DrungoHazewood

It's always helpful to have a great player on your team. But, no, you don't have to have a Cy Young candidate to win. The '14 Orioles won 96 in the AL East with Chris Tillman as their #1. The '15 Royals won the Series with not only Edison Volquez as their top starter, but Jeremy Guthrie was third in innings and starts. They traded for Cueto at the deadline, and he went 4-7, 4.76. Did anyone on the '21 Braves count as a TOR? Morton was 37 and has only gotten a handful of Cy Young votes in one year. Yes, it would be nice to have someone go 18-5 with a 2.20 and 240 strikeouts. But it's not the end of the world if the O's don't sign a guy like that to a 8/240 deal.

The Lowenstein firing was even worse than not giving real shots to Knott and House.

"It's a line drive up the RC gap and it gets through... still rolling but CFer Rodriguez and his sprinter speed is catching up. Fabulous pop-up slide at the track to pick it up. Henderson rounding second, into third, they're waiving him around!!! Rifle armed cutoff, the ball and the runner get to the plate at almost the same moment, beautiful slide by Gunner and he's scores! Inside the park home run! That's what athleticism in baseball is all about ladies and gentlemen." Or... "Henderson gets some pretty good wood on the ball, Rodriguez goes back three steps, and... that one's over the 364 sign, 10 rows deep, for his 37th homer of the year, and that pulls the O's back into this one, only down 11-7 here in the 4th. That moves Gunnar into a tie for 6th on the team in homers."

Nah. Davey was abrasive and loved to tell everyone how smart he is, hard to get along with and picked his nose. He was never going to be a 10-year manager.

I understand the sentiment, but almost every team has multiple sub-replacement players. The '01 Mariners that won 116 games had five players (including four pitchers) who were at least 0.2 wins below replacement.

To put this in context, prior to bringing in Ubaldo the Orioles had a 42% chance of winning that game. 58% chance of losing it, just based on the inning/out/baserunner state combination. Even if you think that the O's had a 50-50 shot at beating each of the Rangers, Indians, and Cubs in the succeeding series that year Buck's choice lowered the odds that they'd get to a sequence of events they had about a 12% of getting through. In reality they would have been underdogs in each of those series. He should have used Britton, absolutely. But odds are they lose that game anyway, and 90%+ odds they lose one of the other series that followed. "one of the worst" could literally mean anything, but I hardly think this reaches the depths the Orioles' fanbase thinks it does. Certainly no worse, for example, than Gene Mauch starting Jim Bunning five times in the last 12 games in '64 as the Phils blew a 6-game lead in eight days.

That's fair. But if I were a 60-year-old manager I probably wouldn't be an advocate for trading a bunch of assets so that we might win again when I'm 66. I'm going to get fired eventually, all managers are, so let's kick that can as far down the road as I can. That's one of the reasons you don't have the manager also be the GM. Someone needs to be in charge whose main goal isn't to keep the manager as long as possible.

Plenty of blame to go around, but the Orioles had 20+ years to build a modern, self-sustaining organization under Angelos and nobody did it until Elias, and that was when Pete was removed from the day-to-day operations of the team. There were many, many GMs, managers and other front office staff from the early 90s until 2017 and none of them did that. It's mostly circumstantial evidence, but it has always appeared that Peter Angelos had no intention of ever substantially investing in minor league infrastructure, international signings, scouting, analysis or any of the other things necessary for a successful Major League organization.

Sure, but the decision maker is the decision maker. I'm a director in an organization, I have branch heads and a chief engineer and a whole bunch of other people supporting me. When something goes wrong the higher ups call me, and I am responsible. Sure, the narrative includes someone below me didn't do their job, but it's my organization, I am the one who gets to fix it and make sure it doesn't happen again, and if it was bad enough my job is on the line. It's a very poor leader who doesn't take responsibility for their organization and the decisions that are made.

If that's the case it's Angelos' failing. It's his team and he's letting the field manager override the GM?

Correct. Game score of 89 because he walked six.

That was '84.

The primary reason for the downfall of the team was the lack of a productive drafting/development/acquisition system. They didn't have a consistent talent pipeline, and you can only live on Duquette's mortgaging the future for Bud Norrises for so long. You probably think Buck was scheming with Angelos to make that happen, but for me that's all Angelos-Duquette. Even if Buck was somehow involved it's all on the guys higher up in the food chain for letting that happen. When something goes wrong in the country the President doesn't get to claim it's all the fault of some cabinet secretary and not him.

