Your Favorite Baseball Team

[SossMan]

my team

me

[ColdCaller]

www.dodgerblues.com

[Third Eye]

Die hard Oriole fan. Can't stand the management.

[ QUOTE ]
I am fed up with the Organization and the steps they have taken the last 10 years. I have grown up as an Orioles fan living in the suburbs outside of DC. They havent had a winning season in close to 10 years and fed up with Angelos. The Nationals finally have given me a reason to jump ship. I was at the last Playoff game the Orioles had. It was the same series as the Jefferey Maeur fiasco.

Im jumping ship because of thier piss poor management. We all know they need pitching and yet A) They bring in more hitters (Sosa, Patterson, etc.) B) Trade away the best part of their pitching staff (BJ Ryan) and C) bring in terrible washed up hitters (Belle, Davis, Sosa, etc.). Angelos isnt willing to spend, which leaves me willing to spend my money on another organization.

I will still root for them but they are no longer my team of interest.

[/ QUOTE ]

1st) Last series was against Cleveland (97), not NY (the incident you're referring too happened in 96).
2nd) Patterson, like Sosa, was a low-risk/high reward move. We gave up Jerry Hairston Jr. (good guy, but constantly hurt and we already had Roberts, who may have been helped by not having the pressure of competing for 2b) and a rather low prospect. This was gambling that Sosa would have a decent year, maybe hit 25-30 HRs and get a decent OBP. Of course it didn't work out at all, but it was a good gamble. Patterson is a similar situation and gives us an alternative to Matos.
4) I agree in large part that Angelos has a thing for signing washed up players, but Belle certainly wasn't when he signed with the O's. He ended up having a degenerative hip problem that had a terrible effect on his remaining few years.
3rd) BJ Ryan was not traded, he was signed by Toronto as a free agent (to a ridiculous contract that would have been terrible for the O's, but good for BJ).

Angelos is one of the worst owners in the MLB/professional sports, but to give up on a team because of a terrible owner is kinda sad. I do find it ironic that you have problems with how Angelos spends his money yet root for a team that has an even smaller bankroll. Not making retarded deals with guys like JD Drew is a good thing. All I want from Angelos is a payroll in the top 60-75% of teams and no involvement otherwise (let the baseball men do their jobs).

[Ser William]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a lot higher on Craig Hansen and especially Lenny DiNardo than I am on Papelbon

[/ QUOTE ]

What? You lost all credibility with this statement. DiNardo will never be anything more than a mediocre middle relief pitcher.

[Hobbs.]

[WC64]

Cincinnati Reds are my favorite team, and unfortunately I don't expect much out of them at all, kinda like every year

[Crveballin]

[ QUOTE ]
I do find it ironic that you have problems with how Angelos spends his money yet root for a team that has an even smaller bankroll.

[/ QUOTE ]

That bankroll will change with time. This is the second year they have existed without an owner and with a tentative stadium deal. They are going to have a small bankroll because they still dont have a large fan base. It will pick up, especially in the next few years when we have a TV deal and get the names out of players. Last year we could only see half the games all season.

Last year for the NATS couldnt have gone any better (side from winning the World Series). They were in the playoff hunt with a subpar team and created excitement in the area. Something I havent had as an Oriole fan for the last 9 years.

I, like Tejada, get upset at seeing all these free agents get signed by other teams while the Orioles dont even make bids on them. Every year Angelos lies to the fans saying they will be busy in the winter meetings yet nothing ever happens. The most excitment was getting Tejada, Lopez, and Rafeal back. Of course we all knew we needed pitching and we didnt get any. Kris Benson isnt going to do it. His wife is bigger for the organization than he is.

The Orioles have a great tradition for baseball and yet I dont see anything from management to see a revival in it. In a division with the 2 of the most expensive ball clubs in the MLB how are they going to get close to a wildcard, let alone win the division?

[Moneyline]

[ QUOTE ]
What? You lost all credibility with this statement. DiNardo will never be anything more than a mediocre middle relief pitcher.

[/ QUOTE ]

Care to explain why?

DiNardo is a soft-tossing junkballer with extreme groundball tendencies, which leads to him giving up very few home runs. His skill set may also lend himself to being very durbale. His strikeout, walk, and hit rates are average for a major leaguer, so despite his preceived lack of stuff there are no holes in his game. He's inexpensive and he's ready now, which means a lot if you buy into "There's No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect"

He started in the minors, and could be a back of the rotation guy who provides above average pitching while eating up a lot of innings. He'd also make for a very solid middle reliever the Sox can bring in when they need a double play. The Sox will probably opt to use him in the latter of those two options and as a spot starter... kind of like how they used Jamie Moyer when they had him, a pitcher who seems to have a lot of similarities to DiNardo.