Brady Anderson Goes Meta
I wasn’t planning on weighing in on Brady Anderson‘s defense of Peter Angelos. I basically agree with him, of course, but I didn’t feel it needed much discussion around these parts.
That was before I discovered, via Big League Stew, that not only did Anderson defend Angelos, he defended himself defending Angelos with not one but two comments on this post at Bugs & Cranks.
This means one of two things: either Brady Anderson reads blogs, or Brady Anderson googles himself. I like to think it’s the former, but either way the fact that he left comments on B&C adds an intriguing layer of depth to his story.
If you’re out there, Brady, you can feel free to pen a guest post here anytime.
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Rubber match out in Seattle tonight features Brad Bergesen against Jason Vargas with another 10:10 first pitch. I have a good feeling about this one.
I think there are a few problems with Brady’s defense, but of course there were way more than a few problems with the SI article to begin with (Angelos is a meddler, Steinbrenner is an American Hero!).
Bottom line, though, is that NOBODY is as good or as bad as the public tends to believe they are. Everything is way more complex than “You are the worst owner” or “You are a saint”. Angelos is hardly an exception.
I like that somebody stood up and said (rather bravely, as he has been highly criticized everywhere I look) “Look, this is stupid. He’s not the Devil, he’s not Mr. Potter, he’s not even Ebenezer Scrooge” because he isn’t. But that doesn’t make him a good baseball team owner, or even not the worst owner in baseball (although how Jeff Loria avoided that tag is anybody’s guess).
Yeah, no doubt. I wouldn’t call myself an Angelos fan by any stretch, but I just don’t get the hate for the guy. And on a purely baseball level, he’s shown me a hell of a lot over the past year-and-a-half. He’s far from the worst, at least at this point.
@neal s – Eh. I don’t put him “far from the worst” because you can’t just take into account the last year and a half. Besides the fact that the Orioles continue to suffer from many PR failures (not to go all WNST on you), which has to fall on Angelos.
But this is America, and Angelos has a very real chance to still be a hero in the story. I doubt it happens, but there is certainly the opportunity for flourishing Orioles-mania while Peter Angelos owns the team.
I’ve resisted posting about the Brady op-ed, but I was tempted to do so after seeing the Big League Stew link. I’ll be interested to see if Brady’s piece leads, however slowly, to a larger PR effort to remake Angelos’ image.
Disclaimer: I AM NOT AN ANGELOS FAN!
I don’t think he’s the worst. That’s just the easy answer to it all, blaming him. Personally, I just think he’s not the smartest owner. He went out and overpaid for people like Fat Albert. I think he just surrounded himself with the wrong people in the front office like Thrift. He probably just made moves that in his mind made sense, like over pay instead of developing the farm system.
Granted, he did make some bonehead moves that really pissed people off. Firing Davey Johnson was one of those moves (and I can’t believe that I’m blanking on his name, the really good GM we had)
I agree with Neal in saying I like what he’s doing now, taking the back seat. We have a winner brewing, and Andy is looking good right now
i think he’s just an excuse for all the fair weather ports fans in baltimore to stop paying attention to the orioles.
“i’m never going to an orioles game as long as angelos owns the team”
i bet 90% of the people that tell me that can’t give me any concrete thing that he did to make them think this way…they just regurgitate whatever the media tells them to think “good will hunting style”
how da yah like them apples?
ZING!
*sports
i know all the port fans in baltimore are longstanding wine fans.
@ryan97ou – I never drink wine in bad weather. Bad weather is for scotch and ale.
Lead us onto happier discussions, Adam Jones:
I LOVE Adam Jones.
someone that commented is drinking orange FOOL-AID
@Andrew – That is awesome. Roberts, Nick, and Jones all appear to want to stay Orioles for their entire career or at least the majority of it. Not only is that awesome, it’s just downright rare. Jones has also talked about beating up on the Yankees and making Yankee fans cry. He’s the man.
I want to see an Oriole offensive explosion tonight. Huff, Jones, and Markakis all go deep. Let’s do this shit.
