Maybe you are new to the Eutaw Street Report. Let me explain this article a bit. I remember growing up reading the sports pages of the Baltimore Sun newspaper every single day. I really looked forward to one specific article that happened every month or so that was a “Fact and Opinion” column. I believe it was John Eisenberg who wrote it. (Ed note: Yes, it was John. Check out his most recent stuff at BaltimoreRavens.com). It must have been popular, because I remember the sports editor of The Aegis in Harford County, Randy McRoberts, copying the idea every now and then in his column.
It was a favorite of mine, and when I started writing for Eutaw Street Report and Russell Street Report two years ago, I wanted to do something similar. That’s when “Perception is Reality” was born. The “reality” is basically the fact, while the “perception” is my opinion on the topic of the fact.
For the first “Perception is Reality” of the new baseball season, we’ll start with a general state of the roster. There are a few spots that have a lot of competition and only Buck knows how it will end up in a month. But for now, we can go with educated guesses and strong thoughts.
REALITY: The Baltimore Orioles are defending American League East Champions.
PERCEPTION: The Orioles will make the playoffs for the 3rd straight year either as AL East Champs, or as one of the AL Wild Card teams.
REALITY: Caleb Joseph, JP Arencibia, and Steve Clevenger are fighting to back up Matt Wieters on the 25-man roster.
PERCEPTION: Joseph and Arencibia will both make the 40-man roster with Clevenger starting the season in AAA. It’s likely that Joseph is the Opening Day starting catcher and Arencibia backs him up while Wieters continues to recover from Tommy John surgery. Wieters will start the season on the DL and look to be back with the club to start the month of May.
REALITY: Chris Davis will be on the Suspension List for Opening Day, as he finishes out his 25-game suspension from last season.
PERCEPTION: I would love to see Christian Walker be the Orioles’ Opening Day first baseman, but I believe that he will start the season in AAA. He remains the future of the Orioles at first, but they will not rush him along with Davis and Steve Pearce currently on the team. Pearce will get the start Opening Day at first but will likely see most of his playing time as the DH or in LF/RF.
REALITY: The Orioles have a number of players – Jonathan Schoop, Ryan Flaherty, and quite possibly Everth Cabrera – fighting it out for the starting second baseman & utility jobs.
PERCEPTION: Schoop will be your Opening Day starter at second, and Flaherty will back him up, as well as be ready to come in the game at third. I believe the Orioles won’t rush Manny Machado back, and I could see Manny starting the game, but not finishing the game as they want to be careful with his injuries.
REALITY: Alejandro De Aza, Travis Snider, David Lough, Delmon Young, and Pearce are all fighting it out for basically four jobs… LF, RF, DH, and first off the bench.
PERCEPTION: Buck Showalter will likely want Young to get more at-bats at DH. Buck really likes Lough and Pearce’s work ethic which means he’ll give them every chance to play as much as they can. De Aza and Lough are probably the best fielders of them all. Snider, the former first-round pick, could revitalize his career in Baltimore. Showalter will play the best match-ups against the pitcher they are facing. One of those players will have to be sent to the minors or cut to at least start the season, so spring training will be an important competition.
REALITY: Chris Tillman, Wei Yin Chin, Bud Norris are three of the five starting pitchers.
PERCEPTION: Miguel Gonzalez, Kevin Gausman, Ubaldo Jimenez will be fighting for the last two spots in the rotation. As much as the fans would want Gonzalez and Gausman to take the last two spots in the rotation, it is more likely that Jimenez gets the chance to prove his worth all over again. Gonzalez and Gausman both have a minor league option left, which means one of them will most likely start in AAA.
