TT: The other shoe has dropped

[thezeroes]

9 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

3 games at Houston = Stop the bleeding?    Likely not, I'm afraid. 

Houston, at home, has SWEPT the Orioles before and I fully expect this to be another lost series.

 

[sportsfan8703]

So our Ace and Closer have been hurt for most of the season.  Manny, Jones and Trumbo are all sporting OPS's in the low .700's.  Gausman has looked like Ubaldo, and Ubaldo became Ubaldo again.  How is this team 25-20?  

Houston is going to be a real test.  Especially if it's going to be Keuchel vs. Ubaldo on Saturday.  

[Tx Oriole]

3 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

The O's are 3-10 in last 13 games just five games above .500. The AL central teams are bullying them and treating them with zero respect. Why should they?

Big leads blown, poor starting pitching, errors, base running errors, batters who watch three straight strikes and walk back to the bench, and a manager who refuses to pinch hit at the bottom of his lineup. If that's for you, then you've enjoyed this team over this stretch.

This could be a slump, or it could be that the other shoe has dropped on a team that looked like it was winning on smoke and mirrors earlier in the year rather than being good.

This might be a bit of a rant, but there are bad at bats, then there are embarrassing at bats and Chris Davis in the 8th inning today had what can only be described as an embarrassing at bat with the tie run at 2nd. After getting to 3-0, he watched two straight fastballs in the middle of the plate and then a curve ball, never moving the bat from his shoulder. Not that his choke job should come as a surprise, after all, he was slashing .148/.289/.262/.552 when runners are on base this year coming into the game. Eight of his 10 homers have been solo jobs.

 That's not what you want from your $21 million a year first baseman. 

That wasn't the only embarrassing at bat. How about JJ Hardy watching three straight fastballs for strikes to end the game? I know he homered earlier in the game when the pitcher accidentally hit his bat, but how does he get to bat with Hyun Soo Kim or even Wellington Castillo on the bench? I guess his veteranosity outweighs his .524 OPS he was sporting coming into the game or his .196/.234/.265/.498 slash line against RHP.

The problem with this season is we spent the first part trying to figure out how in the hell the Orioles were winning so many games? Now, we are seeing their true colors come out. This team is slumping, and they are never as bad as they look when slumping, but this is not a good team. This is a team that is still threatening to send out one of the worse starting pitchers in MLB on Sunday in Ubaldo while picking up a waiver wire utility guy like that is going to change their fortunes.

Whether the bad losses and blown leads have affected the hitters or not, this offense is in one of it's cold spells, the kind of cold spells that teams constructed of one dimensional power hitters go into. Then again, they really haven't been all that good most of the year. 

The shoe has dropped and unless some guys turn it around big time this team is going to be near the bottom of the Division by the All-Star break.

I dont see the team improving very much. 

[LA2]

31 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I don't want players running as hard as they can on every routine grounder.  They will literally run themselves into the ground over the course of a 162 game season.  Players know when to pick their spots.  Especially considering Manny hurt his knee while running out a play in a meaningless game in TB and then we didn't have him for the playoffs.  

You stay jogging Manny.  I want to watch you play 160 and into the playoff.  

Superbee83 cited special conditions that should have motivated Manny to run harder.

[Tx Oriole]

2 hours ago, birdwatcher55 said:

Excellent post! Time to blow it up and move Machado, Davis and Gausman. I'd listen to offers for Bundy, too. And when Britton returns, send him packing. Time to start building for 2020 and beyond.

I kinda agree with you but the owner will not allow that to happen. 

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, Tx Oriole said:

I kinda agree with you but the owner will not allow that to happen. 

Won't even get to the owner.  Dan isn't going to green light a rebuild with one year left on his contract.

It would take ownership stepping in and taking over.

[25 Nuggets]

35 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Won't even get to the owner.  Dan isn't going to green light a rebuild with one year left on his contract.

It would take ownership stepping in and taking over.

...and that has not worked out well in the past.

[sportsfan8703]

28 minutes ago, birdwatcher55 said:

Step in. Step in.

