Pessimism

[bobmc]

One day the Orioles will rise like the phoenix from the ashes. I'm not foolhardy enough to say it'll be this year, but it will happen eventually. And it will be glorious.

Is that you CLB? Oh no - she believes in 2012.

2012 is not the year (as advertised) so we can settle in and hope with cindy, wildcard, 33rdst and Frobby. I believe Fruit Loops said it best - this IS reality!

[canonfaz]

I agree that we are probably going to suck, but I'm still excited for the season.

- Can Wieters become an impact offensive player?

- Can Jones become an impact offensive player?

- Are Chen and Wada MLB talents?

- Was Andino a flash in the pan last year?

- Is Matusz really the worst MLB starter ever?

- Can Tillman become not terrible?

Even in half of those questions fall our way though, we are at best a .500 team.

[33rdst]

Is that you CLB? Oh no - she believes in 2012.

2012 is not the year (as advertised) so we can settle in and hope with cindy, wildcard and Frobby. I believe Fruit Loops said it best - this IS reality!

Please add my name to those you mentioned. I'd much rather be included among those who hold out hope because the alternative is such a complete bummer.

[Going Underground]

Seems like every year,people are saying this is not the year we expect to compete. What year do we expect to compete and always say now is not the time to sign anyone good because we are not going to compete this year.

[Frobby]

Then remind yourself that this is the Baltimore Orioles and nothing ever goes our way. Look at our roster and count how many times you have to look at a player and say to yourself, "Well, if (insert name here) plays like they did three years ago..." or "Well, if (insert name here) lives up to potential..." and remind yourself that you've been looking at the same roster for the past 15 years and how horrible it's been. Remind yourself that you've been looking at this roster every winter for the past 15 years and saying "Well, if..." and remind yourself how often it's worked out for the best.

This is the part I refuse to accept. I would be the first to admit that it feels like we have gotten very few breaks over the last 15 years. But every year, there are some teams that do unexpectedly well, and get more than their share of the breaks. There's no discernable pattern as to who it is. So to me, it's like saying we've flipped a coin 9 times and it has come up tails 9 times in a row. That has nothing to do with what happens on the 10th flip of the coin. So, I'll continue to hope that this is the year when some fortune comes our way. Not that I expect good fortune to launch the team into contention, but that it can result in a better season than most of us expect.

Mostly, it's going to come down to the pitching. I can't argue with your logic, but I still believe our young pitchers have some talent, and I believe our Asian imports will contrubute something positive. I'm definitely not feeling "optimistic," but I'm ready to see how it all plays out, and I am not consigning myself to gloom and doom before seeing these guys play.

[Jagwar]

I wish for a miracle like 89.

Could you imagine what the Hangout would have been like during the '88 season and the offseason going into '89?

[DrungoHazewood]

This is the part I refuse to accept. I would be the first to admit that it feels like we have gotten very few breaks over the last 15 years. But every year, there are some teams that do unexpectedly well, and get more than their share of the breaks.

I think God has a longer view, and is still getting us back for '89, and all of Earl's teams that won 97 games with five platoons of castoffs in the lineup and a bunch of 18-win starters with 86 mph fastballs.

Could you imagine what the Hangout would have been like during the '88 season and the offseason going into '89?

I absolutely guarantee you that SG would have been livid that they didn't do more to shore up the future after 1989, since much of the gains came from peaking (or peak age) journeymen like Tettleton, Milligan, Orsulak, Phil Bradley, and pitchers with ridiculously poor stuff and pheripherals like Jeff Ballard, Dave Johnson, Mark Thurmond, Kevin Hickey. Don't even mention Cal's baby brother with the .587 OPS. It was piss poor reasoning to keep them around!

Between '88 and '89 there probably would have been a clamor to trade Ripken, and disbelief that Hemond collected all this AAAA trash and was trying to sell it as a major league team.

[Hank Scorpio]

It's almost golf season!!!

[33rdst]

It's almost golf season!!!

This!!!!!

[NewMarketSean]

My apathy has turned into indifference. My era of anger was 2005-2011. Last year I just realized that this team wasn't worth getting all worked up over if nothing was ever going to change. This offseason hasn't done anything to change my mind despite what I see to be some small positives. But 2012 is the least excited I've been in a long time. I may follow the Nationals about as much as I follow the Orioles this year.

[Gurgi]

My apathy has turned into indifference. My era of anger was 2005-2011. Last year I just realized that this team wasn't worth getting all worked up over if nothing was ever going to change. This offseason hasn't done anything to change my mind despite what I see to be some small positives. But 2012 is the least excited I've been in a long time. I may follow the Nationals about as much as I follow the Orioles this year.

This is a major danger. I feel some curiosity about the Nats and feel somewhat tempted to follow them.

[TheBee]

First of all, this is the least excited I've been about an Orioles season as far back as I can remember. In a way I think it's good because I am bound to be pleasantly surprised, right? I'm reminded of when Tom Hanks and (John Lovitz?) did a skit on SNL where they were really pathetic single guys trying to get dates, and Hanks said, "There's nowhere to go but up, unless we stay right here."

[jackprac]

My apathy has turned into indifference. My era of anger was 2005-2011. Last year I just realized that this team wasn't worth getting all worked up over if nothing was ever going to change. This offseason hasn't done anything to change my mind despite what I see to be some small positives. But 2012 is the least excited I've been in a long time. I may follow the Nationals about as much as I follow the Orioles this year.

I've been following this team since 1955 when my formerly beloved Phila. A's pulled their Robert Irsay-like move and the moving trucks took them to Kansas City in the middle of the night. As rooting for the Phillies, in my family, was considered like rooting for the communists and rooting for the Yankees was strictly "Verboten" the Orioles, pathetic though they were, became the obvious choice. The last time I was this unoptomistic about the O's was right before the 66 season when I was convinced that the O's had traded their only decent pitcher for an outfielder that Cinncinnati thought was an old 30. I thought, at the time "Oh goody. the O's have traded their only dominant pitcher for a slugger who we might a good year or two out of him while losing a lot of 10-8 games. I thought "We're cooked". We all know how that turned out. Baseball is a funny game (insert appropriate Joaquin Andujar quote here). I remain as optomistic as ever.

[Sports Guy]

This is most down I have been on this team going into ST since I can remember.

While I recognize the upside of some of the players and look forward to watching the growth of our better prospects, this season(for me) is all about the trading deadline, what gets done and what the roster looks like to end the year and, with that, who has established themselves as a piece for the future.

Other than that, this is going to be a waste of a season.

[Miller192]

Seems like every year,people are saying this is not the year we expect to compete. What year do we expect to compete and always say now is not the time to sign anyone good because we are not going to compete this year.

In two years. When you have that question again in 2014, just remember it will be two years.