Earl was under .500 during his comeback. Brooks had a .539 OPS his last three years. It happens. Connie Mack had a losing record overall. What was the record of the 6-7 managers preceding Buck in Baltimore?

That's frankly a ridiculous take. The 2012 Orioles made the playoffs primarily because their bullpen, managed by Buck, set an all-time record up to that date for highest WPA by a bullpen. The 2014 Orioles won 96 games in the AL East with a rotation that included Chris Tillman, Wei-Yin Chen, Bud Norris, Miguel Gonzales, Ubaldo... that could be the rotation of a team that wins 73 games. Zach Britton had several of the best relief seasons in franchise history under Buck. You savage Buck for his handling of Jim Johnson... Johnson was just a random guy with a low strikeout rate and a 4-something ERA before Buck managed him to consecutive 50-save seasons. It would be like Hyde somehow getting 100 saves out of Bryan Baker in two years. Don't forget that Buck took over the 2010 Orioles and got more wins out of them in the last 57 games than Trembley and Samuel had in the previous 105. He won the 2014 Manager of the Year, certainly should have in '12, and got votes in several other years with the O's. I think objectively Buck has a case for being the 2nd-best manager in modern Orioles history. It's down to him and a number of guys who had shorter tenures and inherited better teams, and maybe Paul Richards.

If I really needed to I guarantee I could find 30 playoff teams who started worse players than Urias at one of those spots. Urias is in the midst of a 3-win season, and over his career he's been worth 4.1 war per 162 games. Let's just say he's over his head and is actually just an average, 2-win player. Just look at last year's Yankees. They won 92 games with Gleyber Torres (93 OPS+) at short, DJ LeMahieu (97 OPS+) at second, and Gio Urshela (96 OPS+) at third. Urias' career marks are as good as any of those guy were last year. The Cards won 90 with Tommy Edman and Paul Delong at 2B/SS. The 92-win Red Sox didn't really have a regular second baseman, splitting it between a number of random bodies. Lots and lots of very good teams have made do (if you want to call it that) with a good glove, average-hitting infielder.

