TT: The Orioles are a mediocre team

[Redskins Rick]

I do agree with the pundits who say the Red Sox will do what is necessary to shore up their pitching. Maybe even buy Andrew Miller back from the Yankees when they fall out.

Sir, don't they have to be in it, before they can fall out? :laughlol:

[weams]

Sir, don't they have to be in it, before they can fall out? :laughlol:

I'll let you know after the weekend.

[Frobby]

The Red Sox average 6 runs a game offensively (1st by .75 runs and 1.58 above league average), the Orioles score 4.67 (5th .25 over league average). They allow 4.69 runs per game (.30 runs below league average) while the Orioles allow (4.35 which is .04 runs above league average).

This means their offense scores 1.33 more runs a game than us but gives up .34 runs more. Over time, that's going to end up meaning a lot more wins for the Red Sox.

Agreed, but is the Red Sox offense really as good as they have performed so far, or will they come down to earth a bit? Either way, their offense is better than ours. Last year they averaged 4.62 R/G to our 4.40. But I have a hard time believing that they'll sustain close to 6 runs/game. If they do, nobody's going to catch them.

[Tony-OH]

Agreed, but is the Red Sox offense really as good as they have performed so far, or will they come down to earth a bit? Either way, their offense is better than ours. Last year they averaged 4.62 R/G to our 4.40. But I have a hard time believing that they'll sustain close to 6 runs/game. If they do, nobody's going to catch them.

True. It will be very hard for the REd Sox to sustain 6 runs a game, but that offense doesn't have a lot of holes. Maybe they are using the magic undetectable punch that Roy alluded to, but for now, that team is going to be a nightmare for pitchers.

[Tony-OH]

Could be.

But, 52/54 games played, which is basically 1/3 of the season, they are pretty neck and neck.

Very true, and numbers don't always tell the full story. But, there aren't a lot of holes in that lineup right now and they have nine batters with OBP above .350 with 40 or more PAs. That's pretty incredible.

As for their pitching, their top 3 starters are better than ours Price, Porcella, and Wright vs Tillman, Gausman, Wilson and although I think our top four relievers (Britton, O'dat, Brach and Givens are better than their four or Kimbrel, Barnes, Koji and Tazawa, and not like those guys are the gasoline crew.

I hope we find a way to keep winning. I do think we will be contention in Septemeber, I just am not sure if we have the horses to go far in the playoffs if we somehow snuck in and I'm scared at what DD might give up if we are even within sniffing dissonance of the playoffs. Last year, being .500 in late July cost us Zach Davies.

[canonfaz]

I hope we find a way to keep winning. I do think we will be contention in Septemeber, I just am not sure if we have the horses to go far in the playoffs if we somehow snuck in and I'm scared at what DD might give up if we are even within sniffing dissonance of the playoffs. Last year, being .500 in late July cost us Zach Davies.

Very true. If we are in contention to win the division, then I don't mind giving up value for a player that will move the needle (ala Miller in 2014), but we can't give up a major league starter for 2 months of a replacement level player again.

If we are in contention, and make a move, it pretty much has to be for a legit starter. I guess there could also be an argument for another top notch bullpen piece too instead.

[Redskins Rick]

Very true, and numbers don't always tell the full story. But, there aren't a lot of holes in that lineup right now and they have nine batters with OBP above .350 with 40 or more PAs. That's pretty incredible.

As for their pitching, their top 3 starters are better than ours Price, Porcella, and Wright vs Tillman, Gausman, Wilson and although I think our top four relievers (Britton, O'dat, Brach and Givens are better than their four or Kimbrel, Barnes, Koji and Tazawa, and not like those guys are the gasoline crew.

I hope we find a way to keep winning. I do think we will be contention in Septemeber, I just am not sure if we have the horses to go far in the playoffs if we somehow snuck in and I'm scared at what DD might give up if we are even within sniffing dissonance of the playoffs. Last year, being .500 in late July cost us Zach Davies.

Last year's COF, of Snider & De Aza wasn't getting the job done, and DD took a shot because he was probably told to, that with the rest of division in turmoil that they still had a chance at being in it.

I like to think that this year's team, even with Hardy out, is much better that than.

