Tap-In Question: What stands out the most to you after watching these Orioles start 2018?

View Comments

• They’re not as bad as they looked but the way there constructed they’ll always be mediocre. Might slip into the playoffs every once in a while but their basically a boring team. I personally don’t like watching grass grow for 6 or 7 innings waiting for the HR. Need to bring up some youth. Get rid of Trumbo and Rasmus. Play Hayes and Santander . And Stiff Davis they’re stuck with but he’s a freaking joke

  • Let me just say one thing here: if you just slip into the playoffs you aren’t mediocre. You are one of the best 10 teams out of 30 in a 162 game series. That’s significant. And I don’t get why people dismiss it. Not the ultimate goal. But getting to the playoffs is a legit accomplishment.

    • I don’t disagree with what your saying. What I’m trying to say is if everything goes right for them they could possibly make the playoffs. But that’s a big if and that’s what I mean by slipping into playoffs. Pitching has to be ok meaning they keep us in the game and we hit enough to win close games.

  • I still can't believe the Twins running their mouths about Chance Sisco's bunt! What a joke!

  • Silliness

• I think I’ve seen this movie before. SP getting rocked early. Hitters not hitting. Seems eerily similar to last year. While the O’s have lacked a true leadoff hitter for years now, this new guy seems like a really piss poor choice to be that guy.

  • Yeah. I’m guessing he will return to the middle soon enough.

• What strikes me most is two-fold. The disparity between the 2 young guns on the mound. Bundy & Gausman.

  1) I'd like to say the Cy Bundy has found the magic, but I won't be so quick on that trigger remembering last year's 2nd half swoon.
  2) I'm also tempted to write off Gausman as an overrated college pitcher, but again, I can't because I'm remember last years 2nd half surge.

  And I agree with Quote27 above, let's see what Hays & Santander have to offer. I don't understand the Rasmus signing. (actually I do understand, I just don't buy it)

  • Santander is up so it makes sense what he can do. Hays will not be hurt by more time in the minors. Remember he is a 2016 draftee. He knocked hard on the door last year. Let him break it down this year.

• We’ve all been on a high waiting for the start of the baseball season, so the Twins series was disappointing but it’s way too early to be alarmed. The O’s are not going to win every series, even those they should win. Cashier will be ok and Gausman will pitch some gems. Armageddon ain’t here yet.

  If I had a concern it is getting behind by 3+ runs early in the game. That is so demoralizing, especially for a team that strikes out a lot. I may ignore the next 2 games with Tillman and Wright since that won’t get better soon.

  • Love the perspective Tex. And, yeah, tough assignment coming.

• With the Os down 7-0 yesterday, why did Buck use both Brach and Givens? Is he saving Castro to mop up for Tillman tonight or Wright tomorrow?

  • He NEEDED to get Brach into Sunday’s game. You can’t let a closer sit on a rough outing for three days and a plane trip. And Brach pitched well. Not 100 percent on Givens but Buck has the bullpen management thing down.

• The biggest thing that stands out to me is the way in which we're incredibly one-dimensional. We've known it for a while, so no great revelation here, but we do not have the OBP to score runs consistently without the long ball, and so far we're not producing that.

  No way I'm writing off Cashner just yet. One game isn't enough to make a judgment on him. Same with Gausman. I still have hope that the light comes on. Problem is less with pitching and more with scoring runs. I cannot imagine that we will bat .117 for the entire season.

  Biggest surprise for me at this point? Chris Davis is 0-12 but has only struck out once. Honestly, if someone had told me he'd start the season 0-12, I'd have been darn near certain he'd struck out half of those, and that most of those would have involved a walk back to the dugout with the bat still on the left shoulder. There are a lot of people complaining that he hasn't produced anything from the leadoff spot, but let's be realistic and look at who has produced to this point. Exactly one player who has played in all three games has a BA over .300 and an OBP over .300. Manny Machado. We had 7 players in yesterday's game looking up at the Mendoza line. That's unsustainable, and it won't continue. At some point, the bats have to heat up.

  I didn't think Cashner was really that bad. He gave up the three bombs, but they were solo shots. Realistically, the solo HR shouldn't be what beats you over 9 innings. Were that the case, we'd have won the division the last couple of years. He looked like a guy who just wasn't quite hitting his spots, which I think comes from being a somewhat late signing. I expect he'll improve.

