TT: Let's face it, this team is not a playoff caliber team

[Can_of_corn]

Agreed, 2017's early forecast isn't nearly as doom and gloom as some folks around here would have you believe. There are posters here who make it seem like you need 5 Cy Young candidates to have a respectable staff.

Most of us doom and gloomers are talking about what the team looks like when Dan's contract expires.

[FanAddict]

Agreed, 2017's early forecast isn't nearly as doom and gloom as some folks around here would have you believe. There are posters here who make it seem like you need 5 Cy Young candidates to have a respectable staff.

Britton HAS to be traded this offseason. His stock has never been higher and he might actually net a halfway decent return.

Agree with the majority that our success in 2017 and beyond will be tied to how well the trio of Guasman, Bundy and Tillman perform.

[MDK02]

I'm going to keep hoping and praying for a playoff spot until we are mathematically eliminated. Right now, we're still in the playoffs... tomorrow starts a huge series vs. yanks. We'll see how it plays out.

[pastorfan]

Yes, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Girardi went on a mind blowing bender the night after A Rod's last game, knowing the sun was about to rise again in the Bronx. Next year, their only position veteran will be Gardy, with Gregorious as a young veteran. They will be young, hungry and they will be coming after this division with money to spend on pitching. It makes me wonder just how much more Buck has in the tank?

Please don't even let me think about the possibility of DD having to choose a new manager. I can't imagine what a mess that would be.

[McLovin]

I think they can get a playoff spot. But they have almost no chance of doing anything once there. "Just get in" and all that, sure. But they are just not built for a long run.

[CheeryO]

This team is possibly a division winner with a healthy Tillman, O'Day and Jones and a Chris Davis that can hit. But the way things are now it's going to take as much faith as grit for this team to make the postseason.

[FlipTheBird]

Britton HAS to be traded this offseason. His stock has never been higher and he might actually net a halfway decent return.

Agree with the majority that our success in 2017 and beyond will be tied to how well the trio of Guasman, Bundy and Tillman perform.

I'd agree that this offseason will be the best time to move Britton. But I think Buck will be the big obstacle there, not DD.

[TradeAngelos]

This might be the most bipolar place on the entire internet.

[TouchemAll]

There's an entire thread concerning how newly acquired Michael Bourne and Drew Stubbs could be added to the playoff roster. Let's just hope this becomes an issue.

This team is 25-30 since July 1st and now tied for the last wildcard with Detroit and are only one game ahead of Houston (who treats the Orioles like a red-headed step child when they play them) while the Yankees are just 2.5 games back. They are two games back of Boston and four games back from Toronto, both or which are clearly better ball clubs than the Orioles at this stage of the season.

Tillman and O'day are on the DL, AJ is dinged up, and our starting rotation includes Gallardo, Jimenez (who's pitched good his last two starts but could implode at any moment), a tired Bundy, and a guy who has put up a 7.14 ERA in his seven starts with the O's (Miley).

This team is not better than Houston or probably even the Yankees at this point.

Face it, acquiring Bourne and Stubbs did nothing to move the needle and this team has been a 4th place team in the AL East since July 1st and is probably going to end up there.

The Orioles gave this season a good run, but they are 6-11 against the AL East since July 1st and if you take away the lowly Rays, they are 4-10 against Boston, the Yankees and Blue Jays.

Just about every pitching acquisition Dan Duquette has made this season, including the offseason has back fired. Gallardo has a 5.62 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP, Miley has put up a 7.14 ERA and 1.65 WHIP in seven starts, Odrisamer Despaigne has a 5.60 and 1.72 WHIP in 27.1 IP and, Logan Ondrusek, who inexplicably was signed to a major league contract after being released by his Japaneses team and hadn't pitched successfully in the major leagues since at least 2013, put up a 9.95 ERA and 1.90 WHIP in 6.1 innings before being rightfully DFA'd. Only Vance Worley has been decent in the long reliever/spot starter role.

When you looked at the starting pitching Toronto was sending out there compared to the Orioles, it was strikingly different.

Let's hope through some miracle that they Orioles can defeat all statistical and scouting evidence and make a run in September, but if I were a betting man, I'd say the Orioles have a lot better chance of finishing 4th in the AL East than winning a wild card.

You'll get NO ARGUMENT from me.

[Spy Fox]

Ah the classic "caliber" argument.

Has there been a day all season when we haven't technically been in a playoff spot? We're tied for a playoff spot currently, so you could say that for games 1-133 the Orioles have been a playoff caliber team. They're trending in the wrong direction though. Most of the teams we're fighting have had some downward trends at some point in the season and fought through them. The O's haven't shown much lately but hopefully they can fight through as well. Could be a fun September. Could be disappointing. Could be both.

[O's84]

Your reasoning is sound Tony, but didn't the last 2 times you made a thread like this, didn't the team turnaround and do the opposite?

[slakattack]

Britton HAS to be traded this offseason. His stock has never been higher and he might actually net a halfway decent return.

Agree with the majority that our success in 2017 and beyond will be tied to how well the trio of Guasman, Bundy and Tillman perform.

I agree that Zach could potentially yield a nice haul - potentially. His loss would definitely create a hole. Even if you move Brach or O'Day into that role, the hole would just move forward an inning. How did the Yankees keep Mo for all those years and does anyone think that that was a bad thing? Jeter's 5 rings would probably say it is a good thing to have a Sandman on your squad.

[Can_of_corn]

I agree that Zach could potentially yield a nice haul - potentially. His loss would definitely create a hole. Even if you move Brach or O'Day into that role, the hole would just move forward an inning. How did the Yankees keep Mo for all those years and does anyone think that that was a bad thing? Jeter's 5 rings would probably say it is a good thing to have a Sandman on your squad.

By having the highest payroll in the league.

[El Gordo]

I found the OP encouraging. Since the Team of Destiny post we've been mediocre. After the Mediocre post we were mercurial. Maybe now we'll be meteoric.

[LookitsPuck]

Who would they have called up?

That's exactly my point, man.