Orioles Primed for Second Place Finish

[Earl of Tomato]

Given the declining status of New York & Tampa Bay, the leadership of "Buck", (first legitimate skipper since #4), starting pitching coming of age, and all the additions to the team for 2011....look out AL East....the bird is back. You can throw out all your WARs/OPSs/etc......it is on my brother!

[OFFNY]

The Orioles will be the first team in history to finish in last place with a winning record.

83 WINS - 79 LOSSES ......... 5th Place in The A.L. East

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[UpstateNYfan]

The Orioles will be the first team in history to finish in last place with a winning record.

83 WINS - 79 LOSSES ......... 5th Place in The A.L. East

.

This will really suck when a team in another division has an 83-79 record and wins their division.

[brotherlo38]

Given the declining status of New York & Tampa Bay, the leadership of "Buck", (first legitimate skipper since #4), starting pitching coming of age, and all the additions to the team for 2011....look out AL East....the bird is back. You can throw out all your WARs/OPSs/etc......it is on my brother!

Davey Johnson might disagree about Buck being the first legitimate skipper since Earl.

[Dipper9]

Davey Johnson might disagree about Buck being the first legitimate skipper since Earl.

You beat me to it.

Hargrove was a pretty good skipper too. You can't polish turds, which is what Thrift gave him to work with.

[The Epic]

The Orioles will be the first team in history to finish in last place with a winning record.

83 WINS - 79 LOSSES ......... 5th Place in The A.L. East

.

I coulda swore there was a year back in the early 90's where the AL West's (the old AL West's) last place team was above .500. I'm probably wrong.

[Camden_yardbird]

The Orioles will be the first team in history to finish in last place with a winning record.

83 WINS - 79 LOSSES ......... 5th Place in The A.L. East

.

If this happened it would suck, but it would go a long way toward opening up the discussion on division realignment.

[crawjo]

I don't want to realign the divisions. I'd rather beat the best then go to a weaker division and win. Tampa has shown you can do it with a moderate to low payroll. Division champs in 2 out of the last 3 years is not a fluke.

The Orioles are still far behind the Yankees. The Yanks are still stronger at most positions.

Montero v. Wieters, I guess Wieters wins but if Montero's bat plays out like it is supposed to...

Teixeira v. Lee, Teixeira wins

Cano v. Roberts, Cano wins

Rodriguez v. Reynolds, Rodriguez wins

Jeter v. Hardy, Jeter, even on the decline, still wins

Gardner v. Reimold/Pie, Gardner wins

Granderson v. Jones, This one is close and I think eventually Jones will be better, but right now it is practically a wash

Swisher v. Markakis, Going off last season, Swisher for sure.

Posada v. Scott, Scott wins that one.

Starting rotations: Sabathia, Hughes, Burnett, Nova, Mitre v. Guthrie, Matusz, Duchscherer, Bergesen, Arrieta....I'd give maybe a slight edge to Baltimore here because of better depth, but the Orioles don't have any starters like Sabathia, and Hughes is still probably better than Matusz, although that one is close. Burnett certainly has the stuff to be better than Duchscherer, although we'll see. The bottom of the Orioles rotation looks a little bit better, but our guys are quite unproven.

Bullpens...With Soriano and Rivera, that one is no contest.

The Orioles are still not competitive with the Yankees. Our offense just doesn't match up at all.

[JDubs]

Perhaps I would rather beat the best than win a weak division, but I would prefer a balanced schedule over any other alternative.

[Mr Snuffleupagus]

I just posted this in Drungo's thread but it seemed relavent...

As a side note. The last team to finish .500 and finish in last place was the Nationals in 2005. They finished 81-81 and the division winners were the Braves who went 90-72.

If we assume that Boston is going to win 100 games or more it would be highly unlikely that we could play .500 ball and finish in 5th place. Not to say it really matters...

[lanslaxcj]

I don't want to realign the divisions. I'd rather beat the best then go to a weaker division and win. Tampa has shown you can do it with a moderate to low payroll. Division champs in 2 out of the last 3 years is not a fluke.

The Orioles are still far behind the Yankees. The Yanks are still stronger at most positions.

Montero v. Wieters, I guess Wieters wins but if Montero's bat plays out like it is supposed to...

