Is the front office doing enough to close the gap on NY and Boston?

[JTrea81]

You are a passionate fan, I get that and appreciate it. But NO PROGRESS? Specifically no improvement in our efforts against NY and Bos? Please tell me what should have happened over the last two years that would have resulted in progress. Since we have made none, it should be relatively easy for you to fill me in on what we should have done differently over the last two years.

From a 2006 interview with PGA:

[The Yankees and Red Sox are] the two teams of the five in the AL East who are generating the enormous streams of revenue with which Toronto, Tampa Bay and the Orioles have had to deal with for these last seven, eight, nine years. I would really say the past seven years or so we have been, along with the other two teams, at the bottom of the totem pole with New York and Boston at the top…both of which have RSN's (Regional Sports Networks) like we just managed to accomplish, and have had them for years. So, their revenues have been so substantial by comparison to Toronto, Tampa Bay and the Orioles.

In answer to your question, now that we have an RSN and we can move forward with it…that is going get us on a more even plane with Boston and New York, and that was the purpose.

I don't see us spending even close to Boston and obviously not the Yankees despite the increased revenue source. And I know we don't have their resources, but we don't even seem to be spending the resources we do have that we got specifically to get to a "more even plane."

We have one of the lower payrolls in the league this season, yet we aren't spending money on the draft or international signings like those other teams with lower payrolls are. It's not just Boston and the Yankees going hog wild, but clubs like Oakland and the Pirates.

Where is that MASN revenue going and why can't we seem to spend that money to try to acquire premium talent?

[Shopay]

I'm at a loss to even converse with you most of the time. First, it hasn't been 2.5 seasons since he took over. Second, we haven't "thrown away" anything. We've done what had to be done. The team was not going to get better in the short term without further mortgaging the future. Third, you don't have ANY patience. That is why you get so far ahead of yourself and look foolish all the time IMO. If you'll just relax for another season or so, you'll see why the rest of us realize that things are getting better.

Did you not learn anything from watching Tampa Bay go from awful to the World Series in one year? They were terrible in 2007 and great in 2008 with very little overall change to the roster.

Exactly. I would also add that Trea's statement that a plan is not in place is baffling. AM has laid out his plan on several occassions and has discussed 2011 as the year he believes we should compete.

[Tank]

I voted yes. Don't really see how you could say no honestly.

[foxfield]

From a 2006 interview with PGA:

I don't see us spending even close to Boston and obviously not the Yankees despite the increased revenue source. And I know we don't have their resources, but we don't even seem to be spending the resources we do have that we got specifically to get to a "more even plane."

We have one of the lower payrolls in the league this season, yet we aren't spending money on the draft or international signings like those other teams with lower payrolls are. It's not just Boston and the Yankees going hog wild, but clubs like Oakland and the Pirates.

Where is that MASN revenue going and why can't we seem to spend that money to try to acquire premium talent?

Your answer to my question what could we have done that was not done over the last 2 years to improve relative to NY and BOS is money? Well, at least I know your line of logic.

Thanks for the explanation.

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

I'm saying since MacPhail has been here, there has been no improvement in our efforts against Boston or NY at the ML level, and despite his plan being deemed as being successful, we have yet to see evidence to say that it is.

We've improved at some levels, but against Boston and NYY we have yet to see that improvement so stating that his plan will be successful in closing the gap or has been successful is pure conjecture at this point.

We've thrown away two and a half seasons now waiting for this plan to form. When do we say his plan didn't work? How long must we be patient and continue to be a doormat for the beasts of the AL East before we become one ourselves?

It's called building the farm system. It's the "oriole way". If he continues to build the farm system for five more years.. We will have a talented team in the majors, and have tiers of talent in the minors.. That's how you build a winner for a long period of time. We were in such a bad state, you couldn't possibly have thought that we would have been competing by now from the time when Macphail arrived??

