“Looking at the future through orange shades”

Buck Showalter has spoiled Orioles fans.

Since taking the helm of an abysmal 32-73 team in August 2010, Showalter has won 401 games as manager of the Orioles. In that 2010 season, he doubled the team’s win total in the final two months, going 34-23 over that span. 2011 was a rebuilding year that ended with a magical “Game 162” in which the Orioles came from behind in the ninth inning to knock the Red Sox out of playoff contention. Over the next three seasons, Showalter compiled a record of 274-212 (.564 winning percentage) including two playoff berths and a division championship – not bad for an organization that suffered through 15 consecutive losing seasons.

The bottom line: Buck made Baltimore baseball fun again.

Now, as the Orioles sit near the bottom of the AL East with a 23-29 record, fans are beginning to have flashbacks to the years of Sam Perlozzo and Dave Trembley. Twitter and Facebook are filled with complaints and expletives directed toward the players, coaches, front office personnel, even beat writers and reporters. It’s an ugly scene in Birdland.

We have been bitten by the injury bug, especially in the middle of the infield. Ryan Flaherty has missed more than half the season due to a groin injury. J.J. Hardy, who spent the first month of the season on the disabled list, is sidelined again thanks to nagging oblique soreness and back problems (though he entered Thursday’s game in the ninth inning as a defensive replacement). Jonathan Schoop (who I think is even more valuable to this team than Hardy – read why here – sprained his knee at Fenway Park in mid-April and has not played since. Who knows when he will return?

Thanks to these injuries, we have seen lots of Everth Cabrera, who is just about as popular as Cesar Izturis was…minus the t-shirt, of course. We have used six different second basemen this season – Schoop, Flaherty, Cabrera, Rey Navarro, Steve Pearce, and Jimmy Paredes.

Corner outfield has been a huge weakness, as we have already seen Alejandro De Aza designated for assignment. Neither Steve Pearce nor David Lough are hitting well, leaving many to wonder why Nolan Reimold has not yet gotten the call-up from AAA Norfolk. Travis Snider has been OK but not great in the absence of Nick Markakis. The only real bright spot has been Delmon Young, who has done just about what we expected with the bat and has surprised everyone by playing a decent right field. Young leads the major leagues with eight outfield assists, so we’ll excuse his occasional airmails to nowhere like we saw on Thursday.

I think it’s time for me to stop telling you things that you already know. The point of this article is not to complain about the current state of the team nor is it to offer suggestions as to what the Orioles should do to improve. Rather, I would like to highlight the two different ways that the remainder of the season could go.

If you follow my articles here on ESR, then you know that I like to find silver linings in times of turmoil. I do not do this to be a homer; I do it as an attempt to lower the blood pressure of panicking fans. I try to stay positive and thankful that we are no longer in our terrible decade-and-a-half-long losing drought.

Contrary to popular belief, the way the Orioles season has gone thus far does not mean the sky is falling.

The next couple months could go one of two ways. Either we continue falling out of contention and become sellers or we show signs of improvement and become buyers.

If we do find ourselves in contention come July, the “buyer” option would throw in a third, ugly possibility – the Orioles begin turning things around, stay in close contention at the trade deadline, make a couple deals in an effort to make a playoff push, and end up tanking over the last few months. Nobody likes a tease that ends without a big finish.

Hopefully, buying at the deadline would push us in the right direction and give us a shot at winning a very tight AL East division.

Selling at the deadline, however, might be an even better option for this club moving forward. Let me tell you why.

The O’s have nine guys in the final year of their contract: Wei-Yin Chen, Bud Norris, Tommy Hunter, Darren O’Day, Wesley Wright, Chris Davis, Steve Pearce, Matt Wieters, and Delmon Young. Realistically, the Orioles will not re-sign more than four or five of these players in the offseason. All nine of these players could be appealing to clubs looking to rent some help for a playoff push. This would put the Orioles in a very good position because we would be able to acquire prospects without getting rid of our own.

When I look at our minor league system, I am encouraged by the depth we have, especially with our young pitching. We have already seen encouraging big league samples this year from Mike Wright, Tyler Wilson, and Oliver Drake.

The possibility of selling at the deadline has really grown on me, especially as I watch the Orioles struggle on the field. With so many pending free agents who could be used as trade pieces, I see a window of opportunity to unload some big names (i.e. Davis, Wieters, O’Day) who we likely will not end up re-signing anyway in exchange for prospects who may help us down the road.

Even if the Orioles do not contend this season, we can put ourselves in a position to do so in 2016. Our rotation could feature high-profile young names like Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy, Mike Wright, and Tyler Wilson, in addition to Ubaldo Jimenez, Miguel Gonzalez, and Chris Tillman. We have some good young arms in Norfolk (i.e. Oliver Drake, Cesar Cabral, Zach Davies, Steve Johnson, Eddie Gamboa) who appear ready to take the next step and could play a key role in the bullpen in the next year or two. Nolan Reimold, Henry Urrutia, Dariel Alvarez, Christian Walker, and Chris Parmelee have all seen success with AAA this season and could also be ready to produce at the MLB level.

My point is this: it’s not the end of the world if the Orioles fail to contend this season. Credit Dan Duquette for adding a lot of depth to the farm system. We have the pieces in place to compete for years to come, and selling at the 2015 trade deadline would give us even more young talent.

Back off the ledge and be realistic. Think about the big picture. Rooting for an organization sometimes requires a little bit of sacrifice and patience. Sometimes it means watching your team lose more than they win.

The season is still young. We have over 100 games left to play. Whether we contend in 2015 or not, let’s be thankful that the Baltimore Orioles have become an organization to which other teams and fans pay attention.