Disappointed at all?

[JTrea81]

So do you think it's possible that no one in the Orioles front office wants to spend money, wants to put wins on the board, fill the seats and make more money than they already do?

I don't know, because they sure aren't making much of an effort to do it with the opportunity that's available to them this offseason.

[Moose Milligan]

I don't know, because they sure aren't making much of an effort to do it with the opportunity that's available to them this offseason.

But what possible reason could MacPhail, Angelos and others have to not put a winning product on the field when they know that it would make them more money?

[SilentJames]

It's a good question, because it seems Angelos doesn't seem to get that bringing in talent = more wins = more butts in seats = more revenue = more profit.

You have to spend money to make money.

That's something that's seemed to elude the Orioles.

The Orioles had to rebuild, but they didn't have to make the ML team practically unwatchable as long as they have to do it.

You honestly believe that a guy who grew up as a poor kid in Greektown to become one of the richest men in the state doesn''t understand how to make money? Really?

I think what it comes down to is that MacPhail has a vision that really doesn't include breaking the bank on Holliday or giving money to a guy considered to be one of the biggest free-agent busts of the decade.

Holliday could be getting near Pujols-money for St. Louis (horrendous contract) and Beltre, well frankly I don't care about park factors he had had THREE YEARS of plus 800 OPS in his 12 year career, he is a career 779 OPS, that one year was either magic, luck or something else so I was never losing sleep over this guy, but that is just me.

[ChaosLex]

I don't think Holliday is good. I don't think Beltre is good. I'd rather see the OF we have play an entire season - especially during a rebuilding year...earth to Jtrea next year is still a rebuilding year. I'm also not so convinced there is a lot of money to go around, so they can't blow it on an outfielder when we have 5 guys(three of which could put up similar numbers to Holliday).

And for the record I would advocate spending money on Pujols. I think he is good.

Unless you're signing over the deed to Camden Yards, there's literally no way in hell that Pujols would ever play for the O's.

[Dipper9]

The fanbase is what produces revenue.

If he doesn't want to see a whole lot of Camden green, he'd better care.

The Orioles are irrelevant in Baltimore and in baseball right now. MacPhail needs to do something to change that and soon.

He promised to give Trembley what he needed to win, and so far he hasn't delivered.

And we all know that Opening Day is tomorrow!

[wickedwitch]

I said 'Meh' because of Beltre, but now that I know that Beltre turned down 3 and 4 year deals, it's hard to be disappointed with MacPhail.

[chamdog]

I was never high on Beltra or Holliday from the get go so I'm blah on the subject.The only thing I'm wondering is AM being held up by a very low spending allowance from PA.They should have the money to spend somewhere this off season I just hope there not spending the money because they don't want to not that they can't.

[Sports Guy]

When you back up and look at it from 10,000 feet, he gave up the pick to get Bell. He used Breezy to get him, and then when JJ didn't step into the role smoothly, he got a Breezy-replacement so DT can sleep at night. It was mostly about getting a 3B-man, and the rest of it was just rearranging the details of who the closer is...

How good of a closer was Sherrill before we obtained him?

[Sports Guy]

But what possible reason could MacPhail, Angelos and others have to not put a winning product on the field when they know that it would make them more money?

I certainly think it is possible that PA wants the payroll down in an effort to sell the team easier.

I am not sure how much I buy into that theory but I don't think it is without merit either.

At the end of the day, actions speak louder than words...AM has had a disappointing and poor offseason THUS FAR.

Luckily for us, he tends to do a lot of things in January, so hopefully he will make some improvements

[Moose Milligan]

I certainly think it is possible that PA wants the payroll down in an effort to sell the team easier.

I am not sure how much I buy into that theory but I don't think it is without merit either.

At the end of the day, actions speak louder than words...AM has had a disappointing and poor offseason THUS FAR.

Luckily for us, he tends to do a lot of things in January, so hopefully he will make some improvements

But what evidence do we have that PA is ready to sell the team? By all accounts it looks like he wants to hand things over to his kids.

And why would buying a losing club be attractive to anyone?

[Mackus]

What did each guy sign for?

I wouldn't have gone more than about 2/$20M on Beltre and wouldn't have gone higher than 6/$108M on Holliday. If it would have taken more to get either here, than I'm glad we didn't sign them. If we could have gotten them for about that much, then I would have liked to have them.

[VTmook213]

I can't believe people are using Beltre as an example of AM doing a poor job. He took less money to sign with the Red Sox. He gave up 2-3 years at the same annual rate to sign with the Red Sox. Clearly, he wanted to play for a winner - and yet somehow, all of you construe this as a failure on AM's part.

That's ridiculous.

JTrea, you also keep saying that you want the Orioles to sign Holliday because they could get him for a bargain price. But what do you consider a "bargain"? I'd just like to know so when they announce the details of his deal with the Cardinals and you again accuse AM of being cheap, we can look at whether or not he really was being cheap.

[Dipper9]

I can't believe people are using Beltre as an example of AM doing a poor job. He took less money to sign with the Red Sox. He gave up 2-3 years at the same annual rate to sign with the Red Sox. Clearly, he wanted to play for a winner - and yet somehow, all of you construe this as a failure on AM's part.

That's ridiculous.

JTrea, you also keep saying that you want the Orioles to sign Holliday because they could get him for a bargain price. But what do you consider a "bargain"? I'd just like to know so when they announce the details of his deal with the Cardinals and you again accuse AM of being cheap, we can look at whether or not he really was being cheap.

Agree with everything here. I would certainly like to have Holliday, as it ain't my money, but he is not worth the money he is going to get from St. Louis. He, like Lackey, are benefitting from a weak Free Agent class this year.

[Hank Scorpio]

How about Scott Boras leaving money on the table?

[Mackus]

I can't believe people are using Beltre as an example of AM doing a poor job. He took less money to sign with the Red Sox. He gave up 2-3 years at the same annual rate to sign with the Red Sox. Clearly, he wanted to play for a winner - and yet somehow, all of you construe this as a failure on AM's part.

I don't think he cares about winning, I think he's clearly gambling on himself. If he has a big year, and Boston is probably just about the best place for him to have a big year considering home park and the lineup that will be around him, he'll get a ton more than a 3/$24M offer or whatever we think the 3- and 4-year deals were for.

Agree that this cannot be spun as MacPhail having done a poor job. Anyone attempting to is pretty out of touch with reality.