[JTrea81]

It's called building the farm system. It's the "oriole way". If he continues to build the farm system for five more years.. We will have a talented team in the majors' date=' and have tiers of talent in the minors.. That's how you build a winner for a long period of time. We were in such a bad state, you couldn't possibly have thought that we would have been competing by now from the time when Macphail arrived??[/quote']

We had and still have the resources to improve the major league team and the minor league team at the same time. You don't have to be horrible at the ML level to rebuild the organization as a whole. Nor does it have to take years to rebuild a ML team. I agree it takes awhile to rebuild an organization, but the Orioles could have spent money and sped up the rebuild on both fronts IMO.

[MemorialStadKid]

I voted yes. Don't really see how you could say no honestly.

Going against the trend of non-scientific polls does not mean that the people who voted "No" are wrong.

We have a ways to go before we see any true improvement on this team in the AL East unless we go out and spend on elite-level talent WHILE our farm system moves people to the main roster INSTEAD OF WAITING for the farm to save the team.

Under our current system of doing things, we have highly touted minor league talent that has YET TO MAKE A CLEAR DIFFERENCE when brought up on the major league club. Weiters is good, and will be great someday. But not now. I think we could have let him stay in the minors for a couple of more months and brought him up after the AS Break. Would it have made a difference at all?

Reimold came up on fire, but he came up on a team that is constantly losing and now his fire is starting to wane. It has nothing to do with a slump and much more to do with realizing his hard work will always be in vain with this squad. There is already tons of talk on this board of optioning Reimold. This doesn't make sense at all.

The team has the money to get talent, but talent generally doesn't want to come to Baltimore. So we need to spend a lot. We refuse to be aggressive on the market despite the clear evidence (like WINNING AND LOSING RECORD) that the use of elite talent does make your team better.

So to answer the direct question of whether this team is doing enough to close the gap on NY and Boston: that is clearly NO. The FO isn't doing anything to close the gap. We might be doing things to fix the glaring holes in our scouting and development and once those are fixed that will make us an average-level club. We have to remember that our system was a complete mess and we are only catching up to speed.

To catch up to and overtake the Yanks or Sox would require spending more money on elite FAs once they become available and spending even more on the scouting side of the equation. We are spending some money, but nowhere near what it would take to make a difference in the next few years.

Hence, NO.

MSK

[Sports Guy]

It depends on how you look at this.

Yes, we have closed the gap from the top teams because of our young talent and the upside.

HOWEVER, if you are asking, has AM done enough thus far, then I think the answer is no...Now, I may feel differently in 2 weeks if he makes some moves and gets more talent in here but I don't see a roster, as of now, that says "best team in baseball"....I see a roster that says, tons of upside, tons of things to like and a team that could maybe compete sometime in the next 3-4 years but I am not sure I see one that says, we are going to consistently compete.

[Fairfax Bird]

It depends on how you look at this.

Yes, we have closed the gap from the top teams because of our young talent and the upside.

HOWEVER, if you are asking, has AM done enough thus far, then I think the answer is no...Now, I may feel differently in 2 weeks if he makes some moves and gets more talent in here but I don't see a roster, as of now, that says "best team in baseball"....I see a roster that says, tons of upside, tons of things to like and a team that could maybe compete sometime in the next 3-4 years but I am not sure I see one that says, we are going to consistently compete.

Wouldn't AM have to make 3 trades a week, with at least one 3 way trade to keep you happy? I kid, I kid.

[Flosman]

We had and still have the resources to improve the major league team and the minor league team at the same time. You don't have to be horrible at the ML level to rebuild the organization as a whole. Nor does it have to take years to rebuild a ML team. I agree it takes awhile to rebuild an organization, but the Orioles could have spent money and sped up the rebuild on both fronts IMO.

