TT: Is this really the worst season of your fandom?

[Reboulet'sStache]

It's not the worst, but it certainly sucks seeing all the horrible chickens come home to roost.  The Trumbo and Davis signings.  Not trading Britton.  The right thing to do in all of these situations was so simple and obvious.  Anybody arguing otherwise is just wrong.  Nothing hindsight about it.  And they have blown up in our face and hurt our ability to compete in the future.

[Go_Os]

It's definitely not close to being the worst.  This first third of the season was fun, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see prospects start to emerge.  I also think we had a pretty good draft.  

What is depressing to me is to see how good the Yankees are now, and if they get Shohei Otani and perhaps Manny or Harper in 2019, then it will be a painful 5-6 years.  The thought of Manny leaving has been a dark cloud for me this year.  We need to go all out and try to sign him.  

[NashLumber]

On 9/14/2017 at 6:15 AM, Tbone83 said:

Was it 05 when the O's were in or near first up until the All Star Break then crashed and burned? That is my "worst" season of (relatively) recent times. At least 2017 was somewhat exciting up until early September. 

Though I'd have to look at recap game by game of that season, it seemed to all come to a crescendo at the end of July with a four game series at home vs.   The White Sox. They got swept and it may have been the Sunday or Monday game where it was announced that Raffy was suspended for banned substances. I drove up all alone from NC and sat by myself for that series and it was the most miserable I've been at a baseball park for four games. 

Edit: A week before that series, the O's were five games over .500. When the Chisox left town, they were 3 games under .500. Lee Mazzillii was fired maybe the next day. Had been in 1st place 6 weeks earlier and 12 games over .500. Ended the season 14 games under .500. 

[OFFNY]

On 9/14/2017 at 6:15 AM, Tbone83 said:

 

Was it 2005 when the Oriole were in or near first place up until the All-Star Break, then crashed and burned ??? That is my "worst" season of (relatively) recent times. At least 2017 was somewhat exciting up until early September. 

 

 

14 hours ago, NashLumber said:

 

I thought I'd have to look at a recap, game by game of that season ...... it seemed to all come to a crescendo at the end of July with a four game series at home vs. the White Sox. They got swept in that series, and it may have been the Sunday or Monday game where it was announced that Raffy was suspended for banned substances. I drove up all alone from North Carolina and sat by myself for that series, and it was the most miserable that I've been at a baseball park for four games. 

Edit: A week before that series, the Orioles were five games over .500. When the Chisox left town, they were 3 games under .500. Lee Mazzilli was fired maybe the next day. They had been in 1st place 6 weeks earlier, and 12 games over .500. They ended the season 14 games under .500. 

 

o

 

And the White Sox went on to win their first World Series in 88 years three months later.

 

 

 ooooooooooooooo oo

 

o

[Ohfan67]

Oh man. You guys are bringing up so many bad memories. I regret opening this thread. 

[Ohfan67]

And the season keeps getting worse! this season is starting to move up my list of cruddy seasons. 

[Moose Milligan]

It's not the worst.  In my lifetime, anything between '99 and 2011 would be worse.  Too young to really remember '88, I was 6 turning 7 in September.

On the positive side with this team, we know what needs to be fixed, which is starting pitching.  Had this team had average starting pitching, we'd probably be in a WC berth and over .500 again.

Unfortunately, that's probably the hardest thing to fix.

At least there's some young talent in the wings, guys like Hays and Sisco should be able to contribute next year.  If Mancini can carry this performance to next year, we'll have three guys in the lineup that have been called up in the past 12-18 months that have been contributing.  In addition to Manny and Schoop, we'll have 5 guys in the lineup that we've drafted and developed and that are performing.  I never thought I'd be able to see this team do anything like that.

This team can still be good if they can somehow fix the rotation.  There's a lot of money coming off the books this year, IIRC.  The teams in the dark ages of 1998-2011 were such a joke and everyone knew it.  This is a different situation and therefore not the worst.  

