Dear Mr. MacPhail

Dear Mr. MacPhail,

Since you became the Baltimore Orioles' Chief Operating Officer, you have made some amazing strides in the future of the team. We have gone from being hopeless for the next several years to having one of the best group of minor league prospects in the league. 

You turned Erik Bedard into 2 All-Stars and one of the top pitching prospects in Major League Baseball. Adam Jones is arguably the top young Centerfielder in the American League, and was an All-Star this season. George Sherrill became a top closer, a 2008 All-Star, and you traded him just the other day for another 2 prospects.

You turned Miguel Tejada into 3 Pitching prospects and a great young hitter. Matt Albers has been solid as a Long Reliever. Dennis Sarfate has had some amazing stuff in the last couple seasons. Troy Patton is one of the Orioles Top pitching prospects. Luke Scott has found his place as the every day DH/LF and is being converted to play 1B as well. He has been the most consistent power hitter on the Orioles for the last 2 seasons.

As Bedard has been on and off the DL since being dealt and Tejada is busy answering questions about being on 'roids, you have made some serious ground with the franchise. However, there are several moves that have to be done before the Orioles can become the next Tampa Bay Rays. Here is the short list of what needs to happen:

Fire Dave Trembley

You know that most people who see Dave Trembley love him. He worked for 21 years in the minors and you made the right call of giving him the managing job. However, the team is not going able to move on with him as the manager. The Orioles (even for a rebuilding team) is vastly underachieving. The team is crumbling due to bad fundamentals. When you have a team filled with good hitting and prosperous young pitching, the one thing as a manager you have to do is keep the fundamentals strict. You have watched with the fans as he has made wrong decision after wrong decision with keeping in starters and pulling them. He has way too strict of a plan he is following. He only has certain pitchers on line for very specific situations. It is good to give a job to a specific pitcher, but if he is leading the American League in Home Runs allowed, and has already given up 4 earned runs in 6 innings, you just regained the a one run lead, and you have a reliever with a 3.50 ERA warm in the bullpen, you just can't leave the guy out there. And that is only one of the mistakes he has made. Constant baserunning mistakes and awful basic fundamentals are two things that the Manager needs to fix. These have been persisting problems through the entire season and the team can't simply win with him in the future.

Don't Be Afraid To A Couple More Veterans

Veterans such as Melvin Mora, Danys Baez, and Mark Hendrickson are all dead weight on the team right now. As the Orioles continue falling further, and further back in the standings, these 3 veterans can get us some valuable pieces back. I'm not talking about top prospects, but you were able to get Cla Meredith for Oscar Salazar, remember? The team needs a couple more Cla Meredith-like players. And by that I mean young, prosperous relievers. We have this group of young starters emerging, but you don't have much for when they get tired. Jim Johnson has been one of the best set-up men in baseball, but he probably won't cut it as a closer. Until the offseason, we are going to have to keep the game in control between the young starter tiring out in the 6th, and for Johnson to shut the door in the 9th. I know it was a hard decision for you to trade Sherrill, due to the fact it probably cost the Orioles a few losses towards the end of the season. If Trembley isn't getting the team to win now, he wont get the team to win then. Mora, Baez, and Hendrickson could easily reel in some young players ready for the majors like you did with Meredith.

In conclusion, Mr. MacPhail, you have done an amazing job with the Orioles franchise. However, now is your time to prove to the Orioles' fans and the rest of the baseball world that you can do more than just develop young prospects. You are not that far away from being the Chief Operating Officer of a Playoff team. Look at your line-up! It can hit the brains out of a ball. But that doesn't mean you can't make some heavy duty moves this offseason and grab a couple big names. 

You have several prospects in the minors that we all know probably won't cut it in the majors, and if they do, are expendable. If the Phillies were able to get Cliff Lee for that little, don't you think you could trade for a successful veteran starting pitcher? Or maybe a good young closer? 

You have so many pieces we could throw into a trade that could be easily replaced by other players on the team. Players like Cesar Izturis can be replaced seamlessly by players like Robert Andino. Players like Felix Pie can be replaced by Joey Gathright. And remember, you don't have to trade for minor league players. 

Just go for young major leaguers. You did it with Meredith this season and Luke Scott, Dennis Sarfate, Matt Albers, and Adam Jones last season. A side of your mind may argue that if you trade Hendrickson, you won't have a successful reliever with stamina in your bullpen anymore. Well, while he's overproducing, why don't you get a younger one or two? A few moves like that plus 2 stars added to the team and you have a playoff team. Don't think we haven't noticed you stockpiling prospects that we won't use in the majors. We could be major buyers this offseason. That is where you will have to prove to us that you can go all the way with turning this franchise around.

Thanks For Your Time,

Danny Kiddoo

S.O.S.

P.S,

Your team lost 18-8 today, so you better get going.