On Sunday, as we all know, the Baltimore Orioles lost to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 9-3.
What was a 3-2 game – in which the Orioles trailed in the eighth inning – became a complete slaughter as the Angels scored a ludicrous five runs off reliever Mark Worrell in the frame.
It was ugly, unbelievable and illustrated an inconvenient truth about the Baltimore Orioles.
The Birds are obviously out-manned and often out-played. They don’t have as much talent as their opponents for the most part.
James and I talked about this issue on Friday night after the awful loss. A bunch of friends and season ticket holders chatted about this topic at our Sunday get-together and during the game.
The frustration only grew ever more fervent during the eighth inning.
However, the problems lay much, much deeper than that.
The current major league roster doesn’t have much depth at all.
Well, that’s probably attributed to the complete lack of reinforcements and overall talent that can make an impact in the big leagues readily available.
The Baltimore system has some young talent that’s up and coming; however, if the team needed to plug in a hole because of an injury (like next week) – who would they bring up? That is, where’s the young talent that could immediately alleviate a bad situation.
The Angels, Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and several other teams have it. Why don’t the Orioles?
It could be a symbol of real bad luck during the Andy MacPhail era.
Maybe the young players may have been over-hyped, or whatever.
Maybe the scouting department isn’t finding the ‘diamonds-in-the-rough’ after the first few picks?
As it is, there are a multitude of picks and items from trades that don’t seem to be working out right now.
Is that the fault of the front office? Who knows.
However, the reality is that after four years on job, Andy MacPhail has seen his major league team finish in the second division after each season. While the front office is no doubt working hard, the positive results aren’t there and after 14 years of losing, someone has to be blamed.
And now, speculation – from the Baltimore Sun – is that MacPhail may not come back to the organization next year.
The plan still has to be this: the Orioles have to keep on stockpiling picks, take some risks, work on scouting – international and domestic – and have faith in their youngsters. Furthermore, the young pitching has to get their act together and turn the tide around.
Will things finally turn around in 2012?
2013?
2015?
2020?
Are we going to perhaps rival the Pittsburgh Pirates for the title of the most number of losing seasons this decade? (That’s assuming the Buccos don’t falter).
Whatever happens, it looks like it will be a while before the Orioles can make an impact in the division. Sadly, I don’t think free agents will help all that much.
They can sign Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, C.J. Wilson, Mike Cuddyer, or the free agents that may be available after the 2011 season; however, until they get the foundation of their house in order – the farm teams – strong and part of baseball’s elite, it won’t matter what in the world they do in the off-season.
Yes, the Orioles may improve in 2012; however, for anything resembling success to be attainable, the organization must start building from the bottom.
No matter how painful it is.
