Mailbag

Will Orioles spend enough to get to a World Series? | MAILBAG

Question: The Orioles have been in only six World Series, but the Yankees and Dodgers have played each other in the Fall Classic 11 times. How can small-market teams like the Orioles compete against large-market teams? From: Timothy Fowler

Answer: Tim, while two of the top three spending teams in baseball are in the World Series this year, that doesn’t happen every year. Since the Yankees were last in the World Series, in 2009, Kansas City, Cleveland, Detroit and Texas have been in a combined seven World Series.

The Orioles will have to spend more money this offseason to help them better compete, but they don’t have to spend $300 million to do so. David Rubenstein has said that he realizes that Baltimore is not like New York or Los Angeles and that the Orioles can’t spend like that, but they can probably spend as they did during the 2012-2016 time frame, which was league average.

Question: Concerning the coaching shakeup, just how much influence does the coaching staff really have over modern players … especially star-power players?

On one hand, with their own high school, college, and/or minor league coaches … and places like Driveline, and/or private coaches they may have hired all providing input … just how many players really “buy in” to the philosophies the team’s coaches provide? From: Tom in Wyoming

Answer: Tom, the best players want to get better, and if a coach can help them get better, that’s great. Good coaches adapt to players and don’t give the same advice to each player.

Obviously, big league teams think that coaches are important because they have much bigger staffs than they did 10 years ago. The Orioles have three coaches for pitchers, and have had three for hitters in order to provide more specialized, individualized instruction.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.

MORE ORIOLES COVERAGE BELOW

Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

Share
Published by
Rich Dubroff

Recent Posts

  • Rich Dubroff

Aloy wants to represent Hawaii for Orioles; Young optioned as Eflin returns

CLEVELAND—There have been only 49 major league players from the 50th state, and Wehiwa Aloy…

July 23, 2025
  • The Bird Tapes

The Orioles’ hometown hurler

As a moment of sheer baseball perfection, Tom Phoebus’ major league debut seemingly was impossible…

July 23, 2025
  • Rich Dubroff

Young lasts only 4 1/3 in Orioles’ 6-3 loss to Guardians

CLEVELAND-What happened? If the Orioles trade a starting pitcher or two, there may be more…

July 23, 2025
  • Rich Dubroff

Orioles’ Rutschman could return this weekend; Eflin to start on Wednesday; Carlson recalled

CLEVELAND—Catcher Adley Rutschman, who’s been on the injured list since June 20th with a strained…

July 22, 2025
  • Calling the Pen

Calling the Pen: Orioles broadcaster Ben McDonald: ‘I got lucky’

The day before the Orioles began the second half of their season, they suffered a…

July 22, 2025
  • App

The Orioles’ hometown hurler

July 22, 2025