Baltimore Orioles Mid Season Report: Well Better Than Last Year... Barely
With Buck Showalter at the helm, many thought the Orioles had a good shot of breaking the streak of 13 straight losing seasons. Well those thoughts seem to have gone out the window as the O's sit in last place, in the AL east, with a mark of 36-52; 16 games under .500. The good news is that at the all star break last year the O's were 29-59. So there has been a seven win improvement in a year's time, but the way the past few weeks have gone the improvement seems to be minimal. The O's were last at the .500 mark on May 26 and have been in last place since May 27. Yes, I was part of the crowd that thought there was a shot at .500 the beginning of the season, but that meant that the bullpen would have to mature. That didn't happen and Vladimir Guerrero and Derrek Lee have shown there age as Guerrero is batting under .300 and D-Lee is on pace to have a career low, in batting average, as he is batting .234 and only 8 homers this year; while Guerrero has only 7 homers with all of them coming at home. Personally I think GM Andy McPhail is to blame as he has ignored the pitching staff during his whole time in Baltimore. The lack of improving the pitching staff shows as the O's are ranked last in team ERA, and are ranked in the bottom five in quality starts, WHIP, and BAA (batting average against). McPhail has also shown a lack of scouting or lack of hiring a good scouting staff as the only successful prospect has been Matt Wieters. While the minor league teams have had success, in the past few years, that success has not transferred over to the O's. That statement, right there, shows that someone is not doing there job and people must be fired in the front office this winter. With that being said here's my mid season awards.
MVP: Nick Markakis. Markakis, didn't start out well, with his bat, as his batting average was around the .230 range. Markakis has since raised his average to .292 and leads the team in hits. Markakis has no errors, so far, and leads the team in put outs with seven. Markakis has also played in all but one game, during the first half of the season. If the O's are looking to be sellers at the trade deadline, this year, Markakis should be the one untradeable guy as Markakis shows that he is a leader as he has played in almost every game and was able to fix his swing early in the season. Markakis' attitude is one that the young players on the team should follow.
Biggest Surprise: Matt Wieters: Wieters lack of production at the plate, the past two seasons, had many "experts" calling Wieters a bust. The word bust never entered my mind as Wieters defense has been stellar since he came up. Wieters has only 5 career passed balls and his career caught steeling percentage is .318. Wieters leads the majors this year in that stat with a caught steeling percentage of .444 and that's why he is the O's only all star selection. Another reason why Wieters is heading to Phoenix is that he has finally come around at the plate. Wieters is batting .265, is fourth on the team in RBI with 34. Wieters has 8 homers on the year, but could have more if there wasn't a 30 foot wall in left field of Camden Yards. If Wieters can stay in the .260 range, for batting average, Wieters can show that he is a complete player.
Bum: No debate here, Mike Gonzalez. Gonzalez had an ERA of 5.46 and has allowed the most homeruns in the bullpen with 7. Surprisingly enough, Gonzalez has only 1 blown save, but he's supposed to be more of a middle reliever so that could explain the lack of blown saves. Seriously I have never in my life seen a pitcher this bad, on the rare occasion that the O's are up by a few runs, I don't feel comfortable that the O's will still have that lead when Gonzalez is in. Gonzalez is so bad that on Sunday he tried to intentionally hit David Ortiz and missed. One who misses on a pitch that is meant to intentionally hit someone, and two Ortiz is one of the biggest players in the league. How do miss hitting one of the biggest player in the league? Unfortunately, Gonzalez is signed for another year and at $6 million a year and sucking, he is most likely untradeable.
Overall looks like it will be 14 straight losing season and will become the baseball team with the longest consecutive losing season streak as the Shittsburgh Pirates are only one game back in there division (great now the annoying ass Shittsburgh fans will talk trash about that now, even though none can name a player on the Pirates, but as we all know that's typical Shittsburgh). Anyways, as is the case with the Redskins, same holds true for the Orioles. It starts at the top, yes you Peter Angelos. Or Aholelos as I like to call him. It's obvious that Angelos does not care about this teams success and just wants to make money. That's a shame since the O's play in one of the best, if not the best ballpark in the country. Even though Andy McPhail has failed at his job, rumors are Angelos will resign McPhail this winter. Well Mr. Angelos I hope you are ready to actually open the check book and add some actual talent to the roster because that is what its going to take for this team to be good again.
Orioles First Quarter Report
Well the good news is that the Orioles, are off to a far much better start than last year and are competing more than last year. Also, the starting pitching has been surprisingly decent. The bad news is that the O's are still in last place in the AL east, and the big off season acquisitions have been just ok. And just when it looked like the O's would return to the .500 mark; a series of crippling losses, this past week, have washed .500 thoughts out of the window. With series against the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Mariners on the horizon, hopefully the O's can get on to the winning path.
