A's Acquire Conor Jackson... Where were we?

[24fps]

Meh.

As a short-term fix, I'm fine with Luke and/or Wiggy. I've been saying it for a while now and I'll say it again: the Orioles need to break the habit of going shopping at the scrap heap.

[lostinlife28]

So your answer is yes, stand pat and continue to lose. Gotcha, puts your post into perspective.

[Sports Guy]

Meh.

As a short-term fix, I'm fine with Luke and/or Wiggy. I've been saying it for a while now and I'll say it again: the Orioles need to break the habit of going shopping at the scrap heap.

But for the moment, the scrap heap is what you can get...and then, as you get closer to July 31, you can see what else is out there.

[eddie83]

BTW, you have to love Beane.

He goes out and gets Jake Fox and after he struggles, he cuts him and gets his replacement a few day later.

Then you have the Orioles...They give Atkins a stupid contract, hang onto him even though he sucks and does nothing to improve themselves.

Unreal...and we are supposed to cut AM some slack? Are you serious?

You are giving him credit for being active not for making his team better.

[Sports Guy]

You are giving him credit for being active not for making his team better.

He did make his team better...You not thinking Jackson has upside doesn't mean anything...I already pointed out where his upside lies and why he was a good buy low candidate.

You not agreeing with that or even recognizing it doesnt make it less true.

[SteveA]

BTW, you have to love Beane.

He goes out and gets Jake Fox and after he struggles, he cuts him and gets his replacement a few day later.

Then you have the Orioles...They give Atkins a stupid contract, hang onto him even though he sucks and does nothing to improve themselves.

Unreal...and we are supposed to cut AM some slack? Are you serious?

Exactly. The Atkins salary is sunk cost. The VERY ABSOLUTE LEAST that a GM could do would be to cut Atkins loose ande replace him with any warm body to send a message to guys on this team that production matters. It's so simple. This team is reaching unprecedented, historical levels of badness and he is too damn timid to lift a finger. And now we have begun a 4 month managerial search.

Hey, we all liked the Bedard deal. No doubt. That was a step that previous GMs had been unwilling or unable to take and I give MacPhail all the credit in the world for taking it.

But that was 851 days ago. What has he brought into the organization since? Excluding the three drafts, which are tough to evaluate this early, what ELSE has he done to improve the organization long term?

Adam Eaton, Mark Hendrickson, Garret Atkins, Julio Lugo, and so many other wastes of space.

One good trade... Sherrill for Johnson and Bell.

Basically, in terms of trading and free agency, the complete total of players that could help the Orioles longterm, in the past 851 days, consists of Josh Bell and Steve Johnson.

[eddie83]

So your answer is yes, stand pat and continue to lose. Gotcha, puts your post into perspective.

Please. Getting a bunch a mediocre players and acting like it is going to make a difference is comical.

Our young players and guys coming back from injuries is what we need, not more retreads.

[eddie83]

He did make his team better...You not thinking Jackson has upside doesn't mean anything...I already pointed out where his upside lies and why he was a good buy low candidate.

You not agreeing with that or even recognizing it doesnt make it less true.

We need impact bats not Mark Grace Jr. He doesn't help in the AL East. We don't play in the AL West.

If our 2011 first basemen sucks then by all means rip him.

[lostinlife28]

Please. Getting a bunch a mediocre players and acting like it is going to make a difference is comical.

Our young players and guys coming back from injuries is what we need, not more retreads.

I'm gonna post once more, then drop it.

Our young players have been put in a sink or swim situation. Go look at the stats, they are not sinking, they are drowning.

Your perspective, is if they aren't "impact" players, don't sign or trade for them. Hence you are ok with letting the kids sink. Fine. That's your opinion, and you are entitled to it.

I think you need to do both. Get good young players. Surround them with older talent.

We have good young players, the vets.....they aren't very good. At all.

We can tank the rest of the season, and hope the youngsters aren't destroyed in the process.

I think we can do something in between. Get rid of some of the vets who aren't doing anything, and try and replace them with better parts. Would Jackson have turned this season around? Of course not. He would probably do better then Atkins in terms of production. Which means it would potentially help our young arms grow, and learn.

In other words, I'm for throwing the kids a life line, instead of saying sink or swim.

[24fps]

But for the moment, the scrap heap is what you can get...and then, as you get closer to July 31, you can see what else is out there.

I'll grant you that I would be considerably more tolerant of this vice if I were confident there was somebody in the organization with an eye for who was genuinely fixable.

[Sports Guy]

We need impact bats not Mark Grace Jr. He doesn't help in the AL East. We don't play in the AL West.

If our 2011 first basemen sucks then by all means rip him.

Ok, you aren't understanding so I am just gonna drop it.

[eddie83]

I'm gonna post once more, then drop it.

Our young players have been put in a sink or swim situation. Go look at the stats, they are not sinking, they are drowning.

Your perspective, is if they aren't "impact" players, don't sign or trade for them. Hence you are ok with letting the kids sink. Fine. That's your opinion, and you are entitled to it.

I think you need to do both. Get good young players. Surround them with older talent.

We have good young players, the vets.....they aren't very good. At all.

We can tank the rest of the season, and hope the youngsters aren't destroyed in the process.

I think we can do something in between. Get rid of some of the vets who aren't doing anything, and try and replace them with better parts. Would Jackson have turned this season around? Of course not. He would probably do better then Atkins in terms of production. Which means it would potentially help our young arms grow, and learn.

In other words, I'm for throwing the kids a life line, instead of saying sink or swim.

You honestly believe that Conor Jackson would be a life line for this team? Atkins isn't even hardly playing now. Jackson isn't going to impact our teams mindset. You think the players in the clubhouse would be effected bringing him to the team.

We are going to have to wait until the offseason to improve this team.

[SteveA]

You honestly believe that Conor Jackson would be a life line for this team? Atkins isn't even hardly playing now. Jackson isn't going to impact our teams mindset. You think the players in the clubhouse would be effected bringing him to the team.

We are going to have to wait until the offseason to improve this team.

Despite Jackson's poor start, he STILL has put up an OPS 100 points higher than Atkins.

He is 3 years younger.

He plays more positions.

His previous stats, which included 3 straight years of OPS+ over 100, were not built around doing well at home at Coors. He has never had a full season OPS+ under 100 in the majors, and he lost a season to a rare disease.

How can you possibly feel that picking him up and jettisoning would NOT improve the team?

[eddie83]

Despite Jackson's poor start, he STILL has put up an OPS 100 points higher than Atkins.

He is 3 years younger.

He plays more positions.

His previous stats, which included 3 straight years of OPS+ over 100, were not built around doing well at home at Coors. He has never had a full season OPS+ under 100 in the majors, and he lost a season to a rare diseason.

How can you possibly feel that picking him up and jettisoning would NOT improve the team?

I get it. Atkins sucks. I get it. This lineup has no power protection for our younger players. Pitchers have no fear. Jackson doesn't provide that. He is a corner player with no pop.

[eddie83]

According to what I see the A's will be paying Jackson $1.4 million the rest of the way. I see no scenario where he would have a role here next year.