It's official, this offense sucks

[brianod]

Roberts has turned into an injury plagued veteran who's production is questionable when he's able to play. That being said, this offense dearly misses him because there is no replacement. Nick has been in a decline for a couple of years now. I keep hearing how he has a hitting streak and I keep watching the games and he keeps doing nothing productive. He is either the worst #3 in the major leagues or a weak #2. Even if he starts producing like last year, that will only elevate him to a below average #3 and an average #2. Derek Lee is like Roberts, aging, injury prone and unproductive when he plays. Vlad is a great #6 hitter batting 4th. Luke Scott is hurt and very streaky. The league seems to have figured out that he can't hit lefties, he can't hit a breaking pitch and he doesn't seem to have found the answer. Adam Jones is a good hitter without a lot of plate discipline. He should be hitting 5-7 like Vlad because his obp doesn't warrant 2 or 3. Wieters has developed into a fine catcher who is about the only guy I want to see up in a clutch situation. That being said, he has displayed little home run power and is one of the slowest baserunners I have ever seen. Today's game where he fails to score with two outs and a gapper that goes all the way to the fence in Oakland is a prime example of how it takes 2-3 hits after he gets on to score him. Hardy shows some offensive promise, but he's injury prone and is currently hitting 247 with little power. Reynolds? He's about what everyone expected, a below average defensive player who has some pop but his pace for 22 home runs is very disappointing. So, will things get better? I think so. Marginally. But, we are who we are. An average offense in a small park and a horrible offense in a large park...

[Dr. FLK]

We can't even blame Crowley this year.

[Gurgi]

All this points to the fact we will be sellers in a big way I think.

I think the towel must be close to being thrown. This team has zero chance to compete for a wild card the way they are constituted.

Bad luck or bad choices either way MacPhail has failed and we will be 14 years under .500.

[JTrea81]

Bad luck or bad choices either way MacPhail has failed and we will be 14 years under .500.

Well the jury is still out on that one as far as being under .500, but there's no way we are competing for the WC

MacPhail has never had offense as a priority, and it is clearly showing that his obsession with arms has cost the Orioles a chance to be better than they are.

When you look at the Bedard trade, the fact we could have had Kemp or Hamilton or maybe Votto, and you look at what he's turned the other pieces of that trade into - even the trade he gets the most credit for is modest in its return.

With all that said, offense is down all over the league, and MLB needs to step up and do something to limit the pitcher's advantage right now. You have stars like Hanley Ramirez and Albert Pujols struggling, and that's not good for the game.

[Chevytrckman3]

All this points to the fact we will be sellers in a big way I think.

I think the towel must be close to being thrown. This team has zero chance to compete for a wild card the way they are constituted.

Bad luck or bad choices either way MacPhail has failed and we will be 14 years under .500.

Who are we selling? Guthrie and Scott and maybe Vlad? But i doubt we get much for Vlad and Scott at this point. At this point, i'd consider trading Markakis, but who will take that salary with his numbers. We can sell, but we aren't getting much back. Lets trade to save money, so we the FO can invest in international scouting and make a run at a big time FA yada yada yada. McPhail's plan has failed, and it seems we're back to square one. Only now, we have NOBODY in the minors to harp onto for hope.

[El Gordo]

We can't even blame Crowley this year.

But we could blame Presley.....:scratchchinhmm:

[ShaneDawg85]

But we could blame Presley.....:scratchchinhmm:

Both of the names end in "ley."

[El Gordo]

[video=youtube;LMc263klrMQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMc263klrMQ

[The B&G]

Can't really disagree with anything in the OP. I'm sure the "it's a long season" posters will be here soon but that excuse has been getting old for the last month+. Even when we win series, our offense still doesn't look great by any means. Just look at our one scoring inning today, nothing was hit well except Reynolds random single, our 3 and 4 hitters in that inning hit really weak ground balls with 2 men in scoring position each. Is anyone else really tired of seeing Luke look silly on every off speed pitch he sees every game? Although our minor league system doesn't have anything better to offer so we all might as well get used to watching these guys for the rest of the season unless we randomly pull something at the trading deadline.