I think all O's fans can be in agreement when I say Matt Wieters is starting to come around with his bat. Wieters is batting .273 with 4 HR and 24 RBI, tied with Adam Jones for best on the team. Wieters also has a few walk offs, in this early season. Buck Showalter has rewarded Wieters efforts by moving him to 5th in the batting lineup. Vladimir Guerrero leads the team in batting average with a .306 mark. Vlady has been the most productive out of the new comers this year as he has 16 RBI and .429 slugging percentage. Derek Lee has been more productive in the field that at the plate and is now on the DL, Lee should be kept around to tutor younger, future fristbaseman for the O's. Adam Jones has been more consistent, this year, with a .295 batting average and 24 RBI. Jones still miss plays a ball in center field every now and then, but not as much as last year. I would like to see Jones end the season batting at least .300. Then there's Mark Reynolds. Reynolds, who is batting an amazing .190, sarcasm obviously, and leads the team in strikeouts with 45. The sad part is Reynolds' strikeout numbers are down from last year. Overall, GM Andy MacPhail got what he asked for in signing Vladimir Guerrero, Derek Lee and Mark Reynolds.
Now to pitching. As I stated earlier, the starting pitching has been better that what I expected, at the start of the season. The bad news is that the O's are ranked 27th, in the league in ERA, 4.71 and ranked 26th in batting average against. Zach Britton leads the team in ERA with 2.14 and continues to improve, but doesn't have move wins because of the lack of bullpen support. Jake Arrieta surprisingly leads the team in wins, 5, and strikeouts, 49. Guthrie cotinues to sturggle as the team's designated number one guy and I can see Britton taking over the number one spot by seasons end. If Guthrie is as number two or three guy, I think Guthrie will be able to relax more and pitch better.
And this leads me to the blowpen, I mean bullpen. Last Monday, the blowpen blew a 6-0 lead in Boston and wound up losing the game. A 6-0 lead are you f@#$ing kidding me!!!!! 6 year old little league teams don't even blow that big of leads. Kelly I mean Kevin Gregg has been horrible in the closer role I believe he has 100 blown saves and the O's haven't even played 100 games yet. I call him Kelly Gregg because he pitches like a girl, he sucks. Buck Showalter should put Koji Uehara as the closer instead of Kelly Gregg. Uehara leads the bullpen in ERA with 2.50 and strikeouts with 22. Then there is Mike Gonzalez who has an ERA of 8.59 and every time he comes in he always gives up at least 2 runs by my count.
GM Andy MacPhail has ignored the bullpen for years and now he is paying for out with poor performances like last Monday night. If it was up to me, MacPhail should be fired as he has never thrown the money at players that are in there primes. Andy MacPhail is the Vinny Cerato of baseball, like Cerato, MacPhail goes after players that are past there primes and like Cerato ignored the offensive line; MacPhail has ignored the bullpen. And it's coasting the Orioles way to many games.
Overall I can say I'm satisfied with the O's so far but I really do believe if the right moves are made, before the trade-deadline then this team can definitely reach the .500 mark this year.
Buck has the Boys in Line, But will it Be Enough to Compete?
MVP: Nick Markakis. Markakis, didn't start out well, with his bat, as his batting average was around the .230 range. Markakis has since raised his average to .292 and leads the team in hits. Markakis has no errors, so far, and leads the team in put outs with seven. Markakis has also played in all but one game, during the first half of the season. If the O's are looking to be sellers at the trade deadline, this year, Markakis should be the one untradeable guy as Markakis shows that he is a leader as he has played in almost every game and was able to fix his swing early in the season. Markakis' attitude is one that the young players on the team should follow.Biggest Surprise: Matt Wieters: Wieters lack of production at the plate, the past two seasons, had many "experts" calling Wieters a bust. The word bust never entered my mind as Wieters defense has been stellar since he came up. Wieters has only 5 career passed balls and his career caught steeling percentage is .318. Wieters leads the majors this year in that stat with a caught steeling percentage of .444 and that's why he is the O's only all star selection. Another reason why Wieters is heading to Phoenix is that he has finally come around at the plate. Wieters is batting .265, is fourth on the team in RBI with 34. Wieters has 8 homers on the year, but could have more if there wasn't a 30 foot wall in left field of Camden Yards. If Wieters can stay in the .260 range, for batting average, Wieters can show that he is a complete player.Bum: No debate here, Mike Gonzalez. Gonzalez had an ERA of 5.46 and has allowed the most homeruns in the bullpen with 7. Surprisingly enough, Gonzalez has only 1 blown save, but he's supposed to be more of a middle reliever so that could explain the lack of blown saves. Seriously I have never in my life seen a pitcher this bad, on the rare occasion that the O's are up by a few runs, I don't feel comfortable that the O's will still have that lead when Gonzalez is in. Gonzalez is so bad that on Sunday he tried to intentionally hit David Ortiz and missed. One who misses on a pitch that is meant to intentionally hit someone, and two Ortiz is one of the biggest players in the league. How do miss hitting one of the biggest player in the league? Unfortunately, Gonzalez is signed for another year and at $6 million a year and sucking, he is most likely untradeable.
