Yet Another Whimper  by Bob Bryant - October 3, 2006

How can a season be rife with drama and yet totally forgettable at the same time?

When it's the Orioles.

In many ways, this season was same old, same old. The team was mediocre. The pitching wasn't good, despite Leo the Pitching Guru; there were too many one-dimensional players, absolutely no depth, crowds were sparse and apathetic, visiting fans from the Sox and Yankees were counted on for attendance, the marketing department continued to fall all over themselves, Peter Angelos emerged to make a couple of ridiculous pronouncements, and the team never went on an extended winning streak; invariably, it seemed, the record over the past ten games was always 4-6. Until September, of course, when they fell off the table, as has been their wont in recent seasons. We even had another steroid story to close out the last week!

So what was different?

Thank goodness for lousy pitching. With Bruce Chen and Rodrigo Lopez stinking the place up, the team was eventually forced to look at Adam Loewen, and what we saw was mostly positive. The outfield depth was so lacking that Nick Markakis was kept on the roster and in the lineup when he was hitting right around the Mendoza line, and that worked out, because he then caught fire until the last two weeks, when he might have been fatigued by the long season. (Though it didn't seem to hurt Robinson Cano to play an extra month.)

So what does the future hold?

Erik Bedard had a very solid year, and looks like a good pitcher - but look at his age! This guy isn't 22, he's about to enter his peak years and he's barely established himself as a front-line guy. Sure, that's better than not having any success, but he's a bit long in the tooth to see a Mussina-like career ahead of him. Cabrera and Loewen had ups and downs, both showing extreme promise and extreme instability. Cabrera really boosted hopes for next season with his finish; fans have to hope that it's justified.

The front office seems to have done a good job in identifying the folks to run the farm the way it should be run, and to make solid drafting decisions. That being said, the farm is still woefully short of position players with potential. It's going to take several more years of solid drafts to change that. Otherwise, I can't say a lot of positive things about the warehouse. They have demonstrated an unwillingness to make a reasonable bold move of any kind; this year's reconstructed bullpen was a disaster; last season's free agent activity was terrible except for the signing of Ramon 'Passed Ball' Hernandez. They made a couple of decent trades, but the patchwork mentality still prevails. Thank goodness Jeromy Bernitz jilted the O's at the last minute!

Corey Patterson was a pleasant surprise; it did seem that he was flailing at pitches again upon his return from his injury, but overall, he was solid, thank goodness. And Kevin Millar ended up as everything the O's could have expected...a mediocre producer with no power and Manto-like range at first base. Niner was what you'd expect, actually a bit better, for what that was worth.

But as long as the front office chooses to totally ignore defense and on-base percentage, the team will struggle. And they show no inclination to pay anything more than lip service to either. They didn't trade Tejada, again, when they had a chance to pick up several pieces that could help. They are saddled with Jay Gibbons, who is too young to have 'DH' as his best position. The only positions where they are above-average, or even average, defensively, are second base and center field. (Hernandez would fit into this category except for the passed balls and his tags at the plate.)

How can you build around pitching when you have a team full of below-average defenders?

Yes, we can point to Nick Markakis and see a bright future. But the Yankees themselves trotted out Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano this season, and trumped a Bedard with a Wang. It's not like other teams don't have outstanding rookie talent of their own. It's been so long since the O's came up with a decent offensive prospect that we get all excited while overlooking that nearly every other team has even more Markakises in the offing.

Meanwhile, the other arms of the organization continued to distinguish themselves. The marketing guys and gals have removed 'Baltimore' from everything that EBW didn't; usher policies, season ticket features, ballpark safety, and an overall hostility/nonchalance by the front office towards the fan base continued to make talk show and message board fodder. Marketing and advertising is stale and unimaginative. Ticket sales were unresponsive to the few times the O's did draw a lot of walk-up customers. I'm still waiting for any contact from the Orioles of any kind three years after dropping a 29-game season ticket after 13 seasons.

But, all is not lost. The team still plays in one of the country's great treasures. There are players to enjoy, a glimmer of hope from the farm, likeable people in the organization, and an owner who wants to win, even if he doesn't know how. and even though the fan base both at the park and at the Belfry itself had dwindled, I still love baseball; Orioles baseball, and especially hanging out, sharing, laughing, and arguing with the great fans at the Belfry.

We're not giving up. We still have hope for the ballclub, for the future, and for the fun times ahead at the Belfry. Let's enjoy the post-season, and then see where 2007 will take the Birds, and us.