The 2019 Orioles Are One Of The Most Anonymous Teams In MLB History

[Moose Milligan]

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-2019-orioles-are-one-of-the-most-anonymous-teams-in-mlb-history/?addata=espn:frontpage

A decent article.

Quote

Amazingly, things might get even worse this year. Since the middle of last season, Baltimore has traded away established veterans Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop, Zach Britton, Kevin Gausman, Darren O’Day and Brad Brach, and watched as others such as Tim Beckham, Caleb Joseph and Adam Jones departed in free agency as well. Now there are only three remaining members of the Orioles’ lineup with even two years of MLB service time heading into 2019: Jonathan Villar, Trey Mancini — both average players at best — and Chris Davis, who had arguably the worst individual season in MLB history in 2018 when he hit .168 (in 470 at-bats!) with a .539 on-base plus slugging and -2.9 wins above replacement (WAR).¹Davis’ untradeable contract means the Orioles are stuck with him, so they’ll pencil his name in on opening day no matter how bad he was last season.

And those are the guys in the starting lineup who can be remotely labeled as household names. The rest is filled out with either youngish players who are past “prospect” status or journeymen plucked off the scrap heap. Taken as a whole, the 2019 Orioles’ roster basically recalls this scene from “Major League”:

The article projects an OD lineup that could be accurate, it's not far-fetched.  The thing that gives me pause is when Hays, Diaz, etc get called up, we should be better.  

I don't know if this is another 115 loss team but after reading this article it could be.  It makes some valid points.  

[Can_of_corn]

16 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-2019-orioles-are-one-of-the-most-anonymous-teams-in-mlb-history/?addata=espn:frontpage

A decent article.

The article projects an OD lineup that could be accurate, it's not far-fetched.  The thing that gives me pause is when Hays, Diaz, etc get called up, we should be better.  

I don't know if this is another 115 loss team but after reading this article it could be.  It makes some valid points.  

They missed Trumbo.

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

They missed Trumbo.

I don't.

 

[Ripken]

35 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I don't.

[Satyr3206]

It's been a while since I needed a program to identify players. I do this year.

[MikeAD]

Caught an inning of the Yankees-Orioles game tonight didn't know a soul.  We really do have a AAA team feel, outside of the top 3 pitchers.  The Major League comparison is apt.  I just hope they develop, have fun, and we keep making moves.   

[esmd]

I think they could be better than expected, but we'll see.  I don't mean anything crazy like the Why Not 1989 team, but I could see them approaching 70 wins.  Depends on young players like Mullins, Hays, etc.

[now]

I'm so done with the "household names" fixation.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

8 minutes ago, esmd said:

I think they could be better than expected, but we'll see.  I don't mean anything crazy like the Why Not 1989 team, but I could see them approaching 70 wins.  Depends on young players like Mullins, Hays, etc.

2019 Orioles: “Meh, not as terrible as I expected.”

Not sure if that will be worthy of a blu-ray.

[Ripken]

I think the offense could be okay... but that pitching staff is going to be brutal unless Bundy gets a bionic arm or something.

[DrungoHazewood]

10 hours ago, now said:

I'm so done with the "household names" fixation.

This team is going to deny us special moments like this:

Dude wakes up in the middle of 7th inning in 2007.  Shakes his head, takes a swig of lukewarm Natty Boh.  "Hey, Fred. Maybe I'm seein' things, but ain't that the guy from Moneyball who couldn't make his high school team, started throwin' underhand?"

Fred: "Chad Bradford.  Yup."

[Bubble Buddy]

10 hours ago, esmd said:

I think they could be better than expected, but we'll see.  I don't mean anything crazy like the Why Not 1989 team, but I could see them approaching 70 wins.  Depends on young players like Mullins, Hays, etc.

I think if we get to 70 wins we're gonna need at least 2 of 3 Cashner/Cobb/Bundy to be above average. Maybe have a decent bullpen. And an average offense. I think our offense is going to stink. 

