JEEPercreepermd

Well, the thing with Cespedes is that he's probably the best defensive outfielder left on the free agent market and he's probably the biggest game breaker left. I don't know a ton about Upton, but after the Orioles missed out on Hayward, all I heard about was how Cespedes was the best remaining outfielder. 

 

Plus, adding another 30 home runs per year to an already deep power rotation? That's fine with me. Game-breaking offensive power with the strongest arm in the outfield? That's fine with me.

 

As for the rotation, if they signed Gallardo, I'd hope he'd be higher in the rotation than fifth. He would be at least a two or three on this team. The one pitcher I would not sleep on his Vance Worley. He's putting up similar numbers consistently to most Orioles pitchers, but he's had two stellar seasons of an ERA of 3.01 or less. If he can regain that form, he'd be an absolute steal for the fifth pitcher spot.

 

Also, would have to imagine that Dylan Bundy factors in somewhere as well. He's out of minor league options, so if the Orioles leave him in the minors, they're subjecting him to waivers and do we really think that's gonna keep him on the Orioles? They're gonna have to let him compete for a spot in the rotation, even if I don't think he wins it.

 

I definitely hear that, and It would be awesome if they DID get Cespedes but it doesn't look like it at this point...you never know though. I think the Orioles best hope is for him to go the way of Cruz and take a 1 year deal to get that big payday next year...Weiters essentially did the same thing by accepting the qualifying offer. 

  I was just saying that from a power standpoint, the lineup is still going to probably be top 5 or top 3 in home runs most likely. 

    As far as Bundy goes, they are stuck in a rough spot. I'm sure if it were up to Douquette and Buck, he'd be in Bowie until september. But as you said, he doesn't have any options so they are going to have to keep him on the roster or take the risk of him having to clear waivers..which won't happen. They are unwilling and otherwise can't trade him, because they won't get nearly as much value in return due to the tommy john surgery. So they pretty much are going to have to keep him in the bullpen, let him get some innings in as a long man then challenge for a rotation spot next year. 

  The thing that sucks is that pre- tommy john, he was actually pitching great in spring training and there was some talk of him actually being in the rotation. So fingers crossed, his arm is good and next year he bursts on to the scene..

Trestman did a good job as far as I'm concerned. Considering who was on the field by the end of the season, yet the offense was still able to move the ball to an extent. 

I'm glad they were able to retain Davis, but they still need another outfielder and a pitcher! 

 

I am also keeping my fingers crossed that the Cespedes offer is still on the table. Our lineup would be very formidable with him also on it. IMHO, our lineup would be able to put up the type of runs the Blue Jays put up last season when they added all the offense.

 

 

Here's the thing though, you're not going to be able to out slug everyone. I mean, with the lineup they have now there's STILL a ton of power bats..

 

You've got Jones and Machado who can both hit over 30 home runs, Weiters should be good for 20, Davis is a safe bet to hit 30 on a down year, I'm looking for Schoop to hit 20+, Hardy when healthy is capable of hitting 20, then you've got Trumbo who should be able to hit 25-30 considering all of the small parks in the AL East.

  

  The Orioles need a good defensive outfielder who has speed and can get on base, and A PITCHER. 

 

Our current rotation..

Tillman

Gonzalez

Gauzman

Jiminez

????????

  I'd be OK with them adding Gallardo or Fister  to be the 4th or 5th starter. 

Yep.  Give me Cespedes/Upton, a quality SP, and Pedro Alvarez if you can get him on a one year deal and I'd be happy.

 

Only issue is that they waited so long that there aren't any high quality pitchers left out there..

 

I don't think they have completely moved on from Davis, they are posturing. They want him back, but they drew the line in the sand saying 154 Milliion is a ton of money...and a very fair deal..either take it soon or we are going to sign Cespedes

BTW What in the (expletive self-moderated) is S8 anyway?

Dude is just plain weird.

In Chip Kelly's first season, teams weren't used to the tempo of his offense. By years two and 3, defenses caught up to him.

