Four Ways I’d Improve the Orioles
It’s no secret that I’m optimistic about the Orioles. Partly that’s because I genuinely think they’re headed in the right direction (finally). It’s also partly because I don’t enjoy complaining.
Sure, the team does things I don’t like. I don’t agree with or love every decision they make. Who does? I just don’t see the value in focusing on those things, day-to-day, as if they somehow directly impact my life or anyone else’s. That would be — and for some folks is — a kind of madness.
That doesn’t mean, however, that some criticism isn’t warranted. And I believe that if you’re going to criticize, it helps to also be constructive and have the right attitude. So here we go.
I did something similar to this back in September but the timing was pretty bad. Now seems like a good time to revisit the concept.
1. Let’s get to know the players.
Adam Jones has a Twitter account. It’s a great read and it offers an interesting look into his thoughts, his personality, and his preparation for the season. He’s giving the fans a peek behind the curtain and a chance to know the man behind the baseball player. I want to see the Orioles organization follow his example.
Not every player is going to want to have a Twitter feed, but there are many ways to put the fan base and the players more in touch. Whether the tool is social media or whether it’s more old-fashioned stuff like community events and meet-and-greets, it’s an important step to take. This city needs to feel connected to the team again. Chipping away at the wall between players and fans will go a long way to making that happen.
2. More public access to the organization.
I’d love to see direct lines of communication between team management and average fans. Think about it: if you have a question for the team, would you know where or who to ask? I do because I’m lucky enough to have a few relationships in place, but it would be great to see the team create an opportunity for everyone. Maybe that means live web chats with a communications rep. Maybe that means a dedicated email address where anyone can ask a question and get an answer. It might require a significant allocation of resources, but it would be worth it.
3. Diversified concessions at Camden Yards.
The biggest thing is a repeat of something I’ve mentioned before: more healthy and vegan/vegetarian options. But it’d also be cool to see more partnerships with local businesses. Maybe have a Flying Dog night or Wild Goose night at the yard. Maybe start serving Zeke’s Coffee.
There’s no shortage of options. Finding just a few of them could build a ton of goodwill. Wouldn’t you feel that much better about the money you spend at a game if some of it was helping small, local businesses?
4. Drop the prices on team merchandise.
I’d like to see branded gear at the park get more affordable. Make it easier to make an impulse buy on a hat or a shirt or a jersey and you make it easier for fans to show their love for the team. It’s a small thing, sure, but it would help.
***
Your turn. And I’m not talking about “sign a big bat” or “trade for Adrian Gonzalez.” The need to improve on the field and win more games is a given. I’m more interested in thoughts on what the organization can do to continue to improve the way we relate to it.
Or if you just want to tear down my suggestions that’s OK too.
Agreed on all points.
I guess one thing I’d add is to find a way to put this whole Brooks Robinson thing to bed. What exactly happened? Is there really animosity? I’ve never heard anything concrete, but one thing is for sure, the fanbase thinks all’s not well with this relationship. So just find a way to make everyone feel better about it. Squash it, whether it really exists or not, before it’s too late.
Really, though, I can’t think of a whole lot more other than what you touched on. As a fan, I honestly feel pretty well-treated. Raising ticket prices is happening with every team in baseball, and virtually any product that is for sale, so.. seriously, who cares? I feel like the ushers have been nicer, the option to bring in food is pretty cool, and generally my Camden experiences are always good. I’ve enjoyed hearing Brian Roberts on 105.7 on occasion, though more regular radio appearances by players would be cool. B-Rob does well on the radio, he could have a future in commentary.
I’d be interested in listing some things that we feel have definitely improved under MacPhail in regards to the Orioles-fan relationship.
Vegetarian options? I think french fries and nachos are plenty, thank you.
@dan the man – Agreed about Brooksie. I feel like the ice is melting. He did make an appearance on the field before a Red Sox game last year to congratulate Melvin Mora on being 2nd in team history in games played at 3B, and Roch mentioned yesterday that a few of this year’s game promotions center around the 40th anniversary of the 1970 World Series, including an on-field pregame ceremony with members of that team and a Brooks replica jersey giveaway. But this team still needs #5 to have a greater presence.
1. Agree on team merchandise. Anything to raise excitement and visibility should be encouraged, not discouraged. The other 3 points are not important to me.
