So What SHOULD Andy Do? A poll...

by duck on Jul 16, 2008 7:58 PM EDT Comment 29 comments

So here we are at the All-Star Break's end. We're 10 games out of our own division, and 9.5 out of the Wild Card. We're 3 games under .500 and have about 70 games left.

Peter Schmuck of The Sun offers his suggestions here. Jeff Zrebiec of The Sun did the same here.

So just what should Andy MacPhail do with the club, if anything, between now and the waiver wire trade deadline of August 31st? Vote for your preferred option or tell us what you would do.

Poll

What course of action should Andy MacPhail take before the July 31 and August 31 deadlines?

Fire sale, baby - everything must go! Restock that farm system and take our 100 losses like a man (or woman)

21 votes

Sell bit parts - Jay and Kevin, nice to know ya. But keep contributors like Huff and Roberts

10 votes

What ya got? Listen to offers for anyone, but don't trade just to trade. Winter is coming, too. No rush, but listen

63 votes

Buy, buy, buy! We're less than 10 out of the Wild Card! There's still time!

0 votes

Add a piece, trade a piece, what does it matter - we suck, and Andy won't fix this overnight anway, so who cares?

1 votes

Noe of the above - give your answer in the comments

0 votes

95 votes | Poll has closed

FanPosts are user-created content and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of Camden Chat or SB Nation. They might, though.

0 recs | Comment 29 comments

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Comments

No-one except for Guthrie, AJ, and Markakis should be "untradeable"

Players like Ramon Hernandez and Jay Payton should be moved for just about anything.

I wouldn’t want to trade Roberts unless it was for a stellar offer.

by math_geek on Jul 16, 2008 8:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Jim Johnson

Matt Albers, Arrietta, Tillman, Wieters, Reimold, and possibly Hernandez should be kept in house too. You gotta remember that in a trade there is a definite possibility that the other team asks for (Insert veteran here) plus a throw in of a solid prospect in return for a large haul of prospects so as not to completely deplete their system.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Jul 16, 2008 9:30 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hernandez?

As in Ramon Hernandez?

I’d be willing to bet that Matt Wieters is a better ML hitter right now than Hernandez. Trade him to dump the contract, regardless of what you get.

Also, duh they’re not trading any prospects. If they trade Wieters I’m never watching another Orioles game again.

by pipkin on Jul 16, 2008 9:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

David Hernandez, he is real solid. If you are aware of my stance on trading players, I can honestly tell you that I would trade Ramon Hernandez and pay his contract for a 28 year old low A prospect if for nothing else to give Quiroz a chance before Wieters.

Wieters is the best prospect in the minors right now sans POSSIBLY David Price, but he would not post better numbers or catch better than Wieters this year. A lot of people have been saying it, but going from Hawaiian Winter League to Fenway Park in six months is a jump that takes at least half a year to adjust to. He is posting insane numbers and throwing out guys as it is because he is frankly more mature and knowledgeable than most guys in AA ball. I’d expect his numbers to dip a little in AAA but going to the majors would kill him defensively and offensively.

People love to point to Joe Mauer, but cases like that are few and far in between, Wieters would find his groove by late May of next year but the amount of stuff being thrown at him at once would be overwhelming right now. Who knows, maybe I am 100% wrong and he wouldn’t miss a beat, but there really is no reason at all to move him up right now when you can guarantee this team isn’t going to contend this year and even if we get quality in return by July 31 the chances of really contending next year are slim too. Ideally you give a prospect at least a year and a half to come up through the system, usually longer, and as it is right now it doesn’t look to far fetched for Wieters to be the catcher on or shortly after opening day.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Jul 16, 2008 10:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

Personally, I think David Hernandez becomes either a #4 rotation guy or a fantastic mid-reliever. He’s still worth keeping.

by Dr Orpheus on Jul 16, 2008 10:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

what is it about Quiroz you want to see?

Is it his .203/.276/.304 line this year? His 2400+ at-bat minor league career where he hit .241/.319/.401? Quiroz is a really bad backup and would be a God awful starter.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

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Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jul 16, 2008 10:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't want to see Quiroz

I would just rather him play than Hernandez. I don’t give a damn if this team wins ten games in the second half, as long as there is at least a youth movement going on. I understand that Quiroz is not the future for us, but I’d much rather have him out there and take my chances on the miracle coming about that he starts seeing the ball rather than have Ramon Hernandez out there who will top out at .260/.310/.430 if he is playing lights out. I honestly think that Quiroz catches a much better game in terms of leading the pitchers to the right spots, and he sure as hell blocks the plate better than Hernandez, not to mention the fact that I would take the inflated 50% runners caught rate he posts over the robust 26% that Hernandez haIf.

