Will the Orioles be better in 2019 than 2018?

[DrungoHazewood]

23 hours ago, PaulFolk said:

Actually they're the worst Baltimore Orioles team EVER. They were worse than the 1988 team.

They were even worse than the first Orioles, the 1883 American Association Orioles, who played .292 ball.  I think earlier this year I looked and I couldn't even find a minor league O's team with a worse record.

The only professional Baltimore team that I've found that was definitively worse (in context of their time/place) than the '18 Orioles were the National Association's 1873 Marylands.  They went 0-6 then disbanded.  The scores of their six games were 24-3, 27-7, 26-5, 20-0, 35-1, and 20-10.

[Dipper9]

On 12/16/2018 at 1:41 PM, Diehard_O's_Fan said:

I don't know about you guys but I believe the Orioles will be a better baseball team in 2019 compared to 2018. I honestly don't know how they could be any worse. If the Orioles play better defense and get good pitching out of Cobb, Bundy and Cashner, I definitely feel like they will be an improved team.

In the words of Clark W Griswold, "Worse?  How could it get any worse?  Look around you Ellen; we're on the threshold of hell!"

So yeah, I don't see how we couldn't improve from last year, as it was one of the worst seasons in the history of the game.  But improving and actually being decent are two vastly different things.  Someone mentioned in another thread, we could improve by 15 games and STILL be a 100 loss team.  That's about where I see us this year.  

[Redskins Rick]

2 minutes ago, Dipper9 said:

In the words of Clark W Griswold, "Worse?  How could it get any worse?  Look around you Ellen; we're on the threshold of hell!"

So yeah, I don't see how we couldn't improve from last year, as it was one of the worst seasons in the history of the game.  But improving and actually being decent are two vastly different things.  Someone mentioned in another thread, we could improve by 15 games and STILL be a 100 loss team.  That's about where I see us this year.  

At 115 loses, it doesnt take too much improvement to get better results.

 

[SteveA]

3 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

They were even worse than the first Orioles, the 1883 American Association Orioles, who played .292 ball.  I think earlier this year I looked and I couldn't even find a minor league O's team with a worse record.

The only professional Baltimore team that I've found that was definitively worse (in context of their time/place) than the '18 Orioles were the National Association's 1873 Marylands.  They went 0-6 then disbanded.  The scores of their six games were 24-3, 27-7, 26-5, 20-0, 35-1, and 20-10.

They needed to get a better 4th starter.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Redskins Rick said:

At 115 loses, it doesnt take too much improvement to get better results.

 

At 115 losses all it takes to get better is about six guys on the roster to play a win or two over replacement level, and for nobody to pull a Chris Davis.

[DrungoHazewood]

21 minutes ago, SteveA said:

They needed to get a better 4th starter.

Don't disparage Bill French, he tried.  In his only career start he threw a complete game.  A complete game where he faced 65 batters, allowed 30 hits, 27 runs, and didn't walk or strike out anyone.

I suppose if you match up scores, he had to have started game #2.  It's not completely clear, but 19-year-old Ed Stratton appears to have started games #4-6.  Which was possible because they didn't care about pitchers' arms, and it looks like the Marylands played less than once a week.  The NA let teams set up their own schedules, which is one of the reasons they stopped existing after five years.

[weams]

1 hour ago, Dipper9 said:

In the words of Clark W Griswold, "Worse?  How could it get any worse?  Look around you Ellen; we're on the threshold of hell!"

So yeah, I don't see how we couldn't improve from last year, as it was one of the worst seasons in the history of the game.  But improving and actually being decent are two vastly different things.  Someone mentioned in another thread, we could improve by 15 games and STILL be a 100 loss team.  That's about where I see us this year.  

That's all part of the experience...

[Redskins Rick]

6 minutes ago, weams said:

That's all part of the experience...

I truly dont have any expectations, too many unknowns.

I hope at some point, they at least are worth watching and try hard.

 

[Dipper9]

23 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

I truly dont have any expectations, too many unknowns.

I hope at some point, they at least are worth watching and try hard.

 

Agreed.  At times last year it appeared there was a definite lack of effort.  Lets hope with the young players we don't see any of that this year.  They can be bad and make mistakes, but lack of effort is inexcusable.  

[jerios55]

So in the relative sense it won't be as bad to watch.

When last season started we had added starting pitching that on paper looked like an upgrade to a team that had been decent at scoring runs.  It all quickly went to hell, the team never recovered and neither did I. 

When this season starts I'll have much much lower expectations on the standings and more on the process (yes, you should drink when I say it as well...haha). 

Even if this team lose as many games, I think having an actual plan will make it better overall.  Better can't always be measured with wins and losses.  Although, I have a feeling we'll do a little better in that sense, but I won't be making any bets on that side of things.

[DrungoHazewood]

13 minutes ago, Dipper9 said:

Agreed.  At times last year it appeared there was a definite lack of effort.  Lets hope with the young players we don't see any of that this year.  They can be bad and make mistakes, but lack of effort is inexcusable.  

This isn't the party line, everyone is supposed to hustle 122% of the time.  But I don't know how hard I'd run out of the box if it was 6-0 and we hadn't seen a lead in 10 days and we're 55 games out of first.

But having said that, it's different to go into a season knowing even small victories are unexpected.  You can only be crushed if you have hope.

[Camden_yardbird]

Every team wins 50, loses 50 and it's what you do with the other 62 that matter...

Wait, that's not true?  I think that old adage will again hold true, and the Orioles win 51.

You have to be a special kind of bad to only win 47. I mean the pythagorean W-L was 55 wins.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Dipper9 said:

Agreed.  At times last year it appeared there was a definite lack of effort.  Lets hope with the young players we don't see any of that this year.  They can be bad and make mistakes, but lack of effort is inexcusable.  

I do think there was a lack of effort or focus at times last year.   However, I’ll make two observations:

- Teams often “look” listless when they’re losing, but often they’re trying but just not getting results.   

- It’s harder to stay focused when you are in the midst of a bad losing streak or when the pitching isn’t keeping the team in the game.    It’s much easier to stay focused when the game is close.

[theobird]

I don't think this will be a good team this year, but I do think they will be better than last years team. And I know they will be much more fun to watch, because its gonna be the young guys and not the veterans on the slide.

[weams]

3 hours ago, theobird said:

I don't think this will be a good team this year, but I do think they will be better than last years team. And I know they will be much more fun to watch, because its gonna be the young guys and not the veterans on the slide.

As long as it is not the guys that are among the 5000 best baseball players on the planet.