Overall looks like it will be 14 straight losing season and will become the baseball team with the longest consecutive losing season streak as the Shittsburgh Pirates are only one game back in there division (great now the annoying ass Shittsburgh fans will talk trash about that now, even though none can name a player on the Pirates, but as we all know that's typical Shittsburgh). Anyways, as is the case with the Redskins, same holds true for the Orioles. It starts at the top, yes you Peter Angelos. Or Aholelos as I like to call him. It's obvious that Angelos does not care about this teams success and just wants to make money. That's a shame since the O's play in one of the best, if not the best ballpark in the country. Even though Andy McPhail has failed at his job, rumors are Angelos will resign McPhail this winter. Well Mr. Angelos I hope you are ready to actually open the check book and add some actual talent to the roster because that is what its going to take for this team to be good again.
Orioles First Quarter Report
I think all O's fans can be in agreement when I say Matt Wieters is starting to come around with his bat. Wieters is batting .273 with 4 HR and 24 RBI, tied with Adam Jones for best on the team. Wieters also has a few walk offs, in this early season. Buck Showalter has rewarded Wieters efforts by moving him to 5th in the batting lineup. Vladimir Guerrero leads the team in batting average with a .306 mark. Vlady has been the most productive out of the new comers this year as he has 16 RBI and .429 slugging percentage. Derek Lee has been more productive in the field that at the plate and is now on the DL, Lee should be kept around to tutor younger, future fristbaseman for the O's. Adam Jones has been more consistent, this year, with a .295 batting average and 24 RBI. Jones still miss plays a ball in center field every now and then, but not as much as last year. I would like to see Jones end the season batting at least .300. Then there's Mark Reynolds. Reynolds, who is batting an amazing .190, sarcasm obviously, and leads the team in strikeouts with 45. The sad part is Reynolds' strikeout numbers are down from last year. Overall, GM Andy MacPhail got what he asked for in signing Vladimir Guerrero, Derek Lee and Mark Reynolds.
And this leads me to the blowpen, I mean bullpen. Last Monday, the blowpen blew a 6-0 lead in Boston and wound up losing the game. A 6-0 lead are you f@#$ing kidding me!!!!! 6 year old little league teams don't even blow that big of leads. Kelly I mean Kevin Gregg has been horrible in the closer role I believe he has 100 blown saves and the O's haven't even played 100 games yet. I call him Kelly Gregg because he pitches like a girl, he sucks. Buck Showalter should put Koji Uehara as the closer instead of Kelly Gregg. Uehara leads the bullpen in ERA with 2.50 and strikeouts with 22. Then there is Mike Gonzalez who has an ERA of 8.59 and every time he comes in he always gives up at least 2 runs by my count.
GM Andy MacPhail has ignored the bullpen for years and now he is paying for out with poor performances like last Monday night. If it was up to me, MacPhail should be fired as he has never thrown the money at players that are in there primes. Andy MacPhail is the Vinny Cerato of baseball, like Cerato, MacPhail goes after players that are past there primes and like Cerato ignored the offensive line; MacPhail has ignored the bullpen. And it's coasting the Orioles way to many games.
Overall I can say I'm satisfied with the O's so far but I really do believe if the right moves are made, before the trade-deadline then this team can definitely reach the .500 mark this year.
Buck has the Boys in Line, But will it Be Enough to Compete?
In case if you haven't heard, Buck Showalter is the new manager of the Baltimore Orioles and went 34-23 when he took over the O's last August and a .596 winning percentage which was good enough for the best record in the AL from the the time Buck took over till the end of the season. Now the question is can Buck push the O's to a winning record for the whole season? Alot of the self proclaimed baseball experts I talk to say a manager doesn't affect a baseball team that much. Well I think taking a team that was in the bottom of the division around a .300 winning percentage to a winning record in a matter of two months means that the manager has an effect on the team. Now I'm not saying that Buck on his own is going to turn Jeremy Guthrie into a Cy Young winner, though that would be awesome, nor is he going to turn Adam Jones into a batting title winner, also would be awesome, but I think what needs to be taken away from last season is that players want to play for Buck and are motivated to play well now. I don't think you are going to see Adam Jones half assing it down the first base line or on a ball played to center field, because Jones knows that if he does that now there's going to be a foot up his ass from Buck. Also with Buck, the organization now has a sense of direction to go in, for the past 13 years I've never been sure what direction the organization was going in besides losing.
