Is Everyone Really So Depressed?

[hoosiers]

I wonder if the lack of enthusiasm is due to lack of playoff opportunity, likely very poor team, general apathy after so many losing seasons, etc (or some combination of the above), but it is depressing around here a good portion of the time when this should be one of the best times of the year.

I can see a lack of excitement around possibilities of continued mediocrity from Reynold, Matusz, Nick, AJ and some pitchers, but we do have many young guys with opportunities to become average or better than average major leaguers.

I still believe in a good portion of AM's core of Wieters, Matusz, Jones, Arrieta, Tillman, Britton, etc, new guys like Chen, Wada and Hammel, and possible resurgence from Reynolds, Nick and - let's be greedy - BRob.

I believe this is a better team than it is given credit for and, in addition to the above, a plus bullpen would help out a good bit.

Is everyone really so depressed or do folks just miss the wake up call?

[MrOrange82]

I wonder if the lack of enthusiasm is due to lack of playoff opportunity, likely very poor team, general apathy after so many losing seasons, etc (or some combination of the above), but it is depressing around here a good portion of the time when this should be one of the best times of the year.

I can see a lack of excitement around possibilities of continued mediocrity from Reynold, Matusz, Nick, AJ and some pitchers, but we do have many young guys with opportunities to become average or better than average major leaguers.

I still believe in a good portion of AM's core of Wieters, Matusz, Jones, Arrieta, Tillman, Britton, etc, new guys like Chen, Wada and Hammel, and possible resurgence from Reynolds, Nick and - let's be greedy - BRob.

I believe this is a better team than it is given credit for and, in addition to the above, a plus bullpen would help out a good bit.

Is everyone really so depressed or do folks just miss the wake up call?

I can't speak for everyone, but I've been a bit sniffly. I've also found myself getting irrationally angry at smiling babies.

Nothing a little Theraflu can't cure, I'm sure.

[BaltimoreTerp]

I'm excited. But I'm sure most people would just assume that

[El Gordo]

I'm not depressed. I'm looking foward to the season. We are going to find out a lot of things, and by the trade deadline we'll know if we need to trade everything away, and rebuild, or buy some big pieces and compete. I think this team is a lot better than most expect it to be. But we'll see. I think there are going to be some big surprises.

[Danielos38]

I'll always be excited. There is a lot of potential still in our rotation. If that pans out, who knows.

[LookitsPuck]

This is what happens when no major trades/deals/signings are done in an off-season following a season full of disappointment: Arrieta injured, Matusz historically ineffective, Brian Roberts hurt, Nick Markakis playing below his pay scale, etc. etc.

We'd have a lot to be excited about if 3 of Tillman, Arrieta, Matusz, Britton, or Bergesen were the starters we were hoping for. But right now they're all question marks.

[scOtt]

I'm not depressed. I'm looking foward to the season. We are going to find out a lot of things, and by the trade deadline we'll know if we need to trade everything away, and rebuild, or buy some big pieces and compete. I think this team is a lot better than most expect it to be. But we'll see. I think there are going to be some big surprises.

Can't say it better than that. In addition I'm optimistic for the long term future. For the first time in a long time.

[MarylandAaron]

I'm not depressed. I am excited for the season to start, and I'm interested to see how the club shakes out. ST is gonna be fun to follow this year.

[Rene88]

This offseason definitely had a different feeling to it. Many fans I talk to have tuned out. I wouldn't say depressed, I think they are just finding other things to do with their time.

[WV O's]

best time of the year IMO. I love baseball! Go O's!

[crissfan172]

The only thing I'm depressed about is that the regular season doesn't start for 6 and half more weeks.

[lordbrook]

I think most are more subdued from this time last year because we were overly optimistic. I'm not depressed I have just misplaced my orange colored glasses.

[RavNMadMan]

Results....I can't wait to see how dem O's perform. The only thing that matters is results.

[MarylandAaron]

I think most are more subdued from this time last year because we were overly optimistic. I'm not depressed I have just misplaced my orange colored glasses.

Well put. I think this is mostly what it is. We don't want to set ourselves up for disappointment again. As a baseball fan, how could you not be excited for the season to start?

[HankGChuck]

I'm having serious trouble getting excited for 2012. Me and my buddies were saying that we're all tired of question marks every year and would like some definitive stars to emerge. It's not easy to swallow the idea that Angelos won't spend money. So I'm very hopeful the core of pitchers MacPhail put so much faith in finally becomes the pitchers we want them to be. I was listening to Scott Garceau today and they had a report about how the guys who worked with Brady Anderson are looking better already. It's good to hear that. I don't know why the weaknesses weren't diagnosed last year? Was anyone paying attention to conditioning?