McPhail's bottom line

[hoosiers]

I'm glad AM is comfortable enough with his job and performance not to make the type of mistakes that happen when folks are pressured as this post implies.

There was a lot of work to do when AM took over. The cupboard was not bare, but the 40 man has been substantially overhauled since, our draft budget has expanded smartly for late round bonus kids and our international scouting, while still sub-par, at least has a heartbeat.

The losing sucks. There's no way around that, but we should be more focused on development and higher spend on amateur talent, IMO.

[El Gordo]

Nolan and Matt haven't even had one full season yet, and you're typecasting them already... AJ's had only 2...

Why? Based on 5 weeks of ball. If they were doing well so far, you'd be singing a different tune.

It's not based on 5 weeks, it's based on this season and last season. I don't see the AB that tell me they'll be great. I see Matt as an excellent defensive catcher, who handles SP well, and has a great arm, but who will hit .280, 20 HR and around .800 OPS. In other words a very valuable commodity, but not Johnny Bench or Joe Mauer. Nick is Paul O'Neil to me, not Stan Musial. Jones may get to be Torii Hunter some day, but not now. His D is too poor and his plate discipline is atrocious. Reimold is 26, can't play good defense, even if his achilles is fine, and won't hit much better than Larry Bigbie at his best. Nice guy to have around but not Jason Bay. Roberts' back is a huge question mark. We need some one behind him. We have no 1B who can hit, and no SS either. The SP is promising but the position players aren't strong enough, or deep enough. And I seriously have to ask myself, how can Felix Pie, and Brad Bergeson, two of our most promising players, be left to their own devises, totally unsurpervised, and screw them selves up to the extent that they did? What is wrong with this picture?

[El Gordo]

I'm glad AM is comfortable enough with his job and performance not to make the type of mistakes that happen when folks are pressured as this post implies.

There was a lot of work to do when AM took over. The cupboard was not bare, but the 40 man has been substantially overhauled since, our draft budget has expanded smartly for late round bonus kids and our international scouting, while still sub-par, at least has a heartbeat.

The losing sucks. There's no way around that, but we should be more focused on development and higher spend on amateur talent, IMO.

This is very true, but in light of all the disfunction, to state that W/L were important this season, was unrealistic IMO. We are still rebuilding and a long way from contending.

[H0smash]

This is very true, but in light of all the disfunction, to state that W/L were important this season, was unrealistic IMO. We are still rebuilding and a long way from contending.

You do not know that! Look at some of the greatest turnarounds, the Braves in '91, the Rays in '08, the Diamondbacks in '99, the Indians in '94 and '95, the Tigers in '06, the Rockies in '07, etc. I'm sure the list goes on but I'm not going to go through the entire history of baseball to prove a point.

Right now this team looks terrible, but they will get better, and I think they will finish with at least 65-72 wins but who knows we'll see. Then what happens next year? Well it all depends on what happens the rest of this year but hopefully this next off-season MacPhail can sign some veteran bats to help this lineup out. Next year should be better, I think we'll either make a Rays/Braves-esque jump or an incremental improvement like the Rockies/Indians. For me it all depends on our young guys, if Tillman, Arrieta, and Matusz can pitch well out of the rotation, then we should be in great shape to contend next year (even two of those guys would be fine). Otherwise we'll probably see an incremental improvement, which is okay.

MacPhail and the rest of the FO are going to need to make some changes if things don't improve soon. For one: send Jones down as well as Reimold (or place him on the DL if he's hurt), Jones just looks lost and he probably needs to improve his approach at the plate and regain his confidence. Reimold's either in a bad slump or he's still hurt, so something needs to be done to get him back to where he was last year, sending him to Triple-A with Jones may be the best plan. As for Wieters, he has done nothing but improve since he has come up last year, and for all we know he could end up as the greatest catcher of all time or maybe the second best of this era behind Mauer, who knows. He does have great plate discipline and with more experience will turn into a player we can build this team around.