Also, I’ve played 2 softball games in the past couple of weeks and let me just say I had no idea how hard it is to play the outfield until recently. Jesus do I make an ass of myself out there. So much fun. Let’s start a beer league.
also the day i trust brady anderson’s opinion is the day i wake up and throw a 100 mile per hour fast ball after throwing a 20 mile per hour fastball every day previous and every day after.
@dan the man – If by beer league you mean let’s see who can drink the most beer then I am in. I think BBM might win, though.
Peter isn’t a bad man, he’s just bad at his job.
He isn’t cheap, he just spends money unwisely.
You know what fixes all this. Win ball games.
Bottom line is that anyone who can’t see how much things have changed is simply not paying attention. Or doesn’t want to.
It’s not that Angelos is suddenly the best owner in MLB or that we should erase the mistakes he made. It’s that the on-the-ground facts are what they are. The organization — not just the team, but the organization — has improved significantly.
Sure, stay skeptical. There’s a long road ahead. I get that. But for those of us who are excited about the changes and the potential, this (finally) isn’t a “drink the kool-aid” situation. Even national media members who couldn’t give a damn about the O’s are taking notice. Just look at Ken Rosenthal’s thoughts – he’s the last guy who has any interest in sugar coating.
This is a nice time to be an Orioles fan. To be fair, though, everyone has a choice about whether or not they want to enjoy it.
@Jergs – No question that winning will go a long way. If and when the O’s make the playoffs again, I have no doubt that Camden Yards will either sell out completely or come damn close. There are some cities that can’t say that (Atlanta, for example).
Not that I’m excusing some of the fair-weather BS I see from a lot of fans in this city. Because, you know, I’m not.
i don’t excuse fair weather behavior in any city.
but i’m tired of the opinion that there aren’t thousands of people like me in baltimore. it has nothing to do with losing and everything to do with a decision we made years ago that enough is enough.
a few silver linings ain’t gonna change that.
@Big Ben’s Motorcycle – I actually had some thoughts about this in regards to the Red Sox (from my recent trip to Fenway) that, bottom line, won’t play well here…but suffice it to say that I don’t blame anyone for anything nor do I take offense by the so-called haters at this point.
And I’m no longer sure winning cures all. Look at Tampa Bay – they still aren’t selling out most games (from what I can see).
I’m not saying winning won’t put butts in the seats at OPACY…I’m just not sure that it’s the panacea I used to be positive it would be.
i’d actually like to hear your thoughts about fenway. it would be nice to discuss something other than the orioles haha.
also i’ve said it here before but boston is the ugliest most front-running town i’ve ever seen. like, ten times worse than new york in my opinion.
growing up a red sox fan i was disgusted by what i saw there a few weekends ago. they might have been the most lovable team out there until they won.
makes me sad actually.
@Big Ben’s Motorcycle – What do you need to see?
It seems to me that, for you and others like you, “a team worth rooting for” is the logical answer. Well, we either have that now or are pretty close. So if that’s not it, then what?
You won’t find me arguing about Boston, though. I used to harbor good thoughts for the Red Sox before they won a Series and suddenly grew a rack of obnoxious fans. The changes were stunning and despicable. “Front runners” isn’t anywhere close to strong enough.
@Andrew – Winning doesn’t cure all, but you can’t compare Tampa Bay with Baltimore. The demographics are so radically different that it really doesn’t add up.
@neal s – Yes. I know. And I agree, I really do, that when the Orioles are winning the fans will be there. But there’s just that edge of serious doubt in my head now.
I’m not sure I can adequately express my thoughts while I’m watching the game, but let me put it succinctly like this: the Red Sox, despite all of the front-running and bandwagoning, are cool. Fenway Park is an awesome place to be, and the way the Red Sox are marketed (while ridiculously over the top with the memberships and stuff) makes them cooler.
The Orioles are cool, too – Adam Jones might be the coolest player since Eddie Murray in all of baseball. Matt Wieters’ hype is a ton of fun. Luke Scott’s dorkiness is cool. But they just don’t have that thing that makes them click with the fans the way Youkilis and Lester do in Boston.
…I just re-read that and it sounds wrong. I’m a complicated man with a complicated thing to say. I can already feel Neal typing furiously at me.
Uhh… what?
