Baltimore OriolesWhere do I begin? The O's are an all-too-vivid picture of how not to run a franchise. They stall quality prospects like 1B Calvin Pickering in favor of signing over-rated veterans like Will Clark, or trade them away for low ceiling filler as they did with 2B Willie Harris for OF Chris Singleton and Jayson Werth for LHRP John Bale. They allow their organization's managers to overwork young starters like LHSP Matt Riley and RHSP Sidney Ponson. They don't recognize and sign their best talents like RHSP Mike Mussina to long term contracts, yet overpay for other team's second tier players like OF Marty Cordova. To top it all off, they offer contracts to players like LHRP Buddy Groom that will long outlast the player's usefulness. Don't get me wrong, I think Groom is a decent lefty reliever. But giving 4-year deal to a 36-year old reliever, especially when over that period there will probably be dozens of comparable lefties available for one tenth his $11 million pricetag, is just very poor business sense. If the Orioles as an organization don't make some drastic changes in their current business plan, they'll be staring at 100-loss seasons for the foreseeable future.
Hitting
Not many teams can say that a first baseman who has hit 20 homers in a season just once in his 12 year career is their best hitter, but the Orioles can; 1B David Segui is the best hitter on the team.
1B/OF Jeff Conine has developed enough disciplined at the plate to become a solid hitter, but his power numbers have been dropping the last 3 years, and at age 36, it may be a bit of a stretch to expect them to return. He'd make a nice #6 or #7 hitter on a contending team, but on the O's, he'll likely be asked to bat clean-up. 3B Tony Batista is practically his opposite, possessing good home run power, but little or no pitch selectivity.
The O's have a number of young outfielders who have shown decent potential and may yet fill into the role of run producer - Jay Gibbons, Chris Richard and Luis Matos. Each has the potential to hit 25 homers a year, but none are particularly patient at the plate. And with the possible exception of Richard, they're more likely to make contact with aliens than a breaking pitch. Marty Cordova was brought in this offseason, but his power and on base are only marginally better.
CF Melvin Mora was a career utility infielder before he came to the O's; until they traded for Singleton, he was going to be their starting centerfielder. Speaking of Singelton, he's a nice roto-player, offering double digit homers and steals. But his inability to draw walks lessens his on the field value in real life considerably.
Even their purported lead-off men of the future - SS Brian Roberts and 2B Jerry Hairston Jr. - don't get on base with any acceptable frequency, although Roberts' minor league numbers show promise. Neither does current shortstop Mike Bordick, although he has occasional home run power.
Behind the plate, Geronimo Gil has some decent pop, but with the exception of one year in AA, he hasn't demonstrated any better patience than a spoiled 2-year old. Career back-up Brook Fordyce will split time with him.
The O's offense doesn't have a great deal of power compared to other AL teams, and their organizational disregard of the importance of getting base - even just a little bit - makes them a veritable out factory.
Rating: 40
Pitching
The O's pitching situation is only marginally better. Both Ponson and RHSP Jason Johnson have live enough arms to throw the ball in the mid-90s. Both are developing promising breaking pitches. But neither guy can consistently change speeds on his pitches, so batters are able to simply focus on location. The same can be said of RHP Scott Erickson, who's returning from arm surgery and may end up as the team's closer in order to keep his innings pitched at a healthy minimum until he's fully recovered.
RHSP Josh Towers doesn't throw hard at all, but has good control of his pitches and a solid change-up. Rookies RHSP Sean Douglass and RHSP John Stephens come from a similar mold and have a chance to make the rotation out of spring training.
The bullpen is populated by a number of serviceable pitchers. RHRP Willis Roberts has been tabbed as the closer to open the season but his command is questionable, as is his temperament. He'll be set-up by lefties Bale, Groom and BJ Ryan, and from the right side by Kris Foster and Jorge Julio. Foster and Julio may get turns as closer if Roberts falters.
Journeymen RHP Calvin Maduro and newly acquired RHP Chris Brock will man the long relief duties and get occasional starts.
Rating: 45
Defense
While it's great to have great glovemen at first (Segui) and catcher (Gil), those guys are not the ones who usually catch the batted balls. Singleton has excellent range in center, but his arm is average. The rest of the team D ranges from serviceable to not-so-good. Hairston has very good range, but led the majors in errors at second. Batista and Bordick make most of the plays hit to them, but their range ranks in the bottom third of the league. The other outfielders have average range and arms.
Rating: 50
Management
As outlined in the preface, there's not much that the O's front office can't do wrong. Manager Mike Hargrove is more of an enigma. He came to the O's with the reputation of being a winning manager, but with the talent the Tribe had all those years, how much of their success was due to him and how much to the team remains a question. Managing the current O's certainly won't help answer that conundrum. However, we can look at the things he controls. He hasn't had any success developing young pitchers as most of them have come down with arm troubles, probably due to excessive workloads. Not good. On the plus side, Hargrove has always had a firm grasp on the clubhouse. Even on those Cleveland teams, there were rarely any stories about in-fighting or bickering. However, no one on this team puts up enough numbers to have an ego, so that won't be a factor.
Rating: 30 (front office - 20, Hargrove - 45)