Baltimore Orioles: Chris Tillman getting bitten by the injury bug early

The Baltimore Orioles aren’t only struggling with injuries very early, they’re coming in the form of big names – Chris Tillman, in this case. While the O’s would have never admitted it, the idea was that Tillman would make his fourth consecutive Opening Day start for the Orioles this year. Tillman apparently has had some struggles with the same shoulder that sent him to the DL last year.

Back in December Tillman apparently contacted head trainer Richie Bancells and said that his shoulder wasn’t responding as he thought it would to his off season throwing regiment. So at that time he was given a platelet-rich plasma injection in the shoulder (his right shoulder to be exact). However now it appears doubtful that Tillman would in theory be ready to go on Opening Day.

Major League Baseball created a ten-day Disabled List starting this year, and if Tillman went on that (backdated to March 30th), he’d be eligible to pitch on April 9th against NY. So we’re probably not talking about him missing any measurable time. He just wouldn’t be the Opening Day starter.

Mind you however, that scenario doesn’t really allow for much in the way of setbacks. If one little thing went wrong in terms of soreness, tendinitis, etc., Tillman might have to miss more time. The Orioles seem pretty confident in this path however, so it appears this is the direction in which they’re going.

My question would be how effective will he be once he returns? Might it not make more sense to send him to extended Spring Training for a couple of weeks? And that’s a tough call, because the pressure to win for the Orioles begins on April 3rd. Having your ace in extended Spring Training for the first three weeks of the season would be a tough pill to swallow.

But I suspect that remains an option for the Orioles if in fact Tillman does suffer a further setback. My point is whether or not that should be the plan regardless. Players go through spring regiments for a reason, that being to get ready for the season. The idea of Tillman being on a 75-pitch limit in his first regular season start was also floated yesterday; again, is someone really ready to go if they’re being limited in that manner?

It’s all a very tough call, and it’s being made by baseball and medical people. In essence, people a heck of a lot smarter than I. So it’s something to watch as camp moves along, but that appears to be the plan as of right now.

Baltimore Orioles: Does playing the NL Central matter in the rankings?

As I’ve discussed the past two days, the Baltimore Orioles are expected to finish last in the AL East according to Baseball Prospectus. My aversion to this prediction is well-documented, however is there more to it than meets the eye? Let me play devil’s advocate for just a moment…

…the O’s played the NL West last year in interleague play. The LA Dodgers, San Diego Padres, et al. Not exactly the greatest division on earth, but of course the Dodgers and Giants are always competitive. (And the O’s of course took two-of-three in San Francisco, coming back to win the final game of the series in dramatic fashion after being down by six runs in the seventh.) So did that help the Orioles of 2016?

It might have for sure – only that the other teams in the division played the same schedule. So in essence, that cancels any competitive advantage that the O’s may have had in the division out. But if they had played a tougher division last year, is it possible that they might not have made the second wild card?

Anything is possible. But this is getting into the real nitty-gritty of things. This season the AL East will play the NL Central. (The Orioles will also have two two-game series’ against the Washington Nationals – home and home.) So they’re looking at the defending World Champion Cubs (still seems strange to say that!), the Cardinals, Brewers, etc.

With the exception of Chicago, that might not seem like the toughest task. But keep in mind that the NL Central centers their game around pitching and OBP. In effect they play small-ball, whereas the AL East is all about mashing home runs. The Orioles’ experience with those types of teams hasn’t yielded results that are necessarily favorable over the past few years.

They were swept by Minnesota in August of 2015, they seem to struggle against Kansas City, and even Cleveland at times (although they handled the Tribe last year). Heck, even in their own division – Tampa always seems to play the Orioles tough. Whereas the O’s are always looking to hit the ball out of the ballpark, teams like these see a single or a walk as a small victory.

So as we get into the grind of the season and the Orioles start seeing these teams, they might do well to exercise patience at the plate just a bit. Chicago’s a team that could probably compete in the AL East with their bats, but the rest of them are mainly small ball teams. While you have to set up your team to compete mainly in it’s division, the division you play in interleague is also something to watch.

