Baltimore Orioles: Sound of silence

At times in 2017, Adam Jones was one of the only players hitting and producing. Again, I said one one the only players. Trey Mancini and Jonathan Schoop obviously had great years. as well as a couple of others. However one of the hallmarks of this past season was that the offense hibernated all at once in various points of the season.

And that’s something on which we should spend some time this off season. Obviously the main problem was the pitching. But there were quite a few games that the pitching did in fact hold up their end of the bargain. And the bats let the Orioles down. It’s fine and dandy to pitch a quality start, but if your offense can’t help you out and you lose 3-0, it’s still a loss.

First off, every team is going to go through dead periods at the plate. The Los Angeles Dodgers had that happen in the beginning of September. It was kind of laughed off because they were light years ahead in their division and at no risk of missing the post season, but it still happened. So you can’t totally head off these types of problems in terms of having it not happen.

But it seemed to happen to the Orioles across several different periods of the season. May was a dead period, however the Orioles have had a couple of bad May’s at the plate over the past couple of years. And that almost attests for it happening. Perhaps guys are starting to settle into the grind of the season and so forth, realizing the long haul that it’s going to be.

The O’s also had a slew of injuries over the course of the entire summer. Davis, Hardy, Castillo, and Flaherty all found themselves on the DL (some more than others). That’s not an excuse, but a fact. And that was true throughout the entire year. Adam Jones missed in essence the entire last week of the season due to sore legs that had plagued him all year.

Instead, the Orioles’ competition seemed to get stronger and healthier. Boston and New York didn’t have to contend with those types of injuries. In general, I’m in favor of a veteran team like what the Orioles have. However if half your infield AND your depth (Flaherty) are hurt, you see the downside very quickly. And in fact, you look at the season that Trey Mancini had, and when you realize he was a rookie perhaps youth can sometimes make a difference.

Lackluster pitching will be the end story of this Orioles’ season. But the silent bats at times played just as big a role. Hopefully for the O’s a long winter’s rest will help them to spring anew come March.

Baltimore Orioles: Buzzing up and down I-95

As you may recall, I was as surprised as anyone to hear of the Baltimore Orioles’ Buck Showalter‘s name on Philadelphia’s wish list of managers a couple of weeks back. It made no sense to me whatsoever that a manager under contract to another team would even be on someone’s radar. And I still stand by my statements from last week; if Philadelphia would even want the Orioles to consider cutting Buck loose, the Orioles would have to be able to gut Philadelphia’s farm system.

However there is a manager in the region who’s contract is up once the league season is over: Dusty Baker. The Washington Nationals’ manager of course is currently managing in the NLDS, and his team is tied at one game a piece with the Chicago Cubs. The series resumes today at Wrigley Field.

Baker is a great manager, most certainly on par with the Showalter’s of the world. He was given a two-year contract with Washington following the 2015 season, a deal which inexplicably hasn’t been extended at this point. Furthermore from Philadelphia’s standpoint, he manages a division rival.

In theory, contracts that are up after any given season expire in the immediacy of the World Series ending. If Washington makes it to the fall classic, it might be bad form for a team to reach out to Baker’s agent and inquire about a contract. But if they don’t make it that far, would it not behoove Philadelphia or any other potential team with a need in the dugout to look into Baker’s services?

My prediction is that Baker’s managing in Washington for the Nationals on Opening Day of 2018. However the fact is that right now he’s out of a job once the season concludes. I thought it was a little overly-aggressive for Philadelphia to have a sitting manager under contract for next year on their managerial radar, but especially with a skipper of equal caliber that in theory is going to be available.

On that note, it also seems to be bad form on Washington’s part to let Baker flail in the wind like this. He’s too accomplished as an MLB manager to have to wonder about his future. And quite frankly it would serve Washington right if he did walk – especially to a division rival. But so far as we know, Philadelphia has no interest in Dusty Baker. Only apparently Buck Showalter.

Baltimore Orioles: No sweeps for MLB’s tastes?

When the Baltimore Orioles were last in the ALDS in 2014, they swept the Detroit Tigers. That of course was a series that included a blowout win in game one, a game two win on the heels of Delmon Young‘s bases-clearing double in the eighth inning, and Buck Showalter rolling the dice at the end of game three. Showalter of course walked the winning run into scoring position to match up. But needless to say, it was a three-game sweep.

