Are the O's turning a corner?

[NCRaven]

I think that the bullpen improvement is real. Lopez is thriving pitching the 9th.  Bautista, Perez and Tate are shutting teams down in the late innings.  Akins improvement has been a big help as well.  Not to mention Baker who might prove to be a steal.

I don’t expect this group of starters to keep it up though.  Hoping Lyles can pitch well enough to bring back a solid return.  Once guys like Rodriquez, Hall, And Bradish (maybe even Rom) are established in the ML rotation, I can see T. Wells back in the bullpen or traded.

The outfielders, Mountcastle and Rutschman will be the core of the lineup until Gunnar and Mayo arrive, but when they get here, that’s when this team takes off.  I hope, on a personal level, that Mateo can be part of the winning Orioles.  I enjoy his game.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

I think that the bullpen improvement is real. Lopez is thriving pitching the 9th.  Bautista, Perez and Tate are shutting teams down in the late innings.  Akins improvement has been a big help as well.  Not to mention Baker who might prove to be a steal.

I don’t expect this group of starters to keep it up though.  Hoping Lyles can pitch well enough to bring back a solid return.  Once guys like Rodriquez, Hall, And Bradish (maybe even Rom) are established in the ML rotation, I can see T. Wells back in the bullpen or traded.

The outfielders, Mountcastle and Rutschman will be the core of the lineup until Gunnar and Mayo arrive, but when they get here, that’s when this team takes off.  I hope, on a personal level, that Mateo can be part of the winning Orioles.  I enjoy his game.

I think we'll know if the bullpen improvement is real as the appearances and innings mount up later in the season. 

[NCRaven]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I think we'll know if the bullpen improvement is real as the appearances and innings mount up later in the season. 

If the starters start to falter, that could well be true.  But it won’t reflect poorly on the relievers talent which I believe is real.  Of course, I’m a couple of Lopez blown saves away from being back to crying in my soup. So far, so good though.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, NCRaven said:

If the starters start to falter, that could well be true.  But it won’t reflect poorly on the relievers talent which I believe is real.  Of course, I’m a couple of Lopez blown saves away from being back to crying in my soup. So far, so good though.

I think a quality bullpen can still perform at a fairly high level even when stressed.

[OriolesMagic83]

8 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

 

Say we play .500 in the second half with those two... do we take a look at Manaea, Kershaw, or Syndergaard? 

You and I might, but would Elias.  Kershaw would be perfect if he could be persuaded to leave the Dodgers.  The Dodgers are paying him a mere $17 million.  Obviously he could have gotten much more on the open market.  Would he even be tempted by the O's offering say $25 million vs. his Dodger legacy and $17 million?

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

9 hours ago, scbalt52 said:

My predictions on call up dates are:

Adley - May 16th

Grayson - May 31st

Hall - July 4th

Sounds like good guesses, hoping all remain healthy & sharp!

[ArtVanDelay]

1 hour ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

You and I might, but would Elias.  Kershaw would be perfect if he could be persuaded to leave the Dodgers.  The Dodgers are paying him a mere $17 million.  Obviously he could have gotten much more on the open market.  Would he even be tempted by the O's offering say $25 million vs. his Dodger legacy and $17 million?

There’s no chance Kershaw plays anywhere other than LA or Texas. 

[OriolesMagic83]

Red Sox lost and are in last place.  If the O's accomplish nothing this year except finishing ahead of the Red Sox, I'll consider it a successful season.

And successful debuts by Adley and GrayRod.

 

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Red Sox lost and are in last place.  If the O's accomplish nothing this year except finishing ahead of the Red Sox, I'll consider it a successful season.

And successful debuts by Adley and GrayRod.

 

This deserves its own thread.   It’s May, and we’re not in last place in the AL East!  Enjoy it while it lasts!

[crowmst3k!]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

This deserves its own thread.   It’s May, and we’re not in last place in the AL East!  Enjoy it while it lasts!

And a couple games out of the middle-of-the-pack in the American League.  

For all the issues the Orioles have, it's been about as good of a start as I could hope for. 

