MacPhail's worst move for the Orioles

[Satyr3206]

I really get a kick out of the doomsayers. The Yanks and Red Sox will have 12.5 all stars each and will clinch the division and wild card by August 1st and all the other teams will forfeit instead of playing the juggernauts. And the lets trade everyone until we recognize no one.

The bottom line, and reality is, it takes time. And we have no idea who is being offered for who. Like MacPhail has said, "we had a chance to do something stupid, and didn't". I can live with that approach.

[NewMarketSean]

1. Entering 2008 with Luis Hernandez as your starting SS.

2. Signing Eaton.

3. Re-signing Trachsel.

4. Trading Bradford away for nothing.

5. Signing Hendrickson.

[JTrea81]

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

Spend the resources we have to acquire premium talent. Talent alone and having a steady pipeline of that talent is the only thing that will keep us competitive in this division.

[geschinger]

Tampa Bay has shown that developing young talent CAN compete with 150m payrolls. There is no reason the Orioles can't follow a similar path of developing young talent that can compete with the big guys. The O's then have the financial resources to take it a step further by being able to resign more of the young talent they've developed to extend the window to win. If the right FA is available they should defintely look at that option but going big into FA is not a prerequisite if the team is built the right way.

[HotTubMan]

What is MacPhail's worst move so far in your opinion?

I am a big MacPhail supporter, but the one bad move he did make was offering Joe Girardi the managers job as soon as he got here.

Having an interim manager the rest of the year was a no brainer at the time, and I was very surprised when he offered the job to another former yankee.

On top of that, I don't think Girardi is a very good manager and I prefer the type of clubhouse the O's are building. Girardi wouldn't have been a good fit, and he always wanted to be a yankee anyway.

Thank God that he turned down that offer.

Other than that, I have no problem with everything else he has done or tried to do.

[WebLink21]

Spend the resources we have to acquire premium talent. Talent alone and having a steady pipeline of that talent is the only thing that will keep us competitive in this division.

Please...give me your plan to speed this up. Give me one trade that could realistically (no Baez for Gamel trades) be made to do this . Then after that, tell me what FA's you would sign in the offseason that would speed up this process. It not as easy as some people think. You can't just snap your finger and have the players here.

[The Wedge]

Good god.

Is this what fantasy baseball and video games has done to us?

[helloharv]

I'm not one who believes that we as fans need to know everything that is being done in the Warehouse. But, IMO I believe that it has been a big mistake not to clarify what has happened to Mike Flanagan (unless MF asked for that information not to be released and if that is the case - than that should be what is said instead of silence). Mike has done too much for Baltimore Oriole organization and its fans to just disappear in a cloud of dust if you will.

Good question. I wonder if Flanny is being offered anything in the Organization.. He bleeds black and orange.....It id a shame not to hear or see him this entire year.

Does anyone have any info on the situation?

[Anonymous]

Tampa Bay has shown that developing young talent CAN compete with 150m payrolls. There is no reason the Orioles can't follow a similar path of developing young talent that can compete with the big guys. The O's then have the financial resources to take it a step further by being able to resign more of the young talent they've developed to extend the window to win. If the right FA is available they should defintely look at that option but going big into FA is not a prerequisite if the team is built the right way.

I have this recurring nightmare that we signed Tex -- and then found ourselves so strapped that we filled out the roster with 24 JTreas.

I am a big MacPhail supporter, but the one bad move he did make was offering Joe Girardi the managers job as soon as he got here.

Having an interim manager the rest of the year was a no brainer at the time, and I was very surprised when he offered the job to another former yankee.

On top of that, I don't think Girardi is a very good manager and I prefer the type of clubhouse the O's are building. Girardi wouldn't have been a good fit, and he always wanted to be a yankee anyway.

Thank God that he turned down that offer.

Other than that, I have no problem with everything else he has done or tried to do.

Great point. I generally think of bad moves as the ones we wound up pulling the trigger on. But assuming the reports on the Girardi offer were true, the only thing that saved us here was Girardi. Yes, I'm persuaded that this was Andy's biggest mistake, when evaluated based on the consequences it would have had in the event Girardi had said yes.

[geschinger]

Great point. I generally think of bad moves as the ones we wound up pulling the trigger on. But assuming the reports on the Girardi offer were true, the only thing that saved us here was Girardi. Yes, I'm persuaded that this was Andy's biggest mistake, when evaluated based on the consequences it would have had in the event Girardi had said yes.

I'm not one that agrees it would have been bad if Girardi had said yes. It would likely have been a similar staff (Kranitz, etc...) and one thing that Girardi has shown is his methodology has some success with younger players. His led a team in Florida that overachieved - something that recent Orioles managers will never be accused of accomplishing.

[olehippi]

Good god.

Is this what fantasy baseball and video games has done to us?

Amazing, isn't it? Unfortunately for many, nothing is real anymore. As I mentioned in another thread, IMO, it's the result of people blurring the illusory world of fantasy baseball with the veracity of real baseball.

[helloharv]

This is looking like one ugly off-season in terms of players he brought in at the mid-way point of the season. We need to add TALENT if we ever want to compete with Bos and NY . Signing average to below average guys isn't going to help us contend. We need to bring in a few Elite "Proven" guys to go along with our very good but unproven prospects.

Izturis

.260 avg

1 hr

13 rbi

.293 on base %

5 errors

Wigginton

.263 avg

6 hr

22 rbi

.304 on base %

Zaun

.239 avg

3 hr

9 rbi

Pie

.234 avg

2 hr

8 rbi

Freel

.140 avg

0 hr

2 rbi

Koji Uehara

4.05 era

2-4 record

Relief pitcher in Japan the last 2 years....brought here to be a Starting Pitcher...injured and out until Sept.

Hendrickson

5.08 era

3-4 record

Rich Hill

7.08 era

3-2 record

Adam Eaton

8.56 era

2-5 record

[Anonymous]

Hello, Harv?

There are three ways to bring in talent. Pay for it. Trade for it. Grow it. Everyone of the players you mentioned, save for Pie, was brought in as a stopgap or as an extra player. In trades, you usually have to give something to get something, so that's usually a 50-50 proposition. Did you have someone in mind that we should have signed as a FA? This thread is bringing all of the old guard out. First we had Duke's guy (Bigbird) and now Flanny's (Harv). Correct me if I'm wrong.

Why bring a dose of reality into a pleasant fantasy?

[Gus]

Signing Roberts for the money they gave him...not going to be worth it down the road.

[The Rick]

There is a serious lack of...

:laughlol::rofl::wedge:

In this thread. Dear God, this is ridiculous.