For completeness, '54-89: Rk Player GmSc Date Age Team Opp Result AppDec IP H R ER UER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF BR GmSc Pit Str WPA RE24 IR IS aLI DFS(DK) DFS(FD) Pos. 1 Jerry Walker 111 1959-09-11 (2) 20-211 BAL CHW W 1-0 (16) SHO(16) W 16.0 6 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 0 0 0 55 10 111 1.591 7.57 1.57 47.60 70.00 P 2 Mike Flanagan 99 1979-08-15 27-242 BAL CHW W 2-1 (12) CG(12) W 12.0 5 1 1 0 1 1 0 12 0 0 1 41 6 99 0.974 5.11 1.54 51.90 79.00 P 3 Ray Moore 97 1957-05-21 30-354 BAL DET L 1-2 (16) GS-15 15.0 8 1 1 0 0 9 2 9 0 0 0 59 17 97 1.212 5.53 1.90 39.55 73.00 P 4 Connie Johnson 95 1957-08-23 34-239 BAL KCA W 2-1 (12) CG(12) W 12.0 3 1 1 0 0 4 0 7 0 0 1 43 7 95 1.014 4.66 1.47 41.30 64.00 P 5 Milt Pappas 94 1964-09-02 25-114 BAL MIN W 2-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 10 0 0 0 29 2 94 0.697 4.11 1.13 48.05 67.00 P 6 Jim Palmer 93 1974-09-27 28-347 BAL MIL W 1-0 (17) GS-12 12.0 4 0 0 0 0 6 2 5 0 0 1 44 10 93 1.023 5.32 1.79 31.00 55.00 P 7 Tom Phoebus 93 1968-04-27 26-020 BAL BOS W 6-0 SHO W 9.0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 9 0 0 1 29 3 93 0.218 3.42 0.44 50.45 64.00 P 8 Hoyt Wilhelm 93 1958-09-20 36-056 BAL NYY W 1-0 SHO W 9.0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 8 0 0 0 28 2 93 0.680 3.96 1.11 49.05 61.00 P 9 Mike Cuellar 92 1975-07-26 38-079 BAL MIL W 4-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 10 0 0 0 29 4 92 0.336 4.31 0.68 46.85 67.00 P 10 Wayne Garland 92 1976-06-21 25-239 BAL BOS W 2-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 10 0 0 0 30 4 92 0.553 3.75 1.11 47.45 67.00 P 11 Ross Grimsley 92 1974-05-22 24-135 BAL CLE W 1-0 (12) SHO(12) W 12.0 8 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 0 0 1 43 9 92 1.023 5.32 1.60 44.60 67.00 P 12 Dave McNally 92 1965-10-01 (1) 22-335 BAL CLE W 2-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 10 0 0 1 29 4 92 0.625 3.99 1.03 47.45 67.00 P 13 Jim Palmer 92 1977-07-23 31-281 BAL TEX L 0-1 (13) GS-11 11.0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 39 7 92 0.935 5.24 1.73 38.55 64.00 P 14 Jim Palmer 92 1975-08-21 29-310 BAL TEX W 4-2 (14) GS-12 12.0 5 2 1 1 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 42 7 92 0.716 3.69 1.54 34.00 55.00 P 15 Jim Hardin 91 1968-08-19 25-013 BAL CAL W 1-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 29 3 91 0.666 3.25 1.31 44.05 61.00 P 16 Dave McNally 91 1964-10-01 21-336 BAL WSA W 2-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 9 0 0 1 30 4 91 0.535 4.07 1.04 44.85 64.00 P 17 Milt Pappas 91 1961-08-27 22-108 BAL MIN W 3-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 11 1 0 0 33 6 91 0.559 4.81 1.07 47.65 70.00 P 18 Steve Barber 90 1960-07-28 22-157 BAL KCA W 5-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 10 0 0 0 32 6 90 0.233 4.36 0.49 45.65 67.00 P 19 Steve Barber 90 1961-09-03 23-193 BAL CLE W 1-0 (11) SHO(11) W 11.0 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 38 7 90 0.949 5.38 1.50 38.15 55.00 P 20 Mike Cuellar 90 1969-08-10 32-094 BAL MIN W 2-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 8 0 0 0 31 4 90 0.580 4.13 1.06 42.85 61.00 P 21 Pat Dobson 90 1971-07-27 (1) 29-165 BAL OAK W 1-0 SHO W 9.0 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 13 0 0 1 33 7 90 0.683 3.85 1.47 51.65 76.00 P 22 Don Ferrarese 90 1956-05-12 26-328 BAL NYY W 1-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 1 0 0 30 4 90 0.810 4.56 1.74 42.85 61.00 P 23 Mike Flanagan 90 1978-05-23 26-158 BAL DET W 2-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 9 0 0 0 30 4 90 0.539 3.99 1.04 44.85 64.00 P 24 Dennis Martinez 90 1978-08-20 24-098 BAL CAL L 0-1 (14) GS-11 11.0 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 1 0 0 39 7 90 0.908 4.97 1.28 28.55 49.00 P 25 Billy ODell 90 1958-05-03 25-082 BAL CLE W 3-2 (13) CG(13) W 13.0 7 2 2 0 1 2 0 7 0 0 0 48 9 90 0.927 3.72 1.51 40.35 64.00 P Now that Hyde's been stretching them out the last few days maybe we'll see another Jerry Walker 16-inning shutout at the age of 20. For reference, Walker's last good major league season was at the age of 20. Yea, that year. Up through the 16-inning start he had a career ERA of 2.91. From then on it was about 5.00. You can decide if it was a coincidence.

