I'm Sorry But Am I The Only One...

[bobmc]

Shane, I can't dispute you on stats... But Matusz and Wieters still

SoBo is so right. Buck sees the promise of this team. Or he wouldn't have taken the job. The last three nights show the talent that is there. The talent, and then the never say die attitude that Buck brings.

You are such an orange colored glasses wearing apologist....

[Mark Carver]

If the Orioles would to continue their losing that happened earlier. Than that means the young player will have continued to regress. And this is not good. The Orioles cannot be like the Yankees or Red Sox and just go out and BUY a team. They need the majority of their talent to be homegrown or traded for.

So, going out on a winning record from here on out is a good thing. That means possibly that Matusz, Arrieta and Bergesen are pitching good. That means that Jones, Wieters, Pie and Bell are making strides in their development.

This is a good thing...

[QBsILLEST1]

Having a winning record or as close to it as we can get from here on out is far more important to the future of the franchise than having the #1 pick instead of the #3 pick or something like that.

There are a lot of excellent prospects at the top of next year's draft. Rendon isn't some uber-prospect that is such an obvious choice for #1 right now to the point that it'd be better to lose more games from here on out and try to tank even to get that #1 pick.

I agree and disagree. Rendon is an uberprospect that many rate above Harper to put it in perspective. He is an uber prospect, but so is Cole. Purke is getting up there also, but his pure stuff isn't as good as Cole's.....

[Snuffles]

Whether you are 5 games out or 50 games out, subscribing to a winning culture is never the way to go. Period.

[Mt. Holly]

If the Orioles finish strong, it will need to occur against teams that are strong, winning teams. We would have to beat the Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Rangers, Tmpa Bay, and Toronto. If we want to win a title, these are the teams we will need to have winning records against. The deck is seriously stacked against us this year. Winning is the ultimate objective. If we can win with what we've got (against these opponents), that speaks volumes for our current talent level. Losing to garner a better draft pick (with two months left) speaks of a LOSER environment.

[24fps]

I just don't want ambiguity. If we finish pretty close to .500 under Showalter, and the young guys play well down the stretch, I won't give a hoot about the no. 1 pick. If we continue to stink and get the no. 1 pick, I will find solace in that. What I'd really hate is to play .370 baseball the rest of the way and lose the no. 1 pick by a game or two in the last week of the year. That would bite.

I for one would love a little more ambiguity and I'd like to see it made part of the system. Make the first six draft picks awarded by lottery to the six worst teams each year and you remove any incentive to race to the bottom.

In the process this whole extraordinarily misguided discussion evaporates, and nothing would make me happier. Nothing like a little ambiguity to force one to ponder what's really valuable.

[Birds of B'more]

So a different way of stating your position is to say that since there's always Welfare to fall back on, what's really important is to make sure that you won't be cheated out of the maximum return? Awarding the first draft pick to the most efficient loser of any given season is just another form of Welfare, after all. But to hell with principle if you can get your downside risk sufficiently insured, right? Stripped to its essentials, that's your argument in a nutshell.

What compels you to watch the Orioles on any given day, anyway? In my case it's the possibility that they might win that day's game. How unsophisticated is that, huh?

Call it Welfare if you want...if it gives the Orioles the best chance to finally be good, I'll take it and consider it the silver lining in this season. If they play .350 the rest of the way but finish a couple games out of last and get the boobie prize in the next draft, then it will make the aftertaste of the season just a little more bitter.

And the reason I follow them is because what I'd really like to see more than the #1 pick is for this team to play somewhere around .500 ball the last two months....the kind of baseball we were supposed to see all season long.

[flashjordnk]

But at what point do you stop rooting for the team to lose?

At some point the promise of a better team has to start paying off. To say we should be the 1st place team or the 30th place team is easy to argue. But it's not fitting in the big picture. And it's also a cyclical problem.

You reinforce losing actions, mentalities and growth.

I'd take the third pick and the Wieters we've had for the last 30 days and the third pick over the Wieters we had over the beginning of the year and the first pick.

So really...we're all rooting for the team to improve. Potentially in just different ways.

[Baldimore, hon]

EVERY win the last 12 years, in august and september have been meaningless. People keep saying that its better that the team win games and learn how to win, or feel good about themselves,etc. but, where has it gotten us. We need to get the highest possible pick, wind up with great talent. The only Payoff for playing this lousy is to pick at or near the top. Going .500 the rest of the way provides us with nothing that we haven't arlready had the last 12 years. Getting the 1st or 2nd pick gets us one step closer to where we need to be from a talent point of view. Follow tampa bay up the ladder by getting the high picks and drafting well.Winning over these last 7 weeks means NOTHING.

I agree with you only to a certain extent.

Where we differ: I believe that if we do really well at the end of this season, it will show potential free agents like Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, and Paul Konerko that we have the talent in place to be serious contenders and we just needed the right guidance and a few extra pieces to put us over the hump. I think that, above all else, will be more worthwhile than having the #1 pick in the draft. Because yes, it would be nice to get Rendon, Cole, Purke, or Jungwhatever. But, it would be nicer to have sure things in Lee, Konerko, and Crawford. Beside, there are a couple of really good players I would consider drafting after those guys anyway...like Daniel Norris, a lefty HS pitcher who throws low 90's and struck out 140 batters in 64.2 innings! Looks kind of like a left-handed Lincecum to me. But, who knows what these players will become.

That being said, if we can prove that is true and still get a top 2 pick I will be very happy.

[SammyBirdland]

Transitioning from losers to winners is a process. One does not simply eliminate all their suck prior to the first game of a new season.

We need our guys to become winners. It's a process. They need to start now, or we'll have more crappy seasons to come.

[H0smash]

Transitioning from losers to winners is a process. One does not simply eliminate all their suck prior to the first game of a new season.

We need our guys to become winners. It's a process. They need to start now, or we'll have more crappy seasons to come.

I do agree with this to an extent, however, we do also need a top 3 pick next year to grab a superb talent that can help us get to the next level. If we get Rendon, Cole, or Jungmann we'll be in really good shape for the future.

[enchiridion]

Only 8 teams make the playoffs. So I guess the other 22 should be trying to suck as much as possible

[SammyBirdland]

I do agree with this to an extent, however, we do also need a top 3 pick next year to grab a superb talent that can help us get to the next level. If we get Rendon, Cole, or Jungmann we'll be in really good shape for the future.

Houston Oiler head coach Bum Phillips said this about legendary college football coach Bear Bryant:

"Bryant can take his'n and beat your'n, and then he can turn around and take your'n and beat his'n."

A team playing solid fundamental baseball is usually going to be more effective than a team with one or two stars playing sucky ball.

[VTmook213]

Everyone that is hoping for the #1 pick and Rendon realize that he broke his ankle (for the second time) and may not be the slam dunk #1 pick anymore, right?

[H0smash]

Only 8 teams make the playoffs. So I guess the other 22 should be trying to suck as much as possible

I hope that's not directed at what I was saying. We're a terrible team, we need as much help as possible, and as of right now there are 3 really good players at the top of next year's draft that could help us soon. We need that help, a team that just barely missed the playoffs needs a little help, not necessarily top-5 draft pick help. We need an impact bat, and we most likely won't be able to sign one, so why not have that draft pick to grab him.