They Finally Said It Bob's Backstop for January 10, 2005

Well, they did it.

We've been waiting.

Dreading the moment.

Hoping it would never come.

But it has.

Jim Beattie said at FanFest yesterday that the Orioles were partially hamstrung as far as free agent signings by not knowing what was going on with DC.

Can you believe it?

The excuse for signing NO ONE of significance was "we're not sure what the economic future of the team will be. Until it's settled, we're not sure how much we can spend, what direction we can afford to go."

The team cuts off a pound of dead payroll, and then can't decide if they can spend "as much as last year," even?

We were hoping that Angelos' proclamations of the winter would be true, that the team would pursue its own course to excellence without any concern over what was happening 45 minutes down the road. After all, how can you build a better, more attractive product when you're unwilling to spend any money? Especially when you don't have a farm system?

But the man actually said it yesterday.

Whether it's really the way they feel or not, it's too early to tell. Perhaps it was just frustration, perhaps an excuse. After all, we didn't see many signings to envy go down this winter. It was a pretty crazy and inflated market.

But to actually say that their lack of activity was at least partially based on the uncertainty around the DC franchise is, shall we say, disheartening, and, if really the club's policy, dangerous.

Kings Dominion puts up a new ride every year for two reasons...to get old attendees to come back, and to compete with Busch Gardens, some 45 minutes away. If they don't inject new life into the park every year in this way, then the money they might "save" won't be much of a comfort as a tiny raft adrift  in a sea of lost attendance.

Jim ,we've admired you in the past as a straight shooter, if not sometimes a little too straight. We hope that this is one of those times you just said the wrong thing, rather than shooting straight with us...because if you were, you're shooting yourselves...in the foot.