Top 25 Oriole starts by Game Score since 1990: Rk Player GmSc Date Age Team Opp Result AppDec IP H R ER UER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF BR GmSc Pit Str WPA RE24 IR IS aLI DFS(DK) DFS(FD) Pos. 1 John Means 99 2021-05-05 28-011 BAL SEA W 6-0 SHO W 9.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 1 27 0 99 113 79 0.421 4.46 0.65 58.25 73.00 P 2 Erik Bedard 98 2007-07-07 28-124 BAL TEX W 3-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 0 0 0 27 2 98 109 79 0.617 5.00 0.97 58.05 82.00 P 3 Mike Mussina 98 2000-08-01 31-237 BAL MIN W 10-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 15 0 0 0 32 5 98 125 85 0.293 5.11 0.38 57.45 82.00 P 4 Dylan Bundy 95 2017-08-29 24-287 BAL SEA W 4-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 12 1 0 0 33 6 95 116 85 0.502 4.61 0.95 50.85 73.00 P 5 Mike Mussina 95 1997-05-30 28-173 BAL CLE W 3-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 28 1 95 0.483 4.84 0.71 48.65 67.00 P 6 Mike Mussina 94 1992-07-17 23-222 BAL TEX W 8-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 10 0 0 0 29 2 94 117 80 0.313 4.21 0.65 48.05 67.00 P 7 Jason Hammel 91 2012-06-16 29-288 BAL ATL W 5-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 8 0 0 0 30 3 91 103 65 0.357 4.37 0.59 43.45 61.00 P 8 Ben McDonald 91 1992-04-09 24-137 BAL CLE W 2-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 9 0 0 0 30 3 91 112 73 0.550 4.38 0.96 45.45 64.00 P 9 Ben McDonald 91 1993-07-20 25-238 BAL KCR W 7-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 9 0 0 0 30 5 91 123 76 0.607 4.94 0.94 44.85 64.00 P 10 Mike Mussina 91 1998-08-04 29-239 BAL DET W 4-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 29 2 91 93 68 0.456 4.99 0.63 44.05 61.00 P 11 Erik Bedard 90 2006-06-21 27-108 BAL FLA W 4-0 GS-8 W 8.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 1 0 0 27 3 90 105 75 0.501 4.38 0.95 44.20 70.00 P 12 Kyle Bradish 90 2022-09-22 26-010 BAL HOU W 2-0 GS-9 W 8.2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 28 2 90 100 70 0.506 4.16 0.81 42.30 66.00 P 13 Ben McDonald 90 1994-08-05 26-254 BAL MIL W 4-0 SHO W 9.0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 9 1 0 0 33 6 90 145 84 0.428 5.48 0.78 43.65 64.00 P 14 Scott Erickson 88 1997-08-12 29-191 BAL OAK W 8-0 SHO W 9.0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 1 0 0 30 5 88 102 63 0.181 4.84 0.35 42.25 61.00 P 15 Rodrigo Lopez 88 2004-09-26 28-287 BAL DET W 5-0 SHO W 9.0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 30 4 88 104 80 0.406 4.95 0.75 41.45 58.00 P 16 Mike Mussina 88 1995-10-01 26-297 BAL DET W 4-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 7 0 0 0 30 4 88 110 72 0.345 5.22 0.56 40.85 58.00 P 17 Mike Mussina 88 1995-08-27 26-262 BAL CAL W 4-0 SHO W 9.0 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 11 0 0 1 32 6 88 138 79 0.456 5.07 0.86 47.65 70.00 P 18 Mike Mussina 88 1997-06-25 28-199 BAL MIL W 9-1 CG W 9.0 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 12 0 0 1 32 4 88 126 86 0.178 4.04 0.23 46.35 70.00 P 19 Sidney Ponson 88 2001-06-28 24-238 BAL TOR W 5-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 6 0 0 0 29 3 88 92 61 0.332 5.03 0.57 39.45 55.00 P 20 Kevin Gausman 87 2018-05-05 27-119 BAL OAK L 0-2 (12) GS-9 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 6 0 0 0 31 4 87 113 66 0.684 4.46 1.19 29.85 49.00 P 21 Ben McDonald 87 1992-07-18 24-237 BAL TEX W 7-0 SHO W 9.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 1 0 0 29 4 87 123 76 0.232 4.21 0.42 36.85 52.00 P 22 Mike Mussina 87 1997-09-13 28-279 BAL NYY W 6-1 CG W 9.0 3 1 0 1 0 1 0 9 0 0 0 31 5 87 116 79 0.194 3.84 0.31 42.35 64.00 P 23 Mike Mussina 87 1998-05-09 29-152 BAL TBD W 7-0 SHO W 9.0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 33 6 87 126 91 0.416 5.14 0.68 46.25 67.00 P 24 Chris Tillman 87 2015-07-18 27-094 BAL DET W 3-0 GS-8 W 8.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 0 0 1 26 2 87 106 70 0.626 3.86 1.19 36.80 58.00 P 25 Zack Britton 86 2011-05-12 23-141 BAL SEA W 2-1 (12) GS-9 9.0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 29 3 86 108 76 0.694 4.60 1.10 28.45 46.00 P

No doubt that's easier for a taller first baseman. But I would love to have data on how often that happens and how often a smaller, quicker guy gets to a ball 30' off the bag that the taller, slower guy doesn't. We know that third baseman can have a difference of 100 or more chances a year between them. Brooks once fielded 560 balls in a season, Mark Reynolds in the mid 300s. First basemen are basically third basemen without the throwing requirement and perhaps fewer chances because there are fewer LHH. I think there's a good chance range is more important than reach.

