After another brutal week for the Orioles, their playoff hopes have become more of a pipe dream than anything resembling a potential reality. The starting pitchers continue to struggle and the offense is lucky to finish a game with more than three runs. Another struggling team, the Tampa Bay Rays, comes to town tonight for the start of a three-game series and the O’s are hoping a return to Oriole Park is what they need to turn the season with only a little over 30 games left to play.

JONES DEMONSTRATING LEADERSHIP

Adam Jones has been the model of consistency on and off the field over the years, but his leadership has grown tremendously over the last couple of seasons. While one leader of a Baltimore sports team is popping off at a reporter asking legitimate questions at halftime of PRESEASON game, another leader is waiting for reporters by his locker to talk about the biggest slump for a franchise in the last few seasons.

During a difficult time for the #Orioles, Adam Jones has stood up while others have been silent. He should be applauded for that.

— Rich Dubroff (@RichDubroffCSN) August 30, 2015

This organization has seen plenty of changes since the sweep in the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals and there will be a lot more over the next few months involving big names, but knowing Jones is here should provide at least some sense of calm to the fan base.

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

We all have that one person that we look back and say, “that is the one that got away.”

Well, for the Orioles that person is Jake Arrieta. The fan base has harped on the departures of Nelson Cruz, Nick Markakis and Andrew Miller, but the move that stings the most, for me, is Arrieta. Despite the seasons that trio has had, we can’t really rate the moves until the latter parts of their contracts when age will finally catch up to guys like Cruz and Markakis. As for Arrieta, he has always had a big arm and is just now starting to enter the prime of his career. When you consider that the Orioles received Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger in the deal and that their current pitching depth is extremely thin, it stings a lot more.

I don’t even know if the light bulb would have ever turned on with Arrieta in Baltimore, but seeing it happen elsewhere knowing the talent was always there, is tough to swallow.

DUQUETE’S FUTURE WITH ORIOLES

The irony! Last winter, fans looked at it as a huge loss if Dan Duquette had gone to Toronto to become the team president. It then turned into “Duquette was distracted and wasn’t doing his job while hoping to go to Toronto!” and the fan base couldn’t wait until he left this year for that job.

Well, it appears the organization and the fans are stuck with Duquette as the Blue Jays hired Mark Shapiro to take over the role they once envisioned for Duquette. While I think Duqette made plenty of miscalculations this past offseason, the results we’re seeing now don’t stem from having a GM who wasn’t focused on doing his job.

Regardless, this is another huge winter for the organization and one potential storyline (DD flying north) has finally come to an end.