With Washington winning yesterday (and with similar heroics to the Delmon Young game at that), that’s one LDS series that has no chance at being a sweep. However the LA Dodgers won last night, setting up an elimination game tomorrow in Phoenix. And both Boston and New York face elimination today at the hands of Houston and Cleveland respectively.

My personal prediction is that at least one of those series’ will see at least a game four. However out of three series’, the odds of at least one of them being a sweep are also pretty good. But is it fair to say that perhaps MLB doesn’t want any of these series’ to be sweeps?

At this point, MLB’s really in this for the ratings. Correction: they’re in this for their television partners, who are in this for the ratings. You’re going to get ratings in the cities that are involved in the games for sure. Eyeballs in Cleveland, New York, Boston, etc. are going to be glued to the sets. And keep in mind that there are a lot of “haters” in cities such as Baltimore – division rivals of those teams who want to see them go down. They’ll probably be watching also.

But in reality, I suspect MLB would prefer that all of the series’ go the entire way. The league has to be thrilled that Washington won last night, and in such compelling fashion at that. Now they’re guaranteed a fourth game, and in the “friendly confines” of Wrigley Field at that.

Mind you, I’m in no way suggesting that any games are fixed – not by any stretch of the imagination. I just think that it makes sense for the league to hope the series’ go the entire five games. Especially seeing that they would culminate during the week. MLB’s at a disadvantage somewhat today because their two elimination games are going up against NFL football. While NFL ratings are down, it’s still competition. But games next week won’t have that type of competition.

Baltimore Orioles: Experience winning the day in the post season

The Baltimore Orioles might not be in the post season, but there are still some very compelling storylines. Look no further than Cleveland, where the Tribe has an opportunity to sweep New York tomorrow at Yankee Stadium. Cleveland of course hasn’t won the World Series since 1948, making them an attractive team for which to root.

One motif we’ve seen in the first slew of games in the playoffs has been that experience rules the day – for the most part. The one exception is Boston being on the verge of elimination at the hands of Houston. That Boston team has playoff experience; and they’re having their lunch handed to them thus far.

New York may be a great team, but they’re up against a Cleveland team that has playoff experience at the highest level. Cleveland of course went to the World Series last year, narrowly losing to Chicago in game seven. Looking at the National League, that experience also did Chicago well last night as they beat Washington 3-0, and Los Angeles bested a pesky Arizona team.

Some might look at that Chicago and Washington series as a draw in a sense. In fact, some would argue that the core group of players in DC might have more experience in the post season than does Chicago. However you can’t discount the fact that Chicago played in an won the World Series last year.

There are people who tell me that I put too much emphasis on experience. Anyone can win a baseball game, right? Yes, that’s very true. But just as the regular season differs from spring training, the bright lights of the post season is vastly different than the regular season. So that’s why when you get to this level you can’t discount that angle.

When you look at a team like Arizona, the atmosphere they saw at Dodger Stadium last night was probably unlike anything some of those players had ever experienced. To draw a comparison, if you bring a field goal kicker in the NFL in to try a 55-yard field goal to win the game, that’s a tough spot. If it’s preseason, there’s probably very little pressure. But if it’s a regular season or playoff game, is that same 55-yard kick just as easy? Probably not.

So who are most fans watching and wanting to win? There’s the Washington Nationals for the local angle, of course with former Oriole Matt Wieters. While he opted to leave Baltimore, I suspect that Wieters is a guy most O’s fans would like to see succeed. Speaking for myself, the Tribe is such a compelling story in terms of the amount of suffering that fan base has done since they last won a title. I’m also keeping my eye on Dodger Blue. One way of the other, the games thus far have been great!

Baltimore Orioles: Is the sports system immoral or unfair?

One term I hear a lot from fans of the Baltimore Orioles and other franchises is the term on-field product. I’ve said this before, but sports isn’t a product – it’s a game. However the more we hear that term, the more fans (especially younger fans) are going to treat it like a product.

Point here being, if you don’t like Coca-Cola (first off you must be crazy because it’s the greatest soda of all time!), you can switch to Pepsi. If you don’t like Marriotts, you can switch to Hiltons. You get the idea. Those are products.

And yes, if rooting for one team isn’t working out for you, there’s no reason you can’t switch. But most people grew up rooting for the team at hand, and it’s tough to just drop them. But if you treat sports like a product, that makes it a lot easier. And hey, the league’s still happy because you’re still supporting it – just in the form of another team.

