Pete,

I think the Zahn or Irod signing is a good thing as for mentoring Wieters, and Zahn would probably be better. However, like all things the O's do I will disagree with the "Zaun would be the starter until top prospect Matt Wieters is ready to move into the lineup" and say Zahn will be the starter until it is economically feasible to bring Wieters up. I say that because after seeing Wieters numerous times in Frederick, he is already far superior to Zahn!

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Pete's reply: That's not really the point. He goes out there when they think he's ready. If they wanted to make the financial decision, they only need to hold him back for a couple of weeks. I think he comes up later than that, because the point is to get him acclimated and ready to play well.

In other words...he'll be the back-up, right?

Right?

Please tell me I'm right?

Bueller?

Here's to another, WHO CARE'S...........

Perfect signing at the perfect time.

Zaun is a class act who teach Wieters how to be a big leaguer both on and off the field.

Orioles....The Ravens are in the AFC Championship game....lets talk about things that matter baby !!!!

GOOOO RAVENS !!!!!!

WOW! Greg Zaun! The plan is on track. With any luck we'll be a contender for 2nd place in our division by 2011. Pete, we (and you) should not accept their plan. Their plan is to convince us fans that there IS a plan, while at the same time pocketing profits. I have been involved in enough negotiations in my life to know that they could have gotten Texiera if they were committed o win. They are committed to convincing us (and you) that there is a plan to win. I don't know whether AM is a willing accomplice in this dishonesty. Most likely he is being unwittingly duped by PA into thinking that he has to build a winner. This team is going nowhere. I love baseball and will be there to watch the games, but you should not be deceived into thinking that the O's are committed to building a winning team. They are not. They are committed to convincing us that they want to win. Big difference.

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Pete's reply: Frankly, I would have taken second place in 2011 at the time MacPhail was hired.

Finally, the last piece to the Orioles championship puzzle.

Besides the Ravens win this is a good thing for today.

Young pitchers need an experienced catcher to teah them and control them. Zaun has this and better than average defense behind the plate. He also is a good cluth hitter though not for a great average. This could leave Weiters a little loger in the minors. At the very least Weiters should sit the bench learning more from Zaun.

Second O's god move is Gomez. Yeah I know these are fill players. But they have what the team needs to fill.

What about O Perez for a pitcher now?

YEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH ZAAAAUUUUUNNNN!!!!!!

OOPS... I mean Ravens.... WOOOO!!!!

releaseburres, you are an idiot for your comments about the Ravens and stealing teams. teams move- it happens.and you proved even stupider in commenting that there is no strategy in football. obviously you have no clue and youve never watched football closely (or played)because your totally obliviouse to the fact that any sensible person who knows sports can factually state without doubt that there is 100 times more strategy involved in football then ANY other sport, especially baseball. And i have the right to say that because not only did i play both sports in high school, but up until a month ago i was a much bigger baseball fan (and enjoyed playing baeball more) then Football. But by far football requires more strategy- its not close!

Gregg or Pudge would be good signings for the O's. But why bother they haven't adressed their #1 need pitching. With the Mets snapping up Redding and the Braves getting the exceptional japanese pitcher whats the point. The Chris Gomes signing says it all we are trying to maintain the status quo. Why are everyother organization's minor leaguers better than ours? Felix Pie is not better than Nolan Reimold. Stop signing these older players like Gomez and stop coveting other clubs minor leaguer's. Stick with your own be proud of your own and let them play! Where are we going anyway not up! Get it together McPhail no more Traschel's or former O's. Minor league'rs or exceptional Free Agent's nothing else do we deserve.

Great you can have him he did not exactly help the Jays. From one birds nest to another who cares. Both teams will be battling to not finnish LAST!

"WOW! Greg Zaun! The plan is on track."

WOW! You're actually bashing the signing of a backup catcher when we all know that the plan is for him to start for two months before our "best prospect in the game" catcher comes up from the minors?

I've seen waaaay too many posts bashing Andy MacPhail over the past 18 months, and I realized a few days ago when so many of them are cropping up. Oriole fans have absolutely no idea what a real rebuilding plan looks like.