Offseason: This past offseason the O's added some pop to there lineup with the additions of Mark Reynolds, Derek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero. Going into the start of the 2010 season the 13 position players on the opening day roster had a combined 896 career homeruns. This year the 13 position players on the roster have a combined 1,349 homers. My only compliant about this offseason was the O's did not get a pitcher, maybe Buck thinks this current pitching staff will eventually turn into an ace rotation, but I just don't see that happening. And it would be nice for these young arms to have someone to mentor them.
Pitching: Here's the projected starting rotation with last year's stats:
1. Jeremy Guthrie 11-14, 3.83 ERA, 119 SO, 25 HR
2. Brain Matusz 23-10, 4.30 ERA, 132 SO, 19 HR
3. Jake Arrieta 6-6, 4.66 ERA, 52 SO, 9 HR
4. Brad Bergesen 8-12, 4.98 ERA, 81 SO, 26 HR
5. Chris Tilman 2-5, 5.87 ERA, 31 SO, 9 HR
Jeremy Guthrie is the oldest pitcher on the rotation at the age of 31. Sorry Guthrie, but you shouldn't be labeled as the top teams ace on any MLB team. I've seen Guthrie struggle year in and year out since he has been with the Orioles; maybe he will finally break out this year. The rest of the pitching staff is young and will definitely go through their bumps alot this year. The one bright spot is that Matusz did lead starters in strikeouts last year and could eventually be the teams future ace. Expect this staff to struggle alot this year with the likes of the bats of the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays being in the same division as the O's.
Bullpen:
| CL | RHP | Kevin Gregg |
| CL | RHP | Koji Uehara |
| SU | RHP | Jim Johnson |
| SU | LHP | Michael Gonzalez |
| MI | RHP | Jeremy Accardo |
| MI | RHP | Josh Rupe |
| MI | RHP | Jason Berken |
| MI | RHP | Brad Bergesen |
Koji Uehara returns from injury along with Micahel Gonzalez, Jason Berken and Jim Johnson who were also hurt alot last year. With Alfredo Simon gone, Uehara will step into the closer role this year. Uehara was 1-2 with with 13 saves, 55 stikeouts and 5 homers give up this year. Uehara is 35 so he will not be in future plans of the Orioles so some of this young bullpen guys will have to step up this year. The blowpen I mean bullpen lost the O's multiple games last year and there maybe more of the same this year from the bullpen.
Batting: Projected batting order with last years stats:
| 1 | 2B | Brian Roberts .249, 11 HR, 55 RBI, 94 SO | ||||||||
| 2 | RF | Nick Markakis .297, 12 HR, 60 RBI, 93 SO | ||||||||
| 3 | 1B | Derrek Lee .260, 19 HR, 80 RBI, 134 SO (with Cubs and Braves) | ||||||||
| 4 | DH | Vladimir Guerrero .300, 29 HR, 115 RBI, 60 SO (with Texas) | ||||||||
| 5 | LF | Luke Scott .284, 27 HR, 72 RBI, 98 SO | ||||||||
| 6 | CF | Adam Jones .284, 19 HR, 69 RBI, 119 SO | ||||||||
| 7 | 3B | Mark Reynolds .198, 32 HR, 85 RBI, 211 SO ( with Arizona) | ||||||||
| 8 | C | Matt Wieters .249, 11 HR, 55 RBI, 94 SO | ||||||||
| 9 | SS | J.J. Hardy .268, 6 HR, 38 RBI, 54 SO (with Minnesota) |
Season Prediction:
With decent pitching, and as long as the batting lineup can stay healthy I can see this year's team could reach the 500 mark ending the 13 straight losing seasons streak. The one problem is that the O's play in one of the toughest divisions in baseball, the Sox are many people's picks to win the world series, we all know what the Yankees have, despite losing some players the Rays are going to be competitive, and who knows that the Blue Jays will do. Buck is going to have to work more magic with the pitching staff this year and I only see that happening with Matusz. The O's could possibly make some trades to get more pitching, but there is no one right now in the minor leagues that could be used as trade bait. There's going to be injuries and that's just part of a 162 game season, when those injuries happen the question is going to be who steps up? Maybe someone form the minors will step up and make a name for themselves. With all things being considered I'm going with a 4th place finish for the O's but in this division 500 may mean 4th place.