And this article published earlier this week by CBS Sports kind of delves into sports fans’ senses of entitlement. I suspect that a lot of fans out there are now conditioned to feel that they deserve a winning team. And that’s because society’s taught people that over time. But there’s more to it than just that – it’s an interesting read, and I’d recommend clicking the link I provided and taking a look for yourself.

But this doesn’t all fall on the fans. After all, they (you) are in fact paying customers. Do the leagues and teams themselves take things too far? If there weren’t drafts, would that not benefit players themselves more so given that in theory they could play wherever they wanted?

And my answer to that is no. Look at the Lonzo Ball situation in the NBA. It’s a total fiasco, and his old man needs to stay out of things. That part goes without saying. But keep in mind that his Dad basically said that the only acceptable landing spot for his son was the Lakers. So in the absence of a draft, you’d have a lot of players picking their favorite or hometown teams exclusively. Nobody else would have a chance.

At the end of the day, it’s tough to feel badly for athletes even who make their league’s minimum. In MLB and the NFL, that’s somewhere between $400-$500K per season. However it’s also tough to feel badly for fans who think that the price of admission should mean that they get to see a winning team. So is the system unfair? No.

Baltimore Orioles: 2017 season recap

My prediction for the 2017 Baltimore Orioles was that Buck Showalter would have them in contention at least until the very end. And in fact, they were mathematically in contention until about a week to go in the season. But there were two things that derailed this Orioles’ season: inconsistent starting pitching, and inconsistent bats.

The O’s jumped out early, winning 22 of their first 32 games. That included a dramatic extra inning win on a Trumbo walk off home run on Opening Day against Toronto. However things in this world can often change on the drop of a dime. And they did.

Some of the Orioles’ issues were within their realm of control (in theory). Starting pitching in May and June just wasn’t up to snuff. That sent the Birds into a tailspin, as pressure mounted on the bullpen. However there were other issues which were not in their realm of control – such as injuries.

Chris Tillman of course began the season on the disabled list. And the fact is that he never seemed to get it going as the season wore on once he returned. However the likes of Chris Davis, Darren O’Day, J.J. Hardy, Ryan Flaherty, Welington Castillo, and of course Zach Britton, also spent time on the DL. In Hardy’s case, it lasted for most of the season. It’s tough to be competitive when you have that many players out.

And the fact is, the competition (NY and Boston) seemed to get healthier by the day. The Orioles were a veteran team in 2017, which in my eyes is a good thing. You’re dealing with more mature players who aren’t trying to be everything to everybody and so forth, causing rookie mistakes. In NY’s case, they were a young team. Yet the flip side of that is that youth is more durable at various points.

This is not to say that there were no good moments. Jonathan Schoop and Adam Jones were both trailblazers – at the plate and in the field. Rookie Trey Mancini was also a nice surprise as time went on. And Dylan Bundy had a strong 2017, and the Orioles hope he anchors the rotation next year.

August brought a resurgence for the Birds, and come Labor Day they were a game out of the second wild card slot. However it was not to be, as they dropped 18 of their final 22 games to finish the season with only 25 wins. It’s only their second losing season under Showalter, the other being in 2011.

So what happens with this franchise moving forward? That’s something we’ll discuss a great deal, between now and the first spring training games.

Baltimore Orioles: Is the NFL’s loss MLB’s gain?

The Baltimore Orioles and the sports world have been rocked with the national anthem protests across the NFL of late. I have my views on that, and you can find those out if you follow my social media accounts. I’m not going to go into that here.

However regardless of the reasoning as to why, many Americans are turning away from the NFL – for now. That may be the wrong way of putting it; some people claim they’re turning away from the NFL. Speaking for myself, I couldn’t do it. I love football too much!

But that aside, does MLB possibly have an opportunity? Baseball has long whistled a patriotic tune in the sense that three major American holidays (Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day) fall during the season, and the league does a great job of marking them. The past few years the patriotic line of memorabilia has been very strong.

However I would submit that the chance to gain fans isn’t as great as one might think. Baseball’s greatest lack in terms of demographics are younger fans – the millennials. However it’s mainly the older generations (Gen X and Baby Boomers) who are the ones who have an issue with the protests…

…or with the methodology, at least. Most people probably aren’t upset about the protests overall, they’re upset that they’re disrespecting the flag. But that’s another story. Even still, perhaps it’s time for MLB to remind folks that baseball in fact is and always will be “America’s Pastime.”