2. More advanced statistics. A visitor to the stadium should have more information, not less, than TV. And these days there are great statistics to share and educate on. This drives participation, interest, etc. I find it so odd that the team doesn’t leverage something like this to increase interest.
3. Policies that increase local attendance. This idea of charging more for walkups is stupid and backwards. They should be decreasing costs on day of game.
4. Promotions to fill up the stadium. How about $1 seat nights?
5. More information shared at the game on the minor leagues, and the players. At a minimum, have one player profiled at each game.
6. Find ways to leverage the Baltimore colleges. How about 75% off with a college ID Monday through Thursday?
7. Improve relations with the Ravens. Have a few key players (Flacco for sure) throw out the first pitch.
8. Allow custom ticket packages to be created. I got lucky last year with a Orioles letting me create a custom Friday night 6-pack, but why not have this built into the site at all times? Pick your games,and build discounts in based on the number of games selected.
9. Day of the week pricing differences. Drive attendance to M-Thurday.
10. Outsource marketing. They clearly need help.
This isn’t really something where I spend a lot of time thinking, mostly because the few times I’m in town to see a game I always have a great time. I’ve never had a problem with the prices, the ushers, the food, or any other part of the experience. I know this puts me in the minority, but that’s been my experience with the Orioles.
So, improvement: you can always bring in more local microbrews (the best kind of beer for certain), though Clipper City is already there and I love those guys.
You could put a 42 statue up in the statue park. You could put a Brooks statue up at the other entrance behind home plate where there is nothing.
You could hire someone new and really interesting for Buck Martinez’s job instead of some cookie-cutter guy who’s going to tell us basically the same information as anyone else. Someone who isn’t completely scared to death of advanced statistics would be great.
Heck, why aren’t any teams (as far as I can tell) trying to educate their fanbases with stuff as simple to understand as FIP. I mean, that’s clearly the wave of the future – get behind it!
Anyway, like I said, those things would nice…but wouldn’t particularly change my experience with the O’s (especially now that they’ve got the HD MASN2).
I think points 1 and 2 are really important, especially for the casual fans. And let’s be honest, most people in Baltimore are casual fans at best these days. A woman at work (who used to have season tickets) told me she doesn’t go much anymore because she doesn’t know any of the players. I don’t think she meant that she didn’t know their names or that they were supposed to be good prospects. I think she meant that she didn’t know them in the way that we all felt we knew Cal.
Pat has a lot of great points too. The only thing worse than watching a game in a near-empty stadium is watching one in a stadium full of Red Sox or Yankees fans.
Of course, nothing draws crowds like a winning team. If the O’s can compete in the division average fans will start going to the games again.
In the interest of complete honesty, if they started serving Resurrection Ale at Camden Yards, I’d never watch an Orioles game sober again.
Never.
Which, in prior years, would have been a welcome respite from the agony of watching the bullpen melt down while stone cold sober.
Anyhoo, I saw my first spot pitching the new season. It’s actually quite good, with Brad Bergesen talking about unfinished business. Let’s see if I can find it anywhere online…nope, don’t see it anywhere. But I dug it. Got my pulse up a little bit for opening day.
@Miles – I’m a sucker for stuff like that video. Let me know if you find it anywhere. I also enjoyed the video they would play right before the game at the ballpark set to that Killers song. It was cheesy, but like I said, I’m a sucker.
yah i pretty much agree with you neal. I drive by the stadium every day on my way to work and noticed what looks like some semi-major construction going on in the concourse level….would be interesting to see what they’re working on improving stadium-wise for the upcoming season. or if it’s just normal off-season maintenance.
in regards to Brooks Robinson – I am a season ticket holder and just got a note in the mail that all season plan holders will get a limited edition “Brooks Robinson figurine, depicting the Hall of Famer with his glove dipped in 14 Karat Gold.”
http://masnsports.com/2010/01/os-season-plan-holders-to.html
not sure how much that helps, but it’s sweet to me
@ryan97ou – Okay, that’s pretty darn cool.
But, look, we all know that all of these things are nice (or would be), really nice even. But when I go to Camden Yards or when I watch it on the telewhatsit device in my living room, I have the most fun when the Yard is packed with Orioles fans.