Teixeira v. Lee, Teixeira wins

Cano v. Roberts, Cano wins

Rodriguez v. Reynolds, Rodriguez wins

Jeter v. Hardy, Jeter, even on the decline, still wins

Gardner v. Reimold/Pie, Gardner wins

Granderson v. Jones, This one is close and I think eventually Jones will be better, but right now it is practically a wash

Swisher v. Markakis, Going off last season, Swisher for sure.

Posada v. Scott, Scott wins that one.

Starting rotations: Sabathia, Hughes, Burnett, Nova, Mitre v. Guthrie, Matusz, Duchscherer, Bergesen, Arrieta....I'd give maybe a slight edge to Baltimore here because of better depth, but the Orioles don't have any starters like Sabathia, and Hughes is still probably better than Matusz, although that one is close. Burnett certainly has the stuff to be better than Duchscherer, although we'll see. The bottom of the Orioles rotation looks a little bit better, but our guys are quite unproven.

Bullpens...With Soriano and Rivera, that one is no contest.

The Orioles are still not competitive with the Yankees. Our offense just doesn't match up at all.

Good prospective. Sometimes, I look position by position also to see where the weakness may be. Do Toronto, Tampa bay and Boston if you have time.

[OFFNY]

This will really suck when a team in another division has an 83-79 record and wins their division.

It wouldn't suck to me, because it is JUST THE BEGINNING .......... We'll start with our first winning season in 14 years, and follow that up with numerous winning seasons and playoff appearances. We have one of the youngest (and most potent) starting pitching staffs in the league .......... Guthrie is our "grizzled veteran," and he is 31 years-old !!!

If this happened it would suck, but it would go a long way toward opening up the discussion on division realignment.

I don't want realignment. I don't want ANY special favors. If we are in the toughest division in baseball, so be it. I want to play against the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, and Jays, and I want to beat them head-on, fair and square, or not at all.

.

[Earl of Tomato]

You still do not believe.......

"This is Birdland" should become

The Bird is Back

[Oriolidae85]

I don't want to realign the divisions. I'd rather beat the best then go to a weaker division and win. Tampa has shown you can do it with a moderate to low payroll. Division champs in 2 out of the last 3 years is not a fluke.

The Orioles are still far behind the Yankees. The Yanks are still stronger at most positions.

Montero v. Wieters, I guess Wieters wins but if Montero's bat plays out like it is supposed to...

Teixeira v. Lee, Teixeira wins

Cano v. Roberts, Cano wins

Rodriguez v. Reynolds, Rodriguez wins

Jeter v. Hardy, Jeter, even on the decline, still wins

Gardner v. Reimold/Pie, Gardner wins

Granderson v. Jones, This one is close and I think eventually Jones will be better, but right now it is practically a wash

Swisher v. Markakis, Going off last season, Swisher for sure.

Posada v. Scott, Scott wins that one.

Starting rotations: Sabathia, Hughes, Burnett, Nova, Mitre v. Guthrie, Matusz, Duchscherer, Bergesen, Arrieta....I'd give maybe a slight edge to Baltimore here because of better depth, but the Orioles don't have any starters like Sabathia, and Hughes is still probably better than Matusz, although that one is close. Burnett certainly has the stuff to be better than Duchscherer, although we'll see. The bottom of the Orioles rotation looks a little bit better, but our guys are quite unproven.

Bullpens...With Soriano and Rivera, that one is no contest.

The Orioles are still not competitive with the Yankees. Our offense just doesn't match up at all.

Good post, but I disagree about Jeter > Hardy/Izturis. Jeter's defensive alone tips any potential offensive upgrade towards the Hardy/Izturis combo. He's at the age where playing time could easily drop significantly. IMO

If Wieters is < Martin/player X then I would say Arod < Reynolds. Arod's D is already losing > -1dWar (without playing a full season).

And Matusz has higher upside then Hughes...because he's an Oriole

In total, I think the Orioles infield with Defense/Offense is very close to the Yankees and could be better. Looking forward to see how it plays out!

[Bradysburns]

I think the Orioles could grab the wildcard this year - I really do. They are legitimately positioned to surprise people. The thing you have to remember about the O's is that they're almost all potential... and very high-ceiling potential indeed. With the Yankees and Sox, you pretty much know what you're getting. But players like Reynolds, Hardy, Matusz, etc. - these guys could easily turn in All-Star years even though they're not even on most casual fans' radar screens.

At this point in the offseason, I choose to believe that we're going to make a legitimate run at the wildcard this season.