Why are people so excited for a rebuild?  Don't people realize that we don't participate in 1/2 the ways to acquire amateur talent.  A successful rebuild would require

1. A tear down of the MLB roster for as many prospects as possible.
2. Draft as high as possible and draft well.
3. Spend on high end international talent.  

A rebuild would likely mean Buck and DD leave the organization.  So we lose that too.  

Not participating in the international market means we have to hit big in the draft every year.  Once we sell and get prospects, that's it, then it's just the draft.  Prospects and the draft are crap shoots.  Look at our top 4.

1. Sisco-struggling in AAA with hitting and probably won't stick at C.
2. Sedlock- 6+ ERA in A ball.
3. Harvey- TJ surgery.  Will pitch about 30 innings in the last 3 years.  
4. Akin- Struggling in A ball.  

People think that because the Yankees are "rebuilding" that its the cool new and easy thing to do.  Forgetting that the Yankees have 5-6 20ish million players in Sabathia, Tanaka, Chapman, Ellsbury, Gardner and Arod.  

Our rebuild would be like this.  Think of Minnesota.  Then remove all the foreign players off the team and organization.  

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Why are people so excited for a rebuild?  Don't people realize that we don't participate in 1/2 the ways to acquire amateur talent.  A successful rebuild would require

1. A tear down of the MLB roster for as many prospects as possible.
2. Draft as high as possible and draft well.
3. Spend on high end international talent.  

A rebuild would likely mean Buck and DD leave the organization.  So we lose that too.  

Not participating in the international market means we have to hit big in the draft every year.  Once we sell and get prospects, that's it, then it's just the draft.  Prospects and the draft are crap shoots.  Look at our top 4.

1. Sisco-struggling in AAA with hitting and probably won't stick at C.
2. Sedlock- 6+ ERA in A ball.
3. Harvey- TJ surgery.  Will pitch about 30 innings in the last 3 years.  
4. Akin- Struggling in A ball.  

People think that because the Yankees are "rebuilding" that its the cool new and easy thing to do.  Forgetting that the Yankees have 5-6 20ish million players in Sabathia, Tanaka, Chapman, Ellsbury, Gardner and Arod.  

Our rebuild would be like this.  Think of Minnesota.  Then remove all the foreign players off the team and organization.  

I'd rather rebuild than do whatever it was they did between 1998-2007.

[ChuckS]

The only other option to a rebuild is to continue signing overpriced past-prime free agents to try to compete because there is no immediate help coming from the farm system.  

If we are hanging around .500 at the trade deadline I pray to god we are sellers and we should certainly be moving Manny if he's not going to resign here.  

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

The only other option to a rebuild is to continue signing overpriced past-prime free agents to try to compete because there is no immediate help coming from the farm system.  

If we are hanging around .500 at the trade deadline I pray to god we are sellers and we should certainly be moving Manny if he's not going to resign here.  

A 500 team is too close to the WC for Dan to sell.  Team is going to have to crater.

[ChuckS]

7 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

A 500 team is too close to the WC for Dan to sell.  Team is going to have to crater.

That's probably a worse-case scenario.  Being around .500 and standing pat or worse, being buyers.  And maybe the most likely scenario.  Makes me shudder to think about it.  

  

[SteveA]

16 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'd rather rebuild than do whatever it was they did between 1998-2007.

I'd rather do what we have done since 2012 than imediately tear down and rebuild.

We are 25-20, and I believe we have more players underperforming expectations than overperforming.

I see no reason this team can't be a contender, the two week slump notwithstanding.

[oriolediehard]

4 hours ago, birdwatcher55 said:

Excellent post! Time to blow it up and move Machado, Davis and Gausman. I'd listen to offers for Bundy, too. And when Britton returns, send him packing. Time to start building for 2020 and beyond.

Maybe a joke or reality, maybe losing may not be so bad after all. It will give us a chance to trade our chips to build for the future and get younger.  The only problem is PA would never go for it.

[Can_of_corn]

9 minutes ago, SteveA said:

I'd rather do what we have done since 2012 than imediately tear down and rebuild.

We are 25-20, and I believe we have more players underperforming expectations than overperforming.

I see no reason this team can't be a contender, the two week slump notwithstanding.

This year maybe.  But do you think the current system is sustainable going forward?