And that cannot happen until the team starts winning. I think they’ve been on the right track to that point, but you know what bothers me is when you look at Jack Z.’s work in Seattle: he turned that team around in a heartbeat, while Andy MacPhail is staring at his 3rd straight losing season. I’m not complaining at all, but it does bother me a touch.
I applaud Neal’s effort to list elements of improvement. They’re interesting, to boot, particularly the Twitter-feed issue. There’s so much more the O’s could be doing with social media, particularly in-game.
Word to the wise, though, Neal.
You should be careful listing things under the guise of “here’s how the Orioles could improve”.
I did that about three years ago and had my media credential revoked.
It gets ugly when you point out things the team isn’t doing well or things the team could do better.
Just a thought. Be careful.
P.S. Tell me this isn’t weird. The security word for this comment was “jettisoned”. Ha ha
@df1570 – Somehow I think Neal’s version of “how the Orioles could improve” is severely different than yours. And somehow I think you probably didn’t start with something like Neal’s opening paragraph. Part of me for some reason thinks that you might have openly attacked the team rather than suggested constructive ideas. I don’t know what gives me these crazy thoughts, though.
@dan the man – Easy Dan. If Drew were really interested in an intelligent conversation and debate with a back and forth on ideas, he might be worth engaging.
But he isn’t, and he’s not. Don’t feed the troll.
Dan, I’ve given the Orioles more (polite) ideas on how to improve themselves than you’ve made right turns on red in your life.
Way back when, before they revoked my credential, I had lunch with Duquette and Flanagan, in fact, to discuss my thoughts on their organization and how I thought they could better serve the community they were (ARE) losing.
Putting Baltimore on the road jersey, letting their athletes talk to the media instead of restricting access, even the famous “ride your bike to the ballpark” concept I gave them on the air (which, of course, they stole)…all things I politely suggested they do.
I, like Neal and others, have about 50 more of those ideas they could use. Most of them have something to do with common sense and rewarding your fans — and we all know (see the recent ticket price hike) that “common sense” and “rewarding your fans” don’t often collide in the same sentence when talking about our beloved Birds.
There aren’t many of “us” left in the Baltimore media. “Us” meaning people who aren’t on the team’s payroll either directly or indirectly. So when you’re not part of the band, your ideas and comments and suggestions for improvement aren’t recognized.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that they aren’t worthy.
I knew I was right about the Baltimore on the road jersey deal and even if that cost me my media credential with them, I was right, and they knew it.
Some of the things Neal wrote about would be good, solid ideas for them to review and, perhaps, institute.
If it comes from one of the 20 or so media members in town who they have in their back pocket, maybe they (the O’s) will actually listen. For once.
Any ideas coming from me, obviously, aren’t considered.
But I’m not going away.
And when they finally fix their organization and stop doing dumb shit like greasing up their day-of-game ticket buyer, I’ll go soft on them the way the rest of the media folk in town have over the last 2-3 years.
In the meantime, it’s good to see Neal offer those four items of improvement. They should take heed at The Warehouse. He’s probably smarter at marketing their team then THEY are.
Lord knows I am.
Sorry guys… :/
Oh, that’s right. I forgot.
(“Sorry, guys…”)
Code word: Let’s not have anyone come around from the dark side and ruin our cozy little get together where the 10 of us here put photos of the players on tables, light candles and hum, “Orioles Magic”.
Even when I compliment you (in this case, Neal) guys, you can’t deal with it appropriately.
Apologists…
I actually LOL’ed at that last one.
You need to shake loose from some of these cats, Neal.
They’re bringing you down.
right right…i forgot how much WE bring each other down when it comes to the orioles.
meanwhile your working hard to make a “career” out of it
i can’t sit here and listen to your diatribe of “injustice”, when i specifically don’t listen to a certain station because i don’t wanna be forced to hear it.
yah, you lost your credentials. get over it.
and don’t re-interpret this post as someone who “can’t handle the truth”. your stance is too subjective to be considered anything near the truth.
and yes…i like double quotes
I’m not sure I understand Ryan’s venom about “the truth”.
“The truth” I was trying to point out – and did, I thought – was that Neal had some good ideas in his list of four methods the O’s could improve.
That was the sole reason I applauded his entry.
