Thursday Thoughts: How Long Will O’s be Without Machado?

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. It’s been an interesting week in Birdland, with fisticuffs and wins. Tuesday night’s brawl between the Orioles and Royals is just another chapter in what’s become an ugly black-eye for baseball. Some people love these melees, but I tend to think they are foolish. I’d rather see the grown men playing baseball, not throwing punches.

This whole culture of “unwritten rules” has simply got to go. I know saying such a thing ruffles a lot of feathers, but there has to be a line. I could care less that a player stares down a home run (or what he thinks is a home run). When Manny Machado did that the other night, he was the one that looked foolish after the wind blew it back into play for an easy out. There was no reason for Yordano Ventura to bark at him and attempt to make him look even more foolish.

What followed was a combination of Ventura’s complete immaturity and Machado’s desire to protect himself. I don’t blame Machado for charging the mound, but the entire culture needs to change. As many national pundits will tell you, Ventura is mostly to blame for what took place. But that doesn’t totally exonerate Machado.

2. My favorite part of Tuesday night’s brawl was the postgame reaction to it all. Comments from Machado, Adam Jones and Buck Showalter were thoughtful. They were intelligent. Everyone in the Orioles clubhouse seemed to congeal in that moment and bond together.

The Kansas City clubhouse, however, seemed to go the opposite way. Royals manager Ned Yost couldn’t find the words to defend his pitcher’s actions. No one could. When Ventura returned to the dugout, he wasn’t surrounded by teammates looking to calm him down or tell them they had his back. He was alone. Based on what we’ve seen come out from the national media over the last few days, it’s not hard to see why.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXLB5WKqwV4[/youtube]

The best part of it all was Jones, who is still the unquestioned leader on this team. He may not be the best player any more, but he leads the way from a mental and emotional standpoint. He spoke for everyone in the Orioles clubhouse, and as a fan of the team, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

3. The real regret in all of this is that the O’s are about to lose Manny Machado to a suspension. It could come down today, it could come down tomorrow, but it’s coming. Machado is going to get a good week off, at least. Rougned Odor was handed an eight-game ban for punching Jose Bautista a few weeks ago. It was later reduced to seven games on appeal.

I can’t imagine Machado gets less than that, but given the circumstances, perhaps it’s possible. It’s not like Machado isn’t a repeat offender. He’s had his blowups before, and that will likely be taken into consideration by the Commissioner’s office.

Ventura is in the same boat, and anything less than 10 games for him would be foolish. As a pitcher, that would obviously mean he misses two starts. I could see MLB handing down something even stronger for him considering he’s done this before.

In the end, it’s going to sting the Orioles to lose an MVP candidate. Seeing a left side of the infield of Ryan Flaherty and Paul Janish isn’t what anyone wants.

Craig Landefeld/GulfBird Photo

4. It went a bit under the radar this week, but Buck Showalter passed Davey Johnson on the all-time managerial wins list. It was an accomplishment that made me take pause and realize that Showalter has basically already cemented himself as the second-best manager in Orioles history.

Later this season, Showalter will pass Paul Richards for wins in team history. Showalter will likely never pass Earl Weaver. He’d have to manager for a very long time, and that’s just something I don’t see happening. But Earl was around for a ton of years and amassed 1,354 wins for the Birds.

Showalter has done this time and time again with multiple teams. He’s making his mark with this franchise, and when it’s all said and done, he’ll be looked on in a similar light as Weaver.

5. Mark Trumbo’s home run tear this season got me thinking. When’s the last time a team had four straight years of having the league’s home run leader, but accomplished the feat with three different players? If you remember, Chris Davis led the way in 2013 and 2015, while Nelson Cruz led the O’s in 2014. Trumbo has a great chance to do the same this year.

I looked into it and found some incredible stats. The Texas Rangers (2001-2003) and Seattle Mariners (1997-1999) were the teams to most recently have runs of three seasons in this category, but each with the same player – Alex Rodriguez for Texas, Ken Griffey Jr. for Seattle.

Harmon Killebrew did it three straight years from 1962-1964 for the Twins. Larry Doby and Al Rosen teamed up for the Indians to lead from 1952-1954.

But to find something similar to what the O’s are doing right now, you have to go back to the 1920s Yankees teams. Babe Ruth led the league in 1923 and 1924, and then Bob Meusel did so for the Yankees in 1925. Ruth then took over from 1926-1930, before he finished tied with teammate Lou Gehrig in 1931.

In the National League, the Colorado Rockies did something similar. Dante Bichette, Andres Galarraga and Larry Walker each led the league in 1995, 1996 and 1997.

The San Francisco Giants had Orlando Cepeda in 1961, Willie Mays in 1962 and Willie McCovey in 1963 (tied with Hank Aaron).

Again, these are all just some fun stats to enjoy and give some context. The O’s are on quite the home run tear over the last few seasons.

Craig Landefeld/GulfBird Photo

6. News came out earlier this week that Dylan Bundy is not throwing his cutter because it creates arm discomfort. If you’re unfamiliar with Bundy’s history with his cutter, it’s a pitch he relied on as an amateur and part of the reason the Orioles drafted him. But he stopped using it in the minor leagues to help develop his other pitches, an attempt to become a more complete pitcher.

Since his Tommy John surgery, he still hasn’t really unleashed it. That’s a concern in my mind, because if he doesn’t have his full arsenal available, he’s not the best pitcher he can be. What’s even more concerning is that if it’s causing him discomfort, shouldn’t he be placed on the disabled list? He needs to be able to help the club out of the bullpen, and if he can’t do that to the best of his ability, the team needs to find another way.

7. The Orioles are on the verge of getting healthy, it seems. J.J. Hardy, Caleb Joseph and Yovani Gallardo are all slowly but surely making their way back from injuries. Darren O’Day is a bit more of a mystery, but he’ll come along eventually.

When it comes to the previous three, for the first time, there may be easy solutions to get them back on the roster. This isn’t common for the Orioles. Hardy would replace Paul Janish, and Joseph would replace Francisco Pena.

Gallardo would slot back into the rotation, taking the place of…Mike Wright? Ubaldo Jimenez? Maybe it’s not as simple as I thought. It’ll likely be one of those guys, though. It could even come as early as this weekend. I’m anticipating Gallardo’s return to be a strong one. He can’t pitch as poorly as he did to start the season. It was pretty obvious he was dealing with an injury.

Craig Landefeld/GulfBird Photo

The O’s have done a nice job of dealing with their injuries thus far, and now that they appear to be getting healthy, perhaps they can really kick things into gear.

8. I’m not one to look too far ahead, but the next week and a half is very crucial for the Orioles schedule-wise. Four games with the Blue Jays, followed by three with the Red Sox and three more with Toronto are on the horizon.

These are the two teams trailing the Birds in the AL East right now. The Jays have been especially hot of late, having won 10 of 14. After this stretch of games, the O’s have a weird schedule that includes that road makeup game in Texas and a doubleheader with the Rays.

The rest of this month is no time to mess around, especially as the season goes barreling toward the All-Star break.