Pete - I see you took my suggestion and started deleting the many many 3 times 1 posts. PITA to wade thru and scroll past over and over!! So - Last week I did NOT think we would beat the Pats and the officials. THIS week I think we WILL beat Manning and Co! Just got that feeling. Gonna bet $100 bucks with my bookie and take the points!! O's - at this point I would much prefer we just see what OUR scrap heap can do - Michael Aubrey et al VS old used up has been stop gappers. We ain't fightin for no pennant this year so let's see what other little gems we might what unearth! GO Ravens - do NOT "Play Like Orioles"!!

The comments on charging a couple extra bucks on game day purchases will be fun. The "long lines" comment is the best. The walk up games I've been to had long lines of customers in invisible suits. I must have walked right through them.

FIRE LENO!

I just think it wouldn't do a whole lot of harm to at least let the O's play the third season under "the plan" before we consider it an abject failure or a stunning success. I truly believe we will all be pleasantly surprised by this years team. Is another 6 months really too much to ask after 12 years?

Well it looks like you can scratch off Kevin Kouzmanoff from the O's shopping list as he has reportedly been traded to Oakland.

REMEMBER THIS ?

"To give him (Trembley) every chance going forward and to win as many games as we can and show meaningful improvement in the standings, which I think we need to do starting in 2010, it's our job in the front office -- mine specifically and in particular -- to augment, to give him as much help as we possibly can going towards that goal."

"Now I think it's important that we show our fans some meaningful improvement in the standings." Andy MacPhail 10/03/09

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/new...=.jsp&c_id=bal

Sell the team Angelos!!! You are the worst!!!! Why increase prices?? WTF?!?!

REMEMBER THIS ?

"To give him (Trembley) every chance going forward and to win as many games as we can and show meaningful improvement in the standings, which I think we need to do starting in 2010, it's our job in the front office -- mine specifically and in particular -- to augment, to give him as much help as we possibly can going towards that goal."

"Now I think it's important that we show our fans some meaningful improvement in the standings." Andy MacPhail 10/03/09

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/new...=.jsp&c_id=bal

What do you think about the Orioles missing out on trading for Kouzmanoff?

I guess part of the problem is that die hard baseball fans have so little to talk about at this time of year it doesn't take much to get them going. Bring on the warmer weather and lets have the pitchers and catchers get into camp already!

I am hurt that the O's didn't pull off a trade for Kouzmanoff. I have been relatively pleased with the offseason thusfar but this one bothers me. Do you have any insights into whether we were in play for him??? Any comments??

PETEPETEPETEPETEPETE,

So the Orioles are #26 of 30 in payroll, won 64 games last year, will have a losing record again this year (your words), and AM will be 0-3 after this season, and......

...ticket prices raise for walk ups, as well as for yank and sox games?

Not worth a blog subject? Would rock the boat a little?

Come on, you could even spin that other clubs are doing it, etc, etc....

I must admit, the Os a brilliant. They slipped this in the day before one of the biggest Raven games ever. I suppose they hope it'll mostly go unnoticed.

Maybe you'll give it the attention it deserves? maybe?

I guess part of the problem is that die hard baseball fans have so little to talk about at this time of year it doesn't take much to get them going. Bring on the warmer weather and lets have the pitchers and catchers get into camp already!

Thongs are popular down in Sarasota....floral thongs, that is :)
Wear those thongs, Pete, and you'll get about as much action as we are from AM....

PETEPETEPETEPETEPETE,

So the Orioles are #26 of 30 in payroll, won 64 games last year, will have a losing record again this year (your words), and AM will be 0-3 after this season, and......

...ticket prices raise for walk ups, as well as for yank and sox games?

Not worth a blog subject? Would rock the boat a little?

Come on, you could even spin that other clubs are doing it, etc, etc....

I must admit, the Os a brilliant. They slipped this in the day before one of the biggest Raven games ever. I suppose they hope it'll mostly go unnoticed.

Maybe you'll give it the attention it deserves? maybe?

dwayne already hates your shirt and everything else that happens between now and ST.

Your turn dwayne. Please bring all of your hatred and venom here. The youngsters won't progress and we should've signed Canseco and Sosa again to add power. Why not?

there you go again Pete... the Warehouse made you take it down... They know the posters are onto them!

Who do you think they end up with, Blaylock, Crede or Branyan?

