The Orioles play in the toughest division in baseball. They were the only team to finish below .500 in the AL East. But here are good news, too: Fourth place in the AL East may be possible.

Will Birdland be a happy place in 2009?

Photo by Ken Lund, used under creative commons license.

Landing in Baltimore
C- Gregg Zaun (Free Agent from From Blue Jays)
IF - Ty Wigginton (Free Agent from Astros)
IF  Chris Gomez* (Free Agent from Pirates)
IF  Donnie Murphy* (Free Agent from A’s)
SS - Cesar Izturis (Free Agent from Cards)
OF - Ryan Freel  (Trade with Reds)
OF - Felix Pie (Trade with Cubs)
LHP - Mark Hendrickson (Free Agent from Marlins)
LHP - Rich Hill (Trade with Cubs)
RHP - Koji Uehara (Free Agent from Japan)
RHP - Brad Hennessey* (Free Agent from Giants)
RHP - David Pauley (Trade with Red Sox)
RHP - Terrell Young (Rule V selection from Reds)

Taking Wing
C- Ramon Martinez (Traded to Reds)
1B - Kevin Millar* (Free Agent,signed with Blue Jays)
SS - Juan Castro (Unsigned Free Agent)
SS - Alex Cintron* (Free Agent, signed with Nationals)
OF - Jay Payton (Unsigned Free Agent)
LHP - Garrett Olson (Traded to Cubs)
LHP - Brian Burres* (Designated for assignment, refused, signed with Blue Jays)
RHP - Lance Cormier (Non Tendered, Signed with Rays)
RHP - Daniel Cabrera (Free Agent signed with Nationals)
RHP - Randor Buerd (Traded to Red Sox)

*Signed minor league contract.

The Skinny

Lots of folks are making noise saying that this season’s team is considerably better than the squad the O’s put on the field last season, but that might be optimistic.  There is no question that ownership is trying to rebuild and is willing to spend the money to do so, but attracting big name talent hasn’t been easy and the team has had to settle for trying to make smart decisions to fill holes.

That being said there is a lot of potential here, but nothing which seems sure to be realized.  This team could take a step forward, or fail spectacularly.

Strengths - Potential, Relief Pitching and Offense

The O’s offense should score some runs.  They have plenty of guys at the top and middle of the order capable of hitting the long ball as well as producing for average.  However, the bottom of their order with Adam Jones, failed Cubs prospect Felix Pie and rookie catcher Matt Wieters (who probably will not open the season with the big team) is a bit of an enigma.

Jones seems likely to take a step forward and supposedly reported to camp having added 25 pounds of muscle to his frame.

Wieters, the No. 1 catching prospect in the minors and already being trumpeted as the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award, will probably open the season at AAA, but could be an impact player.

The Cubs seem to have given up on the multi-tooled Pie, who spent many years as an “untouchable” in the Cubs farm system.  After 260 Major League at bats, Pie’s numbers were an ugly .223-3-30 with 11 steals.  He has tremendous room for improvement, but he looked lost at the plate pretty much in every appearance last season.

One place that the O’s seem really solid is in the bullpen where George Sherrill, Chris Ray and Jamie Walker could provide one of the best seventh, eighth and ninth inning finishes in the east.

Weaknesses - Pitching, inexperience

To say the rotation is suspect is an act of charity.  After all the staff ace is going to be Jeremy Gutherie, need we say more?  After that the only assured rotation spot belongs to Japanese import Koji Uehara.   The rest of the rotation will be filled with inning eaters like Mark Henderson or Brian Burres and reclamation jobs like Rich Hill, who is capable of being brilliant, but has struggled with control and inconsistency in the National League.  There are about a dozen arms competing for the starting jobs including Radames Liz, Danys Baez, Matt Albers and Chris Waters and Troy Patton.

Their other flaw might be how much they will have to rely on unproven players, especially the pitchers and at the bottom of the order where Wieters, Pie and Jones are all inexperienced.

Potential Lineup
2B Brian Roberts
3B Melvin Mora
RF Nick Markakis
1B Aubrey Huff
DH Ty Wigginton/Luke Scott
CF Adam Jones
LF Felix Pie
C Greg Zaun/Matt Wieters
SS Cesar Izturis

Rotation
SP1 – Jeremy Guthrie
SP2 – Koji Uehara
SP3 – Rich Hill
SP4 – Mark Hendrickson
SP5 – Matt Albers
also in the mix Radhames Liz, Chris Waters, Brian Burres and Brad Hennessey

Bullpen
CL – George Sherrill/Chris Ray

One question that need answering

Can the O’s pitch well enough to finish out of last place?  They should score plenty of runs, but in a division where they’ll play the Rays, Yankees and Red Sox almost 60 times, offensive alone isn’t going to cut it.  That means they aren’t playing to contend but just hoping to improve enough not to finish last again.  That means they’ll have to beat a weak, but better balanced, team in the Blue Jays.

Prediction

This team will go as far as the offense can carry them, and the odds are that won’t be very far.  They should be better than last year, but if the youngsters struggle their lineup will be very unbalanced.   Still they are strong enough that overtaking the Jays and finishing in fourth is a realistic goal.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites