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What are you trying to figure out for this season?


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#1 SportsGuy

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Posted 06 January 2012 - 10:38 AM

Many people are advocating signing a few more starters, guys like Chen and Saunders.

Several people are saying to hold onto Johnson, Guthrie, Jones, etc....

My question is why?

Duquette came out and said they want to be 500 or better. Ok great, we would all like to see that.

But its not likely to happen with the team as it is and they aren't going to spend the money needed to land Fielder and they aren't going to give EJack 4-5 years(not that he would make that huge of a difference anyway).

So, what does that leave you with? It leaves you with the idea that this team has got to figure out what they have...Can BMat bounce back? Can Arrieta stay healthy and effective enough to remain in the rotation? What does Britton look like in his second ML season?

You can't find that stuff out by putting these guys in the pen and in AAA....and doing that for scrubs like Eveland, Saunders, etc...makes no sense. Its just a poor idea on every level.

I have no issue with adding guys like Eveland for AAA depth if these guys falter but you have to see what you have.

You can't go into next offseason not knowing what you have.

Now, if you make trades and acquire more high ceiling pitching talent and those guys beat out guys like BMat, so be it. But that's different because you would be going forward with high ceiling guys that can make a long term difference.

A guy like Saunders isn't going to do that.

Offensively, we aren't see much of this right now because we have is what we have...However, we have a lot of long term issues offensively and adding more pieces there, guys who could be ML ready within a year, is also very important.

#2 NCRaven

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Posted 06 January 2012 - 03:43 PM

I agree that this is a year to find out what you have in players that are still young, or at least youngish. Plant Reimold in LF and Davis at 3B. Give Strop plenty of opportunities in late inning situations. Plant Arrieta, Britton and Hunter in the rotation. If he has a strong spring, the same with Matusz. I'm not as sold on trading Jones now as SG, in that I don't think it's something they have to do unless they get the deal Duquette really wants. Guthrie, I really don't care, but I think he has little trade value now, so the return probably wouldn't be that good anyway. Reynolds is one guy that I'd look to move for a prospect package. Look at who is "in" on but loses out on Fielder and see if there's a deal to be made.

#3 Andrew_G

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Posted 06 January 2012 - 05:22 PM

I agree completely that the plan has to be, at this point, see what the O's have. In fact, I think you can make a strong argument for basically everybody on the roster that "I don't know who you really are, production-wise". The exceptions to that might be only Adam Jones, Jeremy Guthrie, and Mark Reynolds - and those are three guys that have at least been whispered about being on the trade table.

The rest of the team is supposed to be pretty good, but obviously they haven't been even remotely successful yet. But I can at least understand how the plan for 2012 could be determine if the core in place is legit or not, even though that's a huge amount of proving - a big, big, big step forward - that has to happen on the field basically right from the get-go.

To that end, I can't see an acquisition like Dana Eveland seriously being in the way of Brian Matusz. Eveland is there so that there are no more "Adventures with the Jo-Jo Reyeses or Mitch Atkins of the World" to be had. Same deal with Chavez and Miller and ...oh right that's it.

It will be interesting, to say the least, if/when the Orioles reach August 1, 2012 and are still very bad how the front office reacts. If you ask me, if the core that is already present isn't going to perform (and I do not believe they will) at a championship level, there are only two choices for the Orioles. They either do a full rebuild or keep floundering about, talking about promise and potential all while they lose 95 games every year. I have to think my opinion of the current regime is going to be forever shaped by what happens in August (unless, of course, the Orioles actually do make that big, big, big step).
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#4 Adam Wolff

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Posted 06 January 2012 - 11:15 PM

Much like NC said, I just want to find out what we have. Let's find out what Reimold, Davis, Arrieta, and Matusz are. I mean, their performance could change things a lot. If Arrieta and Matusz can at least be in the low 4's, all of a sudden our rotation isn't a HUGE weakness. I'd just really like to see every day at bats for Reimold.

2012 is clearly a transition year. Big changes in the front office, not a lot done on the field. Let's use this season to take an inventory of our team and get a definitive idea of where we are with some of the guys that are questions marks. Then, next offseason, we will have a much more clear idea of what would best help this team going forward.

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#5 PD24

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Posted 07 January 2012 - 08:37 AM

Matusz, Arrieta, Britton, Tillman, Wieters...

Those are the 5 that I'd be excited about, because they could potentially be part of a winning team in 2014.

I'd also root for Jones, Guthrie, JJ, Reynolds, and Hardy to all perform well in hopes that they can be traded for more pieces that can be part of a winning team in 2014.
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#6 Mackus

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Posted 08 January 2012 - 04:51 PM

I agree that the only way that it's possible for the next season to be a positive, regardless of the record, is for the young pitchers to bounce back. It feels like that's the case every year.

I'd give them the first couple months of the season, and if we're not confident that they we can get 3 solid starters out of our group of young pitchers, then we gotta go into full blowout mode. The only people I even consider keeping would be Wieters and any of the young starters who are actually showing promise.




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