Episode 60: Tales from the Scrap Heap

Published by Bird's Eye View at December 9, 2013

Leading Off

At the top of the show, the guys conduct a little business – including one of Scott’s patented giveaways. After having one or several Winter Meetings inspired Drinks of the Week, it’s time for This Week on the Twitters (TWotT):

Sidelinegate
Ravens/Vikings 4th Quarter Tease
Tweet of the Week

Tales from the Scrap Heap

$1,000,000,000 have been spent on ballplayers in the 2014. The Orioles have accounted for almost none of it. Gains have been minimal (or more accurately, insignificant), and losses have been painful at times. Whereas relatively few fans will miss Scott Feldman, Nate McLouth had become near and dear to our hearts. His part in the magical 2012 season will be hard to forget. No one said “Goodby Nate, and thanks for the memories” better than our BSRN sister wives, Orioles Spastics:

[sz-youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxiP7sSy5FU” /]

Jake and Scott wonder where the Hot Stove action is, and review some of the comments made by Duquette in the days leading up to the Winter Meetings. Warning: the natives may get restless in this segment. They hit the big quesitons:

What moves will satisfy the Orioles fan base?
Will the club make “the big move?”

Scrooge McDuck

Peter Schmuck suggested that Peter Angelos is back to his meddlesome ways, after appearing to finally have turned control over to the baseball people. Were those two consecutive winning seasons were too much to handle? At least fans can go back to hating on Angelos…

Doesn’t winning fix everyghing? Is it possible that Angelos is giving these unpopular decisions some cover? Whether they’re business decisions from a megalomaniac or baseball decisions from the team that brought us 2012… we’ll never know.

The Orioles made another PR blunder with its Office Space-inspired announcement. Raising ticket prices late on a Friday is a pretty ugly move, but the guys explain that the price increase is really not so bad. They split on whether the new Dynamic Pricing model is terrible for fans or merely suboptimal. Scott comes down on the more reasonable side (let’s wait to see if it’s terrible), whereas Jake whines, rants, and raves. Scott tries to counter with some signature Buck Showalter optimism, but it falls on deaf ears.

Fantasy Boss

Fantasy Boss makes a return, as Scott throws down the gauntlet, and challenges Jake to an offseason edition of everyone’s least favorite fantasy sports contest. This week: Who will the Orioles select in the upcoming Rule 5 Draft?

Scott does his usual preparation, and presents 6 legit candidates:

Danny Burawa, RHP, Yankees
Tommy Kahnle, RHP, Yankees
Brody Colvin, RHP, Phillies
Ronan Pacheco, LHP, Braves
Jae-Hoon Ha, OF, Cubs
Carlos Perez, C, Astros

Jake did his own research, and came up with the only name that made sense for him: Seth Frankoff, RHP, Athletics.

This week’s tie-breaker will be: whether the selection is a member of the Oakland Athletics or not. Jake took the A’s, Scott took the field.

As our friends at MASN would say, Who will own it?

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Who had a great week? Who had a terrible week? Who made us ashamed to be Orioles fans? Find out in this week’s GB&U. The guys run through their Good, Bad, and Ugly.

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