My overall feelings about this team (May 2 edition)

[Frobby]

OK, we’re 3+ weeks in now.  The ridiculously bad hitting seems to have normalized a bit (47 runs in the last 10 gsmes), and the pitching has come down to earth some.   Over the team’s .364 winning percentage projects to 59-103, and that’s after winning two in a row.   

Overall, so far I’m finding this season much more enjoyable than last year.   We’re not winning a ton, but very few games have gotten out of hand.  We’ve had a lot of well-pitched games.   The offense has been frustrating at times but seems on the uptick.  Bradish had a nice debut.  There’s still the prospect of Rutschman, Rodriguez and others on the near term horizon.  

The biggest frustration, and it was foreseeable, is the awful offense at 2B/3B/SS.   Just one black hole after another there.   Everyone knew that was a glaring weakness when last season ended, and the best Elias would do for us was bring in Odor and Owings.   This team could be significantly better if he’d upgraded one of those spots in a significant way.   (I want to note here that Urias still may prove to be a respectable hitter.)

In any event though, I can still see scenarios where this team improves as the year progresses.  I’m still interested in what’s going on each night.   And usually I can finish dinner at 7:45-8:00, turn on the game and find that it’s still competitive, unlike so many games last year.  So, I’ll keep a positive mindset.  

 

[Owen21]

At home, the "pound the zone with larger left field" has produced nice results with the pitching so far. 

[Spy Fox]

For me the biggest difference so far is that when we have a lead in the middle innings, I have faith we’ll probably hold it. 

The sample size is small there so it might fall apart. But it’s a good feeling that we haven’t had in a few years. If the less disastrous rotation is making things watchable, the actually kinda good bullpen can make things winnable. 

In the summer months though, I hope the positive bullpen will be outshone by positive debuts from our new “cavalry.”

[wildcard]

Fun to watch in the majors and minors.   

Pitching:  Holt takes a 29 year old retread and teaches him a change up and a slider.  Now he looks good in the rotation. His new name: Unexpected Watkins.  Zimmermann is pitching better than last year.  Tyler Wells switch to the rotation is doing well. Last time out 5 innings.  Lyles better than expected.  Nice debut for  Bradish.   Keep it going guys.

Pen has 6 guys doing well. Lopez, Tate, Krehbiel, Bautista, Perez and Akin.  This attacking with strikes could really work.

This wait for the pitch you can hit hard philosophy is in question.   I am not talking about the bottom 3 in the lineup I mean the top 6.   I expect better. Much better.  Maybe Adley helps in a couple of weeks.

Love Mateo's range and arm.  Fun to watch.  I'll take the occasion  error.    Steals  are like doubles.

.333 for the first month.  I am looking for .400 in May.   Let's keep building.

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

Nice write up & def more watchable than last year thank goodness!
 

Isn’t pitching in general regressing in general? Short ST, pitchers had a huge leg up on the season. Plus the balls…topic for it’s own thread.

[interloper]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

Fun to watch in the majors and minors.   

Pitching:  Holt takes a 29 year old retread and teaches him a change up and a slider.  Now he looks good in the rotation. His new name: Unexpected Watkins.  Zimmermann is pitching better than last year.  Tyler Wells switch to the rotation is doing well. Last time out 5 innings.  Lyles better than expected.  Nice debut for  Bradish.   Keep it going guys.

Pen has 6 guys doing well. Lopez, Tate, Krehbiel, Bautista, Perez and Akin.  This attacking with strikes could really work.

This wait for the pitch you can hit hard philosophy is in question.   I am not talking about the bottom 3 in the lineup I mean the top 6.   I expect better. Much better.  Maybe Adley helps in a couple of weeks.

Love Mateo's range and arm.  Fun to watch.  I'll take the occasion  error.    Steals  are like doubles.

.333 for the first month.  I am looking for .400 in May.   Let's keep building.

