The Orioles are going to be really good this year.

[vmax]

Nasty hitting lineup...great defense and the pitching is looking better every day.

The team chemistry is there and these guys believe in themselves.

 

We have a great season coming up.

[cravnravn]

They are the talk of fl

[dc.]

Still worried about OBP. We're going to be a HR only team. Will struggle w "manufacturing" runs without the HR. That will be problem as much as blown leads and starting pitching.

[varaven45]

You pretty well nailed it DC. The bullpen - at least closer - isn't nailed down either.

 

On the positive side though lots of hitters indeed but not sure about the situational hitting. I can't tell you number of times last year this team failed to score with the bases loaded and 1 or no outs.

It was a real head scratcher.

 

If we straighten that out, get solid SP, sound middle relief and a closer we should be fine and compete in the AL East.

[thundercleetz]

We are still in contention for Ervin Santana. If we sign Santana, do you put Bud Norris as closer? Signing Santana would be an enormous get for us. Our rotation would quickly become a major strength.

 

Britton is throwing 95, yeah we are ready to go.

[dc.]

I'm not worried about closing too much - there are options. I would consider Norris there.

 

But I agree more w VA - it's all the situational hitting. How many games did we lose 3-2 or 4-3 while leaving 15 men on base? How many Ks from our "big hitters" when a sac fly scores a run?

[dc.]

BTW just counted... 24 losses last year when opponent scored 4 or fewer.

[varaven45]

We are still in contention for Ervin Santana. If we sign Santana, do you put Bud Norris as closer? Signing Santana would be an enormous get for us. Our rotation would quickly become a major strength.

 

I could take or leave Ervin Santana. I'd rather

have Carlos Santana

 

Britton is throwing 95, yeah we are ready to go.

[cravnravn]

DC, we had what 15 blown saves by Johnson, we would have made the playoffs by a wide margin

[vmax]

In 2012 everything went their way and they kicked ass in the close games.

Last year it was the opposite, so everything's even karma wise, the universe is in balance once again and the baseball gods have declared it's Baltimore's Time To Shine.

 

Buck's figured it out.

[dc.]

Crav nice try.. JJ blew 8 I believe. Out of almost 80 appearances, that was an average amt - not that we want avg but who do you see being above avg this year?

 

Meanwhile, in how many of those was it - as mentioned - an offense that only scored 2 or 3 and a pitching staff that had a good outing of 5 innings? Too many to put it simply.

 

JJ made his mistakes but got a bad rap a few times over ... Not sure how anyone can see our close situation being vastly improved. And we still will have an OBP leader at 350. Meanwhile, the Sox won last year because guys like Napoli might only hit 280 but get on base at a 400 clip.

[cravnravn]

9 blown saves last year per rotoworld, he did something very odd last year, led the majors in saves, and blown saves

[varaven45]

All good points. Poor situation hitting, JJs blown saves and bad karma (unlike 2 yrs ago) did us in.

Fix 2 out of 3 ( if not all 3) and we are right there.

[dc.]

Fix one and we are right there. My point re JJ is that he blew 9 of almost 80 appearances. Both numbers are high. But the conversion % is pretty much average if not still a bit better than average.

 

I just don't see us "fixing" that given we've done nothing to address it.

 

And the bigger issue - evidenced in other bullpen issues and injuries - was simply overuse. Almost all of our pen were past 70 appearances last year. That's crazy. Maybe we can get a few SPs past the 6th

[papasmurfbell]

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-03-10/sports/bal-orioles-manny-machado-says-2014-contract-disappointing-but-you-just-have-to-go-out-and-play-20140310_1_manny-machado-platinum-glove-award-arbitration

 

 

“It is disappointing, but at the end of the day, you just have to go out and play,” said Machado, who made $495,000 last season and received a $25,000 bonus for making his first All-Star team. Similarly, the Platinum Glove bonus will not be calculated as part of his 2014 base salary.

That's how to win loyalty from your players. This kid would already be inked to a 10 yr deal if I ran that FO.

[Spen]

I have hope for the team this year and my gut feeling is they will be slightly better than they were last year. I still think at times this team is really going to be fun to watch offensively and at times they will be frustrating as can be offensively.