Baltimore Orioles: Buck Showalter to Philadelphia?

It goes without saying that the Baltimore Orioles are lucky to have Buck Showalter at the helm. People can debate whether his moves are good or not, but the fact is that he’s the best manager the O’s have had since the mid-1990’s. If there’s a better candidate out there, I’d be interested to see him. Showalter is under contract as the Orioles’ manager through the end of next season.

So you can imagine my surprise when over the weekend NBC Sports Philadelphia (formerly Comcast Sportsnet) named Showalter as one of the ten potential candidates who could fill the managerial vacancy in that city. I suppose I understand the interest given that former Orioles’ GM Andy MacPhail is the current boss in Philadelphia.  But…they do realize that Showalter is under contract, don’t they?!

Teams being interested in another team’s current manager is nothing new. Farrell up in Boston was in essence traded from Toronto when the BoSox came calling. But that was different in a sense, as Farrell never really clicked in Toronto; basically they didn’t really want him any longer. Boston did want him. So they made a deal.

My understanding is that the Orioles still very much want Showalter as their manager. And for good reason at that. Now with that said, I don’t think that his name appeared in that article out of the blue. There’s a very real possibility that the Philadelphia Phillies might not only want Showalter, but have an idea of how they could get him from the Orioles.

Obviously Showalter and MacPhail are familiar with one another, as I said above. Furthermore there’s also apparent tension at times between Showalter and Dan Duquette in the front office. However that’s not necessarily a bad thing per se. GM’s and managers often don’t see eye-to-eye. At the very least, both Showalter and Duquette respect what one another means to the organization.

If Philadelphia really wants Buck, obviously they could wait a year and then in essence he’d be a “free agent” (absent an extension). However they need a manager now, and odds are someone isn’t going to be willing to sign a one-year contract to manage. A few years ago as you’ll remember Toronto wanted Dan Duquette, and at the end of the day after squabbling back and forth the Orioles were willing to part with him – for a price.

But keep in mind that the two situations aren’t the same. While Duquette would have in essence had a better job in Toronto, the Blue Jays also went out of their way to go about getting him the wrong way. They did their negotiating through the media, and all but announced that they wanted Duquette as executives were flying in for the annual winter meetings. Kind of a bush league move. And that’s why the Orioles and Peter Angelos wanted a king’s ransom in return for Duquette. A request that Toronto denied, hence Duquette still being in Baltimore.

But this is totally different. Obviously this wasn’t a bombshell dropped by the Phillies’ organization, it’s just a news story. However if they were really interested in Showalter, it goes without saying that he would come at a price. If I’m the Orioles, I only consider this if I have the opportunity to literally gut Philadelphia’s farm system. And I don’t say that figuratively…

…I mean it literally. The Orioles would need to get top prospects in return, preferably pitching prospects. Pitching prospects who are a heart beat away from the big leagues at that. If Philadelphia isn’t willing to pony up, the Orioles shouldn’t even listen.

At the end of the day, this isn’t happening folks. Buck Showalter’s the best thing to happen to the Orioles in years. They aren’t just going to give him away (unless it’s an offer they can’t refuse). Plus, Buck loves Baltimore. He’s made that clear with his comments and his actions. He’s also said that the Orioles would be his last managerial stop. Now granted things can change, however he’s said that numerous times.

I wouldn’t expect this to be a major storyline this off season. I could always be wrong, but my money’s on Buck managing at Camden Yards on Opening Day, 2018.

Baltimore Orioles arrive at the end of the line

Kevin Gausman did everything he could to hopefully extend the summer one more day for the Baltimore Orioles. At the very least to send the Birds and the fans into the off season on the heels of a win. But it wasn’t meant to be. Gausman’s line: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 9 K.

As I said, Gausman did everything that he could in this game. This was the line and the effort that I suspect the Orioles wanted to see out of Gausman on Opening Day back in April as opposed to yesterday in a meaningless game on the final day of the season. Nevertheless, he finished his season on a personal high note. And that might pay dividends going into next year.

Perhaps the most noteworthy part of Gausman’s start is that he didn’t suffer from the epidemic of going through the order once and falling apart. He was able to disguise his pitches and kept Tampa hitters off kilter for the most part. Casali’s solo homer in the fifth inning was the only run he surrendered.