I did, naturally, mention as an aside that any open, public “suggestions” about the Orioles are almost always considered to be criticism by the team. And when you’re critical of the club, there are consequences.
The truth is that I have been critical of the team and have lost my season media credentials as a result.
I’m “over it”, per-se, in that I still report on the team and watch the games and offer my opinion without having to go to the ballpark and have those charlatans lie to me night after night.
But if you think losing your right to speak freely about the team is something I should just “get over”, that’s where you’re wrong. If you think being treated unprofessionally is something I should just “get over”, you’re wrong there, too.
If I gave the team handjobs every day like most everyone else in the media does, I’d be welcome at the ballpark.
That’s the truth.
When you’re critical, you’re expurgated.
I’ll end this by going back to what I said originally: The club would be well served to listen to people – like Neal, for instance – who understand marketing and the new methods people are using to reach their customer base.
Charging people more money to attend a game when you haven’t done anything in five years to warrant that increase isn’t a “new method”.
And “the truth”, of course, is that you guys all know the ticket price increase is horseshit. You know it.
But you can’t say that or you might be relegated to “hater” status just for having an opinion that’s contrary to what the kool-aid drinkers share.
Come to think of it, I would have been better off disagreeing with Neal. If this is the kind of grief you (I) get when you agree with him, think about the hell I’d have to pay if I would have challenged his ideas! LOL
For the record I don’t agree with the game day ticket price hikes.
And also for the record I think its entirely in your right to not “get over it”. But that’s a personal issue. One I would hope you wouldn’t let bias your every word on the team and organization.
Ill be the first person to tell you when I don’t agree with something the team is doing. but I also try to step back and think about things from a semi objective standpoint.
And really you should be thanking the orioles. That situation seems to have generated a good amount of stuff for you to talk/write about
Ryan, the fact that the Orioles have shit on me for the last three years doesn’t (hasn’t) bias every word…not at all.
I have said time and time again that I think Andy MacPhail has done a good job since he started here. I applauded the team’s signing of Ty Wigginton, for example, and the re-signings of Markakis and Roberts. In reality, I say (write) a lot of good things about the Orioles.
But they still do just as much “bad” as “good”…starting mainly with their reluctance to spend the money they’ve pilfered from all us for the last four years via their TV network.
My “personal” issues with them are only referenced when, as an example, you can’t get them to return a phone call or an e-mail.
To wit: I’ve tried to contact them for the last two weeks about spring training and NO ONE in the organization has returned a call, a text message or an e-mail.
Then, over the last two days, I get three (3) e-mails from them about spring training rosters, FanFest details and the Luke Scott signing.
When I try to contact them, I get ignored. When they need/want me to disperse their information, I get more e-mails than Jaimee Grubbs.
That’s bush league, plain and simple.
But if they would have signed Adam LaRoche a week ago, I would have applauded them for that…regardless of their unprofessionalism towards me.
And I’m glad you’ve admitted that the ticket price hike was a disgrace. Just another golden shower to the fans…but what else is new?
Drew, don’t you think that you’ve put yourself– over time– in a position where the Orioles are really only spiting YOU because you’ve gone out of your way to publicly bad mouth the team? Sure it wasn’t always that way, but initially someone pointed a finger, the other party pointed back and it’s been nothing but a trade of piss and vinegar between both you and the Orioles. I’d have to think that your own experience of how you get treated by the Orioles– ignored or otherwise– is not representative of how the Orioles perceive or treat the rest of their fans.
Greg, the way they “treat their fans” is by not having their manager in town all winter to meet the fans, not having their owner available to the media once a year for a sit down with the media so they can ask him questions on behalf of the fan base, not having the General Manager available to the media to discuss the team, not making their players available to the media to promote their product to the fans and then — in the best move of all — deciding to actually RAISE ticket prices for anyone who looks out their window at 4:45 pm on a nice, sunny Thursday night in July and says, “Hmmm…maybe I’ll take in a ballgame tonight downtown.”
That has nothing at all to do with me. Zero.
They’ve done all of that stuff on their own accord.
Their attendance has dropped 40% over the last ten years.
I didn’t do that to them.
And by “publicly bad mouth” I assume you mean go on the radio and talk about their shortcomings and discuss the things they should be doing differently? Well, yes, I do that. It’s my job.
If I were employed by the MASN web-site, for example, I wouldn’t do any of that. If I did, I’d lose my job.