[DrungoHazewood]

12 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-2019-orioles-are-one-of-the-most-anonymous-teams-in-mlb-history/?addata=espn:frontpage

A decent article.

The article projects an OD lineup that could be accurate, it's not far-fetched.  The thing that gives me pause is when Hays, Diaz, etc get called up, we should be better.  

I don't know if this is another 115 loss team but after reading this article it could be.  It makes some valid points.  

"One of the Most Anonymous Teams in MLB History"

- Sure.  The 2010 Yankees were also one of the most anonymous teams in MLB history, ranking 3,689th.

- It's hard for a modern team in the internet/information age to be anywhere near as anonymous as a team from 75 or 100 or 125 years ago.  I guarantee you that the average baseball fan today knows more about the 2019 Baltimore Orioles than an average fan knew about the 1888 Indianapolis Hoosiers.  How familiar do you think the 1914 Pittsburgh Federal League team was, as a 2nd-to-last place team in an expansion league, with a 5th starter named Mysterious Walker?  If you lived in Detroit or St. Louis in '41 could you tell me the bios of many of the Phillies, who went 43-111 and drew 231k in attendance?

- If you went to a baseball game anytime before the 1920s the players didn't wear numbers on their uniforms, and there was no amplified public address system, and many parks had a scoreboard that just showed the line score.  Talk about anonymous... even if you bought a scorecard when you went to see the Pittsburgh Feds it would be difficult to tell who was one the field from the outfield bleachers.  Don't get up to use the bathroom or you might never figure out if that's Rebel Oakes or Jimmie Savage in RF.

- They compare the 2019 Orioles to the 1980 A's and the 1982 Blue Jays for lowest established production levels.  The 1980 A's went 83-79.  The '82 Blue Jays went  78-84.

[Frobby]

11 minutes ago, Bubble Buddy said:

I think if we get to 70 wins we're gonna need at least 2 of 3 Cashner/Cobb/Bundy to be above average. Maybe have a decent bullpen. And an average offense. I think our offense is going to stink. 

The offense has been way more impressive than the pitching this spring.  They are 4th in runs scored, 5th in OPS, but 26th in ERA.    Sure, spring training stats mean little, but at least there’s reason for some optimism for the offense.    The pitching looks abysmal.   

[atomic]

24 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

"One of the Most Anonymous Teams in MLB History"

- Sure.  The 2010 Yankees were also one of the most anonymous teams in MLB history, ranking 3,689th.

- It's hard for a modern team in the internet/information age to be anywhere near as anonymous as a team from 75 or 100 or 125 years ago.  I guarantee you that the average baseball fan today knows more about the 2019 Baltimore Orioles than an average fan knew about the 1888 Indianapolis Hoosiers.  How familiar do you think the 1914 Pittsburgh Federal League team was, as a 2nd-to-last place team in an expansion league, with a 5th starter named Mysterious Walker?  If you lived in Detroit or St. Louis in '41 could you tell me the bios of many of the Phillies, who went 43-111 and drew 231k in attendance?

 - If you went to a baseball game anytime before the 1920s the players didn't wear numbers on their uniforms, and there was no amplified public address system, and many parks had a scoreboard that just showed the line score.  Talk about anonymous... even if you bought a scorecard when you went to see the Pittsburgh Feds it would be difficult to tell who was one the field from the outfield bleachers.  Don't get up to use the bathroom or you might never figure out if that's Rebel Oakes or Jimmie Savage in RF.

 - They compare the 2019 Orioles to the 1980 A's and the 1982 Blue Jays for lowest established production levels.  The 1980 A's went 83-79.  The '82 Blue Jays went  78-84.

People knew about players in the past because they read newspapers.  Sports sections used to be a lot thicker with multiple newspapers per city.  It wasn't the dark age you thought it was.  People who know more players these days probably play fantasy baseball.