The Orioles' 2018 debacle has been a long time coming

[wildcard]

2 minutes ago, Tx Oriole said:

Cold weather? Why didn't it effect the other team? 

It probably did.  Just not as much as the O's.  Britton out. Brach not a closer. Givens can't pitch in the cold.  It was not a good combination.

[weams]

3 minutes ago, wildcard said:

It probably did.  Just not as much as the O's.  Britton out. Brach not a closer. Givens can't pitch in the cold.  It was not a good combination.

Why did the Orioles not get a cold weather staff for those months? A new market inefficiency. Cold Tolerant relievers. Like at the track. Mudders. 

[foxfield]

9 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I agree with most of this.  I just think the  bad start was partly because of these three factors.  What Paul wrote is all true also.   And we can list all the players that have unachieved for one reason or another.   All this contributed to the down fall.

Some of  it will go away with time.   I think if the team is better defensively then the pitching will be better.   The hitting has just been bad.  What happened to Schoop and Mancini anyway.   Homerities?

But it's not a bad start.  The Orioles have not played 10 consecutive games over .500 ALL YEAR.  And they haven't done so since Sept 1, last year either.  This team hit a wall last September and I have jokingly tied it to Trumbo bucking AJ and the pies, but it has been consistent in one thing and one thing only since last Sept.  Losing.  And it has been remarkable how consistent it is.  Cold weather, injuries and schedule are fine to compare a 10, 15 or 25 game stretch,  But this has continued for more than 125 games. And these things can no longer be credibly held as reasons.   

[Redskins Rick]

1 minute ago, weams said:

Why did the Orioles not get a cold weather staff for those months? A new market inefficiency. Cold Tolerant relievers. Like at the track. Mudders. 

Somehow, what used to be a tight clubhouse and players adored playing for Buck, has slipped. Nobody is saying anything publicly.

But, Buck used to get more out of "his" guys, than most other managers.

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

3 hours ago, PaulFolk said:

A 28-72 record at the 100-game mark. On pace for the third-most losses in modern MLB history.

How did this season go so horribly wrong for the Orioles? Spoiler: there's lots of reasons, and they date back several years. I explained a few in my latest piece for Baltimore Baseball.

https://www.baltimorebaseball.com/2018/07/23/mlb-orioles-missteps-mishaps-miscalculations-led-to-orioles-2018-debacle/

Awesome work. Very well done and clarifying as we head into the next phase. 

#3 was really eye opening for me to think back on. At the time, I too was comfortable with letting Markakis, Miller and to a lesser extent Cruz, go, knowing we would have to make tough money decisions and there would be sacrifice. Looking back, we likely would have extended our contention window had we just extended those 3 guys for less than what Davis is getting paid by himself. RF has been a disaster, Miller has been better than O'Day, and Cruz has been even better than he was in his season with us. 

I understand these decisions are really hard real time. Hindsight clarifies so much. But we struck out on every single one. And that really hurts to think about. I remember thinking 2014 was just the beginning of a few more title runs. We had some bad luck (Gonzo, Norris, Hardy petering out), but we did not help ourselves with decisions at all.

I think DD has done a good enough job in different ways. And it's hard to judge him knowing he can't call all his own shots. But this feels like an Andy MacPhail build that DD (more likely PA) failed to maintain.

[wildcard]

4 minutes ago, foxfield said:

But it's not a bad start.  The Orioles have not played 10 consecutive games over .500 ALL YEAR.  And they haven't done so since Sept 1, last year either.  This team hit a wall last September and I have jokingly tied it to Trumbo bucking AJ and the pies, but it has been consistent in one thing and one thing only since last Sept.  Losing.  And it has been remarkable how consistent it is.  Cold weather, injuries and schedule are fine to compare a 10, 15 or 25 game stretch,  But this has continued for more than 125 games. And these things can no longer be credibly held as reasons.   

I agree.  It been a bad team overall.   So many factors.  Its been every facet of the game.   But he start didn't help. It put them 10 games out of contention by May 2nd.   At that point its hard to fight their way back.

[weams]

13 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Somehow, what used to be a tight clubhouse and players adored playing for Buck, has slipped. Nobody is saying anything publicly.

But, Buck used to get more out of "his" guys, than most other managers.

That's when he had better guys. 

[foxfield]

3 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I agree.  It been a bad team overall.   So many factors.  Its been every facet of the game.   But he start didn't help. It put them 10 games out of contention by May 2nd.   At that point its hard to fight their way back.

No it did not help and we do agree on that.  But we are 31.5 games out since.....Oh the agony.  

 

It really is amazing how bad across the board this team is.  And even more amazing to realize that the team we have the best record against is.......that's right, boys and girls.   The NY Yankees.

 

It boggles the mind.

[weams]

Trey Mancini. Not a Nugget. Joey Rickard. Not a Nugget. Chris Davis and Jon Schoop, not nuggets this year. Caleb Joseph and Austin Wynns. Not. 

Trumbo can't field and Adam, dear Adam, can't run. 

This is a bad team of players. Bad. Real Bad. 

[Moose Milligan]

I'm not trying to be snarky when I say there's nothing in that article that hasn't been discussed around here (as posted before).  But when you stack it all up as well as Paul did, it's obvious that we were going to be bad at some point.  

No one could have predicted that it would be THIS bad, but for me, the most infuriating thing is that it was all avoidable.  Even with the part about backing the wrong horses could have been fixed by the avenues of talent.  

God, I hate this photo with every fiber of my being.  He looks like an old woman who's smoked cigarettes and done meth for her whole life that's shuffling into WalMart.  Go away forever, Colby Rasmus.

[Redskins Rick]

6 minutes ago, weams said:

That's when he had better guys. 

guys like Flash.

I remember all the posts about Trey and how he was supposed to be superman with the bat and carry this team, if just given the chance.

Thats not working out too well.

I said it then, as much as people complained about Weiters, we would really see a difference when he was gone.

[weams]

Just now, Redskins Rick said:

guys like Flash.

I remember all the posts about Trey and how he was supposed to be superman with the bat and carry this team, if just given the chance.

Thats not working out too well.

I said it then, as much as people complained about Weiters, we would really see a difference when he was gone.

Wieters when well, Hardy when well, Young Adam, Possibly roiding Chris Davis.  Nate McLouth. Nick Markakis. Those were better players. 

[Redskins Rick]

1 minute ago, weams said:

Wieters when well, Hardy when well, Young Adam, Possibly roiding Chris Davis.  Nate McLouth. Nick Markakis. Those were better players. 

Manny was amazing at 3rd, and to me, he was decent at Short, the replacement at 3, wasn't close to what he was.

This team had its chances and that was fun.

This team doesnt have any chance, and thats not fun.

[foxfield]

4 minutes ago, weams said:

Wieters when well, Hardy when well, Young Adam, Possibly roiding Chris Davis.  Nate McLouth. Nick Markakis. Those were better players. 

Delmon Young....

[weams]

Just now, foxfield said:

Delmon Young....

That was a professional double.