It should be a fascinating season

[Frobby]

I’ve almost never felt as uncertain about an Orioles team as I am about the 2018 O’s.    There’s tons of potential, and tons of pitfalls.     

So far as our lineup goes, there’s only two positions where I feel like I pretty much know what to expect — 2B (Schoop) and CF (Jones).    Those two spots have established regulars whose performance is somewhat predictable, though Schoop, to be sure, is coming off a career year and it will be interesting to see if he can maintain it.    

Elsewhere in the infield, you’ve got two guys switching positions.    How that works out defensively remains to be seen.    Offensively, Manny’s coming off a down year while Beckham had a career year that still featured dramatic ups and downs, so it’s unclear what his level is.     We’ve got Davis trying to bounce back from a horrible year in which he seemed to be literally frozen at the plate half the time.    And, we’re going to give major playing time to a rookie catcher with a poor record on controlling the running game, unknown game calling abilities and a potentially explosive bat.    

In the corner OF spots, we’ll see if Mancini can match or build on his rookie year, or suffers a sophomore slump.   RF has had a big makeover, with Rasmus and Santander.    How Buck is going to allocate the playing time with those guys and Gentry is unknown.    And, there are Hays, Mullins and Stewart all waiting in the wings.

Trumbo, it goes without saying, is a question mark at DH, and it’s going to be interesting to see what Alvarez and Valencia do in his absence.

And now we get to the pitching.   Every one of our starters could potentially be good, but several also could be horrible.    Bundy’s young and could improve, but his peripherals suggest he was lucky last year.    Gausman’s trying to bounce back from a horrible year.   Cashner probably had the biggest ERA/FIP discrepancy in baseball last year, and he also has a new pitch.    Cobb put up good numbers last year though his best pitch wasn’t working — can he get it back and be even better than last year, or  if he doesn’t, will he take a step backwards?    And finally there’s Tillman, who could be off the team in a month, or could surprise us with a comeback season.

As to the bullpen, how do they cope with Britton’s absence, how long will that absence be, and which Britton will we see when he returns?    Can Brach handle the closer role?    Can O’Day stay healthy and continue his performance from the last two months of last year?    And will the Rule 5 guys and Wright contribute anything?

So many questions, and I can’t wait to start finding out the answers.    Let the feast begin!

 

[weams]

Front page.

[canonfaz]

Can't wait! The rotation could be slightly above average, or terrible. Time will tell.

My prediction, we win the division on the 163rd game of the season (with Harvey getting the start).

[webbrick2010]

Always exciting, I hope the young guys (Sisco, Santander, Hays) earn a lot of playing time sooner than later. I have no interest in watching Alvarez, Rasmus, Valencia, Davis or Trumbo. They are all way past their prime with no upside. Would love to see Cortes take Tillman's spot ASAP. Glad we kept some young guys in the bullpen, lets see what they've got. The young guys must exceed expectations for this team to go anywhere.

[Redskins Rick]

15 minutes ago, canonfaz said:

Can't wait! The rotation could be slightly above average, or terrible. Time will tell.

My prediction, we win the division on the 163rd game of the season (with Harvey getting the start).

Harvey will be out of innings and shut down by then.

[Tbone83]

I agree with your sentiments fully, Frobby. I don't know what to make of this year. It could be a dumpster fire, Orioles Magic, or anywhere in between. Should be interesting! 

[MikeAD]

Well its the best rotation we've had in years and that has been the biggest and often only problem at times.  Thats for sure.  Also for sure this is our most consequential season in many years.  Who couldn't be excited about today?!?! Rarely do you have competent pitching, an established offense, young players who may make an impact, and of course the final season of a superstar..or maybe just the last on this contract.  

[maybenxtyr]

I'm excited! I think there is a lot of potential for this team. We all also know that it could go the other way, but I want to forget about that right now. 

 

[DJHJR86]

Going by our history under Buck, we have always made the playoffs/play-in game every year ending in an even number.  Excited for this year.

[Just Regular]

57 minutes ago, webbrick2010 said:

 I have no interest in watching Alvarez, Rasmus, Valencia, Davis or Trumbo. They are all way past their prime with no upside. 

While this is generally true, it does not follow they are necessarily worthless.  They were good players, and the way down doesn't have to go to zero immediately.  Ask any Astro whether Carlos Beltran and his 84 OPS+ from DH meant anything to them last year.

I'm excited to see Machado's start.  At times I've said that, in the two wildcard era, he's a playoff nucleus by himself.  He had a bad year last year.  He's on his free agent platform and for the first time has a shot at doing all the A-Rod things he has probably dreamed about since being a kid.  We've papered over all the holes reasonably.  I want to see 8-win Machado show up and push Trout for MVP - in my mind that's the bigger X factor than anything.  Whether the First Four of the rotation give us 600 innings of 4.15 or 4.51, we've proven in past years we have the position players and bullpen to translate either level of rotation performance into success.

I'm not even worried about Tillman.  His contributions to past teams earned him this opportunity.  If it is over in a month, Scott Feldman is still looking for a job, or Hunter Harvey could be Eastern League pitcher of the month.

[Frobby]

17 minutes ago, OrioleDog said:

While this is generally true, it does not follow they are necessarily worthless.  They were good players, and the way down doesn't have to go to zero immediately.  Ask any Astro whether Carlos Beltran and his 84 OPS+ from DH meant anything to them last year.

I agree that I’m not excited about some of the veterans, but their performance does affect us.

[NCRaven]

Colby Rasmus interests me.  He's a good baseball player.  I like good baseball players.  Valencia is a role player and every team needs some role players.  So I'm not opposed to bringing in some of the vets that they did.  Alvarez, not so much.

[NCRaven]

Will also be interesting to see who loses their 40 man roster spots before game time.