When MacPhail came here we barely had any ML talent, now we have some hope. The main thing we as fans can do is just be a little more patient. I am confident that this young group, if supplemented correctly will lead us back to contention and bring us some championships. They just need time to get used to the Majors, they're taking their lumps. I understand the need to blame someone, but MacPhail has only been here for a few years, he hasn't been here for all 12 losing seasons. He said it himself when he came here that this project would take a while, so I think we all just need to step back and remember that this is a crazy sport. We can go from being the worst team in the league this year to the middle of the pack or even one of the best next year.

I'm excited to see what happens. I'm excited for the future of this team.

[sangar]

If I'm going to make a post about someone, I should know how to spell his name, no excuses.

Don't feel bad, I misspelled Ripken the other day. Twice.

[mikezpen]

I dont want MacPhail gone-at least not yet. Do you wan another weak inexperienced executive like Flanagan in here-someone Angelos can boss around?

[BrunoCherrytown]

Nolan and Matt haven't even had one full season yet, and you're typecasting them already... AJ's had only 2...

Why? Based on 4 weeks of ball. If they were doing well so far, you'd be singing a different tune.

...Jason Heyward.

He's what...20? His first 4 weeks are more exciting then Wieters and Reimold's full Major League careers combined to this point.

I like Wieters and he's going to be good. But it's not beyond the realm of reason to say he may not be Joe Mauer-esqe when all is said and done.

But if he's Jason Varitek that ain't so bad. But it's not clean up hitter.

And maybe Adam Jones won't be Tori Hunter...maybe he's Corey Patterson. We won't know for another year or two.

The problem is MacPhail assembled a team of Atkins, Tejada, Lugo, Wiggi, etc to surround our young O's with and help them grow. And he expected different results then we are seeing now? That's just ridiculous.

And he shouldn't get a pass from the press on that just because he says he's not on a suicide pact. He put that team together.

Wiggi's been a great surprise - but it's not like that was anticipated. Tejada has no business batting clean up on most teams but ours. That doesn't mean he's not good...but seriously...clean up?

MacPhail signed that suicide pact this offseason with setting the goal of mediocre acquisitions instead of bold and creative moves. That's his job.

When people say "he wasn't coming here" or "he wasn't worth the money" or "what would you have done" - my answer is, it's not my job to figure those things out...it's MacPhail's to find workarounds. And if these are his workarounds - it's a joke. If I provided my clients with the level of cheapness and blandness he has for solutions - i wouldn't have any clients.

Trembley is a good guy and a bad manager...and MacPhail is an overly budget conscious, one trick pony (trading for prospects) and his methodology won't work in today's game.

It didn't in Chicago and its not working here. He's too cheap and gun shy. Get us the next Theo Epstein - my vote is for Kim Ng - Assistant GM of the Dodgers.

[ChesterPeake]

I think that MacPhail's statement about this season being more about the wins and losses was ill-advised. IMO, it created a higher expectation level among the fans than the team is able to justify at this point in the rebuilding process. He probably should have indicated that he was hopeful that we could win more games this season while cautioning the fans that we're still rebuilding and that the process of rebuilding is ongoing.

I think that AM has done a much better job of trying to turn around the franchise than his predecessors did. He has also made some mistakes. That's the way it is when you're trying to make something happen. The only persons who don't make mistakes are the persons who don't do anything.

Right now, he's still evaluating the people in his organization. Not just players, but coaches and front office people. In time, he'll have a better idea of who fits and who doesn't fit in a winning organization and, I think, he'll make the necessary changes.

What gets to me sometimes is his plodding approach to the problems he faces. I admit that I want the quick fix. But the more I think about it, the more I believe that AM's deliberate approach is the right way to solve the problems. His predecessors have tried to make quick fixes and they didn't work. Now we, the fans, need to hang in there while AM takes the time necessary to do the job the right way.

Now a word from the heart. I can hardly believe that my head wrote that sensible stuff above. What I really want is some players like Albert Pujols and Roy Halladay - and I want them NOW!

