I'm now fully convinced - Pat Gillick is brain-dead.  Bad enough he pisses 
off the RLF with the dumb moves he's made or plans to make (see below), but 
now I see they're discussing trading Alomar!  That would be brilliant - the 
best second baseman (and one of the best all-around players) in baseball, and 
Gillick is considering shipping him out??  Maybe he plans to play Manny in 
right field and second base at the same time?  We need pitching - we don't 
need to change the offense.  Gillick has lost his marbles - time to fire his 
butt before he destroys the team.  
THIS IS A COMMUNIQUE FROM THE RELEASE LUIS FACTION'S FOUR MAN ROTATION CAUCUS
The RLF is extremely angry with the Orioles' "brain trust", which,
judging by the dumb moves being made or planned, seems to be working for
the Yankees!
1)  Replacing Bonilla with Darryl Hamilton, who's already 32, has no power, 
and had an on-base-percentage .014 lower than the average leadoff hitter.  
There is NO way that the combination of Hamilton's defense and offense will 
come close to matching the net run production of Bonilla's defense and 
offense.
Bonilla does need to drop 10-15 pounds, but he's adequate in right.  100
rbi men don't grow on trees.
2)  Moving Cal to third.  Omar Vizquel committed 20 errors in 1996, and
Bordick's chances and assists were nearly identical to Cal's.  Neither
man can carry Cal's bat (nor can Walt Weiss or the one-year wonder
Kevin Elster.)  Cal does need to DH or sit occasionally next season - he 
an't
play 173 games at short anymore.  However, there's no real reason to move Cal 
from short for 1997.
3)  Replacing Hoiles, whose only real problem is that Oriole pitchers
can't (or don't) hold runners.  Hoiles throws out 50% of base stealers
when Mussina pitches, because Mussina does his part and keeps runners
close.  Neither Santiago nor Girardi nor any of the other catchers mentioned 
(save Steinbach, who's 35) are any better at throwing out baserunners than 
Hoiles, and Hoiles is better at blocking pitches in the dirt than any of 
hem.
      
Whoever is the hitting coach next season MUST teach these guys how to
hit the ball where it's pitched, and Ray Miller MUST teach the pitchers
how to hold runners.  These were the Oriole's biggest problems.  If the
Orioles were smart, they'd change little from the team that finished
last season (other than adding a quality starter.)
.....END COMMUNIQUE.....
Alan from Pikesville
RLF Founder/Spokesman
--- MsgedSQ/2 3.35
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