Actions Speak Louder than Words

[AgentOrange]

No it's not man, you have to develop the system (If application doesn't already exist to your standards). Build out physical infrastructure for said system. Build out the infrastructure for this system. Q&A the system. Roll out system. Prototype system. Roll out system to entire organziation. Provide training on system. And we haven't even begun to talk about laying out the foundation of a formidable network for the Orioles. We are just talking their application for reports.

That kind of thing takes time. Don't try and sit back and simplify it just because you don't care for AM. Regardless if you like him or not, stuff takes time. Go ask the CIO of the Red Sox who is a team the O's are looking up at when it comes to running a sound organization... it isn't as simple as hiring programmers. :rolleyestf:

How do you know how I feel about AM? Don't make generalizations.

I have been in two companies that have rolled out propriatary software, which is what I am talking about. Rolling out the software given this bunch, looks like it is quite the task.

[H0smash]

Seriously. I mean why do people think stuff like this is so easy?

It may not be easy, but it's something that should have been done years ago.

[SilentJames]

That was it?

Meh, I'm unimpressed.

Everything I read is stuff they've been saying at WNST for the last 5 years.

A day late and a dollar short although I commend Tony for having the cajones to put it up.

It will be interesting to see if there's a fallout from this the way there was with Nestor Aparicio and Steve Davis. When those two spoke out, they were ostracized by the club. I wonder if Tony will meet the same fate?

The difference is Nestor is a jackass and unprofessional. Meanwhile Tony took the time to do things right - like ya know, a journalist.

[SilentJames]

It may not be easy, but it's something that should have been done years ago.

No doubt about that.

[03tribegrad]

The difference is Nestor is a jackass and unprofessional. Meanwhile Tony took the time to do things right - like ya know, a journalist.

I don't know Nestor enough to slander him like that but I know a lot of what Tony wrote was voiced by Nestor in recent years. That's all I was saying. I was hoping to learn something new about the team's derailment. Everything Tony wrote was stuff Nestor and others at WNST (and others in the market like Schmuck and Roch) have written about before.

No need to get defensive. I'm just pointing out that this was a letdown since most of the information about botched trades and missed MRI's and owner/GM battles is stuff that others in town covered years ago.

[SilentJames]

Most of this article, and what NST has been espousing is nothing new. Everyone knew there is dysfunction in the ranks. Everyone knew that Angelos is a petty guy. Everyone knew that the organization faces a GIANT battle to get back to respectability. MacPhail still seems to be the guy to do that, or at least get the process started. It takes longer than three years.

[Hutman]

Tony, I echo most everyone else thanks so much for the time and effort that went into the article.

It is very obvious to me that PA has no interesting in fielding a winner and that he is milking the franchise for every dollar that he can from both the Orioles and MASN. McPhail has been brought in to do that an he is more of a Executive than a true GM with his primary role being responsible for the financial success of the franchise by keeping the operational costs low and maximizing the revenue side of the house.

Obviously the most promising opportunity will be for Cal to take a role in the organization in the next 2 years and hope that he can do the necessary things to make the O's a winner again. I would also like to see Andy bring in a GM type to lead the development and trades of the major and minor league rosters.

In the short term things will probably be bad for a good bit longer before they get better, if they get better at all.

[H0smash]

What I really got from this article is that MacPhail may have control over the "player" decisions, he doesn't have the "full" control that he needs to right the ship.

I agree that he should probably have an Assistant GM with previous GM experience to help carry some of the load of this burden. He should also be allowed to fire people within the organization who are not performing well enough (cough cough David Stockstill).

We should be spending more in Scouting and Development, as well as signing amateur players Internationally and Domestically. There is no excuse for not signing more international players (and spending more in the draft). I do not know who to blame for this (MacPhail or Angelos) but there's no excuse.

I don't think that MacPhail has had enough time, however, I do not think that he has done enough in the time that he has been with the team. There is no excuse whatsoever for Toronto, or any other team in the division, to have more scouts than we do.

Tony's right. Actions speak louder than words, and this team has been talking about how it wants to compete the past 15 years, but it hasn't given me anything to believe that it's taking the right approach to becoming competitive.

[The Wedge]

Seriously. I mean why do people think stuff like this is so easy?

Fantasy leagues and video games are my theory.

[03tribegrad]

Most of this article, and what NST has been espousing is nothing new. Everyone knew there is dysfunction in the ranks. Everyone knew that Angelos is a petty guy. Everyone knew that the organization faces a GIANT battle to get back to respectability. MacPhail still seems to be the guy to do that, or at least get the process started. It takes longer than three years.

