Baltimore Orioles: The passing of Andy Etchebarren

Another Baltimore Orioles’ legend passed away over the weekend. Former catcher Andy Etchebarren, passed away on Saturday evening. Etchebarren was drafted by the Orioles, and made his debut in 1962. He played 15 full major league seasons, 12 of which were with the Orioles.

Etchebarren was only a career .235 hitter, but keep in mind as I said that he was a catcher. 1975 was one of his best year at the plate, a season in which he hit .280. Defensively he fielded at a career .987 clip behind the dish. Not too shabby.

Etchebarren loved being an Oriole, and he was a part of two World Series championship teams. He was often overshadowed in a sense because he played with Frank, Brooks, Palmer, et al. But make no mistake that he was a huge part of all of those great Orioles teams. And he’ll be missed.

Baltimore Orioles: Tips happen

Over the course of the 2019 season I often questioned whether Baltimore Orioles’ pitchers were tipping their pitches. In fact, at times during various seasons I’ve thought that. Obviously it wouldn’t have been happening purposely or consciously, but it could have happened over the course of time. Perhaps various pitchers in various games.

After defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday and evening the ALDS at 1-1, Washington third baseman Anthony Rendon at the very least insinuated that LAD starter Clayton Kerrhaw was tipping his pitches. There’s some discrepancy as to whether or not it was actually Kershaw tipping pitches or another pitcher. But that’s irrelevant to the purpose of this discussion in a sense.

The point is that teams do very much have to be careful. Because opponents are always watching. If in fact you do something which indicates what you’re going to throw, opposing teams are going to find it.

Many might suggest that it’s immoral in relation to the rules of baseball to look and see if someone’s tipping their pitches. I would disagree – and nobody cares about the unwritten codes of the game like I do. Stealing signs – THAT’S against the unwritten rules. But there’s nothing wrong with studying your opponents to see if they’re doing something to tip their pitches.

This just means that players need to study themselves. And coaches need to study their players. Because if things are going on which indicate what’s coming, someone’s going to find it.

Baltimore Orioles part ways with Josh Wasdin

The Baltimore Orioles made one further change to their coaching staff yesterday. Bullpen coach Josh Wasdin was informed that he would not be retained for 2020. Wasdin has been working on a one-year contract.

The rhyme or reason behind the changes that have been made to the coaching staff are unclear. But the fact is that the Orioles are making them. They’ll begin interviewing for replacements next week.

Baltimore Orioles: Coaching changes

The Baltimore Orioles will not re retaining first base coach Arnie Beyeler or hitting coach Howie Clark next year. Both coaches were working on one-year deals, which expire at the end of October. These moves were announced yesterday, however more are expected.

It’s unknown whether these are mutual decisions or if the Orioles just wanted to move on. Whether or not the positions are filled immediately or after the World Series also remains unknown. However both positions will probably be filled sooner rather than later. More as it comes.

Baltimore Orioles: Too many statistics is hurting the game

While recently they’ve embraced analytics more, the Baltimore Orioles are a fairly traditional team. You hit the ball, you run to first base, etc. That’s how the game has always been played – until now. Recently there’s been a push to embrace every available stat and every available trend to use it to one’s advantage. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But purists aren’t fans.

During a twitter exchange with a fan once I was told that purists are ruining baseball. That somehow doesn’t exactly make much sense given that purists do things the way they’ve always been done. It’s the new age analytical thinking which is in fact new. These people’s idea is that the new age thinking is keeping younger viewers into the sport.

ESPN encompassed this last night in their coverage of the AL Wild Card Game. They had a traditional broadcast, which is where I found myself watching. on ESPN2 they also had a Statcast Broadcast with three different announcers. Those who care about things such as launch angle and exit velo were presumably watching there.

Unequivocally, no it’s not purists such as I who are hurting baseball. In my view it’s the over-abundance of stats such as what I wrote above. There are some teams who go way over-and-above what’s necessary. If there’s a stat which says that a specific batter hits at a steeper launch angle against a specific pitcher while he’s wearing a pink tutu on the mound, teams would consider bringing him in wearing just that. (Steeper launch angle meaning that the ball would have a better shot at being caught in the outfield as opposed to a home run.)

I suppose my point is that you can’t leave these things up to stats – totally. Stats and trends are important for sure, and they don’t lie. But they also remove the human element from the game. They remove the manager or players having a feel for what’s going on. And there’s no substitute for that.

This is spreading to other sports as well. When I heard that John Harbaugh of the Ravens was going for two-point conversions because the analytics said that was better, I hit the roof. Again, there’s no substitute for a coach or athlete having a feel for the game. As a purist, that’s not something that we should let die.

Baltimore Orioles 2019: A bridge to tomorrow

The Baltimore Orioles led by new manager Brandon Hyde weren’t expected to do much in 2019. According to their 54-108 record, they lived up to expectations. However in my season preview prior to Opening Day I said that success for this team would be to win more games than they did last year.