And when I reference “talking to the media”, please don’t give me the line about “they talk on 105.7″. Of course they do. They’re business partners.
Every year when the season ends, the Ravens get transparent for a day and bring Harbaugh, Newsome and Bisciotti together for a 2-hour sitdown with the media to discuss anything and everything Ravens.
The Orioles haven’t done that kind of thing in — well, forever.
My issues with the way team represents themselves have as much to do with their marketing and PR decisions as anything else. If they continue to piss on me and not give me the media credential I’m entitled to but once a year I get to sit down with Peter Angelos or Dave Trembley and ask them real questions, that would be fine with me.
If they didn’t raise ticket prices on the Friday before the Ravens played a playoff football game in an attempt to shield their announcement from the sports fans, I wouldn’t be so hard on them.
In general, I’ll just say this:
If the Orioles ran their organization like the Ravens run their organization, I wouldn’t have any problems with them.
And, more than likely, neither would the fan base that doesn’t go to baseball games anymore.
i would vow to not watch a ravens game next year if peter angelos [i]ever[/i] agreed to answer questions on camera before a group of national and non-contract local media members.
how anyone here doesn’t see the problem with (or apparently notice) a station like 105.7 being in bed with the orioles is beyond me.
joke organization.
[b]fuckin sites i post on that use different tags[/b]
While I agree with you that it would be great if they did those things. Your fooling yourself if you think the fans would come in droves like the ravens. Winning has a lot to do with that and its really hard to compare attendence in the nfl and mlb when one has 8 home games and the other has 81.
I mean I would like to see those types of conferences with the media but I wonder do other baseball teams do it more than the o’s?
If by “go on the radio and talk about their shortcomings and discuss the things they should be doing differently” you mean publicly badmouth the team… then, yeah what do you expect? The Orioles are not going to start trying to kiss your ass after everything you and Nestor say on a daily basis.
Not hearing from the GM or having the manager come out and meet fans– pardon me while I do the jerkoff motion with my hand– who cares? MacPhail has sufficiently answered my questions as a fan through MASN and the press. Just because Harbaugh and Bischotti did it through a public forum means nothing to me. I didn’t actually even hear that they did that until you brought it up and my status as a Ravens fan didn’t change. Those things mean VERY little, and you’re making them out to be huge slights.
The ticket price thing? Yeah, it sucks. It’s part of doing business. Any economist would tell you that a for-profit company with a product that isn’t selling will raise prices to offset their losses. Supply and demand; it doesn’t get any more American than that. Wait till the Orioles are competitive and you’ll shit yourself at how expensive it is to get tickets.
Oh and fear not big bens motorcycle. I hate 105.7 and a certain afternoon host. I just don’t listen to anything anymore. And it is possible to be in bed with a team and still be good radio (ask the sports reporters in dc who are owned by snyder yet they constantly lambaste the ‘skins and are hysterical)
Greg,
You should work for the team.
They already have a bunch of people there who think just like you.
I spent a couple years helping teach a class in Narrative Illustration at MICA. My main role was to help students understand how communication is a deeper thing than just the words they use or the brush strokes on the page. How to grasp, in other words, how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
One of the first things I’d always bring up was tone. I’d tell them that it wasn’t something I, or anyone, could really teach. We could evaluate it, and work on it, but there’s no concrete way to explain how to get it right.
It’s something you have to learn to grasp on an intuitive and emotional level. It depends heavily on both having a measure of self-awareness and on being willing to care as much about your audience as you care about yourself. You have to understand that it’s not a one-way street.
I’d always follow that up by explaining that there’s nothing more important than figuring out how to master it. Or, at least, being willing to constantly try.
It was easy to see the lines. Some people understood, and the ones who didn’t probably never would.
I always felt bad for that latter group. Still do.
seeing that i’m a direct descendant of theobold “wolf” tone the famous irish revolutionary, and share part of his name for that reason, i will assume that comment was not directed at me.
death to the brits
So let’s see here…
We’ve got the standard self-aggrandizing blowhard speech about how said blowhard is only doing what is right and how’s been totally mistreated. Check.
(It occurs to me that everyone always thinks that they’re the good guy. And also that pessimists always refer to themselves as “realists”)
We’ve got the standard black-and-white insults hurled that don’t advance any argument: apologists, “you should work for the team”, etc. etc. Check.
