'We're on the right track'

Spring Training Preview

Q&a Orioles President Of Baseball Operations Andy Macphail

Entering his second full season as the Orioles' president of baseball operations, Andy MacPhail has presided over a massive rebuilding project that has turned the 40-man roster over by more than 50 percent in one year alone. MacPhail, who is under contract with the Orioles through the 2011 season, recently discussed with The Baltimore Sun his relationship with team owner Peter Angelos, second baseman Brian Roberts' long-term status, the progress of top prospect Matt Wieters and other issues.

Are you satisfied with the progress the organization has made in the relatively short period of time since you've been here?

You can't be satisfied with the amount of wins that we've had. There are aspects of the organization that I'm satisfied that we've made significant enough progress in a year and a half. Most importantly, scouting and player development. If you believe the trade periodicals, Baseball America, for instance, had us 16th last year, and we're the ninth best system this year. MLB.com had the 50 best prospects in the game, and we had four of them, all in the top 36. ... So we've made significant progress in that regard, and we've made more progress internationally than I was expecting. I really wasn't expecting that we'd have two guys on our 40-man that we got from outside the country, one from Mexico [Alfredo Simon], one from Japan [Koji Uehara]. It's ongoing progress. But if you measure the movement we've made, I'm pretty confident we're on the right track.

Are you excited with what you got done this offseason?

I think the offseason was fun for us. We made four deals. They weren't huge deals, but we made four trades. We signed five free-agent players. We're trying to do what we can to upgrade different positions with an emphasis on defense in certain places, or getting more right-handed [hitting] or mixing in the element that we think we need at that time.

When you arrived here in June 2007, there was a lot of speculation that you were going to be one of the guys in the running to be the next commissioner of baseball after your tenure with the Orioles. What are your plans going forward?

I don't pay much attention to that, to be honest with you. I do know one thing about myself - the job that is important to me is the job that I have now. Without patting myself on the back, I think that's one of the strengths that I've had, whether I was the assistant general manager in Houston or the manager of the Bradenton Cubs in Rookie ball. I am sort of limited in my attention span that I just get focused on doing what I'm doing now. I'm having fun. I like the people I'm working for, and I like the people I'm working with. This is a labor of love here, so hopefully we can improve things with the win-loss record.