I just cannot take it anymore, and I finally had to say something about it. I let it slide when they continually overspent on over-the-hill hitters in the mid-to-late 90’s, and failed to bring in a manager with a pulse. Then, they had a ton of young pitching talent coming up, both as starters and closers, yet failed to hire a pitching coach who was competent (at least until this season). However, after watching them play like the worst team in baseball, fire a lame duck manager (who will actually be really good when he goes elsewhere), get rejected by a potentially great manager, and just be an all out disgrace to baseball, I cannot let the Orioles slide anymore. It is absolutely pathetic how bad they are.
Let’s take a look at guys they have signed to large deals over the last decade that never produced yet hung around eating up their money:
Albert Belle
Rafael Palmiero
Will Clark (this hurts me, but Will needed to go back to the National League long before his finaly half-season with the Cardinals)
Kevin Millar
Javy Lopez
Once again, these were just five guys that immediately popped into my head. It required no thought whatsoever. Now, the Orioles cannot get any young talent to come play for them, yet they have the finances to field a great team. Instead, they keep bringing around retreads or junk from other rosters (read Millar, Patterson) and fail to make any moves to support their current talent (read Roberts now and Tejada two years ago). They have even failed to hold on to quality young pitchers (read B.J. Ryan). Even in deals where it looks like they made the right move, it blows up in their face (read the Jorge Julio trade) because the player they landed could not stay healthy.
If that weren’t enough, their owner is a meddler and will not let his general managers or managers run the team without his interference, despite the fact that he has continually shown his incompetence when it comes to baseball teams and talent. He is also a complete jerk that alienated the entire D.C. fan base to the point that the Expos were welcomed with opened arms and Nationals hats outsold Orioles hats like 5-to-1.
I had the opportunity to go to Camden Yards with the lady friend last summer, to watch an Orioles-Red Sox game no less. I was fired up, because I always wanted to see Camden, and we were going to see my favorite team play a high scoring, mashing game. I was so disappointed to see the lack of Oriole fan turnout, especially for a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in August. To make matters worse, the entire left field section (E-bay is great for finding homerun porch tickets) was full of Red Sox fans. I made the future Ms. Hoops wear the Orioles shirt that she purchased, just so I would not be alone. For the record, she buys a home team tee-shirt/jersey at every MLB ball park she visits, and has a nice collection of shirts from the New York Yankees (Mantle jersey), Baltimore Orioles (Brooks Robinson jersey), Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, and Washington Nationals (spent two days in Washington D.C. and caught a Nationals-Mets game before driving to Baltimore for the Orioles game). And you wonder why I popped the question.
To further prove my point, take a look at this article and make a note of how the Orioles are the most prevalent team on the list.
