AM – you have a credibility problem

[Roll Tide]

No, I’m not calling you a liar. I’m simply here to point out what has become obvious to any regular reader on this board. The Orioles fan base doesn’t believe you will do what it takes to make a serious upgrade at positions of need through means other than player development. Heyman says we’re being aggressive early in FA, but we have our doubts.

We listened, and mostly agreed, when you took the job and told us that we were much worse off than you expected; that this was going to be a long rebuild; that we needed to sell off our best assets for unproven prospects. We understood when you didn’t chase high dollar players because we weren’t ready to compete yet. Heck, most even accepted that we didn’t get Teixeira, a player 99% of Orioles fans desperately wanted in this organization. We didn’t even raise much of a stink, in down market years, when you wouldn’t up the ante on guys like Beltre or Dunn, who were obtainable for a bargain relative to what they’ll cost now. You never even made them consider us.

We bought into this long rebuild, but a rebuild can only last so long, and the excuses not to get the guys we need to complete this team are wearing thin with this fan base. Perhaps Tony said it best yesterday in this post, and with his often cited signature: Actions Speak Louder Than Words.

You have a credibility problem Mr. MacPhail. We don’t believe you will do what it takes to win in the AL East.

Consider our needs. We have a gaping hole at SS. Cesar Izturis in NOT an acceptable solution for 2011. I repeat: Cesar Izturis in NOT an acceptable solution for 2011. However, there’s a guy in Japan named Tsuyoshi Nishioka who sure seems to fit our need. We have been scouting Japan, have we not? There are others who should be available either in FA or trade, like Hardy, Bartlett or Furcal. Will you do what it takes to get one of these guys? We have our doubts.

We have a gaping hole at 3B. Josh Bell and Ty Wiggington are not acceptable solutions for 2011, and neither is a declining Miguel Tejada or Garrett Atkins type of player. However, there’s a guy named Beltre – an absolute gem with the glove who has RH pop with the bat – sitting there for the highest bidder. Will we even attempt to get him? Will you attempt to get a Mark Reynolds type of guy, or are we once again destined for a .750 OPS upside from our 3B? We have our doubts.

First base is a hole with no serious prospect threatening to take it over. Do you have a 3-5 year plan for this position? Are you willing to pay for a good interim guy? Are you willing to trade for or sign a high impact guy like Gonzalez or Fielder? Again, we have our doubts.

We could use a serious upgrade in LF. Will you kick the tires on Crawford or Werth? Will you explore a trade for Rasmus? How about Greinke, to give us the TOR starter we desperately need?

Our minor league system has graduated a lot of guys, but stands with little depth, most of which is very young. Will you ever go for a guy like Sano or Chapman? Will you take the financial risk and offer Millwood and Uehara arbitration in hopes of picking up supplemental draft picks in a great draft?

Mr. MacPhail, to win in the AL East, we must do more than fill major holes with stop gaps. We need stud players at the major league and minor league level. We’re sick and tired of the long rebuild. Now isn’t the time for more half measures. Filling just one of our needs this offseason isn’t an option. Waiting on guys who might start the year in AA or below next year also isn’t an option.

You have a serious credibility problem. It’s time for you to step up. If you don't, it'll be time to step out.

Great Thread opener:thumbsup1:

[Sports Guy]

What happens on the field is much more important than what happens off of it, and while I concede that the two can be related I submit to you the 2009 offseason of the San Francisco Giants.

*insert "Giants aren't in the AL East" retort here*

What if AM signs LaRoche, Izturis and Joe Crede and they win 85 games next year because the pitching takes a huge stride forward?

Let him walk?

Absolutely...That's a terrible offseason.

[SrMeowMeow]

There are so many problems with the OP that I'll limit myself to one: please don't pretend to be speaking for everyone. You're not.

[Roll Tide]

What happens on the field is much more important than what happens off of it, and while I concede that the two can be related I submit to you the 2009 offseason of the San Francisco Giants.

*insert "Giants aren't in the AL East" retort here*

What if AM signs LaRoche, Izturis and Joe Crede and they win 85 games next year because the pitching takes a huge stride forward?

Let him walk?

No Don't let him walk ...Kick him out on his arse!

[Dipper9]

There are so many problems with the OP that I'll limit myself to one: please don't pretend to be speaking for everyone. You're not.

And he never claimed to be. Read the rest of the thread!

