What do you expect in June from the O's?

[wildcard]

Here is what I am think the O's will do in June.

Dan and Buck can't be happy with a 13-16 May. That is no way to make the playoffs. Things have to get better in June.

The pitching is not the problem. In May the O's had a 3.38 ERA which was 2nd in the AL. I don't see Tillman coming out of the rotation unless he strings several bad outings together. It sounds like Norris will be back in the rotation at some point. Pitchers with options will sent to AAA unless there are more injuries.

The defense in not the problem either. The O's have climbed to 5th in fielding percentage in the AL from near the bottom early in the season. Manny seems to have righted himself.

The problem is hitting. The 645 OPS in May can't continue if the O's want to make the playoffs. So what will they do?

1) Wieters return could change things if he hits. People that say Wieters and Joseph can't be in the the lineup at the same time - I just disagree with. If both are hitting and Paredes is not I think Buck will find a way to get them both in there. So a lot depends on Paredes continuing to hit.

2) Don't count Clevenger out. Yes, he probably goes to AAA when Wieters comes back but if he is hits .350 and the O's are not hitting he could figure in the DH spot as well. Paredes, Joseph, Wieters, and Clevenger - who's hitting?

3) The O's have already made one move in DFAing De Aza. That is to give Young, Pearce, Snider and Lough more chances to show they can hit. Its up to them to step forward or be left in the dust.

4) Parmelee is knocking on the door. He is hitting for a 826 OPS at AAA and he has hit well outside of Target Field in majors. I have no idea of the timing of getting him to the majors. It depends on what the current corner outfielders do IMO. But he is an option that could happen in June if things don't get better for the O's hitters.

5) Reimold - Is on a hot streak. Not much power. But will that matter if the O's corner outfield don't hit. Manny has been the O's best hitter in May with an 804 OPS. He could move lower in the order and Reimold could become the O's leadoff hitter.

6) Schoop - Don't know if he returns in June. But if he does it will be interesting to see how Flaherty is hitting at that time. If he is hitting better than the corner outfielders he probably does not go to the bench. Flaherty has a 662 career OPS so I don't expect him to knocking the cover off the ball. But I will not count him out either. He could play a corner OF spot if his hitting is good enough.

7) Alvarez - Has not been a great hitter so far this year. He needs to do better if he want to be promoted by the O's.

7) June is a little early for trades. That is more a July discussion IMO.

So, there is what I see. What is your take?

[Aristotelian]

Agree with all you have said. Another issue is AJ. He has clearly scuffled a bit. Hopefully he is ready to come back after bit of.rest and get on a hot streak.

I would love to see Davis maintain this little.streak.

When will we see Gausman and.in what role? He could.make.a.difference.if they can find a spot for him.

[MagicBird]

Expect more of the same . . . . .

[Crazysilver03]

Expect more of the same . . . . .

This. I expect to be disappointed in June.

[MagicBird]

This. I expect to be disappointed in June.

I tend to be optimistic and still feel this team should be the team to win the division, but watching this team is super frustrating right now and nothing indicates a turnaround is coming. I hope it does tho.

[El Gordo]

I don't expect anything, so I'll probably get the Spanish inquisition, but I hope they resolve the OF situation, keep Wright in the rotation and put Bud in the pen. Maybe dump Matusz as well.

[Orioles0615]

I expect us to start looking for teams to trade with when we blow it up at the deadline.

[eddie83]

I thought it was interesting that Buck said Wieters might be back as a DH on Thursday. I think Keuchel is the starter. Maybe Buck is desperate enough to play both Matt and Caleb vs LHP. Just play Paredes vs RHP.

Have to think we aren't this bad on offense but I am not excited about what we have. I don't know why people would think the options in the minors are going to come in and make an impact in limited duty. Look at all the teams still alive and the lack of quality corner OF bats available. Not going to be easy for DD to fix this. We need Manny, Jones and Davis to carry the offense. If Jones has another bad month it is going to be hard to score. At this point I will take a modest improvement from the corner spots. Schoop could be big for us but who knows when he will be back.

