The Orioles have a new look with Andy MacPhail’s offseason changes, but has he done a good job so far? We asked Mark Stein, 13, and Brandon Dixon, 12, and this is what they had to say.

MacPhail Has Long Way To Go By Mark Stein The Baltimore Orioles are now beginning to prepare for a new season. The players are in Fort Lauderdale, but this year, as they take the field, many of the players are recently acquired. The man behind these moves is new Orioles chief operating officer Andy MacPhail. He has initiated several trades this past offseason, which he thinks will help to better the Orioles. But these moves will only hurt this team more. In mid-December, MacPhail traded Orioles star shortstop Miguel Tejada to the Houston Astros in a deal that netted the Orioles five young prospects. These prospects were outfielder Luke Scott, pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton and Dennis Sarfate, and third baseman Michael Costanzo. How many of these players have you heard of? These players may be young and have a future, but Tejada is a good-hitting, solid-fielding player, who we know from experience will succeed for the Orioles. As if that wasn’t enough, earlier this month, MacPhail had Orioles ace Erik Bedard shipped out to the Seattle Mariners. In return for their only good pitcher, the Orioles received outfielder Adam Jones, reliever George Sherrill and three minor league prospects. This was a terrible move. So where is the team now? The Orioles have Cabrera as their ace and a hole at the shortstop position. There have been no improvements this offseason. In his first offseason with the Orioles, MacPhail has failed to bring them the personnel necessary to succeed. He traded away the Orioles’ two best players, and along with them, he traded away any shot at contending in the upcoming season. Sorry O’s fans, but you’ll just have to wait until 2009 to see anything spectacular out of the Birds.

MacPhail On Road To Success By Brandon Dixon Andy MacPhail has done a wonderful job for the Orioles’ organization. To process a question like this you need to understand what is best, and, in this case, what is wanted. The reason why in cases like this you need to consider what people want is because a sports team needs money. The way sports teams get money is mainly through the fan. What does Baltimore want? Baltimore wants change. Fans do not want players who only play for a paycheck, and they especially do not want players who hate Baltimore. MacPhail values this opinion, and he traded the extra weight. Erik Bedard did not like Baltimore, and now the Orioles have four new pitchers, and the top outfield prospect of the Seattle Mariners, Adam Jones. Another example is Miguel Tejada; he had asked to be traded. MacPhail traded him. Now, instead of an accused performance-enhancing drug user who has problems with his green card, the Orioles have three new pitchers, an outfielder and a prospect. MacPhail has the idea that a young team is needed to be better. This philosophy, up until now, was forgotten by the Orioles. With a young roster, skills can increase year by year. This allows trade offers to increase and a better team to form. A roster with older players can only go downhill. The bottom line is that Baltimore needs change, and MacPhail is providing as much change as possible.

Issue 3.8: February 21, 2008