This is a weekly wrap up of the goings on in with the Orioles and all throughout Major League Baseball. Each week I’ll dive into a few news items and include what teams are hot and cold. I’ll also give you the Orioles player of the week, as well as one from the American and National League.
I’m here to wrap up the entire week for the Orioles, so don’t expect any overreactions to Sunday’s bad loss in Oakland. You won’t find it here. It was one game of 162 and they happen. It’s not a picture of what’s going to happen long term with this team, so put it in the past like the players and coaches have, and move on.
It’d be an absolute understatement to say this was a big week for the Orioles. It’s the most wins the O’s have grabbed in any one seven-day period (Monday-Sunday) this season and they’ve now won four straight series since dropping a weekend set to the Yankees in New York. Getting a couple of close victories over the Blue Jays early in the week was very important in my mind. Everyone has talked about Toronto as such a threat, and the O’s took 2-of-3 in their first series against the Jays. If nothing else, that will breed confidence. It gives the Birds a 9-6 record against the AL East this year, something that can’t be understated.
Getting a series victory in what has been a house of horrors in Oakland is obviously another big step. I don’t care that the A’s have been struggling against every team not named the Astros. Beating up on a team like that and holding them down offensively for the most part showed a lot to me. I love the way the O’s are trending, especially heading into this week.
I really like that the O’s went out and made a small trade Sunday to get some organizational catching depth. The injury to Taylor Teagarden could prove more costly than some realize, and grabbing a veteran like Chris Snyder was a good move by the team. Matt Wieters is obviously going to take up the bulk of the duties behind the plate, but having a solid guy to spell him is important.
You’ll read a little more about Nate McLouth in a minute, but he deserves a little mention here too. The job this guy is doing atop the order for the Birds has been nothing short of fantastic. When McLouth is in the leadoff spot, things just seem to flow better. Buck Showalter doesn’t seem confident enough to insert him into the order against left-handed starters, which I understand right now, but when there is a righty on the mound watch out. I love the way Buck is handling the order and letting McLouth go after it. He’s also brought an element of speed to the team. Each time McLouth singles or walks, it’s almost automatic now that he’ll be standing on second with a chance to score. A running game is something the O’s really didn’t feature last season, so it’s refreshing to see so far this year.
This week brings the Birds another chance to build momentum. They face an offensively challenged Seattle squad for three. I’m very excited to see what Zach Britton can do in the opener Monday. He’s a guy that could end up sliding right into the rotation spot vacated by Jake Arreita. This is the type of series you expect to win, maybe even sweep. That word, expectation, is one I’ll have another piece about later this week. The four-game set with the Angels could prove to be more challenging for the O’s. The Halos are playing a bit better after a slow start, but a lack of pitching on their part still hampers the squad.
I wanted to take this chance to address a little something that happened on MLB Network earlier this week. I brought it up on Twitter and it got quite a big response from the masses. Harold Reynolds was on “MLB Tonight” late on Thursday and the panel there was discussing possible landing spots via trade for Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton. The first place Reynolds brought up was Baltimore, and his “proposed trade” looked like this:
Baltimore acquires: OF Giancarlo Stanton
Miami acquires: IF Manny Machado and P Dylan Bundy
Excuse me??? What’s that you say, Mr. Reynolds? I’ve always liked Harold Reynolds as an analyst, all the way back to his ESPN days, but I quickly began thinking he was smoking something strong after seeing this. In my mind, there’s no way the O’s trade Manny Machado, even if it is for one of the premier young sluggers in the game. Machado is no longer a prospect; he’s the everyday third baseman for this team now and in the future. The other problem is, where would you put Stanton? Right field and center field are obviously locked up. You could put him in left, but the whole idea just seems far-fetched.
The thing that I saw on Twitter however, was how many people would do the deal if Machado was taken out of it. Bundy for Stanton, straight up? Sure. Where do I sign? Personally I think the Marlins would be crazy to sign off on such a deal themselves, but fans really were ready to abandon ship on Bundy. Part of the reason for that is the fact that he’s yet to pitch this year due to an arm injury. Bundy is scheduled to see Dr. James Andrews today in Florida. That alone should strike fear into anyone.
Another part of the equation here is the emergence of young Kevin Gausman. The donut-eating LSU grad has been doing his thing down at Bowie and is progressing nicely. It’s funny to me that some have started to quickly fall in love with Gausman and push Bundy to the side. Let me assure you, Gausman gives me a lot more comfort with whatever news comes injury-wise on Bundy, but Bundy is still an important piece to the Orioles puzzle long-term.
Nothing very large or pressing happened on a national scale in baseball over the past week, and it’s a good thing too with everyone’s focus turned to the NFL Draft. Personally, I watched the first couple of picks in the first round and then didn’t see any more of it the rest of the weekend. My attention was on baseball.
The Red Sox continue to roll, having won five straight and seven of their last ten. As a matter of fact, the Sox, Yankees, Orioles and Rays are all 7-3 in their last ten games. The Blue Jays continue to create distance between themselves and the pack.
In the National League the Braves have come back to the field a bit. Atlanta’s lost four in a row, and at 15-9 now holds a slim lead on the Nationals in the East. The Rockies have also cooled off out West and have even been caught by the Diamondbacks.
Something that caught my eye about the Athletics, who were obviously in focus for Orioles fans over the weekend. If you don’t pay much attention to the A’s or haven’t over the past year, there’s one guy that makes them tick: Yoenis Cespedes. We saw first-hand what type of damage the Cuban import can do when he took Brian Matusz deep in Sunday’s series finale to tie the game in the ninth, but consider this: Oakland is 9-2 this year with Cespedes in the lineup and just 5-10 without him. Sunday marked his return to the order after a stint on the disabled list with a strained muscle in his hand. Since last season, Cespedes’ first in the big leagues, the A’s have won about 65% of the games he’s played in and 35% of those he’s not been a part of. That said, for Oakland this year, that was just their third win outside of the AL West. The A’s are 11-5 against their own division and six of those 11 wins came against the hapless Astros. Oakland has gone 3-10 against opponents outside the AL West. They also STILL lead the American League in offense while playing in that big ballpark.
Orioles Player of the Week:
OF – Nate McLouth: There’s a good chance Nate McLouth reached base four times during the time you’ve been reading this. That’s all the guy did this week. His .615 on-base percentage trailed only Oakland’s Josh Donaldson (who you’ll see below) in the AL this week. McLouth also ripped his first homer and drove in six, but he led the AL with 10 runs scored in just six games. He also hit .545 and stole four bases.
American League Player of the Week:
3B- Josh Donaldson (OAK): The A’s third baseman was virtually unstoppable this week, hitting .545 with 10 RBI. He ripped seven doubles and also walked seven times, helping him carry an on-base percentage of .633. Orioles fans also saw first-hand how well he can handle the spacious foul territory at The Coliseum as he made a number of fine defensive plays in Oakland.
National League Player of the Week:
OF – Giancarlo Stanton (MIA): After a slow start to the season, the only saving grace for the Marlins started to heat up this past week. Stanton crushed his first three homers of the season and drove in eight on his way to a .364 average. He had a top-five OPS in the NL this week and remains the only thing fans in Miami have to look forward to each game.
That’s this week’s Birds Eye View. Go O’s!