And that happened – to the tune of seven additional wins. That won’t win you anything. But it also shows the beginnings of progress.

The O’s surprised a lot of people by taking two-of-three on the road both from New York and Toronto in the first two series’ of the year. However reality soon set in, as they dropped seven of their next eight. And that’s pretty much how the season went.

The Birds would drop a string of games, and eventually get a win. Again, this season wasn’t about wins and losses. It was about seeing what the organization had in the first year of a rebuild.

And the process ended up being as painful as advertised. I think a lot of fans say that they understand that rebuilding isn’t an easy process. But in practice it’s even tougher than advertised. As the Orioles found out, it’s not for the faint of heart.

But there were promising signs. Starter John Means was elected to be the Orioles’ All-Star Game representative. Richie Martin, Anthony Santander, Hanser Alberto, and others all showed promise. As did Austin Hays, who received a September call-up. And that may end up parlaying him into a spot on the roster going into Spring Training next year.

Overall, the season itself was forgettable. However a funny thing happened in the final six weeks or so. The players really came together and became a close unit. I don’t necessarily mean that the wins came or anything, just that the players played as a team. And again, going into next year’s spring training, that’s a good sign.

Trey Mancini was voted the Most Valuable Oriole for 2019.. He led the team with 35 home runs on the year. That’s a bit of a surprise that someone on the Orioles would hit that many homers however Mancini has long been seen as a potential weapon on offense for the Orioles. And he showed it in 2019.

The hope is that going into 2020 the team can improve on it’s record once again, by way of the progress made towards the end of 2019. It is possible; I’ve see it done.

Baltimore Orioles parting ways with Brady Anderson

Former Baltimore Orioles’ star Brady Anderson is now former Baltimore Orioles’ front office employee Brady Anderson. (But he’s still obviously former Orioles’ star Brady Anderson – you get the idea.) Multiple outlets have reported that the club and Anderson are parting ways.

Anderson of course was very active in baseball operations under former VP Dan Duquette and manager Buck Showalter. Once that regime was gone, Anderson’s role became a bit less defined – in effect once VP Mike Elias took over. Anderson apparently was on a leave of absence dealing with family issues for much of this season. With that said, it sounds as if this is a mutual decision.

Elias has now turned over pretty much the entire front office. Many fans will see that as a good thing, and many will raise their eyebrows. However the Angelos family gave Elias the power to mold the organization in the manner he wished. And he’s doing just that. More as it comes.

Baltimore Orioles: We go beyond the end of the line!

Today’s the day after for the Baltimore Orioles. The team returned to Baltimore last night after the season finale in Boston, and today guys will report to Camden Yards to clean out their lockers for the winter. While 2019 is over and done, it’ll be a busy day at the yard. And always with an eye on the future.

Rumor has it that manager Brandon Hyde met with each player over the course of the final two or three weeks or so. Each player’s future was discussed, and Hyde went over what each player had done well this year – and how each player is expected to improve going into spring training. And the point was driven home that the expectation was that said improvements and adjustments were expected to have been begun going into spring training. They weren’t to begin in spring training, but they were to have been worked on throughout the off season.

So it’ll be interesting how things look once we get to spring games next year. And we will get there – if you can believe that, here on the first full day of the off season. Time will in fact pass!

In the mean time however, the season never really ends here at Birdland Crush. We’ll have daily coverage of any Orioles’ news, including opinions and analysis. In the immediate future, I always take a couple of days to “digest” the season in it’s entirety. But sometime towards the end of this week I’ll provide a season recap. We’ll also look at the MLB playoffs as they go along, perhaps chronicling the progress of former Orioles, or players with ties to the Orioles.

Off seasons tend to drag on in baseball; they can be trying. But before we know it, Orioles’ FanFest will be upon us, and pitchers and catchers report two weeks after the Super Bowl. And then we begin anew. But in the interim, it never stops here at Birdland Crush!

Baltimore Orioles: Played until the end of the line

Chandler Shepherd started the season finale at Fenway Park for the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon. The Birds were going with a bullpen game, however Shepherd went five innings. Shpeherd’s line: 5.0 IP, 3 R (2 earned) 1 BB, 6 K.

The Orioles took the lead in the third with RBI-singles by Hanser Alberto and Austin Hays, and a fielder’s choice-RBI by Trey Mancini. Even on the last day, they were still fighting. And they led 3-0.

However while I’m sure they were ready for the season to end as well, Boston wasn’t going quietly into the night. They put two across in the last of the third, and tied the game at three on Vasquez’s RBI-single in the sixth. One inning later Bogaerts’ RBI-single gave Boston a 4-3 lead.