Baltimore Orioles: In Buck you should trust

I suppose I wrote a fairly scathing article regarding Baseball Prospectus’ opinion of the 2017 Baltimore Orioles yesterday. Mind you folks, I’m a writer, not a fan. So I didn’t say those things because I was “offended” by their assessment of the team. I came at those comments from a position of common sense.

Perhaps more importantly than anything else, Baseball Prospectus failed to take into account the Orioles’ most important weapon: Buck Showalter. It’s no mere coincidence that the entire franchise seemingly turned around under his leadership. And it almost happened overnight. The Birds were floundering once again and in essence playing out a string when he came along in August of 2010. Yet they managed to finish with two .winning months for the first time in light years.

Injuries plagued them in 2011, yet they once again finished with a flurry in September, and of course knocked the BoSox out of the playoffs in what I still call the greatest closing act of all time. 2012-2016 have been either playoff years, or years in which the O’s were eliminated in the final week or two of the season. Needless to say, even in those seasons they were in contention until the end.

Again, that’s no coincidence. Buck Showalter is a good manager. Perhaps more importantly, he’s a good leader. Savoir faire in the sport is only part of the equation; if you aren’t a good leader, your team is going to get nowhere. Showalter talks a lot about other sports here and there. So could he coach a basketball team as well as he does baseball? I know that he’s a basketball fan because I’ve heard him talk about the sport and I’ve heard him say he’s attended games back in Dallas…

…so if he has any savy whatsoever about the sport, yes he probably could. Or at least he could be molded into a good basketball coach. Because he’s a good leader, and players seem to buy into what he’s selling. That’s the biggest part of the deal.

So all of the people who claim doom and gloom for the upcoming Orioles’ season fail to take that into account. Now it goes without saying that good leadership only takes you so far; you also need to have good followers (players, in this case). And the Orioles do have that. They’re bringing the same team back that went to the playoffs last year. Does that mean instant success in 2017? Of course not. But today as pitchers and catchers report for spring the Orioles’ biggest competitive advantage remains William Nathaniel Showalter.

Baltimore Orioles: Was 2012-2016 all luck?

The Baltimore Orioles have always been competitive under Buck Showalter – ALWAYS. I don’t need to tell this to most fans, but what the heck. Showalter took over in August of 2010, the Birds finished the season strong, and again struggled in 2011. However they still finished the season strong in the end. The made the playoffs for the first time since 1997 in 2012, had a winning record in ’13, won the division in ’14, finished at .500 in ’15 (with a very strong September), and went to the playoffs again in ’16.

Throughout that time, the Birds have had a very similar core in terms of players, basically centered around Adam Jones. That’s especially true from 2012 to the present. And the O’s are returning virtually the same team in 2017. Yet, Baseball Prospectus is insisting that the Birds will take a huge step backwards in 2017.

They have the Orioles finishing at 73-89, and in last place in the AL East. Mind you, teams such as Toronto lost major pieces, yet they feel they’ll finish ahead of the Orioles. Then you have Tampa, who wasn’t even remotely near the map last year in terms of the post season – and supposedly they’re going to finish in second place with 84 wins.

With all of this said, some people are going to argue that last year’s results bear no relevance to anything to do with this year. And honestly I disagree – in this case. Again, the Birds are bringing the same basic team back, albeit with a couple of changes. However are those changes enough to take them from being a playoff team to the basement? And again, you have good teams from last year (Toronto) who lost big parts; yet they’re ahead of the Orioles. Not to mention bad teams (Tampa) who gained nothing – yet they’re ahead of the Orioles.

Obviously this is about the Orioles’ starting pitching, and that’s certainly a fair criticism. But what these potential standings are saying is that Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman are definitely taking big steps backwards this year. According to Baseball Prospectus, there’s absolutely no doubt about it. It also means that Ubaldo Jimenez has no shot of improving year-over-year. Now Jimenez has struggled over time without a doubt. However he has had flashes where he’s looked good (such as last September). And Baseball Prospectus is saying that won’t happen this year.