He has the most simplistic playbook in the NFL, he relies on running the same few plays from multiple formations and a rediculous tempo to catch defenses off guard. He values tempo and number of snaps over time of possession.

There is no way I'd be happy with him as our OC.

I think from afar it's easy to say because of his college career that he would be an awesome OC to have, but nah I'll pass.

Like I said,his offense could run bottom teir defenses up and down the field, but when faced with a physical,good defense, the Eagles would fold every time..i watch most of their games.

Well this one is easy.

Blackhawks again. Named after a Sauk Indian Chief by the same name, who refused to allow his tribe to be moved out of their ancestral homes along the Mississippi river in far western Illinois, he fought encroachment for years.

The Blackhawks have a new brave in their War Party by the name of Panarin, which in Sauk means, "Little Dead Eye Bruin Slayer." Added to their elite group of warriors, the NHL has little chance.

I don't know, Dallas is looking pretty formidable. I've got them in the WC Finals.

Flyers will sneak in and beat Washington round one.

Interesting. I'm a Flyers fan, and I'd be over the moon if they made the playoffs..got some catching up to do!

Edit: They are only 4 pts behind the Wildcard so I guess it's possible..

Either way I just want to see continued improvement in the 2nd half. I really like what Dave Hakstol has done so far..and They have been seriously handcuffed by the salary cap mess that Holmgren created,and probably will be next season too..but they definitely are trending up..more speed on defense,and they have two excellent goaltenders.

They need to find another legit top 3 forward, I like Raffl,but he's a 2nd liner.

The Bengals were 12-2 before Andy Dalton got injured. Now way he gets fired. You guys want everyone fired but Harbaugh.[/quote

Half of them wanted Harbaugh fired too.

I think Tucker gets a deal, and Upshaw walks no matter what. I'm 50/50 on KO.

In all honesty, the whole notion that Pees needs to be fired is foolish.

If you can point the finger at anybody, point it at Ozzie and Decosta for missing on the high picks that they have used on defense and for missing on free agents that they brought in to shore up the secondary aka Derrian Stewart, Kendrick Lewis, Kyle Arrington ect..

You guys want to torch the guy for being too vanilla..what else can he do with what he had? Go back and re watch the games, he used zone blitzes, zero coverage blitzes, and every type of coverage ..you'll see it all, the players on the field , mainly in the secondary did not perform up to expectation in the first half of the season..and pees held them accountable for it.

He criticized the lack of effort, he called jimmy out for playing too tentative, got rid of some guys like Melvin ect.. Who sucked and moved Webb to the slot, then to FS because he was struggling to cover guys.

Scheme is not the problem. Most of you have no idea how to accept failure, which is sad. The team needs to get better, in order to do so they need better, healthier players on the field.

Switching defensive coordinatiors or switching to the 4-3 or whatever half brained knee jerk solutions you geniuses have conjured up as a reaction to having a losing season is not even remotely what the team needs.

I'd like to know just one situation where Dean Pees' play call cost us a game this season..just one, humor me, plesse

The comment about being prepared to play next year with Joe under his existing deal seems odd to me. It could represent negotiation by way of posturing,I suppose but assuming that were to happen, how prohibitive would that number be in terms of making other signings?

It absolutely was posturing. What I took from it is this if I can paraphrase it...

Ozzie:Joe, we want to upgrade the LT position by moving Osemele there..but we have to pay him. We also want to add a few more receivers which is what you want as well. If we can't come to an agreement we will have a plan in place to field the best team possible given our cap situation, but you may not be happy to see possible James Hurst at Left Tackle and a WR corps similar to what you had this season.

Anyway, just my opinion. Joe is a smart guy, and I'm sure they'll be able to re structure..I wouldn't be worried about that at all.

Yep, now he's gone lol

 

Honestly, Jim Caldwell was gifted a great team in Indy when Dungy retired. I don't think he's that great of a coach. Definitely didn't work here as an offensive play caller ( he was merely calling plays out of cam cameron's playbook) 

I don't see the need to change schemes. This has been an on/off debate for YEARS. Thing is that we are more of a hybrid defense than a traditional 3-4 or 4-3 anyway, so it would be more semantics than anything so why even change?