[Roll Tide]

There are so many problems with the OP that I'll limit myself to one: please don't pretend to be speaking for everyone. You're not.

What are the problems?

And I think he was speaking in generalities.:scratchchinhmm:

Seriously .... Like the Article or not the time for half measure & fancy talk are over. The Orioles need swift decisive action. I'm hoping our owner agrees since hes not getting any younger.

[AZOriole]

This might seem like semantics, but I'm not saying AM has no credibility. I am saying he has a credibility problem. I understand that you probably disagree with that (which is fine), but it's a distiction with a difference.

To illustrate, I'll pose some simple questions.

Do you have significant doubts that AM will make strong moves to significantly upgrade 1b, ss and 3b this offseason?

Do you have significant doubts that he'll take the financial risk to offer arbitration to Millwood?

Do you have significant doubts that he'll step up in scouting/signing amateurs beyond the Rule IV draft?

He's in this position to build a stud winner. If you have significant doubts that he'll do even one of the above, much less all three, than I'd argue that he has a credibility problem with you too.

Are you really telling me that you don't have significant doubts that he'll do what it takes in all facets of the job to make us into a world class organization?

I have significant doubts to all of the above, because he has shown me nothing thus far that warrants me to believe otherwise. That being said, he has pretty much done what he said he was going to do up to this point - build up the farm, and develop pitching from within. I do believe that now is the time to "make his move", in that the cavalry has arrived, and there's no sense is waiting any longer. In other words, it's "poop or get off the pot" time. Quite honestly, I don't know how another year of watching Atkins and Tejada-type fill-ins is going to sit with me. Probably not very well.

The problem is that the free agent class, for the most part, is quite mediocre. And the ones at the type are very likely not coming to Baltimore, regardless of how much they are offered. So, instead of plugging holes with mediocre-at-best cast offs, I am hoping that the trade market is explored, and explored aggressively. It's time to cash in some of the trade chips that they have, and make a statement. Not only to the rest of the AL East, but to the fan base as well.

Now, we don't know what AM and the organization has planned this offseason. But, *****-footing around and failing to significantly improve at least one of SS, 1B, and 3B will not sit well with me. And I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that sentiment.

[Tony-OH]

I have no 'significant' doubts regarding the overall success of his plan, to date, and I think it is premature to question his credibility in any regard. So far the man has done exactly what he said he would do.

One can question his ability, but his integrity is intact.

Really? The Orioles have finished dead last every year he's been here. They have not made any significant changes to their international scouting presence and although he has improved the budget for signing Rule IV draft picks, the Orioles still are being out-manned in both the amateur and professional scouting areas.

I'm not doubting his integrity, but I will call foul on doing what he said he would do. He's had three years to improve our international scouting presence and has done little upgrade it.

Regardless, I think you are too stuck on the OPs stance on credibility. Despite my misgivings, I will give him this off season before I make a final call on his effectiveness. He needs to show he can multi-task this off season and that will mean allowing others on his staff to take on real responsibility. If he spends too much time trying to squeeze out an extra player or two in a trade and misses out on opportunities to improve his club in other areas it will be disappointing.

As I stated in a previous post in another thread, he has no reason to not be aggressive and to not make significant upgrades to this team this off season.

I'm sure we all hope at the end of this winter that we're all singing his praises.

[wildcard]

A few points:

1) The last two months of the O's 2010 season were impressive. The maturing of the young starters, the managing of Buck and the healing of several players made that time impressive. It put on display what MacPhail had envisioned for the O's.

2) The Giant showed how far a team built around pitching could go.

3) MacPhail has openings at 1B, SS and 3B. He obvious plans to fill them. I refuse to believe the O's are going into 2011 with Snyder, Andino and Bell as regulars. He hasn't resigned Izturis or Wigginton as regulars. He is obviously looking for better players at those three positions. To say he must do something in those areas is far from earthshaking news.

I think a little patience is called for this off season. MacPhail has stated in broad terms that he needs a middle of the order hitter and he would like to add an inning eating pitcher. So now we know he is looking at 4 positions.

My personal hope is that the O's hold the young pitching together. It is the foundation of the rebuilding. Past that MacPhail sounds like he is on the right track. Now I need to have patience to give him time to execute.

Credability is only an issue if he can't execute.

[Hank Scorpio]

No Don't let him walk ...Kick him out on his arse!