And of course we have no actual discourse so much as a couple of talking points repeated ad nauseum in progressively loud, stupid, and above all else self-aggrandizing ways. Check.
Yes, Drew sure is back. Hoo-fucking-ray. Fortunately we have at least one wise man here in Neal who at least seems to get It. Thank Goodness for you, friend-o.
Oh, by the way Neal, any more info on FanFest?
Ha. I personally enjoy drew being here. Then again I’m also an o’s fan so maybe I’m just a masochist. Either way its an interesting perspective. agree or not
Fan fest is this sat 10-6. I won’t be there til later in the afternoon but I got an extra ticket if anyones interested.
@Ryan97ou – I’m like 60-40 to go or not, but what I want to know is is it worth it? I’m not much of an autograph hound, and I doubt that the players have much of anything interesting to say.
It’s basically my whole weekend if I go (since I have come back home), but I wouldn’t be coming down just for Fanfest anyway if I came. I just don’t know if it’s worth the trip.
@Andrew – Still not sure what the deal is with FanFest. I’m pretty sure I’m appearing there in some capacity but I don’t know the details. I’ll post them when I do.
@Ryan97ou – Agreed. Drew’s as welcome and encouraged to comment as everyone else. I have no problem with anyone’s viewpoint as long as things stay civil. That’s pretty much the only rule.
Humor has its place.
Where to begin. It’s like Andrew said with the checklist. The sad thing is that Drew pisses me off so much that, yeah, I lob reactionary insults at him, but when it comes to really talking about the issues, I kind of don’t have the energy because… well, it’s pointless. You’re never going to convince me that under Andy MacPhail, this is a bush league organization, or that it’s a “joke”, as BBM said. How many owners of major league baseball teams don’t meet with their fans or the media? Plenty. How many major league baseball cities have radio stations that are at least somewhat affiliated with their respective teams? Probably the majority. Those aren’t valid reasons to call the organization a “joke”.
If you want to say 12 straight losing seasons is a joke, sure, I’d agree with you. I’d also agree that Flanagan and Duquette are a joke, along with the majority of the terrible decisions that were being made starting in the later half of the 90s. But this isn’t football. This isn’t “what have you done for me lately”, and that doesn’t really apply to baseball unless you’re the Yankees or Red Sox. The mistakes were made, and we’re STILL paying for them despite the organization having gone a virtual 180 to the right direction in less than 3 years – an amazing feat that we honestly are lucky to be witnessing. Look at the Pirates. Jesus H. Christ, now that’s a joke of an organization. The only hope they have is the fact that they are in the division they’re in, and they still can’t make a dent.
Since we’re full on into this thing again, if I may travel down the road of futility and counter on some of Drew’s points:
A couple of things here. I don’t doubt that you and probably some other media folks met with Flanagan and Duquette and gave them some decent advice. And I don’t doubt that they stole some of those ideas and failed to act on most of them. They were bad. More accurately, they had no pull with Angelos, making them even less effective. You’re never going to hear me say that the Orioles were a good organization under Flanagan/Duquette, and you’re never going to hear me say that Peter Angelos is a great owner.
On the credential thing… it’s pretty much the first thing O’s fans know about you, and it might be the last thing they care about. The fact that you and you alone have had this credential allegedly revoked (and I’ve heard from other media types that no one is denied a credential anymore and that you are in fact at the press box at games) just speaks to the fact that you and you alone screwed something up. You pissed them off somehow, and since the details are only ever partially revealed by you, it’s hard to convincingly use the credential thing as a weapon against the organization. It comes off as self-serving and tired, and honestly you should drop it altogether. It’s not doing you any favors and I would say that it lessens every other argument you have against the organization, even if it doesn’t relate to your credential thing.
Says you. I mean, I don’t really buy that you have intimate knowledge of other media members’ payroll details. You’re making a broad generalization. You’re also assuming people want to listen to radio that constantly brings up negative points about the team (however correct these points are), which I don’t think is accurate. I’ve heard plenty of criticism on these “payroll” stations, but the fact is that O’s fans don’t want to harp on the last 15 years of futility when the product on the field is finally exciting again. And I’d imagine neither do the hosts and media people on these stations. Roch for example has fended off countless “payroll” accusations and made a good amount of suggestions for improvement himself.
