Post by 4th and Maine on Mar 31, 2009 14:46:29 GMT -5
Scouting the Competition: Baltimore Orioles
With the season fast approaching 4th and Maine will be running spring previews for the other four teams in the American League East. (In case you missed it 4th and Maine ran a Red Sox Team Preview on Sunday that can be found here.) The first of those four teams that we will be looking at are the Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles are coming off a disastrous 68-94 record in 2008, twenty six games under .500. In fact since 2001 the Orioles have never finished above .500 and in that time frame have never won more then 78 games. In fact in the last year years the Orioles have lost 739 games, or a little over 92 games a season.
It makes me from a far at least, sort of miss the days of Cal Ripken Jr., Brady Anderson, and Mike Mussina. When the Orioles were competitive. But it has been a long fall, and Baltimore will try to take their first step up this season. They brought in some players that can add depth to the team and play multiple positions in Ryan Freel, Felix Pie, and Ty Wiggington. They also brought in Cesar Izturis to hopefully shore up what was basically a season long audition last year at the short stop position.
The Orioles parted ways with old Red Sox Kevin Millar and former catcher Ramon Hernandez. Other then that the only other real subtraction was unreliable and inconsistent starting pitcher Daniel Cabrera and pitcher Garrett Olson.
Altough the Orioles attempted to make a big splash with Mark Teixeira or A.J. Burnett, I do like what they did and their lineup should look a little something like this:
1. Brian Roberts 2B
2. Melvin Mora 3B
3. Nick Markakis RF
4. Aubrey Huff 1B
5. Luke Scott DH
6. Adam Jones CF
7. Cesar Izturis SS
8. Gregg Zaun
9. Felix Pie LF
It's not quite the young talent overall team that Tampa Bay broke out with last year, but their is reason for optimism with that lineup. There is good overall talent and if Adam Jones can develop in his second full season along with strong numbers from Mora and Markakis, this team should really make pitchers work and drive some coaches nuts. They will get guys on base, get timely hits and put a few runs on the board.
But you still have to stop the other team from scoring. Taking one look at the Baltimore starting rotation and you will surely be left scratching your head asking: Who? It looks a little like this:
Jeremy Guthrie
Koji Uehara
Mark Hendrickson
David Pauley
Rich Hill
The Orioles have a couple strong arms in the minors, but they are in no hurry to rush them to the majors. So this will likely be their starting rotation. It doesn't exactly strike fear into the heart of opposing hitters and when you take a look at this, suddenly the lineup doesn't look so good.
As far as the bullpen goes: George Sherrill is a solid closer, but by the time they get to him I'm not sure they are going to have a lead. So while it looks like they will score a few runs, it looks like they will give up a ton more.
I am looking for Baltimore to finish below .500 yet again. They may be taking steps stock piling younger talent and arms with an eye towards the future and what the Rays did last year, but that won't happen this year. The Sox, Rays, and Yanks have nothing to worry about with this team.
Prediction: 72-90
With the season fast approaching 4th and Maine will be running spring previews for the other four teams in the American League East. (In case you missed it 4th and Maine ran a Red Sox Team Preview on Sunday that can be found here.) The first of those four teams that we will be looking at are the Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles are coming off a disastrous 68-94 record in 2008, twenty six games under .500. In fact since 2001 the Orioles have never finished above .500 and in that time frame have never won more then 78 games. In fact in the last year years the Orioles have lost 739 games, or a little over 92 games a season.
It makes me from a far at least, sort of miss the days of Cal Ripken Jr., Brady Anderson, and Mike Mussina. When the Orioles were competitive. But it has been a long fall, and Baltimore will try to take their first step up this season. They brought in some players that can add depth to the team and play multiple positions in Ryan Freel, Felix Pie, and Ty Wiggington. They also brought in Cesar Izturis to hopefully shore up what was basically a season long audition last year at the short stop position.
The Orioles parted ways with old Red Sox Kevin Millar and former catcher Ramon Hernandez. Other then that the only other real subtraction was unreliable and inconsistent starting pitcher Daniel Cabrera and pitcher Garrett Olson.
Altough the Orioles attempted to make a big splash with Mark Teixeira or A.J. Burnett, I do like what they did and their lineup should look a little something like this:
1. Brian Roberts 2B
2. Melvin Mora 3B
3. Nick Markakis RF
4. Aubrey Huff 1B
5. Luke Scott DH
6. Adam Jones CF
7. Cesar Izturis SS
8. Gregg Zaun
9. Felix Pie LF
It's not quite the young talent overall team that Tampa Bay broke out with last year, but their is reason for optimism with that lineup. There is good overall talent and if Adam Jones can develop in his second full season along with strong numbers from Mora and Markakis, this team should really make pitchers work and drive some coaches nuts. They will get guys on base, get timely hits and put a few runs on the board.
But you still have to stop the other team from scoring. Taking one look at the Baltimore starting rotation and you will surely be left scratching your head asking: Who? It looks a little like this:
Jeremy Guthrie
Koji Uehara
Mark Hendrickson
David Pauley
Rich Hill
The Orioles have a couple strong arms in the minors, but they are in no hurry to rush them to the majors. So this will likely be their starting rotation. It doesn't exactly strike fear into the heart of opposing hitters and when you take a look at this, suddenly the lineup doesn't look so good.
As far as the bullpen goes: George Sherrill is a solid closer, but by the time they get to him I'm not sure they are going to have a lead. So while it looks like they will score a few runs, it looks like they will give up a ton more.
I am looking for Baltimore to finish below .500 yet again. They may be taking steps stock piling younger talent and arms with an eye towards the future and what the Rays did last year, but that won't happen this year. The Sox, Rays, and Yanks have nothing to worry about with this team.
Prediction: 72-90