REALITY: The Baltimore Orioles are six games under .500 and are in 4th place in the AL East.
PERCEPTION: Last week, I ended this column with “I have not given up hope yet”… well, a week later, I have.
The Orioles have now lost six in a row and are 1-12 in their last 13 games. They have already lost more games than they did last year, and are just two games ahead of the last place Boston Red Sox.
That is how low this season has gotten. The numbers don’t lie and right now the Orioles’ pitchers stink and their hitters are even worse.
The O’s have had a couple of August/September swoons over the years, and this one ranks right up there as the most disappointing after they held down first place in late June.
REALITY: The O’s are 9th in all of baseball in Runs Scored.
PERCEPTION: Last year, the Orioles ended the season 8th in MLB with 705 total runs scored. So far this season, the O’s are tied for 9th with 569 runs. With 30 games left, they would need to score just over four runs per game to match last year’s total. So they are a little off last year’s pace, but not by much, when you compare their ranking.
I think to most of us that is a big surprise. For as much as this offense has struggled this year, they are still better than a majority of other teams in baseball. The problem is the inconsistency of that hitting, as well as starting pitching. The team could never come together to be good at the same time. So when the pitchers shut down other teams, the hitters went into hibernation. That was a major downfall during this disappointing season.
REALITY: The Orioles have added a few players with rosters expanding September 1st.
PERCEPTION: Outfielder Dariel Alvarez was called up just before September, along with Steve Clevenger. Tuesday, the O’s also recalled Oliver Drake, Steve Johnson and Chaz Roe.
But the moves should not stop there. With the team out of playoff contention, the Birds need to see what some of their other guys might be able to do for the team. Why not give Tyler Wilson and Mike Wright an extended look? Why not let Mychal Givens, Jason Garcia, and Jorge Rondon (just to name a few) get a shot every other night to see if they can pitch in the big leagues? Why not see if Christian Walker can take over for Chris Davis next year at 1B?
It appears to me that Clevenger could back up Caleb Joseph behind the plate full-time next season after Matt Wieters departs as a free agent.
But the time is now! You can’t judge these guys next spring… by then it is too late. You need to know what these guys can do now, so if they can’t cut it, you know what you need to do this offseason.