  • Boy I love this forum and the educated opinions that come with it. Drink chip. Excellent points. Yeah, Cashner gets a pass. And the one strikeout surprised me too. That’s actually a real good sign for Davis despite the hitless start.

    • I believe that Buck’s insertion of Davis into the leadoff spot is an indication that the O’s are out of legitimate ideas on how to help Chris Davis. Now they’re into trying the outlandish. What’s next? Maybe putting him into the starting rotation? Joining the bullpen? Maybe joining Bordy in the booth during teammate ABs? To think we’re stuck with an unproductive CD while we watch or hear of Nellie Cruz continuing to crush homers off very good pitchers is just........depressing.

      • P.S. ( From DiamondJim ) Davis is a great example of how ridiculous are the claims of this year’s FA class that ownership collusion is why these veteran stars were not offered big contracts. The clubs are on the hook for the money no matter once the contract is signed. The money is guaranteed for the player but it’s a crap shoot for the club. Glad to see the owners wise’ng up. Too bad the O’s didn’t wise up before they guaranteed the money for Chris Davis.

  • Interestingly, no free agent player has signed a contract worth more than Davis’ $161M since he signed it in Jan 2016. That will be topped next year with Machado/Harper/Kershaw if a FA, but still. Pretty telling.

• 1) Offensive ineptitude. Swinging through hanging sliders for example.
  2) Attendance or lack thereof. Cold? Perhaps. But the team seems to be trying to incentivize attendance and I fear the city has given up.
  I admit I'm worried. Unlike last year, April is brutal. This month is about disaster mitigation.

  • Oh, I don’t think the city has given up at all. April Baseball is a tough sell. And I think there is going to be a struggle with attendance all year because of various factors. But that to me is not indicative of interest. For one, having all 162 games televised on HD TVs in your home take away some of the incentive of going to the Yards.

• The thing that stands out to me the most is their lack of base runners. Cashner, the jury is out. Gausman. well , we've seen this before. For many years this lineup is an all or nothing lineup. The lack off on base guys who work counts has hurt them during this run. John Jay would have helped with that, however they brought in players who strike out 100 plus times a year. As I have said for years , this is a seriously flawed lineup.

  • Yep, Black. I got my choir robe on. Amen. But this is the lineup they have. And it will score runs. It also will get shutdown all at once at times.

• Early conclusions? It's three games. Yes, I'm worried that our offense is a little anemic, but I'm not throwing in the towel on 2018 yet either. I can't draw conclusions on Cashner or Gausman from one game. Even Bundy could have been pitching from behind if the balls he left up in the first 2 innings had carried a little farther like we know they will come summer.

  Can we talk about how hot Ryan Flaherty is in Atlanta? It's fun to watch, but nobody's predicting he's going to have 200 hits this season, all the same as we can't predict our entire lineup is going to hit .125 either.

  • Exactly 19. Really do love the perspective in this place. And the Flash thing is great. His old teammates have been ripping him via text. Telling him how easy the NL is and that he has more hits this year than all of last. A fast start couldn’t happen to a better guy. But yeah it all evens out.

• The orioles have one of the hardest schedules this April in all of baseball. We face the Yankees, Indians, Twins (who was one of the few times to win on the road more than home last year), Red Sox, and Astros. That's every single American League team that made the playoffs last year. Panic should not set in after just 1 series. It also should not set in at the end of April if the team is around .500. The past few season we have been lucky to start April off hot due to easier April schedules in 2017, 2016, and 2015. If the orioles can sit around .500 by the end of April we can have a shot to move up the standings with easier monthly schedules to come. I would rather April be the hardest month than a September schedule. Now with that said if the Orioles make it to April well below .500 then I feel there is cause of a lot of concern for the following months and will put the orioles in full on sell mode by the Allstar break

  • One thing also to keep in mind about the schedule. The Orioles have only one off day between now and April 29. That is rough. But all clubs get the same number of off days. So the Orioles have more rest in the dog days. And that could be beneficial if they survive the April gauntlet.

• Fortunately we have a reprieve: tonight the Orioles unleash the unhittable magician that is Tillman* against a bunch of bush-leaguers and nobodies in Houston. It's a good thing the Astros roster is devoid of talent, otherwise Chris 'second coming of Walter Johnson' Tillman* might jeopardize his run at Bob Gibson's single season ERA record this year.

  Thanks, I'll be here all week.

