“Liftoff - Perhaps a Bit Misunderstood “

[wildcard]

3 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I’d like to see us get a vet bat that can work the count, and help set the tone for the young guys. Michael Brantley would be ideal, but he’s injury prone and might take a 2/20 deal to bring in.

I've read that Astros owner Crane loves Brantley and wants him back.  And Brantley wants to sign with the Astros.  They are just waiting for Brantley to show he is healthy.

Edited December 8, 2022 by wildcard

[Bemorewins]

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Or extend one of their own.

That'd be cool (probably, unless it's Tate).

Right now, I can't see Henderson or Rutchsman really being that into this. I know they may get some additional security, but if I were them I would seriously worry about being stuck on a bad or mediocre team. These guys are uber competitors. With seeing how things are being run and seeing that ownership and management has not serious commitment to winning, why would they want to sign up for that?

If I were them, I would probably just focus on performing well and then preparing to be traded in a few years or bide my time until I can walk in free agency.

What we have right now organizationally is a big mess with the absence of committed ownership/leadership. We can have all the young players and prospects in the world, but I see no scenario were this works out well with this type of leadership or lack there of.

[jcaponio]

The “it’s liftoff from here” comment was never about payroll. It was about the future health of the organization in general. Yes, he later said that payroll would eventually increase substantially, but it was clear at the time that most of that would come from raising the salaries of young players already on the team, not going out and spending hundreds of millions on free agents. 

I understand the frustration of not spending like the big market teams. But that was never going to happen. And Elias never said, or even implied, that it would. 

[Es4M11]

7 minutes ago, jcaponio said:

The “it’s liftoff from here” comment was never about payroll. It was about the future health of the organization in general. Yes, he later said that payroll would eventually increase substantially, but it was clear at the time that most of that would come from raising the salaries of young players already on the team, not going out and spending hundreds of millions on free agents. 

I understand the frustration of not spending like the big market teams. But that was never going to happen. And Elias never said, or even implied, that it would. 

No one said he had to spend hundreds of millions on free agents. Straw man argument...

 

[Sports Guy]

 

[RZNJ]

10 hours ago, Bemorewins said:

Right now, I can't see Henderson or Rutchsman really being that into this. I know they may get some additional security, but if I were them I would seriously worry about being stuck on a bad or mediocre team. These guys are uber competitors. With seeing how things are being run and seeing that ownership and management has not serious commitment to winning, why would they want to sign up for that?

If I were them, I would probably just focus on performing well and then preparing to be traded in a few years or bide my time until I can walk in free agency.

What we have right now organizationally is a big mess with the absence of committed ownership/leadership. We can have all the young players and prospects in the world, but I see no scenario were this works out well with this type of leadership or lack there of.

You've made a lot of reasonable posts but your speculation on two players who haven't completed one full major league season and "no scenario where I see this turning out well" are over the top.  There is plenty of leadership in this organization on the baseball side and it's been shown.  

 

[Bemorewins]

15 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

You've made a lot of reasonable posts but your speculation on two players who haven't completed one full major league season and "no scenario where I see this turning out well" are over the top.  There is plenty of leadership in this organization on the baseball side and it's been shown.  

 

That’s fair. I do not know with any degree of certainty what is going on in the minds of Henderson, Rutchsman, Rodriguez, or even Holiday for that matter. It was pure speculation on my part. My point was to see reason to guess how they “might possibly” feel being a part of an org that is not “all in”.

And you are right, that was over the top in turns of what I said “about no scenario turning out well”. That was stated out of pure frustration and disappointment. I genuinely believed Elias and thought that things would be different this time with the old man supposedly not in charge. I am having a hard time understanding the logic of being given 250-300+ million and refusing to use it on the team I love and have done so practically all my life.

As far as the leadership comment goes, I was talking about at the top. I stand by that one. We would not be in this situation if we had good ownership leading the way. No matter how good the baseball people are, they can always be overruled at any time (like I suspect they were done here). I refuse to believe that this is what Elias meant by liftoff. He wouldn’t have had to come back and backtrack and “reclarify”. He’s very smart and well spoken with the media, he knew what he was saying originally and said it several times.

[geschinger]

11 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

I refuse to believe that this is what Elias meant by liftoff. He wouldn’t have had to come back and backtrack and “reclarify”. He’s very smart and well spoken with the media, he knew what he was saying originally and said it several times.

I think this liftoff thing is being wildly misintrepted and has spun out of control.

I think is likely nothing more than he slipped back into language / hype / motto from his previous team when they too came off a season as suprising as the Orioles 2022 season.

Take a look at how many big FA contracts "Liftoff" equated to for that front office in the offseason before the 2016 season.  As you know, the current Orioles braintrust were key contributors to that Liftoff front office.