With the recent moves the Orioles have made, there seems to be one common denominator (other than the obvious one, good ballplayers). Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter clearly have in mind to go after players who succeed down the stretch and into October. After every transaction, Duquette always finds a way to use the word “playoffs” when mentioning why the organization went after that particular player.
On the signing of Delmon Young: “The thing he does well is he can hit when you need a hit in the playoffs.”
On the signing of Ubaldo Jimenez: “Last year, in the second half of the season, he was one of the top pitchers in the American League. He led Cleveland to the playoffs.”
On the signing of Nelson Cruz: “He’s also been a clutch performer in the playoffs, where he’s hit over 14 home runs in 34 games and distinguished himself in 2011 as the MVP of the ALCS.”
Finally today, on the signing of Johan Santana: “He’s pitched very, very well in the playoffs and that speaks to his high skill level.”
When the O’s made the playoffs in 2012, it was tough to watch the offense for those five games.
Then down the stretch last season it seemed the team was pressing knowing they had to win most of the games they were playing. The offense again came up short, and we all remember the struggles they had with runners in scoring position.
I think all of this is related.
I don’t know if “clutch” is taught or if a player just naturally has it. We can probably debate that for days, but this team desperately needed players who have not only been through it, but have succeeded. Young may not even make the 25-man roster (though I believe he will) and Santana may never regain his velocity, but the forward thinking the organization has with player moves is a breath of fresh air.
A lot of times, one guy’s calmness or ability to be clutch in pressure situations has a tendency to rub off on the rest of the team. It remains to be seen how this will play out, but Duquette clearly has set the bar for the team that simply making it to the playoffs is not good enough anymore.
One Response
It’s kind of funny how Duquette all offseason was only talking about being a competitive team and now he keeps saying “playoffs” like a light switch turned on. I know I tweeted him at the beginning of the offseason about when he said Orioles fans were happy with just a competitive team, as that certainly isn’t the case for me as I wanted this team to be a World Series contender. His response was that “it’s a process and we are on the way.” Well it looks like they are finally taking their window of being a World Series contender seriously and have a great shot at a playoff berth and are positioned well to keep adding for a deep playoff run into October.