On The Orioles Rebuild

[glenn__davis]

I know many of you won’t care about what I’m going to write here.  I’m fine with that.  Honestly this post isn’t much about baseball itself.  This isn’t a post to analyze the whether the Orioles received enough value from the 2018 fire sale, or whether or not Mychal Givens’ FIP indicates that he’s still a good relief pitcher. 

This really is about the end of an era.  It is not at all about me, and at the same time it is completely about me.  At the end of the day, truly, I feel a connection with the team and not the players.  Cal Ripken was the star of my youth, and if he had left the Orioles at any point, I might have thought it was a bit strange, but I would not have felt any sadness.  Even for a big star such as Manny, him leaving did not “hurt” me in the slightest.

But this post really is about my son.  My firstborn, to be exact.  He’s 11 now.

He and I are very different.  Don’t get me wrong, I love him more than anything and would do anything for him.  But just about everything about us – our physical builds, our mannerisms, our interests – are different.  He’s got much more of my wife in him – which is a good thing! – but it makes it hard for me at times to find common ground with him.

Around the age of 6 or 7, though, he started showing a real interest in baseball.  At first I honestly thought it was just an effort he was making to find something to talk to me about (and perhaps it was).  But he’s kept up his interest all this time – playing, watching, and talking about baseball.  Remember those MLB commercials the past few years about Adam Jones?  “When he’s not playing baseball, he’s watching baseball…when he’s not watching baseball, he’s listening to baseball…etc”?  That was my son.  We talked about baseball all the time.  We bought (way too expensive) tickets to watch ALCS game 1 in 2014.  My son wore his baseball pants, “just in case someone got hurt and they needed players”. 

Markakis.  Machado.  Cruz.  Wieters.  Tillman.  Gausman.  Schoop.  O’day.  (“A-OK, Darren O’Day” was a common phrase in our house for a few years.)  These were the names we talked about all the time.  These were the names he chanted, the names I used to teach him about the game, the names that he thought were bigger than life.  These were the names that truly introduced him to the magic and beauty of the game that I love so much.

And now that era is over.  It had to end eventually, and from a baseball standpoint I think we all agree that that time was now.  As I mentioned earlier, me, personally?  I’m ready for the rebuild. 

There is a sadness that I feel when thinking about this era being over for him though.  I don’t want to be too melodramatic about – I’m sure many who read this will think that this is an overly sappy post about parenthood, and perhaps it is.  He is still only 11, after all.  There will be new players that come along that he will enjoy and that we will discuss.  The Orioles aren’t going away, just this version of it.

But what a version it was for us.  Those of you with kids, particularly kids who are grown up, probably get it.  You only get one team to really “grow up” with, and this was his.

Perhaps a quick anecdote sums it up best.  He has always worn a Manny Machado jersey to games.  We bought it for him about 4 years ago or so.  It was huge on him at the time and it practically looked like he was wearing a dress.  Early in the season this year I noticed that it was looking a little tight on him.  A few weeks back we were getting ready to go to a game and he came out of his room wearing a different shirt.  Still an Orioles shirt, of course, specifically the Maryland Pride jersey from last season.  I asked him if we was planning on wearing his Machado jersey to the game?

“No,” he said.  “I outgrew it.”

[Frobby]

Awesome post.    The last two weeks truly did mark the end of an era.    One I will remember fondly.   I hope we don’t have to wait too many years to have a great team to root for again.   

[OregonBird]

Same here.  My 9 year old has a closet full of Oriole shirts/jerseys with Machado, Jones, Britton, Schoop on them.  

He and I flew in from Oregon to see the 2014 playoffs and I truly believe that the experience he had during the Detroit series helped fuel his passion for baseball which makes him the player he is today.  His motion is a dead ringer for Britton but he's more dominant   Now those dudes are gone and there's a little less excitement about headed to Sarasota in March.

A rebuild was needed but it's hard.

[LookitsPuck]

Great post. This is exactly opposite for my son. He just turned 5, the outgoing Orioles he's had little to no attachment to....so basically these baby birds are going to be his generation. 

[Tx Oriole]

39 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Awesome post.    The last two weeks truly did mark the end of an era.    One I will remember fondly.   I hope we don’t have to wait too many years to have a great team to root for again.   

I think it will be fun to root for the  Baby Birds.