Tillman is better than this and I expect him to be. It is hard to imagine this team going on a 15-5 type run until he gets going. Until it happens hard not to think that this team will keep treading water.

[eddie83]

I expect us to start looking for teams to trade with when we blow it up at the deadline.

I don't think we will be bad enough to worry about that. I still think we have the highest upside of any team in division but at some point that doesn't mean anything.

[25 Nuggets]

I expect a .500 June, and still nobody taking control of the division. After the All Star break is when I think we'll see who will really contend in the AL East, and they won't be as currently constituted.

[Jonesy10]

I think they will be in first place by the end of June. Pitching will continue to be good and hitting will be much better. One or both of Snider/Pearce will establish themselves as everyday options. Davis will continue to improve and Jones will find his power stroke again. Paredes will continue to show that the start of the season was a fluke though and will be about league average.

[Spy Fox]

I don't expect a huge run, but I expect the team to be over .500 by the end of the month. Hopefully for good.

[Crazysilver03]

I expect us to start looking for teams to trade with when we blow it up at the deadline.

Even during the worst years, the team sucked at sucking. They won't be bad enough to sell.

[24fps]

3) The O's have already made one move in DFAing De Aza. That is to give Young, Pearce, Snider and Lough more chances to show they can hit. Its up to them to step forward or be left in the dust.

I think this has the potential for being a very interesting, very real sub plot for the Oriole in June. If two of them don't then I don't think it will matter, because at least one of the other four teams in the AL East have to wake up sometime don't they?

I'm not looking forward to Wieters' return. The team just doesn't seem to be the capacity to absorb an adjustment phase from a key player at the moment.

What is my take? I think that for the month of June, I'll be relishing every cutaway of Buck in the dugout. Because trying to divine if he wonders if he's watching an unfolding train wreck will be a lot more entertaining than investing emotional energy in Orioles baseball as it's currently being played.

[Jonesy10]

Last season after the losing the first 2 games in Houston on May 29th and 30th the Orioles season changed. They won the last 2 games of the series on May 31st and June 1st. They were 26-27 after those 2 losses and after that went 70-39 the rest of the season. They were a very similar team then, believe it or not. Actually worse possibly. We can look back on it now and say "Well you could see the breakout coming" but that's easy to say after it happened. With a 26-27 record last season the Orioles had a -14 run differential (-1 right now and it's negative for the first time in a while). Both the offense and pitching were worse than they were right now believe it or not (about the offense).

I foresee this team changing their season on this trip to Houston, starting tomorrow June 1st. This team has all the makings of being a great team again and running away in the division, again. Think about it. Machado has been better this year than he was last year and he's healthy. We have gotten better production from 2B than last season. Davis has been much better than last season. The production from the catchers have been much better. Jones has been better and will only improve even more once his power gets back to where it should be. Jimenez, Chen, and Gonzo have all been good. And between Gausman/Norris/Wright we will have another good starter. The bullpen is solid once again with Britton/DOD/Brach/Hunter and hopefully Wright when he comes back. Then add in a combo of Gausman/Norris/M.Wright/Roe/Drake and there are plenty of solid options. It won't be as good as it was with Miller but should be as good or better than it was before we acquired him. The only problems with the team going forward are that Tillman NEEDS to step it up (today wasn't as bad as it looked... Great K rate, unlucky on BABIP and HR/FB rate)... the COF situation needs to be resolved. Young can not be an everyday starter against RHP's. He's great in the role he had last season though! IMO Pearce and Snider are the solutions and they need to be given regular at bats and see if they can play the way they are capable of. If not trade for a COF... The last one is acquiring another back end of the bullpen arm for the end of the season. A lefty would be nice.

I posted a thread last season around this time that all good teams have prolonged bad stretches. It happens. Happened to the Orioles last season. Happened to the Royals and the Giants as well last season. This team is much better than they were this past month. Its time for them to show that.