Here are the 20 teams that have lost 110 games in a season since 1900: [code] Rk Season Team Lg L GP W L WL% ERA G CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF ERA+ FIP WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9 SO/BB 1 1962 NYM NL 120 161 40 120 .250 5.04 161 43 4 10 1430.0 1577 948 801 192 571 28 772 71 5 71 6365 82 4.63 1.502 9.9 1.2 3.6 4.9 1.35 2 2003 DET AL 119 162 43 119 .265 5.32 162 3 0 27 1438.2 1616 928 850 195 557 35 764 52 5 52 6376 81 5.00 1.510 10.1 1.2 3.5 4.8 1.37 3 1916 PHA AL 117 154 36 117 .235 3.92 154 94 11 3 1343.2 1311 776 585 26 715 575 53 4 53 5653 73 3.43 1.508 8.8 0.2 4.8 3.9 0.80 4 2018 BAL AL 115 162 47 115 .290 5.19 162 2 0 28 1431.0 1552 892 825 234 589 29 1203 81 8 81 6340 83 5.01 1.496 9.8 1.5 3.7 7.6 2.04 5 1935 BSN NL 115 153 38 115 .248 4.93 153 54 6 5 1330.0 1645 852 729 81 404 37 355 14 2 14 5969 77 4.38 1.541 11.1 0.5 2.7 2.4 0.88 6 2019 DET AL 114 161 47 114 .292 5.26 161 0 0 31 1433.0 1555 915 837 250 536 24 1368 66 7 66 6341 91 4.83 1.459 9.8 1.6 3.4 8.6 2.55 7 1904 WSH AL 113 157 38 113 .252 3.62 157 137 7 3 1359.2 1487 743 547 19 347 533 39 2 39 5739 74 2.67 1.349 9.8 0.1 2.3 3.5 1.54 8 1965 NYM NL 112 164 50 112 .309 4.06 164 29 6 14 1454.2 1462 752 656 147 498 29 776 53 7 53 6232 87 3.90 1.347 9.0 0.9 3.1 4.8 1.56 9 1952 PIT NL 112 155 42 112 .273 4.65 155 42 4 8 1363.2 1395 793 704 132 625 44 564 30 5 30 5992 86 4.26 1.481 9.2 0.9 4.1 3.7 0.90 10 2013 HOU AL 111 162 51 111 .315 4.79 162 2 1 32 1440.0 1530 848 767 191 616 32 1084 61 6 61 6370 85 4.68 1.490 9.6 1.2 3.9 6.8 1.76 11 2004 ARI NL 111 162 51 111 .315 4.98 162 5 2 33 1436.0 1480 899 795 197 668 79 1153 71 8 71 6418 92 4.77 1.496 9.3 1.2 4.2 7.2 1.73 12 1963 NYM NL 111 162 51 111 .315 4.12 162 42 5 12 1427.2 1452 774 654 162 529 26 806 57 20 57 6208 84 4.06 1.388 9.2 1.0 3.3 5.1 1.52 13 1941 PHI NL 111 155 43 111 .279 4.50 155 35 4 9 1372.1 1499 793 686 79 606 46 552 35 1 35 6114 82 3.68 1.534 9.8 0.5 4.0 3.6 0.91 14 1939 SLB AL 111 156 43 111 .279 6.01 156 56 3 4 1371.1 1724 1035 916 133 739 36 516 32 3 32 6474 81 4.79 1.796 11.3 0.9 4.9 3.4 0.70 15 1932 BOS AL 111 154 43 111 .279 5.02 154 42 2 6 1362.0 1574 911 759 79 612 24 365 27 7 27 6200 89 4.42 1.605 10.4 0.5 4.0 2.4 0.60 16 2021 ARI NL 110 162 52 110 .321 5.15 162 3 3 22 1417.0 1480 893 811 232 555 45 1238 43 7 43 6270 83 4.82 1.436 9.4 1.5 3.5 7.9 2.23 17 2021 BAL AL 110 162 52 110 .321 5.85 162 1 1 26 1402.0 1518 956 911 258 563 12 1234 88 7 88 6252 78 5.19 1.484 9.7 1.7 3.6 7.9 2.19 18 1969 MON NL 110 162 52 110 .321 4.33 162 26 8 21 1426.0 1429 791 686 145 702 76 973 64 9 64 6307 85 4.08 1.494 9.0 0.9 4.4 6.1 1.39 19 1969 SDP NL 110 162 52 110 .321 4.24 162 16 5 25 1422.2 1454 746 670 113 592 86 764 65 5 65 6214 84 3.85 1.438 9.2 0.7 3.7 4.8 1.29 20 1909 WSH AL 110 156 42 110 .276 3.04 156 99 10 2 1374.2 1288 655 464 12 424 653 51 0 51 5691 81 2.42 1.245 8.4 0.1 2.8 4.3 1.54 You can divide those teams up into a few categories: (5) The Tankers. Recent teams, aren't really trying to win today. '18, '21 Orioles. '21 D'backs. '13 Astros. '19 Tigers. (5) 60s expansion teams. '69 Padres and Expos. '62, '63, '65 Mets. (7) Prewar poor teams. '16 A's, '04 Senators, '41 Phils, '39 Browns, '09 Senators. Arguably the '32 Sox, '35 Braves. (3) One-offs. '03 Tigers, '52 Pirates, '04 D'backs The Tankers usually take a while to climb out of the hole. Many of the 60s expansion teams were given few resources to compete. Those prewar teams often had owners who didn't have much wealth outside of baseball, sometimes shared cities and split fanbases, and back then there was no media revenue. The '52 Pirates were a result of Branch Rickey trading everyone before they go too old (IIRC). I'm not entirely sure what happened with the '04 D'backs. They still had Johnson, Finley, Luis Gonzalez, but went from 84 wins to 51 in one year. The '35 Braves had a HOF manager and signed Babe Ruth, but I think the distraction of old, fat Ruth tanked the season and messed up the clubhouse. So congrats to the Orioles for escaping this mess as well as they have. But there are only 20 teams in the last 120 years to have ever lost 110. And don't forget, up until the early 60s the schedule was eight games shorter so it really took some effort to go 44-110 or worse.

