According to multiple reports including this one by MLB Trade Rumors, The Orioles will now pursue Prince Fielder. This disputes numerous other reports that said the Orioles were content with Mark Reynolds and Chris Davis playing first and third. So what changed over the past few weeks? The answer is a “secret mandate” from Orioles owner Peter Angelos. Mr. Angelos wants Fielder, so the Orioles will now pursue him. Duquette says that Orioles fans shouldn’t get their hopes up, but you really never know. Angelos has the money to afford Fielder, so if he really wants him, Baltimore can be a serious suitor.
So maybe this can put to rest some of the negativity that Orioles fans have towards their owner. Let’s not forget that Angelos already tried the high spending approach a few times. He forked out the money for Albert Belle in 1999, and again for Miguel Tejada, Javy Lopez, and Rafael Palmeiro in the same off season. For whatever reason Angelos has the reputation that he doesn’t like to spend money. But that was proven wrong again a few seasons ago when the Orioles were serious suitors for the services of Mark Teixeira. Once McPhail was brought in, Andy decided that the Orioles should build from within and only spend money on smart investments. The last few seasons McPhail admitted that the top free agents available were not worth the money that they demanded. And Andy was right. The majority of free agents that signed for big money over the past few years have not lived up to expectations. Last year there was also a report that Angelos told McPhail that the money would be there for whoever he thought he needed. It was McPhail that rightfully decided not to use it.
So it appears that Mr. Angelos is willing to spend the money to bring in big players whenever the general manager feels it’s worth it. Angelos wants Duquette to pursue Fielder, and now it’s up to Duquette to decide if he wants to. Any baseball expert or fan knows that Fielder is one of those guys that is worth the money. So in my opinion if Duquette does not actively pursue Fielder after having the support of Angelos then his reign as GM is not off to a good start.
Follow me on Twitter
***THIS JUST IN****
The Intimidator confirms that the Orioles are just playing the fans like every year and that even though Angelos has a “Mandate” (BTW Spy, its a mandate, not like you do and date men) to sign Fielder, Angelos really means he wants to sign “Cecil Fielder” not “Prince Fielder”.
But in an attempt to screw over other teams, Angelos will come in at the 11th hour and offer “Cecil Fielder” $100mil while the other teams look to sign “Prince Fielder”. Angelos will gloat that he was able to get his “Fielder” at a lower cost than the $170mil that the Cubs paid for “Prince Fielder”.
Also confirmed… Mark Hendrickson, Kevin Millwod, Robbie Alomar and Mickey Tettleton on Angelos radar.
I just don’t understand why Angelos does the right thing here and people still bad mouth him as if he did something wrong. Angelos didn’t even tell the media or anyone else that he wanted Fielder, it was Duquette who did so. It’s a “secret mandate” because it wasn’t made public. Duquette seems to be a vocal GM who doesn’t hold things back from the fans, and that’s the only reason why we even know about this story. Angelos has done nothing wrong except for tell the dull GM that he should be targeting a great player that he wasn’t originally planning to try for. If I were Angelos I would say the same thing. I would say that I wanted Fielder and would question why my guy in charge wasn’t going after him.
He hasn’t done the right thing——-yet! The right thing is when he signs Fielder.
That’s on Duquette to sign Fielder.
As much as I love the Orioles, this will NEVER happen. They’ll offer $180 million while the others offer $200 million. I love this team, but I’m smart enough to know that chances of this happening are as good as me hitting Mega Millions tomorrow night…not impossible, just highly unlikely.
Your right that even though the Orioles are interested, it doesn’t mean they will offer enough to be the top bidders. I also agree it’s unlikely but it’s good to know that our owner is willing to try and pay for him.
How many times does Peter think he can go to the well with this kind of garbage. It is the same story over and over again. Angelos hires a new GM. Says the GM has a mandate to do what he feels is necessary. Says he can spend what he needs to make the team win. The high priced free agent then plays the Orioles to get a better offer elsewhere. In the end it turns out the the Orioles only discussed a contract and it was starting at 20 million lower than the starting point for everyone else.
It is nonsense. At this point I would rather them just say that our payroll is going to be 75 million dollars and that we are content to compete for last place in the AL East. At least then the front office would be telling the truth
That wasn’t the case with Teixeira. The Orioles made the top offer and then the Yankees upped their offer and Teix took it without letting the Orioles make another offer. I just don’t see what else Angelos can do? He’s spent the money, then he tried to the building approach. Then he offered the money for the right guys and the guys didn’t sign. Now he’s doing the right thing with Fielder. What else can he do? What else does people want from him? He told Duquette to try for Fielder. If Fielder isn’t an Oriole it’s on Duquette. It’s not because of the owner.
