Eaton and Atkins

[Dr. FLK]

His plan has been the same the whole time, he hasn't moved away from that, which is rebuilding. This is something that people have complained about since MacPhail took over. They wanted someone to stick to the plan. He is sticking to the plan. It doesn't make any sense to blow things up right now because slowly but surely it is coming together.

I agree with the plan. I'm just starting to feel like it's being executed way too slowly.

[waroriole]

I can't wait until he sees he is wrong. And then we will see what nonsense gets spouted next.

My guess is that it will be ignored.

[AgentOrange]

I agree with the plan. I'm just starting to feel like it's being executed way too slowly.

Only because some of the young guys have gotten off to slow starts. Bergy needs to regain form, and we still have some other young guys coming up.

I will tell you though. I am in your position after next offseason if we don't sign impact players. Next year is the year we go for it, IMO.

We still have Bell to come up for 3b as well. Young players = growing pains. I bet you see a lot of flashes of a great team at points this year as well. That is what happens when you rebuild.

[RShack]

Would Friedman make these kinds of signings? Bill Smith? Billy Beane?

These were moves that were destined to fail. I don't see other GM's of teams similar to the Orioles in payroll/market size, etc... making these kind of no-reward signings.

Billy Beane has made decisions than turned out to be way worse than these, by a lot. But so what? Every GM makes decisions that don't work. Expecting a GM to be perfect is like expecting a hitter to bat 1.000 or expecting a P to have an ERA of 0.00, it's impossible to do...

[Dr. FLK]

Only because some of the young guys have gotten off to slow starts. Bergy needs to regain form, and we still have some other young guys coming up.

I will tell you though. I am in your position after next offseason if we don't sign impact players. Next year is the year we go for it, IMO.

We still have Bell to come up for 3b as well. Young players = growing pains. I bet you see a lot of flashes of a great team at points this year as well. That is what happens when you rebuild.

I hope you're right...right now, I see a good rotation, terrible offense, and pathetic bullpen. If Bell and Snyder don't pan out, we have nothing coming behind them anytime soon.

[AgentOrange]

I hope you're right...right now, I see a good rotation, terrible offense, and pathetic bullpen. If Bell and Snyder don't pan out, we have nothing coming behind them anytime soon.

Do you really see a terrible offense? I saw an offense the last couple nights that has battled. The first part of the season was terrible. But I really think the offense has turned it on lately.

They really battled last night. Made Hughes work, got to the BP and made them pay. I thought it was a pretty solid offensive night last night, stemming off of a very hot series against the Sox.

[atom_25]

I agree with the plan. I'm just starting to feel like it's being executed way too slowly.

I am starting to agree with you on this. We keep waiting on a giant leap forward and it is constantly one step forward, one step sideways, and two steps back. I am ready for a giant leap forward. To do this I think it falls on Jones, Wieters, Riemold, Pie (when healthy), etc to become good players, especially offensively- power wise, approach wise, etc.

[Sports Guy]

Pat Burrell.....nuff said. Every GM makes mistakes.

He wasn't a bad signing though...he was a signing that turned out bad.

Guys like Eaton and Atkins were always going to be bad.

[Slappy]

AM's trade record has been outstanding: Jones, Pie, Millwood, Sherrill, Scott, possibly even Hughes are panning out well. Bell looks to be coming on at AAA. Brandon Waring continues to smoke minor league pitching. And of the guys we gave up, one is back with the team and another isn't even pitching.

AM's draft and development record has been pretty good. He got Wieters signed and into the majors, drafted Matusz, finished the development of Reimold, Hernandez, Bergesen.

AM's free agent record with the O's has been... not good. Eaton was less than worthless - any warm body could have given similar production. Atkins has just been beaten out by someone we received for a catcher that can't even throw the ball back to the pitcher. He signed Traschel and essentially signed Rich Hill with the full intention of putting them in the major league rotation. Now, none of these deals have hamstrung us long-term, but they were not helpful to improving the competitiveness of the big league club. So why do them at all?

[tilgaham]

To criticize McPhail for signing the Adam Eatons and Garrett Atkins' of the world is abit absurb IMO. It's not like we paid either of them much money, and there were not high expectations.

[Sports Guy]

To criticize McPhail for signing the Adam Eatons and Garrett Atkins' of the world is abit absurb IMO. It's not like we paid either of them much money, and there were not high expectations.

How are you defining this?

[byrdz]

Who cares? No GM is perfect.

Yeah and they weren't crippling to the organization. If these are his worse moves I'm OK with that.

[AgentOrange]

How are you defining this?

I feel like he is saying that we didn't expect much from either player. Just to hold place for our prospects that were coming up to replace them.

[Going Underground]

Here is how a Chicago website viewed Andy's tenure in Chicago:

Being a huge baseball geek since 1979, I was aware of the Twins' two World Series titles and was immediately suspicious of them. I may have been one of the few who, when Andy MacPhail was hired by the Cubs in 1994, was unimpressed with him. History would prove me right - MacPhail did nothing in his twelve seasons to make me think my instincts were wrong.

He is a fraud. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. And it is just our dumb luck as Cub fans that we had to suffer through twelve years of this fraudulent management.

As for MacPhail's Reign of Terror in Chicago, well shoot. Where do you start? He burned through three general managers, one of whom was himself, who signed a thirty-one year old Todd Hundley to a four-year deal. His teams compiled a woeful 916-1011 record. MacPhail's teams finished above .500 only five times in his twelve seasons, which is also the same number of seasons in which his teams lost at least 94 games. In those twelve seasons, the Cubs failed to develope a legitmate, blue-chip offensive starter. They've wasted #1 picks on such forgettable names as Todd Noel, Ben Christansen, Luis Montanez, Bobbie Brownlie and Ryan Harvey. Most of these players are out of baseball, and some are still flailing away in obscurity, apparently no closer to real major league sucess than they were when they were drafted by Andy MacPhail's "braintrust".

When they have drafted well (usually because their own godawful seasons landed them a Top-5 pick), they haven't had any organizational skill at bringing players along. Mark Prior was gift-wrapped and, on Andy MacPhail's watch, was used, abused and put away wet by Dusty Baker and Larry Rothschild. Nobody in the organization took a proactive approach to refining Kerry Wood's delivery until it was far, far too late. They drafted Corey Patterson, rushed him to the bigs, then sent him out of town for a case of Rawlings after they successfully jerked him around. One of the few bona fide big-leaugers that the MacPhail regime did draft --Jon Garland -- was allowed to be dealt by a panic-stricken Ed Lynch -- MacPhail's right-hand man -- for a middle reliever who was out of baseball by the time Garland had arrived in the bigs.

The plan, as it appears to have been during the MacFailed Era, was that there was no plan.

[Sports Guy]

I feel like he is saying that we didn't expect much from either player. Just to hold place for our prospects that were coming up to replace them.

Perhaps...very obvious that AM felt Crow would turn around Atkins and that he would be the everyday first baseman...I think he felt that he would be here all year, or close to it.

And he kept pointing out that Eaton had several quality starts the year before...i am not sure how long he was hoping Eaton would be here but he pursued him like he felt he would be able to produce for some kind of period of time.

Either way, what the signings represent is much more of an issue than the signings themselves...They were both awful signings and seemed to spit in the face of simple stat analysis.