New WNST protest planned

[BaltimoreTerp]

Nestor's "short list" of grievances is the biggest joke I've read all year.

Yeah this team stinks. The record sucks. But what is his major grievance? He almost sounds like he's making it up as he goes along. It's clear he has nothing to really protest other than the fact that this team has been really bad this year. Okay. We get it. The team's sucked for ten years. Does that mean we aren't making progress? Didn't Angelos effectively do what Nestor wanted him to do with last season's protest? (OK, he didn't sell the team, but he appointed someone to head all baseball operations, and he's stepped down from his decision making in that department. Isn't that exactly what Nestor wanted?!)

I mean, look at this stuff from his list of grievances...

"The colossal embarrassment of Sam Perlozzo’s exit…"

What was embarassing about firing a guy who was, frankly, a really bad manager and had lost his team? The fact that John Kruk was pissed off about it?

"The two-month “non-existent” movement of new “poobah” Andy McPhail…(OK, we’ll “credit” him with Matt Wieters, but who’s fooling whom? They got lucky, really!)"

What do you expect him to do in two months in the middle of the season? He traded Trachsel for two younger guys who might have an impact on this ballclub. Isn't that a start?

"The de-balling of Mike Flanagan and Jim Duquette, who had “the organization heading in the right direction” just days before their departure…"

This isn't progress??!

"They’ve had a lunatic pitcher throw at an opposing team’s skull, only to further attempt to incite a riot…"

Yeah that's a good way to gain credibility; hyperbole. He didn't even aim at Pedroia's head, he aimed at his back. And that doesn't make him a lunatic!

"The embarrassment of signing a new manager whose record is so bad since the signing, that I won’t even print it here. Oh, and there was that major league tantrum last week!"

Uhh, what? They signed a guy AFTER he showed he can get the job done. It's not his fault the team on the field stinks. Again, Nestor's reaching for this one.

I could go on. Really, I could quote every single one of those items and shoot it down pretty much, but I don't feel like taking up the whole page. I guess I can sum it up by simply saying: Nestor's an attention seeking idiot.

He actually puts all of that?

Wow. I thought he was just a jerk. Now he has an excuse: he's an idiot too.

[BaltimoreTerp]

When are people going to realize it has nothing to do with McPhail and everything to do with Angelos? Seriously.

Newsflash...the goal of this organization has been .500 for the last 5 years. When have we been trying to rebuild? Aren't you making arguments against the Angelos regime throughout this post?

There has been one constant through the last decade of losing and everyone here wants to ignore it.

No, you're just throwing up strawmen so you don't have to answer the questions being asked.

[SilentJames]

Like ra-ee-ain on your wedding day.

That is the truly ironic thing about that song, nothing in the song is ironic.

"The use of words for something other than their literal intention. Now THAT IS Ironyyyy."

-Bender B. Rodriguez

[BaltimoreTerp]

Nestor isn't a journalist. I'm not even sure if he's pretending to be one. He would be canned in about 30 seconds if he worked at any outlet in which he didn't have controlling ownership.

But, he wants to be treated like one, which is part of the problem.

[frankpembleton]

No, you're just throwing up strawmen so you don't have to answer the questions being asked.

What questions?

[Goop]

Now that I've read the article, and the following point, I am in the camp that says Nestor is certifiably crazy, (along possibly with Duquette. )

Headed in the right direction !?! If the protest was a "Fire Flanagan" campaign it would register as logical, even if it would be cold-hearted.

Ok, I haven't been around much recently. Did I miss something? Are Flanny and Duquette gone?

[WORST OWNER]

But what exactly are you protesting?

The man hired a baseball guy to take over the baseball operations. That sounds good to me.

They have a manager that believes in old fashioned baseball. That sounds good to me.

This is not going to get turned around over night. The team has the 10th higest payroll in baseball...so Angelos is definitely willing to spend money. Now he's hired smart baseball people to run the show. Again...WHAT ARE YOU PROTESTING???

Do you really think PA is going to let his "front office" make any Decisions?

as long as he metles with baseball operations we'll get a dysfunctional team.

He makes empty promises every year and some continue to bite because it sounds good. He should to give the gm a budget and get out of the way.

[DrungoHazewood]

Nestor is an attention whore, but when you run a team like the Orioles of the last 10 years you have to expect attention whores to pick you as a target for their goofy ideas.