[helloharv]

God may not know, but I have a guess. They just aren't as good as we all thought they were. I watch them every day and they have very poor AB. I don't care much about the numbers outcomes with young players, I care about the quality of the AB. And they aren't good. I remember working with a famous playwrite who said, "great actors can't be beat, most actors can be beat". I think it's the same with ballplayers. Most can be beat and we have precious few who can't. I am saying AM overestimated the level of offensive talent on this team and untill he upgrades it, he can't hold DT responsible for W/L's. The SP are all trying to throw shut outs, becuase they don't believe they can give the team a chance to win if they give up a run. It's ridiculous. Wieters is going to be a very good hitting catcher, but he is not going to be the SHJ. Markakis is better than what he was last year, but a 20 HR .300 BA, 100 RBI guy is not the the anchor of your team, he is more of a a support player. Like Paul O'neil. And Nick is the best hitter on the team.

Great post !

[Singleton]

It's not based on 5 weeks, it's based on this season and last season. I don't see the AB that tell me they'll be great. I see Matt as an excellent defensive catcher, who handles SP well, and has a great arm, but who will hit .280, 20 HR and around .800 OPS. In other words a very valuable commodity, but not Johnny Bench or Joe Mauer. Nick is Paul O'Neil to me, not Stan Musial. Jones may get to be Torii Hunter some day, but not now. His D is too poor and his plate discipline is atrocious. Reimold is 26, can't play good defense, even if his achilles is fine, and won't hit much better than Larry Bigbie at his best. Nice guy to have around but not Jason Bay. Roberts' back is a huge question mark. We need some one behind him. We have no 1B who can hit, and no SS either. The SP is promising but the position players aren't strong enough, or deep enough. And I seriously have to ask myself, how can Felix Pie, and Brad Bergeson, two of our most promising players, be left to their own devises, totally unsurpervised, and screw them selves up to the extent that they did? What is wrong with this picture?

So you're frustrated that Weiters isn't Johnny Bench and Nick isn't Stan Musial? Talk about high expectations!

The losing sucks. It's horrible to watch.

On the other hand, I think folks don't appreciate the little bits of good. Matt Weiters is just 24 and in his first full season he's on pace to have a stellar season. I'm not saying that he's Johnny Bench but if you think he's just kinda good (ok you said valuable commodity) then I think you're really missing out.

Reimold was a very good player last year from start to finish. He had off season achilles surgery and hasn't looked very good in the first five weeks. He hustles his a** off though. Given the circumstances, he deserves more time before being thrown to the wolves.

Brob getting hurt is really bad. Kind of hard to blame the GM when his backup is among the league leaders in homers. I'd also advise you enjoy it now cause it's not gonna last.

To me, i don't blame the GM for entering the season with high hopes for Adam Jones, Markakis and Weiters or for not knowing Brob and Pie would get hurt or that Scott would be horrific. I don't think any GM would have done anything differently with those players.

I am disappointed that we still haven't built a solid bullpen by now (not focused on Gonzalez) and that he hasn't acquired a decent, youngish first basemen.

On the big picture though, I still think we're headed in the right direction and have confidence in AM's direction.

[NewMarketSean]

MacPhail isn't going anywhere as long as Angelos' bottom line remains the same...

This.

MacPhail can lay some good groundwork for the minors, make solid trades that get the organization some depth, but he is in way over his head trying to compete in the AL East with the budget that Angelos has set for this team.

And even when AM did have money to spend with the Cubs, he didn't do it. He is afraid of the big contract, the liability, the risk. I think that even if Angelos said "I want to make the playoffs, here is my checkbook" MacPhail would still go shopping at the Dollar Tree.

[Orioles18]

...Jason Heyward.

He's what...20? His first 4 weeks are more exciting then Wieters and Reimold's full Major League careers combined to this point.

I like Wieters and he's going to be good. But it's not beyond the realm of reason to say he may not be Joe Mauer-esqe when all is said and done.

But if he's Jason Varitek that ain't so bad. But it's not clean up hitter.

And maybe Adam Jones won't be Tori Hunter...maybe he's Corey Patterson. We won't know for another year or two.

The problem is MacPhail assembled a team of Atkins, Tejada, Lugo, Wiggi, etc to surround our young O's with and help them grow. And he expected different results then we are seeing now? That's just ridiculous.

And he shouldn't get a pass from the press on that just because he says he's not on a suicide pact. He put that team together.