But again, the Orioles fight until the end. Jonathan Villar, who played in all 162 games this year, smacked an RBI-single which tied the game at four in the eighth inning. But in the bottom of that inning it appeared that Boston was going to take the lead back. Bradley Jr. sent a towering fly ball to right field towards the corner of the Orioles’ visitors bullpen at Fenway Park…

…it was a home run. It was flat out a home run. Until it wasn’t. Until Stevie Wilkerson leapt at the wall, brought the ball back into the field of play, and spun around the wall and back onto his feet. He flat out robbed Bradley of a two-run homer.

However it would be and RBI-single by Devers in the last of the ninth that would walk Boston off as winners, ending the season for both teams. The Orioles finished the year at 54-108. As I’ve said however, that shows progress. Maybe seven games better than last year in the win column isn’t a heck of a lot of progress to some people. But it’s progress. And that’s what this season was supposed to be all about.

Going back to that Wilkerson catch for a moment, I can’t stress enough how amazing of a play it was. But it goes deeper than that. It symbolizes that this team never quit. It would have been easy enough to have let that ball go over the wall. The game probably would have been over earlier, and nobody would have thought Wilkerson or the O’s any worse for doing it.

But the fact that Wilkerson spent so much effort in making that play, in effect a play that was meaningless in the grand scheme of things, speaks to his character. And it speaks to the character of this organization, which obviously teaches it’s players to always play hard. And they typified that attitude until the last out on the last day, and until the end of the line. Up until the end.

Just for laughs…the Orioles’ next game will be Florida Grapefruit League Opening Day on Saturday, February 23, 2020 against Atlanta at CoolToday Park. Starters for both teams are still to be determined. (As soon as I’m able to get information about potential starters I’ll pass that along!) Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

And THAT, folks, is the end of the line!

Baltimore Orioles: Final game of this decade

Today the Baltimore Orioles close not only the 2019 season, but also a decade that will forever be special in Birdland. The next time the Birds take the field it will be 2020, and thus a new decade. (The Roaring 20’s?!) So today ends the 2010’s.

And what a memorable decade this was. First off, the Orioles and the rest of the league all play at 3 PM EST this afternoon. The league took note of the closing act of 2011, in which the Orioles savagely beat Boston in walk off fashion, and five minutes later Tampa did the same to NY – the combination of the two acts sending Tampa to the post season and sending Boston home. So at some point the league decided to have the last day feature games at the same time so as to potentially have something along those lines occur again.

Obviously the success of this past decade can be traced back and attributed to Buck Showalter. His leadership propelled the likes of Adam Jones, Chris Davis, Manny Machado, Nick Markakis, J.J. Hardy and others to greatness. Some of you reading this will point out that the O’s never won a World Series in this timeframe, and that’a undebatable. However after 14 consecutive losing seasons and multiple embarrassments in that span, are you really going to let the lack of a World Series define that era?

The 2012 Orioles shocked the world. And it was literally a season-long process – shocking the world, that is. They took the momentum garnered after bouncing Boston from the playoffs in 2011 and paid it forward. There were people who didn’t truly believe in the Orioles having a shot at the post season until they had actually clinched. But they made it, and won the inaugural AL Wild Card Game in Texas.

We all know the rest. Two years later the O’s were AL East Champions, and two years after that they returned to the post season as a wild card team. However all good things must come to an end. And the 2010’s-era Orioles has their fall from grace as well. They were competitive in 2017 until the final month, when they just fell off. Then 2018 obviously was a disaster, causing wholesale changes across the board.

But when fans think back on this decade of Orioles baseball, my hope is that they remember the good times. Because the fact is that they far outweigh the bad. By a long shot. Think back to moments such as this one – Delmon Young‘s bases clearing double in the 2014 ALDS against Detroit.

Incidentally, as a writer I try my best to call things down the middle. Sure I cover the Orioles and thus write from the Orioles’ perspective, but I try not to cheerlead. But watching that clip still sends shivers down my spine (in a manner that only baseball can induce). You can hear the crowd, and hear the announcer straining just to have his voice heard over the fans. And that’s very consistent with my own memories of that moment.

That was not only the loudest I had ever heard Camden Yards, but the loudest I had ever heard any stadium. It was one of those moments that you just won’t ever forget. Nary one person in the park that day didn’t feel that Baltimore was collecting penance in that moment for all of the losing and embarrassments over the years.

It was unforgettable. And personally I think it’s the moment which personifies and symbolizes this decade of Orioles baseball. Again, it’s easy to look at that and say wow look how far they’ve fallen. But the fact is that this was one of the most successful decades in some time for the Orioles. Never forget that.

And yes folks, it closes today. But I think most fans believe that the organization is headed in the right direction. Those days could be returning in the future. Oh and there’s one other thing people should keep in mind when thinking of the 2010’s and Orioles baseball. The price of admission? ONE BUCK.