The season officially ended for the Baltimore Orioles on Oct. 4, though some would argue the season had ended for them a month ago when they fell too far behind in the race for the playoffs.
Baltimore Orioles’ Manny Machado is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a solo home run against the New York Yankees in the fifth inning of the first game of a baseball double header in Baltimore, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)
Finishing the season with an 81-81 overall record, Baltimore fell far below the expectations of fans and pundits alike, all of whom considered the Orioles a major threat for the World Series entering the 2015 season. Unfortunately for O’s fans, they won’t be watching their team play for a championship this fall. Instead, fans should now expect a very busy offseason this winter filled with several roster moves.
Baltimore has about four major contributors to the team that will become free agents this offseason, including infielder Chris Davis, catcher Matt Wieters and pitcher Darren O’Day and Wei-Yin Chen. Surely the Orioles won’t be able to re-sign all four of these players, but it would be in their best interest to hold onto some of them.
WEAA 88.9 FM’s “AFRO First Edition” talk show host Sean Yoes, well known as an Orioles historian and avid team follower to his listeners, told the AFRO it’s unlikely Baltimore will be able to retain Wieters or O’Day.
“Those two will definitely be leaving to the highest bidder,” Yoes said. “What they need to focus on is re-signing Davis and Chen.”
As Yoes eluded, the Orioles could probably survive the loss of Wieters and O’Day. Although Wieters is a three-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner, he missed a lot of games over the past two seasons due to injury. Most of the games he missed were in 2014; when Baltimore, despite his absence , won the American League East division and reached the second round of the playoffs. Caleb Joseph proved to be more than capable at the catcher position so losing Wieters may not hurt the O’s.
As for O’Day, the Orioles could use him as an effective relief pitcher, but if you had to choose between paying to keep him or Chen, the smarter choice would be the latter. Chen was the Baltimore’s second best pitcher in the starting rotation this season as he finished the year with an 11-8 win/loss record. They will not only need to keep him, but also try to sign another solid starter to add to the rotation.
Orioles skipper Buck Showhalter recently told reporters that improving the starting pitchers was one of the most important issues to address this offseason.
“It’s a challenge, it’s something we’re going to have to attack in the offseason, Showhalter told MLB.com. “Obviously, we’ve got a lot of guys that, if they’re not here, will really affect what we have to do in the offseason. First place you always look is from within. We’re going to need to try to get a little deeper there.”
Looking within starts with re-signing Chen, and even more importantly, finding a way to keep Davis, the team’s best batter. Baltimore let one of its best hitters, Nelson Cruz, leave via free agency last offseason after he led the AL in home runs. Davis took the honors of leading the major leagues in home runs this season with 47 so he’ll definitely be as sought-after during this winter as Cruz was last offseason. But the Orioles can’t make the same mistake twice by letting him go. Whatever the cost of keeping him will be, the obvious thing for Baltimore to do is pay it.
But spending big money in the offseason isn’t something the Orioles front office has been commonly known for. Baltimore has traditionally released or passed up on signing high profile players that demand high salaries. Year after year, they sit on their money while the teams contending for championships run up their player payroll budget seeking the best talent. Maybe it’s time Baltimore got with the program.