It also means that Dylan Bundy without any doubt won’t be having any success in 2017. And here’s the thing; all of that could happen. But again using Tampa as an example, Baseball Prospectus is saying that everything Tampa’s putting together is going to magically work out. And the exact opposite with the Orioles.

To take that a step further, they have Oriole bats finishing the season at .256 with a .318 OPB. Now I’ll grant you that on-base percentage isn’t this group’s forte. However power most definitely is. And they think that the likes of Jones, Trumbo, Machado, Davis, et al are only going to hit at a .256 clip? Regardless of what people might think of the pitching, that’s not even a stretch. It’s borderline impossible.

But it all goes back to Buck Showalter. What of his record (both in Baltimore and before) would make anyone think that he’d allow this team to finish like that? In effect, what Baseball Prospectus is saying is that the Orioles got lucky from 2012-2016. Again mind you, the Orioles are bringing the same team back for the most part. Toronto is not, yet they’re picked ahead of the O’s. Tampa is bringing the same team back, but they didn’t get the job done last year. Yet they’re picked ahead of the O’s. Does that really make sense other than going under the assumption that the O’s just got lucky for five years or so?

Mind you however, all of this is plausible. Maybe Tampa’s the group that’s going to start getting lucky. Maybe Bautista and his hatred for Baltimore, the Orioles, the Orioles fans, etc. is going to be enough to give his team a better record than the Birds. Maybe instead of majestic homers and big games, Oriole bats will only produce strikeouts this year. And maybe the bright spots in Oriole pitching that does exist will simply go away, along with the success of the bullpen.

That’s called living on a prayer, or perhaps the opposite thereof in this case. Baseball Prospectus is just assuming that everything Buck Showalter puts his hand on this year is going to turn to dust; the opposite being true of every other manager in the division. Basically, they’re saying that to this point the Fighting Showalters have simply gotten lucky.

Baltimore Orioles acquire Gabriel Ynoa

The Baltimore Orioles traded cash considerations to the New York Mets yesterday in exchange for minor league pitcher, Gabriel Ynoa. In a bit of a surprise move, they then DFA’d catcher Francisco Pena. I say a surprise move, because the Orioles liked Pena and he was in the big leagues for some time last year. But “them’s the breaks.”

The Birds are expecting Ynoa to begin the year in triple-A, which means that at some point we may see him in Baltimore. For what it’s worth, the big league clock has started on him, as he played in ten games with the Mets last year. His record was 1-0.

The O’s think that Ynoa could be a starter in the big leagues on a consistent basis. Some will scowl at that a bit, however keep in mind that Dan Duquette is very good about getting these diamond in the rough players. Speaking of which, Duquette had this to say about the Orioles’ new acquisition (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports):

He’s young, he’s strong, he’s durable. The kid won 13 games last year. Pitching in Las Vegas, that’s a tough ballpark to pitch in, but he was one of the top pitchers in the Pacific Coast League. He has a good sinker, a four-seam fastball that reaches 95 mph and a good changeup.

Our scouts think he’ll be able to develop into a big league pitcher with a little more consistent breaking ball. He’s got pretty good credentials for a major league starting pitcher.”

Just another story as we wind down the off season – or the non-baseball part of it at least.

Baltimore Orioles: “Come Monday”

As the Jimmy Buffet song goes, “…come Monday it’ll b alright” for the Baltimore Orioles. Pitchers and catchers are due to report then, which unofficially begins the 2017 season in Birdland. Pitchers and catchers reporting is always an exciting day, although nothing really happens per se. But as I said, it unofficially begins a new season…

…and everything that goes with it! A baseball season is a grind, and these guys will be together until the autumn starting next week. For their sake, you have to hope they’re ready for that.