This tells me you will never be soft on them. Ever. Because there will always be something that they do that will piss you off. What multi-million dollar business is run perfectly? What business period is run perfectly? I’m sure there are things at WNST that you don’t agree with, but all in all, you probably enjoy your job. That’s my perspective on the Orioles. Sure, raising ticket prices isn’t agreeable, but in the scheme of things, Baltimore’s back on the road jerseys, Brooks is getting involved more, the winning teams of the past are being honored, the on-the-field stuff is far improved and smarter, there have been better promotions, bloggers (some who have written some very critical stuff) were invited to the park, the Camden experience is getting better and by all accounts, you should really be getting “soft” on them already. This team could win 100 games, give away $1 seats for a third of their games, apologize to you, promote on WNST, and charge an extra 50 cents for MASN, and you’d be stuck on that damn MASN thing because that’s what you do. And if not, well, that’s what people think because they think it’s your job to do that, so your credibility as an objective media guy is shot.
Some other things..
This just isn’t true. This is true for who, you and Nestor? Just you? Cowherd and Schmuck write some pretty critical stuff, are they “expurgated”?
I’d like to hear if Neal agrees with this.
That’s all I got. Sorry so long.
Anyway, getting back to an actual discussion…
what’s all y’all’s take on this corner infield situation? Seems like we have three options:
1) Atkins at third, Hughes/Aubrey/Snyder duke it out in ST for first.
2) Atkins at first, Tejada at third.
3) Atkins at first, Crede at third.
You can probably guess that I’d choose option #1 if it were up to me. I’ve banged that drum enough I think. I will say this though: if the the Orioles’ plan is to win as many games as possible this summer, Tejada is the right choice.
The only reason to go with Crede is because the focus is instead on bringing Josh Bell in in June and the warehouse thinks Tejada would cause a huge stink that Crede wouldn’t. Tejada’s the better player.
But I’m curious what the other thoughts are.
What about…
4) Atkins at 3rd, JIM EDMONDS AT 1ST!
Just kidding.
#1 and #2 seems to be the best options, and it’s hard at this point to see it being anything other than these 3 options. A trade changes everything, but it’s tough to speculate on that.
I’d have fun watching Tejada again, knowing this time around that he is what he is (.300/12-15HR/80RBI/99999999GIDP). It’d be interesting to see if O’s fans give him a pass for jogging to 1B and showing up to the park late this time around knowing he’s a stop-gap, or what.
Imagine watching Bedard and Tejada again next year. The humor alone is enough to keep me interested all year.
@dan the man – You know who holds the record for most career GIDP, don’t you?
@Andrew – Yo yeah, Cal himself. In fact a ton of really good players have high GIDP, which is interesting. Maybe they just make more contact all around.
What was worse, though, was Miggy’s tendency to just pull it on the ground to 3rd, much like Jones started to do late in the season. That bugs the crap out of me.
But bring him on, it’d be fun. The two big trade pieces back again, this time with an actual rotation and some actual good players.
@dan the man – I would guess it’s because the good players are batting in the so-called “run producing spots” of the lineup, so they come up with more 1st and 1 or fewer outs situations. Also the good players play longer. I think Miggy’s per capita GIDP rate is a heck of a lot worse than Cal’s, but anyway I’m not exactly holding it against him when he’s still getting so many hits.
If they do go with him, though, i just hope to God that he stops the play i named “The Miguel Tejada” where he hits a line drive to the outfield for a base hit and then gets thrown out astonishingly easily at second base. I also considered renaming it “The Aubrey Huff” or “The Baltimore Orioles 2009″
@Andrew – Yeah that’s “The Miguel Tejada” alright. Dude, you are not fast. Melvin, neither are you. I would argue that any alleged failed hit-and-run should be called “The Aubrey Huff” because that seemed to be what kept happening to him last year.
How about “The Felix Pie”, where you almost kill yourself going into 2nd base because, well, you didn’t slide because… well, we will never know why I guess.
I’m liking the idea of Miggy at third for one year more and more. What I don’t like at all is the idea of Atkins at first. Signing him to play third is one thing, but his likely 15-20 HR and 70-75 RBI are Millar-like at first.