This. I'm looking to see the progression of not only Urban, but Carl Davis as well. 

 

I wouldn't mind him coming back. Definitely has been playing better since his debacle @ SF. If anything, he'd be good depth. 

 

I definitely think Wright could come back next year, there's also Will Davis as an option as well. He played pretty well until he tore the acl too. 

freaking Adderall. I have ADD. I've played sports my whole life..and took Adderall. It doesn't help. It helped me in school more than in sports..

I was laughing hysterically watching that Eagles/Pats game. First that the Eagles looked like they would win in a blowout despite not really doing anything special on offense or defense. Second because they almost let the Patriots take it away from them in the last 5 minutes.

Listening to a Santana live mix after going to see him the other night. What a great guitarist and phenomenal group of players. Never get tired of seeing them.

Carlos Santana is forever one of my favorite guitarists. There have been others with much more virtuosity, but the expressiveness in his playing is bar none.

Scott weiland died last night.

Another wasted career. Think about how much great music we have missed out on over the years lost because of drugs.

It sucked, but honestly I'm not all that suprised. Dude was a junkie for a looooong time. His career was derailed by the needle long, long ago.

STP reunited with a CLEAN Weiland would have been something. STP with Chester Bennington is sad.

just finished listening to Metallica's "Load" album for the first time in years.

Maybe its because im older, and have a much more diverse taste than years ago, but I was really digging it.

It's still heavy, yet bluesy but not warp speed like the mid 80's albums.

Songs like The House Jack Built, 2x4, King Nothing, Bleeding Me, Outlaw Torn are all just great rock and roll tunes despite not being "thrashy" BTW listening to the song "Mamma Said" made me realize that Metallica could probably do Country better than most of the current popular country artists can.

most definitely looking bright for next season.

The team will be good next season, and this years debacle is a good lesson for some of the young guys that havent experienced what its like or what it takes to get through it.

As ive said in another thread..our shedule isnt all that daunting next year either.

Our home opponents (minus divisional teams)

Eagles

Redskins

Bills

Dolphins

Most likely-Oakland(AFC West 3rd place)

Away opponents (Minus divisional)

New England

Jets

Giants

Cowboys

Most likely-Jaguars(AFC South 3rd place)

Not a team on that schedule that we cant beat heck we'd give any of them a run for their money right now if we played them today.

What makes this year so hard is watching how our playoff chances taken away so early and watching the bills run by Taylor making a run for the playoffs. I was a big Taylor supporter and believed with time and the right offense he could be great. He is proving me right. I was one of the few that we should let Flacco take his big contract and we use the money on rebuilding the defense and add playmaker for Taylor. But nothing can be done about it now. And now we have a major issue going forward with a big cap hit and contracts coming up. I know injuries have killed us but that on the management having so little depth. Our d is playing better but with Shaub at qb our chances of winning again are slim. I actually can't wait for the year to end. So we can reboot and start over.

So you wanted to let Flacco walk and keep Tyrod Taylor? Wow. Good thing you aren't the GM.

I would say no. That title belongs to the 2007 team. They actually gave up after losing that Patriots game at home.

This year, the team has had a chance to win every game and they play hard. I don't like this season, but I accept it.

We will get healthy and Re load this offseason.

We will have a relatively decent schedule next year too..

Our home games are all but certain to be

AFCN teams aside) Buffalo,Miami,Eagles,Skins,Oakland (AFC west 3rd place)

Away

Patriots,Giants,Jets (two away games..same stadium) Cowboys, Jaguars(AFC South 3rd place)

With a healthy team, there's not a game on that schedule that can't be won..oh and bring on the freaking Patriots..

The Ravens will play hard, I cant see them laying down for anybody..too many guys trying to make next year's roster

That said, the game will be decided late in the 4th by one score or less just like every other game.

Yes, he can still play. With any level of competence? I haven't seen it yet. I would love to, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

As a side note, he never had a strong arm to begin with, but he really seems to have lost the little zip he had before. Could get really ugly the next few weeks

Yeah, the arm is definitely donezo