Position players will report roughly one week later, and in essence two weeks from today is Grapefruit League Opening Day. That means it’s gameday – Orioles vs. Tigers! But regardless of who’s playing, who’s on the travel roster, or anything else, bats start cracking and gloves start popping on Monday. “Come Monday it’ll be alright.”

Baltimore Orioles: Mistake in not signing Jason Hammel?

Former Baltimore Orioles’ pitcher Jason Hammel signed a two-year deal with Kansas City this week. Before I go on, it’s probably worth mentioning that Kansas City may have had the more pressing need for a starting pitcher given that their best one just died in a car accident. They had an immediate hole in their rotation, and they plugged it.

But Hammel was on the market for quite some time. Were the Orioles foolish to not consider bringing him back? Hammel had a 3.83 ERA last year with the World Champion Chicago Cubs. That’s not stellar per se, but it might play well with an Orioles team looking for good starting pitching.

So it’s not a matter of whether or not the Orioles missed an opportunity now, but this entire time since the culmination of the season. My personal opinion is that it would have behooved the Orioles to sign Hammel, especially since he played here before. He’s familiar with the Showalter system, as well as with many of the current Orioles.

Furthermore, he’s also been to the mountaintop. He’s participated in the post-season (with the Orioles as well), and last year of course he won a World Series with Chicago. That type of experience means something. And in a division that seems to get stronger every year in terms of it’s power hitters, experience in general is a good thing to have.

But if the Orioles ever had any interest in bringing Hammel back, the time has now passed. Kansas City needed him, and they signed him. Hopefully for the Orioles’ sake they don’t find themselves in the dog days with starters struggling to go five innings and Hammel’s plugging away for Kansas City.

Baltimore Orioles: Should starters hit the road in spring?

We all know how the Baltimore Orioles along with most teams do things in spring training. For the most part, starters stay behind for road games and only play in the teams’ home affairs. So the fact is that regardless of what I or anybody else writes, that’s going to be the case.

That’s why it’s almost challenging to have a truly bad record in spring training; because no matter how mad your starting team may be, they’re playing against scrubs in their home games. Major League rules dictate that teams have to bring and play at least three veterans on every road trip – just to ensure a semi-competitive game for paying fans. But we all know that rules like that are easily skirted. All it takes is a manager to say I don’t know who’s starting at that position and you can get by the rule.

But here’s a question: should the Orioles play their starters in more road games? First of you will see some of the starters making trips away from Ed Smith Stadium…towards the tail end of spring. But at the beginning don’t bet on it happening too often. But would it not benefit the O’s in some sense?

All of the Orioles’ division opponents play in the Florida Grapefruit League. So it would benefit hitters to play against teams and pitchers they’re going to see come Opening Day and beyond. Furthermore there’s another aspect to that which goes unnoticed: the field dimensions’. Many teams, including the Orioles, are now constructing their ballparks to be exact dimensional copies of their home parks. So…would the O’s not benefit from that?

If the starting players all go down to JetBlue Park in Fort Myers to play against the BoSox, that might help them to get used to the dimensions of the park again and thus be ready for Fenway. Obviously that goes both ways, as Ed Smith Stadium is a copy of Camden Yards’ field as I said above.

There are other reasons why players often stay back on road games. While you want your players to be in shape and ready for the season, you also don’t want them to injure themselves. The last thing anyone wants is someone getting hurt because he’s working too much or something along those lines. Plus it gives the younger players a shot at playing in a real big league game against big league talent.

There are different theories on all of this, but needless to say it’s a rare occasion when a veteran sees his name on the travel roster. And I don’t expect 2017 to be any exception.

Baltimore Orioles bring back Robert Andino

The Baltimore Orioles are bringing Robert Andino back. That’s right, you read that correctly. The former Orioles’ infielder made famous in 2011 is returning to the scene of the crime.