So you’re saying that you don’t like fair weather fans, but that “enough is enough” and you won’t be happy until the team is back to its winning ways? Or is it that you are choosing to simply ignore the fact that the organization is being run completely different (read: like it should have been run) than it was 2 years ago?
Or are you saying even if the O’s go on to contend year after year, you’re so soured by an old lawyer that you’ll never root for the team? I don’t get it.
What the hell is wrong with the Orioles lineup? We finally get some decent pitching performances and our bats are completely silent. Bases loaded double play to end the inning?
i don’t care if this sounds naive or foolish.
i need to see angelos apologize.
if he very publicly said “look, i screwed up. i didn’t know everything like i thought i did, i took the fans for granted, and it won’t happen again” i wouldn’t necessarily go back to being consumed by the orioles (i’ve drifted to other things in recent years).
but i would unequivocally root for the orioles again.
also hypothetically, what will you all do if angelos fucks all of this up in the next two or three years? history says he will.
Dan, I don’t think that that is what BBM is saying. What I get is that the Orioles aren’t contending year after year – heck they might not even break .500 again. There is just only so much that a good framework and some exciting prospects (or “silver linings”) can do. The Orioles still aren’t winning YET. And it’s awfully hard to go on good faith for a lot of people for this team. You can’t (and shouldn’t) argue with that passion.
@Andrew – I get what you’re saying. I’m not going to sit here as someone who’s never been to Fenway — or even Boston — and claim to have a full grasp on what those fans are feeling. I can only speak of my experiences with the ones who show up at the Yard.
From that perspective, they went from gracious and fairly cool to obnoxious and entitled.
It’s whatever, though. The best medicine is what we’re seeing now — a growing group of Orioles that we can really sink our teeth into. That’s way more important and worthwhile than any griping about frontrunners and out-of-towners.
Although, I still do hate the frontrunners and out-of-towners.
@dan the man – none of those. i would type the reasons but i’ve said it in 54,724 posts already and i’m tired of yammerin’ at you goofballs!
Angelos doesn’t need to apologize to anybody. He made some poor decisions as an owner. He’s made some great decisions as an owner, too. Are Pirates fans, Nats fans, and Royals fans asking for apologies from the owner? It’s just weird. He’s not very good, but that doesn’t mean he needs to apologize for you to have “closure”. He didn’t do it on purpose. In fact, the GMs that have been here have been equally, if not more so, shit. I dunno, root for the fucking team. Who cares about the owner.
@dan the man – that sounds a little out of touch with Baltimore. No offense, but you can’t be an Orioles fan and apathetic to Peter Angelos, can you?
dan the man loves peter angelos
@Big Ben’s Motorcycle – Angelos is not going to apologize, and I think you know that. But where you’re coming from beyond that is a fair enough position. I can’t say you’re wrong because it’s totally based on emotion. Personally, I go back to what I’ve been saying for the past two years: I find no value in focusing on the negative.
It’s baseball, and, yeah, I want to like it. So when I see good things happening, I’m excited. When I see bad things happening, I acknowledge them without internalizing them. It’s just sports after all.
If something happens to ruin all of this progress we’ve seen, I’ll be deeply disappointed. And I’ll talk about how disappointed I am. But I won’t let it ruin baseball or the Orioles for me because, basically, I don’t see the point in that.
Every one of us has the ability to define what this stuff means. Why not find the good, even when it’s tucked in amongst the bad? It makes things that much better when the good becomes the norm.
(adds water to gizmo)
Neal, here’s what I know. That Rainbow-Wieters-Luke Scott-Tigers game was by FAR the most electric I have felt watching a live Orioles baseball game since Cal Ripken hit a walkoff against Seattle after Timlin blew a save. I don’t know what year that was. Point is, it wasn’t even close between that game and ANYTHING I’ve watched this decade. And that realization put a lot of things into perspective for me, because that electricity was mostly generated by the overhype of one prospect.
Yes, Wieters means a lot more than that. But the Orioles didn’t do anything to create that kind of buzz – Wieters and Baseball America did that. And that makes me sad.
@Andrew – You can absolutely be an Orioles fan and be apathetic about Angelos. Why the hell not? I don’t blame him for everything bad any more than I give him credit for everything good. He’s one part of a system that failed miserably for many years and is now showing signs of improvement. There’s plenty of blame and credit to go around.
