So its been awhile since I spent any time at all on the Orioles, yet now is as good a time as any to get back to it.  The Orioles are just in a said state, in some ways worse off than the Kansas City Royals. The owner, Peter Angelos, has gotten himself into a pickle by being so impatient and firing GM after GM for years upon years.  Now, with well respected Andy McPhail in place the team is struggling to build for 5 years down the line. Why are they struggling?  Because an owner with a history of giving GM’s a two years to make changes doesn’t understand a 5 year plan, yet if a GM was allowed to create a 5 year plan back in 1997 (when the losing started) the Orioles wouldn’t be in the shape they are in.  McPhail has to balance keeping the owner happy with doing what it takes to actually rebuild the team and thats a very tricky line to walk.  The team will most likely lose 90+ games this coming year, something that Orioles fans probably won’t stomach too well.  So what can someone looking 5 years out actually do to entice fans?  Well, if you read the Baltimore papers it would be sign Aj Burnett or Mark Teixeira.  Burnett, though would be a waste of money, since the Orioles are 3-4 years away from “competitive”.  Teixeira might also not be the best move, but a 10 year deal for a top-tier guy who is willing to come to Baltimore isn’t bad, since he will still be adding value when the team comes into its own.  As one Orioles front office guy recently said to me, when you find a top-tier player who “is willing to come to Baltimore” we have to sign him.  Most of that caliber want a bigger media market so they have more off-field opportunities.  The players that place a value on Baltimore, well those are the ones the Orioles need to land.

The other piece that non-Orioles fans many not realize is that somewhere close to $70 million in payroll comes off the books after this coming season.  That’s a lot of money to play with going forward.  While ideally, a rebuilding team would wait until that money is officially off the books before spending it, a team like the Orioles can’t wait until then to sign that top-tier guy who is willing to play in Baltimore.  They may wait though on plugging other holes until then.

So, what can a team like the Orioles do to make the fans happy?  Well, first, ideally, Peter Angelos and Andy McPhail come out together and say we really are returning the Orioles to the greatness they once had.  Angelos steps up and says ‘I am committed to Andy’s plan and we need the fans to be committed to it too.’  They need to stop the hoping they will be better next year, enough better to keep the fans involved.  The second step would be to sign Nick Markakis to a long term deal.  They may have missed the boat on Brian Roberts who will become a free agent next season.  Markakis though is a fan favorite, and one most want to see in the uniform for years to come. Commit to him, and the fans will begin to commit to the team, too.  If Teixeira doesn’t end up with the Orioles, then a Markakis deal at least shows a willingness to act, and act responsibly.  Then simple shorter term stop-gap measures like signing a defensive short-stop and innings eating pitchers begin to look like a long-term plan to those paying any attention at all.

Oriole fans are frustrated not only because of the losing, but because –to borrow from the football world– they can’t see the ball moving down the field at all.  That will change with the amount of big contracts that expire after 2009, but how many fans will become so alienated in this coming season, because of a poor record, that years will have to be spent winning them back.

Angelos made a big mistake in hiring and firing so many different GM’s without ever seeing if the had a clear plan.  McPhail has a tough job in appeasing the owner while taking the wealth of knowledge that he and the staff he has put together and building a team that can compete in the AL East.  Angelos should be McPhail’s biggest cheerleader, he should  be working to rally the fans around the plan.  Instead, his distrust of the people he hires teaches the fans to be distrustful too.  Hopefully, McPhail can believe in his own plan enough, that when times get tough this coming summer– which they will– McPhail doesn’t buckle and veer away from the plan.  He puts his head down, tucks the ball under his arm and continues running towards the endzone.