Duquette needs a "Plan B" for the offense

[TiredofLosing20]

Pretty sure "Plan B" for the offense is bolstering the pitching. That will only happen if the core guys are able to recreate August/September 2010.

[mikegallo]

The point here is, our offense wasn't bad last year, and it shouldn't be bad this year. I'm not saying we are going to be up with the Yankees and the Red Sox in runs scored. But we should be in the range of the Jays (who outscored us by 35 runs last year) and the Rays (who scored one run less). And, we should be in the top half of the league again.

The pitching is where the big issues are. This team can be decent if the pitching is decent. If the pitching stinks, the offense isn't going to be able to carry them, but then, teams with bad pitching rarely go anywhere even if the offense is good.

No matter how much our pitching improves this year it is still gonna be greatly hindered by our team D which last year was the biggest issue for this team...Our hitters are constantly overrated because of the lack of focus on their D while are pitching is constantly underrated for the inverse reason...

This team is still setup for a horrible Defensive season based on Buck's likely PT allocation and because of that even if our pitching improves to a 4ish xfip which would be a great improvement, we still are looking at an ERA that is in the bottom 5 in the league...

[Hank Scorpio]

It's not a team that can be "better than .500" for sure...

If they go into 2012 with this roster, unless a miracle happens, I'd expect to see a lot of Camden green this year.

Nothing is for sure.

You'll see Camden Green regardless... unless they paint everything orange.

[atomic]

We are all well aware that this team isn't going to be good in 2012. You add nothing to the conversation when all of your posts repeat that. How about some suggestions on how that can change that don't involve an unrealistic payroll? How about suggesting something to improve long term? Give us something other than "This team sucks" for a change.

I am adding to the conversation that states that our offense is fine which it is not. We need to improve our offense and improve our fielding. It is easier to improve this teams offense to top 4 than it would be to get pitching to be top 3.

[mikegallo]

Because reasonable projections by objective third parties are showing that the team should have an OPS that is as good or better than last year's. Because we got rid of players who had 1/4 of the team's plate appearances and had a .689 OPS last year, and replaced them with players who should do better than that. Because the age profile of the team is such that there is more upside than downside. That's why.

Those same projections stated last years offense to be much better than it ended up...I agree this team is in a much better spot on the age curve than last years but it is also much more reliant on minor league guys who are much much harder to project than the vet guys we had last year...Given that fact I would expect the projections to be far less accurate than last years and we all know how pathetic those turned out to be on the teams RS as a whole.

[Tony-OH]

Because reasonable projections by objective third parties are showing that the team should have an OPS that is as good or better than last year's. Because we got rid of players who had 1/4 of the team's plate appearances and had a .689 OPS last year, and replaced them with players who should do better than that. Because the age profile of the team is such that there is more upside than downside. That's why.

Is that all?

Seriously, the offense on this team last year and this year was not the main reason for the Orioles poor performance. The Orioles pitching last year only combined for a 11.3. We've upgraded our starting pitching and our bullpen should be better as well. As you pointed out, our offense should be better than last year, but our best chance of a improvement in our record is with our upgraded pitching staff.

Saying that, we're still a 4th place team at best.

[erb8472]

I don't think the current lineup as we see it now is what we will go into the season with. I expect us to trade for another bat.

[Frobby]

So, you are just assuming that those who had career years will stay as good? And you are assuming that those who are gone, the Orioles will improve on that?

Not at all. Do any of the projections I cited have Hardy doing as well as last year? And yes, I believe that the players replacing those who posted the .689 OPS last year "should" do better than that, based on their track records.

[weams]

Actually I can find fault in someone starting a thread about lineup optimization without first goggleing it. You should have some idea of what you are talking about before starting a thread on it, or at the least, be open about your ignorance and ask for more information.

I also find it amusing that Jones is a perfectly acceptable #3 hitter using current sabermetric techniques.

I was, however, disheartened by how Trea completely dodged my post.

I am disheartened that you bothered to be disheartened.

[Babypowder]

I am adding to the conversation that states that our offense is fine which it is not. We need to improve our offense and improve our fielding. It is easier to improve this teams offense to top 4 than it would be to get pitching to be top 3.

And how would you have suggested we do that THIS year? How do we go from an average offense to a top 4 offense in one offseason with a mid level MLB payroll?

[Can_of_corn]

I am disheartened that you bothered to be disheartened.

I have a cold so I am feeling ornery and was spoiling for a fight.

[erb8472]

I still say you see the Orioles trade for a 1B. I don't think they will go into the season with Davis as the starting 1B. I could see us trading for Morales/Trumbo or trading for Headley and moving Reynolds back to 1B.

[Frobby]

Is that all?

Seriously, the offense on this team last year and this year was not the main reason for the Orioles poor performance. The Orioles pitching last year only combined for a 11.3. We've upgraded our starting pitching and our bullpen should be better as well. As you pointed out, our offense should be better than last year, but our best chance of a improvement in our record is with our upgraded pitching staff.

Saying that, we're still a 4th place team at best.

I agree with everything you say. We'd be lucky to finish 4th. I think the pitching will be much better than last year, but still not nearly good enough for us to be a good team. They could improve by 100 runs and we'd still be 43 runs worse than average.

[Fan4Life]

Pretty sure "Plan B" for the offense is bolstering the pitching. That will only happen if the core guys are able to recreate August/September 2010.

This. ::thumbsup1:

[JTrea81]

This thread wasn't about lineup optimization, rather that these players are not talented enough to be in the positions they are in for us.

Jones should be batting fifth as there should be an on-base and power threat in front of him and he is not an on-base threat but he's our best combination of BA/Power and OBP, so that's where he has to hit.

Reynolds should be batting lower in the order because of his lower OBP and batting avg but again, we lack a true cleanup hitter and he has the most power on the team so that's where he goes.

And I've already explained that Betemit, Reimold and the 2B by committee folks are all bench players on a contending team.

This lineup needs to have talent to score 775-800 runs with the pitching staff we have now in order to meet that "above .500" mark Duquette is looking for.

We are team without a true #3 and #4 hitter and a #1 and #2 starter.

Those are pretty big holes.