State of This Team's Offense

[brianod]

C - Joseph looks like a major league starter so far but there is a reason he's never been highly touted and there have been plenty of guys look great for a month or two. Matt Wieters is a fine catcher who we may just have for another couple months if his arm holds up. So, do we instantly insert him when we are able to or do we wait for Joseph to cool down? Last year, before he got hurt, was the only time in Wieters career he lived up to his hype. He's probably gone after this year, so why even bother playing him unless Joseph crashes?

1b - Davis/Pearce - Davis is gone after this year. Some high market team will probably pay him on a flier. We can't afford to pay him free agent money based on his inconsistency. Pearce is a journeyman who has reverted to being a journeyman.

2b - I'm very high on Schoop, his injury was devastating. You could see the development accelerating before your eyes. But, he's out for months and will probably not be a big contributor if he comes back.

ss - Hardy. Solid but injury prone and getting older. Could we have been better off with Cruz and Cabrera? Don't know. I love JJ but was last year's lack of power an aberration or a sign of things to come?

3b - Manny. Superstar if he can stay healthy. I need to see a healthy year out of him before breaking the bank.

LF and RF - huge holes. We have no major league starters imo. We went cheap and are getting what we paid for.

cf - Adam is having a career year so far. Love him. But, his obp is too low for a #3 hitter, stud of your team. He needs to hit 5th in a world series winning lineup.

DH - Paredes -wow, the one bright spot of this year. God love him, may he continue to excel.

I keep hearing that I'm overreacting, that it's early. Ironically, those stating that point out that our offense if "fine" based on the performance so far. 10 days ago, I said our offense would have a regression and our starters would improve. That's exactly what has happened. Bottom line is that we replaced Nick and Cruz with journeymen who haven't worked out so far. Also, we depended on Pearce to continue a career year. Not happening. We are depending on Davis to bounce back. That is pretty iffy at this point.

I hope I'm overreacting and we will be fine. I did overreact last year and was proven wrong. But, I'm fearful that you get what you pay for and the Orioles paid for spare part.

[Old#5fan]

What really bothers me is the lack of what appears to be clutch hitting on this team (other than by Jones). It seems to have left the team when Nelson Cruz departed. I cannot help but think we would not be stinking so badly in one run games this season if we still had Cruz.

[eddie83]

I think it is fair to wonder how effective the corner OF/DH bats will be. I still think the season is more about the starters.

[brianod]

I think it is fair to wonder how effective the corner OF/DH bats will be. I still think the season is more about the starters.

Not even good pitching can make up for the holes in this lineup. Our starting pitchers pitched over their heads last year and were due for a regression. They are solid, but unspectacular. Will they succeed backed by a lineup of 1 major league starting outfielder?

[brianod]

Why don't you sit back and find out? There's 136 games to go. We have Pearce, De Aza, Lough, Snider, and Delmon Young in the outfield mix. ALL have been ML starting outfielders at one time or another. Are you writing Pearce off? Who else?

BTW, your assertion that even good pitching wouldn't make up for the holes in this lineup is just plain stupid. We'd be in good shape right now if we'd have some good starting pitching. We could/should have won tonight if Miguel Gonzalez hadn't put his team in a 5 run hole.

Great post, we are fine and I'm stupid. Thanks for your detailed analysis.

[eddie83]

Not even good pitching can make up for the holes in this lineup. Our starting pitchers pitched over their heads last year and were due for a regression. They are solid, but unspectacular. Will they succeed backed by a lineup of 1 major league starting outfielder?

The last two games we had below average starts. The start of the season the starters couldn't get into the 6th inning.

[weams]

I think it is fair to wonder how effective the corner OF/DH bats will be. I still think the season is more about the starters.

Travis Snider is about half a WAR right now. If he plays like this all year, he'll be worth close to 3 WAR. We have not seen that often from the corner.

[weams]

We could/should have won tonight if Miguel Gonzalez hadn't put his team in a 5 run hole.

Why is this so hard for all to understand.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jones on forcing Betances & Miller out 2 straight Gs:"Let’s not even have them warm up [tmrw]. Lets get the lead & keep the lead" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Orioles?src=hash">#Orioles</a></p>— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) <a href="

">May 9, 2015</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[brianod]

One out of two. The team is not fine right now.

It's posts like yours that make me why I wonder being here. If I called someone stupid, I'd probably get censored. Because you have four birds, it's all ok. Well, not really. I'm not stupid, I'm sure I know more about baseball than you do. I've been a fan of this team since 72 and have coached a competitive adult baseball team filled with college players to three consecutive championships. Posts like yours make this board a cozy love fest filled with people that agree with each other. Bad for all Oriole fans.

[weams]

It's posts like yours that make me why I wonder being here. If I called someone stupid, I'd probably get censored. Because you have four birds, it's all ok. Well, not really. I'm not stupid, I'm sure I know more about baseball than you do. I've been a fan of this team since 72 and have coached a competitive adult baseball team filled with college players to three consecutive championships. Posts like yours make this board a cozy love fest filled with people that agree with each other. Bad for all Oriole fans.

He said your assertion was stupid. Now I would prefer if he said it was faulty. He did not call you stupid. And I don't expect you to either. I know you are a fan. As am I and RZ. Accept his apology from me for getting you upset. I suspect it was Miguel Gonzalez that really got all three of us upset.

[CA-ORIOLE]

It's posts like yours that make me why I wonder being here. If I called someone stupid, I'd probably get censored. Because you have four birds, it's all ok. Well, not really. I'm not stupid, I'm sure I know more about baseball than you do. I've been a fan of this team since 72 and have coached a competitive adult baseball team filled with college players to three consecutive championships. Posts like yours make this board a cozy love fest filled with people that agree with each other. Bad for all Oriole fans.

Ehh, you started with the sarcastic remarks in reply to RZ's post, and actually called yourself stupid. What did you expect with the reply you gave?

[scOtt]

State? It's kinda bad right now. Not too bad.

Paredes is still kinda good.

Manny is on fire, with no real results to show for it.

Adam is cold, after a torrid start.

Chris Davis is on pace for 891 strikeouts.... but still some good numbers. .260-something with almost 40 homers.

DeAza is lost after a bunch of good ABs early. Out of the leadoff spot.

Caleb keeps flashing greatness. We'll all see how long that last.

Flash and Hardy dawning.

Delmon is raking, Off and Def.

Travis is... Travis. Time will tell.

Lough not getting much chance but showing nothing.

Lavarnway? Who?

ECab demoted.

Pearce is slow and then sick on top of it. Hope he gets back to what we saw last year.

Good and bad. Maybe we'll get better. Maybe not...

[scOtt]

What really bothers me is the lack of what appears to be clutch hitting on this team (other than by Jones). It seems to have left the team when Nelson Cruz departed. I cannot help but think we would not be stinking so badly in one run games this season if we still had Cruz.

[video=youtube;AEaGt4iIMIE]

[scOtt]

What part of there is NO clutch stat in baseball do you NOT understand?

Careful with that mic, OldFan!

[scOtt]

What really bothers me is the lack of what appears to be clutch hitting on this team (other than by Jones). It seems to have left the team when Nelson Cruz departed. I cannot help but think we would not be stinking so badly in one run games this season if we still had Cruz.

BTW... We're hitting .304 with RISP! 3rd in the majors. 2nd in the AL.

Pretty clutch if you ask me.