It was another weird week for the Orioles. After showing up big and taking two of three from the Blue Jays, they disappointed big time versus the Cubs. While they went 3-3 again this week, it felt different. This series against Chicago exposed some of the bigger issues with this team. You would like it if a team that’s about a half-dozen games under.500 didn’t completely expose the weaknesses of one of the best teams in baseball.
Playing down to the mediocre Cubs is somewhat embarrassing, but they at least avoided a sweep (that would have been a disaster). Baseball is a long season, and even the best teams go through slumps. This team has had issues all year but has been able to play past them. We weren’t so lucky this weekend, and the obvious gaping holes on this roster cost us this week.
We have a lot to discuss, so let’s get right into it:
Adley and Gunnar Seem to Have a Healthy Competition
Last week we discussed how good Gunnar Henderson was and how he had a Higher OPS than Adley Rutschman. Adley saw that and said, “Watch this,” because he went off this week. He had two home runs, three doubles, and a slash line of .333/.357/.667 with ops of 1.024.
Seeing these two franchise players battle it out and show who is better on a nightly basis has been awesome, and it shows how special they are. I can’t wait to see Adley start the All-Star game in front of his home-home fans (his family is from the Northwest).
Hays Deserves to be an All-Star
Speaking of said All-Star game, Austin Hays deserves to go. He has been one of the best offensive outfielders in MLB but hasn’t received the love he deserves on the ballots. Hays is hitting .320./350/.515 with eight home runs and nineteen doubles plus two triples this year. While his defensive metrics are lacking, the man has been on a tear offensively. Yes, the American League outfield is loaded, but come on, people. Please vote for Austin Hays because the dude deserves a trip to Seattle with Adley and the back of the Birds bullpen.
How Much Longer Does Perez Have?
All right, enough positivity…let’s get to the juicy content.
Who has disappointed you the most this year on the Orioles roster? There is no competition for me: it has been Cionel Perez all season long. He was one of the most valuable pieces for the O’s last year, but he has been garbage in 2023. He had a couple of decent weeks there, but has been bad outside of that. He hurt the team badly again this week. He and Austin Voth were already on thin ice, and neither did themself any favors. Voth escapes criticism here because he landed on the IL, but Perez was bad on Tuesday and helped cost the Birds the game on Friday. He came into a crucial situation when the game was still close and blew up. The move makes Brandon Hyde look like an imbecile for putting him in that spot to begin with, and it only adds more fuel to the fire that has been his disaster of a season.
Honestly, why is he here? What value does he bring outside of having no options and being here because he was good last year?
We will get back to this point later, but Perez has been awful, and the fact that Hyde used him in a big spot on Friday is inexcusable.
A Conversation About Umpires
Before we begin this rant, let’s get something straight: in any sport, to blame the officiating crew, to me, is lame. At the end of the day, games are decided by the players on the field, and blaming the officials for losses to me is just a flimsy excuse. But there are times in sports when even I am pushed to my limit. This weekend was one of those times.
Saturday’s game was a horribly umpired game by C.B. Buckner. He gave the O’s a terrible strike zone and hosed them when he rang up Anthony Santander in a big spot with two on and one out. Bases loaded with one out is much different than two on with two outs, and Buckner took the game into his own hands. He then lost count on Hays’ AB, causing a game delay in the ninth inning.
I cannot believe I am tweeting this …
or maybe I can…But CB Bucknor currently – and I mean this literally – has no idea what the count is.
— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) June 17, 2023
While the strike zone was good on Sunday, the poor zone was replaced with awful calls on the base paths. They called Jorge Mateo out when he was clearly safe and then the O’s lost a challenge when New York “confirmed” he was out. This cost the O’s at least one run and maybe more because they didn’t have the challenge for the rest of the game. All could have been avoided if the umpires had done their job.
The umpires pushed O’s fans’ buttons this week and could have cost the team a game and series in Chicago.
Glaring Issues Must Be Addressed
Let’s talk big picture with this team. This weekend exposed every flaw this team has right now:
- A revolving door at the fifth rotation spot that no one can close;
- a terrible middle of the Bullpen; and
- one of the least valuable middle infields in the game, offensively and defensively
Everything wrong with how this team is built was exposed, and even in Sunday’s win, was on display. Two Cubs runs scored because of poor use of talent by the O’s. Josh Lester somehow muffed an easy pop-up by the dugout, which would have been the last out of the inning. This was followed up by a terrible play by Ryan O’Hearn in right field that allowed Cody Bellinger to get to third base. Then Dean Kremer fell behind 3-1 and gave a two-run bomb to put the Cubs up 3-2.
This isn’t smart baseball. Why is Lester even here? Why is O’Hearn – a first baseman – in right field? Why are Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser still not here? In a span of five minutes, the team showed why Westburg and Cowser should be here.. A flurry of promotions just dropped throughout the system, so Cowser and Westburg could be close, but that isn’t good enough.
From club source, these O's on farm to be promoted:
* Bowie to Norfolk: Cesar Prieto, Justin Armbruester, Wandisson Charles
* Aberdeen to Bowie: Alex Pham, Keegan Gillies, Jean Pinto, Jud Fabian
* Delmarva to Aberdeen: Juan Nunez
— Steve Melewski (@masnSteve) June 18, 2023
If nothing else, Cowser has got to be here by this weekend. It has been long enough, and while you are at it, please get rid of Perez, replace him with Nick Vespi, and get Grayson Rodriguez back up here. Then, put Cole Irvin as the long man to replace Voth. This team is special; please don’t let these awful relievers and bad players creating weird lineups destroy that.
Regarding what is next, we have a two-game set in Tampa, then a weekend series against the Mariners—no idea what to expect this week. We could continue to play well against Tampa as they have been struggling, and the Mariners have been inconsistent. Indeed this weekend left a bad taste in my mouth, so I really don’t know what’s in store. It needs to start with some promotions though.