[Frobby]

7 minutes ago, Ohfan67 said:

And the season keeps getting worse! this season is starting to move up my list of cruddy seasons. 

Yes, definitely getting worse.    This certainly goes down as the worst September since at least 2009.   2010-11 were bad seasons overall, but they both ended on a high note.

[Aglets]

Certainly a disappointing end to a season that started off good and then turned south in a hurry.

Don't see how anyone could rank it worse than 2005 though or a lot of the other years in the Perlozzo / Trembley era where we were getting killed on a routine basis.

We aren't going anywhere this year so really all that matters is how the future prospects look and our draft position.  If you focus on that I think it helps.

[foxfield]

On 9/16/2017 at 5:06 PM, Ohfan67 said:

Oh man. You guys are bringing up so many bad memories. I regret opening this thread. 

The pain of this season is a result of our increased expectations being dashed.  And yes it is getting worse.  We are sliding from over achieving to underachieving.  It seems the strain of needing to score 8 runs to win some nights has drained them to the point that even when we need a single run its too difficult to do.  

On the plus side Gausman has really finished strong down the stretch and...oh it's just too much.  I'm going mad with Davis and Trumbo and it is beyond, "hey they will turn it around next year."  It's not my money and I am happy for both of them...really I am.  But we are playing American League baseball with 7/8 of a National League lineup on most nights.  That cannot continue...it just cannot continue.  Not if you want to win.

There is not as much work as some think to get this group on track, but there are some really tough calls to be made this off season.  Move forward or move back, staying the same is untenable.  

[Tony-OH]

On 9/12/2017 at 11:34 PM, Diehard_O's_Fan said:

Thanks for your time Tony. I had not heard that as far as Dan losing some power and control after the Toronto situation. Isn't that breaking news? I have never heard anyone report that? Who gained the extra power and control that Dan lost? Has Buck been making some gm type moves without anyone knowing?

It doesn't get reported because the Baltimore media is very cosy with Buck and one of the best sources for Orioles news and information comes from Roch at MASN, and they are owned by the Orioles. Now I'm not saying they are told what to write, but no one really pushes the tough questions and besides, Buck is very good at giving one word answers when he gets miffed. 

I've been told by sources that Buck wields a lot of influence with Angelos and was the key person in the Davis and Trumbo resignings. I have not investigated this or checked with multiple source so take it with a grain of salt. Remember, everyone has an agenda and since Angelos keeps his front office in a state of Game of Thrones, it creates factions, mistrust, and a general unhealthy state in my opinion.

[HillbillyBird]

Crap, no..not even close. Maybe the most frustrating year, but not the worst...being the doormat of MLB for so long after such a proud history...those dark years were certainly the worst for me.

[Tony-OH]

Just now, birdwatcher55 said:

Do you think Angelos is poised to fire Duquette and kick Buck upstairs. I would not want to see Buck in the front office. That has disaster written all over it.

I really have no idea what Angelos will do after the season. His M.O. is to let guys contracts run out and not renew them instead of firing them. I believe he's only fired Wren with years left on his contract, but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

 

[Frobby]

8 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

It doesn't get reported because the Baltimore media is very cosy with Buck and one of the best sources for Orioles news and information comes from Roch at MASN, and they are owned by the Orioles. Now I'm not saying they are told what to write, but no one really pushes the tough questions and besides, Buck is very good at giving one word answers when he gets miffed. 

It's not just Buck.   The Baltimore media isn't really interested in asking tough questions to anyone associated with the Orioles, and that predates Buck by a long time. It's understandable with Roch and the other MASN guys, but kind of inexcusable for the Sun reporters IMO.    The only time we get any reporting on the inner workings of the front office is when it comes from a national writer like Ken Rosenthal, who then gets accused of having an anti-Orioles agenda whenever he reports something negative.   

[KylOriole Ren]

This is my first season watching so I don't have anything, at all, to compare it too?