[waroriole]

Maybe I’m drinking the orange kool aid following 3 straight days of not losing. But we’re pretty close to being a winning team. Adding Adley, Grayson, and Hall, while subtracting Bemboom, Fry, and Allen is a significant improvement. Between Mancini, Mountcastle, and Santander we should be able to trade for a decent IF prospect ready to play now. Bring up Stowers to plug that hole and it seems like a .500 team. 
 

Anyway, I’m sure it’ll all fall apart soon enough, but it’s nice to feel some near term optimism. 

[Morgan423]

19 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I think a quality bullpen can still perform at a fairly high level even when stressed.

I think that there's "stressed bullpen," and then there's "this bullpen has thrown 40% more innings than the MLB average, because 120 times per season, the starters can't make it five innings" Orioles-level of stressed bullpen.  There's definitely difference.

[Orioles0615]

On 5/6/2022 at 11:42 AM, Aristotelian said:

 

Say we play .500 in the second half with those two... do we take a look at Manaea, Kershaw, or Syndergaard? 

I mean we should but we won't. That means that the rest of the pitching staff continued to do well, so Elias will use the excuse as well we have Grayson, DL, Bradish, Zimmerman and Means hopefully coming back by early 2023 so he will get  some scrub in the mean time to fill his space

[Sports Guy]

No.  
 

First of all, I do agree that once all those guys come up, it changes things BUT it doesn’t mean wins follow.  They likely will need some adjustment time.  

Secondly, the current team on the field is still devoid of talent in many areas.  The pitching is great but they are pitching over their heads and since the rest of the league is struggling offensively, I think it’s only a matter of time before that changes and things normalize.  
 

I won’t feel a corner is turned, at least one that is actually measurable, until all those guys are up and playing well. Once that happens, this team could take off.  Maybe that occurs in the second half of this season.  Some of that will be dictated by health, trades and the performance of the guys who are here now.  How the vets support the young talent will be key.

[wildcard]

44 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

No.  
 

First of all, I do agree that once all those guys come up, it changes things BUT it doesn’t mean wins follow.  They likely will need some adjustment time.  

Secondly, the current team on the field is still devoid of talent in many areas.  The pitching is great but they are pitching over their heads and since the rest of the league is struggling offensively, I think it’s only a matter of time before that changes and things normalize.  
 

I won’t feel a corner is turned, at least one that is actually measurable, until all those guys are up and playing well. Once that happens, this team could take off.  Maybe that occurs in the second half of this season.  Some of that will be dictated by health, trades and the performance of the guys who are here now.  How the vets support the young talent will be key.

I don't know.  I don't think we have enough information yet to know if they are turning a corner.   But there are some encouraging signs.

Yes, the hitters may catch up to the pitchers after the first month.   I doubt the O's  pitchers average 3 shut outs a month like they did in April but the pitching is very much improved.  The aggressive approach of throwing strike is shows promise.  

The thing about the pitchers is that there appears to be some depth.   13 for the 14  pitchers seems like they belong in the majors.  And Grayson, Vespi, Uvila, Baumann, Diplan and maybe even Naughton may contribute in the first half.  We will just have to see.

On the hitting side the O's seem to be waking up.  They have a 5 run offense in May most of that against a highly rated Twins pitching staff.  5 games in nothing to draw any conclusion on but I think Mullins, Hays, Santander, Mountcastle and Mancini are going to hit.   And Adley will help when he arrives this month.

Mateo, Urias and Odor are interesting.  They can sure turn a double play.   There have good range.  Urias is just learning 3B but he seems to have the skills to play the position.  They are a high error group.  Each could have 20 errors per season if they play close to every day.   But if they gel they could benefit the team.   Urias hit last year and could again.   Mateo shows some extra base power and every single could be a double with his ability to steal.  Odor seems to be fitting in.  Toooo early to know but  there is potential for these three.

There is plenty of room to be skeptical and I don't think we will know too much before the end of the month when the O's have played the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays.   But so far this in not a last place team and they are only 5.5 back of the wild card. I'll wait to pass judgment on how the O's will do this year.