|
|
 By now you've all grown tired of the Orioles flirting with the Cubs about Brian Roberts only to pull away and I'm sure you've heard about their dealings with the Mariners about Erik Bedard....only to pull away. Why aren't the Orioles making these deals? I have a theory.....
Scroll Down to Continue Reading
|
|
 (I apologize for that huge Orioles emblem on the top of this post...not much I could do about it.....)
Anyways, like a lot of you that read our site, I play fantasy sports and in playing these fantasy sports, I deal with other 'general managers'. One of the things in fantasy sports that brings about the most fun to me is trading players on my roster in an effort to upgrade the team I have or to unload players I don't really have a use for that could help out other teams....I'm a nice guy like that, I suppose. Well, in dealing with other people to make trades I've run into a few owners who will have this conversation with me.
Jack: I'd like to have Yao Ming on my team. What's it going to take to get it done?
Mingo: Tracy McGrady, Jason Kidd and you'll have to take back Al Harrington to make it work.
Jack: Done. I'll send the proposal tonight.
Sure enough....the trade offer is rejected. Why? I don't know. I gave them everything they wanted and even allowed them to tell me exactly what players they wanted. By this point I'm beyond pissed and certainly perplexed and more times than not....I won't deal with this general manager anymore in trying to make deals.
Don't the Orioles understand that they are doing the exact same thing as 'Mingo'? Surely, they told the Cubs who they wanted for Brian Roberts and I'm sure they did the same thing to the Mariners for Erik Bedard. I'm thinking that the Cubs and Mariners, since they've both supposedly nearly had trades go through, thought that the Orioles weren't asking for too much, so they went ahead and said ok....only to have the Orioles later balk on making the trade.
So, why does this happen? My quick answer would be a lack of intestinal fortitude on the part of the GM/owner of the team (Orioles). For the Orioles, it would specifically be their general manager (Andy MacPhail). It's well known that their front office is in a shambles since Owner Peter Angelos has final say on all deals from what kind of hot dogs to sell at Camden Yards to what color socks the players will wear. He's essentially taking away all the power that the GM has to make deals and in an 'effort' (term used loosely) he's locked up at chances to trade away Miguel Tejada, Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts in deals that would very much help a downtrodden Orioles Organization. While MacPhail wasn't around when Tejada was initially supposed to be traded, he knew what he was getting himself into and he needed to make it known that he wasn't going to put up with that crap.
The Orioles, not that I really care about them, need to figure out what the heck they are doing before the other GM/Owners in MLB act much like I do in fantasy sports and forget about the teams that are too difficult to deal with.
|
4 Comments
Leave a comment
|
|
|
2008 Cubs Preview
the problem with the Orioles, since Pat Gillick left, has been Peter Angelos. You can see it in their scouting, and you can see it in their free agent acquisitions... Angelos does not want to give away a good player for "potential". He did that back in the days when Gillick was "in charge" and it set the organization back for years trying to "rebuild".
This is the first year they've really sacrificed to rebuilding, the last few years they've simply re-tooled, trying to get better by signing free agents.
Seller's remorse, but they get it before they even pull the trigger.
I agree with you on that one.
Damn, you are so on point. It's the most frustrating thing in the world for a franchise that plays in a baseball-friendly city.