It's Official, We are Contenders and Probably Favorites

[Satyr3206]

The rotation doesn't worry me right now. They all know how to pitch. Not light up a radar gun, pitch. Reminds me of the Boddicker, McGregor, Cuellar type guys. I'll take a rotation like that.

[luismatos4prez]

You can say what you want, its your post, and you can call me or others"haters" or "negative Nellys", but unless this team gets some consistent

pitching with some shutdown performances they are not going to be a contender over the long haul. The Yankees, the Sox, and the Rays all have

better pitching than the Orioles right now. It could change. We might see Hammel pitch a lot better(I was very underwhelmed today), or Chen may

not have his lousy outings and we may find a true #5, and we might see Gausman or Arietta or Britton pitch dominantly, but for right now,

this is a fairly mediocre rotation.I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Team ERA:

Red Sox: 8th

Yankees: 13th

Orioles: 14th

Rays: 23rd

Blue Js: 28th

Yeah, the rotation is about league average. But you say "mediocre rotation" as if that's automatically going to determine whether or not the Orioles make the playoffs. We've got a great bullpen, good offense, good defense, a good attitude in the clubhouse and the best manager in baseball on our side.

[Ruzious]

I gotta say I'm impressed. 12-8 on the road with a lot of those games on the west coast. 20 of their 32 games on the road. No games against Houston yet. Buck is the best manager in the majors, imo - managing the roster, managing the bullpen, managing the players, putting everyone in position to succeed, and... managing games. They are going to need people in the pen to take on more important roles. They can't be so reliant on O'Day and Johnson. They need to protect O'Day from over-use. He may be the O's most important player, in the long run. And they do need someone to step up at the DH - or acquire someone - that's the one major criticism I had of their offseason. Somehow, Buck gets by with a very sketchy starting rotation. He did it all last season, and he's doing it again, so I assume it will continue.

[Rex Thunder]

Overall overview is the Orioles have more talent then being credited with.

Infield A- offense and defense: Machado + defensively Hardy + defensively, 2nd base (a nightmare) Davis solid glove, Weiters GG.

Outfeild A- Offensively and defensively McClouth, Jones and Markakis all + defenders.

DH-Bench average ( alot depends on Reimold regaining form, and Betemit back from injury)

Starters- B No Aces- 4 decent starters then ?????? (like most teams) nobody has 5 good starters.

Pen B+ Inconsistent (great closer) setup men solid, but a few ???'s (better than most)

This team has decent speed.

Thier is alot more talent on the Orioles than people realize, but those in know, know. It isn't magic.

Buck gets the credit for winning with the F-troop, dirty 12 type team, but they hit for power, steal bases, play GREAT defense, pitch solidly and have good releif.

I credit McPhail and DD for good moves the past 3 years, this year I would of liked to have seen another bat added (MORSE) and another starter should injuries happen. Big thing was expecting Roberts and Reimold to come back. Roberts experiment failed, Reimold wait and see.

My god if they had Morse, that lineup would be a nightmare.

They are good, but right now I have Boston ahead of them by an inch, and Tampa will make a run with that pitching. Tampa is going to go on a 14-2 streak at some point with that staff. Matter of time.

On my phone so can't highlight, but you say DD should have picked up another pitcher in vase of injury???? Do I realize how many competent starters we had in camp??? Jurrens, Garcia, britton, Johnson, McFarland... There were so many starters in camp I remember people complaining there wasn't enough innings to go around to get them all work. And that's not even counting the young Guyana the system (Gausman, Bundy) that so many had high hopes for.

Who exactly else did U want

Him to pick up? Who was available that was any better than the MANY options we were already choosing from. Wada will be back at some point too.

And I don't think Michael Morse is someone the Mariners were looking to jay hive away. With so many young players waiting to step up, I don't know how happy if have been to deal a handful of them for a bat without a significant track record.

[TonySoprano]

Team ERA:

Red Sox: 8th

Yankees: 13th

Orioles: 14th

Rays: 23rd

Blue Js: 28th

Yeah, the rotation is about league average. But you say "mediocre rotation" as if that's automatically going to determine whether or not the Orioles make the playoffs. We've got a great bullpen, good offense, good defense, a good attitude in the clubhouse and the best manager in baseball on our side.

Starters ERA:

Boston: 5th 3.39

NY: 10th 3.70

Tampa Bay: 16th 4.20

Orioles 19th 4.48

Toronto: 28th 5.39

[LayzieDES]

Starters ERA:

Boston: 5th 3.39

NY: 10th 3.70

Tampa Bay: 16th 4.20

Orioles 19th 4.48

Toronto: 28th 5.39

That really gives the starting issues more perspective.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

Contenders? Absolutely. Favorites? I wouldn't go that far.

The AL East is wide open this year and I think it's going to be a slugfest right down to the wire.

[isestrex]

Contenders? Absolutely. Favorites? I wouldn't go that far.

The AL East is wide open this year and I think it's going to be a slugfest right down to the wire.

The AL East will come down to health.

[webbrick2010]

We have played a fairly weak schedule so far:

Tampa 14-16 (4-2)

Twins 13-14 (1-2)

Red Sox 20-11 (2-1)

Yankees 18-12 (1-2)

Dodgers 13-17 (2-1)

Blue Jays 11-21 (2-1)

A's 18-14 (3-1)

M's 15-18 (1-2)

Angels 11-20 (3-1)

No games against Detroit, KC, or Texas

Of course no games against Houston or White Sox either

Starting pitching needs to improve, injuries will play a big factor, but we are in a great position nearly 20% thru the season

GO O's!!

