by Moose Milligan
I don’t really get any of the incessant whining about this rebuild. Most of us were around for 1998-2011. This is practically nothing in comparison.
I mean, what would you want instead? A team like the 2003 version? Fat Ponson, Jay Gibbons?
What about the 2004 team? That was the year we went all in, pushed our chips to the middle of the table and thought Miguel Tejada, Javy Lopez and Raffy 2.0 were going to transform this franchise and get us back to our winning ways. But hey, they won 78 games!!!!
Would you prefer a squad like the 2009 team? Brad Bergesen was our leader in WAR with 3.3 . I honestly didn’t recognize who that was on the baseball reference page when I saw his photo. Sure there were some luminaries like Markakis, Jones, B-Rob but that was offset by Cesar Izturis and Aubrey Huff. We gave 24 starts to Jason “Merkin” (look it up) Berken and Jeremy Guthrie was terrible. But hey!!! They won 64 games!!
We survived all those teams, all those seasons. Had a decent stretch in the 2010s (looking back on it, we probably weren’t even that good, it’s just that the Sox and Yanks weren’t that great) and now we’re doing things properly. I’ve maintained for a long time on here that the worst part of the 1998-2011 stretch wasn’t the losing but it was the notion that the Orioles constantly tried to sell us on the idea that THIS IS THE YEAR.
At least they’re being honest about it now. I don’t need Elias to spend a bunch of money this offseason in order to pacify the fanbase and make people think that it’s money well spent.
I’ve also maintained on here that the REAL reason why people are upset here is that they know this team will lose plenty in 2020 but at least they want to lose by watching players they like. For some reason it would be ok to watch this team win 55 games with Villar and Bundy but it’s incomprehensible to watch them win 52 games without them.
I don’t get it, I really don’t. Angelos did a bang up job of decimating this franchise over the years, we’ve stuck through it thick and thin. I mean, if you’re posting on here, you’re a diehard. And even if you’re NOT posting on here, even if you’re lurking and just reading this, you didn’t find this site by accident. You’re a diehard, too.
So hike up your skirts and put your $#*%kickers on, we’re going for a walk. It’s not going to be easy but at least we know where we’re going.