It is pretty inconsequential which catcher plays for the O’s this half, both are just biding time until the golden boy comes up and displaces them from their spot. But to be quite honest I’d rather give an opportunity to a guy who is better defensively and can nurture pitchers that we will actually be using in the future than an overpaid, old player who cannot do much of anything right and is more than likely going to be gone very soon.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Jul 17, 2008 1:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

There’s a difference between “youth movement” and playing crappy young guys.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jul 17, 2008 4:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

+1

durrrrrrrh +2 +3 -6 * 4 / 7 +1

by Awesome Mike Awesome on Jul 17, 2008 6:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pick your poison

A guy who posts really shitty numbers but can catch a game and help to develope guys who will actually make an impact on contending teams. Or a guy who posts just relatively shitty numbers and has forgotten how to block the plate and when to call for a curve.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Jul 17, 2008 5:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

false choice

when Wieters is in the minors. Oh wait, you want to make him a left fielder.

by pipkin on Jul 19, 2008 1:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Your responses have absolutely nothing behind them

And don’t even cite anything that I said. I said I wanted to move him from catcher to 1B and that it is too late to do that after just half a year in the minors…How is it a false choice to have Quiroz develop young pitchers when MacPhail explicitly said, and demonstrated, the he is going to move Wieters up very slowly. Good point, though.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Jul 19, 2008 4:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

two things:

1. We shouldn’t be trading prospects. Period. Why even bring it up? I don’t understand.

2. Lincecum didn’t need a year-and-a-half. There should be no hard-and-fast rules. Give a guy the time he needs, no more and no less.

by pipkin on Jul 16, 2008 10:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

1.) The Orioles committed to building their pitching staff in the minors, that came at the cost of sacrificing any kind of hitting in the farm system. To get those bats, from the Brewers AA team for instance, you may have to fork over one of your guys that you really like. If we were to trade with the Brewers and ask for a Cain, Escobar, or Salome type player we’d have to give them Brian Roberts/Chad Bradford plus a possible additional prospect, and they don’t need any more bats. I’m not saying you give an Arrietta or Tillman type guy but a Bergesen, Spoone, or Erbe is very possible and they all have decent shots at being impact players on the O’s.

2.) Few and far in between. Even so, why do you bring him up now if there is not a single valid reason to do so. Put him at AAA and if he rips that up like he is now, maybe I reconsider.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Jul 17, 2008 1:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

nobody puts prospects in AAA anymore

AAA is a holding station for retreads.

Also, prospect-for-prospect trades almost never happen. I wouldn’t hold out for those.

by pipkin on Jul 18, 2008 9:18 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

There's a topic for discussion

When DID AAA become a holding ground for spare parts instead of a place where prospects continued their development?

"I wasn't here for the losing years. But it feels a little like the days with Earl in charge and John Lowenstein smashing birthday cakes in the middle of the clubhouse with a bat." - John "T-Bone" Shelby

by duck on Jul 18, 2008 9:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

its been recent

ESPNs Keith Law has talked about this some. I think its been within the last five years or so.

by pipkin on Jul 19, 2008 1:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You are not looking at it in context

Putting a catcher at AAA gives him the opportunity to catch current and former major leaguers who actually would shake him off and actually have more than one plus pitcher.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Jul 19, 2008 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm all for him being in AAA at the start of '09

if that’s what it takes to develop him. Do not rush him up – there is nothing to be gained. When he’s ready. he’s ready. Not a day before.

by duck on Jul 19, 2008 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

well, OK yes... don't trade big prospects

the entire idea is to keep big propsoects… trading them wouldn’t make any sense.

by math_geek on Jul 16, 2008 10:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If you're the MFY, it can make sense

because you can buy your way out of your mistakes. For the O’s? Not so much. Gather all the prospects you can. I’d fell a lot better if we’d sign Matusz already…apparently, the hangup is the Nats-drafted pitcher below him. Matusz’s people want him to set the market and they go at least there if not higher. This could get ugly…

by duck on Jul 19, 2008 5:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Eh it may cost us

But there is little doubt that he’ll sign, I think. As I’ve mentioned before his stock isn’t going to rise, he has completed three full years of college, and he has said he loved San Diego but is ready to move to the big time.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Jul 19, 2008 6:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

His leverage certainly isn't as great

as Wieters’ was this time last year, but this still could end badly. Self-delusion can be a horrible thing…

by duck on Jul 19, 2008 7:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree 100% with the Math Geek

Guts, Doc, and Kakes should all be untradeable and unless we get a great offer for BRob we should hold onto him too. Razor, Kevbo, and Payton should definitely be moved and I think we should get rid of Huff as soon as possible because I doubt his stock will ever be as high as it is right now.

Geaux Eaux's

by NawlinsOriole on Jul 17, 2008 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

the danger in listening

I voted for the firesale, primarily because the 3 real trade chips can only look shiny for so long. Sherrill has those guady save number, sell high! One year of Brian is less then a year and a half, I’m very concerned that MacPhail will think about extending a 30 year old second basemen, which is never a good idea. As for Huff, trade him while he is on the leaderboards. He flat out fawkin sucked for the first 90 games last year, something I won’t easily forget. Further, by not trading now, it might be too late next July as he is normally a slow starter.

Librarians are hiding something

by dfa on Jul 17, 2008 12:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs