I thought this deserved its own thread...

[BaltimoreTerp]

And so to buy at team at market prices that would win 44 games, as the Orioles are on pace to do, should cost about $16 mm. Or less, since I sometimes hear that "replacement level" is more like 46-47 games.

Unbelievable.

The Orioles have been worth 1.1 WAR so far, so yeah, that's about right.

http://www.fangraphs.com/winss.aspx?team=Orioles&pos=all&stats=bat&qual=0&type=6&season=2010&month=0

http://www.fangraphs.com/teams.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&type=6&season=2010&month=0

[tennOsfan]

Either this franchise has a group of scouts who can't scout or we have a bunch of coaches who can't coach. Or we have a bit or a lot of both. It's just that simple.

If AM has had complete authority, then the buck stops with him. He promised a better organization with better talent evaluation, and he has failed grandly at that. So far about every supposedly talented young player who has come up has been a disappointing flop.

Somewhere along the line, I'm sure plenty of blame could go to Angelos. Certainly he might not have meddled with AM, but he's probably placed constraints that hampered AM's ability to manage effectively whether it's in protecting certain individuals or not giving AM budgetary authority to spend where he wants to.

I don't know what it is, but the future of this organization remains as dim as ever, just a few months after we all hoped it was about to turn around. Now I doubt it ever does as long as Angelos and his clan own this team.

[LookinUp]

Some of the doom and gloom here is over the top. We don't need to be another 5 years from competing. We may be, but that's beside the point.

The young talent isn't this bad, even though they look it right now. I simply don't believe that Wieters is a .240 hitter with no power, or that Tillman will end up a pitcher who can't get through 2 innings on a regular basis.

Things have spiraled out of control, but I simply don't believe that all of these highly rated prospects are going to be below replacement level. Garrett Atkins and Gonzalez don't explain the poor performance...they don't invalidate the optimism that was nearly universal when it comes to the O's young talent as recent as 4 months ago.

Something's going on here for sure. I don't know what it is, but the stench is overwhelming.

[Dipper9]

I don't think I would say that about Markakis.

2009: $3 mm salary and $1 mm signing bonus, performance valued at $9.9 mm per fangraphs

2010: $6.75 mm salary plus $1.1 mm signing bonus, performance through 40% of the season valued at $5.6 mm per fangraphs (projected $14 mm value over a full season).

If you are going to look at performance the last two years, you have to look at salary the last 2 years, not what salary Markakis will earn in 2011-14 when we don't know what his performance will be. To me, this is still a very good contract.

Fair enough, and like I said, I am a big fan of both. But I think Nick was given that contract to drive in runs, and so far his 3 taters and mid 20's rbi's is not cutting it.

[El Gordo]

Fair enough, and like I said, I am a big fan of both. But I think Nick was given that contract to drive in runs, and so far his 3 taters and mid 20's rbi's is not cutting it.

Why is it so hard to understand that if no one is on base in front of you, you can't drive in many runs, and if no one is hitting behind you who is a threat to go deep, you wont get many pitches you can drive.:rolleyestf:

[Dipper9]

Why is it so hard to understand that if no one is on base in front of you, you can't drive in many runs, and if no one is hitting behind you who is a threat to go deep, you wont get many pitches you can drive.:rolleyestf:

You actually might be on to something. According to the stats below, he hits quite well in RISPy situations. He's 3 for 3 with the sacks full. Who knew? I stand corrected!

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS

Bases Empty 64 148 2 45 15 1 2 2 22 28 0 0 .304 .394 .459 .854

Runners On 55 95 22 27 6 0 1 19 16 12 1 1 .284 .384 .379 .763

RISP 47 54 22 16 3 0 1 19 12 4 0 0 .296 .418 .407 .825

RISP w/2 Outs 30 23 9 9 1 0 1 11 5 0 0 0 .391 .500 .565 1.065

Bases Loaded 7 3 4 3 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000

[waroriole]

You actually might be on to something. According to the stats below, he hits quite well in RISPy situations. He's 3 for 3 with the sacks full. Who knew? I stand corrected!

