Why doesn't Andy MacPhail like us?

With one exception, every coach Buck brought in was useless. Well, maybe not useless, but at best no better than his predecessor. The PC, Gordon, was apparently counterproductive, and as everyone knows by now, Kranny should have stayed on. Crowley is a roving instructor, whatever that is, which sounds to me like a kick upstairs. Russell was so bad at third base, he had to be replaced at third base by Willie Randolph, who got terrible reviews in his managerial stint at (I think) Milwaukee. Jerry Adair – oops, make that Rick Adair (whatever happened to Jerry Adair?) – may or may not be OK, who knows, who cares; whatever goes for Wayne at 1B goes for Adair on the mound.

The best choice was Jim Presley, a fine pick. I suppose one cannot state a reason positively, but the following people became better hitters in various ways over the course of one season: Reynolds, Andino, Jones, Wieters, Reimold, and Hardy. That’s half a dozen guys, about half the batters on the team, so I doubt if that’s coincidence. Some of the proof will be in the Chris Davis power pudding when he has had enough at bats here to make an evaluation. However, two HRs in 123 at bats does not bode well for power, at least not the leave-the-park kind..

Don’t worry – I am not letting the two Stocks off the hook. What they have done – or allowed done – to their pitching staff warrants a jail term. Ditto for the minor leagues at large. Even allowing for the fact that we were forced to push some guys through before their time, I can’t think of a top-notch pitching prospect. When a 26 year old low minor fellow wins the Palmer award for best minor league pitcher, your organization has pitching issues. Player development along with scouting has been absolutely terrible for years and all of them from those offices have to go.

But I digress. The bottom line is that we used to bitch and whine about coaches not being allowed to bring in their own people, and when we finally allow it, only one works out. So yes the Stockstills gotta go, as well as Joe Jordan, not for Hobgood per se, but for the five million Hobgoods he has chosen over the past dozen years. The real Hobgood was only the proverbial straw.

Although they are able to “buy” talent on the FA market, they also have well developed international scouting programs, excellent farm systems, and use both to stock their major league system and trade for high level, major league talent. The complete strategy employed by both Boston and NYY is very impressive. It is far too simplistic to only look at FA signings and spending and conclude that they are not smartly run organizations.

Are you saying that just because they don’t have Vlad?

And they are, infinitely.

AM’s reluctance to spend more on international scouting. What makes you say that

That fact that he’s told us all that he’s reluctant to spend money on international scouting and signings is what makes her and us say that. Should we not take him at both his word and his actions? It seems pretty simple.

As far as the bullpen signings, you are just making excuses – the point is that spending significant money on bullpen arms is stupid and always has been stupid and even after the failures of earlier signings like Baez and Walker, the O’s continue with this bullshit with Gregg and Gonzo is ridiculous. And we didn’t get any good young players for them – we got youngish guys that Texas has given up on because they mostly sucked and will likely continue to suck. Pedro Strop is interesting, but at best he’s a reliever. Am I happy with the trades? Absolutely – can’t expect to get any more for relief pitching, but I would have been even happier had the signings never happened in the first place.

I don’t know what you’re basing your comments about the farm system, since it’s ranked horribly in pretty much every list. We have only 1 prospect in the most recent top 100 although we will likely have another added this year, but that’s absolute dogshit especially compared to our division rivals.

what can you do when people that you want to come here do not want to come to Baltimore

Write a bigger check. Pretty simple.

I hate to be a dick (although it’s kind of what I do), but none of your arguments are backed up by facts. None of the things that you try to say are wrong are actually wrong.

this is the obvious reason that you overlooked.

4. While there are only 30 GM jobs in sports, there’s only one commissioner’s job, and MacPhail considers this the real prize. After spending 4 years in the AL east, he has his own ideas about how the game can be improved in terms of making the playoff system fairer—and those ideas aren’t limited to throwing an extra WC game in the mix and calling it a day.

Bud Selig’s contract runs through 2012, and he has made it clear that he won’t be renewing. Andy’s stepping down from the O’s gives him a year to consult with Bud and be groomed as his replacement.

Any change is an improvement, of course, but I really hope AM isn’t laboring under the illusion that his relationship to MLB, as a non-owner Commissioner, will be better than his relationship has been to the PA-owned O’s.

Although the latter is hard to define in its specifics (as Stacey rightly notes), it certainly has not been one that could be characterized as unfettered decision-making backed by peer-matching investment — which has meant adjusting to degrees of discomfort rather than enjoying relative degrees of comfort. The glass has always been half-empty, and probably often less.

But the collective MLB owners have shown themselves preternaturally stoopid, which means they will allow no one into the Commisioner’s office with ANY significant authority. Indeed, that’s why they’ve had one of their own as PC, since he would hardly argue the point!

Unless AM proves himself an idea salesman and self-promoter of legendary (and heretofore undemonstrated) skill, being a non-owner Commish will be less satisfying than being a hobbled GM here in Balmer. I wish him well, but don’t expect that’s what will come of it.