No profound additions here, I am just completely disgusted with this team right now.  And I know that this won't happen, we'll just keep trying to tread water until we get a new owner.

I couldn't agree more.  Any of their veterans they can get anything for, they should ship out of here ASAP.

Blow this fucking thing up.

But yeah, I agree.

Blow the whole motherfucking team up.

I still want Teixeira, but only if we can sign him to an extension.  He's worth the high price to rebuild around him, Roberts, Markakis, Bedard and Guthrie.  Everyone else should go.  The main candidates for departure should be Tejada, Gibbons (good luck), Mora, Huff and Baez.  The others I wouldn't be so eager to move.

Also, regarding Chris Ray, is Hoey still our closer of the future?  If so, I say call him up now.  He can't be worse than Ray, and a trial by fire is the best way to decide if he's the real deal.  I wouldn't give the job to anyone in our current bullpen, except maybe Walker if the 9th happened to be predominantly lefties.

Tampa Bay got their ducks in a row, this was bound to happen without some serious change.

That will not happen at the Warehouse. When things go sour the first reaction is to bury their collective heads in the sand. Say nothing, but then have marketing send out more stupid mailings to the few fans who might still come to a game. In the meanwhile, keep shoveling out the same old shit. Throw the manager in front of the cameras to say "we're better than this" while the rest of the front office hides.

It's been ten years of this crap. Ten years of denial. Ten years of ineptness. You'd figure at some point Angelos would get tired of giving so much money to multi-million dollar welfare recipients. You'd expect that sheer embarassment would induce some change. It's been ten years of basically no reaction. Who expects this crew to look in the mirror, decide that enough is enough, and initiate some serious change?

Angelos' sorry ass can't disappear fast enough.

Tejada's bullshit play on the popup last night was an OBVIOUS example that he's just not an Oriole any more.

Great post, SC.
Now, to the Birds. I have been following the baseball organization we used to call a team since I attended my first O's game in 1966, a World Series win over the Dodgers at the ripe age of 8.
I watched Hall of Famers Brooks, Frank, Palmer, Weaver, great players like Mc Nally, Cuellar, Boog, Belanger, Davey Johnson, Paul Blair, and then later Singleton, Murray, and Cal.
I watched the last game on 33rd Street, and saw the first game at the Yards.
I was at the All Star game at the Yards, and still have my All Star ball, autographed by Eddie Murray, on my mantle.
I have suffered thru Bob Milacki, Leo Gomez, 21 straight losses, and the collapse of 2005.
This year, after 41 seasons of O's fandom, is by far the most disappointing and disgusting piece of baseball shit of a team I have witnessed. I remember when I was a kid, and my grandfather from Chester, PA was a HUGE Phillies fan. He never lived to see them sign Pete Rose and win it all in 1980....but when he was alive my brother and I used to torment the shit out of him because our beloved O's for a long time were neck and neck with the Oakland Raiders for the winningest professional sports team for years. I never understood how a man that I thought was so intelligent could waste his time and effort on a piece of shit organization like the Phillies in the sixties and early seveties...but now I understand.
You become addicted and love what you think you should have, and every day you hope over and over  again that somehow today will be different...kind of like an abusive relationship....but it never changes. My grandfather longed for the days of the Whiz Kids from 1950, and prayed that somehow Cookie Rojas and Dick Allen and Johnny Callison would revive that once found glory that the Whiz Kids brought to the team. We long for that too....but it ain't gonna happen. This team is stuck in Suck-ville, and it ain't comin' home for a longtime.
The players are mailing it in, and have no desire to play or be like a team of any kind.
Free agents come here to steal the fans money, eat well, and play in a nice stadium. There is no team  on the field, just a bunch of over priced, under achieving grown men that have the distinct advantage over most men that they get paid millions without being held accountable for anything.
The Ravens, our other professional team in this town, is on the right path. Great ownership, team leadership, very good coaches, and a town that absolutely loves them. Not the O's. They suck, they don't care, and now as I head into decade number 5 of caring, I wonder why I should either.

and franly so does everyone else that is not named Millar, Bedard, Guthrie, Roberts, Markakis, Walker and Hernandez [unless the injuries start becoming regular].  I did even keep Traschel for this season.  We need a revamped clubhouse, a new manager and some young guys that are hungry to play.  I'd rather watch excited, young guys play and lose than washed up pieces of shit like Baez, Gibbons and Huff lose game and go through the motions of caring.  It's like, hey dude drop the act,  I know you're fucking full of shit..