Its funny how all these semi-talents ended up getting 1 year deals... Laroche, Beltre, Johnson, Huff... Teams know what they're going to get, why be stuck with them for 3 years?

.............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Crede, but I'd prefer Blalock.

Pete,

You shouldn't have to worry about your spring wardrobe. The way people are talking on these blogs, I'm surprised anyone even remotely connected to or with the Orioles doesn't put a bag over their head and hide behind a tree.

I can't wait to hear these yokels go ballistic over the savior Kouzmanoff being traded.

Oy vey.

Okay , Pete . Let's step out into the parking lot . :)

I am sure its only going to get worse now Peter. After reading the latest two stories about raising prices on some tkts, coupled with the signing of a guy who hit 1 for 23 last yr in the bigs, I can feel the excitement rising. I also see where Kouzmanoff just got traded to the A's.

So you mean it wasn't the Warehouse trying to shut down the negativity?

Kidding.

Wonder how many comments you'll get when you shop for bathing suits next?

Man this blog has more tech issues than the Orioles 2010 lineup!!

That Salazar signing really caught me off guard. And I thought ole Andy was done. Then again with all of this years additions from Free Agency, it appears Ole Andy was done before he started!

So on a Tuesday night against K.C., you decide to take in a game. The Orioles penalize you for a walk-up ticket. Attendance is dropping and they pull this. They obviously don't understand economics.

Pete, if you see John Angelos (which would be hard to do as you need to show up to work), or Greg Bader please inform them of the following:

A stadium has something in common with an airplane: filling a seat with a fanny has very low marginal cost, so it makes sense to price discriminate like crazy to get them filled. That's what the airlines do. The trick for baseball teams is finding creative ways to do it. Discouraging walk-up sales for a team that is losing attendance in droves is not the way to do it.

Ticket prices are set by what the market will bear. In economic jargon, a team would raise ticket prices only if it believed demand would remain strong at the higher prices for a fixed supply of seats.

The Orioles don't have that demand.

So WHAT are the Orioles thinking? Raising ticket prices on game day? When they're having trouble filling the park for anyone other than the Yankee$ or Red Sox?

As someone who drives a great distance to come in once a year to watch the team for a week, I don't want to have to get tickets well in advance since the weather forecast is very questionable there in the summer months. This may mean the end of our annual trip to Baltimore.

So on a Tuesday night against K.C., you decide to take in a game. The Orioles penalize you for a walk-up ticket. Attendance is dropping and they pull this. They obviously don't understand economics.

Pete, if you see John Angelos (which would be hard to do as you need to show up to work), or Greg Bader please inform them of the following:

A stadium has something in common with an airplane: filling a seat with a fanny has very low marginal cost, so it makes sense to price discriminate like crazy to get them filled. That's what the airlines do. The trick for baseball teams is finding creative ways to do it. Discouraging walk-up sales for a team that is losing attendance in droves is not the way to do it.

Ticket prices are set by what the market will bear. In economic jargon, a team would raise ticket prices only if it believed demand would remain strong at the higher prices for a fixed supply of seats.

The Orioles don't have that demand.

I can't even afford one Tommy Bahama shirt. I won't tell the Sun they must be paying you too much.

I'm sure the following will pacify fans, especially after a dozen losing seasons and that impressive 64 win season last year.

"Salazar, 29, appeared in 21 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates last year, going 1-for-23 (.046) with an RBI and has a career batting average of .232."

"If you don't plan ahead to see a game at Camden Yards this season, or you want to watch the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees play there, then expect to pay more than you did in 2009.

For the first time, the Orioles are charging a game-day ticketing fee of between $1 and $5, depending on the original price of the seat, for every home game this year"

That sure is one way to reward any remaining fans. Charge them more for a constantly inferior product and as a bonus lets sign a retread. Geez, at least pick up someone young not 29.

And didn't the Orioles have another Salazar who at least was younger and put up better numbers?

I'm glad it was the outlet store because I can't even afford one Tommy Bahama shirt. Don't worry, I won't tell the Sun they're paying you too much. Just having fun!

I love you
You love me
We're a happy family

Peter, I agree with you about the fun. I love the Orioles and love talking about them, and here in NJ I have no other Oriole fans to talk to, so your blogs have provided me a wonderful outlet and opportunity, for which I thank you.

No matter how many of the posters flame on Oriole management, I remain quite impressed with the depth of passion we fans have, despite years of poor performance by our team. I remain optimistic about the management of the Orioles under AM and the direction of the team. I can't wait until the season starts!

ml

Is this thing on?

