Offense not pitching will doom this team

[O's are Legends]

This was my concern all year. Too many poor approaches and undisciplined at bats. Waiting for the HR will never be the answer.

Was in the Budweiser seats 4 rows behind third, at least there were mostly O's fans. Watching the O's chase dirt pitches all day was painful.

[LookitsPuck]

Terrible approach.

Homer or bust. Story of 2016.

[CheeryO]

It's interesting that this year's Orioles offense is on track to outperform O's offenses of the past few years in many statistical categories with three major exceptions: Stolen Bases and Triples, and especially Hits. This team is on track to have the fewest triples in team history (only 6) going back to when the O's were the 1901 Milwaukee Brewers. And they are currently tied for the fewest stolen bases in team history (17) going back to the 1953 St. Louis Browns. Could it be that this sense of lack of something is actually a lack of team speed? Is this team's lack of team speed the difference between the O's and the league leading offensive teams like the Red Sox?

The O's are not trailing in hits by anything close to a record setting margin, but yes, this team probably will not match the number of hits of most O's teams of recent years. However, by the end of the season this team should outhit last year's team and the 2012 team. Interestingly the O's clubs of a decade ago had far more hits as a team than the O's clubs of the past several years. Those teams hit more doubles too. The only O's team with more home runs than this team was the 1996 team.

Listing of year by year O's offensive stats are in link below:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/batteam.shtml

[OFFNY]

o

(SEPTEMBER 25th)

The Orioles are 7-37 this season in games in which they have scored 2 runs or less.

3 out of those 7 wins have come in the last 11 days ........ a 1-0 win over the Red Sox on September 14th, a 2-1 win over the D-Rays on September 18th, and 2-1 win over the Diamondbacks today.

[O's are Legends]

That was horrible. Jones and Pedro with some ugly at bats, Davis strikes out looking all the time and Schoop is lost.

[LookitsPuck]

Jones sets the tone. Pitchers aren't throwing him strikes. His aggression is killing this team.

Schoop has been a disaster for months. Machado is getting on base but he is choking lately when it matters.

Davis is plying injured. And he can't properly track pitches to boot. Way too many called 3rd strikes.

And for some idiotic reason Buck won't start Kim regularly. It's pathetic.

[Uli2001]

It's interesting that this year's Orioles offense is on track to outperform O's offenses of the past few years in many statistical categories with three major exceptions: Stolen Bases and Triples, and especially Hits. This team is on track to have the fewest triples in team history (only 6) going back to when the O's were the 1901 Milwaukee Brewers. And they are currently tied for the fewest stolen bases in team history (17) going back to the 1953 St. Louis Browns. Could it be that this sense of lack of something is actually a lack of team speed? Is this team's lack of team speed the difference between the O's and the league leading offensive teams like the Red Sox?

The O's are not trailing in hits by anything close to a record setting margin, but yes, this team probably will not match the number of hits of most O's teams of recent years. However, by the end of the season this team should outhit last year's team and the 2012 team. Interestingly the O's clubs of a decade ago had far more hits as a team than the O's clubs of the past several years. Those teams hit more doubles too. The only O's team with more home runs than this team was the 1996 team.

Listing of year by year O's offensive stats are in link below:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/batteam.shtml

This offense is slow as molasses. It's obvious to anyone watching. If they are not hitting a HR, they have to put together three hits to score a run. And this is tough to do on a regular basis against MLB pitching.

[ChuckS]

I really hope we find a way to reconfigure our lineup in the offseason and add some speed and OBP.

Playing Kim everyday and batting leadoff would be a start. Signing a Michael Saunders or Josh Reddick and adding Trey Mancini and Chance Sisco (getting at bats at catcher and DH) to the lineup could make a huge difference.

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

I thought the OP was crazy when this thread was started. Now this is one of the most frustrating Oriole offenses that I can remember. We should have known when they were lighting the world on fire and near the top of the league in OBP that it all was going to come crashing down.

