Email a copy of 'Offseason In Review: Baltimore Orioles' to a friend
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By Mark Polishuk | at
Email a copy of 'Offseason In Review: Baltimore Orioles' to a friend
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bigpapi4ever
I give the O’s offseason a B-, pretty much par for the course. O’s have a lot of power and a good BP. They will hit for a poor average and their starting pitching is well below average. They’ll finish ahead of the Yankees, right around the Rays, but they won’t be able to compete with the Jays and certainly not with my Sox.
mehs
Those same Sox coming off back to back last place finishes.
mike156
Don’t encourage him….He has the benefit of an open mike, anonymity, and a demonstrated talent for getting under people’s skin. The odd thing is that he probably knows enough baseball to contribute to the discussion, but he chooses another path. Let him do his thing and enjoy himself. There have always been commenters through the last few years who pursued an agenda. Eventually they tire of it.
sn33
I think you are correct. I need to stop replying to his nonsense myself. He just makes it so easy. I feel sorry for the Red Sox fans who aren’t jack wagons. Because people like him make others think the entire fan base is a full of lunatic homers.
cxcx
Not sure what anonymity has to do with it. Like if we knew his identity we’d call the cops on him or email excerpts of him dumbest comments to all his friends to embarrass him.
sn33
“certainly not my sox” who have been the “favorites” to go to the World Series the last two years. And finished dead last both years. I really wish I knew who you were. Not just to point and laugh at you, But also to have a wager on the over/under of “your sox” My sides are just now done being sore from all the laughing I did at your ridiculous 102 win prediction. .
bigpapijuicer
My O’s are gonna wipe the floor with your Sux.
southi
I give them a C. In my mind they bid against themselves on Chris Davis and have less pitching than last season. The Orioles seem caught in the middle. They don’t look as competitive as many and could finish poorly. They are in a very tough AL East and very well could be sellers at the deadline.
dwilson10
Their pitching is the same as last year except they have Gallardo instead of Chen. They put up almost the exact same numbers last year.
MB923
Gallardo – 3.42 ERA, 1.416 WHIP, 1.78 K/BB ratio, 4.1 rWAR
Chen – 3.34 ERA, 1.218 WHIP, 3.73 K/BB ratio, 3.8 rWAR
While their values where nearly the same, the numbers aren’t really the same. Don’t forget Gallardo is now moving to a division where 4 out of the 5 ballparks are hitter friendly and going to a division that featured 3 of the top 4 scoring teams in baseball last year
I can’t picture Gallardo having as good a year this year as he did last year, but you can’t predict baseball so we shall find out
Gogerty
So any word on what the O’s offered for Markakis? Any chance those talks being revisited as season goes on?
Okie_baseball
There is some serious power in the O’s offense, but they lack legitimate OBP bats. Similar to Houston last year, you can’t just knock the ball out of the yard and expect to consistently win baseball games against good teams. As a Texas guy I have to pull for the ex-Ranger Crash Davis! Glad he got a deal.
mehs
If the Astros had any kind of decent bullpen they would have knocked out the eventual champion Royals,
ronnsnow
If and when Manny Machado goes down with a bad knee(s) again, who plays third? Davis, Trumbo, or Alvarez?
dwilson10
Machado proved last year he’s the best 3rd baseman in the league and his knees are perfectly fine. Remember he played all 162 games last year
theo2016
I think donaldson proved last year he is the best third baseman in the league. There is also thus kris bryant guy who has a pretty bright future. Machados great just wanted to point out that he wasnt the best.
aff10
I’d probably take Machado over Bryant, but Donaldson is clearly #1. Arenado is right there too.
attgig
I give them a D:
Completely bid against themselves for Davis.
Made a bad call on Weiters and are now overpaying him…which led to…
Gave up a useful backup catcher for an overpaid DH/1B forced to play RF.
Created a lineup that becomes a true 3 outcome lineup
Did nothing to strengthen their biggest weakness – SP. Chen is easily a better pitcher than Gallardo.
The only positives I see is retaining O’Day. Kim is a risk that could turn out well, but that’s too early to judge.
bigpapijuicer
Lol at Steve Clevenger being a useful backup catcher. Way to skew the facts to fit your narrative.
kingfelix34
If you knew baseball you would know that backup catchers are important
donniebaseball
I agree they completely overpaid for Davis. Just a year removed from last, he put up Pedro Alvarez numbers offensively, batting under .200. They should have signed cespedes instead of Davis, then they wouldn’t have to play trumbo in right/left, and they would have had a reasonable contract with an additional QO draft pick.
donniebaseball
I thought it was great for the O’s that weiters accepted the QO. 15-16M for one year is not that big of a risk, and if he stays healthy, he’ll be easily worth that every penny.
stymeedone
Attgig, I completely agree with your assessment. They paid a lot of money to bring back what they already had. Gallardo is similar, but probably not as good as Chen. I really question whether adding Trumbo and Alvarez will be an improvement. Other than HR’s, they really don’t offer much. Adding both is hoping a smaller ballpark will be a massive benefit to them. Trumbo probably would have been non-tendered by Seattle, IMO. Alvarez had no other suitors. (Marlon Byrd can still play OF, and signed a Mi deal for $1MM). Even if they both work out, they could have been had for fewer dollars, and without giving up a C. I really see no reason to predict them to be better than last year. They are just a whole lot more expensive now.
AshtonLover
I’m going to go ahead and call a really bad year for the o’s
cxcx
I don’t see how Trumbo’s presense is what allows for the O’s to platoon Alvarez. If Trumbo is largely the everyday rightfielder, which is what it seems he will be, then any instance of them sitting Alvarez against a lefty and shifting Trumbo to DH will require them to fill in for Trumbo in right field with a presumably right-handed bat who can hit lefties better than Alvarez. That player is the one who will make it possible to platoon Alvarez. It’s not like Trumbo has some special ability to play the DH position.
thechiguy
From a softball point of view….. The O’s vs. Blue Jays would be a compelling world championship matchup! Unfortunately for the O’s, they have to play baseball this season. Their lineup looks like a bunch of softball players that could potentially lead the league in solo homeruns with no threat of pitching or guys who will maintain high OBP. Having a good bullpen and power threats are good things to have, but when you have a collection of no.3-4 pitchers and no defense behind that staff is going to force you to have to win games approaching double digits if you dare to compete. With no balance to that lineup as well as heavy competition in the AL East alone, I can’t see how the O’s can emerge as a serious playoff threat. They will definitely be fun to watch, but on those days where they face top tier pitching and the balls aren’t flying out of the park, those 3-0 games with those power guys striking out three times each will eventually lead to a sub .500 record in my opinion. I do love the fact that they opened up their purse and paid some guys this offseason, I just can’t see how a team can ignore their biggest weaknesses and simply continue to add the same type of player every time they spend a buck. Power bats with high strike out rates and low OBP added to Power bats with high strike out rates and low OBP….. Ingenious!
echoes
Sorry dude, you lost all credibility when you said “no defense”. The O’s might have the best infield defense in the AL.
osfandan
No defense? Ha