Yes, the SP has been up and down, but, there is always hope, since they are not out of it

[Tony-OH]

Last year's COF, of Snider & De Aza wasn't getting the job done, and DD took a shot because he was probably told to, that with the rest of division in turmoil that they still had a chance at being in it.

I like to think that this year's team, even with Hardy out, is much better that than.

Yes, the SP has been up and down, but, there is always hope, since they are not out of it

I do think this team is a better than last year's as well. How much better is the real question.

[brianod]

Last year's COF, of Snider & De Aza wasn't getting the job done, and DD took a shot because he was probably told to, that with the rest of division in turmoil that they still had a chance at being in it.

I like to think that this year's team, even with Hardy out, is much better that than.

Yes, the SP has been up and down, but, there is always hope, since they are not out of it

Up and down? That's the kindest description for what I've been seeing that I can think of. 2 out of 5 spots have been consistently dismal. Gausman has been up and down. Tilman consistently good and Wilson ok.

[brianod]

It is not inconsistent to consider this team mediocre and still hope beyond hope that they can get lucky and make a run at an in the playoffs. They are good enough where if all the pieces fall in the right spots, that can happen. I wouldn't bet on it, but it could happen.

[Redskins Rick]

Up and down? That's the kindest description for what I've been seeing that I can think of. 2 out of 5 spots have been consistently dismal. Gausman has been up and down. Tilman consistently good and Wilson ok.

We have had some good SP outings and some bad. Thankfully, the team is 30-22.

[brianod]

We have had some good SP outings and some bad. Thankfully, the team is 30-22.

We got lucky by scoring a ton of runs when Wright and Ubaldo came up against the RedSox. That is the kind of luck we will need consistently and it is very hard to sustain.

[mskrulz]

We got lucky by scoring a ton of runs when Wright and Ubaldo came up against the RedSox. That is the kind of luck we will need consistently and it is very hard to sustain.

+

Yes, we were fortunate to score a bunch of runs but I wouldn't call it luck. It's baseball. Same as when we lose 2-0. We have a good offense that can sometimes be great and sometimes look bad. Last night we were great. Not lucky at all.

[sportsfan8703]

We have had some good SP outings and some bad. Thankfully, the team is 30-22.

The SP is holding us back. I could see us going on a 2014 run if we could just sure up the rotation. That's a big IF.

[bluedog]

The SP is holding us back. I could see us going on a 2014 run if we could just sure up the rotation. That's a big IF.

The question is how do we shore up the rotation?

Remember at the midpoint of 2012, this team had only 2 serviceable starters (Hammels & Chen) and everyone else who'd been tried (Arrieta, Britton, Hunter and Matusz) had pitched to a 5.00+ ERA. The O's had Tillman waiting in the minors, but other than that it was a crapshoot.

Luckily Gonzalez emerged out of nowhere, Tillman lived up to his potential and the O's acquired Joe Saunders for a bag of balls to hold down the #5 spot during the stretch run.

So this year, it looks like Tillman, Gausman and Wilson MIGHT have the potential to be reliable starters all year long (notice the big MIGHT there...). If that ends up being true, where do we get 2 more live arms?

There isn't a Tillman waiting in the minors to save us this year (unless I'm missing something) and it's unlikely we can go out and get a top quality starter by trade given how weak the farm system is.

To me that leaves us with a handful of options;

1. Gallardo - maybe he comes back from the DL and pitches to his career numbers (I'm not confident at all this will happen)

2. Worley - maybe his success out of the pen will translate into a league average starter in the rotation (this seems more likely to me than #1)

3. McFarland - his career WHIP makes me doubt he can ever be even league average as a starter

4. Wright - maybe he can turn it around - he's clearly got the stuff to be good, but can he figure it out?

5. Somebody who's currently not with a team trying to make a comeback? (Wandy, etc.)

6. Someone we can pry away by eating a lot of salary? (no clue who this might be...)

7. A young guy that's failed to live up to expectations elsewhere and might just need a change of scenery? (think Arrieta or Jeremy Guthrie)

The first key is to get rid of Jiminez to clear out a spot for someone else to take his innings. I hope that Buck is willing to make that move and push him to the pen as a mop up guy.

After that, it's going to take some luck.

But IF the O's can find two more starters, this team looks a lot more interesting down the stretch. Anyone else got any ideas how to make this happen?