MacPhail's worst move for the Orioles

[Dr. FLK]

Failure to pull multiple rabbits out of his hat, every 5 minutes.:rolleyestf:

That's not the full truth. He did pull out multiple rabbits...but DT killed "Wacamole style".

<img src="http://sinope.redjupiter.com/images/andredurand/wackamole.jpg">

[WebLink21]

Worst move is not doing enough to close the gap between Boston, NY and us.

I use to love reading your posts, but ever since McPhail took over you just seem to be bitterly head hunting for him. Nothing he does is right to you. There is no way that you can say we are not in better shape for the future than we were before he took over. This team never had direction before he got here. We at least know where we are headed now.

Did he run over your dog on the way to the Warehouse when he was hired? Every time you post something about McPhail now I can not take it serious anymore. I just want to call the WAAAAAAAbulance!

[BaltimoreTerp]

See the proble is once our timeline (whenever that is) hits the Yankees and Bosox will sign the likes of Mauer, etc... etc.. etc...

In other words, we have absolutely no shot no matter what we do, because we will never have their money.

Alright everyone, you heard bigbird. We have no reason to bother rooting for this team ever again, no matter who is in charge.

[BaltimoreTerp]

I use to love reading your posts, but ever since McPhail took over you just seem to be bitterly head hunting for him. Nothing he does is right to you. There is no way that you can say we are not in better shape for the future than we were before he took over. This team never had direction before he got here. We at least know where we are headed now.

Did he run over your dog on the way to the Warehouse when he was hired? Every time you post something about McPhail now I can not take it serious anymore. I just want to call the WAAAAAAAbulance!

He has a grudge that has something to do with who he was getting his inside info from not being part of MacPhail's regime, or something like that.

You know, something that is far more important to one's opinion of the team than what is actually happening in the real world.

[ShaneDawg85]

I think the Trachsel move is worse than Eaton, mainly because we gave Trachsel $1M to stink up the place, while we gave Eaton $400K to stink up the place.

This is true, at least Eaton was cheaper. In all honesty both deals were horrible, but at least Trachsel had pitched half-way decently the season before with us. But yes, both were awful deals that shouldn't have been made. I just think Eaton was worse and the ways McPhail tried to justify it was just as bad.

[RShack]

He has a grudge that has something to do with who he was getting his inside info from not being part of MacPhail's regime, or something like that.

You know, something that is far more important to one's opinion of the team than what is actually happening in the real world.

Whatever it is, it's getting worse as time goes on. Nothing against bigbird, but the grudge-bias just gets more and more blatant and unreasonable. It's a shame, really...

[Guest rochester]

It was a great deal..Whether it turns out to be something in the "win column" or not is still to be determined..but the deal itself(and the chance AM took) was brilliant.

But yea, AM took too much time in between getting some things done.

People keep jumping on BB for complaining about this but it is very valid.

Now, the difference between what BB and many of us believe is going with youth, talent and upside...BB prefers the known vs the unknown.

I strongly disagree with that thinking...I think we need a good combo of the 2 but you need to build that foundation first and AM is clearly doing that.

I agree with all except the bolded, including I wish it could be faster.

re: the bolded... as soon as I started reading the thread I knew that BB would get involved - unfortunately, it is about the only time we hear from him...I used to search for his posts because when critical they were insightful and well thought out - whether I agreed or not did not matter. Now, everytime he posts he gets "Jtrea'd" because his blatant dislike of AM, PA and the fact that Duq is no longer here.

A shame really, especially for the new guys on the board - you should have been there...actually, I also miss Belkasts never-ending optimism too..

Oh, AM? I now feel much stronger that if we could have had a shot at Tex with $200MM we should have taken it. Long term it would have been a great investment - his defense alone is worth a good amount...

[JTrea81]

In other words, we have absolutely no shot no matter what we do, because we will never have their money.

Alright everyone, you heard bigbird. We have no reason to bother rooting for this team ever again, no matter who is in charge.

No you don't get what he's saying. If we continue to drag out this rebuilding process, the other teams in our division will only get stronger as we continue to tread water. Then when we are "ready," the other teams will be even that much harder to beat because they've been strengthening their resources faster than we've been building ours.

At some point, we've got to go all in so we can make a run at those teams before they become extremely hard to win against even with our strong team that we will have assembled.

[Moose Milligan]

No you don't get what he's saying. If we continue to drag out this rebuilding process, the other teams in our division will only get stronger as we continue to tread water. Then when we are "ready," the other teams will be even that much harder to beat because they've been strengthening their resources faster than we our building ours.

At some point, we've got to go all in so we can make a run at those teams before they become extremely hard to win against even with our strong team that we will have assembled.

How do you propose we "speed up" this rebuilding process and "go all in"?

[RShack]

No you don't get what he's saying. If we continue to drag out this rebuilding process...

JTrea, he's doing a 5-year job in 3 years.

His Dad made the O's the best franchise in all of baseball, and AM is moving faster...

[Sports Guy]

Well my biggest question, maybe this should be aimed at BB, is what could he have done to get us "better" in the long run? I mean he had two major chips to play with and he went all in with both. The return was better than anyone could have hoped for. Since then he really hasn't had many chips to play with. And that is completely due to the ineptitude of previous GM's, IMO.

So I grant you that he hasn't made any significant deals since the Bedard/Tejada fleecing, but I want to know what exactly he could have done to do so. Outside of throwing an extra $50M at T-Bag?

Finally, I have no doubt in my mind that when the need for that last piece(s) is here that AM will spend to get it. For whatever reason, I know he will be willing to do this!

Not extending BRob last offseason and perhaps dealing him now.

The Brewers would be all over BRob right now.

That's one thing for sure.

[Satyr3206]

Not extending BRob last offseason and perhaps dealing him now.

The Brewers would be all over BRob right now.

That's one thing for sure.

There was absolutely no way of knowing that last offseason.

[Shopay]

If the Red Sox and Yankees are going to keep getting better and better then we have no shot no matter what we do. They simply have more resources. Of course, this is baseball, and that's not the way it usually happens. We have to build the team a certain way. When things come together, hopefully one of the Yanks or Sox will not be a juggernaut. You want to speed up the process. I think in your haste to speed up the process, you'd likely be slowing the process. Not to say you don't have any good ideas. I just think you and some others are looking for the quick fix when in all likelihood there is no quick fix. Things are falling into place rather nicely. I have confidence that AM will know what to do when the O's show that they are close to being a contender.

BTW, I'm surprised that Bigbird didn't say AM's worst move as GM was signing the contract to become GM.

All good points. Plus, some fail to recognize that just making moves doesn't always make a team better. Some times the best moves a team makes are the moves they don't make.

[BaltimoreTerp]

How do you propose we "speed up" this rebuilding process and "go all in"?

We go back in time and sign Mark Teixeira, of course.

[Sports Guy]

There was absolutely no way of knowing that last offseason.

Of course there was...There was always a chance that some contender would need a top of the order hitter like Roberts.

BRob, being an elite second baseman and an impending FA who was going to be worth 2 draft picks, would have likely been a sought after commodity.

And if he wasn't, you could still extend BRob because the Orioles are much more likely to offer him more money than any other team...and if he did decide to walk, then the Orioles end up with the 2 picks.

So, we either:

1) Trade him for a good package.

2) Extend him.

3) Lose him and get picks.

Win/win all around...Instead, by extending him early, you lose the chance at trading him or getting picks...In other words, you greatly limited your options. Now, you have an aging second baseman who, while he should be worth his contract, probably will be on a decline when we really need him the most and when we could have spent his money elsewhere.