To clear things up, here are two examples:

1. Minnesota Twins, Late '90s

Stocked up on young, homegrown talent in Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones, Christian Guzman, Corey Koskie, Brad Radke, J.C. Romero, Eddie Guardado, LaTroy Hawkins, David Ortiz and Johan Santana.

Signed players like Terry Steinbach and Jay Canizaro to fill holes that were awaiting prospects.

Finished in dead last in '99 and '00. Finsihed in second in '01. Won the division in '02 and went to the ALCS. Three more division titles and another second place finish since then.

2. Oakland Athletics, late '90s

Stocked up on young, homegrown talent in MIguel Tejada, Jason Giambi, Eric Chavez, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, Ramon Hernandez.

Signed players like Matt Stairs, John Jaha and Randy Velarde to fill holes that were awaiting prospects.

Finished in dead last in '97 and '98. Finished in second in '99 and won the division in '00. From there, they made the playoffs from '01-'04, rebuilt again in '05, made it to the ALCS in '06, started rebuilding again after the '07 season and look ready to compete again in '09.

So those are some rebuilding plans to look at before you criticize Andy MacPhail and the job he's done so far.

If the Orioles bring back Gregg Zaun, I think I'm going to stick my head in a barrellful of pickle juice.

I'm glad the people who post in here have intelligent things to say. I was just reading some posts on foxsports, and those people seem to have no baseball sense whatsoever. I guess you can't account for taste, concerning they are all Yankees/Mets/Red Sox fans.

I agree with you Pete that we do need another bat because there is no way that you can count on Huff and Mora putting up the same #s in 09. I am stuck on the O's making a run at Bobby Abreu (I know it wont happen), but the guy is solid in every offensive department and the thought of having two guns in the OF with he and Nick, is pretty intriguing.

I love the comments that we didn't get the good Japanese pitcher, because if you know which players will be better in MLB from Japan or College when they haven't played one inning, you need to be a scout or GM.

Pete, any word on Looper? Also, Yanks want to trade Nady, not Swisher, would you do it? He can play 1B as well, and is an all around solid player.

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Pete's reply: Yes, I would take Nady in a NY minute, but as with Swisher, it's just very unusual to see a deal between the Yankees and O's.

Please all O's fans, PROTEST THE ORGANIZATION. If we buy hats, shirt, tickets, watch the games on T.V. then we are saying this is ok with us. LETS RUN THIS TEAM OUT OF TOWN.

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Pete's reply: I think that's a wonderful idea. Maybe they can hire the same Mayflower trucks the Colts used. Can't believe I didn't think of this...Hey, and next time the Ravens have a couple bad seasons, we can get rid of them and the next time there's a run of bad movies we can get all the theaters closed down. What do you do at night, anyway, TIVO "The Bachelor?"

A COUPLE OF BAD SEASONS, try 11 pete, and counting.........

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Pete's reply: Yes, I was there.

Ya gotta love the Oriole's youth movement. The "PLAN" should be put on the Hall of Fame ballot. I know the Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays and Rays would vote for it.

Hey B, I did not know that McPhail rebuilt the A's and the Twins in the late 90's, I thought he was with the Cubs during the late 90's. Good apples to apples comparison.

I agree.

http://www.theonion.com/content/from_print/spark_of_humanity_fades_from

Let's get real, Pete. The Orioles will be a last place team as long as PA owns them. He won't even resign or extend the players he likes (i.e., Robers & Markakis), let alone quality free agents. AM won't address their most burning, starting pitchers, and always takes the lesser of free-agent options for cost purposes. Angelos declared the O's to be a small market team to keep competition outta D.C. and he failed miserably. Not only did he fail there, but he lost his faithful B'more fanbase. Thank you SB for the Ravens. PA, you got what you deserved. It's just a shame you had to embarrass an entire city in the process. Peter Schmuck: stop writing these blogs like you're excited about the moves. If you're a true baseball/Oriole fan, how can you sell yourself out like this (pay must be REALLY good).