I came to the conclusion a while ago that the Orioles essentially need to blow the whole team up and start over. I would rather see a bunch of underpaid scrubs lose games than this group of overpaid losers.

But let's face it, change needs to happen at the very top. Until it does it will be the same-old-same-old every year, where we overpay for mediocre free agents who are supposed to be the "last piece" that makes the team competitive. It's a sad joke.

This offseason we will hear about how the team expects to be "very active" in the FA market, and the team expects to get to .500, and be really competitive by 2010.

It seems nearly impossible to imagine the Front Office doing what seems to be necessary to make this team better in the long run. Angelos just won't allow it, so even if Duquette/Flanagan/whoever wanted to blow up the team and rebuild, they couldn't.

So what will it take for Angelos to finally realize? WILL he ever realize? What if the Orioles lose 100 games? Will that do it? 110? How low will the attendance have to drop? 15,000 on a consistant basis? 10,000? Is there ANYTHING that can happen where Angelos and the front office will finally see that their "plan" isn't working?

Like elkton said, being a fan for a long time now this is the worst I've ever felt about the Orioles.  We are a team that other ball clubs look forward to play and other fans mark down as a series win, and possibly a sweep.  The players don't play with passion and there is no sort of team chemistry or companionship about them.  

Looking at the Ravens, it shocks me how poorly handeled THE ENTIRE Orioles organization is.  The Ravens grow talent in their own back yard by drafting very well and having a hands-off owner in both Biscotti and Modell.  Sure the Ravens have a few superstarts, but they feel that 52 men together can win football games and thats what they do.  Look what they've done for us: 5 of 10 winning seasons, the greatest single season defense ever, a superbowl, and arguably one of the greatest defensive players ever.

As to trading Miggy, who cares.  All that will do is lose some money for Angelos because less tickets will sell and probably won't generate more wins. Looking back on Tejada's career in Baltimore, if he had played for the Yankees or Redsox and had the same numbers, (probably better with people to protect him and more to drive in along with motivation) he would have been a legitamite MVP candidate every year.  In my opinion, this entire team needs to be revamped from top to bottom.  The manager sucks, the power hitting sucks, chemistry sucks, the owner sucks, the bullpen sucks, clutch hitting sucks, and finally the fan support sucks.

Its such a shame because people in Baltimore want to go to Orioles games, and Camden is such a beautiful park and people want an excuse to go, but not when your team is consistently trying to be a cellar dweller (which is easier now that the Devil Rays are almost half respectable).  When the pitching staff was made young and fresh in Burres/Guthrie, there was great succes.  I think that the Orioles don't have much to lose and should clean house, raising their own players and not signing over the hill veterans with no motivation to win.

I betcha that as soon as Miggy is traded, he'll starting playing like a madman.  

...and for a number of other good additions to this thread (notably elkton's reminiscences).

I have nothing of substance to add to the Miggy issue (trade him for anything reasonable); on the larger issue, organization, I do want to mention two disturbing things (with apologies in advance to those for whom they will constitute repetition):

1. The sad irony of the utter organizational disarray we see here is that, as you know, this was a model franchise for decades-- and this fact alone was sufficient to attract many fans, of whom I'm one (since the late 70's). The team I rooted for as a kid was taken over by an evil man who turned a great franchise into his personal plaything and a national joke. I don't need to finish this paragraph, do I...
2. There are not many fan bases in MLB which will long tolerate the schizophrenia we are being asked to live under: we root for individual players and for the success of the team, of course, but just as naturally against an inept on-field management and against an egotistical, counterproductive owner-- an evil man who turned a great franchise...and hey, I don't have to finish this one either.

This organization may well continue to market generic baseball for another decade, albeit with decreasing success. I regret that they can (and will) do so under the Orioles trademark. In any case, I will continue to watch the Generic Maryland MLB Team with an interest which naturally corresponds to its declining fortunes. I wish it would do otherwise, so I could do otherwise.

And I wish I were Tsar of All the Russias, too.

Thank you, doctor, I feel much better now.

Perloser should wait until the day Cal gets inducted, and then bench Miggy....that would send the ULTIMATE MESSAGE!
Thoughts???

I think we can good things in return for Tejada. I think most other ball clubs realize how much of an vacuum this organization is and that any player here is better off elsewhere. Miggy would be rejuvenated and will play well. SS's are still somewhat of a premium so Angelos has that as a good selling point.