I think every park should be like the new OPACY. Every new stadium should have to have LF/LC/CF/RC/RF dimensions that add up to at least 1930 feet. 350-390-450-390-350 would do it. But so would 300-440-450-440-300. Or 325-380-415-477-333. And if you try to make the fences in between those signs really short they tie you to a post outside the stadium and every day the fans can come by and shoot you with paint guns, and the fences get fixed by my own architectural committee.

I've mentioned this before, but I still have no real evidence that a tall first baseman is better than a short one with more range. How many throws does Ryan Mountcastle catch in a given year that would get by Steve Pearce?

I will be interested to see, because shortstops are going to be positioned in a way that we are nearly 100% certain will result in fewer defensive chances. Mateo now plays almost where a standard 2B would stand against LHH, and most of his advantage is against LHH. Next year he'll be forced to play 10, 15, 20 feet or more towards third. So will every other SS, but still.

How much is Mateo going to be hurt by the shift ban next year? I see Statcast has him as +3 against RHH, but +5 against (a smaller number of) LHH. If he's strictly limited to being positioned to the 3B side of second against lefties next year how much does that limit his defensive impact? Does he go from a +8 SS to a +5 or less? Also, how weird is it that prior to this season the best defensive shortstop in the league had more MLB innings in the outfield than at short?

Does anyone really think the Orioles are going to trade like six really good, cheap, young talents they've spent the last five years accumulating for a 30-year-old superstar making $38M a year until he's almost 40? Is Mike Trout really going to agree to a trade from LA to Baltimore? As a 10-and-5 guy he can veto any trade. The key to long term success in Baltimore is a constant infusion of young, cheap talent, not offloading busloads of it for extravagantly expensive 30-something superstars. It just seems like someone who spent 30 years methodically putting away money in their 401(k), and the minute they turn 58.5 they blow half of it on a Ferrari. It feels weird, it does feel ridiculous.