oriole

You tow a far more level headed line than I do. I can be a reactionary person. But I also had a bad feeling about the pitching going into the season (I think we all did to some degree) and to see the pessimistic outlooks take root right out of the gate leaves me feeling a little sheepish in holding out hope that the team can extend their over achieving play of 2022 into this season.

We also had spring training to watch. The pitching just isn’t that great. I’m not saying they won’t be fun to watch overall, or that they’re sure to have a losing season. I just don’t see any reason to believe anyone on this pitching staff can truly be above average. Well, I guess I could say Bautista but he’s been shaky at times already. Wells is also looking nice. So I’ll amend that and say that the majority of the pitching staff looks to be considerably below average.

After watching the pitching. Spoiler alert…it’s not very good.

I think it’s already clear this year that this is not a contending team.

It’s always fun when comparing expectations to what actually ends up happening. Mateo and Frazier the hot bats, Henderson and Santander cold? I’d have never thought I’d be saying that.

“Stowers who?” says Hyde

I hope Wells stays in

I was definitely projecting my idea of worst case scenario. I expect the guys you listed to be better. Im not sure Gibson and Irvin’s performance is coming as much of a surprise to anyone

What’s frustrating is this is an example that I’m sure the front office could point to and say “see, they’re not ready” but if they had invested in some actual pitching then we might be looking at a better opening weekend. Anyways, not gonna kill us to start the season 1-2. I still think they finish around .500 when all is said and done

What’s the Thome quote that Adam Jones said a few years ago? Something like “sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield” These things happen. It’s ugly and it sucks but there’s a lot more baseball to play. We’ll be on the better end of an error like that at some point, no doubt. McKenna did have a great catch earlier in the game. It’s a shame his error was so meaningful. But Duvall is having a great start to the season so maybe he shouldn’t have been given anything to hit? All the blame can’t be on McKenna alone

Wow, a lineup that makes sense. Though that 7-9 are pretty terrible, it keeps the team looking very good defensively

I agree it was flukey, same with the Mateo throw later in the game. I’m just thinking out loud about hoping it’s not indicative of the level of defense we should come to expect from these two players. Their reputation makes them seem defensively infallible, which is not true of course. Just surprising to see the best two defensive players on the team make bad plays right out of the gate. Regarding McKenna, I’d love to see him play more vs lefties. He hits LHP better than Mullins. Seems like a natural platoon partner to me. I agree about the bullpen. They made me nervous before yesterday’s game and even more so today. If Bautista can’t get the job done, who else could take his spot? That’s a worry for another day, but not an encouraging first outing. I was talking the man up to my wife before the bottom of the ninth and he comes out throwing the ball everywhere except the strike zone. She looked puzzled lol glad he got it under control as the inning progressed

I was very surprised to see so many defensive issues, especially considering the players who were involved. If Mullins is going to start misplaying balls AND not hit lefties, he really should start getting less playing time. I hope they experiment with a McKenna platoon earlier in the season than later. Obviously not right away. But yesterday was not a good game for Mullins despite the walks and the steals. Not saying he is without his strengths of course, the writing just seems to be on the wall after his lefty struggles resurfaced last year. Mullins is one of my favorite players too, so I say this despite my bias.

I went with D. Gibson and Frazier are bad signings. Irvin was a solid trade but with Gibson also being in the rotation, it really limits upside. We all know both these pitchers will be around a 5.00 ERA at the end of the season. McCann was a solid pickup for backup C but that’s a very insignificant piece of the roster. Givens was an okay signing, but if you took all the money given to Gibson, Frazier, Givens, and McCann and put it towards a player with a chance of actually helping, it’d be a different story.

Urias has hit well against Kluber in the past so I expect to see him in the lineup. I would be shocked to see Stowers

Interestingly, I think Frazier will be a better player than Odor was yet at the same time I think he will be a key contributor to an extensive amount of losses. But who knows, a bad spring doesn’t mean it’ll be a bad year for him. I just hope that if he sucks then he isn’t trotted out there unnecessarily over and over again like our last 2B was.

The Orioles will not be adding much to payroll outside of some arbitration cases. This was the year and they didn’t do it. That signals that it will never happen until the team is sold. Elias was lied to.

My official guess is 81-81. I don’t believe the incremental additions will make up for the good fortune of events from last season that pushed them over .500.

Blast off! or whatever Truly a disappointment

Why’s everyone counting lefties? The more the better really…the rotation is very right handed and lefties are better suited for pitching in Camden.

Means and Seth Johnson on the 60 day IL will free up a couple spots, unless it’s already been done and I missed it.

It’ll be interesting to see how the infield playing time shakes out. But too many good infielders is a good problem to have.

It’s crowded. Santander will DH a lot but he’ll also play COF a lot. Frazier will be playing most days and if Vavra makes the club, then he’ll be playing the outfield too (or pushing someone else to the OF).

Part of me feels like having guys like Vavra and Stowers on the roster is a waste. Neither are going to play terribly often, Frazier will be an almost every day player and Santander will play a good bit of OF. There’s just not a lot of room and we’ve seen how Hyde likes to manage veterans vs prospects.

Haha, that too. I also forgot to mention Wells as a candidate for the 5th spot.