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Pete's reply: Grow up. I'm not an Orioles fan. I'm a newspaper guy who writes a blog and owes you some level of objectivity. It's not "selling out" to analyze each move in its proper context. It's your job to be happy or mad and I give everybody the opportunity to voice an opinion. I will give my opinion of a move, but if you're looking for me to reflect your bitterness about Peter Angelos, that's not my job. I have my own issues with him, and I'll express them in my own way at the appropriate time. And, as I tell anyone who comes on this blog, you can disagree with me, rip me, make fun of my name, whatever, but if you're going to question my integrity, please feel free not to stop by again.

The direction the Orioles are taking I expect them to sign a player in a wheelchair next. Go Ravens !

Dear Don and Ed So Pa Fan,

Baseball is not just better than football, it is way better then football. Go somewhere else to talk about the Ravens. Perhaps you could discuss the rap sheet of so many of the NFL players, and the circumstances surrounding the double homocide that Ray Lewis was involved in.

The Ravens are in the playoffs; so what. About 40% of all NFL teams make the playoffs, and you only need a win or two to keep the momentun going to entertain football fans in this dumbed down America environment.

Pete-
I feel about Greg Zaun (rhymes with yawn) the same way I feel about a lot of crab cakes around town - not a lot of meat but plenty of filler. I hope the "education" of Matt Weiters is a fast-track process, because I'm obviously not overly impressed with Zaun coming here.

Sorry I missed the last statement. Come on Michael do you really want to run the team out of town. Momma used to say if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all....

Hal is right on the money. Andy started from scratch when he came here. He inherited a pathetic major league team, little talent in the minors, a dysfunctional scouting system, no inernational scouting, and so on. He is doing the absolutely right thing: forget winning for a few years and stockpile prospects. Zaun, Hendrickson, Freel, etc. are not here to win. They are here to be buy time. My only criticism is that he did not trade BRob last year when he could have gotten a couple of prospects. We have no solid infield prospects in the minors. We need some.

Did anyone ever think that maybe if we showed a little more interest in the team and supported it instead of letting visiting fans out number us at games, it may make it a little easier to get guys to stay here or come here! All you're doing by protesting is punishing yourself and making true O's fans look bad and making free agents pass the O's by! I'm just as frustrated as anyone at all the losing but I think the team is finally moving in the right direction. We have some of the best young players in the game in our organization. I also think a guy like Greg Zaun is a GOOD signing because he is a hard nosed, hard playing guy who while not being the most talented guy around puts up solid numbers. If he shows Wieters the right way to play in the bigs, with Wieters talent, think of that pay off that will have. You can have all the talent in the world, if you don't play the game the right way than you'll never maximize your' potential. SUPPORT THESE GUYS!!! Winning is not far off.

I know that the last eleven years have been frustrating, but to blame McPhail for the O's misfortunes is crazy. The amount of improvement that the O's have made in the realm of player development and scouting have been amazing. McPhail has a proven track record of success and he is bringing back to the Orioles many of the ideals that his dad helped to establish in the first place. The Orioles might not be signing any huge name free agents right now but they are certainly laying the foundation for success. Look at the signings the Red Sox have made this year. None of them particularly blow your socks off but look at the Red Sox track record that last five years. The Yankees still think that they can buy the world championship but Boston has learned the benefit of player development and scouting and I think that their success is a testament to that. If you want to blame someone for the orioles misfortunes, blame that culpret. Mr Angelos has been at the helm of a sinking ship for a long time. I think if he really let McPhail have complete control things might look even better now.

Hey cb coach -

When did I say that Andy MacPhail rebuilt those Twins or A's teams?

I said:

1. I'm sick of O's fans bashing MacPhail.
2. O's fans have no idea what a real rebuilding plan looks like.
3. The Twins and A's teams that I mentioned are good examples of real rebuilding plans.

Maybe I should have elaborated on point two for those of you who are frustrated to the point that you've abandoned all logic.

Here we go...

