I thought this deserved its own thread...

[Smokin' Joe O]

Angelos brought in MacPhail to purposely keep the payroll relatively low to try to show that the Orioles can't compete with the Red Sox and Yankees even with an RSN, and he'll let his team wallow so when MacPhail becomes commissioner, he's hoping he can ride his coattails and get some credit for if/when MacPhail makes changes to neutralize Boston and NY's payroll advantage on the rest of the league.

Angelos is more concerned about seeing his name associated with changing the game of baseball now than seeing the Orioles win.

It really seems like his character to do something like this - sacrificing the Orioles for in his mind the greater good of baseball...

Interesting.

[Singleton]

In this case, Angelos would be right, except for Dempsey, but you know what?

Why not just let Dempsey manage? How much worse could things actually get?

But MacPhail has to trade his young talent for established talent if we are going to win. We aren't going to grow a winning team in the next few years.

Dude,

We don't have much young talent that is worth anything!!!! That's the problem.

You want to trade C. Tillman and you think you'd get back what? If Jim Palmer and crew notice he's throwing 87 mph, don't you think every major league team knows this? N. Reimold have much value these days?

Weiters is still highly regarded. Matusz more so. That's the tradeable commodities we have that would bring back good players. Nothing else.

That's why things are so depressing.

[Going Underground]

Schmuck column:

MacPhail also said that he has already had trade discussions with a number of teams about some of the veterans on the team, but insisted that no deal would be made just to dump salary. Kevin Millwood, Miguel Tejada and Ty Wigginton all have some value, but MacPhail said they won't go anywhere unless the Orioles can get some real value in return.:laughlol:

I'll take him at his word, but I wouldn't hold out for too much if there is no intention of re-signing the players in question. Theoretically, if the Orioles dealt Tejada, Wiggy and Millwood tomorrow, they would save nearly $10 million that could be added to this winter's free agent budget.

Save 10 mil. I bet the guys will be traded. Real value? What does that mean?

[lovetoaster]

I can't wait to see a fielded team with:

Roberts, Jones, Reimold, Pie, Markakis, Bell, Snyder, Wieters, Machado

I don't know if you are ever going to see those players take the field together. While I think Machado is an excellent player, I don't think he will be in the bigs in time to play woth Roberts. I actually really worry about Roberts' future, and think his absence has a lot to do with how bad our record is right now. Now, I am not saying that we would be challenging for the division lead, but I think we would be scoring more runs and the lineup would not be in such disarray. There is a lot to be said for losing one of the op leadoff hitters in the majors.

To be honest Bell and Snyder do not appear to be elite prospects.

Maybe I am alone here, but I never thought they were "elite" prospects. Sure, I had relatively high hopes, but to me they were good prospects, not elite ones. Guys like Evan Longoria, Strasburgs, Alex Gordon, Jay Bruce, David Price, Jason Heyward are elite prospects. Wieters and Matusz were elite prospects, but not Bell and Snyder. I know it is semantics, but I think it is important to point out the difference in expectations for the different levels of prospects.

An elite prospect should have an excellent chance to be a difference maker. While it would be nice for Bell and Snyder to be guys like that, I don't think it has been expected of them.

[clarence]

I have two guesses.

(1) The club is in financial trouble. Joe Jordan was given a budget cut; we will not see any Cameron Coffey-type overslot bonuses this year. We will once again not be a player in the high-level international talent market.

(2) Angelos is clashing with AM about the direction of the franchise. Angelos wants AM to trade young players for proven talent, and he wants to hire Rick Dempsey as the manager. AM's reluctance is putting his job in jeopardy.

If these two things are true, we are all the fools. The only two areas this team can't cut is the pipeline to young players. You go to a $40M per year payroll if you have to, but you don't cut the draft or trying to get international talent. If this is true, it is the only thing that could change my feelings about the Orioles.

[Arthur_Bryant]

#'s 3 and 4 above are the most depressing parts for me. If we can't draft and develop good talent, we're doomed. No amount of free agents will matter.

Yeah, I agree. But the possibility has become very real. The returns from the farm system this year have been nearly as bad as the results from the big club. Except for Arrieta and possibly Zach Britton, no player in the system has made a standout move to project as a future big time MLB player. Very few have even made a compelling case for midseason promotion to the next level.

The Plan, and the long term future of the team, depend on a strong supply of talent from the system. What is coming up the pipeline at this point does not look promising.

[RShack]

Angelos brought in MacPhail to purposely keep the payroll relatively low to try to show that the Orioles can't compete with the Red Sox and Yankees even with an RSN, and he'll let his team wallow so when MacPhail becomes commissioner, he's hoping he can ride his coattails and get some credit for if/when MacPhail makes changes to neutralize Boston and NY's payroll advantage on the rest of the league, using the Orioles as the star example of the financial imbalance.

Angelos is more concerned about seeing his name associated with changing the game of baseball now than seeing the Orioles win.

It really seems like his character to do something like this - sacrificing the Orioles for in his mind the greater good of baseball.

And in the same vein he can "stick it" to all the Orioles fans who wanted him to get out of the way. He brings in somebody even more conservative that him and that will frustrate fans even more so he can have the last laugh.

That also seems quite within his character...

And all of this is really true, it's exactly what's happening, in the Bizarro World that exists in Trea's head...

[ChaosLex]

Frobby posted this in another thread.

I've also heard some things, uncorroborated, that are very disturbing and go beyond what is being discussed in the media. I can honestly say I have never been more pessimistic about this team than I am right now.

[RustyMcNail]

What are those again?

Please don't encourage him.

[Smokin' Joe O]

Please don't encourage him.

Sorry, I didn't mean to encourage anything. I just like hearing everyone's input.

[TinCup]

A snail moves faster than MacPhail.

Hell, I've been told by experts that glaciers move faster than Andy.

[Three Run Homer]

Interesting.

What did Arte Johnson used to say on Laugh-In?

"Verrrrry interesting....but shtooopid..." :laughlol:

[Bradysburns]

A snail moves faster than MacPhail.

Andy MacSnail...

[Going Underground]

I wonder how people would feel on here if we don't sign our number one draft pick. Machado could go to college.

[Dipper9]

I wonder how people would feel on here if we don't sign our number one draft pick. Machado could go to college.

I would say that's the straw that broke the camel's back, but I think the camel already has been broken, killed, and turned into glue!!!!!