We have arrived in Birdland for day three of our report cards. Today's team: the Baltimore Orioles. Let's look at their team leaders in 2009.
Baltimore Orioles:
Record: 64-98 (Last place in the AL East, 39 games behind New York).
Batting Leaders:
Batting Average: Nick Markakis (.293)
Home Runs: Luke Scott (25)
RBIs: Nick Markakis (101)
On-base percentage: Brian Roberts (.356)
Pitching Leaders:
Wins: Jeremy Guthrie (10)
ERA: Jeremy Guthrie (5.04). Bullpen- George Sherrill (2.40).
Strikeouts: Jeremy Guthrie (110)
Innings Pitched: Jeremy Guthrie (200.0)
WHIP: Brad Bergesen (1.28)
Saves: George Sherrill (20)
Highlight of the season: Matt Wieters' major league debut on May 29 at home against the Detroit Tigers. He would go 0-4, but the O's won the game 7-2 before a paid crowd of 42,704 at Camden Yards.
Lowlight of the season: A 13-game losing streak from September 17-30.
The Lowdown:
The year is 1997. Orioles fans were riding high, as they watched their team steamroll through the American League with ease. They went wire-to-wire in the regular season that year, winning 98 games. Once they arrived in the postseason, they made quick work of Seattle in the ALDS, and they were certain to plow through Cleveland to make it to their first Fall Classic in 14 years. However, the Birds laid an egg in the ALCS against Cleveland, losing in six games. What Orioles fans did not know at the time was that 1997 would be the last time they would even see a winning season, let alone a playoff team.
Flash-forward to 2009. While the team has a long way to go to match the talent of the 1997 squad, O's fans have to have some hope for the future with some of their developing young talent. Matt Wieters, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis form the young nucleus of this team that has Baltimore fans giddy with excitement. Throw in Brian Roberts, who put together another fantastic season at the plate, and you would think that this lineup is not too far away from coalescing together into one solid unit, right? Well...let's take a look, shall we?
Offense:
The O's offense was relatively average when comparing them with most MLB teams in '09, but when you compare them with teams having similar records (i.e. Pittsburgh, Washington, Kansas City, etc.), they really stand out. The O's finished 16th in MLB in runs scored (741), 16th in home runs (160) and 17th in on-base percentage (.332). Where the Birds really stood out though, was in their batting average and in the amount of doubles they hit. They finished seventh in MLB in batting average, hitting .268, and they finished sixth in doubles with 307. The high doubles total is buoyed by the fantastic season put together by second baseman Brian Roberts. He was a doubles-hitting machine once again in 2009, banging out a career high 56, which led MLB. Cracking the 50-double barrier this year is nothing new for Roberts; he also hit 51 in 2008 and 50 in 2004. In fact, when he cracked his 50th double of the season on September 9 against Boston, he became only the fourth player in MLB history to amass three 50-double seasons. Guess who the other three were? Tris Speaker, Paul Waner and Stan Musial, all Hall of Famers. Pretty damn good company, I'd say.
Other standouts in the O's lineup include Nick Markakis, Adam Jones and rookie Matt Wieters. Markakis had another solid year at the plate, hitting 18 home runs and driving in 101. Markakis is another young player about to enter his prime, so 2009 might just be the prelude to a fantastic 2010 for him. Also, Adam Jones had a nice coming-out party in his second full big league season this year, hitting 19 home runs while driving in 70 in 119 games. His performance was also good enough for him to net his first All-Star appearance in St. Louis this year, which will probably be the first of many for him. However, the most promising player of them all would have to be catcher Matt Wieters. The 23-year-old made his major league debut in May (as mentioned in the "highlight of the year" snippet above), and he had a modest rookie season, hitting .288, with 9 home runs and 43 RBIs in 96 games. Orioles fans have to be excited about Wieters' potential going into next year.
With that being said, the Orioles had a pretty solid year at the plate, and they can easily hold their own with some of the better teams at the plate in baseball.
Final Grade: C+
Pitching:
Want to know why the O's stunk up the joint in 2009? Well, look no further than their excuse for a major league pitching staff. You know your pitching staff stinks when your team leader in ERA has one that is at 5.00. Their team ERA of 5.15 is dead last in the big leagues. The 817 runs they surrendered is also the worst in MLB. Opposing teams hit a ridiculous .288 against their staff in 2009, which is the highest in MLB. Striking people out was even a tough task for their pitchers to accomplish, as they finished 28th in that category. I suppose I could say that the 546 walks they issued ranked only 16th in MLB, but their walk total isn't good enough to save this sorry staff. Even their best reliever, George Sherrill, got traded, making their bullpen all the more worse. I won't even waste anymore time analyzing their pitching, because it's clearly obvious as to how bad they are.
Final Grade: F
Wild Card: Youth
Having Matt Wieters, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis all on the same team has to definitely give Orioles fans excitement about 2010 and beyond. Plus, the O's have been known to hand out some generous contracts in the past, so I doubt they'll be worried as to who they need to keep once arbitration rolls around for the trio.
Final Grade: A-
Overall:
The lineup they have in Baltimore is a pretty solid group. If they could figure out a way to fix that pathetic pitching staff of theirs, they might not be that bad of a team. That's one big "if" though, and fixing that pitching staff will be one big project, something that will take at least a couple of seasons. The lineup and youth they have is promising, but their pitching really, really drags this team, and their overall grade, down.
Final Grade: D+
Check back tomorrow for the report card on the Kansas City Royals!
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