Peter-It is disappointing but not surprising that another July deadline passes without O's making a move .
I have to take MacPhail at his word that other clubs were not offering reasonable value for any of O's players.
Peter , could you ask MacPhail a question for us ? Here goes : Has Owner Angelos forbade you from trading within our AL East rivals ?

Your help is deeply appreciated .

Another massive failure for Orioles management

Based on the lack of trade activity in MLB today it's obviously that other GM's felt as McPhail does. People forget that there are two teams trading, and both want to come out on top.

Tracy, that's the most ridiculous comment to make. You obviously know nothing about baseball. It takes two to make a trade. If there's no one offering value, you don't give up your assets. Some O's fans are so reactionary.

I like the idea of standing pat rather than trading for the sake of trading - most trades don't work out in the long run it seems like. It takes time to repair a decade of failure - I like what I have seen so far and anticipate things getting better. I am glad we still have Sherill as well as Huff

" We just didn't find an intersection of self-interest between ourselves and another club...You have to discipline yourself so you don't come out with something just to say you made a trade. You have to make sure you come out better than you were before."

Take it anyway you want but that statement is nothing more than pure spin. Bottom line... Other than Roberts he over valued his product ( relief pitching ) and the rest was simply pure junk to the other teams..

I for one am glad that George is still an O. He likes it here. The players like him. He's a leader in the bullpen and he makes the 9th inning exciting. Let's keep the positive atmosphere so players will like the direction the team is heading and want to play here. Maybe it will be that much easier to sign Nick and Brian long term. Plus, wouldn't you miss seeing all of the hats flipped up? Never a doubt we should keep Georgie.

People need to chill. Word always leaks out as to what we were offered, wait until then to criticize. Right now we have no clue what was out there so how can you second guess?

"he makes the 9th inning exciting"

I for one am in favor of boring 9th innings when the O's are pitching.

If AM couldn't get what he wanted then I don't mind keeping Sherrill as a set up guy since he is under team control for three more seasons. Would have been nice to flip him for a decent SS prospect tho.

dan the man -

Well put. Sherrill has had a really nice season for the birds, but let's face it, would any of you give up a promising prospect, say an Arrietta or even Reimold & Bascom for the limited resume of work that Sherrill career consists of at this point. Forget the 50 games nonsense, Andy obviously has a goal in mind, in turning over this unwanted roster of veterans, and got nothing offered that made sense for a rebuilding team.

Stop and think folks, how many of you would trade promising prospects for the likes of Millar, Walker, Bradford, Huff, Payton, or yes even Sherrill. Thought so!

OK, all you GM-wannabes out there who say the Orioles should have traded [fill in the blank]. Let's make it simple and just go with one guy, Sherrill. What would have been your minimum requirement to make a deal. Be specific. You have to find someone who wants a left handed relief pitcher who can either be a situational guy, a set-up man, or a closer. And has a motivation to make a deal, so that pretty much means someone in contention. Keep in mind, to the Orioles Sherrill has closer value, but to other teams he may not. So who has what you would make a trade for? And if you were the other GM, would you still make the same trade?

And what team's message board is lit up with fans clamoring for their GM's head because he didn't trade somebody for Sherrill?

Pete,

Welcome to blog he11. You now have more than 100 new editors, another 100 or so people that know more than all the front offices in baseball combined and some big expectations from the rest of your readers. My advice - Relax and trust your stuff.

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Rusty, thanks very much. I'm going to do just what Rick Kranitz tells Cabrera -- throw it right down the middle and it'll end up on the corners. pete

Why are people ripping the O's for standing pat? What did the D-Backs, Rays, Twins, Cubs, Marlins, Mets do? This was a weaker than usual trade deadline, as I personally wish that August 15, would be the last day a trade can made, no waivers, as that would be exciting.

B Rob wasn't going anywhere and if you trade George, make sure it's a really good trade because the backend of the O's BP (our strong point) will be 2007 all over again. Nobody wanted Ramon and guys like Payton, are the ones that get traded after August 1.

Peter, are you happy that Huff is still here? Without him in the line up (this year and next), we are looking at a big gap. Baltimore hasn't been the designation of choice for the big free agents in the last few years so combined with lack of power in the minors, who takes Huff's place?

I'm very glad we didn't trade a great asset who is locked up through 2011. Sherrill is not the guy we need to trade. He'll come in handy as we continue to improve.

This is good news - I just hope payroll stretches to add a free agent starter next year at least (Dempster or Burnett, anybody?)

Peter, so far I'm really enjoying the new blog, just as I've always enjoyed your columns. Hope it stays fun for you! People can get pretty intense around here sometimes, but (as I suspect you know) it's just because of their deep passion for the O's. Keep up the good work.

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Linda, thanks very much. It's going to be fun. pete

same excuses we have been hearing for years - Payton, Bradford, and Walker with their high salaries should have been sent packing for whatever the O's could receive. All nice guys, but way overpaid for what they are producing. This would have cut 15m from payroll to use for either signing Roberts long term or for more productive FA's at season's end.

Just to remind, the goal is still 2010. And there are no shortcuts to that date. We are not one player or one deal from making that happen.

It took 12 years, from 1954 to 1966 to get respectable and while we may do it in less than that this time let's remember how hard this is going to be.

argh. Where I work I deal with Armchair GMs all the time and on any Sun blog it's no different. I always say "Yeah? Who would YOU have gone after?" and ask for specifics. So like Jack mentioned upthread, whose contract should we have eaten, only for them to bail at the end of the season?
i'm okay with the lack of moves. i'm good. we're not going to rocket into the postseason with one killer move. we're just not. despite what millar says to the contrary, haha, and how much i loooooove to believe him.

Ken, nice to see you over here. i hope to see your replies as often :)

It was good that he didn't raid the current roster .The O's finally have a shot at .500,that would be a big step forward.I think MacPhail has proven that he is a good operator in the off season.Let's play the games with a full squad and see what happens from here.

I think that George Sherill is the exact wrong guy to trade. The Orioles control his (inexpensive) contract for several years, he can fulfill several roles in those years, and he is effective now.

As for Brian Roberts, I feel that the only good-for-the-Orioles trade at this point would be for an A-list starting pitcher. It doesn't make any sense to me to trade him for any other position player that anyone would conceivably want to trade for him. As far as trading him for high-potential prospects, I have to ask "why?" The Orioles need starting pitching now. And unless a contending team suffers a major injury to their 2nd baseman or lead-off hitter, and doesn't have any internal options, Roberts isn't really the answer to anybody's problem.

Ramon Hernandez and Melvin Mora are all but immovable as the situation stands. I expect that one or both may get the same treatment next spring that Jay Gibbons did this year. Whether they deserve it can be debated, but it may happen. And yes, I understand that both have done well with men in scoring position this year. But the team needs ascending players, not declining ones.

There is no reason not to keep Aubery Huff at this point, his upside of power has often kept the team afloat. Why trade him for less than somebody that can produce more for the team in the same time-frame that he is signed for? Again, starting pitching would pique my interest, but I would want a horse.

Which brings us to Kevin Millar and Jay Payton. The Orioles will try to pass both through waivers. If either makes it through, I can't guess what will happen. Perhaps an offer of several mid-level prospects might arise, and if there are some arms involved I would say "do it!"

That is my take on the situation. Have a nice day....

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