  Biggest takeaway was yesterday at about 1:07 PM. I would argue the biggest factor in the Orioles suckiness last year was the collapse of Mr. Gausman. We're well past hearing about his "potential frontline stuff" and whatnot, it's s**t or get off the pot time. And after all the swooning about how good he looked in Florida and how he's been working hard, grinding, blah, blah, blah, Whinin' Brian Dozier puts his first damn pitch through the window of the Hilton, prompting number 34 to turn into a blob of orange Jell-O in front of a whopping 10 thousand. Oh boy. Hold onto your fake beers boys, this one could get bumpy in a hurry.

  The good news is they didn't get swept. The bad news is that the only reason they didn't is their catcher hit a triple which is basically Haley's Comet. Dan-o, you might need to get rid of the imaginary brews and stock up on actual whiskey. It's looking like a long summer.

  (*not actually true)

  • And the drink chip. If this place were real I’d go broke just on subsidizing you.

• What's most striking is the similarities to last season. The Cashner outing was both shocking and disappointing. The early hole provided by the pitchers is a main part of that similarity. Until the rest of the offense starts clicking(if it ever does) complaining about Davis is fruitless. Two things have dragged this offense down the last 3 years--not resigning Cruz and Davis' PED bust.

  • Understood. I do think there will be periods of offensive crushing — pardon the pun this year. Too many power bats not to see crooked numbers on occasion. Of course, it’s all about consistency.

• I honestly don’t know what to think about this team because we all know what they’re capable of, but I do know this: Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman were infinitely better pitchers before Roger McDowell showed up. Likewise Chris Davis was an infinitely better hitter before Scott Coolbaugh.

  I don’t think the position coaches are changing anything with pitchers and hitters who have enough of a track record that you’re not going to change anything in some side sessions, but I do think they have no clue how to help these guys get back on track.

  Like Arietta complained about Adair’s ineffectiveness for him while he was in Baltimore, I think we need to start talking about the coaches with players we know have all the tools in the world but aren’t producing on the field.

  • I understand the point. And you aren’t alone in your thinking. But don’t forget that Gausman was really good in the second half once he had more time with McDowell and Tillman was hurt and couldn’t work with McDowell — really — until May. And was overcoming everything. Davis led the League in homers in his first year with Coolbaugh and saw his average and OBP rise more than 60 points from the previous season. Basically, it’s my opinion MLB coaches have a role but they are more auto mechanics than auto manufacturers. They can fix things with tweaks and keep the machines on the road but ultimately they deal with the cars they are given. They don’t call plays like offensive coordinators. They are more like swing coaches for golfers. So firing the coaches — I’m not talking managers here — is rarely if ever the solution.

• They still can't work counts and foul balls off. That kid yesterday nearly had an 80 pitch complete game. This is not a new problem and the Yanks/Sox do it to them all the time.

  • Excellent point. Drink chip.

    • I understand the mentality of going after the first pitch as it might be the best one you get but you can't do it all the time

  • Plus, when a guy is effective the only way to get him out — besides getting hits — is to elevate the pitch count

• Bundy showed what is expected of him. Now he has to be consistent. Davis his no leadoff hitter. Basically the same 8 position players that couldn't hit at the end of last year still can't hit. Was Schoop going to repeat last performance time will tell. Hasn't started out that way. The starting pitching is again shaky. Maybe they can find themselves on the road. But playing the Astros and the Yankees going to be hard. Other than Machado and Sisco no one his hitting consistantly. I would put either of of those two in the leadoff spot and juggle the lineup just to shake things up.

  • OK, I’m officially gonna stop the Sisco to leadoff talk for now. The kid batted .267 in the minors last year and has 27 big league plate appearances. And he’s trying to learn how to catch at the MLB level. He has plenty, plenty, plenty on his plate. Let’s slow down that train. Please.

• I'll repeat what I said last year. Davis is a liability. Buck has to limit his plate appearances. Platoon him at DH and get the first baseman out of left field to play 1B. Put a real outfielder in LF. A guy's contract shouldn't determine his playing time.

  • Understood. But his glove also determines his playing time. Mancini is fine at first. But right now Davis is better. Frankly, Davis is one of the best 1Bmen defensively in the game. Tho, admittedly, we haven’t seen that in the first 3 games this year.

