Hello, friends.
Over the last several years before now, Orioles fans became accustomed to ways of the team doing things that were particular to Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter and whatever strange, dysfunctional dynamic apparently existed between them. These ways were frequently inexplicable even when they were successful, with many unsuccessful front office moves that appeared to be idiotic even without the benefit of hindsight.
One of the tough to stomach quirks of those days was the Orioles refusal to spend money on international amateur prospects. By all accounts, this decision was driven by Peter Angelos, and so the Orioles paid a price for their unwillingness to pay the price.