In one of the biggest off seasons in Major League Baseball the Orioles new General Manager Dan Duquette did not land Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols. The odds of that were 1-100 regardless. Duquette wants to build the O’s farm system and has even gone international. The Orioles went out this winter to sign Tsuyoshi Wada who is a Japanese pitcher they also signed Wei-Yin Chen out of Taiwan. The Birds are no strangers to the Foreign market, in 2009 they signed Japan’s Koji Uehara. Will Wada be as good for the club as Uehara?
Offense wins games, pitching wins championships. The Orioles starting rotation is still undetermined with opening day approaching. Who will make that final five for the start the season? Jeremy Guthrie the “Ace” of the O’s was trade to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom. Pitching wise the O’s have a lot of young pitchers. Yet, one of those young pitchers will miss the start of the season due to left shoulder inflammation and that is Zach Britton. It is not all bad for the Birds though, Brian Matusz is making great strides in Spring Training to bounce back from last year’s disaster. The mind set is pitch well and they will win. Easier than it sounds.
We all realize, it is not that easy for the Orioles, following fourteen consecutive losing seasons. Sports Illustrated predicts the Orioles will finish last in the division- and have the 2nd worst mark in MLB. Hard to fathom, The O’s -many moons ago- had four twenty game winners on one team in Jim Palmer, Dave Mc Nally, Mike Cuellar, and Pat Dobson. There is not that type of talent there – but young talent, with Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, and Matt Wieteres.
Each spring we ask “ Where do the Orioles stack up if they maintain any consistency?” – on the twentieth Anniversary of Camden Yards it remains ‘THE QUESTION”.
