Greeting again, Birdland. It’s been nothing but a whole lotta sadness, losing, and bad, bad baseball since we last talked. My writers are all seemingly too depressed to even analyze anything these days, as my email inbox for ESR stories has been as quiet as Chris Davis’ bat.
Hey, I can’t particularly blame them. The Birds have shown zero signs of life lately, and the great majority of the “kids” getting playing time these days are either not kids at all or are kids but are performing quite poorly.
The Birds are 41-102, and now have a chokehold on the 2019 #1 draft pick, especially after being swept by Kansas City a couple weekends back. They’re now seven games worse than K.C. in the standings. Since sweeping the Blue Jays for their first and only three-game sweep of 2018, the Orioles have lost eight of nine.
Beat writers are tweeting encouraging things like this:
After watching the Rays for a few days (and watching KC last weekend) the Orioles are light years behind both organizations.
— Britt Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) September 9, 2018
In short, everything is awful, and every time we think maybe – just maybe – we’ve hit rock bottom, the floor gives way, revealing yet another sub-basement.
There’s no reason for hope. Nothing about which to get excited. Basically, if you’re tuning in these days, it’s to watch Cedric Mullins…and that’s about it.
Perhaps the Birds have just given us downtrodden lot another reason to turn on the games though. They finally called up a guy who may actually be a real prospect, though the shine has slightly dulled from the apple after reemerging a year ago.
2015 first-round pick D.J. Stewart is joining the team today. Per Roch Kubatko, Stewart, in addition to making his MLB debut, will earn the honor of being the 55th player used by the Orioles in 2018, a new franchise single-season record.
Congrats, Demetrius!
Stewart, 24 (25 in November), hit .278/.378/.481 with 21 HR and 79 RBI 126 games for Bowie in 2017. He was at .235/.329/.387 with 12 HR and 55 RBI in 116 games for Norfolk this year.
Will D.J. make it any more likely the Orioles are able to crack 50 wins (find the odds here)? Will he be a part of the next good Orioles team? I’m not personally optimistic, but I’m certainly more interested to tune in tonight than I was a couple hours ago. Good luck, Mr. Stewart, and welcome to The Show.
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go Ravens!