Andino needs no introduction to most of you. He orchestrated the last-second takedown of the Boston Red Sox on the last day of the 2011 season. His RBI-single in the last of the ninth inning broke a tie and won it for the Birds. A few moments later Tampa beat New York on a walk-off home run; both plays combined to keep Boston from the playoffs that year.

I’m not going to lie, that’s still the greatest closing act of all time in terms of a season that I’ve ever seen. Part of it for sure was the fact that it all kind of came together at the end at once in that manner. But as a result, Robert Andino is still thought of fondly in Birdland.

Nevertheless, he signed a minor league contract yesterday with the O’s, which also comes with an invitation to big league spring training. The reports indicate that he’ll begin 2017 as an infielder at Triple-A Norfolk. Whether or not he sees anytime in the big leagues remains to be seen. But I suspect we’ll see him at some point, and when we do I’m sure he’ll be warmly received at Oriole Park.

Baltimore Orioles: Pitfalls on technicalities

Last autumn I spent some time writing about over-regulation for the Baltimore Orioles and Major League Baseball. We’re starting to see it across the board in baseball, such as the rules governing takeout slides and blocking the plate. The more rules and stipulations that exist, the more they’re open to interpretation by different umpires.

And over the weekend we saw the dark side of interpreting rules in a college basketball game. In short, St. Bonaventure beat VCU in an apparent upset victory – or did they? “The Bonnies” hit a shot to take a one-point lead with what appeared to be .4 seconds on the clock. At one point the clock actually said zero, and the students stormed the court in celebration.

However the game wasn’t over – there were .4 seconds left. That’s barely enough time for a heave-ho at the end, but in theory it’s enough time. However the game official whistled a technical foul against St. Bonaventure because the crowd stormed the court. VCU was awarded a free throw (which they converted to tie the game – with .4 seconds left), and then won the game in overtime.

This is where we get into well “technically” the letter of the rule says… And that’s where frustrations can boil over. Major League Baseball should look at that situation and take note. Because something like that could in fact happen in baseball if an umpire wanted to interpret a rule one way or another.

In accordance with the rule the way it is written, the referee in that game was within his right to whistle a technical foul. Some people might even argue that he would have shirked his duty had he not done so, in fact. But baseball fans have a word/hashtag for this: #umpshow. Basically when an umpire decides to make himself part of the show, we start seeing that term thrown around.

And in my view that’s exactly what the ref in that basketball game did. Because he absolutely had to rigidly enforce the rule by the letter, he not only became part of “the show,” but he put his own stamp on the game. That’s not supposed to happen.

So some might ask what exactly I want officials to do. If a rule is broken, should some sort of enforcement not occur? Of course it should. However if you’re an umpire or ref, you’re also schooled in how the game works. So in that case the ref should have understood the magnitude of that moment, and yes in essence looked the other way. That’s not to say that he should have just given the St. Bonaventure students carte blanche to storm the court before the game was over, but he should have looked at the circustance of the moment as opposed to just the letter of the rule.

And yes folks, if there are too many rules sometimes things like that can happen. So MLB needs to take note of that. I’ll let you throw scenarios around in your heads as to how something along those lines could in theory occur in baseball, but when something along those lines flat out costs you a game that you rightfully won it’s no laughing matter.

As an aside, baseball does have one advantage over the rest of the sports in situations like these. The concept of “playing under protest” still exists according to the rules. If a manager thinks a rule has been unfairly applied or misinterpreted, he can let the umpire know that he’s playing under protest. The umpire is then supposed to document that, and put that in his report to the league office after the game.

The manager can drop the protest after the game if he so chooses (which most managers will do if they end up winning the game). However if he chooses to continue his protest he has until noon the next day to send in a formal notice of protest to the league office. The league will then review the situation, and if they decide that yes in fact a rule was misinterpreted or misapplied by the umpire, they can order the game to be re-played from that moment.

Apparently that concept doesn’t exist in college basketball – but I think it should exist in all sports. However that aside, the more rules and regulations which exist the more chance there is that something like that could happen.