And the fact is that when the bats are silent, that one run is all that’s necessary. Another hot topic this off season will be how it’s possible that great big league hitters can all go cold at the same time. And it happened at several points along the way this year. And it’s as much of a reason as to why the Orioles are now cleaning out their lockers as opposed to preparing for the post season as anything else.

After Gausman departed, Tampa really got to work. Longoria smacked an RBI-double in the eighth, followed by an RBI-single by Morrison. Later in the inning Ploufe walked with the bases loaded, followed by another bases loaded walk – this one to Casali. At the end of the day when the smoke cleared Tampa led 6-0.

And that was the final. Not just the final for the game, but the final impression of the 2017 Orioles. Kind of ironic that the big strength of this team was supposed to be the bullpen, but yet in their penultimate game they got a strong outing from a starter and the bullpen couldn’t get the job done. There’s a lot that derailed this team in 2017, not all of which was in their control. And as time goes on we’ll go over all of it until we find ourselves back in Sarasota for spring training.

And that’s all she wrote! Some seasons are good, and some lackluster such as this one. But one way or the other we made it through 162 games and we’ve now come to the end of the line. But stay with me here at THE ORANGE CRUSH, as we’ll have daily coverage of the Orioles throughout the off season.

And thanks goes out to you the fans for reading. Whether you cheered or boo’d the team, the passion of the Orioles fans is second to none. You care about your team, and you want them to succeed. As for me, I always take a few days to “digest’ the season before writing a formal season recap. But you can expect that this week.

Normally I close my game recaps by setting up the next day’s game. But this was the end of line, so there is no next day’s game. My next game recap will be in February after Opening Day of spring training. So in lieu of the pitching match up, I’ll just say that pitchers and catchers report in less than six months. And hope springs eternal!

Baltimore Orioles: Second time through the order sinks Birds again

The Baltimore Orioles gave Miguel Castro a start out of the bullpen last night, and while he was only in the game for a short time he produced mixed results. Castro’s line: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 3 K. Castro retired the side 1-2-3 in the first inning to get things started. He also pitched out of a small jam in the third.

However he gave up base hits left and right in the fourth. He also uncorked a wild pitch, and one hitter later surrendered a three-run homer to Miller to give Tampa a 3-0 lead. And in doing so, he became only the most recent Orioles’ starter to struggle after going through the batting order once.

I have to believe that if the Birds are giving Castro a start here in the regular season (and considering sending him to winter ball), they’re viewing him as a potential candidate for a starting job next year. He’s going to be a fascinating guy to watch throughout spring training. If there’s a rotation spot to be had, he might have an opportunity to rise up and take it.

But it seems throughout September, the one constant has been that Oriole starters can’t get out of the third or fourth innings. Teams start beating them around, and they go from striking out the side to an early exit. Why is that?

It’s something on which I’ll probably touch here and there throughout the off season. I mean, I have to find something to write about, right?! But I have to believe that opposing teams are picking up on something with every Oriole starter after going through the order once which is allowing them to tee off on them the second time through. And mind you that the Orioles were very much in the thick of contention during Labor Day weekend. So whatever it is, it helped play the Birds right out of the play off race.

Tampa would add an additional run in the seventh on a sac fly-RBI. In fact, the runner was only at third because Donnie Hart balked him there – another unforced mistake. And that run ended up being big, because the Birds made a run.

The O’s got runners on in the top of the eighth, and Pedro Alvarez‘s two-RBI single brought them home. That cut the Tampa lead to 4-2. They would add a sac fly-RBI in the ninth off the bat of Santander, but the third out was recorded before they could tie the game.

All things being equal, if not for that balk the game would have been tied. It’s attention to details like that (or lack thereof) which win and lose you games. And that ties back to the first and second time through the order bit from above. Whatever opposing teams are picking up on after going through the order once, they’re paying close attention to detail. And perhaps the Orioles are not – in the sense that they’re allowing teams to pick up on something. Things to consider for 2018.

It’s hard to believe that this afternoon’s game is the end. It’s been a tough year for the orange and black, but it hasn’t been without it’s lighter moments also. But we can discuss all of that and more in the six months or so between now and Grapefruit League play. But needless to say, when you’ve been charting games since the end of February, it’s hard to believe it when you get to the final one.

The series and the season concludes this afternoon at Tropicana Field. Kevin Gausman will make the penultimate start of the year for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Tampa’s Blake Snell. Game time is set for just after 3 PM.