Thanks to those of you who emailed me about the Irsay letter. I want to make sure I put some thought behind it. This week has been a bit hectic but I should finish it this weekend.
With the NFL season behind us and IU off until Saturday, my thoughts have drifted toward baseball. Mostly I've thought about how much I miss getting excited about baseball. Who took my passion? Who else - Peter Angelos.
Don't get me wrong, the Orioles are and will always be my favorite team as long as they play in Baltimore. I will plop down the ridiculous amount of money DIRECTV charges for the baseball package so I can watch them regularly. I'll listen to them on my XM radio when I'm out and about. But I don't live and die with them the way I used to (or the way I live and die with the Ravens. While I'm not all the way back with IU basketball, Kelvin Sampson is helping me find that passion again.)
It's not just the 9 straight losing seasons, or the 4th place finishes in 8 of the past 9 years. It's the arrogance, heavy-handedness, and cluelessness. But mostly it's the loss of hope. Angelos claims that he's hardly involved in the day-to-day operations but when his "baseball people" want to make a key move they have to get his sign-off. As a result, the O's missed out on the opportunity to get Roy Oswalt or Ervin Santana last summer for Miguel Tejada. The year before, just a few games out of first & desperate for pitching, he refused to OK a deal for AJ Burnett, who went on to go 5-0 with a sub 2.00 ERA the next month. The O's tanked and finished, you guessed it, in 4th place with a losing record!
If I were to just look at the roster, there would be reason to have hope. Erik Bedard is one of the top lefties in the game. Chris Ray is an outstanding young closer. Nick Markakis looks like a potential consistent .300/25 HR guy. Brian Roberts is one of the top leadoff men in the game. Miguel Tejada is one of the 7 or 8 best players in the game. Daniel Cabrera, Adam Loewen, and Hayden Penn have tons of potential and are learning from Leo Mazzone. The bullpen looks vastly improved.
But let's say everything falls into place. The O's are within 5 games of the wild-card in July. If they can get another bat, they could stay in the race. Does anyone honestly believe Angelos will approve a deal? No way! The excuse will either be - "he's too expensive" or "he's going to be a free agent." Then he'll say something asinine like - "I don't want to have to raise ticket prices." Demoralized, the O's fall apart and finish 4th with a losing record.
On the bright side, Cal Ripken goes into the Hall of Fame in July. At least I have something baseball-related to look forward to.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment