This is a weekly column that dives into eight random thoughts about the Orioles/MLB. Why eight? It’s a nod to Cal Ripken Jr. of course. That, and doing 2,632 of these would be a little overboard. – A.S.
1. The Orioles are continuing their playoff slip-slide, and everyone seems to be taking it in stride. Right? It’s the start of September and the Orioles are in a race.
They are barely in a race, but they are in a race. I know a lot of people are disappointed that a team that led the AL East for much of the season is now having to fight its tail off just to keep a Wild Card spot, but isn’t this what most expected? The cracks on this team have been exposed over the past six weeks or so. The water was eventually going to start seeping through.
I am just going to enjoy September and yet another team in contention. I came to peace with the fact that they may not make the playoffs already. I didn’t expect it at the start of the season, so I won’t be shocked if they don’t.
2. Yesterday was a weird day in Birdland. There were many moves, none of which really mattered. Dan Duquette has done this before on the final day of August. After finding a left-handed specialist in reliever Kyle Lobstein, they quickly designated him for assignment. That was after acquiring Drew Stubbs about four years after anyone would’ve really wanted him on their roster. They then went out and got Michael Bourn about five years too late.
The moves were strange, but not all that unexpected. If anything, acquiring two outfielders makes me believe Adam Jones may be more injured than we really think. That’s scary.
We kind of knew that Duquette would try to be active. It seems like a last ditch effort to make something stick.
3. Everyone wants to talk about attendance. I don’t, but everyone else does.
It’s a tired subject. People aren’t going to the games. We heard “Let’s Go Blue Jays” chants at Oriole Park this week. That’s sad. But it’s also not the end of the world. Just because people aren’t going to the games, that doesn’t mean there is less interest in the O’s. MASN’s local ratings are off the charts.
It’s not ideal that fans aren’t going to games, but can you blame them? The experience of watching sports at home is better than it’s ever been. You have your own personal bathroom, can pause and rewind and don’t have to pay $8 for a beer. Not to mention you can keep your car parked right at home rather than trying to find parking downtown.
I live in Arizona and have attended two games this year. I went to four last season, plus one on the road. It’s not convenient for everyone, though. I get it. I’m not going to raise a stink about it. The interest is there.
4. Rosters start to swell today with September call-ups. Caleb Joseph will be back as the third catcher, and a number of other players you’ve barely heard of will take up spots in the dugout. I’m also interested to see if Trey Mancini gets placed on the 40-man roster. I’d imagine he does.
The most important thing the Orioles need if they want any hope of making the playoffs is help in the bullpen. The guys at the back end have been worn down by the starting staff this year. They need help. That’s going to be a key thing to watch as this final month of baseball unfolds.
5. Back at the All-Star break, I wrote a piece making predictions for the second half of the season. One of those involved Chris Davis getting hot. I said he’d hit more than ten homers in the month of August. I was wrong; he only hit ten.
But still, Davis has heated up a bit. He, Mark Trumbo and Manny Machado each hit ten homers in August. Everyone was blasting Davis back in July during a really tough stretch, but he turned things around a bit in August. I’m giving myself credit for this one, because I sure didn’t hit on many of the other predictions.
6. Buck Showalter is among the best managers in the game, there’s no question. He has proven this time and time again. But now that I’ve done the building up, it’s time to do some tearing down.
This season, more than any other, it seems Buck has made interesting decisions with his starting pitching. Now granted, part of this is playing the hand he’s dealt. He doesn’t have great cards, so he’s essentially trying to make lemonade out of strawberries. I’m not even talking about the fact that he’s had to start Ubaldo Jimenez, Yovani Gallardo and now Wade Miley. Some of those guys have actually turned in strong performances just this week.
Showalter instead has found himself in certain spots where he leaves these players in too long. It happened just the other night with Jimenez. There are times when Showalter asks too much of his weak starting rotation. He needs to turn things over to the bullpen, especially now that we’ve entered September and there can be more length provided there.
7. It’s been interesting to see how the Orioles are replacing Adam Jones at the top of the order this week. I was pleasantly surprised to see Hyun Soo Kim get the shot last night. It’s the first time Kim has gotten the chance to lead off.
I’m all for Jones getting back to the lineup as soon as possible, but it was weird seeing him at the top of the lineup for so long. I’d like to see Kim get more chances at the top, just to see what he can do.
At this point, anything is better than watching more Nolan Reimold at-bats.
8. As one does at this time of year, I took part in a fantasy football draft a few nights ago. As it does every year with some of my friends in the league, the draft room chat conversation turned to the Orioles. This year’s tone threw me though, when a few wanted to point to Matt Wieters as one of the big reasons the Orioles are slipping away. No one wanted to give a second thought to Wieters getting another contract with the Orioles. They were instead fine with running Caleb Joseph and Francisco Pena out there next season, and waiting for Chance Sisco to be ready for the big leagues.
All of this baffled me. Why not even consider bringing Wieters back? I’ve written about this in the past, but the mindset some folks have towards him is unimaginable. Many see Wieters as a bust because he hasn’t hit .320 with 30 homers a year since he was called up. Instead, he’s been a consistent starter and a crucial piece to the puzzle over the years.
I’ll take that every time, and I’d bring him back if I could next year as well.
All photos: Craig Landefeld/GulfBird Photo