I would imigine you were not around during the period when the O's were the best organization in baseball, not just the best team one year. Honestly the same economic dynamic existed then, however it did not matter. We did things better. This is what AM is trying to build, it will be interesting to see if it works today. It worked for ATL for years and the truth is it is the basis for the MFYs current run. I think the Yankees are working there way to fighting for 3rd and 4th place in the AL east. I think Boston is getting long in the tooth , but has shown the ability to make the right moves generally. Tampa has a ton of talent but the question for them is what do they do when these guys get expensive. The lack of current improvement in the ML teams record is not really the ball you should be watching. What is more important IMO is the key guys are long term answers not vets that will be out of baseball in 3 years. We will keep adding and evemtually you will see the results. Worrying about the ML record before you are really ready to be a true contender is how you make a Bavasi type move.

Now all of this being said AM will be judged the same way the prior FO was judged. Did the committ to the right arms? That looks good now and I think AM is developing pitchers better. He continues to show great discipline. He would be the hero of most of the "joe fans" by having the big 3 pitching today in the rotation. Trea the thing you fail to realize about your position is that making this move would achive your stated goal. We would have a better record this year. Think about that.

[Stotle]

No kidding, Sherlock. Are you trying to tell us there was a way for us to have a 25 or 40 man roster right now that says "BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL"?

To be fair, that's what you need if you want to compete in the AL East year-in and year-out...

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

Going against the trend of non-scientific polls does not mean that the people who voted "No" are wrong.

We have a ways to go before we see any true improvement on this team in the AL East unless we go out and spend on elite-level talent WHILE our farm system moves people to the main roster INSTEAD OF WAITING for the farm to save the team.

Under our current system of doing things, we have highly touted minor league talent that has YET TO MAKE A CLEAR DIFFERENCE when brought up on the major league club. Weiters is good, and will be great someday. But not now. I think we could have let him stay in the minors for a couple of more months and brought him up after the AS Break. Would it have made a difference at all?

Reimold came up on fire, but he came up on a team that is constantly losing and now his fire is starting to wane. It has nothing to do with a slump and much more to do with realizing his hard work will always be in vain with this squad. There is already tons of talk on this board of optioning Reimold. This doesn't make sense at all.

The team has the money to get talent, but talent generally doesn't want to come to Baltimore. So we need to spend a lot. We refuse to be aggressive on the market despite the clear evidence (like WINNING AND LOSING RECORD) that the use of elite talent does make your team better.

So to answer the direct question of whether this team is doing enough to close the gap on NY and Boston: that is clearly NO. The FO isn't doing anything to close the gap. We might be doing things to fix the glaring holes in our scouting and development and once those are fixed that will make us an average-level club. We have to remember that our system was a complete mess and we are only catching up to speed.

To catch up to and overtake the Yanks or Sox would require spending more money on elite FAs once they become available and spending even more on the scouting side of the equation. We are spending some money, but nowhere near what it would take to make a difference in the next few years.

Hence, NO.

MSK

1. What difference would leaving Wieters down have made. Why not let him learn at major league level? IMO, it would not have made a difference leaving him down, he will make his adjustments in due time, and become one of the best in the bigs.

2. I can't tell if you're being sarcastic about Reimold or not. If you're not being sarcastic.. then are you kidding me?

[Great 2BA FL Gator]

We had and still have the resources to improve the major league team and the minor league team at the same time. You don't have to be horrible at the ML level to rebuild the organization as a whole. Nor does it have to take years to rebuild a ML team. I agree it takes awhile to rebuild an organization, but the Orioles could have spent money and sped up the rebuild on both fronts IMO.

I still want to know what some of these moves might have been. I know the whole Teixera ordeal.. I get that. Give me some specifics aside from that one move in which we did make an offer.

[Sports Guy]

To be fair, that's what you need if you want to compete in the AL East year-in and year-out...

Once again, you prove your intelligence to be far greater than RZNJ's.

[El Gordo]

No kidding, Sherlock. Are you trying to tell us there was a way for us to have a 25 or 40 man roster right now that says "BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL"?

I think he is, if he were the GM. Of course he won't tell you how he would have done it, specifically?:rofl: