I thought this deserved its own thread...

[Austin]

I like the posters but I feel like this is when the kid on your block said,

"I know something you don't know. Na-na-nana-na."

If you can't say it, what's the point of raising it to the group.

Now look at us, begging to hear more bad news. Ah, so this is Birdland.

[mcgraw238]

I think you have a spitball in your hair. I just don't think it will be an easy signing. I see last minute like Wieters and Strasburg and not Hobgood.

I guess I saw that the minute we picked a guy with Boras as his rep. I still can't see Boras letting a HS kid go off to Juco...to much risk. Not to mention the next draft is so deep that Machado could see his stock slip due to the deeper talent base.

[Skywalker76]

The most depressing has to be that we do not seem to make any progress in the minors. This year it seems everything seems to be going downhill...

[RShack]

Every time someone makes reference to this, RShack says MacPhail never said the season about "wins and losses." It seems pretty clear to me that MacPhail was getting at that....

Has RShack just never seen this quote? Why does he refute its existence?

I am quite familiar with the quote, and I have been all along. Get your facts straight. Go read the quote. He said that W's and L's matter in how they would evaluate the manager. He said he expected improvement in the record. We all expected improvement in the record. Everybody expected improvement in the record. But he did not say that W's and L's were what the season was about. He wanted to see more W's, he wanted to see lots of stuff getting better. To pull out the one phrase and W's and L's, and to pretend he said that the importance of this season was reducible to that, is just bogus. He said he would evaluate the manager based on W's and L's, and the manager is gone. There is no criteria by which this season is proceeding as expected. Nobody can explain it, and AFAIK, nobody knows what to do about it either.

[msporter4]

I guess I saw that the minute we picked a guy with Boras as his rep. I still can't see Boras letting a HS kid go off to Juco...to much risk. Not to mention the next draft is so deep that Machado could see his stock slip due to the deeper talent base.

He won't be going to JUCO he has a scholarship to play at Florida International. I am pretty sure if Machado does not sign and goes to Florida International the earliest he can be re-drafted is June 2012.

Whose to say if Machado goes to college he ends up being drafted that high again. He could get hurt he could flop.

Both sides the Oriole's and Boras have different things they can hang over each others head.

[Stotle]

Machado wants to play pro ball -- we will sign for sure.

[LookinUp]

I think you have a spitball in your hair. I just don't think it will be an easy signing. I see last minute like Wieters and Strasburg and not Hobgood.

Ouch. I didn't mean it as a shot at you dude.

FWIW, I don't think he'll go back to school and I also see a 8/16 signing on the horizon...but I'm just spitballing.

[notfast]

In typical Orioles fashion, even our threads about worst case scenarios can't even portray what the actual worst case scenario is. :laughlol:

[Slappy]

What could possibly be worse? We're hearing that the conditioning programs are poor. We're hearing that there is no work ethic. We're hearing that respected baseball people want nothing to do with the manager job. We've seen first-hand almost unexplicable major league performances from minor league studs. We're 17-47, exactly the same as historically bad teams like the '62 Mets and '88 Orioles. Belligerance from many of the players is downright obvious.

So what news could be worse? I doubt it has anything to do with PEDs - most of the players in the minors suck too bad for that to be the case. People leaving the organization... who cares, most have failed anyway? Clashes between AM and PA? Seems obvious, and frankly expected considering the downward trajectory. Machado not signing? Would suck, but he's 3 years out of the majors at the least.

I'm not sure how things can get much worse than 17-47 with a crappy minor league system. That's where we stand right now.

[Going Underground]

Ouch. I didn't mean it as a shot at you dude.

FWIW, I don't think he'll go back to school and I also see a 8/16 signing on the horizon...but I'm just spitballing.

I was joking. No biggie . This is suppossed to be fun but the team has taken the fun out of sports. The team has taken everything away from us. They are evil. What they are hurting are the vendors outside the stadium and the bars around Camden Yards.

[mcgraw238]

He won't be going to JUCO he has a scholarship to play at Florida International. I am pretty sure if Machado does not sign and goes to Florida International the earliest he can be re-drafted is June 2012.

Whose to say if Machado goes to college he ends up being drafted that high again. He could get hurt he could flop.

Both sides the Oriole's and Boras have different things they can hang over each others head.

Plenty of these kids have college scholarship options but go the Juco route to remain eligible for the draft the following year.

[NewMarketSean]

I am quite familiar with the quote, and I have been all along. Get your facts straight. Go read the quote. He said that W's and L's matter in how they would evaluate the manager. He said he expected improvement in the record. We all expected improvement in the record. Everybody expected improvement in the record. But he did not say that W's and L's were what the season was about. He wanted to see more W's, he wanted to see lots of stuff getting better. To pull out the one phrase and W's and L's, and to pretend he said that the importance of this season was reducible to that, is just bogus. He said he would evaluate the manager based on W's and L's, and the manager is gone. There is no criteria by which this season is proceeding as expected. Nobody can explain it, and AFAIK, nobody knows what to do about it either.

I am beginning to think you are right on this. It got Trembley fired, but that's about it. Obviously wins and losses only mattered when it came to Dave Trembley.

[byrdz]

My sources tell me that the organization has changed directions and will now attempt to a be a three ring circus. They don't anticipate hitting many snags, as they're most of the way there already, and are stocked up with clowns.

[pacman59]

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.

Thats is the point. Where are the bats in the minors? These are the two highest rated everyday prospects?

If that isn't cause for concern, I don't know what is.

[bej6789]

If it means anything, '88 was the worst season in Orioles baseball -- and then the '89 season was the "why not?" year... Now of course, the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays didn't exist then as they do today... but who's asking?