Waiting for the stove to heat up
I hate this part of the year. I want to watch more baseball, but it’s just gone. And I want to follow the hot stove league, but it ain’t started yet. All I get to pay attention to is people’s bullshit pre-HSL predictions, which are always crazy.
Fangraphs usually isn’t crazy. But every once in a while, you get an article like this one, where somebody suggests that what the Orioles need to do to improve is add like $60 million to their payroll next year and spend it all signing washed-up old people. Here’s the list of positions the Orioles need to improve at, according to this guy:
• First Base
• Third Base
• Shortstop
• Outfield
• Designated Hitter
• Pitching
So… everybody sucks except Brian Roberts, yeah? Not that I’m disagreeing, but check out the lineup of crazy he’s suggesting replacing them with:
• Xavier Nady
• Bill Hall
• Juan Uribe
• Andruw Jones
• Magglio Ordonez
• Aaron Harang
• Jon Garland
Yikes! That team will cost a hundred million dollars and win 65 or 70 games. I’d suggest this is not the best direction for the Orioles to go in. Also, why give Matt Wieters a pass on his not-living-up-to-potential-ness but not Josh Bell? Is it because Matt Wieters once framed a pitch so perfectly that it counted as two strikes?
I’ll tell you where the Orioles really need to improve: at owner. I confess that having an owner who actually is Blofeld is pretty useful if your team is constantly being infiltrated by secret agents, but, when it comes to putting a winning team on the field, maybe you could do better. I hear Jamie McCourt’s available!
Oh, also, first base. The Orioles desperately need a first baseman. But I’m from the future, and I’m tellin’ you this: Xavier Nady ain’t the answer.