I agree that if there is any way we can get some OBP and/or speed in the offseason, that would be great. I know Fowler was supposed to be both. Not sure what options are out there.

[evenparthrough9]

I thought the OP was crazy when this thread was started. Now this is one of the most frustrating Oriole offenses that I can remember. We should have known when they were lighting the world on fire and near the top of the league in OBP that it all was going to come crashing down.

I agree that if there is any way we can get some OBP and/or speed in the offseason, that would be great. I know Fowler was supposed to be both. Not sure what options are out there.

This has been the case with the Orioles for at least 2or 3 years. Really became apparent in late June. That type of baseball doesn't win WS. AJ is taking Schoop down the drain with him. Bad influence. I'd explore trading him.

[Bradysburns]

Jones sets the tone. Pitchers aren't throwing him strikes. His aggression is killing this team.

Schoop has been a disaster for months. Machado is getting on base but he is choking lately when it matters.

Davis is plying injured. And he can't properly track pitches to boot. Way too many called 3rd strikes.

And for some idiotic reason Buck won't start Kim regularly. It's pathetic.

I heard Jones on the radio yesterday talking about how he's a better hitter when he's "aggressive." So I wouldn't expect him to change anything soon.

That's really unfortunate.

It would be great if we could start an acquisition effort toward more well-rounded - and frankly, skilled - hitters. I think of Robbie Alomar, one of my all-time favorite players, or Palmeiro, or BJ Surhoff.

Dustin Pedroia personifies that mentality... a guy who clearly just HATES to make an out.

You need a mix, I think. We have a lineup of hitters that all pretty much come from the same mold. Swing real hard and hope for the best. They happen to be strong enough that the ball goes out of the park on a fairly frequent basis. But they're not skilled enough or fast enough to scratch out bloop singles or infield hits.

On the other hand, when you have a fairly lame development program - and you're limited to acquiring players on the cheap (except Davis) - this is the imperfect result.

[Bradysburns]

I really hope we find a way to reconfigure our lineup in the offseason and add some speed and OBP.

Playing Kim everyday and batting leadoff would be a start. Signing a Michael Saunders or Josh Reddick and adding Trey Mancini and Chance Sisco (getting at bats at catcher and DH) to the lineup could make a huge difference.

I really like your ideas here. I even like the idea of adding Fowler and putting him in right field if his arm's good enough. I also think it's time to give Sisco a chance and let Wieters go (unless you can get Wieters on the cheap, like 3/36 or something). Sisco's numbers are REALLY good this year, and his .400 OBP would be a great add at the bottom of the lineup.

That would be like a mini-rebuild right there. Plus, I think we need some serious speed/skill off the bench as well (Bourn not the answer in my book)...

[bobmc]

I really like your ideas here. I even like the idea of adding Fowler and putting him in right field if his arm's good enough. I also think it's time to give Sisco a chance and let Wieters go (unless you can get Wieters on the cheap, like 3/36 or something). Sisco's numbers are REALLY good this year, and his .400 OBP would be a great add at the bottom of the lineup.

That would be like a mini-rebuild right there. Plus, I think we need some serious speed/skill off the bench as well (Bourn not the answer in my book)...

Cedrick Mullins will save the dayyyyyyy!

[O's84]

This has been the case with the Orioles for at least 2or 3 years. Really became apparent in late June. That type of baseball doesn't win WS. AJ is taking Schoop down the drain with him. Bad influence. I'd explore trading him.

Even so, it shouldn't be this bad. They've been awful for far too long recently. What is it, 24 runs in the last 10 games or something... really O's? ...sigh

[pastorfan]

That was horrible. Jones and Pedro with some ugly at bats' date=' Davis strikes out looking all the time and Schoop is lost.[/quote']

The only answer I can think of is that Davis can't count! He swings at balls then takes a strike for strike three.