Westburg is near ready

[sevastras]

15 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I honestly in the 15 or so years of coming here can't remember a single player that elicited so much conversation an visceral reaction.  It's odd.

The devil on earth, Lew Ford. Thanks for ruining my year for even thinking that name. 

[spleen1015]

25 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I honestly in the 15 or so years of coming here can't remember a single player that elicited so much conversation an visceral reaction.  It's odd.

I think that speaks to just how much of a dumbass move it was. 

[spleen1015]

27 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I honestly in the 15 or so years of coming here can't remember a single player that elicited so much conversation an visceral reaction.  It's odd.

I think that speaks to just how much of a dumbass move it was. 

*** DOUBLE POST. MODS PLEASE DELETE THIS. I NEED THE EXTRA POST BEFORE 500 ***  

Edited March 29, 2023 by spleen1015

[Pickles]

31 minutes ago, sevastras said:

The devil on earth, Lew Ford. Thanks for ruining my year for even thinking that name. 

That was largely a joke though. 

I think the most over the top board reaction prior to this was the Taylor Teagarden trade.  But that was relatively short-lived and people moved on.

I don't see anybody moving on from Frazier.

And to be clear, I'm not saying they're wrong in their analysis.

[Pickles]

25 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

I think that speaks to just how much of a dumbass move it was. 

The Orioles have made far worse moves than this one.

[interloper]

57 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I honestly in the 15 or so years of coming here can't remember a single player that elicited so much conversation an visceral reaction.  It's odd.

Well, in the last 20+ years, the team hasn't come close to having a farm system like this. At times we were lucky to have a single prospect per year on our radar much less 4 in the infield alone. I think the visceral reaction is a product of fans knowing there are literally 4 or 5 guys who could right now realistically perform better than the guy they signed.

Without those infield prospects, it's a fine stopgap/rebound gamble signing. Even if you only had Westburg, it's probably a good depth signing. But with Westburg, Ortiz, Vavra, Norby, and Urias all able to play 2B, it becomes kind of maddening. 

Edited March 29, 2023 by interloper

[Pickles]

Just now, interloper said:

Well, in the last 20+ years, the team hasn't come close to having a farm system like this. At times we were lucky to have a single prospect per year on our radar much less 4 in the infield alone. I think the visceral reaction is a product of fans knowing there are literally 4 or 5 guys who could right now realistically perform better than the guy they signed.

Without those infield prospects, it's a fine stopgap/rebound gamble signing. 

Again, I get the logic.

[interloper]

8 minutes ago, Pickles said:

The Orioles have made far worse moves than this one.

Garrett Atkins rings a bell. Like Frazier, he wasn't killing you budget-wise, but it's just a pure waste of money. 

Edited March 29, 2023 by interloper

[Pickles]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

Garrett Atkins rings a bell. Like Frazier, he wasn't killing you budget-wise, but it's just a pure waste of money. 

The worse move clearly was the Davis contract but funnily enough, most people were ok with it.

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Pickles said:

The worse move clearly was the Davis contract but funnily enough, most people were ok with it.

Oh for sure. I was just looking for a similarly bad one-year deal comparison. 

I was in favor of Davis, in full disclosure. Woops! 

[Pickles]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

Oh for sure. I was just looking for a similarly bad one-year deal comparison. 

I was in favor of Davis, in full disclosure. Woops! 

In the words of Andy MacPhail, "There are no bad one year contracts."

Obviously, that's an exaggeration, but the larger point remains.

[sevastras]

6 minutes ago, interloper said:

Well, in the last 20+ years, the team hasn't come close to having a farm system like this. At times we were lucky to have a single prospect per year on our radar much less 4 in the infield alone. I think the visceral reaction is a product of fans knowing there are literally 4 or 5 guys who could right now realistically perform better than the guy they signed.

Without those infield prospects, it's a fine stopgap/rebound gamble signing. 

Westburg, Ortiz, Vavra, Norby, Ruiz are all options at 2B. Frazier was an upgrade over Odor but probably not an upgrade over any of those 5.  No one understands the reasoning behind the signing, that horse has been beaten to death on here. The only question is when are we going to see Westburg and are Vavra and Stowers ever going to get a real look. I think Vavra is going to end up being like Yaz, in the manner he will go somewhere else and get regular playing time and be a serviceable regular. 

[spleen1015]

10 minutes ago, Pickles said:

The worse move clearly was the Davis contract but funnily enough, most people were ok with it.

Totally different situations and no one had any idea how bad it was going to turn out to be.

[Moose Milligan]

30 minutes ago, Pickles said:

The Orioles have made far worse moves than this one.

 

20 minutes ago, Pickles said:

The worse move clearly was the Davis contract but funnily enough, most people were ok with it.

 

Yeah, they have made worse moves.  But when we're being sold on having a youth movement, and there are prospects, prospects, prospects, especially in the middle infield...the last thing we wanted was someone like Frazier.  Especially for that amount of money, money that could have been better spent elsewhere by a notorious penny-pinching franchise.  

For me, I think that's the worst part about it.  You don't want to spend money, fine.  But when you do, you spend it on THAT?  It's like spending 20 bucks on a lunch at McDonald's.  

In regards to Davis, I was okay with it but I felt that the last 2 years of that deal were going to be cringe-worthy.  I didn't expect him to suck for the entire thing from the very start.  

16 minutes ago, Pickles said:

In the words of Andy MacPhail, "There are no bad one year contracts."

 

SG used to parrot that phrase on here before.  

I get the philosophy behind it...that at least the deal can't hamstring you for multiple years on end.  But looking at it through the lens of where this team sits currently, I disagree.  

[deward]

46 minutes ago, Pickles said:

The Orioles have made far worse moves than this one.

It's all about the context. Excitement to finally have a good team again after years of blatant tanking, raised expectations, "lift-off", etc....followed by frustration with an off-season where none of the obvious moves got made, but this one did for some reason.