It was May 23, 2000. It was the only walk-off home run I saw at Camden Yards (I have seen one other walk-off…I’d rather not revisit that). I miss Cal Ripken.
@Andrew – I was at a game against the Blue Jays in ’05 when the O’s were in first place that was every bit as electric as the Wieters/Rainbow game, and I watched them both from the same seats.
Let’s not go nuts giving credit to Baseball America. Wieters is a big deal, but hope is what we’re really talking about.
@neal s – I mean that Wieters’ performance in the minors led him to be considered the top prospect in baseball which led to this ridiculous internet hype which led to normal hype which led to that crowd at that game which made it awesome.
My complaint is about the marketing branch of the Orioles, really. How great would it be if MASN made a strong push to put Angelos in a better light by having him talk directly to the fans more often and tell us how excited he is for the changes happening and how he will redouble his efforts not to tell Andy MacPhail what to do?
Bam – he goes from being this weird, legendary, Grendel-esque Scrooge lurking in the shadows to another fan who is excited to see what happens next. Instantly he becomes more relateable and we stop talking about him.
But it doesn’t happen. Fuck, now I sound like Drew. Fuck me.
By the way, look – a game is being played!
Bergesen looks strong AGAIN – tons of ground balls. Twelve already. Twelve. In six innings. That’s crazy.
If the hitters can ever figure it out again, we might really have something here.
@Andrew – i don’t think you sound like drew. i think what drew does is toe a company line.
you just sound like you’re coming a little closer to my way of thinking (sorry dude).
@Big Ben’s Motorcycle – I’m okay with. Heck, I’m drinking whiskey.
can’t drink that shit. talk about adding water to gizmo.
@Big Ben’s Motorcycle – I can only drink it after midnight
Damn, Bergesen strong through seven. Love it.
BBM, try this: spend the rest of the season watching and reading about the O’s as if Angelos wasn’t the owner and the past 11 years never happened. Seriously. If you have any desire to enjoy this team again (not that they’ll ever replace the Ravens for you) then you’ll probably be pretty happy with what you see.
jesus i’m not that good at denial.
The baserunning is a JOKE! I wonder how many games baserunning alone has lost us this year. At least three, I would say. At least.
Mora is BAD at the hit and run. DT needs to cool it with that move, for real. Mora can, however, bunt pretty well, so I hope they go that route next time.
The baserunning is a problem – but I give a lot of credit to Seattle for those two pickoffs, too.
I agree with Roch that a lineup shake up might be in order. I don’t like batting Huff and Mora next to each other – it hasn’t seemed to click. How about:
Roberts
Mora
Markakis
Huff
Jones
Wieters
Reimold
Izturis
And BBM, I’m not trying to hate on you man because I dig your jive. I guess like Neal said, I don’t understand what else you need to see. I hope you jump on board when you can finally say that the team is legit and has been run the right way for a good amount of time. It is still early, but the positives far out-weigh the negatives. You could say that PGA should be on a campaign to reconnect with the fans, but the best way to do that is to let his actions speak by having MacPhail rebuild this thing from the inside out, signing Wieters, putting Baltimore back on the jerseys, etc.
That said, we probably do need a football post pretty soon. Our tight end situation is brutal.
@dan the man – Oh god no. I think the ideal lineup would be something like this:
Roberts
Markakis
Jones
Scott
Reimold
Huff
Mora
Wieters
Izturis
Now you have alternating righties and lefties, Mora in the bottom third of the lineup where he belongs, and Scott moved up where he belongs (dude is very, very quietly OPSing over 1.000)
But, look, the lineup is not the problem. The problem is nobody except Luke Scott and Adam Jones is hitting. More specifically, Wieters, Roberts, and Markakis are all slumping at the same time. It happens. They’ll get over it and we will win a lot of ball games.
In the meantime, somebody tell Dave Trembley to stop trying to outthink the game, make him read “Weaver On Strategy”, and privately tell all the players there will be no more baserunning events at all if you are named Aubrey, Luke, Melvin, Matt, Ty, or Gregg.
How the hell did I just post an 8-man lineup without Luke Scott?