Are you an Oriole sympathizer Mark Brown? You do nothing but make excuses for Angelos and the Orioles. Where have those “Oriole Blinders” got you the last 13 years?
Its clowns like you that the Orioles keep playing their games with the fans because they know you will keep spending your money on a failed product. If your “DELL” computer kept breaking down every year would you keep buying a “DELL” or try “COMPAQ” or “HP”?
Just keep feeding me the “rock”, I’ll keep pulling up at the 3 point line, shoot a sweet jumper, swish, 3 points, mark it! The Intimidator is on fire!
That’s what true fans do. Anyone who gives up on their team or switches teams shouldn’t watch baseball at all. Trying being a Cubs fan, it could be much worse. Do Cubs fans switch to the WhiteSox? Nope. Because they have a great fan base. I doubt the loyalty and strength of the Orioles fan base. There are plenty of good fans out there, most of which read this site. But there are some Balti-morons out there that drag the entire fan base down. The Orioles have been bad for 13 years. Deal with it. Don’t go jumping to a new team or negatively critiquing everything that they do that is positive. Don’t be the guys in the outfield of the Major League movies. And I would never own a PC, I’m a MAC guy.
Mark, Mark, Mark… You can still be a fan of the Orioles but don’t be an apologizer for them. The Orioles are still my team and have been from the day I knew about baseball but I do not back any of the crap they have done for 13 years nor will be apologizing for them like you.
You said “Don’t go jumping to a new team or negatively critiquing everything that they do that is positive”. What have they done that is a positive in the last 13 years? Nothing and I have years of proof for it.
Signing a GM that has been out of baseball for 10 years after the previous 3 guys the Orioles wanted for GM turned them down IS NOT A POSITIVE!
And speaking about that GM position… The dual GM’s with Flanagan and Beattie was a classic but not a positive…
How about signing Jason Duchscherer or whatever his name is last year knowing the clown was hurt but you could get him cheap and maybe catch lightning in a bottle? No, no, thats not a positive…
Or how about this… the owner signing Markakis and Roberts because he likes them. Nope, not a positive…
Oh, oh… how about not signing a #1 pitcher for the last 4 years however trading for 38 year old Kevin Millwood 3 years ago in hopes this career #4 starter could be your #1? Have to say no on this also…
Oh yeah, signing the OLD Vlad Guerrero, again to catch lightning in a bottle… A resounding no positive…
C’mon, I want you to give me a positive… There is no positive with this management/ownership.
Listen, I do not want to bust on you this hard, I seriously do not, but I’m tired of you guys that watch this team with blinders on and cannot get it thru your head that this team IS NOT worried about you the fan at all. They are worried about the bottom dollar. They feed you Oriole Apologists the same crap every year and you fall for it.
Look at my past postings from last year and you will see I have called this offseason spot on… The Orioles will say they are going after Fielder but will come in at $120mil when other teams are posting $160mil for him. Then the Orioles will say they tried.
Like a guy at my work said today. You can say your going to buy a Ferrari and even go to the dealership but you will offer $10,000 for a $100,000 Ferrari and then come home and tell your buddies you tried to deal with the salesman for the Ferrari but they wouldn’t take your $10,000 offer.