The Orioles last World Series win was in 1983. That team was built around a young homegrown pitching staff (Storm Davis, MIke Boddicker, Dennis Martinez, Mike Flanagan, Sammy Stewart), a couple of grizzled homegrown vets (Jim Palmer, Al Bumbry), two young homegrown offensive stars (Cal Ripken Jr, Eddie Murray) and a few guys acquired via trade (Tippy Martinez, Scott MacGregor, Rick Dempsey, Ken Singleton). A very well built team indeed.

Since then, the Orioles have been to the playoffs twice. In 1996 and 1997. The stars of the '96 team were Ripken, Mike Mussina, Randy Myers, Rafael Palmeiro, Brady Anderson, Chris Hoiles, Roberto Alomar, Bobby Bonilla and B.J. Surhoff. Just four of those nine were homegrown. (I'm counting Hoiles and Anderson because they didn't do anything with the teams that drafted them). Bonilla was acquired via trade, but Myers, Alomar, Palmeiro and Surhoff were big FA acquisitions. You basically had the same team in '97, aside from the FA acquisitions of Jimmy Key and Scott Kamieniecki.

So there you have a World Series win followed by 12 seasons of mediocrity and then a jump into the playoffs propelled by a couple of big FA acquisitions. Since then, O's fans have watched this team attempt to rebuild (I'm not even sure you can call it rebuilding) with the likes of Delino DeShields, Jeff Conine, Will Clark, Harold (emphasis on OLD) Baines, Pat Rapp, Brook Fordyce, Pat Hentgen, Mike Bordick, Marty Cordova, Buddy Groom, David Segui, Deivi Cruz, Rick Helling, Omar Daal, Javy Lopez, old Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Grimsley, Sammy Sosa, Todd Williams, Kevin Millar, LaTroy Hawkins, Jeff Conine (again), Steve Kline, Jay Payton, Jamie Walker and Chad Bradford.

We've also watched mediocre, ill-prepared "prospects" like Sidney Ponson, Ryan Minor, Jason Johnson, John Parrish, Josh Towers, Ryan Kohlmeier, Geronimo Gil, Chris Richard, John Stephens, Sean Douglass, Rick Bauer, Larry Bigbie, Luis Matos, Eric Dubose, Chris Britton, Garrett Olson, Brian Burres and Chris Waters.

2008 was the first season in a long time that the Orioles didn't sign a couple of over-the-hill, way too expensive free agents in a lame attempt to win three or four more games. 2008 was also the first year that the Orioles had some serious top prospects in their system. I, for one, am glad that MacPhail is sticking to the plan, not signing guys just to sign guys and letting the real prospects we have develop instead of rushing them up before they're ready. That's a real rebuilding plan.

So to all of you who have to patience to deal with a good GM making good decisions, go jump on the Yankees bandwagon. I'll stick around with the O's and MacPhail. It may take a few more years, but I'm quite all right with that. I'd rather be a fan of the rebuilt, perennially contending O's in 2011 and beyond than a fan of the 78 win O's from 2009 on.

B or is it b,

I love annonymous postings. But lets make a few points very clear! AM hasn't yet done anything, I repeat anything of significance in Baltimore! We were in last place and were still in last place for the foreseable future! We were under .500 and it looks like we will be there for the foreseable future. I liked the Bedard and Tejada trades and dumping Ramon was the right thing to do with Wieters coming, but again lets make it clear, we still stink! Yes we have some prospects, lets not get too excited because our success in making them MLB players hasn't been too good. In fact besides Wieters we have NO position players.

Andy may be a very fine man, but a couple points here as well. He's in Baltimore because Bud Selig wanted to take care of an old baseball buddy and recommended him to PA. That Selig and AM connection goes back a previous generation, where AM's father got his son a job (some real qualifications) nepotism. So before everyone rolls over, salutes the success of AM, I personally want to see some positive results and based on what has been signed in this offseason, expect a 100 loss season and 1.5M attendance. Again, the only winner here is PA has AM is either all knowing or unwittingly cost cutting! Time will tell, but for the silence coming from the Warehouse about the plan that all the Kool Aid drinkers have consumed, I would be feeling a tad ill as you watch this group in action and I'll have my "I told you so ready'!

