As I watch the New York Yankees erupt for another night of offensive fireworks against the Baltimore Orioles under-whelming pitching staff, I’m tempted to pound out a column imploring team president Andy MacPhail to forget about his plan and go find some pitching NOW.
Then, after I take a few deep breaths and let the blood flow back to my brain, I realize that this is one of the rare cases in professional sports where you can’t dwell on the current win-loss record.
There is little doubt that the Orioles put a starting nine on the field every night that compares favorably with just about any other team in baseball.
If MacPhail decided today to play for this season and made a number of moves to upgrade the pitching staff, the team could probably grind out the first winning season for the O’s since 1997 and maybe even make a run at a wild card playoff spot.
However, just looking back in recent Orioles history can serve as a reminder that the cost of such an excursion would be far greater than the reward.
The Orioles have tried the “quick fix” before and the results have been disastrous.
In 1986 the Orioles were riding a streak of 18-straight winning seasons, but after consecutive finishes in the lower half of the division they were itching to return to prominence.
Rather than continuing the long-standing tradition of using the farm system to stock their Major League lineup, they looked for instant impact through free agency and trades.
With a lineup that included aged former stars such as 34-year-old Fred Lynn, 38-year-old Lee Lacy, 36-year-old Rick Dempsey and 36-year-old Juan Beniquez, the Birds showed early potential and on Aug. 5 were 59-47 and only 2.5 games behind the division leaders.
However, in a tale that sounds oh-so-familiar to anyone who has lived through the last decade of Orioles baseball, the team staggered to the finish going 14-42 over the final eight weeks to finish with a 73-89 record and 22.5 games behind the division champion Boston Red Sox.
Unfortunately, things only got worse over the next couple seasons as the Orioles went 67-95 in 1987 and finished in sixth place.
No true Orioles fan will ever forget the start of the 1988 season as the Birds reached an all-time low starting the campaign with 21 straight losses. They finished with their first 100-loss season since 1954 and placed last in their division.
Fast-forwarding ahead a decade, the Orioles used a similar reliance on veteran players in the mid-1990s to make consecutive trips to the American League Championship Series in 1996 and 1997.
However, in the process, the team mortgaged their future trading virtually every quality prospect for a veteran who could help push the team to an elusive title.
The result was an aged lineup that in 1998 was made up completely of players in their 30s.
Oh, the roster included some players with impressive career pedigrees such as Joe Carter, Harold Baines, Eric Davis, Doug Drabek, Juan Guzman, and B.J. Surhoff, but most were well past their prime.
The veteran team started strong with a 10-2 record, but by mid-May they were below .500 and never made a serious run at the playoffs. They finished with a 79-83 record that still ranks better than what the team has finished in each of the last 10 seasons.
For much of the current decade, the Orioles floundered through the American League East, thankful that the Tampa Bay Rays had joined the league so they at least had one team to finish ahead of in the standings.
Perhaps because they were always struggling to live-up to the franchise’s illustrious history, the Orioles seemed reluctant to ever admit they were rebuilding.
Instead, the front office annually tried to find veterans who could immediately get the team back into contention.
The list of former All-Stars who have worn the gray and orange over the last decade is illustrious. The “who’s who” list includes Albert Belle, Miquel Tejada, Rafael Palmeiro, Jeff Conine, Delino DeShields, Will Clark, Pat Hentgen and Javy Lopez.
Unfortunately, the “star power” didn’t translate to wins on the field, as the best record Baltimore has posted this decade was a 78-84 campaign in 2004.
The strategy also decimated the once proud minor league system and, in fact, in 2002 the Orioles suffered the indignity of basically being fired by their Triple-A franchise.
Rochester, New York was the Triple-A home for the Orioles from 1961-2002 and saw many future Baltimore stars hone their craft. However, by the late 1990s the team was barely competitive and the city chose not to renew their player development agreement and instead brought the Minnesota Twins to Rochester.
The front office continued to search for the next “quick fix” until Andy MacPhail arrived in 2007. He recognized that the team needed to go “back to the future” and return to their roots of building through the farm system.
Over the last three years, MacPhail has orchestrated trades and drafts that have replenished the minor league system while also adding talented players to the major league roster.
Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Luke Scott and Dennis Sarfate are among the players that came to Baltimore through blockbuster trades.
After being regularly rated among the worst in baseball, the minor league system has made great strides and is starting to again become a pipeline for major league players.
Recent call-ups Brad Bergesen and Nolan Reimold will certainly be the first of a plethora of “home grown” talent that will become part of the Orioles lineup in the coming years.
Catching prospect Matt Wieters is considered a “can’t miss” prospect and the minor leagues are suddenly ripe with young hurlers who many predict will give the Birds their best pitching rotation since the days of Palmer, McNally, Cuellar and Dobson.
As an Orioles fan that grew up following Boog, Brooks, Frank, Cal and Eddie, the last decade has been painful.
However, what would be even more painful would be if MacPhail gave into temptation and traded what looks like a very promising future for short-term gain.
So, I’ll never be happy losing to the Yankees, but I’m willing to take the medicine now because I know that one day soon the tables will turn and we will be the ones piling up the victories.
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