OK, so we agree on that. We didn't learn anything new. You agree with that too it seems. That's all I said in my OP. This is all stuff Nestor's been barking about for years. Except when he does it for some reason people don't think it has any validity. Obviously it does, because Tony is now on to them as well.

I'm not sure why it took Tony this long to get up the nerve to put his name next to it, but then again, seeing what happened to Nestor and Steve Davis might be the reason why.

[SilentJames]

Tony, I echo most everyone else thanks so much for the time and effort that went into the article.

It is very obvious to me that PA has no interesting in fielding a winner and that he is milking the franchise for every dollar that he can from both the Orioles and MASN. McPhail has been brought in to do that an he is more of a Executive than a true GM with his primary role being responsible for the financial success of the franchise by keeping the operational costs low and maximizing the revenue side of the house.

Obviously the most promising opportunity will be for Cal to take a role in the organization in the next 2 years and hope that he can do the necessary things to make the O's a winner again. I would also like to see Andy bring in a GM type to lead the development and trades of the major and minor league rosters.

In the short term things will probably be bad for a good bit longer before they get better, if they get better at all.

I think that is largely an overgeneralization. I have had limited contact with people on the "inside:" if you will. And they have characterized Angelos as a fairly flawed guy. A guy with ridiculously thin skin and who is fiercely loyal to his friends and people whom he feels earned it.

The thing about Angelos is everything he has done he feels has been in the best interest of the team and to win. The thing is, he was in way over his head.

Frankly i feel sorry for the guy. He desperately wanted to be the "white knight" in this city. He was instrumental in redevelopment of many key areas of a once blighted downtown, so many charitable and scholastic organizations owe their existence to Angelos - but that doesn't matter.

The road to hell is paved in good intentions and Angelos drove the Orioles down it straight to the eighth level of Hell.

[OregonBird]

Thanks for writing this Tony, it was a good read.

My opinion has changed much. Based on what I've read, it appears that the organization has made improvements over the years that McPhail has been here but they haven't been as bold or as quick as they need to be in order to compete. Unfortunately we have what we have with McPhail, a guy who thinks somewhat conservatively and acts very deliberately. We'd all like an innovative GM who is "right" AND makes the right decisions quickly but that isn't going to happen in the near future.

I would love to see some conspicuous investment in scouting and development.

1. Build facilities in the Dominican and Venezuela that are the envy of every MLB club.

2. Have more scouts than any other club in MLB and hire the best. If you want talent, you've got to scour the earth to find it.

3. Hire and retain the best development people in the business. Steal all the highly regarded developmental folks away from other organizations at a 40% pay increase. Doing that would cost less than 1 bad contract on a FA.

[03tribegrad]

I wonder if any of the media outlets in town or radio talking heads will make this the subject of their TV or radio shows today or tomorrow? Bruce Cunningham is on soon, I wonder if he'll mention the blog post and discuss it? Any of the WNST guys? Jerry Coleman and Kevin Cowerd perhaps? That will be interesting, to see if Tony gets any pub out of this.

[SilentJames]

OK, so we agree on that. We didn't learn anything new. You agree with that too it seems. That's all I said in my OP. This is all stuff Nestor's been barking about for years. Except when he does it for some reason people don't think it has any validity. Obviously it does, because Tony is now on to them as well.

I'm not sure why it took Tony this long to get up the nerve to put his name next to it, but then again, seeing what happened to Nestor and Steve Davis might be the reason why.

But it wasn't "news" when Nestor did it either. That is the point. Nesotr likes to pretend he is some sort of anti-establishment rebel when really he's just a shock-jock. Every knows that Angelos meddles and makes bad decisions; everyone knows that Al Davis is insane and the Fords need to sell the Lions.

The difference is Nestor chooses the most annoying, grating immature and unprofessional ways to say the things he does that makes people lash out at him. As for Davis, well he just got hired by 105.7 the Fan I mean according to Nestor aren't they just in the pocket of Angelos? So I guess they made up?

[The Wedge]

I wonder if any of the media outlets in town or radio talking heads will make this the subject of their TV or radio shows today or tomorrow? Bruce Cunningham is on soon, I wonder if he'll mention the blog post and discuss it? Any of the WNST guys? Jerry Coleman and Kevin Cowerd perhaps? That will be interesting, to see if Tony gets any pub out of this.

I don't think Bruce is on today at all, but knowing him (as in actually speaking to him on more than one occasion in conversational ways) I'd doubt it. I wouldn't be surprised if WNST didn't use it to jump up and down and go SEE! SEE! SEE! though.