I agree mostly with what you’ve said. I wasn’t a fan of the GM situation this year. I was 100% against Duchscherer right away last year. But you can’t say nothing is a positive just because a team hasn’t won anything. The Orioles offense last year was solid. We had more players hit over 20 HR’s than any team in baseball. Our offense right now is a positive. Wieters has arrived last year as an offensively elite, gold glove winning, catcher. Adam Jones reached potential. JJ Hardy bounced back to his old self. Reynolds hits 35-40 HR every single year. Markakis is a gold glove winning, high average guy. Those guys combine for an above average offense. And their average age between the 5 of them is 27 years old. That means they don’t even hit their prime for 2-3 more years. Then there is Chris Davis, who I have always been a fan of. Do you realize he has 40 HR potential. He only got one chance with Texas because they are a winning team. They weren’t in position to wait for a guy to develop when they needed to win now. What if he hits 40 HR’s? Then he’s Prince Fielder. The chance for him to do that is there and the upside is also there. The offense in general is a positive. The pitching is very young, and like any young staff they get hammered for a few years. Look at the young staffs the Tigers and Rays had. Both of their staffs were hammered for a few years before they both made it to the World Series. The O’s young pitching has just as much upside as those staffs did. Why? Because Matusz was a high upside, high first round pick. Because Britton already had success and was an early rookie of the year candidate. Because Arrieta has already looked good at the big league level. Those 3 alone won’t cut it, the O’s need more to help them. Can you image a staff of Gio Gonzalez, Yu Darvish, Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta, Jeremy Guthrie? That’s a very good staff. That’s all it will take for the O’s to have a good rotation again. They need to trade for a good starter and sign a guy like Darvish. The bullpen is the biggest issue though. That needs work, but bullpens are easy to turn around if you get the right guys. We are 2 starting pitchers away from being a legit over 500 team in my opinion. The core pieces are there, and the core pieces are very good.
Mark… Can you imagine a staff of Roger Clemens, Jim Palmer, Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina and Bret Saberhagen?
That’s what your saying by stating “Can you image a staff of Gio Gonzalez, Yu Darvish, Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta, Jeremy Guthrie?” You can say imagine all you want but those results WILL NEVER happen. Darvish hasn’t done anything in the Majors and will never come here anyway, Gio Gonzalez ain’t happening, Matusz has done nothing but go backwards, Guthrie is a #4 at most and Arrieta hasn’t even pitched a full season.
That’s what I’m saying about you guys. You say “Imagine” and “Can you see” and “If we get”, but all that shit ain’t happening and never has.
It’s like saying can you imagine a lineup of Texiera, Cano, Reyes, Youkilis, Pedroia, Ordonez, Pujols, Fielder, etc… You “Blinder Boys” cannot even give me a solid argument…
You mention Reynolds and his 35-40 dingers but the guy hit .221 last year AND the Orioles have talked about trading him!
And there is that stupid shit talk about Chris Davis hitting 40 dingers.
Look, you need to stop because you have not given me any hard facts. All you have given me is “Imagine” and “Can you see” and “If we get”…
Here’s one for you… “IMAGINE” me being a .340 hitter with 40 dingers every year and 120 ribbies. I’m here for the Orioles to sign. “CAN YOU SEE” “IF WE GET” me to play for the Orioles, “IMAGINE” the numbers I’ll put up. That sounds stupid, right?
BTW, how old are you? Seriously…
Wait what? A staff of Clemens, Plamer, and Johnson? You think the guys I named are on the same level as those guys? Is that was I was saying? I simply named a rotation of 3 guys the Orioles already have, plus one free agent signing, and one non-hall of fame trade target. Both Gio and Darvish are gettable players, unlike everyone you named. The difference is that my guys are realistic and yours were not.
Anyways Darvish is expected to be posted after the Winter Meetings, so yes, he could come this year. He is definitely 100% coming eventually. And you can’t say he hasn’t done anything in the majors because he hasn’t played here. I can tell you that he did dominate the World Baseball Classic against MLB players. Why is Gio not happening? It could happen if the Orioles paid the right price. Matusz hasn’t been healthy and has gone backwards, yes. But give that kid some time. You can’t give up on a #4 overall guy that quickly. He will still be a very good player. If there’s one thing in this comment to bet on it’s that. Arrieta hasn’t played a whole season but he’s still at least a mediocre major league pitcher. That’s all you need out of your #4 spot. You say Guthrie is a #4 pitcher and I listed him as the O’s #5 in my rotation. So you must be saying that I’m undervaluing him.
I don’t understand what your talking about when you say I haven’t given any facts. I’m a facts guy. My actual job that pays my bills is literally baseball statistics. Here’s a fact, Mark Reynolds can hit 40 HR’s. Here’s a fact, Matt Wieters put up Brian McCann type #s last year. Here’s a fact, JJ Hardy had his best season last year. Here’s a fact, if the Orioles give Oakland the players they demand they can acquire Gio Gonzalez.
