Things we didn’t know going in to 2022

[Frobby]

It seems to me we didn’t know the following things going into 2022:

-Jorge Mateo would br an excellent defensive SS

- Ramon Urias would be an excellent defensive 3B

- Tyler Wells would successfully convert back into a starting pitcher 

- Jorge López would successfully convert into a back end reliever 

- Dean Kremer would bounce back from a horrible 2021 to be an effective starter starter

- Austin Hays and Anthony Santander would stay off the IL for an entire half-season

- Felix Bautista, Cionel Perez and Joey Krebel would all be successful back-end relievers

- Keegan Akin would be dominant in two/inning stints

- Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg would be in Norfolk by late June and be thriving there, with Henderson vaulting into the top 10 prospects on many national lists.

Those are all pretty pleasant surprises.   Really, the only big negative surprises have been Means’ TJ surgery and Grayson Rodriguez’s lat injury.   But are pitching injuries ever really a surprise?

Here’s hoping for more pleasant surprises in the second half.  

[Roll Tide]

The Team Era would improve nearly 2 runs per game from 5.84 to 3.94

[wildcard]

Two prospectives that have changed since Opening Day.

Hyde has went from a manager that was expected to be let go when the O's became a contender to now a manager that most want to see given a chance to manage the O's as a winner.

Moose nicknamed Chris Holt as a pitching coach wizard as a joke.  It doesn't look like a joke any more.

[Sports Guy]

W/R/T the last 2 posts…the lower run environment has been huge and the new walls effect on the pitching staff has been a positive. 
 

If we had known runs would be down as much as they are, we would have adjusted our expectations.  That said, we still never would have thought they would be this good.  

[InsideCoroner]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

W/R/T the last 2 posts…the lower run environment has been huge and the new walls effect on the pitching staff has been a positive. 
 

If we had known runs would be down as much as they are, we would have adjusted our expectations.  That said, we still never would have thought they would be this good.  

The overall offensive drop across MLB is down 0.22 runs per game from last year. But if someone told me in April that our pitching staff would cut their runs allowed per game by this much (5.90 to 4.27) and without Means or G-Rod… I never would have believed it.

[Flash- bd]

1 hour ago, InsideCoroner said:

The overall offensive drop across MLB is down 0.22 runs per game from last year. But if someone told me in April that our pitching staff would cut their runs allowed per game by this much (5.90 to 4.27) and without Means or G-Rod… I never would have believed it.

 

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

W/R/T the last 2 posts…the lower run environment has been huge and the new walls effect on the pitching staff has been a positive. 
 

If we had known runs would be down as much as they are, we would have adjusted our expectations.  That said, we still never would have thought they would be this good.  

Perhaps a better indicator would be to see how much our ERA+ has dropped. 

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, Roll Tide said:

The Team Era would improve nearly 2 runs per game from 5.84 to 3.94

Seven of the nine items above relate exclusively to pitching and defense, and another (health of Hays and Santander) is partially related.

[Frobby]

43 minutes ago, Flash- bd said:

 

Perhaps a better indicator would be to see how much our ERA+ has dropped. 

77 last year, 103 this year.  

[TommyPickles]

Before this season started, I thought Akin and Kremer were toast.

[LA2]

3 hours ago, InsideCoroner said:

The overall offensive drop across MLB is down 0.22 runs per game from last year. But if someone told me in April that our pitching staff would cut their runs allowed per game by this much (5.90 to 4.27) and without Means or G-Rod… I never would have believed it.

Yes, this is the stunner to me. I'm very interested in seeing what the rotation is come the first week of August. The bullpen I'm not worried about.

[Aristotelian]

-Is there something fundamentally wrong with the Orioles that causes them to break pitchers at the MLB level? No, it took a while, but Kremer and Akin are having success.

-Is Elias capable of assessing MLB level talent? Yes, Krehbiel, Perez, Wells, Lopez, and Lyles have all been acquired from free agency or other teams and provided surplus value. 

-Are the Orioles tanking for the No 1 pick? No, they not sacrificing long term asset development but they are still trying to win every game with the talent they have. 

-Is the Orioles model "bad for baseball"? No, they are one of the most fun teams to watch in MLB. 

To me these are the biggest questions that have been answered. Big question that has not been answered:

-When will Elias get the green light to increase payroll? 

-When will Elias shift from prioritizing development to prioritizing wins? 

[Aristotelian]

^Meant to add Urias and Mateo to #2. 

[LookinUp]

The craziest question for the second half, IMO, is whether Mateo has actually turned into a .700+ OPS hitter. If so, what a find. 

[LA2]

3 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

^Meant to add Urias and Mateo to #2. 

I agree. Conversely, Elias has also been pretty smart about who to let go, such as Hanser Alberto, Freddie Galvis, Renato Nunez, Pat Valaika, and a bunch of relievers (people like to posit Tanner Scott as a miss, but he still walks way too many batters). I only wish we had held on to Jose Iglesias, but then we wouldn't have been treated to the thrills of Mateo.

On the negative side, Maikel Franco was a big season-long failure as a replacement for Nunez's power bat and Kelvin Gutierrez didn't hit enough to justify carrying his glove. Richie Martin (Rule 5) and Rio Ruiz (waiver wire pick-up) didn't work out and neither did Jahmal Jones (traded for Alex Cobb). Fortunately, none of these cost us much at all financially. More importantly, they're all infield problems and those we seem to be on the verge of solving.

[AlbNYfan]

I lasted one week of the '21 season watching Maikel Franco, a guy that appeared to be just looking for another payday. His defense was atrocious....almost laughably. Replays showed a guy that frequently didn't move a step before it was by him.