[TonySoprano]

Ok, I haven't been around much recently. Did I miss something? Are Flanny and Duquette gone?

Not yet.

[NewMarketSean]

My god, can we get this quote posted in legendary status please?

NMS, yeah they DO have the right to do it. No one here is saying that they don't. But we also have the right to call it a sham and a publicity stunt as well.

Nasty has repeatedly said over the years that all would be forgiven if Peter would allow him to interview him.

So Peter remains the owner, everything else stays the same and Nasty gets his interview and everyone is happy. But the thing is, most people don't care about him, no matter how inflated his ego may be.

I used to be invited on that station repeatedly as an on air guest. Suddenly that stopped. Seriously, I was getting calls from producers on a weekly basis. I criticized Nestor in a podcast - those calls stopped.

And WHO is controlling opinions?

Who cares about Nestor? What matters here is the protest. I don't care if Paris Hilton is heading up the protest. It deserves to happen. I just love how the protest is announced and everyone hops on the bash-Nestor bandwagon like the bashing is relevant to the protest. Again, who cares about Nestor???? He has the right to do whatever he wants, whether it is to stop having SilentJames on his show or calling out the Orioles on the air. The bottom line is that the protest is warranted.

[Mackus]

The bottom line is that the protest is warranted.

Is it? They may have spent it poorly, but the team has spent a ton of money in the past year. Shouldn't you be protesting the front office and not Angelos?

[Witchy_Chick]

Is it? They may have spent it poorly, but the team has spent a ton of money in the past year. Shouldn't you be protesting the front office and not Angelos?

More times than not, it's difficult to distinguish one from the other.

Witchy

[TGO]

Not yet.

Tony, I think what Nestor meant by that one was that Flanagan and/or Duquette claimed the organization was headed in the right direction shortly before they were "fired" by MacPhail's hiring. In other words, the front office was blowing smoke at the fans. Of course, they're always blowing smoke anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

[fix it now]

Here are the ratings for the Baltimore Market as of the end of August. I believe September numbers will be out today or tomorrow. Sorry about the formatting. Best I could do. Notice that WNST is tied for last. Getting a 0.5 must be like getting 200 points on the SAT just for putting you name on the form.

Station Group Owner Format Rating

WERQ Radio One Urban 9.0

WPOC Clear Channel Country 8.4

WWIN Radio One Urban AC 6.3

WLIF CBS AC 5.5

WIYY Hearst Argyle Rock 4.5

WBAL Hearst Argyle News Talk 4.4

WWMX CBS AC 4.3

WCBM Nick Mangione News Talk 3.5

WSMJ Clear Channel Smooth Jazz 3.1

WCAO Clear Channel Gospel 2.9

WQSR CBS Adult Hits 2.6

WZBA Times-Shamrock Classic Rock 2.5

WPGC CBS Urban 2.4

WHUR Howard Univ Urban AC 2.2

WHFS CBS Talk/Alt 2.1

WIHT Clear Channel CHR/Top 40 1.8

WRBS Peter & John Radio Inspiration 1.8

WWDC Clear Channel Alternative 1.6

WTOP Bonneville News 1.4

WRNR Empire Broadcast Triple A 1.1

WKYS Radio One Urban 1.0

WASH Clear Channel AC 0.9

WMZQ Clear Channel Country 0.9

WLZL CBS Tropical 0.7

WRQX Citadel Hot AC 0.7

WWIN Radio One Gospel 0.7

WBIG Clear Channel Classic 0.6

WJFK CBS Talk 0.6

WMMJ Radio One Urban 0.5

WNST Nasty 1570 Sports Sports 0.5

WXCY Delmarva Country 0.5

[Mackus]

More times than not, it's difficult to distinguish one from the other.

I know theres the "I'll believe when I see it" approach to this, but MacPhail has stated he wouldn't have come on board if he didn't have full autonomy. I know Angelos assisted in the negotiations for Wieters, but that could very well have been at MacPhail's request.

But when an owner allows a team's payroll to increase by over $20M in a single offseason and commits about $70M worth of payroll to new FAs in a single offseason, its hard to blame the owner for not trying. He certainly deserves a huge amount of blame for allowing the franchise to deteriorate to its current state, but I don't really see how you can say he isn't at least trying to build a winner. I know its not the end hope, just trying to build a winner, but it seems like Nestor's "protest" is all about Angelos actively trying to keep the Orioles as losers, which is clearly not true.