Why is everyone hating on McPhail? He seems to have botched Brian Roberts, but maybe something will develop once Hudson signs, everything else he's done well. I've heard the number 50million thrown out as how much Angelos is making a year, well the O's are more than 50 million away from competing, in the mean time give AM a chance, we were going to suck this year and last with or without him so why not see if his plan works?

Although if Markakis ends up in pinstripes I'm all for running the O's out of town.

Keith -

MacPhail hasn't done anything of significance? You're kidding, right?

Here we go again...

1. August 15th, 2007
MacPhail signs Matt Wieters and gives him a $6M bonus. That's $4M less than what Scott Boras was shooting for.

2. December 12th, 2007
MacPhail trades Miguel Tejada to Houston for Troy Patton, Matt Albers and Dennis Sarfate, Luke Scott and Mike Costanzo.

Albers showed promise as a starter and a reliever before going down with an injury. Patton, if healthy, should compete for a rotation spot this year. Sarfate showed promise as a power reliever. Scott hit 23 homers as the team's left fielder in '08. Costanzo had a down year in his first AAA stint, but, at 25, still could be a solid MLB player.

Tejada's game is clearly on the decline and is under investigation by the FBI. Oh, and in April of 2008, we all found out that he's two years older than we thought.

3. February 8th, 2008
MacPhail trades Erik Bedard to Seattle for Adam Jones, Chris Tillman, George Sherrill, Kam Mickolio and Tony Butler.

Jones is a stud on defense and his bat was coming to life before he got hurt. Tillman is one of the top pitching prospects in the game. Sherrill gave the team a legitimate closer, and he'll push Chris Ray to perform in 2009. Mickolio should be a part of the bullpen for years to come and Butler had a solid year as a 20-year-old starter in A-ball.

Bedard tossed 15 starts for the Mariners and got hurt. Again. This will probably turn out to be the best trade in O's history.

4. August 15th, 2008
MacPhail signs Brian Matusz and gives him a $3.1M bonus. Matusz is another one of the top pitching prospects in the game.

5. December 10th, 2008
MacPhail trades Ramon Hernandez to Cincinnati for Ryan Freel, Brandon Waring and Justin Turner.

Freel gives the O's much-needed versatility. Turner's a decent 2nd base prospect. Waring's rough, but he's got a ton of power.

Did you expect the O's to get anything for Hernandez?

6. December 16th, 2008
MacPhail signs Cesar Izturis, closing up a huge hole. MacPhail wisely held onto the young pitchers instead of trading for a Khalil Greene or a Bobby Crosby and didn't fall into bidding for a huge injury risk in Rafael Furcal or an aging guy who wants too much money in Orlando Cabrera.

7. December 23rd, 2008
MacPhail doesn't make any rash moves regarding Mark Teixeira. Obviously, based on the way negotiations went, Andy knew that Tex didn't want to play in Baltimore. He didn't force the issue, offering Tex $25M+ to bring him to a team that needs to spread it's money over several players instead of just one.

8. January 8th, 2009
MacPhail signs Koji Uehara, adding a solid starter and opening up a door to the Asian market with one move.

And it's still only January.

"He's in Baltimore because Bud Selig wanted to take care of an old baseball buddy and recommended him to PA."

What's your point? Are you saying that we have a good GM because of Bud Selig? Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

"So before everyone rolls over, salutes the success of AM, I personally want to see some positive results"

MacPhail has been very successful so far. That success hasn't translated to the field yet, but it's only been 18 months. If you want to wait to see the on-field success before you praise MacPhail, don't bash him in the meantime. He's done a fine job.

"Again, the only winner here is PA has AM is either all knowing or unwittingly cost cutting"

Cost cutting? I would say MacPhail is being smarter with his money than past GMs. What do want? Do you want the O's to sign Jon Lieber, Odalis Perez, Sean Casey, Ken Griffey Jr, Paul LoDuca, Dennys Reyes and Omar Vizquel for $35M combined? Because you could petition for the O's to fire MacPhail and bring back Syd Thrift or Jim Beattie. I'm sure those guys would get that done real quick.

"I would be feeling a tad ill as you watch this group in action and I'll have my 'I told you so' ready!"

