Character matters to the Os

[Sports Guy]

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/measuring-character-of-draft-prospects-advice-given-to-position-players-who-pitch?fbclid=IwAR1tDrl9-DxQyvoaMQqI3YS1vsBbL9rzwI2W1pMCY0LAq910lpGHyCBYSEU_aem_AVPUJXdsR6pq5epoqTcv66d_C7DfWLsOINNsYRsqAF4QpyzRlESp-DzlHMc65UaKiw0&mibextid=Zxz2cZ
 

 

[Frobby]

I absolutely love the makeup of this team.  I think they’re really great at handling adversity.  The fact that a lot of the younger players grew up together in the minors also helps.  Good job by Elias & co. in evaluating these factors, good job by Hyde in fostering a winning culture.  You still have to have talent, but we’ve all seen that talent doesn’t always mesh.

I also enjoyed the part of the article about position players’ strategy when pitching.  

[Aristotelian]

Nice job by Roch to get some actual quotes. Hard to know what actually goes on in the clubhouse but all visible signs point to a positive group of guys. Lots of cliches in the piece but that doesn't mean it's inauthentic. This is an easy team to root for.

I wonder how the veterans' experience of losing plays into it. That is when frustrations come out and teams fall apart, like what we're seeing with the White Sox. I don't recall anything like that happening through a very painful rebuild where guys could have thrown each other under the bus or started playing for individual stats. Put those guys together with a bunch of hungry and talented young guys... seems like a good recipe for a positive culture. 

[Sports Guy]

Someone on the OH Facebook page (which is absolutely atrocious btw..the people that post on there and what they say is truly amazing in how dumb they can be) said the Os need to win in Oakland to “get their confidence back”.

Now, that is of course a dumb thing to say but my response to that or anything even remotely like that is what I said last week..these kids DGAF. They are so loose and having so much fun that a loss just rolls off their back.

They don’t take it with them the next day. They just don’t care. And it’s not that they don’t care as in they aren’t invested. They are just so cocky and confident that they will bounce back, that they don’t let it get to them.

Its really a great group that is only going to get better.

 

[Moose Milligan]

I'd take a group of 26 axe murderers and felons if it meant winning a World Series.

This is all very nice and gives me the warm and fuzzies.  Hopefully we can have a group of nice, well mannered, high character Eagle Scouts AND win at least one World Series.  But I don't really care at the end of the day.

[glenn__davis]

9 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

They don’t take it with them the next day. They just don’t care. And it’s not that they don’t care as in they aren’t invested. They are just so cocky and confident that they will bounce back, that they don’t let it get to them.

Its really a great group that is only going to get better.

 

That's all good until they really do go into a rough patch.  And they inevitably will.  And then how do they respond?  That's the part that's tough to know until you really go through it.

I do believe that Elias and company 100% try to find team-oriented guys.  It not necessarily about being a boy scout, it's about having a team full of guys that are more interesting in team success than individual success.  And that's really hard to quantify or tell in just an interview but I do think it's something they very strongly consider.

[Sports Guy]

13 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

That's all good until they really do go into a rough patch.  And they inevitably will.  And then how do they respond?  That's the part that's tough to know until you really go through it.

I do believe that Elias and company 100% try to find team-oriented guys.  It not necessarily about being a boy scout, it's about having a team full of guys that are more interesting in team success than individual success.  And that's really hard to quantify or tell in just an interview but I do think it's something they very strongly consider.

Well they all have gone through their own personal rough patches and they don’t get too down on themselves.

[btdart20]

1 hour ago, glenn__davis said:

That's all good until they really do go into a rough patch.

The SigBot eats rough patches for breakfast!  Then craps them out as DUBs! 

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, glenn__davis said:

That's all good until they really do go into a rough patch.  And they inevitably will.  

I’m curious what you consider a rough patch, why it’s inevitable that they’ll go through one, and what is the time frame you’re talking about.  

The O’s lost 6 of 7 from June 27 - July 4.  Do you think it’s inevitable that they will have a stretch this year that’s worse than that?   

The O’s responded to that stretch by winning 8 games in a row.

 

[Fiver6565]

Liked the story but you have to wonder if the timing of this has anything to do with the Franco situation. IE ‘that won’t happen here because we look for high character guys’ could kind of be the unspoken part of this. 

[Baltimorecuse]

Does Cal Ripken set a tone for this team.  I think Hyde does.  Palmer talks to these guys.  Ben McDonald.  Then there are the playing vets, like the whole outfield. 

The young guys are surrounded by solid people, I think.  

The Long Season by Jim Brosnan talks about team chemistry.  Jeez, I read that in 1960.  

Edited August 18, 2023 by Baltimorecuse

[glenn__davis]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

I’m curious what you consider a rough patch, why it’s inevitable that they’ll go through one, and what is the time frame you’re talking about.  

The O’s lost 6 of 7 from June 27 - July 4.  Do you think it’s inevitable that they will have a stretch this year that’s worse than that?   

The O’s responded to that stretch by winning 8 games in a row.

 

Don't necessarily mean this year.  Just this group, in general, at some point. At some point it will seem like the ship is sinking, and how will they respond?  Never really know until you get there. 

[baltfan]

It might shock some people on here, but guys like Sig are surely also studying whether character, continuity, and camaraderie matter for winning. Popular opinion is it doesn’t, but hard to believe they would emphasize this if it didn’t.  

[Billy F-Face3]

Character matters. You want a team that gels together and always has each other's backs so they can handle adversity.

This is the difference between a team like the Padres who has all the MLB top talent there is and still lose, vs a team like the Orioles who has alot of abive average talent and still wins. 

The days of buying Championships are long gone. It takes a team of quality character and chemistry to go through the ups and downs of 162 game season, traveling the road together,  to win. 

When you think about it, alot of these guys spend more time together during the season than their own spouses and children. They definitely have to be of good character and learn how to get along with each other.

[rm5678]

49 minutes ago, baltfan said:

It might shock some people on here, but guys like Sig are surely also studying whether character, continuity, and camaraderie matter for winning. Popular opinion is it doesn’t, but hard to believe they would emphasize this if it didn’t.  

I agree, but from what I've seen so far, Jack Flaherty hasn't shown a lot of camaraderie.