Bird Watching - Despite A Slumping Chris Davis, The O's Still Sit Atop The AL East
The rollercoaster season for the Birds continues. Win four in a row, lose four in a row, win five in a row, lose three in a row. Despite the ride, they are still in first place with a 1.5 game lead, and are 15 games above .500 at 58-43. Off to Toronto for a series that will either end with the O’s having a comfortable lead in the division, or they will find themselves in second. It’s pretty obvious why the team is struggling to an 11-12 record this month- the offense is still nonexistent.
Oh bats, Where Art Thou?
I literally just blogged about this last week, but the trend continues. J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones are still the only guys hitting with any consistency. This team is in a stage where their big guys like Manny, Trumbo, and Davis are all in a funk. Chris Davis, with his two hits last night is now 3 for his last 31, his last home run was the day before the All Star break, and he’s batting .164 with 30 strikeouts this month. Don’t worry, he’s still right there in the cleanup spot, killing rallies one K at a time. I know Buck doesn’t want to sit people who are in slumps, but Davis may need a day to rest up.
Manny Machado has slowly come back down to earth after his monster first half. Machado has only 4 home runs since June 24th, and is batting .215 this month. He got hit with the flu like everyone else in the lineup after the break, so that may be a reason he is slumping, but he wasn’t lighting the world on fire in the first half of the month either.
Mark Trumbo, a guy who naturally slows down in the second half, is also on the struggle bus. He was in an 0-18 slump going into last night before doubling off the wall. His power has still been here this month, 7 bombs, but the average is down around the .240 mark. It just seems like when one of the main guys slump, they all slump at the time same, and that makes for very frustrating baseball.
The offense as a whole just can’t produce runs right now, totaling nine runs in their last four games. All against pitchers who aren’g even good. It’s either a dong, or its a popup to second. You saw the stat above, 38 runs in 14 games since the break, and they still haven’t scored more than 5 runs in a game since June 6th. Like I said, just insanely frustrating to watch a team who you know can catch fire at the drop of a hat suddenly not be able to drive in runs.
Andrew Cashner
NO.NO.NO.NO.NO. Why do the Orioles always have to sniff around this pile of crap? Cashner was the subject of trade rumors with the Birds back in February, and his name has been linked again to the O’s this week. I don’t know why they are doing this same song and dance. MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that the O’s are “trying hard” to land Cashner, and I couldn’t be more against this. Let the Marlins or Rangers throw prospects at this scrub, I want nothing to do with ol’ beardy. Does he really make the team that much better?
The Padres reportedly wanted Ubaldo Jimenez, Nolan Reimold, and prospect Tanner Scott for Melvin Upton. It’s rumored they were asking for 2 top prospects for Cashner. 2 top prospects for a guy with an ERA of 4.76, and a WHIP of 1.387? No thanks. His K/9 is down from last year, his BB/9 and HR/9 are up from last year, why would the Orioles need another starter like this? He is basically another Yovani Gallardo or Tyler Wilson. The Orioles already have a weak farm system as is, with none of their guys making the newest top 100 prospects list. I’d rather roll the dice with Vance Worley, and Dylan Bundy. I don’t ship off a Trey Mancini, Chance Sisco, or Christian Walker for this scrub rental.
They don’t need another 4th starter. They need a front of the rotation guy, but it doesn’t look like that guy is out there. No need to mortgage the future on anyone out there right now, promote from within, roll with a rotation of Tillman/Gausman/Gallardo/Bundy/and a mix of Wilson and Worley. Ubaldo can get left in Toronto.
Have to win away from Baltimore
This is another problem for the Birds. They are an insanely good team at home, 37-16, no other team has more than 34 home wins. It’s no secret they struggle on the road though, 21-27 away from Camden Yards. The O’s have 28 games left at home, and 33 on the road. Compare that to the Red Sox who have 22 left at home, and 40 more games on the road, and the Blue Jays who have 28 games left at home, and 32 more on the road. I also didn’t mention the 2 “away games” for Baltimore that will be played in Washington when they take on the Nats. They can still sleep in their own beds, and get some home cooking, it’s basically another home series for the Birds.
Say the Orioles win 18 of their last 28 home games, and 18 of their last 33, that is 94 wins. That should be enough to win this division, especially with the Sox playing 40 road games. That record isn’t out of reach, as mentioned, they have been very good at home, but if they can play a little over .500 ball on the road, that puts them in good position.
Upcoming Schedule
Friday, July 29th @ Toronto- Kevin Gausman (2-7 3.77) vs Marco Estrada (5-4 2.94)
Saturday, July 30th @ Toronto- Yovani Gallardo (3-2 5.37) vs J.A. Happy (13-3 3.27)
Sunday, July 31st @ Toronto- Chris Tillman (14-3 3.47) vs Aaron Sanchez (11-1 2.72)
Tuesday, August 2nd vs Texas- Dylan Bundy (3-3 3.46) vs Yu Darvish (2-2 3.09)
Wednesday, August 3rd vs Texas- Ubaldo Jimenez (5-9 7.06) vs Cole Hamels (12-2 2.84)
Thursday, August 4th vs Texas- Kevin Gausman (2-7 3.77) vs A.J. Griffin (3-1 4.06)
I think the O’s are staying put at the deadline and rolling with what they have, but things could change. If they get someone, it won’t be a big name, but someone who can perform better than Ubalo or Mike Wright in the rotation, but that isn’t saying much. Maybe they add a lefty in the bullpen, they could try and acquire a corner outfielder as well to ease the transition until Joey Rickard gets back? I don’t expect the team to look much different come 4:01 on Monday.