Actions Speak Louder than Words

[SilentJames]

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.

But the OH is in Angelos' pocket! Sticky situation for them.

BTW, my game in the pressbox the other day, I sat in the seat reserved for WNST Radio, right next to Craig Heist.

Just saying.

[LookinUp]

My take is that this article clearly illustrated that both Angelos and MacPhail are incompetent. Angelos' incompetence, cronyism and inability to adapt his fleece the rich and the government lawyering philosophy to the competitive, fast moving baseball world was already well-established, but has now been doubled-down upon.

However, how some of you don't see AM as incompetent after this article is beyond me. He's not just relying on the "core", he's clearly putting all of his eggs in that basket while failing at supplementing around that core (either with young or old players).

AM's a micromanager who can't multi-task, which results in stupidity like our spring training home, needless delays in hiring a new manager and a clear lack of speed when handling any form of negotiation. Tony provided previous examples of how that can cost the O's.

AM's defending the scouting situation while still trying to tell us that we're focusing on player development. He's pointing out that we spend more on the player draft while ignoring that we're spending more there because we're picking so high AND we're spending more on late overslotters which - it appears he doesn't understand - have a worse risk profile. He only acknowledged that we aren't on par in the int'l market by saying that we don't have the same resources.

So let's get this straight, AM's plan is to build through drafting and developing, yet HIS (not PA's) policies are:

1. Less amateur scouts domestically

2. Less amateur scouts dedicated to the DR

3. Typically slow movement in reaching an agreement in VZ

4. No particular focus on the rest of the world

5. A riskier Rule 4 draft spend which doesn't exceed the Red Sox

6. A vastly under funded int'l player spend

AND, since we don't have the same resources, our direct to the majors spending includes:

1. Less pro scouting for things like advanced scouting (which, you know, would help the young guys perform better) and player acquisition

2. Lower payroll

3. Less of an ability to complete deals due to his deliberate nature and small circle of people who have any authority to do anything.

This article was written very professionally, but it clearly laid out how feeble AM's plan is, IMO.

[Stotle]

Yes it is. You get the basic idea down and hire some programmers.

Done.

You may be underestimating how bad some "veteran baseball guys" are with technology.

[SilentJames]

I think that it is interesting how many differeing interpretations we are getting from this article.

[Roll Tide]

Nice Article Tony!

I'm not surprised by any of it. I wonder how honest McPhail was with his answers. I've listened to him on his tv interviews & know he often gives vague answers.

Bottom line .... This team really needs new ownership. Can it be fixed under Angelos? I doubt it!

[SilentJames]

You may be underestimating how bad some "veteran baseball guys" are with technology.

You would be surprised how bad people over the age of 45 are with technology.

no offense to anyone out there, but we rolled out a new system in my district and some people had to be trained on using a mouse - a MOUSE!

Take people that have done something a certain way, and successfully mind you, and give them something new there is always - difficulty.

[Don_Aase_Fan]

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?

Rob Long has been talking about the article a few times this morning and instructing the listeners to head to OH and check it out.

Thanks for the insight and taking the time to write it all out, Tony.

[Sports Guy]

To me, the most eye-opening part of the article was the debacle with the player development and scouting departments. The fact that Stockstill and Jordan weren't on speaking terms, and the fact that David Stockstill is unfirable because he got people close to ownership out of some trouble. Talk about dysfunctional.

According to the sources, communication was not Stockstill’s strength. Multiple sources indicated it was hard to get a phone call returned from him, and there were multiple stories of players being upset by a lack of understanding of their role and/or reasons for certain promotions or lack thereof. Multiple sources also indicated that he and Scouting Director Joe Jordan were not on speaking terms, and many of the Orioles’ minor league managers and coaches were caught in the player development/scouting battle at the top. When you add it up, you had a pretty dysfunctional situation occurring. In fact, good baseball people like Andy Etchebarren and Tom Lawless were fired one offseason by Stockstill, reportedly due to them being "too close" with the scouting personnel.

...

When you add it all up, you have to wonder how he kept a job all these years. Although the exact story remains a close secret, multiple sources indicate that Stockstill and Bernhardt once got some people close to ownership out of some trouble in the Dominican and have job security due to this fact. Sources also indicate that Jim Duquette tried to fire Stockstill but was not allowed to by Angelos. Sources also indicate that Andy MacPhail wanted to get rid of him as well but was only able to move him out of the Player Development role into International Scouting.

And a lot of people on this site owe Sailor Jerry an apology. He said this about Stockstill and people jumped on him about it.

[RHall31]

I thought the article was put together well(Thanks Tony!), especially considering how it was all such a downer. The Info on the vetoed trades was interesting.

As far as the reaction to it, I don't understand all the fuss about international

player scouting/signing. The Orioles can't scout, sign and develop players right here in the U.S.A., and haven't for many years. I have zero confidence

they could do any better at all overseas. I think they need to fix the domestic

side of this issue, and prove that its fixed, before they dump a bunch of money into the international bucket.

[The Wedge]

You would be surprised how bad people over the age of 45 are with technology.

no offense to anyone out there, but we rolled out a new system in my district and some people had to be trained on using a mouse - a MOUSE!

Take people that have done something a certain way, and successfully mind you, and give them something new there is always - difficulty.

Computer? Heeelloooo computer?

[The Wedge]

And a lot of people on this site owe Sailor Jerry an apology. He said this about Stockstill and people jumped on him about it.

Probably because they didn't know he was in a position to know.

[AgentOrange]

You may be underestimating how bad some "veteran baseball guys" are with technology.

You are right. I am. I wasn't really talking about that though. I mis-read and thought it was about the software. And that part is easy.

I do agree rolling out software to your EE's is very, very hard. If they don't use the software right, it eliminates a lot of the advantage to using it.

[Sports Guy]

Probably because they didn't know he was in a position to know.

But he was backed up by some of the mods on here and people just didn't want to believe it.

Just as people didn't want to believe these things that I have been saying for years.

We aren't here to make stuff up. No one wants them to be this bad or have these issues...but people act like if you express these issues that you are doing it in a malicious way and that couldn't be further from the truth.

Oh well, MAYBE people will start to open their eyes more and be more receptive to this type of stuff.

Then again, there will always be the people that want to keep their heads buried in the sand.

[Arthur_Bryant]

Bottom Line: Still a dysfunctional organization, albeit with a somewhat more capable front man. Much too flawed to compete in this division, far less compete consistently.

Take a good look back at the past 12 years. That's the forecast for the foreseeable future, barring a top-down overhaul.

[soxhotcorner14]

And a lot of people on this site owe Sailor Jerry an apology. He said this about Stockstill and people jumped on him about it.

Sailor Jerry is my new favorite spirit!