So you would consider going from 64 to 85 wins a failure, then.

[Dipper9]

A few points:

1) The last two months of the O's 2010 season were impressive. The maturing of the young starters, the managing of Buck and the healing of several players made that time impressive. It put on display what MacPhail had envisioned for the O's.

2) The Giant showed how far a team built around pitching could go.

3) MacPhail has openings at 1B, SS and 3B. He obvious plans to fill them. I refuse to believe the O's are going into 2011 with Snyder, Andino and Bell as regulars. He hasn't resigned Izturis or Wigginton as regulars. He is obviously looking for better players at those three positions. To say he must do something in those areas is far from earthshaking news.

I think a little patience is called for this off season. MacPhail has stated in broad terms that he needs a middle of the order hitter and he would like to add an inning eating pitcher. So now we know he is looking at 4 positions.

My personal hope is that the O's hold the young pitching together. It is the foundation of the rebuilding. Past that MacPhail sounds like he is on the right track. Now I need to have patience to give him time to execute.

Credability is only an issue if he can't execute.

Kinda like last year when we went into the season with a shortstop playing third, a third baseman playing first, and a little league hitter playing short?

And here we are a year later with the same EXACT openings. If that isn't a failure to execute, I don't know what it?

[ChesterPeake]

Plus rep from me. Skepticism is definitely warranted after the past three seasons. I actually think that the O's will attempt to make serious moves this winter, but whether AM has the chops and the budget to pull it off is an open question.

Actually my big area of discontent is mentioned only in passing here: I am disappointed that more hasn't been done to make the Orioles competitive in finding, signing, and developing amateur players.

Very good OP and a thoughtful response from AB.

I also think that, as far as FA's and trades this off-season are concerned, there are two issues that prey on my mind, both of which were stated by AB in the bolded part of his post. I do wonder if AM has the chops to pull off the bold moves that I need to see in order to become a true believer in his plan. I am also concerned that, at any point, Peter Angelos could throw a monkey wrench into the plan and blow it up.

AM's plan may have already been scuttled by Angelos, for all we know. I mean, does AM even have a budget? Other O's GM's didn't have one. They had to go to Angelos, hat in hand, and beg for the money for each deal they wanted to do. If AM does have a budget, is it sufficient for him to be a player in this market? These questions are not paranoid. Our own Tony O. has documented this type of behavior by Angelos in the past. Why should we think that Peter Angelos is a changed man?

I have similar concerns about any trades AM may try to make. If one of PA's favorite O's players is part of the deal, will he allow it to happen?

We may never know if AM really has enough money and enough authority to succeed; however, if AM does make some bold moves to significantly improve the team, then I'll infer that he does. Until then, I'll suspect that he doesn't.

[hatepaste]

Say what you want about Sports Guys and his little quips, but he almost always adds his analysis along with this posts.

I couldn't disagree more with this line...

I think this offseason could be telling though. The only problem I see, is I think the free agent class is weak. And for someone like Beltre, there might not be interest on his part (said he wanted to play on west coast last year).

I think this is going to have to be an offseason of creativity. Doing things like trading for Reynolds and other players as well.

We'll see how it goes...If MacPhail fails here, I think a lot of people will jump ship.

[Going Underground]

My concern,it looks like alot of teams are going to be more aggressive this year. We know that Baltimore is not the number one choice of most free agents. We will have to overpay a little to get free agent and I am not sure the O's have any intention of doing that.

[wildcard]

Kinda like last year when we went into the season with a shortstop playing third, a third baseman playing first, and a little league hitter playing short?

And here we are a year later with the same EXACT openings. If that isn't a failure to execute, I don't know what it?

I can see that view on things. But the O's were not ready to spend because the young pitching was not in place last off season.

Tejada brought back Pelzer who might be a trading chip this off season. Is Chris Ray coming off a injury worth much more then the top 10 BA rated Plezer?

Millwood ate innings. The fact that the O's couldn't score for him is not his fault. He did much better the last two months when Buck had the team playing for their positions. Support matters.

MacPhail overpaid for Gonzalez. But isn't that what many poster call for MacPhail to do - Overpay?

OK MacPhail blew it on Atkins. He cost the team $4.5M. Show me a GM that has been around a while that hasn't made a mistake or two or three....

I am not holding last year against MacPhail. So far I think he has positioned the team to do what it needs to do this off season. Now he has to do it.