Who are you going to use that "I told you so" on? The sane people here who see that MacPhail is leading this club in the right direction don't think that the O's are going to be any good in '09. That is what makes them sane. Over the next year or so, my hope is that MacPhail grabs a few solid young players for Brian Roberts, signs Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, and Wieters to extensions, waits for Matusz, Tillman, Jake Arrieta to mature and goes into the 2010-11 offseason with a great nucleus of young players and a chunk of money to fill whatever holes are left.

And if that happens, and the O's contend in 2011, I won't say "I told you so" to all the MacPhail haters. I'll just enjoy the success of my hometown team.

One part in that last post didn't make any sense...

I should have said, "He didn't force the issue, declining to offer Tex $25M+ to bring him to a team that needs to spread it's money over several players instead of just one."

B,

I thought the objective was to improve, even marginally! At the end of this upcoming season we will have voids at 3B, SS, 2B, 1B, DH and 4 SP's, we will have just lost close to if not 100 games, attendance will be about 1.5M and no free agent wants to play here. This isn't a Mcphail hating it just the reality that we've shown no improvements on the field. Two of our best prospects as you site Wieters and Matusz were number 1 picks because were horrible. I can you screw that up (but see our previous 11 first round selections). We have no position player prospects and prospects are just that prospective major leaguers. The point isn't that people on this blog aren't acknowledging were rebuilding, they just want a representative team on the field, and they want the front office to look at other options other than cheap and available. I honestly think 2012 would be an optimistic assessment when the bulk of our young pitching will find success in Baltimore, but to keep fan interest (ie MASN) or in the seats at the Yard, the O's need to appear to be trying now, maybe not winning but if they are writing off the next three years why shouldn't the fans. Signing players doesn't mean overpaying for mediocre talent and it DOESN'T mean scraping the bottom of the barrel on EVERY signing we make! Having seen Matt Wieters on multiple occassions this past year, he is already better than Zahn. Now I'm certain Zahn can teach him some veteran insight, but wait and see, due to cost savings/contract advantage, Matt Wieters will start a AAA, not based on ability, but based on a business decision. Professional sports are supposed to be entertainment, a pay as you go event, fans won't pay and quality free agents won't come here. Sid Thrift said it right, they think we have confederate dollars, because were cheap and not committed to winning! So until we turn the corner, get out of 5th, play at a .500 level, AM will have accomplished nothing except line PA's pockets a little further. By the way, you made a Twins reference in an earlier blog, I would suggest more like the Pirates or the Royals, But keep writing, I will say I told you so!

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Pete's reply: Keith, you've misinterpreted the Syd Thrift comment. The reason he said he felt like he was spending confederate money was because the Orioles were offering the most money and couldn't sign anyone. It wasn't because they were being cheap.

Mr. Schmuck,
What is the status on Gibbons. Are the Orioles still paying him? Why not invite him to Spring Training. He might be a little more motivated now. Looks the O's may be thinking that Albers will fill one other spots in the rotation. Anyone else lurking about?

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Pete's reply: Gibbons will show up in training camp somewhere. The Orioles are paying him through 2009, unless there was a settlement I don't know about.

Hey B,

Appreciate all your thoughts, love the effort but you are leaving out a lot of guys from the 83 team that were important to that year that were acquired by trade or free agency
Ford, Brother Lowe, Roenicke, Dwyer, Nolan, Landrum, and even yes Todd Cruz.

Sorry for the 1996-7 team you cannot count Hoiles or Anderson as home grown because they were not. The fact is Anderson came here on one of the best trades the O's made especially if they would have kept what they got.

I agree a lot of the free agents did not make sense. Some of the players they signed lost their edge or had career ending injuries once they hit the runway at BWI. Some of it was poor management and some was bad luck.