[brianod]

I really like what the O's did this year. They tried to improve by taking a chance on aging vets, to supplement up and coming players. I'm sick of five year plans. This franchise and city need something to get excited about. We saw a glimpse after 4 games and briefly felt what is was like to have talking heads talking about the O's. That was nice. I say, don't switch directions. Our number one problem is lack of production from our minor leagues. Fix it. You don't need other teams prospects to fix it. That puts a bandaid on it. I say triple the budget for scouting and player development, let Vlad and Lee go at the end of the year and attempt to sign a significant free agent. Now that we smell .500, it's not time to rebuild, it's time to move forward.

[Chevytrckman3]

I really like what the O's did this year. They tried to improve by taking a chance on aging vets, to supplement up and coming players. I'm sick of five year plans. This franchise and city need something to get excited about. We saw a glimpse after 4 games and briefly felt what is was like to have talking heads talking about the O's. That was nice. I say, don't switch directions. Our number one problem is lack of production from our minor leagues. Fix it. You don't need other teams prospects to fix it. That puts a bandaid on it. I say triple the budget for scouting and player development, let Vlad and Lee go at the end of the year and attempt to sign a significant free agent. Now that we smell .500, it's not time to rebuild, it's time to move forward.

Problem is, the core is aging faster then i thought it would (Markakis, Roberts) Jones is playing well, but seems to be injured yet again. The jury is still out on the young starters. This team as stands, is still MORE then a significant FA away from sniffing anything. By years end, we may need a 1B, 2B, SS, LF, and maybe a 3B. I'm not seeing alot of reason for hope.

[24fps]

All this points to the fact we will be sellers in a big way I think.

I think the towel must be close to being thrown. This team has zero chance to compete for a wild card the way they are constituted.

Bad luck or bad choices either way MacPhail has failed and we will be 14 years under .500.

It points to no such thing.

An embarrassing series with the A's does not mean anyone has to throw in the towel. There's no indication that a wild card berth was the objective of those who are responsible for putting this year's team together (there's valid criticism here IMO, although I was fine with the offseason moves). Three games under .500 with less than a third of the season complete is not the end of the season, much less the end of the world. Personally I hope too much weight isn't put on this fact, but I'm not holding my breath.

I think that history will determine that MacPhail's first four plus years will very much be considered a failure.

[The B&G]

Problem is, the core is aging faster then i thought it would (Markakis, Roberts) Jones is playing well, but seems to be injured yet again. The jury is still out on the young starters. This team as stands, is still MORE then a significant FA away from sniffing anything. By years end, we may need a 1B, 2B, SS, LF, and maybe a 3B. I'm not seeing alot of reason for hope.

Hopefully Hardy stays with us/stays healthy enough to make it worth it, so we'll only need a 1B, 2B, and probably a 3B. I'm fairly satisfied with the idea of letting Reimold/Scott/Pie battle it out for LF next year.

[Chevytrckman3]

Hopefully Hardy stays with us/stays healthy enough to make it worth it, so we'll only need a 1B, 2B, and probably a 3B. I'm fairly satisfied with the idea of letting Reimold/Scott/Pie battle it out for LF next year.

Maybe right about Hardy. But Reimold and Scott shouldn't be near a spot on defense. They are DH's imo. At this point, we're stuck with Markakis, unless they put him on waivers and hope someone claims him, but I can't imagine they would do that. I'd be open to trading Jones, and going with Pie in CF, but then we'd still need a LFer. Maybe the O's put Reynolds at 1B, then they need a 3B. I don't know, this team has ALOT of question marks.

[brianod]

Hopefully Hardy stays with us/stays healthy enough to make it worth it, so we'll only need a 1B, 2B, and probably a 3B. I'm fairly satisfied with the idea of letting Reimold/Scott/Pie battle it out for LF next year.

Andino is fine at SS. He's outproduced Hardy and doesn't seem to be as fragile. I'd love to resign Hardy but after this year, Hardy should not cost a ton. I think we can do a Roberts to Machado transition. Brian probably has 2-3 years left. We could get lucky and get a full year out of him next year. By the time Roberts is done, Machado should be ready, Andino, Hardy or someone else can play 2b. Reynolds is ok at 3rd. Not great, but not even the Yanks have a superstar at every position. Pie is not a starter and never will be. I'm done with him. He's a fine backup. We may get lucky with Nolan, but I don't think so. Give him every shot the rest of this year. He may end up a full time starter. I think we don't resign Vlad and we don't resign Lee. We then sign a big name 1b, hope for the best in Riemold with Pie backing him up and DH Scott with a companion who hits RH. We don't need to blow it up, we need a super investment in the minors with one major free agent for the majors.

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