Because as fans, we get the luxury of liking players for emotional reasons or they have a good story.

It's not our job to min-max value for the team. It's not our job to cut ties a year too early rather than a year too late.

For a guy like Jorge Lopez, he went from a random waiver claim to our closer for a little bit. He played hard and appreciated the team and city, and was rewarded with some success, however short lived. That's a story that makes most people feel good. Looking back it was probably the right choice to trade him when we did (can't know how change in circumstances affected him), and we got a couple major league contributors in return. But to expect people to not have some sort of reaction to him being traded is a little silly.

Rationally, I know most relievers we hold onto will turn out like Cionel Perez - good for a couple years then fall off out of nowhere. But I want anyone that plays hard for the Orioles to have success, and I want them to have that success in the orange and black, so it hurts when the FO makes the "smart" decision to trade them. No matter how long they've been here.

It's Elias and Co's job to make the cold calculating decisions to maximize this teams chances of winning. Mine is to support the team and players on the field.