Baltimore Orioles: Common Offseason Worry and Discontent

Sep 15, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA;Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis (19) has water throw at him after hitting a walk off RBI single scoring right fielder Gerardo Parra (18) in the thirteenth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Orioles won 6-5. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

At the time of the winter solstice each year, the Baltimore Orioles fanbase has a common offseason expression of worry and discontent that not enough is being accomplished to build the roster for the next year.

In that I do not follow other franchises with the detail that I watch the Orioles, I suspect that the level of concern and sense of a lack of progress is likely not that unusual. Most teams go through some measure of seeing beloved players move on to free agency, retire, or be moved out in trades. Uncertainty abounds, along with the longer hours of darkness.

Of course, just a handful of years ago in the wake of 14 consecutive losing seasons, there was plenty of material evidence that something was not being done sufficiently well. And I believe long-time Orioles fans continue to have residual trauma from that time, causing fear to rise easily to the surface in the belief that the O’s are just a step away from falling into the loser’s abyss once again.

Yet the Orioles have put together four reasonably good seasons from 2012-2015. But looking back to this date of December 20^th prior to each of those years, there was nothing but darkness from the majority of the fans.

Reviewing my articles on this date the past four years …

December 2014 — The major theme just a year ago was related to corner outfielders in the wake of the losses of Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis. This sentence was in the article …

At this point it would appear that all the quality options have been claimed by others and that what remains is less than stellar. How can the O’s possibly succeed with simply what they have on their current roster?

We now know that, along with a step back by the starting rotation, these losses did prove to be quite harmful. Showalter talks about the Orioles as a team that “out-opportunities” others, but none of the many outfield options seized upon the vacancies. Not even the late-season acquisition of Parra.

A difference now as opposed to a year ago is that there are free agent options still available that could be of help, along with the recent signing of Hyun-soo Kim.

December 2013 — All of the talk at this point from two years ago revolved around the craziness related to the failed physical of Grant Balfour. The fanbase was ablaze that the Orioles had traded away their closer (Jim Johnson) in a salary dump, and now they were going to be terribly exposed in late innings.

There was much talk about how the Orioles needed to go out and get someone with closer’s experience. Of course, that did not happen. Nobody was really talking about Zach Britton as a possible answer to the need. He took over those duties in the first third of the season, registered 37 saves with an ERA of 1.65 and WHIP of 0.904. It was a big part of the Birds winning 96 games.