Has Trust, Confidence been earned?

[weird-O]

If Reimold can stay healthy, I know...big if...he could replace Reynolds' bat with similar power, less K's and a good OBP.

I like Reynolds and wish him the best but I will not miss his K's.

I agree with you that the potential is there with Reimold. but teams that want to compete don't move forward with this plan. when it comes to Reimold, it's fair to say "can't". as in, "he can't play a full season" "we can't depend him to...". it's just more of the O's long standing tradition of going with the least expensive option and then use words like "might, could, if, possibly" to explain their approach to the upcoming season.

[rgh]

I think the other thing the O's are counting on is guys like Jones, Wieters, Davis, Machada will be better than they were last year. Plus they plan on getting more out of Markakis. Hopefully the same will happen with some of the young pitchers. The nucleus of the O's is just coming into their prime. That being said it is reasonable to expect some improvement from them.

[Pickle20]

I agree with you that the potential is there with Reimold. but teams that want to compete don't move forward with this plan. when it comes to Reimold, it's fair to say "can't". as in, "he can't play a full season" "we can't depend him to...". it's just more of the O's long standing tradition of going with the least expensive option and then use words like "might, could, if, possibly" to explain their approach to the upcoming season.

Competing teams lose decent players all the time and fail to add a similar/better player. Look at the Moneyball A's. I'm not saying Duquette is going to find the next Scott Hatteberg but I think a combo of Davis/Reimold/Betemit/Valencia/etc... can fill the void that Reynolds is leaving.

And don't forget, Reynolds was abysmal last year outside of maybe 2 weeks in August and September. Otherwise he was a solid defender at 1B and a good character to have on the team. But he pretty much stunk last year. It was by far the worst season of his career. So there's no guarantee he gets back to hitting 35,40 home runs again.

[bmore_ken]

I agree with you that the potential is there with Reimold. but teams that want to compete don't move forward with this plan. when it comes to Reimold, it's fair to say "can't". as in, "he can't play a full season" "we can't depend him to...". it's just more of the O's long standing tradition of going with the least expensive option and then use words like "might, could, if, possibly" to explain their approach to the upcoming season.

That about sums up the O's in a nutshell

[hector]

when it comes to Vlad, he's always started, sitting in idle, and revving his engine.

You Wilson Betemit fans are all alike.

[weird-O]

And don't forget, Reynolds was abysmal last year outside of maybe 2 weeks in August and September. Otherwise he was a solid defender at 1B and a good character to have on the team. But he pretty much stunk last year. It was by far the worst season of his career. So there's no guarantee he gets back to hitting 35,40 home runs again.

all true.

but even with the down year, he's better than Betemit, Valencia of any combo of the two. Davis is already penciled in as a starter in the line up. and Reimold just isn't durable enough to couint on as an every day player. that's why I mentioned the thing about the FO using "if" so much. Reimold looks like he could match MR's offense, if he could ever play 150 games a year.

on paper, they are weaker without MR. the season will prove this to be right or wrong. and last year the FO did amazing things to compensate for weaknesses. so I'm not discouraged, just disappointed in this aspect of the off season.

[can you hear me now!]

just remember, hope is not much of a plan....I will give the team credit for one thing this offseason -- they did not sign anyone to a MLB contract who is just looking for one more paycheck...that's progress...

[kudzu]

just remember, hope is not much of a plan

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

btw - I got an email from thesun.com that said you sent me a PM about a week ago.

Couldn't see the PM itself, since I keep my PM box full on purpose.

Was it important ?

[can you hear me now!]

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

btw - I got an email from thesun.com that said you sent me a PM about a week ago.

Couldn't see the PM itself, since I keep my PM box full on purpose.

Was it important ?

that was more like a month ago...wasn't that important...just a question that I think has been obe'd....why do you keep your PM box full?

agree with the concept of hope...however, actions need to be taken in conjunction with having hope...not just sitting around waiting for good things to happen to you....

[kudzu]

that was more like a month ago...wasn't that important...just a question that I think has been obe'd....why do you keep your PM box full?

agree with the concept of hope...however, actions need to be taken in conjunction with having hope...not just sitting around waiting for good things to happen to you....

I keep my PM box full to avoid PM's from idiots.

The side effect of that is that I occasionally miss something good from an esteemed poster like yourself. Which is why I try to follow up on those.

The O's were blind-arse lucky last year. And, as you noted, pretty much did nothing this offseason.

Vegas has got the 2013 O's pegged very well right now.