Bird Watching - O's Continue To Struggle In Toronto, Take Series From Yankees In Their House, And What To Do With Their Free Agents?
O’s had a mini road trip this week, heading to Toronto for 3, then New York for 3. The Birds started hot up North, cruising to a 10-2 win over Toronto. Optimist RDT thought it would set the tone for the rest of the series and they could steal a series against the first place Jays. Wrong. David Price shut down the bats the next day, and in Game 3 Chris Tillman continued his crappy 2015 ways, 3 IP, 8 H, 3 HR, 6 R. Story of the year.
Then the Orioles made their last trip to the Bronx, and of course, took 2 of 3 from the Yankees who were looking to gain ground on first place. Brian Matusz left an 0-2 pitch over the plate and Greg Bird put one into the bullpen for a Yankees win in Game 1. O’s took Game 2 thanks to Ryan Flaherty, and of course, Chris Davis. Tanaka looked filthy, striking out 10 in 8 innings, and giving up only 6 hits and 1 run. MLB home run leader (41) Chris Davis took Stoolie Chasen Shreve deep in the top of the ninth for the O’s win, thanks for looking out Chasen, Viva. Ubaldo finally showed up for Game 3, going 7 and getting the win. The Orioles were helped out by some terrible defense by Stephen Drew, who had a ball bounce off his face, for a 5-3 win. I don’t care how bad the O’s record is, it’s always awesome to beat the Yankees.
After putting together a winning streak, Baltimore is now 67-72, 1 game up on Boston for last place. 6 back in the wild card, I try and be the most optimistic fan, but this is no secret, this team is done. Get some of the young guys in there, lets enjoy these last few games, and start looking at 2016.
Impending Free Agents
With this season pretty much done it may be time to look at some of the free agents the team has. Everyone knows Angelos is tight with his cash, but this offseason, he has to open it and spend some. This could be the most important offseason for the Orioles in 15 years. Now or never Pete, time to start writing some checks. Can’t keep trotting out AAAA players everyday. The Orioles will have money to spend, why not spend some of it before you croak Peter?
Chris Davis- Looks like the O’s will have Home Run champs in back-to-back years. Davis leads the MLB with 41, and is third with 104 RBI. He plays gold glove caliber defense at first, and can play right field and even third base. The guy is going to get paid, $20 mill a year type deal. The O’s need to pony up the money. What is it showing the younger guys like Schoop, Manny, and Gausman, if they keep letting their best guys leave year after year. But with every homer, that price tag goes up, I won’t even talk about that fuckboi Boras as an agent either. If they let Davis walk, I can see some fans being very upset, and losing faith in this club. He turns 30 in March, so he isn’t old, I’d try and get something done around 5 yrs/ $105. Prove you care Peter, keep Crush in Baltimore.
Matt Wieters- Joe Mauer with power, Switch Hitting Jesus. We heard all the nicknames for him when he came out of Georgia Tech. What he has actually been is an average offensive player, posting career averages of .257/14 HR/52 RBI a year. He is a 2 time Gold Glove winner, but as expected, his defense has declined due to Tommy John surgery last year, and just your normal wear and tear on a 29-year-old catcher. His pitch calling has been terrible recently, and he may be one of the worst pitch framers in the league. He was overhyped when he got here, but thats not his fault. The O’s may give him a Qualifying Offer, and he may be the first ever to accept it. The O’s have a starter for next year and his name is Caleb Joseph. Seems like Wieters would be a good fit in Atlanta, just a hunch.
Wei-Yin Chen- Only lefty on the O’s staff, Chen has been one of their best starters since 2012, and he’s likely pitched himself out of Baltimore due to that. A valiant 43-31 with a 3.77 ERA in his time here, but has never pitched 200 innings, and has only made over 30 starts twice in four years. He has a knack for giving up home runs, 97 since 2012, including 28 in 27 starts this year. At times he looks unhittable and great, then he gives up 3 dongs in an inning and gets pulled. No chance he comes back, especially after he was skipped earlier in the year and sent to Frederick and Boras sent out all those tweets from his account.
Gerrado Parra- Came over midseason from the Brewers, seems like a good fit for the O’s. Love the way he plays and how he has meshed with the team. Only hitting .224 for the Birds, but has shown his Gold Glove defense. I’d love to see a 4 year deal for Parra, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he was a one and done.
Darren O’Day- Said it all year, maybe the most underrated reliever in the league. He’s been nearly automatic this year, can get out both righties and lefties. Career low in ERA this season, 1.66, 66 K, 12 BB in 54 innings. Great clubhouse guy too. Keep him around to mentor Mychal Givens. I’d love a 3 year deal worth $18-$20 million. I can see him getting closer money from someone like Detroit though. Hope he stays in Baltimore.
Steve Pearce- After a great 2014 season, Pearce was being counted on to have a similar type year in 2015. Hasn’t worked like that. He has struggled with injuries most of the year and hasn’t really got consistent time in the lineup. I would love to see Pearce back on a 2 year deal maybe $8 million. The O’s know better than anyone how valuable he is, maybe those injuries will help keep Steve here.
Upcoming
KC comes to town, well known fact that the Royals have owned the O’s recently, lets take care of that. Why not cool these clowns off a bit and win this series. Sunday night game on ESPN should be a good one with Chen and Ventura going, O’s play well at home, hope to see this continue.
Boston comes to town for 3 and there is no god damn way Carrabis’ last place team is going to come into Baltimore and get a win. O’s are a much better team than Boston. Also, Papi* could hit HR #500 in Baltimore. I NEED an O’s fan to catch this ball if it happens. Meet me down at the Inner Harbor, and lets see how far we can toss that thing into the drink. Papi is a cry baby and a cheater, he shouldn’t be allowed to have that ball until he replaces the dugout phone. Fair is fair.
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O’s need to keep playing spoiler against these top guys, they did it in 2011, why can’t they do it again and maybe jumpstart 2016? Lets go Birds!