What is so hard to believe about the Orioles trading for a guy and signing a guy? Last year I could have said the Orioles should trade for a 40 HR guy, and you could have said “IMAGINE THAT.” And then they did trade for one. It’s not a huge reach to think that these things can actually happen. I’m a realist not an optimist. I don’t say things unless there is a possibility of them happening. Would I ever say that the O’s should get Clemens and Johnson….no. Because it’s not realistic. Would I ever say that the Orioles can get Albert Pujols….no. Because it’s not realistic. Do the Orioles have a chance of landing Fielder if they put the money up? Yes. That’s realistic. It’s up to the player, but the chance is there. Do the Orioles have a chance at acquiring Gio Gonzalez if they give up the right players? Yes. That’s realistic. If Darvish comes to the US is there a chance the Orioles can win his posting? Yes. The Yankees and Red Sox don’t want anymore Japanese players. That means he’s there for anyone to get. And I know for a fact that the Orioles will be targeting him. Yes I said fact. Something I give a lot of.
Mark,
The Orioles are my team, always have been, always will be. I love baseball season, love going to the park, love everything about it. I’d take an Orioles game a hundred times over a Ravens game. I grew up with this team and the Ravens to me are just the team that replaced my team, the Baltimore Colts. But having said all that, Angelos has totally mismanaged this team. He’s ran good baseball people off like Frank Wren, Pat Gillick, Davey Johnson and hired clowns like Syd Thrift and underqualifed guys like Beatie and Flanagan. he’s taken the winningest franchise in all of sports (over a 30 year period) and made them a laughing stock. Just because the Cubs have also been mismanaged doesn’t excuse what Angelos has done to this team. I’ll always support this team, watch their games on MASN, heck, I’m even going to Sarasota to go to spring training, but I’m done covering for Peter Angelos and his massive ego. You can contend he made valid offers to guys like Texeira, etc, but they were under market value. A team like the Orioles has to overwhelm a top shelf guy like Tex or Fielder. They can’t be in the neighborhood, they got to set the standard and show other players they are done being doormats. I don’t see it happening under this guy. I’ll keep hoping, but I’ll also set my expectations really, really low.
I really can’t argue anything you just said. Agreed.
Mark Brown… All you say in your comments is “IF”, “IT COULD HAPPEN” and “IT’S NOT A HUGE REACH”.
By naming Clemens, Palmer and Johnson I was pointing out how stupid YOUR comment was of having Gonzalez, Darvish.
“IF” I lost weight and got six pack abs I could be a “Chippendales” dancer. Now how stupid does that sound? Just has stupid as your “IF”, “IT COULD HAPPEN” and “IT’S NOT A HUGE REACH” crap.
I’ll tell you what Mark… I’ll give you 3-1 odds that the Orioles do not get Fielder, Gonzalez or Darvish before spring training. You get 3-1 odds on 3 players while they only have to get one for you to win… Minimum is 5 big ones… That’s 500 for me or 1,500 for you… You in?
You need to wake up son…
MARK BROWN – What’s wrong??? Your awfully quiet now… You got nothing huh? All these signings and trades and the Orioles are getting nothing… Not even your Gonzalez, Fielder, and Darvish…
Orioles did get a Rule 5 player that they now have to keep on their roster all year… That will put them over the top… But that trade for Eveland was a front page trade…
When are you goina stop dreaming after 14 years and realize this team just !@#$’s with your head? They do nothing!
Again, I am proved right!!!
Paul sr. from OCC wannabe, The O’s are headed in the right direction, don’t ya think it’s a pretty tough division? Look how long it took the Rays. I hope you didn’t drop your donut from excitement when the O’s beat the Sox in that last game!!! I used to wear my hat on backwards too, WHEN I WAS 12!!!!!!
@dale earnhardt – For your knowledge ass clown, I put my hat backwards because your wife says it gets in her way when we make out.
You need to lay off the drugs Hoss because your barking up the wrong tree… Trust me, you’ll lose and your mom will hate you for it…
Maybe one day I’ll get you out on a bike and you can see how much of a Paul Sr. wannabe I am…
BTW, don’t know about any donut but I understand you’re a compulsive soap dropper down at the YMCA…
Mark Brwon – I’m not going to be too critical because it is Christmas…
Have you seen all those trades going down and the Orioles are doing nothing?
Even your Oriole rotation of having Gio Gonzalez and Darvish is history as Gonzalez went to the Nationals and Darvish to the Rangers.
The Nationals are doing more than the Orioles and that’s a pity. I would have loved to see Gonzalez here as #1. The Orioles are stuck on their garbage minor leaguers.
Well, Merry Christmas Mark and I hope you get your Orioles New Years wish… My wish is for Angelos to sell the team.