Time for a Change  by Bob Bryant - June 1 , 2006

After fifty-plus games, the things that ail the Orioles are all too familiar. Poor performance by the starting rotation. An erratic bullpen. Poor defense. Power, but at the expense of OBP. Inability to hit lefties.

This is all more of the same. Which category can be most improved in the most efficient way?

Perhaps two of them.

Here's what I propose:

Take Jay Gibbons' outfielder's glove away from him and burn it.

Trade Miguel Tejada for several top-level prospects, preferably at least one with power potential at either first base or left field.

Sign Julio Lugo in the off-season or trade for him if reasonable and signable. If it doesn't happen, find another good-fielding shortstop. Hitting would be a bonus.

Send Gibbons to winter ball and tell him to learn to play first base. Tell him if he doesn't get it down, he's going to be a full-time DH.

Do not sign a wheezer like Conine or Millar to play left field. Either play one of the guys you traded Tejada for, or find someone who can hit, run, and catch the ball...maybe even take a base on balls.

There. The defense just got a lot better, the club is rid of the 'Miggy Influence' for both better and worse in terms of hitting approach and volatility on the one side, power and All-Star appearances on the other.

I can handle this as a defensive team:

Hernandez

Gibbons or Someone Else other than Millar

Roberts

Lugo

Mora

Someone other than Conine or Manny

Patterson

Markakas

Wouldn't this make the pitching better, too? I think it would. The O's have ignored defense for so many years, it's as if they have forgotten how important it can be. Gibbons, left field, first base, and Miggy are killing this team defensively. It's time to admit that this group isn't going to work out, and blow it up. Markakas has looked good in right. He admits he's more comfortable there, and he has the arm for it. He's not my idea of a right fielder in terms of a hitter, but perhaps the team could make up for it in left.

Yes, this is risky, because in losing Miggy's power numbers, you lose any edge in the one area the club has established as a strength. But I think Miggy burned his bridges with a lot of fans before this season started, and the rest of them are waiting for the other shoe to drop...which will probably happen this coming off-season, anyway. Melvin is re-signed, and is much more the 'face of the club' than Tejada has been, regardless. It's been fun watching Tejada play, but I think the best time to part ways with him is now, while the iron is hot. As for Gibbons, it's simply time to end the experiment. For whatever reason, he's regressed from barely adequate to terrible this season, and the team can't afford to continue his plodding around the outfield.

A group like the one above could turn the defensive end of the spectrum into a positive one, those are not pie-in-the-sky or expensive moves, and the pitching could be better for it, as well.

The bottom line is, this team must be built on its pitching. There is too little offensive help on the horizon, and the prospect of buying it is slimmer than ever. If you're going to build around pitching, you've got to build around defense as well. That means no more Tejada, no more Gibbons in the outfield, and no more geezers in left field.

Got it?