• The takeaway for me was how solid the Twins are. Not a lot of buzz about them entering the season but a very solid team. Gutted out an attempted win on Opening Day and had 2 very strong pitching showings in games 2 and 3. For the Orioles - its the same old. Besides Bundy, the starting pitching is underwhelming and we aren't that disciplined at the plate. I will watch every game this season because my gut tells me that this is the last of Showalter, Jones and Machado. Nostalgia is setting in.

  • Good point. Drink chip. It is a good Twins team and one that will make noise in 2018. That said, I’m not sure their rotation has as many Hall of Famers as the Orioles made it appear this week.

• 1. Besides one play on Thursday, this OF defense is gonna do this bad pitching staff no favors.
  2. Hate the two hacks back to back (Jon & AJ).
  3. It will take until August for Buck to give C job to the better player.
  4. CD is sacrificing exit velocity for contact.
  5. Too many rule 5 guys on this roster.

  First order of business is to get legit LF and let Trey DH, two bad contracts platoon 1B.

  • My only quibble is No. 5. Rule 5 or not Araujo looks like he belongs in a MLB bullpen. Santander would have made this team with the spring he had even though he would have been a long shot in February. And Cortes is debatable but if you want your pen to have a long relief lefty, he’s the best guy in the org for that role. I guess my point is the Rule 5 status could hurt later but right now they aren’t blocking anyone better simply to take up space.

• I am not going to go crazy after one three game series. I will be pleasantly surprised with a win in the next three games though as I picked a Houston sweep for the first O's sweep of the year on another site that asked for predictions. These things are quite obvious to me after this first series.

  1. Chris Davis while having only struck out once is painfully lost at the plate. He is "in his head" too much. He needs to bat around the 7 hole until /if he gets on a streak.
  2. Araujo's stuff is going to play at this level.
  3. The defense is weaker with Machado at short and Beckham at 3rd.
  4. We are in for another lousy OBP team.

  It is the lack of hitting that scares me most. Gausman is a slow starter and we may have to live with the fact he is never going to be consistent. But I think we are on for a .500 or so season.

  • Good, reasoned post. Drink chip.

• What I’ve seen after only one series (which is definitely not a large enough sample size) is it seem like EVERYONE is just pressing too much relax and have fun loosen up a bit and things will turn around. Kind of hard to do when you’re down by crooked numbers before we have batted

  • Agreed. And that’ll get worse if their butts are kicked in Houston and/or New York.

• Not much to be said that hasn't already been said, but I think there is still reason for optimism -- regardless of what happens over the next few weeks.

  Realistically, even the most sanguine observer couldn't have expected anything more than another appearance in the Wild Card game. That's still in play, and if the team recovers we can look forward to one last run with this group. But if the team continues to falter it could accelerate a rebuilding process in which the sanguine among us can dream of a team that could perhaps be better than the flawed one we currently see before us.

  • Solid thoughts. And drink chip for classing this place up with double use of sanguine. Who, incidentally, I believe caught for the Pirates.

  • Ya gotta love a good vocabulary, and yes, I had to consult a dictionary.

• The troubles the O’s had generating runs last year when they could not reach the fences will continue to be problematic, and will likely tax the pitching staff and backend of the ‘pen...just like last year.

  The O’s were just three swings from being skunked for the entire opening weekend.

  The lack of ability to generate offense when the starting pitching staff is inconsistent is a fatal combination for a team with a sliver of a window to make something fruitful happen with this core group of players. I recognize it’s early, but with HOU and NYY looming, will Cobb’s arrival be moot in two weeks if the O’s are still struggling like they did this weekend?

  • No not moot because it is such a long season. That said, this is a really tough start without one of your best starters available.

• Just watched John Jay walk leading off, fouled off several pitches and now tiger pitcher throwing to first. They have a lead off hitter not Chris Davis

  • Choir robes here.

• Wait and see. The O's struggled with the Twins last year and during Spring Training. Wish the offseason changes would have helped more with that, but apparently not. Like others have said, if the offense doesn't come around quickly then the season could be lost just as quickly. Gausman really did not look good starting the game.

  • And add Tillman on Monday. There are concerns here. But hard to shut down the season in the first week. So you’re right. Wait and see.

• After watching the series with the Twins all I can say is another year, same issues.The starting pitchers have one decent game and two bad games, and hitting home runs seems to be the only way we can score runs.

  • Yup. So far.

• The starting pitching for the last two games was disappointing. I think Cashner will be fine. However, Gausman is one that concerns me. His start is similar to how he pitched last year. He put us into such a hole that it is improbable to overcome. For this team to be successful he has to pitch instead of throw. I remember last year Dave Johnson said something similar on Wall to Wall Baseball - when he doesn't pitch he is very hit able. The bullpen overall has done well despite Brach's blown save.

