The Blame Game

[TonySoprano]

I don't recall Johnson costing us any games during the current losing streak. The same can't be said for the rest of the bullpen, which is why the group, as a whole, is part of the reason. Who could Buck have gone to this season for a consistent shutdown pitcher out of the pen? You can also blame Hammel, Chen (the last two months, 5.59 ERA). I've said before, most of the expenditures this offseason was on increases for the current staff. Was that Duquette or his boss with the checkbook ? You know my answer. I could go on, but the main point is "all of the above" would have been the most appropriate answer to the poll were it listed.

[mark_beckens]

I tried to list everything that people have brought up over the last few months but I'm only allowed 10 options.

You did forget the BRob effect.

[Aristotelian]

O's are at .266 w/ RISP, #8 in MLB, within .008 of Boston, Oakland, and Tampa.

Of the players, JJ's blown saves were the most visible in terms of leading directly to losses, but Markakis and Wieters probably made a bigger overall difference. Regardless, you can't expect everybody to play above their talent level. Some guys are going to have off years, especially if they are banged up--as it appeared Markakis and Wieters were.

Looking at the team as a whole, the starting pitching struggled in the beginning of the year, the bullpen in mid-season, and the bats down the stretch. Hard to point to any one in particular.

I would point to Duquette for not raising the talent level in the offseason, but then again he was constrained by the budget given to him by ownership.

Also I think the front office may have been banking pretty hard on Bundy emerging as a #2 starter, and that had trickle-down effects to our #4 and 5 spots.

In other words, either all of the above or "Nothing, it's one of those years" seems about right.

[mark_beckens]

O's are at .266 w/ RISP, #8 in MLB, within .008 of Boston, Oakland, and Tampa.

RISP per month

April 53/205 .259

May 73/233 .313

June 49/198 .247

July 51/197 .259

Aug 58/208 .279

Sept 34/146 .233

If you take out May, we hit .256 or 14th if you remove Aug we hit .251 or 17th.

In games we lost by 1-2 runs, we hit 48/238 .202

RISP #'s are alittle misleading, IMO.

[Riggodrill44]

I choose nothing. We were very unlucky this year. We played what, 45-46 1 run games. If we had been luckier we could have won the East.

[Frobby]

Of the players, JJ's blown saves were the most visible in terms of leading directly to losses, but Markakis and Wieters probably made a bigger overall difference.

As I've been thinking about the timing of the Orioles' troubles, I'm coming to the conclusion that Nick's slump is probably the biggest single cause of our developing offensive problems as the season progressed. Since June 1, he's hit .247/.306/.296. This from a guy with a career slash line of .295/.365/.455 coming into the season, and who had a healthy .307/.359/.451 slash line on May 31.

I mean, that is shocking, and really hard to understand. Nick is a guy we count on heavily, since he perennially has the highest OBP on the team and is a counterweight to all the low OBP, free swinging guys on this team. I'm just waiting for the season to end to see if Buck reveals that Nick has been playing with three broken ribs or something, because otherwise I literally can't make sense of his season. Those who would argue that he just declined physically at a younger age than most players will have trouble explaining away his 2012 performance, as well as the first two months of this year. Ditto for those who think his problem relates to his hamate bone injury last year (which occurred in May, before he returned to the lineup in July and hit great for two months).

I just don't get it.

[Aristotelian]

RISP per month

April 53/205 .259

May 73/233 .313

June 49/198 .247

July 51/197 .259

Aug 58/208 .279

Sept 34/146 .233

If you take out May, we hit .256 or 14th if you remove Aug we hit .251 or 17th.

In games we lost by 1-2 runs, we hit 48/238 .202

RISP #'s are alittle misleading, IMO.

By the same token, you could say if you take out Sept we hit c. .270. It's true that the bats went dead in September. But overall our RISP numbers were pretty good.

[bdo79]

Pretty sure it was Obama's fault

[Matt]

Looks like I'm alone on this so far, but I went with down years from Markakis and Weiters as the primary factor that held the team back. This year, they were worth a combined 0.5 WAR, according to Baseballreference. Last year, they were worth over a combined 5 WAR. Hard to go wrong with a few of the available choices, though.

[Redskins Rick]

Looks like I'm alone on this so far, but I went with down years from Markakis and Weiters as the primary factor that held the team back. This year, they were worth a combined 0.5 WAR, according to Baseballreference. Last year, they were worth over a combined 5 WAR. Hard to go wrong with a few of the available choices, though.

That was an significant issue.

As was JJ blowing 9 games, it was significant.

Which brought me to my supporting the none, plenty of blame to pass around, and just one of those years.

[Matt]

That was an significant issue.

As was JJ blowing 9 games, it was significant.

Which brought me to my supporting the none, plenty of blame to pass around, and just one of those years.

It's unfortunate that he blew those games, but JJ still had a nice year for us. You're right, though, plenty of blame to go around.

[TiredofLosing20]

All of the reasons given played some role but to me the biggest issue was the overall non-activity in the off season. The writing was on the wall given the winning % of 1 run games and beating their Pythag by 11 games. The lack of activity was either the result of just not having acceptable options or the overvaluation of their talent. I am hoping it was due to the former and that this off season will be more productive.

[theobird]

The offseason. It was foolish thinking that returning just about the exact same 25 man roster would produce a playoff team that would go onto the ALCS or World Series while teams like Kansas City, Cleveland, Seattle and especially Boston all retooled or improved. There was nothing done to improve the OBP, nor the inconsistency and failure to hit with RISP for most of the season and the playoffs. Duquette gambled and he lost, just like he did with the 1996 Red Sox. He didn't learn his lesson then apparently, so hopefully he's learned it now and will put forth more of an effort to change this roster so that this team returns to the playoffs and is a World Series contender in 2014.

This exactly. I said it loud and clear before the season started, we actually did less than nothing to improve on our playoff team. This is the result that anyone sane could have predicted. And the really sad part is, that after all of those losing seasons where everyone said we were not close enough to competing to make it worthwhile to go spend any money........We are close enough now! And we still didn't do anything. If we don't do anything to seriously improve the roster this offseason, we will be further down the standings because our competition will not stand pat.

[Richmond Bird 9]

I voted "nothing", because I thing it was part of all the above.

[atomic]

I would like to point out that the team has scored more runs than last year and are likely to give up less runs this year. 26 runs less with 5 games to go.

The offense was good the first half the pitching the starting pitching the second half. Perhaps it is just a case of not getting things going at the same time.