Wiggi's been a great surprise - but it's not like that was anticipated. Tejada has no business batting clean up on most teams but ours. That doesn't mean he's not good...but seriously...clean up?

MacPhail signed that suicide pact this offseason with setting the goal of mediocre acquisitions instead of bold and creative moves. That's his job.

When people say "he wasn't coming here" or "he wasn't worth the money" or "what would you have done" - my answer is, it's not my job to figure those things out...it's MacPhail's to find workarounds. And if these are his workarounds - it's a joke. If I provided my clients with the level of cheapness and blandness he has for solutions - i wouldn't have any clients.

Trembley is a good guy and a bad manager...and MacPhail is an overly budget conscious, one trick pony (trading for prospects) and his methodology won't work in today's game.

It didn't in Chicago and its not working here. He's too cheap and gun shy. Get us the next Theo Epstein - my vote is for Kim Ng - Assistant GM of the Dodgers.

Some of your points are spot on, but to be fair Wigginton was signed before 2009 and Lugo was acquired because of the injury to Roberts.

[BrunoCherrytown]

Some of your points are spot on, but to be fair Wigginton was signed before 2009 and Lugo was acquired because of the injury to Roberts.

Good catch.

I didn't mean to imply Wiggi was last offseason. My point was this is the team Andy has constructed to support young and improving prospects/Young O's and its a joke.

I grimace when they post our lineup and I see our competitors lineup every night. Except when we play the A's...and then we get beat by them too.

I was expecting to get called out on my "it's not my job" part as I posted that on Roch's blog, but anything I say on the "what I would've done" part would be a rehash of something i've posted on here 30 times already and it's redundant.

[nadecir]

The idea was to sign stopgaps and not block the young guys we had. As stopgaps, it's pretty hard to complain about Wigginton, Tejada, and Millwood. At this point, you'd have to say they were great signings. The main problem has been the growing pains of some of the young guys and the horrible start by Luke Scott. And the schedule. I predicted something like 74-75 wins this year. The people who had higher hopes are usually the ones who take things personal and get the most upset. I'm certainly not happy but I also haven't given up on the talent on this team.

The fact that Wigginton, Tejada and Millwood are some of the best performers on this team makes this season even more disappointing if you are looking toward the future. We would be feeling much better if the younger players (Jones, Riemold, Bergesen, Hernandez, etc) were having better years, rather than the older veterans stopgaps who are playing well.

Where would this team be without Wigginton, Tejada, and Millwood? That's a depressing thought. We can hope we might be able to trade these veterans for some young talent by the trading deadline, but teams have been unwilling to trade their better prospects recently. Veteran players traded at the trade deadline just aren't getting many good prospects in return now a days.

[BrunoCherrytown]

As stopgaps, it's pretty hard to complain about Wigginton, Tejada, and Millwood. At this point, you'd have to say they were great signings. The main problem has been the growing pains of some of the young guys and the horrible start by Luke Scott.

I think when you rely only on stopgaps and the development of prospects you are playing a dangerous game.

Could you argue that relying on stopgaps puts too much pressure on prospects and can be looked at as an equivalent to rushing prospects too quickly to the majors?

Plus relying on AA prospects moving up to AAA and then excelling at AAA and then becoming stars or even above average players in the majors is quite a gamble as well. And that's what you bank your offseason strategies on? I personally don't agree with that strategy either.

And we can applaud Wigginton's great start. I surely do. But was he a great signing considering last year?

I personally never wanted to see him in a game last year. He looks in better shape this year and that appears to be translating to on the field performance. I really hope it continues.

Tejada would be a great signing if it wasn't our premier offensive one for the offseason and more like a complimentary end of the offseason one.

And Luke Scott always has horrible patches. At his age we couldn't reasonably expect for him to work through it. Even through his hot stretches his unreliability makes him way more of a liability then an asset.

I think this 100% stopgap/prospect route is dangerously flawed and overly budget conscious.

But I respect the other side of that argument a great deal, because it relies heavily on hope and promise. And O's fans need hope and promise for the future. It's all we have to go on really.