Rebuilding in Baltimore

Without coming out and saying it, Andy McPhail basically said he is going to begin a rebuilding process in Baltimore. To that I have 2 things to say: THANK YOU and IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Along with the Pirates, the Orioles have been the worst franchise in baseball over the past decade. When the defending AL East champion O's fell from 98 wins in '97 to 79 wins in '98 and lost a ton of free agents, they should have rebuilt. Instead Angelos signed Albert Belle, Will Clark, and Delino DeShields and a decade of disaster and despair ensued.

I have a lot of faith in McPhail. The man won 2 World Series in his 30's with the Twins and laid the groundwork for the outstanding organization they have been for the last 20 years. Cubs fans will say he was a disappointment in Chicago. I have a hard time judging him because he wasn't directly responsible for baseball decisions there. I always thought that was a waste of his talent.

Of course, the X factor in all of this is Angelos. If he steps in and vetos any trade, then the O's will continue to wallow in the bottom division.

It's looking more and more that Baltimore's other team, the Ravens, may need to rebuild after this season. The team has gone from a "veteran" team last season to an "old" team this year. McNair looks terrible and the defense, while still very good (when healthy), is no longer dominant enough to carry them.

With McAlister, Rolle, and possibly Reed out this week against the Bengals, Cincy may score 50. And this is one of the Ravens 2 most winnable games the rest of the way.

The way the game is evolving even more toward QBs (especially after Poster Boy Manning whined a few years ago) and the fact that each of the other AFC North teams has at least 1 young very good QB, the Ravens need to draft a high-quality QB. In order to develop him, unfortunately, the Ravens are going to have to hire a new coaching staff. Billick is not willing to bring in an independent offensive coordinator with his own system. And after 9 years of the same crap, it's obvious that Billick is not going to get his system to work in Baltimore.

As a fan I don't mind if a team rebuilds, as long as they have a solid plan. Two of my favorite seasons as fans were the 89 Orioles and the 02 Ravens. Both were extremely young teams that played hard and overachieved. The 89 Orioles laid the foundation for the outstanding mid-90's O's teams while the 02 Ravens laid the foundation for the AFC North champions of '03 and '06. With Andy McPhail and Ozzie Newsome overseeing the rebuilding, I think it will be fun to watch.