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS

Bases Empty 64 148 2 45 15 1 2 2 22 28 0 0 .304 .394 .459 .854

Runners On 55 95 22 27 6 0 1 19 16 12 1 1 .284 .384 .379 .763

RISP 47 54 22 16 3 0 1 19 12 4 0 0 .296 .418 .407 .825

RISP w/2 Outs 30 23 9 9 1 0 1 11 5 0 0 0 .391 .500 .565 1.065

Bases Loaded 7 3 4 3 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000

Glad to hear you say that. I was becoming a little worried about you. That last post sounded like OldFan.

[Frobby]

You actually might be on to something. According to the stats below, he hits quite well in RISPy situations. He's 3 for 3 with the sacks full. Who knew? I stand corrected!

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS

Bases Empty 64 148 2 45 15 1 2 2 22 28 0 0 .304 .394 .459 .854

Runners On 55 95 22 27 6 0 1 19 16 12 1 1 .284 .384 .379 .763

RISP 47 54 22 16 3 0 1 19 12 4 0 0 .296 .418 .407 .825

RISP w/2 Outs 30 23 9 9 1 0 1 11 5 0 0 0 .391 .500 .565 1.065

Bases Loaded 7 3 4 3 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000

Read the thread I started today about Nick's 24 runs scored. Nick bats either 2nd or 3rd. The guys batting 1st have a .299 OBP. The guys hitting 2nd (other than Nick) have a .306 OBP. When Nick bats 2nd, the guys batting 3rd have a .505 OPS. The guys batting 4th have a .643 OPS. In short, there's nobody on base in front of him and no protection in back of him.

Still, that was a bad AB today.

[SteveA]

That explains some of it, but not all of it. I can point to several of Nick's AB's where he's looked notably more awful when it was a high leverage situation. He is pressing, I believe, in those situations. Today he had plenty of opportunities to have an impact with RISP, but did not.

Exactly. Look at our now 40 game streak without a 3-run home run. That's 188 straight plate appearances with two men on, without hitting a home run. As a team overall, we have a home run every 47 plate appearances. Yet when we get two men on base, we haven't hit a home run since May 1, 188 plate appearances.

Lots of teams lose key players to injury and have some guys underperform, but NONE of those teams go into the type of offensive funk this team is in. We haven't had more than 2 runs in an inning since May 23.

Trying to excuse this offensive disaster by lack of opportunity or "not having good pitches to hit" just doesn't cut it.

[El Gordo]

Exactly. Look at our now 40 game streak without a 3-run home run. That's 188 straight plate appearances with two men on, without hitting a home run. As a team overall, we have a home run every 47 plate appearances. Yet when we get two men on base, we haven't hit a home run since May 1, 188 plate appearances.

Lots of teams lose key players to injury and have some guys underperform, but NONE of those teams go into the type of offensive funk this team is in. We haven't had more than 2 runs in an inning since May 23.

Trying to excuse this offensive disaster by lack of opportunity or "not having good pitches to hit" just doesn't cut it.

This is a bit confusing. Are you holding Nick accountable for all the times we had 2 men on base and didn't hit a HR? How often have there been any men on base when Nick batted, this year, as compared to last year? People are complaining that Nick isn't hitting HR's and driving runs in, and yet his numbers with RISP are very good. Well in his case there's only one explaination you can come up with.

[Greg Pappas]

Awwww noooooo, this thread is not slipping away into obscurity... too juicy!

[The Rick]

Awwww noooooo, this thread is not slipping away into obscurity... too juicy!

Well, you're a moderator and I'm sure have Tony's contact info... give him a ring, tell him we need a little small irrelvant nugget followed by another "Hang on for the ride." That'll add another 5-7 pages until the news finally arrives.

[TGO]

Well, you're a moderator and I'm sure have Tony's contact info... give him a ring, tell him we need a little small irrelvant nugget followed by another "Hang on for the ride." That'll add another 5-7 pages until the news finally arrives.

Tony told me to tell everyone that he had tacos for dinner.

Hang on for the ride.

[waroriole]

Tony told me to tell everyone that he had tacos for dinner.

Hang on for the ride.

Aaaarrrghhh, I hate when the info is so vague. Soft or crunchy? Fish, chicken or beef? What tooppppppppinnnnnggggssssssssssss?

[The Rick]

Tony told me to tell everyone that he had tacos for dinner.

Hang on for the ride.

Tacos? Wait, are the Orioles preparing a WOW offer for Adrian Gonzalez?

(Not intended to be offensive)