Clearly, what the Orioles need to do is hold one of those town hall meetings that are all the rage right now.
President of baseball operations Andy MacPhail should open the stadium on Thursday's day off and set up a lectern on top of the home dugout and let Orioles fans let loose with their comments, questions and complaints. In another discouraging second-half slump, I'm sure there are a lot of fans who would jump at the opportunity to vent their frustration at the progress of the club's latest rebuilding plan.
There would be a guy in the crowd with a "Got Pedro?" sign, and a couple of fans with a makeshift banner pleading with owner Peter Angelos to "Sell the team to Cal." There would be hecklers, of course, but they wouldn't be able to get too close because all the good field-level seats would be taken up by Red Sox fans.
The questions and answers would be so predictable that we really don't even have to wait until Thursday. Through the miracle of visualization, we can get the thing started in the theater of your minds.
The first guy in line at the microphone is wearing a Nick Markakis Tuesday T-shirt and he doesn't look happy.
Frustrated fan: : "When you came here two years ago, you promised to upgrade the player development system and build the foundation for long-term success. So, what's the deal? Isn't it about time we start seeing some results?"
MacPhail: : "Well, I think you can make the case that you are seeing some results. In addition to the young players we got in the Erik Bedard and Miguel Tejada deals, we've developed and promoted some of the top prospects in all of baseball. That might not be reflected in the won-lost column, but I think anybody can see that."
The next guy in line is wearing a homemade T-shirt with the word "Patience" on the chest and back. He starts to compliment MacPhail on the success of some of the young players, but is quickly shouted down by the angry crowd. The guy with the Pedro sign commandeers the microphone.
Angry fan: : "Why don't you admit that you stuck us with Adam Eaton and Mark Hendrickson because Peter Angelos is too cheap to spend any money on this team and doesn't care if we win as long as he keeps getting all that MASN money? We could have had Pedro Martinez."
MacPhail: : "Yes, we could have had Pedro Martinez last spring for about $9 million if you count the incentives, but that's not the direction we wanted to go. We were brutally honest about the fact that we were buying stopgap pitchers to hold space for the young pitchers in our system. You're starting to see those guys now and I think it's pretty exciting."