Pete - I will always "love-love" the O's but I am only going to "like-love" wayne.

As other posters have noted, this has been an extremely frustrating week. Laroche signs for a minimal sum, and Kouzmanoff looks to be traded to the A's for minimal talent. Where are the Orioles in these deals? These players were gotten for cheap, and the Orioles seem to be missing out on the best values of the offseason.

Until now, I have been a supporter of MacPhail, but right now I am disappointed that we aren't being more aggressive with some of these deals. Schmuck - please tell me that he has something up his sleave!

Thanks for saving my life last year Peter!

Any comment on the San Diego/Oakland deal for the Padres extra 3rd baseman??
Should or could the O's offered more?

DONT 4GET THE CON MAN'S WORDS

"To give him (Trembley) every chance going forward and to win as many games as we can and show meaningful improvement in the standings, which I think we need to do starting in 2010, it's our job in the front office -- mine specifically and in particular -- to augment, to give him as much help as we possibly can going towards that goal."

"Now I think it's important that we show our fans some meaningful improvement in the standings." Andy MacPhail 10/03/09

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/new...=.jsp&c_id=bal

I didnt think it was possible for the Os to field a worse corner IF combo than Mora/Huff, but it looks like AM has.

Apparenbtly our 1b/3b combo this yr is going to either be Atkins/Aubrey or Atkins/Crede. Ewwwwwww, at least they're CHEAPER. If AM thinks this is an upgrade for trembley than hes even worse than his atrocious record. 12 of 18 losing seasons ( 9 last place finishes) since 91

Let see;

NYY has ARod/Tex
BOS has Youk/Beltre
TB has Longoria/ Pena for their corner IF. LOL

Dont even get me started on the comparisons with real teams in re: Starting rotations, line-ups or bullpens.LMAO

Baltimore, the home of the 20 yr rebuilding program

"and Kouzmanoff looks to be traded to the A's for minimal talent."

Kenny -

Not trying to give Andy and the O's a free pass, but I don't think you can really call Aaron Cunningham and Scott Hairston "minimal talent".

Hairston's got decent power and he hit .299/.358/.533 in 56 games with the Padres last season.

And Cunningham was just a casualty of a deep outfield in Oakland. He'll be 24 in April and he's got a lifetime .309/.382/.493 line in 1800 at bats in the minors. Adam Jones' line in 1900 at bats in the minors was .291/.354/.476. Would you consider Jones "minimal talent" as well?

Fire Macphail, Fire Trembley and the Coaches, Fire the Batboy and the Trainer, Fire the Nazi Ushers, Fire The entire Front Office, clean out the warehouse, Fire your Son, then Peter, sell the team.

{Did I leave anybody out?}

Can this team do anything right? Sometimes you just got to wonder what the hell this organization is thinking? Raising ticket prices for a last place team that hasn't had a winning season in 12 years. This has got to be the worst run franchise in sports!

I was holding out real hope that Andy was going to acquire real talent this year. With openings on both corners, a solid foundation in the outfield, and money coimg off the books - this should have been the offseason to really make some moves. Sadly, he has failed miserably. I really believe the so called plan orchestrated by Andy is to simply line the pockets of the Angelos family and nothing more.

It's become really tough to be/remain a fan of this team!

Just how much profit is enough. Just how much money can you squeeze from the fans. What a great way to getthe fans back in the stands. Why not get rid of anyone on the roster making over a million as this ticket price shows its all about the money.

Fire Macphail, Fire Trembley and the Coaches, Fire the Batboy and the Trainer, Fire the Nazi Ushers, Fire The entire Front Office, clean out the warehouse, Fire your Son, then Peter, sell the team.

{Did I leave anybody out?}

Posted by: Gil

Yourself, the fan!

BobbyWoontz,

I did. Cut my full season corporate ticket plan to 15 games this year and no money in the budget for next year. After 25 years, I think that's firing myself.

Invested in two full season dugout ticket plans at $630 apiece in the Independent League York Revolution. They play an 140 game schedule with reasonable concession prices and it's much more fun than getting fleeced to watch AAA baseball at the yard.

When they start winning, I'll be back, but until then consider me and my money fired.

Raising ticket prices is such an "interesting" decision but then, so is picking up Atkins with his questionable future ability, deciding to put him on first base and signing the likes of Crede.