A's and Rays draft and amateur international signing expenditures

[itsernst]

So because the A's followed your favorite website, they had a better draft?

Your arguments have no logic behind them except personal satisfaction. Because you wanted X player, the O's took Y player, so you huff and puff until you are blue in the face. Get over it man...there is a reason why you are not a scout or working for a baseball team.

[RenegadeOsFan]

The Orioles had a watershed year under Duquette and Flanagan. It seemed the checkbook was open, the Orioles were aggressive in FA and the draft, not shying away from paying top dollar. There was no smoke and mirrors. Granted the results weren't all positive, but the Orioles weren't afraid to spend.

Sorry but I have to go back to what you said here Trea. I am guessing that the watershed year that you are talking about is 2004 correct? When Flanny signed Tejada and Lopez?

Under this presumption, how this watershed year not smoke and mirrors? Yes they signed to "big" bats to help in the lineup, but they did nothing to help the starting rotation. Rodrigo Lopez and Sidney Ponson were the "anchors" of the rotation. Using your argument of spending big money, why didn't the Orioles then sign big name pitchers to help the rotation which in turn would help the bullpen?

I remember when we signed Lopez and not Pudge that a lot of people were upset about that and that the Orioles should have been more aggressive to get Pudge instead.

In 2005 Duquette came to B-more and that is when we traded for Slammin' Sammy Sosa. In free agency we signed Steve "I love Baltimore" Kline, Steve Reed from the Rockies, and Chris Gomez. No splash there except for another bust of a trade.

Again nothing was done to help the starting rotation.

You claim that there was no "smoke and mirrors" during their tenure, but after looking at these facts and what was done to bring in big name players in hopes of bolstering the offense but not the pitching and hopes of selling more tickets...how is that not "smoke and mirrors?"

The thing about MacPhail is that he speaks to the media and addresses the fans about what is going on. He at least explains some of the logic behind what he is doing with this organization. Granted he doesn't always give the full picture all the time, but it is flabbergasting how the way he is running the Orioles is bothering you as much as it is.

The only person lost behind "smoke and mirrors" right now is you Trea.

[JTrea81]

Sorry but I have to go back to what you said here Trea. I am guessing that the watershed year that you are talking about is 2004 correct? When Flanny signed Tejada and Lopez?

Under this presumption, how this watershed year not smoke and mirrors? Yes they signed to "big" bats to help in the lineup, but they did nothing to help the starting rotation. Rodrigo Lopez and Sidney Ponson were the "anchors" of the rotation. Using your argument of spending big money, why didn't the Orioles then sign big name pitchers to help the rotation which in turn would help the bullpen?

I remember when we signed Lopez and not Pudge that a lot of people were upset about that and that the Orioles should have been more aggressive to get Pudge instead.

In 2005 Duquette came to B-more and that is when we traded for Slammin' Sammy Sosa. In free agency we signed Steve "I love Baltimore" Kline, Steve Reed from the Rockies, and Chris Gomez. No splash there except for another bust of a trade.

Again nothing was done to help the starting rotation.

You claim that there was no "smoke and mirrors" during their tenure, but after looking at these facts and what was done to bring in big name players in hopes of bolstering the offense but not the pitching and hopes of selling more tickets...how is that not "smoke and mirrors?"

The thing about MacPhail is that he speaks to the media and addresses the fans about what is going on. He at least explains some of the logic behind what he is doing with this organization. Granted he doesn't always give the full picture all the time, but it is flabbergasting how the way he is running the Orioles is bothering you as much as it is.

The only person lost behind "smoke and mirrors" right now is you Trea.

I was talking about 2006-2007. Duquette was only with the Orioles from Oct 2005 - Oct 2007. He had nothing to do with Sosa.

[hoosiers]

I've posted several times the irony of the 'Os don't follow BA' lament.

In 2001, we drafted 6 of BA's top 100 prospects - Smith, Bass, Fontenot, Crouthers, Johnson and Lewis (IIRC). That's quite a haul for one team, no, six of the top 100? Not much in terms of results from that group though Smith's injury was apparently caused by an Os trainer after the draft.

I am a big fan of BA, correspond with one of their editors, etc, but it takes some maturity to realize that:

- BA is a general consensus that, while right more often than not, is still wrong a good bit.

- teams in the draft work with a budget

I've been a proponent for years of spending more on the draft and I believe our GM WILL close the spending gap on over-slot signings between us and the NYY. After following the draft relatively closely for over seven years, I just believe 'the pounding the table to spend as much as possible on the draft on top BA picks' is both a shallow and unrealistic way to go about the draft and create expectations for one's team.