I am glad you are happy with all that Andy McPhail is doing. I am not one that measures success by one year. I am not looking at the Tejada trade and calling it a success until you see Patton make an impact. The rest of the guys they received in that deal were players that really had absolutely no future in Houston. Tejada still put up good numbers for Houston last year, was down on homeruns but his average was about the norm for him and he played well in the field. If our new shortstop put up the numbers that Miggy did last year I would be thrilled. On the lighter side they have Tejada's age corrected on their site in bold, and I guess I would be a little upset if I thought I was getting a 31 year old shortstop, and that is what the trade was really for a 33 year old. So it really was fortunate for the Orioles, however I still look at the prize as being Patton and if he does not make it, this still is not a win.

Beddard is a different situation. If he comes back and pitches like he did in 2007 I would not look at that as a huge success because finding a top flight lefty is hard, real hard. Not that it takes anything away from Sherrill or Jones, but you have to admit that in 2007 there were only two lefties better than Beddard in baseball. So that trade for me comes down to Tillman. If he does not make it, I look at it as a mild success far from the best trade the Orioles have made. The rest of the trades are not impact deals. The free agent signings are to fill bench roles and some awful stop gap pitching.

I do not think the Orioles have done enough yet to call the McPhail era a success or a failure, but when you see other teams out there trying to be competitive now, and the Orioles news is the rumors of Sexson, signing of Hendrickson, Izturis, Gomez and now talking about Zaun, and your hoping for an impact player to come along, it makes all the fans crazy and to top it off you find the native son really had no interest in playing here. I think every fan has their right to be in dismay right now. One thing for sure we will know more about how Tejada and Beddard will do in the majors in 2009 than Tillman or Patton.

Pete-

I find it amusing how many of your bloggers conjure up these cutesie names for themselves and hide behind a wall of anonymity. It's as if the anonymity legitimizes their venom. I've been bashing Mr. Angelos for years and have no shame regarding it. It's my civic right to speak my mind, with my real name affixed to my comments. It's the American way. I challenge your bloggers to come out of the closet, and reveal your true identities. I'm sure Pete will still post your opinions, ya freaking hypocrites !!

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Pete's reply: Patrick, they probably think that if I'm not willing to use my real name, why should they.

b:

(Could you make it "B" so it's not so jarring to read?) You are The Man. Thanks for those historical perspectives on O's player moves. I want this to move faster, but for most part support McPhail's moves. The hard thing to swallow is fact that Tex never wanted to play here. Now it's onto getting at least one more passable starting pitcher to plug in for one or two years until young studs move up.

Now I have been a long time O's fan, and this losing streak is just as frustrating to me as it is to anyone. Having said that, bashing McPhail is absolutely ludicrous, did any of you really pay attention to the benefits of the deals that he has made (Bedard and Tejada). I have not seen one thing that he has done to make me believe that he does not know what he's doing. We pursued Tex as well as we could. Our offer would have made him the 4th highest paid player in the history of baseball. People have to understand what true loyalty is and stop whining with every move. Try a little loyalty and allow the process to play out. Your complaining does nothing but conjure up more negativity that this organization does not need.

Pete,

HELLO my friend "Keith, you've misinterpreted the Syd Thrift comment. The reason he said he felt like he was spending confederate money was because the Orioles were offering the most money and couldn't sign anyone. It wasn't because they were being cheap." This is all about the committment to winning! You just can't turn it on and off with a whim, and the point I've been making here for two months! When we allegedly offer the most money (Vlad) or when were being cheap, word is out that the O's are NOT really committed. Again, just look at own players, Roberts and Nick, whether they are being unrealistic because they know this isn't and hasn't been a winning situation or look at BJ Ryan walking! The WAREHOUSE has created a perception that will be hard to overcome and we as fans of the team will pay for years to come!

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Pete's reply: But the Thrift comment was made just a few seasons after the O's were the biggest spending team in the game and had reached the ALCS twice in a row. It's just not relevant to what you were saying. I'm not arguing your basic points about the inability of the team to display a commitment to winning to prospective free agent signees, but that particular quote was just plucked out of the wrong timeframe for this particular argument.

Peter,

I like the possible Zaun signing. He is a solid catcher.

On another note, instead of signing free agents why don't the O's entice some of the Florida Marlins scouts to work for us. They seem to find great young talent every year. I also hope that the Thrift "apple" falls far from the tree. Thanks.