The Old Coach is a little disappointed that the Orioles didn’t play their best baseball in the ALDS Series sweep by the Texas Rangers. The Rangers came out hot while some of the O’s best hitters were in the throws of some of their worst slumps of the season. Baltimore sent three starting pitchers out to face the best hitting team in the American League and their inexperience was evident.
But how do you get experience unless you go pitch in a playoff situation. Keep in mind that the Birds’ general manager Mike Elias didn’t build this 2023 team to win the World Series. He didn’t even build it to win the AL East division, the toughest division in baseball this year. It just so happens that the present young O’s outperformed all expectations by winning 101 games and bringing home a division pennant.
I said it in my column at the 2/3 point in the season that this version of the O’s was not the end-all lineup that will be the one that takes the AL and eventually the World Series. It doesn’t have enough consistent bats and not enough experienced starting pitching depth. That team is probably the 2025 team. While there were lots of feel good stories about reclamation projects that won numerous games this season with clutch hits and late inning heroics, don’t be surprised if some of those players will be replaced in the next year or two.
I believe that the Orioles front office will trade some of their top veteran position players to land at least one or two veteran starting pitchers to one or two year contracts and rely on their young arms to take the next step forward. Rodriguez, Bradish, and Kramer will be the backbone of their rotation with Means, Wells, and DL Hall all in the mix to add to whoever Elias brings on board.
So who goes? You might be surprised who the Old Coach sees as expendable. Yes, the players I’ll mention have meant a lot to the Baltimore rebuild and they certainly are fan favorites. Throughout their careers, however, they have been somewhat streaky in their performance at the plate. Hayes, Mountcastle, Mullins, Frazier, Mateo, and Urias will all likely be trade bait.
This is how I see the 2024 or 25 championship lineup taking shape: C-Rutschman, 1B-O’Hearn/ Ortiz, 2B Westburg, SS-Holliday, 3B-Henderson, LF-Kjerstad, CF-Cowser, RF-Santander, DH-Norby. There might be some shifting around in the infield positions because they all are shortstops by upbringing. As hitters, these players were acquired because they are high on-base percentage people with good batting eyes. All but Santander and O’Hearn will be under club control for the next 4-5 years.
Of course, there may be other young players that could also work their way into the mix. Names like Mayo, Basallo, and Beavers are young and talented also.
I, for one, was pleased with the results of this season. I think that the best is yet to come,