[bpilktree]

Starters ERA:

Boston: 5th 3.39

NY: 10th 3.70

Tampa Bay: 16th 4.20

Orioles 19th 4.48

Toronto: 28th 5.39

The starters ERA is greatley affected by our 5th starter. We have got nothing from the 5th starter minus the Garcia start. The same can be said about the other top teams but atleast they have been not as bad. I think it will all come down to health and which team can find that 5th starter to solidify their rotation. Looking at the options i think we have the best options by far. Garcia pitchd well but we have Johnson who is probally about 2 starts away from being ready. He was lights out last season and if he pitches anywhere near that willl give us a big boost.

Whoever wins this division will find that 5th starter

[Frobby]

You can say what you want, its your post, and you can call me or others"haters" or "negative Nellys", but unless this team gets some consistent

pitching with some shutdown performances they are not going to be a contender over the long haul. The Yankees, the Sox, and the Rays all have

better pitching than the Orioles right now. It could change. We might see Hammel pitch a lot better(I was very underwhelmed today), or Chen may

not have his lousy outings and we may find a true #5, and we might see Gausman or Arietta or Britton pitch dominantly, but for right now,

this is a fairly mediocre rotation.I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Seems to me this team won 93 games last year with a starting rotation that had a 4.42 ERA (9th in the AL) and averaged 5.79 innings per start (9th in the AL). This year, the starters have a 4.48 ERA (9th in the AL) and are averaging 5.78 innings per start (10th in the AL). Almost indistinguishable from last year. Yes, I do think the starters are going to need to step it up a bit from here, but I don't think they need to improve by a drastic amount, just by enough to move up a few spots in both categories.

[Mr Snuffleupagus]

We have played a fairly weak schedule so far:

Tampa 14-16 (4-2)

Twins 13-14 (1-2)

Red Sox 20-11 (2-1)

Yankees 18-12 (1-2)

Dodgers 13-17 (2-1)

Blue Jays 11-21 (2-1)

A's 18-14 (3-1)

M's 15-18 (1-2)

Angels 11-20 (3-1)

No games against Detroit, KC, or Texas

Of course no games against Houston or White Sox either

Starting pitching needs to improve, injuries will play a big factor, but we are in a great position nearly 20% thru the season

GO O's!!

I realize they have a great record (currently), but one month of good baseball doesn't make KC the litmus test for a quality ballclub. Meanwhile, at least 6 of the 9 teams we've played were expected to be contenders, with the Dodgers and Blue Jays large favorites to win the pennant. I don't consider that a weak schedule. 9-6 in our own division is a great place to be.

[OFFNY]

Team ERA:

Red Sox: 8th

Yankees: 13th

Orioles: 14th

Rays: 23rd

Blue Jays: 28th

This is exactly how the current A.L. East standings are:

1st Place:O Red Sox

2nd Place:) Yankees

3rd Place:O Orioles (Percentage Points behind the Yankees)

4th Place:O D-Rays

5th Place:O Blue Jays

Starters ERA:

Boston: 5th 3.39

NY: 10th 3.70

Tampa Bay: 16th 4.20

Orioles 19th 4.48

Toronto: 28th 5.39

Same here, with the exception of the D-Rays being ahead of the Orioles for 3rd place.

.

[LayzieDES]

We have played a fairly weak schedule so far:

Tampa 14-16 (4-2)

Twins 13-14 (1-2)

Red Sox 20-11 (2-1)

Yankees 18-12 (1-2)

Dodgers 13-17 (2-1)

Blue Jays 11-21 (2-1)

A's 18-14 (3-1)

M's 15-18 (1-2)

Angels 11-20 (3-1)

No games against Detroit, KC, or Texas

Of course no games against Houston or White Sox either

Starting pitching needs to improve, injuries will play a big factor, but we are in a great position nearly 20% thru the season

GO O's!!

O's are about middle of the league when it comes to strength of schedule so far. A pretty balanced schedule actually (not to mention all the road games).

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/rpi/_/sort/sos

Sidenote: After pitching his first complete game shutout this week, Jeremy Guthrie is 9-0 & hasn't lost in his last 17 starts (8 no decisions) since last August. Glad he's found success again but it'll be bittersweet seeing him pitch against the O's on Thursday.

[bpilktree]

We have played a fairly weak schedule so far:

Tampa 14-16 (4-2)

Twins 13-14 (1-2)

Red Sox 20-11 (2-1)

Yankees 18-12 (1-2)

Dodgers 13-17 (2-1)

Blue Jays 11-21 (2-1)

A's 18-14 (3-1)

M's 15-18 (1-2)

Angels 11-20 (3-1)

No games against Detroit, KC, or Texas

Of course no games against Houston or White Sox either

Starting pitching needs to improve, injuries will play a big factor, but we are in a great position nearly 20% thru the season

GO O's!!

The Yankees are 11-3 vs the Jays, Stros, d-backs and Indians. On the other hand the series against Boston Detroit, Orioles, Rays, A's they have lost all the seires except the one vs us in New York. The Reds Sox are 11-2 vs the Jays, Stros and Indians. They both also had their toughest series of the year and went 1-5.