best way to build a team.

Bregman got slightly more then Abrue,but free agents from another team is correct Bregman and Altuve combined are a higher amount then the whole Oriole payroll right now. Astros have already given out $93 million in free agent contracts this year 

[Redskins Rick]

21 minutes ago, Frobby said:

So there you go.   It’s November 29, plenty of time for Elias to do what he said he would do.   

Your plenty of time left in the off-season.

I guess as I age, my patience is thinning out, and just win baby win.

I know Elias plays is tight to his chest, so we really dont know if he is kicking tires on anything.

I just have this nightmare, that ST comes and Elias is going to say, I tried, and just going getting anybody to ink up.

I know there is no evidence to point to this, and I hope to be wrong.

[Sports Guy]

25 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

Bregman got slightly more then Abrue,but free agents from another team is correct Bregman and Altuve combined are a higher amount then the whole Oriole payroll right now. Astros have already given out $93 million in free agent contracts this year 

Well 34 of that was for them to keep one of their own FA.

 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

Well 34 of that was for them to keep one of their own FA.

 

If a player is a free agent then he isn't one of their own.

 

[Frobby]

29 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Your plenty of time left in the off-season.

I guess as I age, my patience is thinning out, and just win baby win.

I know Elias plays is tight to his chest, so we really dont know if he is kicking tires on anything.

I just have this nightmare, that ST comes and Elias is going to say, I tried, and just going getting anybody to ink up.

I know there is no evidence to point to this, and I hope to be wrong.

There have been reports that Elias has been very active in talking to agents.  So at least we know he’s not sitting on his hands.  But I do understand how you feel.   It’s been a long time since the O’s acquired a really significant player before February.  It would be psychologically satisfying to see a big move or two before Christmas for once.  

[wildcard]

My guess is at this point players and their agents are looking for the longest contract they can find.   Taillon and Walker are probably looking for 4 years. But GMs may only be offering 3 years.     So it will take some time for the players and agents to agree to the lesser term.  

I just hope the 2nd tier pitchers don't hold out until all the first tier pitchers are signed.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

16 hours ago, Roll Tide said:

I’m confused …. I offered Cowser, Hall, and Ortiz….with that I’m giving them their choice of a pitcher and Rom

You are offering 4 that include my 3 plus Mayo. If they value Mayo over the two pitchers fine. But, I’m not sure your offer is marketedly better.  Personally I’d rather have the two pitchers
 

,

I'll be honest, I was babysitting yesterday and my attention was more than a little divided, so I missed Ortiz's name in there. My bad.

Nonetheless, I think both of our hypothetical offers are probably on the light side and that there will be at least one team out there, maybe more than one, that would offer a more attractive headliner than Cowser or more total value, and even Cowser is probably a steeper price than Elias is willing to pay at this juncture.

 

15 hours ago, tntoriole said:

I argued then that professional hitters like Cruz and Ortiz and Harold Baines etc etc usually keep hitting into 40s.   
All you needed him for was to hit and these guys continue much longer than a position player would.. I was right.. Duquette was wrong. 
I would have done the same with Abreu. 

It is a risk I would take every time  with DHs who have been productive. 

 

The overwhelming majority of baseball players, hitters and pitchers alike, are toast well before age 40.

And Ortiz is a pretty good comp for Cruz since he used some of the same "training regimens" as Cruz.

I remain steadfast in my belief though that letting him walk was the correct decision at the time. Hindsight may disagree, but there was no way to know then that Cruz would somehow perform in the 99th percentile of all players ever at his age.

[jrobb21613]

Elias can say what he likes but I just don’t see them adding any major liabilities until current ownership irons everything out or they sell the team. 

[interloper]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

There have been reports that Elias has been very active in talking to agents.  So at least we know he’s not sitting on his hands.  But I do understand how you feel.   It’s been a long time since the O’s acquired a really significant player before February.  It would be psychologically satisfying to see a big move or two before Christmas for once.  

And if Elias fails to land people, I think we should be dumping blame on Johnny boy, not Elias, who it's clear cares and is fired up and trying his best. At the end of the day it's does he have the freedom to out-offer other teams. We're going to find out soon. 

[Yardball85]

11 minutes ago, interloper said:

And if Elias fails to land people, I think we should be dumping blame on Johnny boy, not Elias, who it's clear cares and is fired up and trying his best. At the end of the day it's does he have the freedom to out-offer other teams. We're going to find out soon. 

Agreed.