This seems to be the year that Holt is getting some forward movement from a lot of guys. Good amount of development success pitching wise this season.

Maybe the two hitting coaches will take a year or so to sink in for guys as well.

[emmett16]

I was thinking about starting a thread called “the orioles are watchable” but this pretty much covers that.  It’s an enjoyable brand of  baseball.  You’d like to think it’s organizational wide adjustments and it actually is looking like that.  

[OriolesMagic83]

4 hours ago, wildcard said:

Fun to watch in the majors and minors.   

Pitching:  Holt takes a 29 year old retread and teaches him a change up and a slider.  Now he looks good in the rotation. His new name: Unexpected Watkins.  Zimmermann is pitching better than last year.  Tyler Wells switch to the rotation is doing well. Last time out 5 innings.  Lyles better than expected.  Nice debut for  Bradish.   Keep it going guys.

Pen has 6 guys doing well. Lopez, Tate, Krehbiel, Bautista, Perez and Akin.  This attacking with strikes could really work.

This wait for the pitch you can hit hard philosophy is in question.   I am not talking about the bottom 3 in the lineup I mean the top 6.   I expect better. Much better.  Maybe Adley helps in a couple of weeks.

Love Mateo's range and arm.  Fun to watch.  I'll take the occasion  error.    Steals  are like doubles.

.333 for the first month.  I am looking for .400 in May.   Let's keep building.

That's what a lot of the elite hitters do.  Of course they usually have an elite ability to foul off pitches w/o striking out.  I'm not sure how well it works for an average or below MLB hitter.

[Aristotelian]

Regarding close games, our differential last year was -297, or -1.83 per game. This year we are -23 through 23 games, or -1.00 per game. So we have been almost half as bad as we were last year.

The pitching has been terrific. May not be sustainable but I am hopeful we at least get a couple of keepers out of this group. That is a huge win that was not anticipated after the string of failures last year. 

Urias has been the biggest disappointment to me. I thought he had enough of a sample size and such a good approach that he would hit. Of course, the offense overall is really struggling. Santander is perhaps the only bright spot. 

Still, with Grayson, Adley, Hall, and one or two of Westburg/Gunnar/Mayo you could see this actually turning into a .500 team without too much help. It does feel like we are turning a corner. 

[wildcard]

4 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

Regarding close games, our differential last year was -297, or -1.83 per game. This year we are -23 through 23 games, or -1.00 per game. So we have been almost half as bad as we were last year.

The pitching has been terrific. May not be sustainable but I am hopeful we at least get a couple of keepers out of this group. That is a huge win that was not anticipated after the string of failures last year. 

Urias has been the biggest disappointment to me. I thought he had enough of a sample size and such a good approach that he would hit. Of course, the offense overall is really struggling. Santander is perhaps the only bright spot. 

Still, with Grayson, Adley, Hall, and one or two of Westburg/Gunnar/Mayo you could see this actually turning into a .500 team without too much help. It does feel like we are turning a corner. 

Stowers?

[Moose Milligan]

I agree with everything Froberto Clemente wrote in the OP.  

They are immensely more watchable.  The pitching is surprising.  I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, but for the time being I'll take it.

 

[InsideCoroner]

So far they’re doing what I had mentioned I wanted to see in another thread, which is to lose games less badly. They’re in most games to the end. 

I’m cautiously optimistic about the pitching, which is doing surprisingly well overall even without the benefit of Means, GRod or Hall.   

[waroriole]

I’ll say they’re slightly more watchable. The offense is just so bad, it’s maddening. But, with runs rapidly declining, you still think you’re in the game. 

[Jagwar]

2 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I agree with everything Froberto Clemente wrote in the OP.  

They are immensely more watchable.  The pitching is surprising.  I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, but for the time being I'll take it.

 

I give full credit to the LF wall. 

[Sports Guy]

Still a team with too many guys that shouldn’t be  MLers.

Or you are playing guys too much for their skill sets or playing them out of position or whatever.