What concerns you most about this team?

[DocJJ]

1. With the exception of Henderson and Rutschman, the entire team can't hit.

2. Ailing starters: Means, Rodriguez, Wells, Kremer....

3. The volatile (and largely ineffective) bullpen.

 

I think all 3 are reasons for concern.  For me, the bullpen seems like the weakest link.  I am starting to worry a bit about how many starting pitchers have had ailments- I'd put that 2nd.  The hitting totally stinks the past few weeks- but hitting can be very streaky sometimes...  It may turn around at least for some of them....

[dystopia]

Westburg can hit, but he’s slumping recently. Other than that, no disagreement. 

[OriolesMagic83]

1.  Too much dependence on HR.  Very poor plate discipline.  29th in walks.  Most of HR are solo HR.  

2.  Bullpen is nit reliable.  Need another back end arm bad.  Hyde needs to learn when to let a pitcher go another inning.  A low leverage guy who is dominating should throw that extra inning if he didn't throw the night before.  As Palmer I think says if you keep going to different bullpen guys you'll eventually find the gut who doesn't have it that day.

[wildcard]

They are on 102 win pace.   I am not really concerned.

[btdart20]

The fans.

[Moose Milligan]

The bullpen and the lack of consistency on offense. 

[24fps]

The bullpen inspires almost zero confidence.

The approach to integrating the abundance of positional talent in the minors seems incoherent.  No doubt that's partially responsible for people thinking that Hyde and Elias are too reliant on vets.

[thegardner]

Not defense.  If we loose another starter, especially Bradish with his recently sprained UCL.

[Frobby]

My biggest concern is the fickle and overly negative fan base.

Nobody other than Gunnar and Adley can hit?  We have 8 players on our team with an OPS+ over 100.  Six at 125 or higher.  Yes we have some guys slumping but this team can hit just fine.  

Ailing starters?  Yeah that worries me, but luckily we have pretty good depth. 

Volatile bullpen?  They have the 8th best ERA in MLB.

If pressed, I’d say my biggest concern is that the back of our bullpen isn’t dominant.   The guys who cover the 6th and 7th innings are better than most of their counterparts on other teams but the guys who cover the 8th and 9th aren’t automatic shutdown guys like some teams have.  

 

[gretzkyscores]

no reliable closer

[dystopia]

The offense concerns me the most. Lot of guys underperforming. 

[DirtyBird]

Overused pen. Not many guys with options to take advantage of.

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

Right now, sustainability of offensive approach and being 29th in OBP concerns me. The teams of 2012-2016 approach was not conducive to playoff baseball IMO, and I would feel similarly with our current numbers. 

I loved our offensive approach last year, although I think we were below average in HRs and heavily reliant on RISP. 

So the HR improvement this year is great, but I think if we can find a balance between the more solid ABs last year and the increased power this year, I would feel better. 

And maybe we’ll see improvement from Mullins, Santander, Hays, Urias OR their replacements. 

Bullpen I’m not as worried because I think we will swing a trade for a big time arm. If we don’t, I think it will be GM malpractice. 

Edited May 25 by Grt 2BA FL Gator

[Three Run Homer]

Short term, back-end relief. Tyler Wells might help but they need to trade for a bonafide closer.

Long term, how to work in top prospects and their inevitable learning curve into a team that has championship aspirations.

 

[LGOrioles]

I think the backend of the BP is obvious. Something that might be a little nitpicky is the bench. Last year, the O’s worst bench piece at the end of the year was McCann at 0.3 WAR. This year, all 4 position players not playing are replacement level or below, with McCann, Hays, and Urias combining for -1.3 WAR. Seems like there’s a bigger difference this year between our “A” lineup and “B” lineup just because not everyone is contributing. SSS, but the depth performed better last year than they have so far this year.