  The Chris Davis leadoff experiment should end soon. It's just not working. Mancini has a good on base percentage and should leadoff imo. Davis could move to the sixth spot and higher when/if he starts hitting. The offense is not putting good at bats together either. This has to improve especially on this upcoming road trip. I know it's a long season. Hopefully they start playing up their capabilities and put some in the win column.

  • Buck said he didn’t like the way Mancini was approaching his atbats I Spring at leadoff. And he doesn’t want to mess with what worked for Mancini in 2017.

• I agree that three games is too early to hit the panic button. But the real problem here in my opinion is the philosophy of our approach to hitting. Watch the strikeouts, each player is in full homer mode as though they can tie the game up with one swing. More patience is required for each batter in the line up. I’d definitely take Crush out of the lead off spot and put either AJ, Beckham or Machado there. As for out pitching, the only change I’d make is at closer. Give that job to Givens.

  • No need to panic, just face reality and start the rebuild earlier rather than later...

  • Givens could have that spot soon. But no reason to swap now. Especially with Brach a pending free agent/trade chip too. If he can save games that only helps his value.

• Any word yet on Kevin's arm? A 92 fastball is not going to work for him when he's not throwing other pitches for strikes. I'm not implying he's hurt, but there must be some reason for the drop in mph. Castro had no trouble hitting 97 so I can't blame the weather.

  • He said he just didn’t have his feel for his pitches. And he did reach 94 as the outing continued.

    • Thanks, Dan! I definitely missed that one pitch. :) Keeping my fingers crossed that's all it is.

• What stands out to me is how bad the Orioles are at the plate - it seems to be a philosophy that is not being addressed at all - the organization needs to show some hudspa and start insisting in a more disciplined approach at the plate or the players should be benched/traded. After the 2017 season and this start, I say blow 'em up and rebuild the entire club. I predict 2018 is going to be ugly with win % around 0.400 and the only players to really look forward to being Bundy, Cobb, Mancini (please put him in the lead off role, Schoop 2nd, Machado 3rd, then who cares), Cisco, and the bullpen.

  Being a math major, I ran some regressions on 2017 and it turns Buck really is an awesome manager, squeezing out 8 more wins from than expected given the horrible OBP and WHIP of the 2017 team. This points the finger of blame more precisely at Mr. DuQuette. Time to be realistic and remove the hopefully rose-colored glasses. Let's get some pitching prospects for our "awesome" position players now...

  BLOW 'EM UP! START THE REBUILD NOW!

  • The trade market doesn’t heat up for a couple months. So hang out and wait to see what happens with the club.

• Despite the anemic hitting so far, I still think the success or failure of the Orioles this year comes back to the starting rotation.

  The offense on this team is what it is, and has been for several years - streaky and home run dependent, lots of strikeouts, and no speed - not ideal, but enough to keep them competitive, and the bullpen remains a relative strength, especially if Britton comes back strong ... the biggest question mark, in my opinion, remains the rotation.

  By the way, if rookie Sisco has figured out that it makes sense to bunt against the shift, why won't Davis?

  • I was waiting for someone to make that Sisco-Davis point. Drink chip.

• Unfortunately, more of the same. It’s like groundhogs day. I know it’s only three games, but my god it’s like the definition of insanity. The pitching is what it is,but there is no excuse for trying to change the offense. On base, hah, we don’t need that. Facing off speed pitches, just flail away, there is no need to adapt. And crush, OMG, I’m about to have a panic attack,pitiful ,pitiful,pitiful. May we all be at peace

  • Hahaha. Yes Brooksie, relax. For now. Deep breaths.

• Three takeaways from the weekend.
  1. The brilliant effort by Bundy.
  2. The lack of offense.
  3. Davis batting lead off and going 0-12, and completely ignoring the shift and hitting into it...repeatedly.

  • No argument here.

• I was there for opening day! We were fantastic! Have we played any games since Thursday?

  • Not that I remember.

• U
  N
  B a l a n c e d.
  Both in rotation & the lineup.

  • Fair enough.

• This is working out well for Manny. If he tanks enough to cost the team a couple of games early, his stock doesn't suffer, but he helps accelerate the plunge into the abyss. That means he gets dealt sooner rather than later.